I pulled this off the FAST website and thought those of you affected would be interested.

7) Are food allergies real? Or just some "new age" disease?

They are real. Without getting into a whole lot of scientific/medical stuff, the changes that humans have made to the food chain, seems to have contributed to a huge breakdown in the ability of the immune system to recognize normal foods. People with gluten allergies, for example, can do fairly well with so-called ancient grains like quinoa.

In some senses they are a "new age" disease because our tampering with the essence of our food (genetic engineering, chemical contamination, pesticides, whole scale hormone treatments, and pre-butchering antibiotics) have made it so that a figure quickly approaching 10% of the population of the US and Canada are rejecting the "basic" foods from which we have traditionally derived nutrients. - B. L. Olson

They are 100% real. And they can kill you 100% dead too. Yup, they're real all right! - Kenny Silverman

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Answers

As an infant and small child I was allergic to many foods including eggs and tomatoes, can't remember what else. I out grew them and am 54 now. I lived in the country and had home grown everything, but that was in the days when DDT was being sprayed. A cousin of mine, who is a breast cancer survivor, told me that there was a study done in that area about the DDT and the high cancer rate, the cancer was attributed to the DDT, but its use was continued until it was illegal to use it. Messing with our food has been around for awhile, it's just getting worse.

Namaste,

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Thank you Sharon! How would a person know if they had a food allergy? I thought you broke out in hives or something! Smart guy huh? I'll check out that site....Kirk

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Kirk-I do sometimes break out in hives all over.That sure is itchy! But that is usually only when I'm really reactive.

That is not necessarily the only indication and I don't always get that reaction.Here are some more I get: headache,gut ache,indigestion,flushed face,arm and face going numb(that's when I'm having a pretty good reaction)crushing chest pains(that's the athsma part kicking in)trouble breathing(athsma),achey, swollen hands ,legs, feet, body,inside and out. Well that's a start on some of the things,anyway!

Yep,we need to talk.It can make you really sick.

Yes,Judy on DDT,I started having problems when I was 6 and didn't know it. I'm by the way,allergic to petroleum products(includes organophosphates)

Boy,have we been really screwing with the food supply.And the beat goes on.....

Raise your own!

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001

Kirt, Most of my food allergies give me headaches and stomachaches. Oh, and you know when you are having deja vu? Food allergy. On kids, you sometimes see one ear bright red and if you touch it, it will be hot. Food allergy. My son had a behavioral problem that the doctor wanted checked for ADD. Took milk out of his diet and different child. This reaction is delayed, meaning if he has ice cream today, tomorrow he'll have a BIG attitude problem. I learned alot from a book called "Is This Your Child?" by Dr Doris Rapp. Good book.

By the way, we found out about these food allergies when we became sick moving into our new house. Chemical overload. Our bodies couldn't clean out the chemicals and allergin foods fast enough.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001

Another possible cause it that babies aren't being breast-fed for as long, or at all. Also they're being introduced to solid foods a lot sooner. Their little immune systems can't deal with the foreign proteins so they make an antibody response against them. I read an interesting report not too long ago about how in third world countries where we are "helping" them by sending infant formula, fewer and fewer mothers are breastfeeding and more children are developing allergies.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Sherri, My sister had two children that had allergies so with the third one she tried to do right. She breast fed, keeping the foods she injested to a diet easy for the baby. She didn't immunize her either. The baby is two now and has as many allergies as her sisters. My sister is having her immunized for certain things now. I also think it runs in the family, kinda like cancer. If you have the gene you have a problem. The chemical certainly don't help.

Did you know that government standard run on what most people can tolerate? Kind of scary.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

Dee, can u tell me what kinda things do her kids seem allergic to, both the first two and the last one?

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001