Hi, new member...

[sistagurl]

Hi, my name is Tiffani and I was newly diganosed with SEVERAL food allergies.The laundry list includes:

Peanuts and all of its derivatives
Tomatos and all of its derivatives
Soybeans and all of its derivatives
Corn and all of its derivatives
Potatoes and all of its derivatives
Apples <~ I am still scratching my head on this one

Comments

[oakenking]

Did they tell you that you absolutely cannot have *any* of the allergic foods? I have a friend who has a laundry-list allergy spectrum like that, and she's on a rotation... she can have beef once every five days, shellfish once every three days, fish every other day, chicken every other day... If you've just got a raw response of "allergic," does it indicate what your level of response to the different foods is? What are your symptoms like? Is everything at the same intensity?

Eating-out wise - restaurants can be really dicey. If you're allergic to corn and soybean and peanut, you have to be *really* sure what they're cooking with. Soybean oil and corn oil go into a LOT of things. Places where you can get fresh un-cooked foods (like those big buffets where you choose all the salad stuff you want) are good, but you'll probably have to bring your own dressing. Watch out for anything that might not be pure meat; bacon bits are often a soy based synthetic. If you ask, they can usually tell you if it's real bacon.

You may find it helpful to group your allergic foods - potatoes and tomatoes are both nightshades. Soybeans and peanuts are both legumes - but you're not showing response to any other legumes? Sweet potatoes and yams are not related to potatoes at all... and you can do some delicious things with them. Sweet Potatoes are members of the morning glory family; yams are a family all their own. Real yams can be tough to find, although you can often find yam flour at Oriental groceries. I used to use it as part of my bread recipe. I never did care for fufu (which is basically yam mush), but it's worth a try if you're craving starch.

You're lucky you can still have meat! Be careful; many of them are injected with a soy-based broth, particularly chicken.

I've got Celiac disease, but fortunately no other allergies - I've had friends with them, though, so I've learned about how to deal. About Celiac testing - You may want to check out http://www.finerhealth.com/ - they can do all the testing for you. Dr. Fine is one of the world's leading researchers in the Celiac Disease field; they can do a variety of tests, from genetics to stool sample for antibody. "Would have presented by now" is a load of crap, to be frank - I didn't have identifiable symptoms until I was thirty. One of the folks in the Celiac Support group here in Dallas, her ONLY symptom was pernicious anemia. It can present in so many ways, it's not even funny.

The best rice pastas (for me, at least) are Tinkyada. If you want flours to bake with, Authentic Foods have the best - of course you have to watch which ones, but their rice flours are vastly superior to anybody else's I've tried. Rice flour can be kinda gritty; their superfine varieties are dreamy. Mochi is a delicious starchy rice treat - you can get sweet mochi at Oriental groceries that have Japanese food, often refrigerated; you can get a kind from Whole Foods that you bake to make a chewy puffed bread-like stuff. Try making sticky rice - it's a different type, go to an Oriental grocery store to find it - it's great with cheese sauce, too. The best bread I can recommend based on the things you've listed, is Pao de Quejo, or Chebe Bread - it's made from Tapioca flour, with milk, butter, and cheese - it's delicious, and really simple. You'll want a stand mixer, though - it's a lot of stirring, and very sticky.

Sorry that got kind of random... but I wish you the best of luck. It does get easier. After a while, it all becomes routine - you read labels and question waiters without a second thought.

[senatororgana]

I know I'm responding to an older comment, but what you said about meats injected with soy-based broths really caught my eye. My mom was diagnosed with Celiac about 4 years ago (though she's had symptoms for 20 years, just goes to show...) and she and I are also both somewhat soy intolerant.
Are there certain brands of meat that do this? How can we know more about what goes into the meat?
I realize you may not be an expert on this, but any help/links to articles/whatever would be great! That's such a new one to me, I'd like to know more about it.

[oakenking]

By law, they have to be labeled - usually it's something like "Injected with up to 12% of a solution containing..." You can also look for meats listed as "all natural" or "minimally processed"

As far as learning which brands are OK and which are out - see if you can't find a soy allergy support group. I know that the celiac folks have lists of brand names that are good or bad.

[cluelessinchi]

I liked your information about the groupings of the foods. That is a little known concept.
I am allergic to soy and peanuts so I am going to not eat many other legumes as well.

Eggplant should be listed as a night shade. I also am allergic to night shade veggies. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers of any kind.

Apples are related the the rose family. So are pears.

Chances are the OP is allergic to all shellfish.

Personally I am allergic to gluten, legumes, rose, night shades, and dairy. That really makes my list much shorter.