Growing up, I wasn’t exactly a banana fan. Coaches used to shove them down my throat: “As a female athlete you need your potassium”. I would whine and gag and complain about the texture, ripeness, color, anything to get me out of eating straight up banana.
Actually I still don’t like to eat banana as a fruit… unless dipped in dark chocolate.
My problem lies in bananas amazing versatility. I have come to love banana in so many ways:
- Blended into smoothies
- When frozen they give smoothies a milkshake like texture
- Mashed up and mixed with oatmeal
- As an ingredient in banana bread, pancakes and cookies
- The joys of raw banana vegan ice cream
- Sliced up in a salad containing other more expensive fruit.
Truth is, I had come to rely on bananas as part of my vegan experiment. I was really enjoying the fruit in so many dishes. But I couldn’t figure out why my throat was always itchy.
At first, I blamed it on the seasons changing. Then I blamed it on the cats. Then I decided I must have been allergic to the non-dairy creamer I was using in my coffee. Nothing seemed to work. Then I forgot to buy bananas for a few weeks. It wasn’t a big deal. I was stressed and had gotten back into my bad vegetarian habit of eating too much cheese. It was one of those things, if something doesn’t itch, you don’t notice it.
Then one day at work, I actually ate a banana. Right out of its peel. My throat instantly became itchy. It was a direct correlation. I’m pretty sure my allergy is to bananas.
The allergy scares me. I was told that an itchy throat reaction is a warning sign that the reaction may turn to anaphylactic shock at any given time. As a grown up I can make the responsible decision and cut the food from my life.
But since eliminating it, I’ve been in a bit of a funk. My breakfasts consist of toast and fruit. Desserts tend to be junk instead of healthy. Even my main meals are plain and boring.
So in 2012, I want to get back to eating healthy exciting foods, blogging more and I have an exciting running goal I can’t wait to share. I even snagged a special URL for it.
Have you ever given up a food because you showed a mild allergic reaction? How hard did you find it to adapt?
I'm an engineer, an animal lover, a runner and an ex-rower. I like medical devices, big ships and mountains. This is my journey teaching myself to make healthy foods and explore the world of vegan and vegetarian cuisine.
Many years ago, a friend gave me a bunch of rhubarb and I used it to make my favorite pie – Strawberry Rhubarb. It was so good that I ate most of it (Rich got a little) and then made another one.
Then I ate most of that too.
By the end of the week my throat was itchy. I was terrified that it was the strawberries, but careful experimentation proved it was the rhubarb. Now SR pie is just a fond memory. I was able to still make it for others for a little while, but after enough exposures, even touching it with my hands made my throat itch so now I steer clear.
I found this for you: http://www.smoothie-handbook.com/how-to-make-smoothie.html Maybe buy canned pears, drain the juice and pop them in the freezer for smoothies?
Mindee@ourfrontdoor recently posted..Appreciating What I Have
sorry to hear about this new allergy, that must be really frustrating given that you had become fond of bananas. my mom actually has an allergy to bananas but only when they’re raw – breads & cakes are no problem for her. do your symptoms persist with the cooked fruit too?
also re: smoothies, a really ripe pear totally does the job of a banana! i especially like barlette or anjou pears for this. half an avocado also makes for a really creamy smoothie. don’t give up!
jess @ cupcakes and kale recently posted..johnny cake
I can’t eat anything with red food dye. It won’t kill me, but it does weird things to my mouth/causes my lips to crack and split for about a week. This severely limits my abilities to use red-dye-containing lip products. Or eat red skittles, frosting, licorice, etc. Glad I’m not a huge candy fan. And bananas are a sad thing to have to give up, but hey, what can you do? At least there are still lots of other tasty foods out there. My favorite cheap fruit-salad-filler? Canned pineapple.
Allie recently posted..The Fourth Day of Christmas
Boo for being allergic to bananas! I hope you’re able to find a substitute fruit that doesn’t bother you so much!
Christine recently posted..Vegan Gluten Free Ginger Crackle Cookies
[...] that I came up with. I’ve been struggling a little with smoothies since figuring out that I’m probably allergic to bananas (haven’t had ichy throat problems since I started avoiding them). Bananas were a filler, [...]