Allergies

[Kristinshay]

Good morning!

I love the whole 30. I started my first round in December of 2015 (yes, I did my first w30 through Christmas!) and have done many subsequent rounds over the last few years and have changed my eating habits between rounds. I don’t plan to stop doing the Whole 30, but I do have a little problem for which I would love some insight. 

I have never in my life had a food allergy until I started doing Whole 30, but over the last few years, I have developed a fairly severe egg allergy, an allergy to pumpkin seeds, and I believe now that I may have developed an allergy to avocados. All of these foods give me very very very itchy raised bumps in various places on my body. On my legs, my stomach, my scalp, my armpits, my butt, and under my breasts. I call them hives, but they’re actually much smaller than hives, and unless I get steroids from the doc (I try really hard not to do that), they stick around sometimes for months. With the development of my egg allergy, I believed that it was due to the sudden increase in eggs on my plate, but pumpkin seeds? Who eats those on the regular? Has anyone else experienced the development of allergies on Whole 30? Any ideas why this is happening?Thank you in advance!

[ladyshanny]

Hi @Kristinshay - pumpkin seed allergy definitely would affect the skin and can cause eczema which is what it sounds like you have. Especially in generally sweatier areas like your bum, boobs, armpits etc. Avocado allergy is also skin related as are egg allergies. My take - granted, please remember I am NOT a medical professional - is that you have a sensitivity to some of these and if you developed a severe egg allergy, the avocado and pumpkin seeds are probably just an irritant in an already compromised allergy system.

Try staying away from all these offenders for a while.....until you feel better for a few weeks. Then test pumpkin seeds in small amounts and see what happens.

If it is eczema you're getting, that can take 14-21 days to clear up, even with medications. It never clears up fully if you don't eliminate the source. So my thinking is you develop eczema from eggs - avoid eggs but have some avo or seeds and that just exacerbates the issue.

Of course if you are concerned, go to an allergist and have testing done.

[Kristinshay]

@ladyshanny thank you for your response! I definitely stay away from eggs - there is nothing in this world that tastes good enough to be worth the reaction. I’m only just this month starting to suspect avocados, but since leaving them behind, I’ve definitely seen a decrease in symptoms.