SOS: Nut Allergy & Raw Food Prep

[flubber]

:confused:

Hi All....I'm Sara (flubber). I am new to the raw food diet. My sister gave me Alissa Cohen's book as a New Year's gift and I really want to do this. I am 15 pounds overweight and have more aches and pains then I ever did in my twenties. My spouse is a physician and is on board with us trying this. Here's the dilemma: my second child has a severe nut allergy to the point where ingestion of ANY of it, accidental cross contamination or otherwise could send her to the hospital. What should I do for a substitute when preparing the many raw recipes that require nuts? I can sneak out of the house and munch on some at the whole food store when she is at daycare, but I cannot use them in my recipes at home because the risk that she would be exposed is too dangerous. TIA, Sara

[Rawkinlocs]

It really depends on what the recipe is. For example, in a pie crust, instead of nuts you can try raw oats (Alissa sells truly raw oats on her site) or if you're not objected to them, steel cut oats from the natural food stores...grind the oats and use in place of nuts.

Can she do seeds at all? I realize that is something to be cautious of too as sometimes there is cross-contamination involved.

One thing you CAN do is to perhaps for HER, avoid any recipes that call for nuts period and just allow her to eat whatever raw foods she can eat and then after a while, her body more than likely may heal from the nut allergies as my daughter did. My daughter could not do nuts or citrus fruits because it affected her eczema. It's not really the actual natural foods that are doing your daughter harm, but rather the toxins in her body reacting to these foods. Once she is cleaner, don't be surprised if you are later able to introduce nuts into her diet and she be able to consume them with no problems at all! (won't THAT be a blessing?)

So for now, load her up on fresh fruits and veggies that she loves and for "treats" she can have things like smoothies, banana ice cream, fruit leather, chocolate pudding made with avocado (unless there is an intolerance to those as well), sorbet's, fruit leather, flax crackers (again, only if she can do seeds such as flax seeds), things made with buckwheat or other grains if that is okay for her...can she have coconut? A lot of things can be made with young Thai coconut or shredded coconut such as cookies, creamy recipes such as sauces or dips, etc.

I am wishing your daughter MUCH healing of this so her raw diet can become more varied and unlimited and most of all, so she can have a life free from having to worry about if something has been "contaminated" with nuts! I know that can't be fun for you or her.

Congrats on doing such a wonderful thing for your family with embarking upon this healthy lifestyle! :) Health and blessings to you all!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Hey Flubber, I read that book! Brings back memories!

Fortunately, nuts don't make a raw diet, but some people do use them and tend to use them a lot more when transitioning. Is it all nuts that she is allergic to? And are all the nuts she's allergic to raw?

Think of all the fruits, greens, veggies, nuts and seeds available and just subtract what she cannot have. There will still be plenty of variety for her.

A friend of mine whose son is allergic to almonds was able to make a smoothie using brazil nut milk and he did fine with that. A lot of the time I don't use nut basis in my smoothies anyway, but I just thought I'd put that out there for you.

[chilove]

Hello there,

You could substitute more of the denser, more filling fruits like bananas, dates, mangoes and avocados.

All the best,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com