non food related allergies
I have a friend, a meat eater through and through, who came up to me today and said that her husband has really bad allergies and they've been thinking that maybe it is caused by the food that they eat. She wanted to know if I knew anything about this and if eating more vegetables would improve his allergies. I thought about it and said, I dont know, but I do know that vegans are rarely asthmatic because of the lack of dairy in our diets.
I started looking for things relating meat eating and allergies, but I didnt find much, most of it was about food allergies. I started to read an excerpt from the china study and thought I should buy this and lend it to them. But in the meantime, does anyone have any stories about their allergies going away when they went vegan?
Another problem with this situation is that my friend cant/hates/doesnt eat vegetables. It makes the whole diet changing process just that more difficult. heh.
Anyways, insight? Suggestions? Stories? I'll pass it on!
I wish I knew more about the subject as well, because my situation is an odd one:
since becoming vegetarian (2.5ish years ago) and way more health-conscious regarding food, I've actually developed allergies that I never had before...particularly since I've been working harder on becoming fully vegan. I really don't know if they're connected...but my developing sensitivity to various non-food things just seems to correlate with the shift in diet.
I now get seasonal allergies (pollen and such), and am particularly sensitive around freshly-cut grass, of all things! Cigarette smoke bothers me now, even though I practically spent my entire childhood in a giant ashtray of a house (but it's only cig smoke, not...other kinds...). I acquired a latex allergy last summer, but I think that may have been due to overexposure, as I was working nearly full-time at the dining center at the time.
your friend CAN eat vegetables. he just needs to find new/exciting/delicious ways to regularly incorporate them into his diet. and that's where vegweb can be a powerful ally. ;)
i've been reading a lot about raw and there are a lot of anecdotes about when people do raw they don't have allergies. and that is an extremely high produce diet... ::)
Maybe it's from the weather (stuff in the air).... I heard the neti-pot saline solution is really good for that. I just bought some recently (Sinucleanse) and plan to try it out because I get really bad allergies when it gets all windy and I breathe in all the junk circulating in the air.... I'll let you know if it works!
Also, just saline spray might be helpful, while I have used, and that kind of helps flush out the sinuses.... :)
Where's Davedrum? He posted about this subject last year or so...how he has become much more sensitive to chemical products etc. since he started using vegan products. I suppose your resistance to irritants could be reduced if you're no longer around them, tho that sounds backwards; overkill is what causes allergies, usually...I don't know what I'm talking about--play the music, open the cage!
My cousin's asthma is linked to dairy and beef. Oddly enough she has yet to cut either out of her diet. Even though consumption has landed her in the hospital before.
Maybe if you search meat & allergies it will yield some more results not necessarily food allergy related?
I had cat allergies, sort of still do. They've gone down since being vegan, but I've also grown up since starting veganism, so, connection?? Dunno.
I've discovered more odd little allergies since moving out here (Merced, CA... agricultural area), and I'm thinking it's because of the air quality (thank you, factory farms!) and maybe being exposed to pollens I'm not used to.
Strange thing. I went to school for a year in New York where spicy food was entirely absent from my life. Why, I'm not sure. The school's kitchen would make "spicy" dishes with black pepper (!) and would never ever ever have actual spicy food. I figured it was a regional thing... At home in L.A. I would eat Latino food, Thai food, Chinese food, Indian food... and then when I started eating all that "white people food" all the time, I seemed to have become sensitized to peppers. Because, when I came aback home and resumed my salsa-consumption, I'd get itchy. My palms were itchy, my feet were itchy, and my eyes would burn... sometimes even from paprika or bell peppers! I was so tired of it (I love spicy food!) that I decided to do something potentially stupid: overload my system with spicy food for a while to force it back into its southern Californian ways. And it worked! (eventually)
Here I come, Sriracha!
i think the allergies are caused by the environment here, but they were looking to see if diet could help curb the allergies instead of the loads and loads of medicine he takes. Thanks for the stories! I'm gonna keep looking around the internet.
I developed an intolerance to milk after going vegan. I don't know if this counts, though. The one time I accidentally had dairy, I broke out in a rash on my face, my lips were swollen, and my throat was tingly.
Otherwise, I'm still allergic to household mold just as I was when not vegan or vegetarian.
WOW! This is the first time I'm hearing that milk and beef could be causing allergies and asthma.
Actually, just the other day I realized something. That since I've been a vegan, I NEVER get post-nasal drip anymore. I used to get it pretty bad in the morning sometimes (many of my relatives on my father's side of the family get it, too). It must be the dairy that causes it. I love being vegan. I really do.
Hmmm. I'll have to let my family know.