Allergies and eating raw

Hello all,

I’ve been struggling recently with eating raw, and I’m wondering if I’m just on a hard road raw-wise because of my allergies. I can’t eat nuts or seeds, and I’m finding it really hard to stick to even 80% without them – I’m getting hungry, and worse than hungry, I’m getting run down!! I still remember how good I felt and how good my skin looked when I first went raw, and I want to get back there.

Does anyone else have experience of being raw with allergies – nut allergies even better! And does anyone have any suggestions of things that I could try to replace the fats/proteins that nuts and seeds offer? I am so, so sick of avocado! (and I never, never thought I would say that!). It seems seeds are harder to avoid than nuts too – they creep into so many recipes. If there’s anyone else who’s worked out something to replace them with – please help me!!

thanks all.

Victoria

Comments

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    What about Hemp Seed??? It taste wonderful is filling and has a ton of nutrients…

  • Vicllo – don’t give up! I recommend reading the book The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham, it really helped me change my perspective about how to get optimal nutrients.

    When I first went raw, I kept eating so many nuts/seeds but my daughter is allergic to nuts, and she started breaking out in hives all summer! I finally had to just give away my nut/seed stash to my friend, like over $50 worth of nuts/seeds! My daughter is now better, and I won’t be bringing any nuts or most seeds back into the house. I do like to eat hemp seeds, and chia seeds, but you can definitely eat a healthy raw diet without them.

    What helped me switch over was not looking at all of these yummy recipes; just stick to simple meals of fruit and salads. I’ve made some great soup/dips with tomatoes, basil, eggplant, olives, and garlic all blended together. I’ve also made a yummy dessert of blended bananas and raw cacao powder, then pour blueberries on top. very simple, very good.

    The 80/10/10 diet maintains that we should be getting 80% of our calories carbohydrates, mainly fruit. 10% of our calories should be obtained protein, derived from dark leafy greens and other veggies and fruit, and 10% should be fat, again derived from dark leafy greens, veggies, and fruit. with a tiny bit of supplementing with overt fats like avocados, coconut, etc.

    I hope that helps a little.

  • Thanks guys!

    Chia seeds are one thing that I haven’t been able to try yet. I’m not sure if they have a different name in the UK? I haven’t seen them in our local healthfood store. I have tried with hemp seed but I still have a reaction. Weirdly, cooked nut or seed oils are fine (so, I used to be able to have sesame oil or hemp seed oil) but good, raw oils have always been a problem for me. I have a skin reaction from them – anything they touch in my mouth or on the way down gets inflamed and irritated and causes me no end of trouble.

    littlegems – thanks for that tip. I’ll order up 80/10/10. I have heard of it, but I sort of assumed the 10% fat would be nuts and seeds as usual! By the way, do you encourage your daughter to supplement at all? That’s the other thing I’ve been thinking about doing as a half way house. I do eat a variety of stuff, I can just feel I’m really lacking something at the moment and I’m not sure what it is. I have very dry skin and my hair and nails are getting a little frayed at the ends…

    ps. Bananas + just about anything is good in my book!

  • Vicllo – my daughter is only 6, and while she’s been raised as vegetarian and has never eaten meat, and very little dairy (she was allergic to dairy until last year, and I don’t bring dairy into the house) I don’t force her to eat raw. She loves fruit as much as me, and since trying the 80/10/10 diet, which basically calls for eating large quantities of fruit, I just let her eat as much fruit as she wants.

    For lunches, I pack her 3 portions of different fruit, a homemade fruit leather (banana is her favorite), and a crunchy/ bread type item. She LOVES sourdough bread, and so far doesn’t like my homemade raw breads, but I’m still trying to find one that she likes that isn’t nut based. I have been sprouting wheat berries, and blending it with dates and then dehydrating it (sometimes mixing in banana and cinnamon, or squash and cinnamon from a recipe on this site).

    She’s a picky eater, so I still provide her cooked veggie favorites: rice cheese /sprouted tortilla quesadilla, cooked beans everyday (black bean burritos, lentil soup, chick peas, kidney beans) avocado, broccoli, veggie burgers, etc.

    I only give her a kids multi-vitamin, but so far she seems healthy and looks and feels great.

  • FruginiFrugini Raw Newbie

    What about sprouted foods for protein? Sprouted garbanzo beans are great for hummus, falafel, or in salad. That might give you a break from avocado.

  • beanybeeganbeanybeegan Raw Newbie

    I was just going to ask about the legume family. many legume seeds taste good raw. Like mung, adzuki, lentil and French lentils, also peas and black eyed peas. What about grains? Tho they are a seed. I have seen recipes with carrot pulp for crackers, instead of using nuts or grains. Thankfully, there are many recipes here where you could get oodles of ideas.

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