Going vegan with a lot of allergies...Ideas?

Question

I started considering going vegetarian or vegan for health reasons, but after reading a few PETA brochures I can barely even think about meat without cringing. I've always loved soy burgers and other soy products...But I recently found out I'm allergic to soy. (My twin died in utero, which left me with a lot of problems.)

Giving up milk and eggs isn't a problem, as I'm allergic to both cow dairy and eggs. However, my family is extremely poor, and on food stamps we have to stretch things for the whole month, which anymore "cheap and filling" means a lot of non-vegetarian/vegan products. In addition, I'm leaving for university in a month and I'll have limited money to work with.

This is the full list I was given. The specialist told me it was on a scale of 0 to 6, 6 being the most allergic. None of these are life threatening or anything, but since they're hard to avoid I'm often lethargic, nauseous, cramping, having trouble breathing (though that's partly to being allergic anything with fur, feathers, or grows outdoors), and other symptoms.

1. Garlic - Casein - Soybean - Sugar Cane - Chicken - Corn - Pork

2. White Bean - Mushroom

3. Millet - Egg White - Egg Yolk - Wheat - Whole Egg - Rye

4. Cow Milk

Even though soy is only a 1, the amount it takes for even a small soy burger still gives me trouble. Any suggestions for vegan foods that I'm NOT allergic to are highly appreciated, please.

Answer 1

Hi! Sorry about your allergies and situation. There still are many foods you can eat, and when you cook just omit or substitute for what you are allergic to. If you are going vegan then most of your allergies are taken care of (chicken, pork, eggs and egg products, sugar, dairy and dairy products.) Garlic, soybean, corn, mushroom, white bean, millet, and rye however are in many vegan foods. But, not to worry there are plenty of recipes and vegan meals that can accommodate your allergies out there that taste great and you still get your nutrients!

Some good foods are water, fruits, vegetables, beans (black, pinto, baked, kidney, etc, -soy -white), seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, etc), pulses, nuts, nutritional yeast, chickpea, seaweed, lentils, vegetable, hemp, and flaxseed oils, plant milks that aren't made of soy, meat alternatives that do not contain soy, wheat, garlic, millet, or corn. Just cook for yourself if you can and read ingredients!

Amy's is a good veg*an brand that has a lot of special foods that do not contain certain foods you could try:

http://www.amys.com/special_diets/index....

Are you able to have gluten/wheat? If so seitan is a great subsistute that contains many nutrients and taste great as well as quinoa.

Some sites to check out:

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/03/v...

http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=07groce...

http://www.vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp

http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/

http://glutenfreevegan.wordpress.com/

http://soyfreevegan.blogspot.com/

http://www.myvegancookbook.com/blog/?cat...

http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-fo...

Recipes: http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2007/08/v...

Nutrition: http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/02/v...

Answer 2

Hi There

Sorry to hear about all your allergies.  I have allergies and I have recently went vegan (been about 6 weeks since I went total vegan).  

Have you tried Sweet Potatoes?  You can do loads with them even make soup and they are very gentle on the stomach - I live on them!  What about lentils?  You can make burgers from the simplest things and then freeze them for use throughout the month and lentils cost like 80p a bag in the UK ( don't know what country your from).

I can't eat wheat (gluten), anything dairy or eggs.  I'm also allergic to coconut.  Beans are quite bad and cause me gas but introduced slowly they are nutritious and healthy.  

Do you like rice?  Rice is great ya can do loads with it!  Try going to google and typing in things like "vegan coeliac" n it'll give you loads of recipes - just  keep sifting through and amend the recipes to things you can eat.  

I just had paella rice with green beans, peas, red onion, red peppers, cherry tomatoes.  I do put a little garlic paste in but that can be ommitted if you don't want it.  If I can find the recipe tonight I'll pop it on here.  It's got nothing that your allergic to as listed above except fron the garlic.  And you can make it with any rice!  

I suggest you get into veggies and start experimenting.  Since I went vegan my foodbill went from £50/60 fortnight down to around £20 a fortnight!!!  Meat is too expensive!! LOL.  And it's minging, who wants to eat dead things eeww lol.

Hope I've helped a little :)

Answer 3

Potatoes are satisfying and filling.  Fresh green vegetables have nutrition.  There are some tasty flavored rice packets(check for vegetarianism).  Beans will provide you with protein.

Answer 4

Wow, you have a lot to look out for. Corn is in absolutely everything even non-food. Hopefully you're not super sensitive like some people who can't even go to the hospital to be treated for their allergy since the IV is corn-based.

Here are a couple sites for gluten-free vegans which will get you part way anyway with the allergies (wheat, egg, rye, milk, chicken, pork, casien):

http://glutenfreehippie.blogspot.com/

http://glutenfreevegan.wordpress.com/

There's also a soy-free gluten-free vegan:

http://glutenfreesoyfreevegan.blogspot.c...

Quick tips with recs:

http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-fo...

http://www.vegfamily.com/health/gluten-f...

(I've had and love the Sunshine Burger which is my fave and I don't have the restrictions you do so hopefully you'll be able to have these)

And here's a couple corn allergy sites that can get you info and support:

http://www.cornallergens.com/list/corn-a...

http://no-corn.blogspot.com/

http://cornfree.ca/

http://forums.delphiforums.com/avoidingc...

It's just possible it's the corn allergy making you sensitive to the chicken, eggs, and pork (and likely beef as well) since that's a big part of their diet and then they are further processed with corn-based ingredients.

Fortunately there are some wonderful foods left to you including a bevy of veggies, rice, quinoa, chia, oats, maple syrup, stevia, etc., which are often pretty inexpensive overall though restocking a pantry is never fun. Seems there's going to be quite a bit of reading and thankfully you do cook as it's likely you'll have to find possible recipes at some of these blogs (and books they might recommend) and adapt them to your abilities to digest.

But, you're going to be healthy as a result.

There's also coconut milk, oat, hemp, hazelnut, almond, and rice milks (seems I've forgotten a few). You can get a yogurt maker and make fabulous coconut milk yogurt (very healthy) and one of the best things I've ever had was fresh hemp milk made with hemp seeds and a touch of maple syrup (in a blender).

And there can be some yummy "burgers" made with beans, lentils, rice, ground flax, etc. This might be helpful as you can use it for loafs (slices can be fried/baked up for later meals) or shaped into patties:

http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio...

As far as university... that's another wrinkle. You'll have to have an ability to cook somehow whether via microwave, hot plate, electric kettle/skillet, toaster oven, whatever; though reading up on some raw recipes might be helpful (Larabars and Smart Monkey Bars could be really good as a back up too that you can carry around at all times). Surely if this is brought to the attention of the powers there accommodations will be made for you.

Good luck to you. Once you get this figured out you'll be feeling so much better and happier and healthier.

Answer 5

You're allergic to chicken?That's a first time for me.You have sooo much choices left,all kinds of vegetable.Lettuce,cabbage,carrot,tomato,... fruits,they're healthy and everybody loves them.I found a link here,I didn't even know there's soy free milk..and ice cream!

http://www.vegan-food.net/

Answer 6

Well, I guess you are in trouble.  You wouldn't even know you were allergic to food if you didn't live in the land of plenty.

God Bless PETA for scaring you to death.  

To answer your question... learn how to cook for yourself, because you can't avoid those ingredients with any kind of certainty in a restaurant.  Educate yourself on how to have a balanced diet that deals with your allergies.

Edit based on your additional comments:  

You are going to have to learn how to cook to the point where you don't use recipes.  I would start by looking into vegan recipes, and also find a list of ingredient substitutions for people with allergies... then you will get an idea of how food comes together, and what you like.  From there you can interpolate around a theme and make up your own food.