Food Allergies: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Relieving Your Food Allergies [Paperback]

William E. Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2000

"I wholeheartedly recommend Food Allergies."
--Christopher M. Foley, M.D.

"A powerful key to health. Dr. Walsh's principles have revolutionized my personal health."
--Margaret L. Williams, D.C.

"The information in this book demystifies food and chemical allergies and gives patients courage."
--Loren C. Stockton, D.C.

"This book will help many people with symptoms and discomforts they have had for a long time."
--Walid A. Mikhail, M.D.

Food allergies can be subtle, insidious, and dangerous. Every year millions of people suffer from migraine headaches, persistent coughs, sore throats, eczema, abdominal discomfort, tiredness, and irritability-and don't realize that their symptoms come from the food they eat. This book-the first comprehensive book on food allergies written by a noted allergist-helps us understand how different foods cause pain and discomfort and tells us how to identify the foods that have been afflicting us-so we can avoid them before the symptoms strike. In Food Allergies, Dr. William Walsh shares his extensive knowledge about the cause of food allergies, which foods and chemicals to avoid, and, ultimately, which foods will help you feel your very best. Filled with dozens of enlightening case studies and engaging writing, this unique guide offers a detailed, easy-to-follow diet tailored for adults and children who may be prone to allergies. It also includes clinically tested plans for cooking and advice on how to avoid troublesome foods at the store and when eating out.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Allergist Walsh sympathizes with food allergy patients, for he has food allergies, too. He explains how such allergies function and details how to identify and treat specific problems. Labeling on foods doesn't help all that much, he says, because monosodium glutamate, for instance, hides under several names and processes. Besides MSG, other major culprits are acidic foods, low-calorie sweeteners, and refined sugar. One should always suspect a food allergy as lying at the root of an allergylike problem, he counsels, and food allergies are too often discounted. Age doesn't protect from allergies, and one can become allergic to a food that never before posed any problem. Those who feel they might be allergic shouldn't immediately repair to an allergist, though. Instead, they should go to their primary-care persons, who will presumably look at the whole situation. If it then seems an allergy is possible, find a good allergist by using Walsh's advice. Other features of the helpful book include detailed diets, other practical approaches, and much psychological^B support. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A powerful key to health. Dr. Walsh’s principles have revolutionized my personal health." -- Margaret L. Williams, D.C.

"I wholeheartedly recommend Food Allergies." -- Christopher M. Foley, M.D.

"The information in this book demystifies food and chemical allergies and gives patients courage." -- Loren C. Stockton, D.C.

"This book will help many people with symptoms and discomforts they have had for a long time." -- Walid A. Mikhail, M.D.

Dr. Walsh guides readers through the detection of food allergies and the assessmant of various foods' likliness of triggering food allergies. -- Science News, October 14, 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047138268X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471382683
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now it all begins to make sense, May 18, 2002

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Food Allergies: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Relieving Your Food Allergies (Paperback)

This book is practically an encyclopedia of food allergies written for ordinary people. The author is a physician and allergy specialist with almost 40 years of experience in the field. He describes how in the beginning of his career, he had not been trained to recognize food allergies in his patients, but over the years, he became more and more sensitized to the kinds of symptoms that food allergies can cause. Over time, he noted that many of his patients were allergic to the same common foods, especially what he calls the MALS foods, MSG, acidic foods, low calorie sweeteners, and sugar. The skin tests that are so much relied on for detecting environmental allergies are less informative with food allergies. In response, he has developed a method for identifying food allergies that uses a diet that eliminates common allergy causing foods and then gradually re-introduces them while the patient notes when the symptoms lessen or begin to reoccur. This diet is described in the book, together with possible rotation menus and lists of additional foods that cause problems for some people and may need to be avoided.

If you try to read this book from cover-to-cover, you will find that it is rather repetitive at times, and the organization seems in some places to be more stream-of-consciousness rather than logical. At times the avoidance of technical language or explanations seems almost evasive, and it's amazing how a doctor could write an entire book about allergies without once using the word histamine. Since the book is addressed to general readers, it does not contain in-text references to scientific studies. Nevertheless, the bibliography is replete with such references, adding credence to Walsh's message.

This book confirmed many of the phenomena that I had observed about my own food sensitivities. For example, Walsh explains that allergies are additive, so that's why I can pet a cat so long as it's not hay fever season, or I can drink a small glass of milk now and then, but not a big glass every day. Walsh also suggests that readers should trust their instincts- -if they have a strong feeling that a food is making them sick, there is a good chance that it really is. After reading this book, there is no longer any question in my mind- -food can make you sick, and you can feel a lot better once you figure out what you've been eating that is causing you trouble.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Book if You Have Food Allergies!, November 20, 2000

By 

Felicia Busch, MPH, RD, LN, FADA (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food Allergies: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Relieving Your Food Allergies (Paperback)

Dr. Walsh has done it again, written a clear, and easy-to-read book about why people with food allergies need to pay close attention to what they eat.

With so much mis-information in the popular press about food allergy and how to treat it, this book is one that health professionals can feel confident recommending to their clients.

It's refreshing to find a physician that is so well-informed not only about the science of food allergy, but of the day-to-day details of how this translates when you go grocery shopping or want to dine out in a restaurant.

If you have a food allergy, suspect you might or know someone who does, this book is a valuable guide that will help you understand more about how your body works and how you can work with your body to achieve optimal health and wellness.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immediate Relief!, August 17, 2001

By 

M. Cullinan "utex" (Ogden, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Food Allergies: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Relieving Your Food Allergies (Paperback)

Immediate relief! That was my reward for reading this book and putting it into practice. It has my full recommendation for anyone suffering from the effects of allergies. This author is sympathtic and the book is easy to read. It is apparent that the doctor has scaled his vocabulary WAY DOWN to facilitate the reader's ability to concentrate on WHAT he is saying, rather than be dazzled by how brilliant he is. After battling allergies for 25 years, he has brought me new weapons. I thank the good doctor and am in his debt.