Food allergies also known as food hypersensitivities are caused by the reaction of the immune system to specific kinds of foods. The immune system mistakenly identifies certain antigens in these foods, treats them as dangerous and takes the necessary steps to protect the body from them. Signs of a food allergy can include a runny nose, watery eyes, hives, stomach cramps and in severe cases even anaphylactic shock.
The most common food allergies involve milk, eggs, wheat, soy, seafood, shellfish, and yeast. If you suffer from a food allergy, it may feel like there is nothing left to eat when faced with all these dietary constrictions. But do not fear as the solution to this problem is not difficult. You just need to switch to a specific food allergy diet plan that will help you enjoy all your meals and keep allergies at bay.
Most food allergy diets involve making certain alterations to your daily diet to include foods that you may normally not be used to. However, these variations and substitutions will ensure that your diet is not nutritionally inadequate. It is best to consult your doctor or dietician for food allergy diet recipes that can help you reduce any adverse reactions.
This will also help in maintaining your optimum body weight. Remember, no matter what your food allergy - starvation is not an option!
Common sense dictates that if you have an allergy to wheat, you stay away from all components of wheat such as wheat bran, wheat germ or different types of wheat such as durum and bulgur. Dairy-free meal planning includes staying away from all products made with cow's milk, which includes ice-creams, butter, puddings as also cheese. Besides dairy there you could be allergic to other products also and therefore you need to pay careful attention to food labels of different marketed products. Eating out may be slightly problematic but with a little pre-planning and caution, nothing should stop you.
If you have multiple food allergies, your doctor may recommend the food allergy rotation diet. This is considered one of the best ways to control your food allergies and to keep a track of what your trigger foods might be. The basic premise of the food allergy rotation diet is that you eat only biologically related foods on the same day and then wait a minimum of four days before eating them again. Practice of this rotation diet will help in preventing the development of any new food allergies as well as allow you to eat foods that you may have a mild tolerance for. While the diet may seem confusing or even confining at first, with some guidance and instruction, the diet gets easier to follow the more you practice it. Consult your health care practitioner or trained nutritionist to know more about the diet and to personalize the plan to your specific needs and restrictions.
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