You Can Live a Normal Life Even With an Allergy to Peanuts

Learn to live by making substitutions

Once you or your child have had a peanut allergy diagnosis, you will need to find ways that you can still eat foods that you love without any risks to your health. Your allergist will probably tell you which precautions you should take to avoid cross contamination, or eating food that was touched or affected by another product with peanuts in it. You are definitely not alone, because peanut allergy statistics show that there are about 3 million people in the US with allergies to peanuts.

Read the ingredients on all food labels

Fortunately, as public awareness over the dangers of peanut allergies becomes more widespread, food producers are labeling their products more carefully. You may see the words "May contain traces of peanuts" or "Produced in a food production facility that uses peanuts" on a label. The foods could have tiny pieces of peanuts or residue left from grinding peanuts. You can easily avoid these foods and substitute those that do not have a chance of being contaminated.

Foods made without peanuts can be just as tasty

Peanut butter made with sunflower seeds is a great substitute for peanut butter, and many people like it as well or better than peanut butter. It is high in protein and can be used for sandwiches or baking as a substitute for peanut butter. There are also foods with no peanuts like hard candy, jelly beans, gummies and other safe candies that can be eaten. In fact, most people with an allergy to peanuts can still eat most foods, including favorites of children like macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, French fries, and Cheetos. Many different snack items are peanut free too, including some animal crackers, vanilla wafers, and graham crackers. Be sure to check the labels because only some brands are peanut free.

Bake peanut free products at home

If cooking and baking are not your favorite things to do, you or your child can still have peanut free foods and treats that you bake at home. There are cake mixes, cookie mixes, and muffin mixes that clearly state on their label that they were made in peanut free facilities.