Everyone of us love to eat a variety of food items ranging from fried, grilled, toasted, deep fried, etc. Is your mouth watering when I talk about food items? Hmmm….however, for some people, certain food items would create allergy and they should avoid eating such food items. What is food allergy? It is the immunologic effect that is caused by the existence of food proteins.

A simple search in any of the famous search engines will give you a list of books and materials that details about food allergy. I recently came across a book titled “5 Years without Food: The Food Allergy Survival Guide: How to Overcome Your Food Allergies and Recover Good Healthy.” An interesting book that explains what is food allergy and food items that would cause allergy. If you are allergic towards a certain food item, it doesn’t mean you will have to forfeit the nutrients that you would have got, am I rite? You also get to understand the food items that can be taken as a supplement or as an alternative. It also explains few treatments related to food allergy. Don’t forget to read the book.

Apart from the tips given in the book, I too have listed a few, which would benefit readers who are prone to food allergy.

In general, food items such as shellfish, fish, soya, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts may create allergy in adults. Does it mean kids are not allergic towards food items? Definitely not…Milk, eggs, peanuts are known to create allergies in children. It is always a good idea to be knowledgeable about the food item that are allergic to you.

A key to food items and allergies:

1. Allergic towards egg: A person who is allergic towards egg is said to be hypersensitive towards nutritional substances derived from eggs such as yolk or the white of egg, albumin, Globulin, eggnog, etc. This may result in overreaction of the immune system.

It is advisable to stay away from food items made with egg if you are allergic towards egg. However, you need not worry about not eating egg. Many subsititutes for egg are available in the market today, which includes potato starch, tapioca, etc., and you may use them without any trouble. You can even use apple sauce as an alternative to egg.

2. Allergic towards tree nuts: What is tree nut allergy? Hypersensitive towards tree nuts is said to be called as tree nut allergy. Don’t confuse yourself with tree nuts and peanuts allergy. Both are different. Dry fruits are believed to be tree nuts where as peanuts are legumes. Children are prone to nut allergies than adults.

You can use soy nuts as an alternative to tree nuts. If you are of the opinion that soy nut is a nut, I would like to clarify a point here. It is not a nut, but actually soybean that goes through the procedure of soaking, which is then baked to get the crispy soy nut.

3. Allergy towards milk substances: Are you allergic towards proteins that are present in cow’s milk? If yes, you are allergic towards milk substances.

You may use rice milk or soy milk as a substitute to cow’s milk. This way you get the nutrients that you would have got from taking cow’s milk.

4. Allergic towards seafood: Allergy created by the intake of food items such as scaly fishes, crustaceans or shellfishes is termed as allergic towards seafood.

The best way is to stay away from seafoods. If you use a lot of canned food items, ensure that they don’t contain ingredients that are made of seafood.

Be picky about the food items that you eat. This may help you surmount the allergic reaction. Certain allergies can be cured in a short period of time; however, you can’t treat certain food allergies in your entire life span.