personal news, vegan, nut allergy

[La Texican]

We recently decided to become vegans. Sometimes my hubby doesn't have time to stop for lunch, so he bought a vegan protein mix and some almond milk. He ate it at work and within 15 minutes he had hives and trouble breathing. It was scary while he drove home alone for me to take him to the hospital. He was wheezing and gasping and I stayed on the phone, writing down every road he turned on in case I needed to send someone after him (if he passed out).

 

He's been to an allergist for headaches and got that prick test done on his back and they said he doesn't have food allergies, only environmental allergies. The hospital said it's possible to develop an allergy overnight as an adult. They said they've had people develop seafood allergies as an adult, and then not believe them because they've eaten seafood their whole life. Well then they end up right back in the hospital. He has always eaten nuts..but this was a severe allergy that could have killed him. Now he's got an epipen. We just have to go to another allergist to find out for sure what it was. We're going to go to a large city allergist because I don't want to trust the same allergist that missed this the first time. Ughh..we're trying the vegiterian diet because he's older and has high cholesterol.

 

Several of his friends have had open heart surgery. He wanted to become more healthy to prevent taking the same road. We already ate well balanced home cooked meals and not a lot of processed or fried stuff, but his cholesterol was high. He still wants to be a vegetarian. Eggs are supposed to be high in cholesterol. Vegans are supposed to use beans and nuts for protein. We're on a budget. Am I going to have to hire a dietician or take an online dietician course? Anyone have any great leads for books or websites, or reasonably priced courses to help me figure out this new diet? I appreciate the recipe links I got in my last thread. The vegan eggplant bacon was the first good tasting eggplant recipe I've ever cooked.

 

ETA: my sister just said insurance might cover a dietician between the allergy and the cholesterol. That's good news. I feel less at a loss for what to do.

[Dana]

:grouphug:

 

It's very scary. That's a reaction I would have given an Epi for.

http://www.foodallergy.org/

FARE has good information.

Food Allergies for Dummies is also one of the better books when I started reading lots about allergies.

 

You can definitely get a referral to a dietician, but the one we were referred to by our pediatrician was useless. YMMV.

[Ellie]

:grouphug:

 

Eggs would not be on the menu for vegans.

 

I hope you continue to research the connection between elevated cholesterol and animal-based foods. It isn't as clear-cut as you might think. My cholesterol came down 100 points in two months when I started doing Atkins.

[busymama7]

You might want to do some research on your own about the dietary cholesterol/heart disease risk. I personally believe we have been misinformed for years and years about a low fat/low cholesterol diet. You may decide that vegan/vegetarian is not the way to go.

[Hunter's Moon]

It isn't necessarily the allergist's fault for missing the allergen. Unless one of the testing spots came up clearly red and swollen and itchy, then the doctor would not be able to tell. 

 

Unfortunately, allergy testing is not all that accurate. I test positive for certain allergens on my RAST (blood) testing that I have eaten and continue to eat with no problems. Same with the skin testing. The only true way to know is an in-office challenge, where they either inject you little by little with the allergen and keep building up the amount, or you consume it. 

 

Allergies can be tricky  :grouphug:

[Cinder]

A friend of ours found out about her nut allergy in a similar way. She was in her 40's at the time.

 

As far as the high cholesterol, for dh, significantly reducing simple carbs--bread, sugar, potatoes, corn, etc.--worked better than adopting a vegetarian/low fat diet. That is just our experience. He eats eggs several times a week--with lots of vegetables--and it doesn't seem to affect his cholesterol. Another major factor is exercise. He had always enjoyed running but about 6 years ago he got really serious about running regularly. Between that and his lower carb diet his cholesterol numbers are showing a little improvement. They showed no improvement at all with the vegetarian diet and his triglycerides were still extremely high; they are now in a normal range.

 

:grouphug:

 

 

[La Texican]

Huh? I always heard high cholesterol was from red meat. I didn't realize carbs had anything to do with it. He would love to exercise more, and he's been walking or riding bikes in the evenings. Elisheba, what's the blood test? Is there something besides the prick test they should do?

[Pawz4me]

FWIW, the Duke University Lipid Clinic recommends a low glycemic (low carb) diet for cholesterol issues. Their website says ten years of research has led them to believe that's the most effective diet to lower triglycerides and raise HDL (the "good" cholesterol). I have a copy of their recommendations (which I don't believe are available online) and they say as many as seven eggs a week is fine. But as others have said, eggs aren't a vegan food.

[Ellie]

Huh? I always heard high cholesterol was from red meat. I didn't realize carbs had anything to do with it. He would love to exercise more, and he's been walking or riding bikes in the evenings. Elisheba, what's the blood test? Is there something besides the prick test they should do?

 

Back to studying for you! :D

 

There have never been any studies which prove that foods high in cholesterol (i.e., red meat, eggs) actually cause people to have high cholesterol levels. In fact, there isn't really solid proof that high cholesterol actually *causes* heart disease.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Huh? I always heard high cholesterol was from red meat. I didn't realize carbs had anything to do with it. He would love to exercise more, and he's been walking or riding bikes in the evenings. Elisheba, what's the blood test? Is there something besides the prick test they should do?

 

When I had food allergy testing done a few years back (to confirm an egg allergy and check for others) it was a blood test not a prick test. They took a small vial of blood and tested from that. 

[Dana]

I also wonder if it could be the protein powder and not the nuts. I assume the protein source was soy. Some people have a problem with soy. If he was not eating packaged stuff before it is possible he didn't encounter much soy in his diet before.

The anaphylactic reaction is more likely the nuts, although soy is one of the 8.

[Dana]

When I had food allergy testing done a few years back (to confirm an egg allergy and check for others) it was a blood test not a prick test. They took a small vial of blood and tested from that.

Although unfortunately, the blood tests can also give false positives. The only current true test is a food challenge in an allergist's office.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Although unfortunately, the blood tests can also give false positives. The only current true test is a food challenge in an allergist's office.

 

And false negatives....

[ChristyB in TN]

We're vegan and I really don't care for protein powders. I do love real food. No dietician is necessary unless you all are endurance athletes or have special protein needs. Maybe go back to eating fish (salmon would be great) for a while and eat vegan most of the time so you simply don't have the stress. Make your own seitan as a great protein source, I just learned how to make it in my crockpot and we've been eating Reuben sandwiches all week. Of course there are zillions of opinions on lowering heart disease risk, just choose the one that makes sense to you. :) I don't think there's only one correct or most effective way, just the one that works for you now. I'm vegan, my husband has added fish back in to his diet, we make it work. :) let me know if I can help you. :)

[La Texican]

We already cut out the eggs and chose vegan over vegitarian because I thoughts eggs had high cholesterol. Ellie, I told him what you said. He doesn't need 100 points, he only needs 30. Lol, certainly time to study.

[La Texican]

ChristyB, I bought a little seiten and tofu and veganaise this shopping trip, don't know what we like yet. I've been having fun trying all these recipes. I'm nervous to cook now because we're not sure whether it was something in the powder, or the almond milk. But what's your favorite seitan or tofu recipe? I bought one package of each.

 

eta: the kids and I will eat the seitn and tofu for lunch while he's at work in case he's allergic to soy

[ChristyB in TN]

The seitan can be substituted for anything you might do with chicken, I suppose. Chop it up and add Veganaise (best thing ever created on the whole dang planet) some chopped green onion, maybe pecans and dried cranberries and you have a mock chicken salad. I think there's a recipe on my blog mywildveganways.com. Tofu is great as a scramble with salt and pepper, maybe some nutritional yeast, turmeric for color and because its darn good for you, and some Earth Balance as a scrambled egg substitute! We like sliced avocado and thinly sliced onions on top. I'm heading out for a run and am going to blast you with some recipes when I get back. :) you can do this.

[ChristyB in TN]

Oh, tofu is better and has a friendlier texture if you freeze it overnight and thaw a day or so before you cook with it, unless you are using smooth or silken tofu and you don't freeze it first. Soft tofu is good for sauces, anything milky.

[ChristyB in TN]

One more, seitan doesn't contain soy, at least it shouldn't.

[Barbara H]

Just in case it helps you or someone else.

There is a coupon good until the end of the year for a $0 copay on Epi-pens. I was glad to find this because we have a pretty high co-pay on Epi-pens and you should have more than one.  https://www.epipen.com/en/copay-offer

[Hunter's Moon]

Elisheba, what's the blood test? Is there something besides the prick test they should do?

 

The RAST test is more of a preliminary test. It measures levels of IgE antibodies when introduced to different allergens. It is usually the first step in allergy testing at a primary care, though at an allergen they tend to cut to the chase and do the skin testing. 

 

It could be a good start. The blood testing has its downsides, but so does the skin testing. 

[HappyLady]

I haven't read the other responses, but if it turns out he has a nut allergy, it's not the end of the world if you want to become vegan.  I know plenty of vegans that have nut allergies and get plenty of protein.  The whole protein thing is so way overblown that it's the first thing people think of when it comes to their diet.  You honestly don't need as much protein as you think you do.  And all foods have protein in them so unless you're eating a sugar diet, you're getting protein whenever you eat.  :)

 

I would recommend looking up Eat To Live or the Engine 2 diet.  I'm in a lot of groups on Facebook and the results people have had following those two ways of eating is just remarkable.  People are getting off meds they've been on for decades, serious health issues are all but non-existent, they look and feel 10 - 20 years younger.......  I really can't say enough about a whole foods, plant based diet.

 

Good luck!  :)

[dirty ethel rackham]

We already cut out the eggs and chose vegan over vegitarian because I thoughts eggs had high cholesterol. Ellie, I told him what you said. He doesn't need 100 points, he only needs 30. Lol, certainly time to study.

Yes, eggs do contain cholesterol.  But dietary cholesterol (in the foods you eat) does not have much of an impact on serum cholesterol (what's in your blood.)  Also, if he only needs to go down by 30 points, then it really doesn't mean he has a serious problem.  For many, just lowering sugar and simple carb intake, adding oatmeal to the diet (the regular kind, not the quick cooking) and upping exercise will help drop that pretty quickly.  Dh takes vitamin D regularly as he was low.  This regimen helped him lower his by 25 points.  Very little effort on his part.

 

Just in case it helps you or someone else.

There is a coupon good until the end of the year for a $0 copay on Epi-pens. I was glad to find this because we have a pretty high co-pay on Epi-pens and you should have more than one.  https://www.epipen.com/en/copay-offer

Oh, how I wish I had seen this earlier.  I just picked up my Epi-pens today (and paid my $40 co-pay) after finally getting a scrip for one due to my shellfish allergy.  While we were out of town this past weekend trying to find safe places to eat, I was scolded by several people in our group for not having one. 

[HappyLady]

Here's someone that doesn't use any nuts in her recipes:

 

http://www.eatunprocessed.com/index.html

[sbgrace]

My husband developed anaphylaxis suddenly at 38 to a food he had eaten previously with no issues. He had no other allergies, food or otherwise, prior. Food allergy tests are pretty accurate for negative results. They are notoriously inaccurate for positive. If they tested nuts back then and he was negative, he might not have been allergic then. I know two people with anaphylaxis to weird/rare things. So it could have been something in the powder, though nuts are more likely.

 

Make sure hubby knows that next time he has any sort of reaction he really needs an epi pen and 911 call. Delaying the epi pen can be fatal. Most people who die of anaphylaxis got epi treatment, they just had a delay. The body can reach a point of no return, and sometimes that point comes very quickly. Epi pens wear off, so the 911 is important. Hopefully the doctor told him all that.