Learn to Manage Plant Based Food Allergies by understanding Botanical Relationships
What to Eat and What Not to Eat?
That is the question! It may be stating the obvious, but you and I know that if you are allergic to a food, then you shouldn’t eat it. But when you have multiple allergies and food sensitivities, you find that sometimes you still don’t feel well and you can’t pinpoint the reason why.
A Better Way to Manage Food Allergies and Sensitivities
I’m not a doctor, or a health care professional. I am a Botany teacher and my knowledge of plants and their relationship to one another has been the one, single skill that has helped me most in managing my children’s food allergies. Let me explain.
My Family’s Story
My family suffers from several allergies and even more food sensitivities. We have struggled over the years knowing what our kids should eat, and what they shouldn’t eat. Even with allergy tests, and blood work, and faithfully avoiding the foods they are allergic to, there would be periods where they would still break out in hives, or have eczema flares, or digestive complaints and it always seemed to be a mystery as to why.
Some of the mysteries began to clear when I took my Botany knowledge and started applying it to the plant based foods that my family was eating. I discovered connections that for me, felt momentous. Suddenly the haze began to clear and I realized why they were still having breakouts and flares.
The chart below is the list of plant based
foods that my family avoids eating:
| Alfalfa | Egg Whites | Maple Syrup | Pinto Beans |
| Cauliflower | Fennel | Millet | Potato |
| Celery | Garlic | Oats | Safflower |
| Chamomile | Gluten | Onion | Stevia |
| Coconut | Green Beans | Palm | Sunflower |
| Cumin | Lentils | Peanuts | Tomatoes |
| Dandelion | Licorice | Peppers | Walnuts |
Needless to say, meals can be tricky especially as there are other foods like spinach, strawberries, citrus, and vinegars that we avoid due to histamine issues.
My First “Ah-ha” Moment
My first “Ah-ha” moment came with my son. We had him allergy tested several times starting before he was age one as we attempted to understand the reasons behind his food aversions, constant rashes, eczema, and hives. We didn’t get much clarity. The tests showed that he was allergic to pet dander and ragweed. Well, we had no pets, and as he grew he never seemed to suffer from seasonal allergies, so the mystery remained.
We suffered through years of confusion not knowing what was triggering his reactions, and then I started teaching Botany. I realized that though he didn’t suffer from seasonal allergies from ragweed, that he did react to eating the plants that are related to ragweed. This explained why he broke out in hives when he was 8 months old when I gave him chamomile tea. Chamomile is in the same plant family as ragweed. One mystery solved!
I pressed on and researched more, and more, and more plants, and found more and more connections. My son’s known reaction to coconut meant that he also needed to avoid palm oil. The list kept getting longer of foods to avoid, but as discouraging as that was, the hives, vomiting, and sleepless nights lessened. Life began to improve.
Hope in the Confusion
of Allergy Symptoms
As I studied more, I found hope. I realized that by studying the foods that he did really well on – apples, corn, buckwheat, etc. that the list of foods that he could eat safely also got longer.
How I Made Connections Between the Plants
I teach plant identification classes to kids. I have learned how to recognize plants based on the characteristics that apply across plant families. In doing this, I’ve studied which plants are related to each other at the Family level (Taxonomy). This is where the magic happens. Ragweed is in the same tribe as Sunflower, and the same plant family as Chamomile. This explains why my son reacts to both foods.
If you know your plant families and you look back at the chart above of the foods that our family avoids, you’ll see other connections:
- Coconut and Palm
- Garlic and Onions
- Celery, Cumin, and Fennel
- Alfafla and Licorice
- Lentils, Pinto Beans, and Peanuts
- Peppers, Potatoes, and Tomatoes
Help Yourself and Your Children Manage Plant Based Allergies
Don’t despair. Let me save you the research. You can have the information that it has taken me years to accumulate, digest, and develop in order to unravel my family’s plant based food allergies. My years of research is available to you in three easy steps:
- Start with the Safe Foods Quiz.
- Check out the Foods by Plant Family Guidebook.
- Access the Food Family Database to explore all the foods and their botanical relationships.