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No Nuts Allowed
Started
by Iggysfan
on November 18, 2009
My son has severe peanut and tree nut allergies. More than some of the great vegan products I am finding out there either contain nuts or have been processed in a facility that handles nuts. At this time I am buying my son one type of food, while shopping for separate items for my husband and myself (we are trying to convert from vegetarian to vegan). Am I making this harder than it should be? or does anyone else have the same concerns?
I advise parents with children who have severe allergies to consider eliminating all sources of those allergens from the entire living space. Depending on your sons age, the mere existence of products containing nut ingredients increases the risk that he might accidentally get some of it in him. It also dramatically increases your stress by having to be constantly monitoring which foods he is either allowed to or not allowed to have. You will of course have to monitor every single thing he eats when he's out of your home, but in your home you may want to try to make it as safe as possible. Depending on your sons allergy severity, you may want to talk to your physician about keeping an Epi-Pen. it is a pre-measured syringe filled with epinephrine for use in the event of an emergency allergic reaction.
A whole foods, plant-based diet like that found in TheKindDiet can easily be modified to eliminate nuts. This relatively small restriction does not significantly reduce the nutritious quality of the diet. Even without nuts a plant-based diet is nutritionally sufficient.
Justin,
Thanks for the input. My son is 3 y/o. He does have to ingest to create an anaphylactic reaction. Thankfully, he does not have the air particle severity. We do have our kitchen gated and locked, he is not allowed in without adult supervision and we always keep our 'nut' containing foods up high and labeled with warning labels for babysitters (etc). We do carry multiple Epi pens at all times. I know as he gets older, and is able to find his way around our kitchen and not necessarily be able to read labels, we will have to eliminate nuts from our kitchen in total. It's just, I wish there weren't so many great sounding recipes that included nuts. Is there anything that can duplicate the texture of the nuts, say for the granola recipe, for example?
Yes he can, he actualy eats sunflower butter for his pb&j alternative....great idea. I am just not much of an improvisor when it comes to recipes. I am one of those people who can't figure out what to do if I don't have the exact ingredients. But, I never thought of sunflower seeds...still a soft, but crunchy texture...like nuts! Thanks for the help.
soaked buckwheat groats (found in health food stores) are very safe and amazing for granola. They are seeds and very neutral. I will upload a granola recipe for you. Hemp seed milk would work wonderful for him too.
4 cups buckwheat groats soaked for 24 hours (then rinsed well and drained)
1 cup dates (soaked for 20 minutes and then pureed in food processor)
1 tsp cinnamon cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup raisins or currants (soaked)
1 cup sunflower seeds(chopped)
2 apples (cored and roughly chopped)
Pinch of Celtic sea salt
Puree dates in food processor. Add all other ingredients into a bowl and mix with buckwheat groats. Add date paste.
Put on cookie sheet and spread out to 1/2 " thick and place in oven on lowest temperature for 4-6 hours. This is a gentle granola. Great for allergy sufferers (celiac too). This can also be done 'raw vegan' by dehydrating for 24 hours at 100F.
Have you considered Bee Pollen. For children over 5, 1 tbsp per day is fine to start and it is considered a superfood. Bee Pollen helps support autoimmune disorders and is known to help neutralize many allergies. you can mix it in a smoothie in the morning for him.
He needs his immunity system kickstarted.
All the very best,
Kelly
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