vegetarian with allergies?

I don't want to be one of those people who question how you get protein, but I am allergic to most protein sources. And most basic food types in general.

As of my skin test (still waiting on blood test results), I am allergic to dairy, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, eggs, and garlic and do not eat wheat due to other health issues. I suppose that would render me practically vegan, but since my dairy issues only result in skin irritation, I can handle some products made with dairy.

Right now I eat at least a serving of beans a day just because I love black beans. Sometimes I eat the same meal (black beans with guacamole, salsa, and some kind of grilled veggie on the side) for 2 meals in a row. However, I cannot keep eating beans and when I get back to college, my meal choices will shoot down since I am on a meal plan and cannot afford to suppliment my food choices.

This is really just a question to other people who have a broad spectrum of allergies. What do you do? As of right now, I really only eat fish with the exception of the occassional bit of chicken when I eat out, but it might be worth it to cut out all meat products. I just don't know how feasable it would be since soy products are a total null and I'm kind of walking on the brink health-wise anyway.

 

are you allergic to gluten?

 

I am allergic to gluten, pork, shellfish, artificial colors/preservatives and lactose intolerant. I get a lot of my protein from nuts & soy sources which isn't gonna help you a lot, but some of my other sources are:

seeds - can you have sunflower, flax or pumpkin seeds? I eat them in/on everything
beans - every day, gotta have my beans (don't forget lentils... they're higher in protein than most beans!)
quinoa - reminds me of bulgur or couscous, but nuttier
potatoes, spinach & broccoli - not a lot, but there's protein in there
and one of my favorite treats; veggie sticks with hummus dip as a protein-rich snack!
love,
mom

 

I don't eat gluten- not allergic but I feel much better when I'm not eat gluten than when I am. I also don't eat potatoes, corn, or rice. My only grain really is steel cut oatmeal, and I keep that to an absolute minimum.

I can have seeds and like quinoa (but only cold and as a breakfast cereal, for whatever reason), but I won't have access to a kitchen in a month when I go back to my dorm and quinoa isn't exactly on the menu sadly. Ditto with beans although I suppose I could buy a few cans and zap them in the microwave- I just don't really have the money to be spending for extra food when I'm spending 2K a year on a meal plan (which is required, I don't really have a way out of it). Where do you find sunflower and pumpkin seeds unsalted? I don't eat salt and so that's been a real problem in using those sources.

 

Your dorm doesn't have a mini-kitchen? Ouch - that's how I survived at college... mine served shrimp or pork on the menu for literally every meal (except breakfast) and I was allowed a special "reduced-meal" exemption from the meal plan because of allergies. If I remember right it took a doctor's note legitimizing my allergies, and a talk with the campus nurse, the food department, and someone in the financing department... but it can be done.

I can find unsalted sunflower seeds at the local health food store - bagged and in the bins, though I don't know about cross-contaminations in the bins. Pumpkin seeds I usually save from fresh pumpkins. I can find them occasionally at my HFS, but it's rare and they're usually heavily salted. Fall is coming up; keep an eye out for a good sale on pumpkins. One good 8# punkin will have a few cups of seeds, and you can make pumpkin stew, pumpkin custard & all sorts of other goodies with the rest of it
love,
mom

 

We sort of have a minikitchen- but there's only 4 burners and one oven for 200 people at any given time and a single person can't reserve the kitchen so the second another group comes in, you have to leave. And the school is relentless about the meal plan. My roommate had gastric bypass and they wouldn't let her off the meal plan- food allergies are not near enough to get off of it. She had documentation that she could only eat a fistful of food a day and would never be able to eat her money's worth on even the smallest plan, but they wouldn't let her off. I have several other friends with severe allergies as well and they've had no luck. A few have fought so that meals are specially prepared for them, but they have to call an hour in advance before EVERY meal, which is just inconvenient. I'll do it if I have to, but would like to avoid it.

Pain in the ass. Seriously.

My dairy allergy is the strongest, so at least as far as that goes, I can eat in the Kosher cafeteria on meat days. The dairy cross contamination is what kills me and I know without a doubt that not a drop of milk will have ever touched anything within my reach on a meat day. But the Kosher meal plan is quite a bit more expensive than the already bloated meal plan (like $500 more a semester) so I can't eat there all the time.

 

Update: After a stint in the hospital, I was more or less diagnosed as celiac. Not that it matters because there is no cure or treatment besides having a completely gluten free diet, but now it makes my diet just a bit more difficult >.<

 

((((((hugs!!!))))))

This is going to make eating in a cafeteria nearly impossible. Cross-contaminations are EVERYWHERE in buffets.

Your steel-cut oats are technically not gluten-free either, which means you might want to start seeing what other types of grain you can stomach. Our standbys are rice & corn, potato & soy, and garbanzo beans... four of which you said you don't eat.

Just recently, my son & I (both GF) ran across this recipe list. Maybe you can find something you like in here? http://www.fatfreevegan.com/gluten-free/index.shtml
love,
mom

 

wow, i couldn't imagine being allergic to soy! i couldn't live that way! poor you.

 

Just another update- after my last allergist's visit, things are pretty inconclusive. So I guess it's safe to eat soy again, but since the vegan and vegetarian stations here generally have gluten, that only helps me in that I can keep edemame and soymilk in my fridge. My throat doesn't close up (..yet) with any of my allergies, so that's a good thing too! I just get itchy With gluten, it makes me look like a leper. But that's under control.

Luckily the cafeteria is not buffet style. Even the all you can eat cafeteria serves you, so the only cross contamination problem is from the salad bars (one of which has the croutons a significant distance away from any of the salad parts). I've been really exhausted all the time though so I think I'm going to HAVE to start eating salmon occasionally. All the beans I eat (I have naked burritos every day sans the rice) don't seem to be helping. :\ Unless I've developed another nutty disease