I’m doing the preparation for starting this on Tuesday after Easter. I’ve even got my husband to agree to do it to. But while going through recipes in all the books I’ve got upon a difficulty. Loads of recipes are based around or are frequently scattered with nuts or seeds.

Having a serious allergy, full anaphylaxis, it a right pain in normal life. But the restrictions involved in following any sort of organised healthy diet is an obstacle course. People say “just leave the nuts out” but it isn’t that simple.
Most seeds and grains sold have either “may contain nuts” or “produced/packaged in a factory with nuts”- And when you exclude the nuts and seeds from a recipe you lose calories, nutrients and also the enticing flavour and texture the author of the recipe has created to be most appetizing.
And hummus may be great for a healthy snack for many people, for me an immediate reaction and a trip to hospital is far from enjoyable.

So has anyone done this diet nut/seed/chickpea free? Any tips on finding any seeds without the nut contamination? I love pumpkin, sesame, sunflower and flaxseeds, but can’t get hold of any safe ones.
I’ve been basically written off by my medical consultants. I’m just grappling out of a massive depression since their “get stronger and stronger pain relief until you next become a medical emergency we can treat” pronouncement. But I read the story of Carlos in the BSD book and thought I must try this. I’m only 45, I have to battle on for the same of my family.

Thanks for any help!

Welcome to the forum and to the BSD, Emma. May I ask where you are located? I know in the US there are some brands that specialize in very pure non-allergen-contaminated products, like Gerbs, for example. https://www.amazon.com/Raw-Super-Seed-Mix-LBS/dp/B079WN7C3F?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3029313011

From your title I understand you are allergic to tree nuts, peanuts and chickpeas. Is there anything else that triggers anaphylaxis? Soy? Other legumes?

I know how crushing it is to be written off and dismissed by healthcare professionals. I was depressed for many years, increasingly sick, increasingly fat and trapped in a spiral of paralysis and self-loathing as doctors gave me terrible dietary advice and insisted that only bariatric surgery and a lifetime of meds could save me. The BSD changed all of that for me and I used exactly one recipe from the book (the baked avocado with smoked salmon and egg; it wasn’t that great) over the 14 months I was on it.

I imagine given the danger to life and limb, you have probably relied on making your own food for many years. Perhaps the easiest starting point for you would be to redesign some of the dishes you make most often to strip them of their high carb and calorie content. Don’t worry about being locked into bland, sad food. We’ve got lots of good cooks on this board who can help you create a menu plan that delights your palate as well as your health and waistline. You can absolutely do this.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There are a number of us us on the forum who did not follow the recipes in the book for various reasons. I am a vegetarian so that ruled out a lot of dishes for me.
I simply started out by cutting out the “big” carbs, bread, rice, pasta, pizza, sugar, chocolate. Then I used the app fatsecret on my mobile phone and logged anything that I was thinking about eating and used it to check on the macros of carbs, protein and fat. – My target was around 20g of carbs, protein in the range 0.6g to 0.8g per Kilo of TARGET weight, and the rest of the calories came from healthy fats.

Hi Emma, Welcome to the forum.

It must be really frustrating to see ‘may contain nuts’ on everything. That seems to be a get out clause for manufacturers, so they don’t need to be so careful about what goes into their products. Although I don’t have allergies I find it annoying and wonder what else might be getting in. We should all be able to buy ingredients confident the pack only contains the food we intended to buy and not something else with different properties or potential risks to our health.

Even if you can’t fully follow the diet, cutting out the worst carbs should help quite a lot. Can you eat butterbeans, haricot, borlotti etc? If so they could be substituted for chickpeas in most of the recipes.

Thank you all so much for your answers. I really appreciate your help and suggestions.
Unfortunately I am in the UK so I don’t have an easy supply of Allergen free products. But I keep looking.
I am ok with some beans so I will try substituting them as suggested. I’m spending this week preparing. I’m going to make some egg and veg muffins that can just be microwaved quickly in the mornings.
I’ll also prep and freeze portions of the chilli, bolognese and maybe soup bases.
Can we freeze cauliflower rice? How about courgetti? The more I can have easily to hand the better my success will be.
I’ve also found a hummus recipe using butter beans.
Is it wrong to say I’m looking forward to starting?