Allergic to Raw????

[acudawn]

I saw a friend today, and was telling her about raw. She seemed envious of my enthusiasm and excitement about it, and said that she is "allergic to raw foods". :confused: Whenever she eats any kind of raw fruit, and some veggies, she breaks out in bumps and hives all around her mouth, in her mouth, and in her throat! In fact, once, it nearly closed her airway completely.

Has anyone ever heard of this experience, or know anything about it? It is hard for me to believe anyone could be allergic to raw, after all, it is our most natural food.

Thanks for any insights....

[juliebove]

I doubt she would be allergic to all raw foods, but she could have a problem with some of them. I can not eat raw pineapple. It gives me blisters. Canned pineapple doesn't do this to me. Raw apples and pears can give me a stomach ache. Cooked do not. Oranges give me blisters if eaten by themselves. I've eaten oranges mixed into something cooked and it doesn't have that same effect. I can not eat melons at all. They give me bad stomach pains. Someone surmised it is probably the natural sorbitol in the fruits that is making me sick. I am very sensitive to sorbitol.

[acudawn]

Interesting about the sorbitol. She specifically listed all types of melons, apples, oranges, carrots, and nuts. Not sure if she is allergic to others. And I sense there is a fear of trying other raw things, in case she goes into some severe reaction. But, she can eat carrots, nuts, and apples cooked without problem. She says her son is also very allergic to melons.

[Veganforlife]

I'm allergic to SAD/CRAP foods.
:p

[Tinacampy]

Walnuts, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple and tomatoes do that to my mouth. She could have food allergies to certain foods which is not something to take lightly - especially nuts.

If she's interested in going raw for health, maybe she should see an allergist and get tested so she can know which foods to avoid.

[luckitri]

Organic? Pesticides? Also there is something I read recently that stores spray to keep produce fresh. Does anybody remember what it was?

[acudawn]

Yeah, I asked her if the foods she tried were organic, and she said yes (she is very health conscious, and always buys from a local farmers market)

[DavidZaneMason]

My strong opinion:

-While folks might have sensitivities or even 'allergies' to specific fruits or vegetables........it is FAR more likely that they are just experiencing an IMMEDIATE detox reaction and/or a reaction from difficult food combinations. Does this mean that fruit is bad? That vegetables are bad? That the person is 'allergic'? Certainly not.

-Also a possibility (like in the case of pineapple) that it is just not ripe enough.

-Often, when a person has fully transitioned and is eating more simply, they find that their tastes have changed......and these more violent reactions simply do not exist anymore. It can be quite a revelation! LOL.

-David Z. Mason

[Tinacampy]

My strong opinion:

-While folks might have sensitivities or even 'allergies' to specific fruits or vegetables........it is FAR more likely that they are just experiencing an IMMEDIATE detox reaction and/or a reaction from difficult food combinations. Does this mean that fruit is bad? That vegetables are bad? That the person is 'allergic'? Certainly not.

-Also a possibility (like in the case of pineapple) that it is just not ripe enough.

-Often, when a person has fully transitioned and is eating more simply, they find that their tastes have changed......and these more violent reactions simply do not exist anymore. It can be quite a revelation! LOL.

-David Z. Mason

You know, actually I haven't had any problems w/ my tongue since going raw and I have eaten strawberries and apples a lot - they usually bother me. I haven't tried walnuts which were the worst (plus I don't like them) but DZM is right about this. However, having a daughter who is allergic to many foods, hearing that the friend had trouble breathing makes me think maybe it's more than a reaction...

[acudawn]

thanks all...yes, David, I wondered about the detox reaction too, but, honestly, she doesn't seem THAT incredibly toxic to me. She eats organic, steamed veggies, cooked rice, fish and free range eggs. She does also eat organic dairy products. And she avoids the fast food and chemical junk foods. She is a chiropractor, and is becoming a certified nutritionist, so, she isn't a really terrible SAD.

But, I suppose it is a possibility. Who knows what her life was like before all that, and what may still be in her body. I have noticed that she looks older than she should for her age.

The allergy testing is a great suggestion too, thanks.

[chilove]

Hi Dawn,

When people have been cooked all their life, allergies and sensitivities to perfectly healthy, biologically appropriate human food (all fruits, most vegetables and small amounts of nuts and seeds) are a symptom of toxicity. I'm sure she has just had a reaction to those fruits and veggies and if she tried she could find many other fruits and veggies that she could safely eat. In time her body would cleanse and heal and she would be able to re-introduce those previously offending foods and she would most likely lose her sensitivity to them.

All the best,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[domestic goddess]

Your friend may have alot of allergies...my kids are allergic to a bizzaar amount of fruits and veggies (as am I) which makes raw a bit more of a challenge! BUT, not impossible. We are proof :D Maybe she could get tested to see if it is a true allergy or one of the other reactions mentioned? What a shame to miss out on raw...

[Linda1970]

I have a friend who is exactly like that. I was so shocked. She can't eat anything raw, otherwise she gets the exact symptoms you described.

[RawVee]

I love mango. But if I eat too many in a row (like every day), I get an itchy tongue, throat and mouth. But then, mangoes are in the poision ivy family, and I'm severely allergic to poison ivy.

[SmilingRawDancer]

I know a woman who says that she is allergic to "all fresh foods", meaning anything green, fresh, cooked OR raw.
And it's obvious that she eats that way:
her family as a whole is overweight, grouchy, bad skin, lethargic...it's awful to watch.

[StarFire]

While I was pregnant with my daughter (and while nursing) I drank gallons and gallons of orange juice. Just couldn't get enough of it. Then when she was 4 months old she started breaking out in all these tiny bumps on her face - then it spread to her body. Turns out - I overdosed her with Citric Acid and to this day she can't eat anything raw with citric acid or she breaks out in bumps and her tongue swells up! (sorry honey - mommy didn't mean to do that!! :o )

[Lay-Lay]

I bet it is pesticides she is allergic too.

[RebeccaI]

On a personal note, I was severely allergic to bananas all my life - lips, tongue, throat would itch horribly and swell up if I ate any raw bananas. I could eat banana bread or bananas baked into anything with no reaction. Since I made the move to organic bananas, I have no issues whatsoever. My guess is that I was really allergic to the phosphorous they gas the bananas with to artificially ripen them.

Just my experience~

[juliebove]

Interesting about the sorbitol. She specifically listed all types of melons, apples, oranges, carrots, and nuts. Not sure if she is allergic to others. And I sense there is a fear of trying other raw things, in case she goes into some severe reaction. But, she can eat carrots, nuts, and apples cooked without problem. She says her son is also very allergic to melons.

Now that I think about it, I can not eat raw carrots on an empty stomach. If I do, I get hiccups. Same with SAD bread. My mom is the same way. Oddly, if I have a bite or two of some other kind of food first, it doesn't happen.

[firefaery]

There are other things to consider here...come people are very sensitive to salicylates found in fruits and nuts (this will generally also include aspirin as it is a salicylate) and there are also phenols, amines...the list goes on. They are present in organic as well as conventional and can be very troubling. They build up in your system and once you hit the "threshold" you can become very ill. In theory if a person has a disturbed immune system, they can heal it and eventually stop reacting. IT all comes down to gut health. However, healing is a process and it can be best to avoid these foods even if embarking on a raw food journey for quite awhile. IF eventually you can halt the histamine response and reintroduce them, great. But try not to trivialize everything and just call it "detox." There are many reasons a person can be allergic or sensitive to certain foods.