Food Allergies

By: Hayden Gray, DPT

How Food Allergies Shaped My Eating Habits

The first thing people say to me when I tell them I have food allergies is “That sucks. So, you’ve never had peanut butter or a Reese’s?!” to which I kindly respond with “Nope!”. However, most of the time, because I’ve answered the same question over a thousand times, I would like to say, “Do I look like someone who wants to risk my life over a piece of candy?”. Anyways, having food allergies isn’t bad at all and here’s why.

Growing up I was allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and shellfish, so naturally I avoided them at all costs to be safe. If a family member didn’t make the meal or desert, I wouldn’t eat it. If there wasn’t a label on a snack, I wouldn’t eat it. If the server didn’t know whether the multigrain bread had nuts in it, I wouldn’t eat it. I didn’t typically enjoy having to go through this process of asking what was in my food before I ate it, however as I got older I stopped caring. Still to this day, the only time I am 100% certain that the food I’m consuming does not have nuts or eggs in it is if I read the label myself, if I make it, or if a family member makes it (I don’t like the idea of putting my life in someone else’s hands).

Surprisingly, by having to always inquire about what I was eating, it seemed to change my relationship with food in ways I never thought about. At a young age I was taught how to read a food label, and not only just the bold lettered ingredients highlighting potential allergens, I mean the whole label. In most circumstances, if there is something I can’t pronounce or have never heard of, I just avoid it, which brings me to my next point. Often times, additives, preservatives, and potential artificial ingredients have long and complicated names such as “erythritrol” or “polydextrose” and I would read these labels and go “oh, I don’t know what that is, I must be allergic”. Therefore, I avoided certain ingredients that are commonly processed and that have been researched to be harmful to the body more than the average person. Was that always the case? Definitely not. I enjoyed a bag of Doritos just as much as the next person. However, by not being able to identify if something was a potential allergen, it taught me to look for foods that contain ingredients you can pronounce, even if it means spending more time in the grocery store.

Having allergies has also changed my perspective on what foods I consume with certain meals. For example, as a kid I would go to breakfast with my Dad and order “Steak and Eggs” with the eggs on the side so my Dad could get extra eggs and I would have the steak and hashbrowns. Not a bad breakfast, just not the best one either, but I didn’t mind. So, over the last few years I’ve totally ditched the whole “breakfast food, lunch food, and dinner food” construct for a few reasons. The first reason being, I have fitness goals that require me gain strength, gain muscle mass, and be able to continuously move for long periods of time and in order to achieve those goals, I need to fuel and recovery appropriately. Secondly, I can’t run up the street and grab a bacon egg and cheese, peanut butter protein bar or a handful of nuts for breakfast or following a workout. Therefore, I go right for a full meal that consists of a lean protein, carbohydrate, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. For me, this is typically chicken and rice, a smoothie containing of mostly fruits, or some variation of a sandwich containing a protein and some vegetables. Is this always the most convenient option? Not always, but the most convenient option isn’t always the healthiest either.

With all that being said, allergies taught me how to live a healthy lifestyle. I don’t know if it’s because I unintentionally avoided added ingredients, would eat simple meals, or avoided the most convenient food options such as a bacon egg and cheese, but I do know this. It’s about a healthy balance, you can’t always avoid these things, despite my allergies I love to try new foods, my guilty pleasure is brownies, and if there was a box of pizza in front of me I would probably eat it all. If there’s ever a day I eat eggs, peanuts, or tree nuts, I’ll be sure to tell you if it was worth the wait.