Fruit Allergies

People are ALWAYS perplexed about my food allergies. I'm pretty much allergic to every single fruit, vegetable and nut there is. I can eat watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew and grapes. For vegetables I can only eat lettuce fresh. Sometimes cucumbers, depends on the time of year. Everything else has to be baked, cooked or boiled or processed for me to eat.

Whenever I tell people this, they give me a side eye. Because it's not very explainable. In this month's Family Circle Magazine they had a great explanation that I wanted to share with my readers!

First, I'm allergic to pollen, very allergic. So eating raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts cause a reaction in in me, that causes me to get swollen lips, itchy mouth, and a scratchy throat that can close. It's called oral allergy syndrome. Many people don't realize that pollen and produce contain similar proteins and what happens is the immune system can't tell the difference.

I happen to be allergic to all three these;

1. Ragweed, which also makes me allergic to bananas, cucumbers, melon(which I'm not thankfully), kiwi fruit and zucchini.
2. Birch, which also makes me allergic to apples, almonds, carrots, celery, cherries, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit, peaches, pears and plums.
3. Grass, which also makes me allergic to celery, melons, oranges, peaches and tomatoes.

Hopefully this helps clear up some air about food and fruit allergies and how they are related!