Top 5 Most Allergenic Foods
It may surprise you to know that some of the most common foods in the Western diet cause an array of mild to severe allergic reactions. These reactions can be as obvious as a skin rash, or as obscure as muscle aches and pains, or an overproduction of mucus. In fact, many of us have food allergies we know nothing about, yet which affect us and our health every day.
As we age these allergies will start show up on our skin or within our bodies as autoimmune diseases. This means that the best thing we can do is avoid or severely lower our intake of these more irritating foods, and opt for better, fresher foods.
There are a variety of food allergies out there. Here are the top 5:
Milk. Cow’s milk and soy milk need to be included. Cow’s milk is a known allergen. Most children cannot even drink it before age 1, and after that, it causes an allergic reaction to which a child’s body must slowly build a tolerance against. Even into adulthood, the consumption of cow’s milk produces histamines, excess mucus, and can even cause hives.
Soy milk is not much better. The majority of soy eaten in the Western world today is a genetically modified plant that barely resembles the original soy bean. As a result, putting soy into your body is just about like eating plastic. Sure, it is protein-rich plastic, but plastic none-the-less.
Eggs. It is strange to think that something so common in the Western diet can actually be the source of allergies, but it is true that many people are either allergic to the egg white or the egg yolk. Egg white, in fact, is known for its ability to produce mucus, which in itself is an allergic reaction. Both the white and the yolk contain certain proteins that can trigger an immune reaction.
Wheat/Gluten. A wheat allergy refers to an allergy to wheat specifically. Although a wheat allergy is different from a gluten allergy, they are often used interchangeably. A gluten allergy, however is more serious. Someone with a wheat allergy can still eat rye, oats, barley, semolina, and spelt.
Someone with a gluten allergy, which is very common, is reacting to gluten, which is the glue that makes baking flours sticky, or adhesive. Before the introduction of yeast, all bread was leavened using the sourdough method, which broke down some of the gluten in grains. Today, the use of instant rising methods means more gluten is in the Western diet, and many of us are having a reaction to it.
Peanuts. Peanut allergies are incredibly common. Peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts, and they are often grown in conditions that allow a certain, undetectable fungus to form on them. It is this fungus, as well as some of the proteins in peanuts that cause an allergic reaction. For this reason, we don’t recommend that anyone, allergic or not, eat too many peanuts. There are many alternative nut butters available these days.
Corn. Corn is another food, like wheat, soy, eggs, and dairy, that is just everywhere. It is the basis of the sweet syrup you get in your latte, and the “natural flavor” that appears on your food labels. Corn is a filler product, just like soy, and it is used in almost all packaged and processed food in some form or another.
The corn we are eating today, however, is far different from the maize our native American predecessors grew and lived on. This is one of the most genetically modified, overgrown, petroleum-pumped crops in the world. What we eat today is merely the idea of corn, and not corn itself. Many people have trouble digesting it, and experience muscle aches, allergies, and skin problems because of it.
Even if you don’t have a known allergy to these five foods, we still recommend heavily moderating the amount of them you allow into your daily diet. You can even start a detox diet to increase the detoxification process from these harmful foods. As always, eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, try to go organic as often as possible, and avoid packaged processed foods, dairy, eggs, wheat, and sugar as much as possible.
