Food Allergies and Dietary Restrictions: Recipies, Advice, and Discussion

After a little thread derail in a topic I was following, we started discussing macaroons. I pointed out that the cookie kind, not the coconut clusters are revered for being gluten free deserts for those who have gluten allergies and/or cilliac disease. One of the readers pointed out to me they were excited to learn this and didn't have any desert recipies since finding out they couldn't eat gluten.

That got me thinking, this forum is as good a place as any to discuss living with food allergies. Do you have a recipe that is made specifically for a certain allergy you'd like to share? Lactose intolerant like me? Are you looking for recipies for a certain dietary restriction? Have an unusual allergy you'd like to discuss? Let's talk about it here.

Not just allergies either, anyone who has dietary restrictions is free to bring it up here. Diabetes safe recipes, maybe specific diet food. Go for it, knowledge is power!

I brough tthis subject up in the big cooking thred and Speak With Bread offered this:

I know vayaviya might be interested in that.

Oh that's right, I forgot all about kosher and religious food restrictions. Good example though.

One thing I'm proud of where I work is that we have options for a lot of dietary restrictions. Religious, vegan, allergies, there's usually SOMETHING someone can much on. And it comes up more than I expected it to.

I'm kinda glad all my restrictions are really mild. I've had stomach problems my whole life, so there's always foods I avoid because they make me feel bad, but it's nothing as compelling as to be life or religion threatening. Kudos to you for managing that special diet, Elyscape. It's cool that they DO have kosher resteraunts where you live though. I can't think of any in my area.

I'm so dumb, I'm almost positive I'd screw up at some point. xD

Who hides their bacon in their popcorn!? They're just trying to fool you in that case! D:

You know, there's really not a big Jewish population that I know of out here. It's to the point that in school, we only knew of maybe two Jewish students - in HIGH SCHOOL. And most of the kids were fascinated with learned about them, because we've met so few Jewish people in our lives that we know so little of the culture.

I live in an area with a largely Hispanic population, so Catholicism is heavy. I couldn't think of anyone who strictly practiced no meat on Fridays etc, though. And other than that, a very mixed Christian population with no dietary restrictions* I know of warrenting resteraunts. Interesting though, some of our foods at work ARE certified Halal! I still don't know what it means, I need to look it up. xD

*There's a 7th Day Adventist population here, some of which are vegetarian. But vegetarian and vegan resteraunts are not specifically aimed at them and not that out of the ordinary around here, so most wouldn't bat an eye to know them.

If anyone besides me is curious, this is the wiki article on Halal foods/practices. It's rather like kosher.

Funny though, it's mostly about meat, but our french fries are marked 'certified Halal'! I guess because no animal products tough them?

...Microsoft makes popcorn? Now I'm twice as confused.

I don't have any food allergies but I can be an oddly picky eater, so I'll probably be swinging by this thread on occasion. I'm sensitive to food texture. I have trouble eating meat at times since I tend to gag and completely lose my appetite if I encounter bits of gristle or fat.
I've recently considered looking for foods that can replace meat nutrition-wise. If anyone knows of some simple-to-cook substitutes off the top of their head I'd appreciate it.


Also: A great vegan chocolate cake recipe. Just omit the spices if you don't care for it. I posted this recipe recently in another thread but felt it would be appropriate for it to go here.

Yeah, lactose intolerance isn't an allergy, I always correct people when I hear them confuse that. An allergy is life-threatening. And it's true, there's like, milk power, or dehydrated things in almost everything! I started reading the nutritional labels on stuff a few years back, and a lot of it makes you stop and just go 'What? WHY?'

The first time I heard of fructose allergy was a teacher in middle school who's son had it. She was constantly having to keep him away from soda because he liked it, and it made him sick. That's one where you can't get away with eating ANYTHING without reading the labels. Fructose IS in everything. Stuff you wouldn't expect like processed meats sometimes, or soups! I'd be terrified to have that allergy. She pretty much had to make his lunch from home everywhere he went, he couldn't eat out or eat something packaged. Fructose does stuff to your blood suger in enough quatities, even if you don't have allergies. It's disappointing that it's used to heavily in foods.

That's true, I only heard of celiac a few years ago when some relatives of mine were FINALLY diagnosed after living with it their whole lives. Acid Reflux is another one. People shake that off as nothing, but I was undiagnosed for like, 17 years and it was almost crippling. I almost couldn't eat anything toward the end but bread and water. Weird stomach/intestinal bacteria that causes ulcers and related diseases is also an ugly one I don't think enough people get tested for. At least, not until blood starts showing up where it shouldn't.

I kind of wish there was a lot more awareness for warning signs of disease like GERD (acid reflux), ulcers, celiac and other eating problems. Mine screwed up my school life (too sick to leave home) and my nutrition for most of my childhood. Not to mention countless hours just being miserable.

I do that with gristle too. I have a very unclassy habit of picking my food apart to avoid bits that bug me. : (

Have you ever heard of tempeh? I don't think I spelled that right, but assuming as you said you have no wheat issues, it's a wheat protein vegans use in meaty dishes. I don't have a recipie off hand, but it's worth looking into. Works for a lot of varities of meat depending on how you cook it. The chicken in chicken noodle soup, beef in chili... It's versitile, just not EXACTLY like meat, obviously. Not like you're going to fool somebody.

I think certain beans and grains have complete proteins too. Quinoa is a seed, but I know it's nutrition dense and can be used like rice or couscous. I can't remember if it's the one I heard about being a complete protein, I need to look into this.

I'm mildly allergic to oranges but thankfully that's easy enough to avoid for the most part.

I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to scallops (my one experience with them went, shall we say, poorly), but no other seafood gives me trouble. Not even other bivalves - I can eat clams just fine. Weird, huh?

My mom has celiac (and I'm hyperchondriacal about it myself, even though I had a blood test that said I didn't have it), my son gets sick when he drinks milk (he can eat cheese and yougurt, usually) and our best friends (whom we share a meal with every week) are vegetarians. Plus, I work in a school that services an entirely Muslim population. So, I know this dance well.

The key is reading everything. Also, being a good communicator when in restaurants.

I'll look through my recipes to see what I love; nothing's coming to mind right now.

Is "vegetarian" food generally kosher and/or halal? When we order for groups we always have a veggie option but haven't specified a kosher or halal option.

We've done some halal options at our family gatherings when the in-laws from India are here for the holidays but not being in charge of the cooking, I'm not sure what that involves other than buying meat at a halal store.

Combinations of nuts, grains, and legumes make complete proteins from what I read. Pick two and go to town. Hummus (chickpea [legume]+sesame paste [nut]), rice and beans, beans and corn, whole wheat bread with peanut butter [legume]. Watch your fats and carbs if you're concerned about weight.

With Halal food the most important things are no pig (so avoid gelatine) and meat must be killed in the correct way (buying from a halal butcher will be enough of a guarantee of this) and no alcohol. Vegetarian should be absolutely okay for Muslims.

The big stumbling block is meat, yes. Although alcohol is also Haraam (forbidden), so vegetarian foods cooked in wine or spirits aren't Halal either.

Halal food basically means non-pork meat slaughtered by a devout Christian, Muslim or Jew (no, it doesn't matter, to most). Pork by products and cross-pollination do matter to some believers, so they avoid animal oils, gelatins, and processed meats unless assured that there is no cross-pollination (hence the halal french fries).

There's slightly more to it than that - the right techniques have to be used to ensure that the meat is free of blood, and certain blessings need to be said if you can really call the meat halal. Most of my friends wouldn't touch meat that they didn't know was Halal, Kosher is not an acceptable substitute because the blessings are different. Using a Halal butcher is enough evidence of this taking place for most.

And haram food can be eaten if no other food is available too. Most of the Muslims I know would rather pick a vegetarian option than eat kosher meat as they don't see eating Kosher as acceptable when there are other options available. But yeah, it's one of those things where there are different readings and people are prepared to take it to different extents.
Some check the ingredients on sweets to look for gelatine, others work on the principle that if they don't know about it then they're not doing anything wrong.
If I were cooking for Muslims though, I wouldn't buy Kosher, and would pick a vegetarian option (if I weren't in an area stuffed with Halal butchers) just to be on the safe side.

That IS unusual. I wonder if it's a specific protein unique to the scallops, ormaybe someone prepared yours wrong? I know shellfish is delicate to prepare correctly and can make you highly ill if not.

That's the level of my lactose intolerance as well. Day to day it's easy to manage because, as long as I don't have a glass of real milk, I'm usually fine with process dairy products. The time it really becomes an issues is summer. I can't have ice cream or shakes without getting sick to my stomach all night. There are pleanty of soy and almond milk options, but, unless I make it at home, it's usually to expensive formy family's budget to buy. Even when I try to make stuff at home, soy and almond milks are more expensive than regular milk here, so it's usually not economical and I end up doing without.

That was my first assumption, but my mom ate them, too (it was a home-cooked meal). She was fine.

It's interesting with oranges because lemons and limes have no effect. Grapefruit has a super-mild effect, so I'm wondering what compound is in oranges, and grapefruits to a lesser extent, but is minimal in lemons and limes.

Huh. I wonder if there's a kind of test for that, liek there is some other allergies? A doctor might be able to dientify what specifically sets you off about scallops.

That another curious one. I'd say it's not citric acid then, like my grandmother. That's a sticky one, because citric acid is preservative in EVERYTHING.

If it's mostly oranges, I almost wonder if it's maybe an oil in the orange? I know the oil of orange peels is used as a cleaner, but not other citrus, which amkes me think there's something unique about it.

I'm just talking out my ass though, I really don't know scientifically what differentiates an orange from a lemon or lime in your system.

I knew a rabbi who made "kosher bacon cheeseburgers": burgers with soy cheese and crispy fried pastrami. Never tried one, but it sounds pretty good.

I try to eat vegan for part of the year for religious reasons (I'm Eastern Orthodox), although I usually end up giving up because not getting enough protein does Very Bad Things for my depression. So any advice on high-protein vegan food would be welcome!

That looks delicious! My mother has a similar recipe that I've made many times, but I wouldn't have thought of using balsamic vinegar.

My household is interesting. I'm gluten intolerant and my husband is VERY allergic to soy. Needless to say I read a lot of labels. The most frustrating thing I find is that ingredients change, the most recent one was a bread that I had bough for a few years changed their recipee to include 2 percent or less of soybean oil. This was enough to make my husband very sick. I had to go through everything in the kitchen, reading all of the labels until I found the culprit.

I don't know either, but I do love speculating. Definitely can rule out citric acid, since that would nix all manners of soda and stuff.

I do believe it's orange oil, because lotions that have orange oil as an ingredient do cause discoloration and mild swelling of my skin. The question is, what makes orange oil orangey? I presume that since grapefruit has a similar but milder effect, it shares something partially in common with orange and so would its oils, but obviously the oils of lime and lemon are sufficiently different.

I FIGURED OUT A THING! Unfortunately, I don't know what compounds make up orange oil, so I couldn't dissect that one scientifically.

Oh man, that is the WORST. I'm really glad you were able to find it. Depending on where you live, a lot of places now have speacialty shop just for products that don't aggrivate a number of common allegies, including soy. I wish I knew a name off hand, but it might be worth looking into to help you guys. From my experiences with stomach issues, having it get unexpectedly aggrivated is just.. The worst. Crippling at times.

Aw, you fixed it. I wanted to make a joke about awesome, carnivorous, rabbit chefs.

Shhh. This is why I shouldn't type on insomnia.

I'm lucky with where I live, there are a lot of places to buy gluten free foods and a lot of food packaging lists which common allergens that they contain. I still have to read a lot of labels but it's better than it use to be.

Had a vegetarian (added real dairy) version of this recipe today. It was spectacular. Cheesy potato goodness with cream sauce.

I recently found out that I'm anemic (though it shouldn't have been so surprising since I'm pale as death). Anyone have any suggestions for healthy, iron-rich foods?

Make sure you eat some oranges or other citrus fruits too, the vitamin C helps with the absorption of iron.

Guiness and steak.

Blood for the blood god!

Dark leafy greens such as spinach, broccoli, chard, lettuce, kale, and collards. Also nuts, seeds, lentils, and beans.

There are animal-based food options as well such as eggs, fish, and red meat, but I figured it is usually safer to suggest veggies to most questions here. If you eat meat, then have a slice or two of roast beast with your dark green veggies to boost iron availability and absorption.