The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook : Over 325 Natural Foods Recipes, Free of All Common Food Allergens Hot

This book is a bit of a strange one. On the one hand it is great for those who are avoiding things such as yeast, sugar, and dairy. This of course would include many environmental illness sufferers who may be following an anti-fungal diet or a dairy-free diet for example. The flipside is that many of the recipes contain nuts and shellfish which are obviously highly dangerous to people with classical IgE-mediated allergies to these foods.

It is telling that the author defines a food "allergy" as the experience of: "eating a food causes you distress, or if you discover any clear cause-and-effect symptoms that are relieved by avoidance of specific foods." Whilst this is not an accurate definition of a classical IgE allergy it is nevertheless a useful definition as far as environmental illness patients go. Many people find that symptoms develop slowly over a number of days after eating certain foods and are only able to uncover problem foods after using an elimination diet. These reactions are suspected of being caused by IgG-mediated reactions but this theory remains controversial.

In summary, this book is great for those who suspect the foods listed on the cover may be causing non-specific reactions and ill-health but those who suffer from immediate allergies to nuts and seafood should stay away and choose one of the much more suitable titles available.