The allergy cookbook
Doctor shares recipes in online book to help others with allergies
By Maryanne Kocis MacLeod Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Until the age of 32, Rana Awdish, M.D., ate whatever she wanted. Her favorites included pad thai, chocolate anything and restaurant lettuce wraps.
So when colleagues suggested the asthma attacks she was suddenly experiencing may be food-related, Awdish was shocked.
“When you live your whole life eating things, you just don’t think food will turn on you,” said Awdish, a pulmonologist at Henry Ford Hospital.
Her new e-book, www.theallergycookbook.com, featuring allergyfree soups, salads, pastas, entrees, desserts and other assorted dishes, is available online for $12.95.
The top eight food-allergy triggers: shellfish, soy, sesame, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs and wheat, are noticeably absent from the lineup.
“I wanted to help people not learn by trial and error,” said Awdish, whose allergic reactions included difficulty breathing, rashes and joint pain. “Because when it comes to food allergies, it’s a horrible way to learn. Especially for kids.”
Sufferers may also experience tingling in the mouth, swelling in the throat, hives, abdominal cramps and loss of consciousness. A simple skin prick or blood test can determine if a food allergy exists.
Visitors to the cookbook Web site will also find useful information and Awdish’s personal blog, which routinely offers updated recipes.
Even after being diagnosed — and as recently as six months ago — Awdish continued having reactions, and didn’t know why.
“I’m a physician, but I was still making stupid mistakes,” said Awdish, who carries an inhaler and an adrenaline shot in case of a severe reaction.
Meticulously educating herself about every ingredient on the food label proved to be the turning point.
Despite her medical expertise, for example, Awdish didn’t realize that both Diet Pepsi and chewing gum contain natural flavors derived from soy.
“Turns out an enormous amount of these ingredients pop up in processed food,” said the Royal Oak resident.
Hamburger buns have sesame seeds, french fries are often prepared in peanut oil.
As her culinary world got smaller, Awdish decided she needed a way to expand it.
“I always enjoyed cooking and eating and I think that kind of saved me,” said Awdish, one of the 12 million Americans with food allergies.
Unfortunately, her personal search for recipes didn’t yield many juicy results.
“Everyone tries to simplify the food as much as possible so they don’t kill you,” said Awdish, who has no family history of food allergies.
So she decided to create her own dishes.
“I realized I could make the same things I’d always eaten if I paid attention to what I put in them.”
*Tamarind paste became a substitute for soy; pureed roasted, salted sunflower seeds filled in for peanut butter; and pure, soy-lechin free cocoa powder was incorporated into cookies.
“It’s a matter of substituting more natural, organic foods in place of processed and artificial ingredients,” she said.
Awdish cautions that not all recipes are safe for all food allergies, but they do avoid the eight ingredients that account for 90 percent of food-allergy reactions in the United States.
Examples include chocolate cookies, lettuce wraps, Moroccan chicken, and spicy chicken fried rice.
“As a doctor, I could filter out the stuff that didn’t make sense,” Awdish said. “That, and helping people avoid what I went through, was the objective.”
Awdish’s allergy-free recipes will be the center of a public cooking demonstration this summer at the new Henry Ford Medical Center West Bloomfield. Check the Web Site for dates and times: http://www.henryfordwestbloomfield.com/body_wbloomfield.cfm?id=51703
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