it is official.

My allergies have fueled the fire to get me eating food minus preservatives. I would like CassTheSass to be the captain of this thread, I hear she knows a lot. Also would like elise to be lieutenant.

Discuss science journals, recipes, grocery lists, stores and deals.

I shall start with elise's grocery list : mixed greens, goat cheese, avocados, sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, pecans, strawberries, apples, bananas, milk, cranberry juice, carrot juice, hot tea.

[Edited on February 17, 2012 at 11:33 AM. Reason : .]

2/17/2012 11:26:44 AM

Don't buy processed food. [/thread]

2/17/2012 11:28:55 AM

yep

2/17/2012 11:31:30 AM

Quote :

"good preservative free stores"

??

2/17/2012 11:32:47 AM

Quote :

" Sulphur dioxide in foods and beverages: Its use as a preservative and its effect on asthma Abstract Sulphur dioxide is widely used in the food and drinks industries for its properties as a preservative and antioxidant. Whilst harmless to healthy persons when used in recommended concentrations, it can induce asthma when inhaled or ingested by sensitive subjects, even in high dilution. About one in nine asthmatics gives a history of asthma worsened by drinking ‘soft drinks’ containing sulphur dioxide. They are comparatively young and their asthma is predominantly extrinsic. The amount of sulphur dioxide in foods is limited by regulation in the UK, by directive in the EEC, and by recommendations to ‘good manufacturing practice’ in the USA. A list is given of foods and beverages commonly containing sulphur dioxide. These are predominantly dried fruits and vegetables, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Maximal permitted concentrations are quoted. Exposure to sulphur dioxide may also occur during the manufacture and preparation of foods and drinks in the factory, restaurant and home."

2/17/2012 11:34:50 AM

sorry to hear your body is trying to kill you. :-/

2/17/2012 11:43:19 AM

Quote :

"Case reports Female aged 21, medical student. 2 years' history of urticaria occurring almost daily. Confluent lesions up to 15 cm diameter. No other allergic manifestations. Maternal uncle had hay-fever. The history did not disclose any environmental allergens. Skin tests were negative to fifteen common allergens including seven foods. No eosinophilia. Incomplete relief from antihistamines. Urticaria ceased after commencing the additive-free diet and has not recurred during 12 months' observation. There was one brief relapse when she underwent minor surgery and took a hospital diet. Male aged 58, manager of a hops showroom. Intrinsic asthma and rhinitis of 20 years' duration. Sensitive to aspirin, but no other known provocations. Numerous polypectomies and various operations on nose and sinuses. Daughter had asthma and rhinitis. Skin tests negative to fourteen common allergens. No eosinophilia. He has been free from asthmatic symptoms for 8 months since commencing the additive-free diet, and spirometry has shown a corresponding improvement, the forced expiratory volume in 1 sec rising from 1-93 litres to 2-53 litres (predicted = 2-90 litres). A 36-year-old housewife and laboratory technician gave a 6 years' history of asthma and rhinitis occurring annually from May to July, but these had spontaneously failed to recur during the summer in which she presented with new symptoms. For 2 months she had been troubled by severe generalized urticaria. Bouts of angioedema involving the face and tongue occurred every few days. Exposure to irritant gases in her laboratory were not followed by respiratory or cutaneous symptoms. Her two children had asthma. Skin tests were negative to sixteen common allergens including grass pollen and four foods. A nasal test with grass pollen extract was negative. The FEVi was normal. No eosinophilia. She was put on an additive-free diet and the urticaria and angioedema did not recur, except for one relapse which occurred after eating preserved orange peel in a cake. After 3 months she ventured a normal diet with impunity. "

Quote :

"Discussion Asthma, rhinitis and urticaria following ingestion of foods or beverages may be mediated by immune reactions. An indication of the responsible allergen may be obtained from skin tests, which often give false negatives, and from the radioallergosorbent test (RAST) which may give false positives where foods are concerned. Identification of a food allergen is most reliably achieved by an elimination diet followed by provocation by ingestion of the suspected food. This can be a protracted and tedious procedure requiring a high level of co-operation on the pa rt o f t he patient, which is not always obtainable. Furthermore, results are sometimes paradoxical orAdditive-free diet in allergy Ali inconsistent. Such inconsistent and puzzhng results could be due to an additive which is present in some samples, but not in others, of a particular food. It is logical, therefore, to precede elimination and challenge diets by a trial additive-free diet, which in appropriate cases may solve the clinical problem. It is worth considering the possibility that food additives may play a role in causing asthma even when patients do not give a history of reaction to foods. Stenius & Lemola (1976) found that 6 5% of their aspirin sensitive patients and 64% of their tartrazine sensitive patients were unaware of these sensitivities. McDonald, Mathison & Stevenson (1972) and Michaelsson & Juhlin (1973) reported similar findings. In the four cases reported here there was no history of aggravation of symptoms by foods. Persistent symptoms may be due to continuous exposure to a provocative agent whose relevance is thus not recognised. Further studies are indicated on the eifect of an additive-free diet on asthma, rhinitis and urticaria in intrinsic cases, and in extrinsic cases where relapses or persistent symptoms cannot always be explained by exposure to an identified allergen. "

[Edited on February 17, 2012 at 11:49 AM. Reason : .]

2/17/2012 11:44:02 AM

I have heard, a good rule for eating healthy/preservative free, is to shop around the perimeter of the store and avoid the aisles. The perimeter is where all the produce and shit is

2/17/2012 11:56:57 AM

and ice cream.

2/17/2012 12:17:57 PM

grimx, you are dead to me. ^^ that is a good/simple rule, never really thought about that.

2/17/2012 12:19:04 PM

1. the pony stays.
2. it would have been cool to have a heads up about this thread.

my allergy/sensitivity/whatever you like to call it is more of a reaction to sulfites than anything. preservatives loosely fall into this category because sulfites are one of many preservatives out there.

i'm by no means an expert. i just know what my body does and does not react to. my allergy varies - there are some things high in sulfites that i react to really bad and other things that i don't react to at all. i find the processed stuff is worse for me than the foods naturally high in sulfites. bottom line - do some research and the rest is pretty much trial and error. i still make mistakes and sometimes i get annoyed and have a "fuck you sulfites" attitude and eat chocolate and then cry when i swell up. i'm a girl - it happens.

but if you have questions, i guess you could PM me or write here. whatever works.

[Edited on February 17, 2012 at 12:25 PM. Reason : processed]

2/17/2012 12:25:05 PM

does chocolate have to have sulfites? I couldn;t do without it

2/17/2012 12:27:04 PM

yes but a lot of people don't react to it. apparently i do

2/17/2012 12:28:54 PM

aw, that is not cool.

and please forgive my lack of notice, elise told me you helped her some... my intention was to move it to the lounge first.

2/17/2012 12:36:00 PM

i've helped elise with a specific sensitivity that both of us have. preservatives are a very broad range - i'm not allergic nor an expert in all preservatives. i only know what affects me. the rest is trial and error.

2/17/2012 12:39:26 PM

yea, but I figured some personal experience might be informative, even if my allergies are different. Any advice is welcome, from anyone.

2/17/2012 12:41:08 PM

so tell me - what are your "allergies?" because you have yet to define anything that you might be sensitive to

[Edited on February 17, 2012 at 12:47 PM. Reason : and again i am not an expert - i just know what i am sensitive to]

2/17/2012 12:46:46 PM

i'm allergic to stupidity.

and this thread has my face swelling up.
maybe thats just from beating my head against a wall after reading most of it.

2/17/2012 12:48:43 PM

we need more ponies.

2/17/2012 12:51:19 PM

2/17/2012 12:57:14 PM

i imagine the gif with the pony banging its head against the piano is how grimx feels about this thread

2/17/2012 12:58:43 PM

2/17/2012 1:17:33 PM

What has happened to the lounge?

2/17/2012 2:44:00 PM

This thread got moved from chit chat is what happened lol.

2/17/2012 2:45:49 PM

SEND IT BACK

2/17/2012 2:49:32 PM

I just buy fresh produce like crazy. Unsustainable? I guess. But better for this body. I'm kinda addicted to eating weird packaged stuff from the chinese grocery store though. I haven't felt bad afterwards, but I guess I believe that food intolerances are real. However, I think most people who are suspicous or self-diagnose themselves generally don't take a scientific approach to determining what sets off their intolerances.

Avocados, strawberries and goat cheese don't sound like stuff people who think they might have food intolerances should eat unless they did an elimination diet.
Here's a scientific one (from the australian govt, haha) that details specific "failsafe" foods and products and the small risks each one carries. You have to restrict yourself to this list for like 3 months to confirm that you do indeed have an intolerance that can be avoided. They caution that if you don't follow it exactly or try to do "your version" it will not work. Sounds like sage advice to me...
http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/the-rpah-elimination-diet-failsafe/

Quote :

"The failsafe diet excludes strong tasting and smelling foods and environmental chemicals, in particular: About fifty additives including colours (like tartrazine, sunset yellow), flavours, preservatives and antioxidants (sulphites, nitrates, benzoates, sorbates, parabens). Salicylates (aspirin) and polyphenols (natural flavours, colours and preservatives) found in a wide range of fruits and vegetables as well as in man-made NSAIDs and COX II inhibitors. Neurotransmitters: free glutamates (MSG) and amines (histamine, serotonin, dopamine, phenylethylamine, tyramine and others) in aged proteins and fermented foods like cheese, game and hung meat. Environmental chemicals and strong smells like perfumes, most commercial cosmetics, scented and coloured toiletries and especially mint and menthol products. Some pharmaceutical drugs, including aspirin, all NSAIDS including ibuprofen, and the methyl-salicylates found in decongestants and anti-inflammatory creams."

apparently gluten free flour can have sulfite residues, according to something i read and don't feel like finding right now to cite.

Newman's own has sulfite-free dried fruits if you gotta get your fix.

Sulfite-free wine, beer, bread, and soysauce are most likely hoaxes. anything fermented has sulfites.

2/17/2012 4:03:52 PM

^ totally agree.

The sulfite free wines are a joke. I learned that the hard way last year

What kind of bothers me (this is slightly off topic) is that people see me now and are like "wow you've lost so much weight what did you do?" and I explain that figuring out my food allergy was a big step but also keeping up with a healthy diet and exercise is key. But of course their response is "well maybe I should be sulfite free too!" this goes with the gluten thing - nothing will happen to you unless you are truly interolarant to it and just because you might have an intolerance/sensitivity/allergy, doesn't mean you'll magically be skinny either.

2/17/2012 5:43:31 PM

http://www.backtonaturefoods.com/

We buy the hell out of their crackers.

I'm taste sensitive to a lot of preservatives and get really really bitter tastes when eating something with them--bread is the biggest offender.

[Edited on February 17, 2012 at 9:01 PM. Reason : a]

2/17/2012 8:59:22 PM

http://www.allergyclinic.co.uk/oas.htm

So, I'm a little like grimx when it comes to "allergies" and poo-poo anyone who says that they have an allergy to something if they haven't been to a doctor or specialist. I also have a huge problem with allergies, sensitivity, and intolerance being used interchangeably because they are not the same thing.

That said, my husband has a pretty severe latex allergy that worsens with exposure. Over the years, it has evolved from simple contact dermatitis to difficulty breathing and throat swelling. Because of how it has worsened, we've gotten on top of identifying the things in his every day environment that contain latex. We were surprised to find out that latex allergies are related to certain food allergies (like banana and avocado, much to my husband's dismay). This website has been pretty helpful with its lists.

2/17/2012 9:32:31 PM

Something is affecting me, no idea what yet, but both the doctor and I suspect it is food allergies. I just had blood drawn this week to do some testing of a broad range of things, in case it isn't a food allergy. I am also being referred to a specialist once the blood tests come back.

Cass has helped me narrow down what might be going on because our symptoms were similar. I have been dealing with this for a little over a month now, and I just added cheeses and avocados back in to my diet and had no reaction. I can't remember if I took strawberries out or not, so I have zero clue on that one, although I really only reacted to sodas, fast food, food from restaurants, and prepackaged stuff I cooked at home. Oh, and anything with gelatin in it. That shit is the devil now. I miss my fruit gummies.

Anyways, a combination of changing my diet to predominantly fresh food and meds from my doctor has kept me reaction free for 3 whole days! That is the longest I have gone since this started.

2/17/2012 10:10:38 PM

^^ i hope my sensitivity doesn't get worse, then. I can't walk in to a hospital nowadays without breaking out in a rash around my nose and mouth

2/17/2012 10:16:21 PM

I hate to say I might wind up in here. I have IBS (bad inflammation), lactose deficiency, and some other sensitivities (though thankfully no allergies that we know of--though doctor thinks there might be something causing my IBS to worsen, but it would be CANCER HOORAY).

2/18/2012 1:57:58 AM

^^Honestly, most major medical facilities have moved away from using latex because of the prevalence of latex allergies, especially among healthcare workers. I'm skeptical that there would be that level of latex dust in the air in most hospitals because of it. If you don't have problems when you come in direct contact with latex, I wonder if you're sensitive to some other airborne in the hospital. I know that Josh's latex allergy doesn't bother him just walking into a hospital.

Josh swells and breaks out wherever he comes in direct contact with latex and if the contact is prolonged, he starts to have difficulty breathing. The big culprits are condoms (obviously), balloons, rubber gloves, rubberized handles, balls and certain toys (especially dog toys), and some adhesive bandages. He has a lot of problems with rubberized handles because they lurk everywhere!

2/18/2012 8:32:22 AM

I used to nanny for a family and the daughter had a severe latex allergy like ^ your husband. Scary stuff. Whenever we went places she would have to ask questions about latex in the kid play grounds and stuff.

2/18/2012 8:50:00 AM

i'm not reading anything in this thread because the first post was all that was necessary:

Quote :

"Don't buy processed food. [/thread] "

2/18/2012 9:31:54 AM

Confession: I still eat frozen waffles. I'm going to organic hippie hell.

2/18/2012 9:56:30 AM

Artificial food dye and hyperactivity.

Any thoughts?

My mother is a firm believer in it and purged it from my diet as a kid because I was off the chain. I tend to do the same thing with my son, but without the same vigilance.

2/18/2012 10:15:04 AM

[Edited on February 18, 2012 at 10:52 AM. Reason : lets do lunch, k?]

2/18/2012 10:52:09 AM

How long do y'all keep your nitrate/nitrite free deli meats?

Just curious because they seem kind of slimy (for lack of a better word) after just four or five days to me. I hate throwing away expensive meat, but I'm not trying to get sick either. It would make sense that they wouldn't last as long without the same preservatives, but I've never really seen this addressed.

[Edited on February 18, 2012 at 1:25 PM. Reason : s]

2/18/2012 1:24:32 PM

^ honestly, if it doesn't smell off and there's no obvious sign of it going bad (green spots, namely), i eat it

that said, i almost always cook my deli meats (usually just in the microwave), so that makes me feel better about it

2/18/2012 1:32:48 PM

I can't eat slimy deli meat. Fucking grosses me out. If I don't think I'll eat it all within 2-3 days I don't buy it.

2/18/2012 5:54:15 PM

^this, very much so.

I don't eat a lot of sandwiches with meat on them, but I think if I did I would just cook a turkey or whatever and then freeze it in to maybe 4 day portions.

2/18/2012 5:56:08 PM

Quote :

"If you don't have problems when you come in direct contact with latex"

oh, I have problems. I won't touch a rubber band, and if I somehow come in contact with latex, I'll wash the affected area for 5 minutes with soap and water. i don't fuck with that shit. I can even "smell" latex at this point, which makes other people when I say it's around. I watch myself in Petsmart when I go near the dog toys.

2/18/2012 8:15:24 PM

I can smell mold way before anyone else. It's really annoying, especially because now I'd rather camp than stay in a cheap motel. I don't like camping.

2/18/2012 10:00:23 PM

Quote :

"Artificial food dye and hyperactivity. "

My sister would get super hyperactive after having red food dye! It was insane!




For awhile I thought I was developing some sort of flood sensitivity, turns out I just can't eat kashi go lean crunch

2/19/2012 8:40:56 AM

Quote :

"Don't buy processed food. [/thread]"

2/20/2012 3:47:06 PM

^yes, yesss... don't buy processed foods. I got that, I wanted a discussion about the stuff surrounding that choice: research, tips, etc

2/20/2012 5:18:22 PM

So, I got my tests back. I have super duper high histamine levels. I'm supposed to limit my intake of preservatives and artificial food dyes, and there is also a long list of food with naturally occurring histamines in them. I had already been attempting to get sulfites out of my diet, so eliminating foods with histamines in them is no big deal. And I still get add stuff back in to my diet to see what works and what doesn't, although I really think I've got it down.


I am definitely getting Rosacea get really red all over from eating chocolate, though.


Ooh! I can drink Beck's and Absolute vodka with no issues. <3 the old german purity laws for beer

[Edited on February 28, 2012 at 11:16 PM. Reason : not sure if it is actually rosacea]

2/28/2012 11:11:58 PM