Food Allergy Substitutions

Having a food allergy means remaining vigilant about what you eat at all times. In this video, Registered Dietitian Sharon Richter discusses.

Having a food allergy means remaining vigilant about what you eat at all times. In this video, Registered Dietitian Sharon Richter discusses some of the common food allergies such as dairy, peanuts, shellfish and gluten. Richter explains the importance of finding a substitution for those foods in order to still get the nutrients you need. For example, replacing milk with soymilk will give you calcium and even improve your protein intake. If you’re unsure if a food will trigger your allergies, always check the label!

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This video features Sharon Richter, RD. Sharon Richter is a registered dietitian with a private nutrition practice in New York City.

Duration: 2:24. Last Updated On: Nov. 8, 2017, 6:14 p.m.

Reviewed by: Holly Atkinson, MD, Dr Supriya Jain . Review date: June 4, 2012

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00:06 If you or someone in your family has a food allergy, from the moment you wake up
00:10 and possibly take a vitamin, to going on vacation and having a snack on
00:13 that airplane, you need to be concerned about everything that you're eating.
00:18 Let's start with my favorite meal, dessert.
00:21 Ice cream my taste buds love, but unfortunately, my body doesn't.
00:25 Dairy is a very common food allergy, but
00:27 there are terrific substitutions out there.
00:29 With dessert, instead of having ice cream you can have sorbet,
00:32 you can have some gelato.
00:34 Just make sure that it doesn't have any dairy products in there.
00:37 For breakfast I like to substitute my milk with soy milk, almond milk or rice milk.
00:42 The good thing about them is they all have calcium just like regular milk.
00:46 The soy milk actually adds protein, so I get an extra punch when I wake up.
00:51 Peanut allergies are another common food allergy.
00:54 One thing you want to be very careful of is cross contamination.
00:57 So start by checking your pantry and look at the food labels.
01:01 Make sure that the food was made in a plant that does not contain peanuts in it.
01:05 But you can replace your peanuts and peanut butter with lots of
01:08 delicious treats such as almonds, cashews and even almond butter.
01:13 One of my favorite snacks is dipping celery and apples into almond butter.
01:16 You can also even have sunflower seed butter.
01:19 Another terrific snack.
01:21 Shellfish and other fish are a very common food allergy.
01:24 You wanna be very careful with all the foods you're consuming.
01:27 Make sure that it doesn't have any of these products within it.
01:30 Even soups, stews.
01:31 Really be careful that there's no base that contains any shellfish.
01:35 Another place you might not have thought of that shellfish could be found in
01:38 are your vitamins.
01:39 So check your labels.
01:41 Unfortunately, without fish in you diet you'll be missing out on some important
01:45 nutrients such as Omega-3s, so replace them with supplements in your diet.
01:50 Another common allergy is to gluten or
01:52 wheat which is found in breads, pasta, barley, oats.
01:57 But the things you can have are rice and corn.
02:00 Make sure that you're checking your labels, that they're all gluten free.
02:03 Because it might be found in foods you wouldn't necessarily think of,
02:06 such as soy sauce or salad dressing.
02:09 Food allergies make you a lot more aware of what you're eating, and
02:12 make you pay attention to the nutrients in your diet, which is a terrific thing.
02:16 Experiment with safe ingredients
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