Help Please, Soy Allergy And Now Reacting To Foods I Eat Daily

[julissa]

I was reading here to see if I could find some info, I know there is lots here about intolerances. I was diagnosed with soy and dairy allergies in January. I was feeling pretty great after eliminating them from my diet. going soy, dairy and gluten free wasn't hard, just had to redo my eating life.

 

fast forward to now, almost 6 months later, and I feel that when I eat things like apples I am reacting how I used to feel when I had soy or dairy, which was a mild upset stomach. I saw some info that soy is used to wax the apples and other fruits and veggies. if this is true, I am really at a loss as all I eat are fresh fruits and veggies with protein.

 

help!

[shadowicewolf]

I thought it was bees wax.

 

At any rate, could you try to go organic for a while and see what happens?

[julissa]

thanks, I did read further that organic might be helpful. I have dealt with everything up to now, but I have to be honest, this is just ridiculous and will really make things harder. but I will deal with it because I have no choice.

[Aprilelayne]

My DD also has a severe soy allergy, I noticed the same with apples with peels.  We reverted to natural applesauce or peeling the apples (sadly removes a lot of the vitamins) .

I don't have any suggestions though, we are newly navigating the soy allergen issue.

she's still reacting at least twice a week to unknown triggers (soy or something else.)

[dilettantesteph]

I seem to react to that coating.  I reacted to the organic apples I tried as well.  I found a local apple farmer who doesn't use any coatings.  He has a cold storage facility and sells apples for about 6 months of the year.  I buy lots of apples from him and make apple sauce every week to save for the 6 months when his are not available. I do similar things with other foods.  I dehydrate and freeze whenever I can find safe food.  It is a pain, but a lot better than being sick all the time.  

[julissa]

thanks for the feedback

[Pegleg84]

soy on apples!!?? whaat?? I don't eat them very often, so not sure if I've reacted to this alleged coating or not, but man! One more thing to worry about! I try to buy organic these days, worrying more about the pesticides, but now I will definitely only get organic and check that they're ok.

(damn you soy!!!)

 

Hope you can find a safe source of produce.

[Pegleg84]

oh, just did a bit of looking and found this nice bit of attempted research on the wax issue:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

she contacted a bunch of experts, and even a commercial food wax producer to find out if waxes used on our produce might have gluten/casein/soy in them. Answer: yes, there are some, but it's very uncommon, so probably not worth worrying over too much. (read the article. much better info).

 

However, the whole idea of waxes on my food is not particularly appealing, and more of a reason to buy organic as much as possible

[GFinDC]

Here are a couple articles on fruit waxing.

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

You could try making a solution of water and ammonia to wash your fruit.  You would need to rinse it real well after washing or let it sit a while to let the ammonia evaporate.  There is probably very little wax on the fruit to begin with though.  Waxes are generally pretty expensive so they wouldn't use them if they had to put very much on.  It wouldn't be economically feasible.  You might do just as well washing the fruit with regular dish soap and water, or polishing it off with a clean towel.

 

This topic brings up a question about apple cider.  I think (sometimes a dangerous mistake) that they generally would use unwaxed fruit to make the cider.  But that may not be true all the time.  Then there is the apple cider vinegar issue.  Is cider made with unwaxed or waxed fruit?  It seems like it would be cheapest to use unwaxed fruit.  But not if they end up using apples that have been stored for a while and are no longer fit for the grocery store shelves.  Using the not so pretty or "nice"  apples for cider is probably a common thing.

 

You can also find shellac on Skittles and I think M+Ms.  It makes them nice and shiny and gives them a little harder coat.  Yum!

 

Shellac is used for a finish on wood furniture too.  It's a very useful thing!

[julissa]

very interesting stuff. well, today I did not have my afternoon apple, and I feel fine. no stomach issues at all. ugh, just when you think you've got a  handle on something, a whole bunch of new rules get thrown into the mix.

[IrishHeart]

Well, I am stumped because I have a soy intolerance and I eat apples all the time with no issues whatsoever.

 

None, Zip.

 

Two thoughts:

 

The apples are bothering you. period, not the coating & not the peel.....and not eating them made it stop.

 

and I am sorry, but random bloggers are not always the best sources of info, unless they can support the assertions they make.

[julissa]

thanks Irish, I was beginning to think that may be it as well. interesting how we can eat something with no issues for a long time, then, wham, issues..

 

I appreciate all the feedback

[Gemini]

The wax coating on fruits can easily be washed off with one of the commercial food wash sprays that use citrus acids to dissolve the wax.  They sell them in the produce department.  The wax is used to protect the fruit.  You are suppose to wash produce before consuming so this won't be a problem if you do. It might be that a still healing gut may not be able to digest the wax well but I doubt there is that much on it anyway to cause a problem. You're not eating a bock of wax, after all.

[Juliebove]

I don't know if there is soy on apples or not but...  Daughter used to have a soy intolerance.  If she ate any soy besides occasional soybean oil, she would get really sick to her stomach.  But she ate apples with no problem.

 

You might try eating a very small amount of cooked apple.  Like applesauce.  See if you can find a single serve of it so that you're not wasting your money.  If that doesn't make you sick, wait a few days and try more of it.  You could possibly have OAS (oral allergy syndrome).  If you have this, certain raw fruits or vegetables are mistaken for a pollen by your body.  Normally the symptoms are not stomach things but anything is possible. 

 

You might also have other issues.  Apples do not cause me problems but melons sure do.  Give me horrid stomach pains and I've yet to sort out why.  There was a guy I used to be in contact with who was a brain on food stuff and he surmised that I might have an issue with Sorbitol and surely I do.  I can not use things that are sweetened with it.  But Sorbitiol is naturally found in some fruits.  Another person pointed out that apples were high in Sorbitol.  This I don't know.  But it could be that or one of the other natural sugars that is found in apples.

 

I do not test as allergic or intolerant to melons.  So it's not that.  But what it is, remains a mystery.  I'm just kind of the type who when reacting badly to a food, just avoids it.  I don't necessarily need to know the cause of the problem.  Although it would be nice to rule out a true allergy because those can kill.

[IrishHeart]

thanks Irish, I was beginning to think that may be it as well. interesting how we can eat something with no issues for a long time, then, wham, issues..

 

I appreciate all the feedback

 

Yes, and I have had this happen too, hon....but honestly, it was because my gut was still healing.

 

As for soy, it looks like I can do soybean oil without issues, so I suspect it was temporary in me. I am not a soy fan, so it was no big loss for me anyway. ( tofu reminds me of erasers   ) but my friend Suze eats it daily.

To each her own, I guess.

 

Take out the apples and try them again in a few weeks? 

[dilettantesteph]

very interesting stuff. well, today I did not have my afternoon apple, and I feel fine. no stomach issues at all. ugh, just when you think you've got a  handle on something, a whole bunch of new rules get thrown into the mix.

 

Interesting that you feel fine today (yesterday).  I think that it would be worth it to head to the farmer's market and get some fresh off the tree apples to try.  That worked for me and was better than having to give up apples completely.  If I had given up on every food I reacted to, rather than looking for a source of the food to which I didn't react, I'd have very foods left by now.  At least you seem to be figuring things out.  By the way, I don't react to soy, just gluten and avenin that I know of, but much lower levels than typical.

[GottaSki]

Many of the foods I have lost temporarily (including apples and pears for a short time) were because my digestive system simply could not tolerate much. 

 

I safely eat apples and pears from all sources now, but I do wash my fruit.  I mistakenly thought I had a Fructose issue -- nope -- simply a destroyed gut issue