Food Families

This appendix to the allergy section gives a list of food families and also foods without commonly-eaten relatives. Use this as a guide in making up your own rotation diet.

There is a great deal of cross-reacting between different members of a food family. However, this does not mean that if you are allergic to one food all other members of that same family need be condemned. For example, it is possible to be violently allergic to potato but OK with tomato. This does mean, however, that you should be more suspicious of related foods.

Note that ham and bacon belong with pork, dairy produce with beef, and eggs with chicken. Once again, though, it doesn’t follow automatically that you will be allergic to all products from a certain animal. It is possible to be very allergic to milk and dairy produce and yet (reasonably) safe with beef.

Study the table carefully; it will repay your effort.

THE PLANT KINGDOM

Apple family: apple, pear, quince, medlar
Avocado family: avocado, cinnamon, sassafras
Banana family: banana, arrowroot, plantain
Beechnut family: beechnut, chestnut
Black pepper
Blueberry family: blueberry (various names), cranberry, wintergreen
Buckwheat family: buckwheat, rhubarb
Carrot family: carrot, celery, parsnip, parsley, dill, fennel, anise, caraway, cumin, coriander
Cashew family: cashew, pistachio, mango
Chicle
Chinese artichoke
Citrus family: orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, tangerine, citron, kumquat, clementine, ugli
Coffee
Cola family: chocolate, cola, gum karaya
Composite family: lettuce, endive, chicory, globe artichoke, jerusalem artichoke, sunflower, dandelion, chamomile, goldenrod, safflower
Crucifer family: cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, kohirabi, mustard, turnip, rutabaga, swede, rape, horseradish, chinese leaves, cress
Elderberry
Ginger family: ginger, turmeric
Ginseng
Gooseberry family (saxifrages): gooseberry, blackcurrant, red currant Grape family: grape, muscatel, raisins,sultanas (note: ‘currants’ are dried grapes)
Grass family: bamboo, barley, wheat, rye, oats, rice, millet, sugar cane, sorghum, corn
Guava family: guava, allspice, clove Gum acacia
Lily family: garlic, onion, shallot, leek, chives, asparagus
Lychee nut
Macadamia nut
Maple sugar
Mint family: peppermint, spearmint, horse mint, water mint, basil, lavender oil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, horehound, savory, thyme
Mulberiy family: mulberry, figs, breadfruit
Mushrooms, fungi
Nightshade family: tomato, potato, eggplant, tobacco, green and red peppers, capsicum
Nutmeg family: nutmeg, mace
Okra family: okra (bindi), cottonseed
Palm family: coconut, sago, date, Taro, poi
Papaya
Persimmon
Pineapple
Plum family: plum, prune, peach, apricot, almond, cherry, greengage
Pulses (legumes) family: peanut, pea, beans, lentils, licorice, gumtragancanth Quinoa Sarsaparilla
Spinach family: spinach, chard, beetroot, sugar beet
Squashes family: melon, watermelon, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, courgette, marrow
Strawberry family: strawberry, raspberry, blackberry
Sweet potato
Tapioca
Tea
Vanilla
Walnut family: walnut, pecan, hickory
Water chestnuts

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

Sea Food

Anchovy
Bass, mullet, grouper
Butterfish
Carp
Catfish
Cetaceae; whale, dolphin (these are, of course, mammals)
Cod, haddock, hake, coley, whiting
Conger eel
Crustacea: shrimp, lobster, crayfish, crab,
Eel
Fish (there are many families here, which make a confusing array. Only the main fishes and groups are included):
Sturgeons
Flounder, turbot, halibut, plaice, dab, sole
Grunt
Herring, pilchards, sprats, shad
Mackerel, tuna, bonito
Molluscs: (Pelecypods) clam, oyster, mussel, scallop; (Gastropods) snail, conch, abalone; (Cephalopods) squid, octopus
Pike
Puffer
Red snapper
Salmon, trout
Yellow perch, walleye pike

Amphibia

Reptiles

Birds

Mammals

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