We eat for health and happiness. Naturally then, when foods cause us discomfort, or worse yet, pose risks to our health, the answer lies in eliminating them. Unfortunately, not everyone with a food intolerance, which is an immune reaction to specific proteins contained in various types of foods (depending on what you are allergic or intolerant to), have had their condition diagnosed.

Common food allergens are milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat. These seemingly innocuous foods account for over 90 per cent of diagnosed food intolerance and allergies. Symptoms of sufferers include, but are not limited to, rash, vomiting and diarrhoea, coughing, wheezing, facial swelling and hives.

Consult a nutritionist or try a home elimination diet that systematically identifies the possible culprits. Once you know what’s bothering your body, you can begin to enjoy food without side effects. Become label-literate: read the labels on food packaging to avoid the ingredients that do not agree with you. At restaurants, always state your food intolerance before ordering to avoid unnecessary side effects. There’s no need to feel deprived. With the plethora of choices that cater to people with food intolerances, eating can be a pleasure again!

Below, you’ll find out how to navigate your way around the produce aisles to plan a meal for yourself or a loved one with food intolerances or allergies.


Cooking For People With Allergies

By Lisa Paterson

Cooking for people with allergies is a challenging but necessary task if you want to save your loved ones from eating food that might harm them. Cooking for people who are allergic to food products is a little tough because a lot of pre-prepared ingredients might contain allergens in forms that we are not generally aware of. However, with a little caution and our tips on cooking for people with allergies, you will usually be able to make healthy and tasty meals while avoiding allergens altogether. Some of the main things that you need to look out for in order to cook for people who are allergic to the below mentioned common food allergens are:

Wheat: If you are cooking for someone who suffers from an allergy to wheat, then all kinds of breads, pastas, pizzas, cakes and sandwiches are out of the question. Most packed soups, both liquid and powdered ones may also contain some kind of wheat product, so go for making only home-made soups for such people. Apart from using rice and corn as cereal substitutes, you can try out other cuisines like Thai and Chinese, where rice noodles and rice are commonly used in place of wheat dishes. Make sure that you add a lot of vegetables and other foods rich in fibre and nutrients when preparing a wheat-less diet in order to make up for the benefits that you may lose from not consuming wheat.

Milk: Lactose intolerance is very common among people nowadays and a lot of milk substitutes are also available for people who do not or cannot consume milk and milk products. You can use soy milk for drinking and cooking while totally cutting out milk and milk products like cheese and cream from your kitchen. Milk solids or other milk products are commonly used in a lot of salad and dessert dressings, so make sure that you read the labels carefully before using any ready-made dressing.

Eggs: Apart from avoiding eggs, you will also need to be on the watch out for eggs in a lot of ready-made products. Some of the most common foodstuffs that generally use eggs are soufflés, mousses, cookies, cakes, mayonnaise, salad dressings and ice creams. Make sure that you never feed any of these to an egg intolerant person before checking the list of ingredients thoroughly. You can try out egg-less cake and cookie recipes at home and go for vegan salad dressings which are quite easily available nowadays.

Fish: Cooking for people with an allergy to fish and seafood used to be easy because all you had to avoid was the main allergen and you were done. Alas, it is not so anymore because of the irrefutable health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are generally derived from fish and seafood. So apart from not making anything that looks like fish, you will also need to check and avoid salad dressings and other seasonings or dressings that claim to be fortified with Omega-3 fatty acids. Dry fruits, seeds and nuts are the best nutritional substitute for fish and should be included in the diets of people who cannot eat fish.

Crock pots are a great way to prepare quick meals for busy people. Lisa Paterson from A-Crock-Cook.com has heaps of crock pot recipes that are very nutritious and the best thing is the recipes can be easily altered to suit your own dietary needs.

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