When most people think food allergy, they think an immediate collapse to the floor, the face turning blue. Yes, this is one type of allergy, the sort everyone fears when they hear about a peanut allergy for example.
Possibly more common is the “delayed onset” food allergy, where symptoms do not appear for hours or even days. For example, when I eat wheat, I don’t notice any symptoms for about 24 hours. Some people might take two days before they feel anything. In rare cases, symptoms may not appear for a week.
This makes the job of determining what you are allergic to very difficult.
List of Common Allergens
Here are 20 of the most common allergenic foods:
- Cow’s Milk
- Wheat gluten (gliadin)
- Gluten (in wheat, oats, rye and barley)
- Yeast
- Egg Whites
- Cashew nuts
- Egg Yolk
- Garlic
- Soya beans
- Brazil nuts
- Almonds
- Corn
- Hazelnuts
- Oats
- Lentils
- Kiwi fruit
- chilli peppers
- Sesame seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Peanuts
If you think you might be suffering from a food allergy, but are not sure which food is causing the problem, start by cutting out all of the above foods.
Other foods commonly associated with allergic reactions (although not necessarily delayed) include:
- Spinach
- Shrimp
- Oranges
- Chicken
- Strawberries
- Tomato
- Pork
- Beef
See the related story Self-Testing for Allergies for a suggested approach.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I was cleaning celery and radishes. While doing so I ate a few pieces before putting it away. That night I woke up and thought that I was either getting a very bad cold cos my throat hurt when i swallowed. In the morning my cheeks on the inside of my mouth was very bumpy and swollen my gums were tingling and my lips were very swollen. I don’t know what caused it. Never had an allergic reaction to anything nothing. What could have caused this.
Our body wants to eat what can destroy the body and make us sick.