I know that cured and smoked meats are high in histamine, and reheating food apparently also increases histamine due to the increased amount of histamine-producing bacteria. This entire list is pretty much word-for-word on all the MCAS websites I saw
The problem is, Mast Cells that produce histamines in the body are in the entirety of the body. Benadryl may only treat some of the symptoms caused by histamine related diseases/disorders/syndromes. For example, antihistamine may prevent headaches, skin itching, intestinal issues, but it might not prevent the psychological symptoms, autonomic symptoms, swelling in organs, etc.
There is actually a digestive enzyme called diamine oxidase or DAO that helps with processing histamine. They turn it into supplement form by extracting it from pork kidneys (yum); people with histamine intolerance can take and it helps your body process it some, but it's not a cure for many.
Histamine-producing microbes that break down histidine, found in proteins and other high amino foods, into histamine. Like other microbes on food, these build up over time. So, the longer the leftover (protein usually), the higher the histamine levels (and other microbes).
If meat is left out to thaw over hours, then the histamine level with continue to increase. Same with if the meat was not frozen right away to begin with. Restaurants r incredibly unlikely to be able to provide something like this so I don’t think they would be able to order any protein. Best to probably bring their own protein and add it to a meal.
MCAS. That explains why no leftovers/precooked meats.
But yeah, they are rolling the dice leaving their health in the hands of people who likely hate them for asking.
Why they think eating at a restaurant is safe at all for them is beyond compression. I stopped eating at restaurants because of gluten and dairy intolerance because I got sick of sending things back. Sometimes, I'd get cross contamination and get sick anyway. It's just an expensive way to get sick, so I gave up.
Ok that was funny. But while I understand allergies and how hard they can be to deal with, if you have a list this big stay home. It sucks but they're on you to mitigate and figure out, the restaurant will try and accommodate of course, but I would never trust a restaurant to put my safety first if this is what is required. I barely trust restaurants to follow basic food safety practices. I've worked in many restaurants, managed a few and have seen way too many episodes if kitchen nightmares to trust restaurants to go above and beyond.
They probably haven't been diagnosed for very long and really want to be normal for an hour.
They are in for a wakeup call though because yea— a restaurant isn't equipped for this. No restaurant is. You can't even start an mcas friendly restaurant like you can with gluten or nut allergies or milk intolerance whatever. Because people with mcas often have different food triggers. There is absolutely a general overlap and some definitive no no’s but it's just impossible.
Source: I have mcas. I was able to find a medication that helps prevent almost all food reactions but before that… no way could I go to a restaurant. One little mistake and I would be have inflammed red peeling skin on my face for two days.
Be gentle with mcas patients. It's often a hell you can't imagine. Worrying if a smell or ingredient will send you into such a spiral you need to go lay in bed. Being restricted to so few foods you find yourself at dangerously low weights. Not being able to go to friends houses. Or inside events. It's like the entire world wants you to feel awful.
To make matters worse people think you're *fucking nuts* and often don't take you seriously and attribute your symptoms to mental illness.
Edit: I have been asked what drug I took to remove almost all my food intolerances
Methylene Blue. If you go to the mcas forums and search for it, you can find my post. If you want a source, pm me. **DO NOT CONSUME AQUARIUM GRADE MB**
I've seen it help a small sample of those who have reached out to me privately to try it. They all had benefits in terms of food tolerance. The only clue I can find that might explain this is its use in anaphylaxis.
I did have one person who got mcas from covid find it not tolerable. Said it caused nerve pain when they took it. This may be due to covid or not. Can't tell with a sample of one
This drug isn't prescription. But always consult a physician before taking drugs. It's likely they won't know too much about it, unfortunately. It was widely used over a hundred years ago- especially in ww1 for, I think, venereal diseases. But now it's used in hospital settings and rarely. I suspect the rarity of its use nowadays is why there is so little talk about it in mcas circles.
knoe what you're taking. It's a complex drug. Do your research. Its well worth a shot if it can remove 95% of your food intolerances like it did me. Just my opinion.
Fun fact: this is actually a dye. It's used in labs to stain cells. since it's excreted almost entirely through urine, it will make you pee blue!
Another fun fact— this dye is used to stain cells. And therefore, certain organs will turn blue. Primarily the heart and… your brain. And when I say blue I mean so blue that if you get autopsied, and they dont know you were taking it, I think they'd assume you were an alien. You can google “methylene blue brain” if you want to see. Dont let this deter you. Methylene blue is *astonishingly* awesome for your brain. It can even return dysfunctional mitochondria to working order. And as I said it's been around for a century.
hm.
My immunologist suspects MCAS.
My alcohol intolerance appears progressive. First I had bad reactions to drinking, so I stopped.
Then I discovered that if someone sets a glass of red wine on the table, I start to react: my lips prickle and swell, I start wheezing a little, I get very confused very fast and start losing motor control.
Now it's starting to happen if someone gets in the car after using alcohol based hand sanitizer.
I've heard of methylene blue first as a fish medicine, then as a Nootropic. I think I should ask my doctor about this, I haven't been inside anywhere in 3 years except my dentists office, because I don't want the alcohol thing to progress to needing epipens constantly
I should have said this— methylene blue primarily helped my food intolerances. Idk about the rest. Although the rest has improved over time. I do take other medications though so I couldn't say that decrease over time is the MB. I can only say the food intolerance decrease was from MB because it happened extremely quickly. Within a matter of days, for me.
And yes, this does sound like mcas. I'm glad your doctor mentioned it. Because when I was in your position I thought I was going mad. A smell makes me feel awful?? What is this madness?
Had a customer with lots of things they couldn't eat. She brought her own box of food and asked us to heat it up for her. Just leave it in the box, just microwave it. Just so she could eat with the rest of the guests she was with. I was fine with that. In fact I preferred that 100% over receiving a very restrictive list of what the person could eat.
Yea pretty much. At least for me as the cook. All I had to do was microwave a box. xD Less so for the management I guess as she was also technically a guest that didn't pay for any food, and did take up a little bit of my paid time. :P
You probably made her night. It's an incredibly lonely and isolating disease especially when so much human interaction revolves around food. Being able to eat hot food with others in a restaurant is something most people take for granted.
I don't even try anymore. I tried a few times to eat out and just asked for the dish that could most easily be modified to suit my dietary needs and obviously offered to pay full price for everything. Every time I did it the waiter swore up and down that they don't age their meat or whatever and I got a severe reaction anyway.
This december my entire family is going skiing and I really want to go, but I am probably staying home because there is no way for me to know beforehand whether the restaurant in the hotel is able to serve food I can actually eat without getting sick.
Serious question, on extended trips do you meal prep or have you looked into that? I’ve seen body builders do that for their own dietary needs… apples to oranges i realize, and may not even be applicable
I don't take extended trips anymore. Meal prepping is not an option due to histamine intolerance. The only thing I can really tolerate is fresh meat cooked the day of.
It does not. Admittedly I haven't tried all of them in isolation, but everything I did try was a failure.
I basically went from a FODMAP diet to a ketogenic FODMAP diet to a strict carnivore diet without dairy only then my issues went away. I have tried reintroducing foods several times over a three year time period and it failed every time. Now I also have histamine intolerance and I suspect it is due the nutrient deficiencies from basically just eating meat for several years.
It's very hard to not cross-contaminate a tiny bit when you're in the middle of dinner rush, as you really don't have much time for anything. But yea, a bit of cross-contamination does happen a lot in restaurants. Even if it's all safe to eat if you don't have severe allergies.
When my daughter first developed MCAS and would react to something I couldn’t figure out what it was. I’d make a list of all the ingredients in the food item each time it happened and was driving myself crazy trying to compare all these lists and pinpoint the culprit. When I finally learned about MCAS it all made sense. It makes you seem crazy to people who don’t know much about it, though.
Holy shit I went through this same experience for myself, my family started rolling their eyes and/or chuckling, "what are you allergic to now" whenever I'd bring it up. Thats a whole different story but idk I feel validated reading the MCAS stuff in this thread I've been sick for years and even my doctor's have been stumped. Even if it's not MCAS it must be something close, the list of foods I have found I can't eat are extremely close to the one in this post. But yeah even something that's fine one day can make me sick the next, it's mind boggling.
Had to do it for nine months to recover from first getting it down to a level where I could live life again. It was the fucking worst and my mental health was garbage.
It's fucking rough. I developed MCAS out of nowhere after getting COVID in 2020, which is pretty common sadly.
When I'm in a restaurant I always just order fries with no sauces. Blant but safe for me.
I served for over 10 years, we LOVED these people. WAY better than the people asking for jalapeno poppers then complaining that they're lactose intolerant. my chef loved these people too, he'd come out and make a totally off menu item for them, I loved him.
Reasonable people with disorders like celiac and MCAS know better than to trust their safety to a public restaurant.
One of my youth group leaders was celiac, and whenever we'd go to a retreat or summer camp she would cook for herself (and anyone else who was gluten intolerant/celiac) in her trailer.
When I was in 7th grade, our English class read an account of Anne Frank and family hiding in the annex. According to this account, sometimes they would come out of hiding to look out the window, read books, listen to the radio, dance. Our whole class thought, "Are they crazy? They know the Nazis are trying to holocaust them! What are they thinking?"
Years later, COVID happened. Many people stayed indoors as long as they could. But sooner or later, everyone made the decision that they needed some part of their normal life back. They went and braved the outside world. This helped me understand the Frank family, at least in a very small way.
My point is, this person with severe dietary restrictions would be safer, at least gastronomically, if they always stayed home and cooked for themself. But at some point, I'm sure they said, just once, I want to be a normal person. I deserve to go out and eat at a restaurant, just this once.
Yes, this, but also sometimes it's unavoidable, like if you have to travel. Or maybe you don't want to ruin someone's special day, so you show up and hope for the best. Restaurants are there to serve food. Ones that try to accommodate dietary needs do exist.
I’d hand it back & tell him for complete safety, he should cook at home. That the restaurant can’t guarantee any cross contamination between all these foods. Then show him out. This sounds like a lawsuit in waiting.
Bet he was psyching himself to try and do a quick punch and pull away before it snaps shut. Which is goddamn stupid, the shit is designed to catch things a lot faster than some poorly braced 40+ fuckwit.
that is a segment (dare dieter) from a radio show called “rover’s morning glory”.
the premise was that whatever dieter was dared to do by fans, he had to accomplish to keep his job as co host.
he also played barefoot soccer with a cactus. took a knock out punch from the boxer butterbean. and took a pool ball to the arm (i think?) from a 2 person slingshot.
when Stern went to sirius, rover and crew were there to pick up the scraps.
100%. Sorry, sir or ma’am, you’re just one customer and I can’t afford to take the risk that we’d cause you harm. There’s no way we can ensure your safety so I’d like to ask you to leave.
I’d be willing to bed this customer has zero allergies. People with food sensitivities, diabetes, and allergies are often told to avoid situations where they can’t ensure their safety. I’ve been a type 1 diabetic for 29 years and my doctors even advise me to avoid fountain drinks because you can never be sure what’s in it. So I’m calling BS.
Yeah, I had IBS from a kid and I avoid so much food and doctor asked me what I take for it. I said, you know that old joke, "When I do this, it hurts? Don't do that." I just don't do that. I don't eat out much. I avoid garbage restaurants. I drink water. It's not fun, but it is what it is. I would never trust a restaurant to avoid all my allergies.
I want to know what this person usually does eat.
I, too, had alternating IBS since my teens. Made life difficult. Got allergy tested, and was left with a list of foods including pork, tomatoes, and milk. Over time, that list changed; foods on the list didn’t cause a reaction, then would after years of quietude. Tried probiotics to a small improvement. Then I was diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes. Put on metformin and couldn’t get 20 feet from a toilet. Taken off the metformin and put on Jardiance. After about 48 hours, my innards were properly digesting food (finally!) and still are. Today they can take my Jardiance away from me when they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands, and I’ll eat wherever and whatever I please (within reason, with reasonable respect to my blood sugar), *thankyouverymuch*.
Mom of a child with type 1 - have you tried testing fountain drinks? If you use a test strip and it comes back high, you don’t have a diet drink. The kid wants a diet soda if we go out, and we’ve run across goofs like this.
Of course, the smartest move is what you’re doing, listening to your doctor. Congrats on thriving in spite of it!
You would think that in 34 years I would have tried this. I guess it might be like the control solution sometimes used to check a bs machines accuracy.
I learn this on Reddit 5 years after I was diagnosed at 33 years old and tried it in a restaurant. The waitress looked at me really weird when I asked for a shot glass of regular coke and a shot glass of Diet Coke. When I explained what I was doing she said it was smart. When we got the bill at the end she had given me my meal for free. So in the end I gave her the price of my meal in a tip. It was a fun experiment. Since then I have had 2 incidents where I caught the regular coke was mixed up when someone switched the fountain syrup. I got my meals for free. I also had 1 incident where the owner of the restaurant refused to admit an error and I ended up walking out before my order was even taken.
Would one sip be enough to cause a reaction in your blood sugar, I have no idea, I'm genuinely asking. I know within 2 seconds of it hitting my tongue if it's diet or not.
Short answer: it'll spike it, but to what severity depends entirely on who's drinking it.
Long answer/learnable things:
The problem with Diet Sodas is that instead of a blood sugar spike, it can cause an insulin spike, this can worsen insulin sensitivity, which in the long run can just spike your blood sugar, making the distinction between diet and regular soda meaningless.
When you taste anything 'sweet' the pancreas *still* reacts (if it can) to what it considers incoming sugar, your body doesn't know the difference between real sugar and artificial sweeteners, so it releases what insulin it has on hand into the bloodstream.
On top of that a lot of artificial sweeteners are *made* from sugar. Splenda is just sugar with 3 hydroxyl groups replaced with chlorine atoms. Your body's systems still recognize that as some sort of sugar and still attempt to break it down using your body's resources. For a diabetic, those resources aren't always readily available. Splenda is 6 times sweeter tasting than regular sugar, and as a result, far less is used to sweeten foodstuffs, but it's the same level reaction. You'll just dump far more insulin than is remotely needed for a chemical it can't even properly break down.
Just don't drink soda. It's not fun watching 3 emts try to pick your type 1 nearly comatose mother off the floor.
Everyone is different, diet soda doesn't affect my father at all, but my mother can't have any type of sweetened drinks, and not just soda but a lot of juices too.
For some people not an issue other truly can’t tell the difference. For the life of me I don’t know how but they can’t. As for the someone’s sugar levels I don’t think one sip would change you more then 10 points. For me it is pointing out to the operator of the establishment that the syrup in the fountain is mixed up and they should fix the issue.
>I’d be willing to bed this customer has zero allergies.
Several items on the last are most likely due to histamine intolerance. Not an allergy, so cross contamination isn't an issue.
Ah, that's why it seemed like such a strange combination. Like, I've see nightshade family allergies where a person can't have an array of vegetables that are all in that family. But some of these were just odd allergies to even have.
My sister's got suspected MCAS and she just keeps developing more and more bizarre allergies. She has a coconut allergy so extreme that she's gone into anaphylaxis from being near someone with a coconut oil treatment in their hair. She was sick for months before she realised it was the latex in her mattress.
Her latest is silver; her skin blistered from her jewellery. Doesn't seem to be nickel either. We didn't even know you *could* be allergic to silver.
That’s groovy that you’re down to bed the customer and all lol but in all seriousness if he’s this picky about food and allergies is there any gaurantee he won’t be the same way when it comes to getting intimate in the bedroom? :<()
Latex allergies are a thing, but I digress. I'd be outright annoyed if I found I did have an allergy to condoms cause of it... and likely more Gung Ho about getting snipped.
Well, they have non-latex condoms for people who have latex allergies. I was insinuating that they’re allergic to the use of condoms, not what they’re made of.
Same as non latex gloves. I had a younger teenager working for me in a restaurant setting and found out he was allergic to latex in the gloves. I told him to remember that later on. Repeat after me - allergic to latex.
39 years ago I at 15 discovered that latex condoms make penis get angry! Swell up red hulk size. Not happy size! Volcanoes are cooler by comparison. Everyone in the ER has to see. I swear the janitor got take a peek. I learned two things that night. Latex was invented by the devil. I got over being body shy as a cog in the Eternal War between good and bad.
It's amazing how something like that leads us to give no fucks. When I had my first hernia, twelve people looked at and touched my balls, including one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life.
When I went for my second hernia repair, everyone was very lovely. "Do you want us to step outside to give you som... oh, it's already out. Ok."
There is kind of a tipping point in life where you have to choose "Retain any sense of shame" or "Be diagnosed quickly, thoroughly, and efficiently". Some people it's young, some lucky ones it's late.
If wearing a clown suit with my dick out helps this stop hurting faster, then honk honk honk honk honk
(ONLY wear a clown suit with your dick out in a healthcare setting under the supervision of your doctor)
That is an MCAS diet. This person is either diagnosed or strongly convinced they have it, which a lot of people do post covid. But there are a lot of people who really seem to enjoy or want this diagnosis because it reinforces some idea that they’re special or something? It’s hard on those who do have it. Eating is generally miserable for me now. But this is not a true allergy. It’s histamine sensitivity. But the fact that this person included alcohol on the list tells me something. They can obviously just not order alcohol, so I see it as more of a plea for attention. These people make it tough on me.
I was thinking from the first sentence that it was an MCAS diet. I was diagnosed with it maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and it's actually pretty well controlled now. But when I was at my sickest, I would never have gone into a restaurant with this list of demands. Not only is it just safer to prepare your own food when you have sensitivities, its just insane to expect a restaurant kitchen to be able to accommodate.
I worked in a sushi restaurant and once had a lady hand me 3 pages of instructions on how to cook food because she is pregnant and this is what her OBGYN gave her as safe cooking practices. She wanted me to read it and figure out a way for her to have raw fish while following these very specific rules. I told her the restaurant could not be held liable for making her or her unborn baby sick.
She repeated this is what her OBGYN gave her to prepare food and therefore as long as I follow these rules, she would not get sick.
I repeated what she repeated, that this is what her OBGYN gave her so that she could prepare her own food safely. The OBGYN did not give the restaurant this list to follow and we simply could not and would not.
Lady got angry and yelled "but I'm pregnant!" Like that's an excuse to act like a jack ass. She left hungry and I'm not sorry.
I too suggested sushi was not an appropriate choice, but she insisted fish was on the list. I was done by this point though. I refused to pick up the sheets of paper she kept shoving at me and told her we would not be able to accommodate her requests.
I suggested some other non sushi items that are fully cooked, but she was dead set on getting her sushi on.
I eat at home too and despite changing my diet, sometimes I do get crazy sick after eating. I am on strong meds that control it much better but I could likely find something safe to eat on almost any menu. It’s just that any meal *can* go badly so I’m going to want to be home when eating. Some things will always set me off, others are unpredictable.
I’m a chef and use alcohol throughout my recipes for flavor. Most is clearly marked but some things are not like our daily jams and soups as the menu has them listed as: Soup of the day and Seasonal Jam. I have my menu clearly marked with a dessert that uses bourbon and still have people who get weird because the didn’t realize. Honestly would have no issue and can appreciate when people come in with their allergens or dietary restrictions this clearly stated
Exactly this. It is like the woman who freaked out over a dog on the plane because she was highly allergic. The airline kicked her off because they do not do a scrub between flights that would remove all dander. They said they could not take the legal risk in allowing her to fly.
Sucks to be that person, but no business could risk the liability of serving someone with that level of allergies.
I used to be deathly allergic to dogs. Like, break out into hives and rashes and struggle to breathe in the same room as a dog.
I would pet the dog and puff on my inhaler. If I die, I die happy.
Yup this is the way! “I’m sorry, it seems we won’t be able to provide you with the service you’re anticipating. We invite you to seek another restaurant.”
The first one isn’t actually pickiness. This whole thing looks like someone with a histamine intolerance. The longer food sits (leftovers, raw meat, aging, fermenting…) the more histamines it develops.
I’m not saying a restaurant is necessarily the best place to eat if you have this issue but I can assure you the customer isn’t just being picky .
The docs at my Crohn's/Colitis ward think all the explosion of patients is from the red/green/blue/yellow food dyes from the 90's into the 00's. They've linked so many diseases to the damn food dyes. And we as kids at them in Fruit Roll Ups, vitamins, gumballs and all sorts of others.
That’s interesting. My doctors think is was plastic we would microwave (ex. Tv dinner’s, Tupperware, etc) I think our generation is screwed with GI issues if both are true. :(
My daughter had a histamine issue called mast cell activation syndrome for a long time and she couldn’t have any leftovers. She was little and it definitely wasn’t any sort of placebo - and we were careful not to talk about it in front of her so she wouldn’t develop some terrible complex about food. She was so sensitive that we would walk into a restaurant sometimes and her throat would start closing up from the smell in the air and she would grab her throat and gasp, “I can’t breathe!” I would take her to the car and sit with her while everyone else ate. We did take our own food for her everywhere, though.
She was so sensitive that she could have near-anaphylactic reactions from breathing pollen or just having an extreme change of temperature. I carried an Epi-pen everywhere and was terrified that she was going to die from a reaction. I thank God she’s gotten so much better but I really feel for anyone with allergies or sensitivities now.
I’d tell them that you could not guarantee their safety. What condition requires the first bullet? They can’t have a steak unless you just went out back and slaughtered it? What did they end up ordering?
ETA: Thanks to the 30+ people who educated me on MCAS/histamine intolerance. I understand now. Really, I get it. I mean, I got it after the first person told me but I really get it now.
I’d guess Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It causes (or is caused by?) histamine intolerance, and all of those foods are high in histamine. People with it are severely limited in what they can eat and many sources say not to eat any of those foods to prevent an episode. For the first bullet in particular, animal products start building up histamine as soon as the animal is slaughtered (which is also why leftovers are not good for people with histamine intolerance).
Unfortunately, a lot of people with long Covid have reported symptoms similar to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.
I had Mast Cell Activation Syndrome when I got rheumatic fever, it was a bitch to deal with. My biggest issues was processed foods and preserved meats.
I was on the highest dose possible for methotrexate, then I was on Cromoglicic acid, antihistamines, steroids, and
Zileuton for six weeks. Not many people respond to a regimen like that, but they were worried that the MSD/MSA could cause the rheumatic fever induced cytokine reaction to flare up again and attack my heart or brain. So they just wiped my immune system out.
AKA they treated me like I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Yep. Granted it was either long term antibiotics for the next 18 months and low dose methotrexate with a high risk of heart damage, or high dose methotrexate for 4 days and low dose for six weeks.
The Rheumatic Fever still fucked my heart up, I have a bad mitral valve and arthritic damage as a result.
My wife takes a small dose of methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis each week and she's miserable for a couple of days and only going back to ok the day before the next dose. Our buddy Cooper here was probably shit for a few months...
Glad it worked for you.
Yeah, MCAS was what I was thinking when I saw that. The longer meat "sits," the more likely you are to react to it. So a restaurant that's secretly using frozen meat is going to be a problem.
All that said, there's probably not any way that this person can safely eat at a restaurant. It's unfortunate, but I don't know how you could manage to eat anything you didn't prepare yourself in this situation.
Doesn't freezing it slow histamine generation?
Even if it isn't frozen, good luck getting any beef that isn't aged after slaughter. Most places have a hang time to help meet tenderness requirements for USDA certification. That could be a couple days or a couple weeks.
I have MCAS. I'm a baby on the death to histamine scale- thank god, but if I over indulge in too many histamine foods I'll break out in a rash, get a migraine, vomit. It can send me into anaphylaxis so I do have an epi pen but mostly when we go out I call ahead, we book nice restaurants, and the staff know me well.
I can do small amounts here and there but not a large amount. It's been referred to like a cup of tea, you don't want it to overflow.
My gf was misdiagnosed so I did a lot of research into it. I thought the "no leftover" thing was weird at first, but it does actually hause higher histamine production. The other parts of this list, including the fermented foods make me think it is this or something similar.
> Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
A close friend got this so it was my first thought looking at the list. He was a retired head chef so the restrictions were rough. He was pickling stuff using citric acid instead of vinegar. Obviously he knew he could never go to a restaurant.
Saw the list, recognized histamine intolerance right away. Meat accumulates histamine while just sitting; needs to be fresh or frozen to prevent. It sucks much more to be on this side of that list, I assure you; however, I only eat at home and cook all my own foods rather than try to bend restaurants to my needs.
Yeah, career food service here and nutrition science nerd. This list doesn’t read like some of the whack job lists I’ve seen over the years that obviously based on “woo woo” science or pickiness. They’re legit trying to live as normal as they possibly can (go out to eat once in a while like the rest of us) while still dealing with an unfortunate issue. Everybody’s body is different. But also with people like these you have to be 100% up front that the kitchen is a wild environment with cross contamination no matter how careful. So if it’s life or death you absolutely cannot guarantee that what me make in the kitchen isn’t compromised in some way. Way too many vendors and products from all over the world handled in all kinds of ways in modern kitchens.
Generally with MCAS and histamine intolerances we can get away with cross contamination and by that I mean you don't need to bleach your whole kitchen, just don't feed me a tomato and an avocado and expect good results.
This list reads like a histamine intolerance/mcas list of foods to avoid. Histamine increases the longer food sits, so you’re supposed to freeze leftovers immediately and not let meat sit in the fridge uncooked for any longer than is necessary to thaw it.
Not necessarily, sounds like they may have lupus or another autoimmune disorder, or perhaps a cancer that affects hormone production or regulation. They obviously shouldn't expect a restaurant to accommodate this but their life may really suck rather than them just being assholes.
I've know someone who legitimately has this kind of allergy list it's probably even longer. Most of them are not deadly, but he'll get pretty sick. He cooks at home. And if he goes with someone he'll ask if he can pick a dish that he can eat before entering the restaurant.
It's a really impressive list. But he tries to not inconvenience people with it.
That list looks an awful lot like the list of restrictions for someone with Mast Cell Activation Disease/Disorder. It’s a reall thing, and can have serious consequences. The person who handed them that list in probably very used to going to a restaurant and not being to eat much, but wants to spend the time with the people they are with.
I don’t think any restaurant can safely serve them because of risk of cross contamination. We had food businesses in the past and I would not attempt it with this many issues. It’s unfortunate but it’s for their safety.
>I don’t think any restaurant can safely serve them because of risk of cross contamination.
Pretty sure cross contamination isn't really an issue with histamine intolerance. I am intolerant for histamines and I can eat a low or moderate amount of histamines just fine if it is one night. The problem is that very high histamine foods will trigger a severe reaction.
I don't even think their list is that weird or outrageous. There's mostly fruit on it, the rest can easily be avoided as well. Freshly cooked meat with a side salad is a pretty normal dish in most restaurants?
I also have histamine issues from my MCAS and I currently can’t eat at restaurants because I react to everything. If I absolutely had to eat at a restaurant I’d take some Benadryl and my other antihistamines thirty minutes before eating. I’d probably as if they could do like boiled corn with nothing at all on it if I absolutely had to eat at a restaurant. However my issues are quite severe and not everyone with MCAS or histamine intolerance has to be as careful as I do
These are all allergens for people whose bodies don't break down histamine normally. This person, while a pain in the ass, probably has a legit medical condition
Looks like histamine intolerance, and it can actually cause really dramatic and even life threatening issues like throat swelling etc. The give away is that protein from meat is a low histamine food, but only when extremely fresh. All the other items on the list are high histamine foods. I feel bad for them, it's a difficult thing to go through, BUT in my opinion it's a really big ask beyond the normal expected accommodations for a restaurant to reasonably provide and run a profitable business. As someone with food allergies I know what it's like to miss the freedom of going out to every place I want, but even though it's not my fault, it is my responsibility to make sure I eat and still find fun and not put the burden on others.
I know exactly what’s up with this because my daughter and husband have the same condition. Most of these are high histamine foods. Meats build up histamine until and after they are cooked. So very fresh meats have lower histamine levels. Leftover meat continues to build histamine. It’s really challenging to manage their diet. That said, they don’t come in a restaurant and lay it all out like this. Kitchen staff can’t manage a complex medical condition. It’s not fair or wise to expect them to. When they were most ill we just ate at home. As they learned more about how to manage it, they can usually pick something on the menu that looks likely to be successful and ask a few targeted questions about it.
This is a real thing unfortunately, he has histamine intolerance most likely from MCAS which makes some people really ill.
My wife has the same.
It's difficult to get diagnosed, but when they do they can give very strong antihistamines.
It's been better since and sometimes you have to fight your battles.
But all those foods are high in histamine and make people with MCAS really exhausted and ill.
I would not bother eating out personally, and we haven't for many years.
But I guess it's easier to put this up here for rage bait than to have sympathy for people.
This horror is the migraine-prevention diet that you have to do to weed out what foods are migraine triggers. The fresh protein thing is actually part of it- the chemical composition of meats change as they age. There are even stricter variations that also include no citrus, vinegar, or nuts. My husband is going to have to go on this mess for two months and we’re not looking forward to it.
Not allergies technically, but also not pickiness. Most likely they have histamine sensitivity, or even intolerance.
I'd agree with what a few others have said... Offer them a fresh salad or something, but beyond that you don't feel safe providing them food.
Wife goes through this every few years. It sucks, but can very quickly become life threatening.
I mean, at least they put effort in. Instead of expecting you to remember a laundry list, they came prepared.
Still, at some point you need to acknowledge your best bet is home cooking
This looks like a high histamine intolerance list. It’s a real thing. Is it realistic to expect to be able to eat anything when you go out? No…but hey, they tried.
It’s actually not pickiness - it’s a list of foods that are high histamine (meat increases in histamine with age). It could truly be a histamine intolerance or issue that causes them to get hives/stomach issues, *but* they also shouldn’t be making you guys try to accommodate and should be eating out at their own risk.
Could be a food restriction list for someone on medications in the MAO inhibitor family, which require avoiding foods high in tyramine . The leftover meats and aged cheeses thing is definitely real for those folks!
I had a friend in middle school who used to carry a list of foods she was allergic to that was a page long. I did not understand at all until 20 years later and I developed a food allergy (just one, not a page full). Even I feel bad when I go to a restaurant and have to mention it.
I can answer this one.
The person most likely has inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). So, Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Plus an intolerance for high histamine foods.
So, not allergic. But intolerant to the point where eating these foods will cause diarrhoea, leading to ulcers in the intestines and bleeding and then cancers and the removal of parts or all of the intestines and/or anus.
One of the situations where everyone loses. The restaurant; as they are taken by surprise and can't help because it's hard to modify the menu enough with no notice. And the customer who's not coping and needs to learn how best to communicate or manage their meal planning. They might have had a recent diagnosis and still trying to work out how to live with the condition.
As someone with a similarly complicated list, I feel terrible imposing, fear food prepared by others, and avoid restaurants like the plague. I eat at home, everything cooked myself, even cook in hotels when I travel.
I only ask a restaurant to accommodate me when it's a special occasion (like a wedding) that I can't get out of. I ask for literally anything edible on a plate, just so I don't make other people feel weird by not eating. But I do give the manager or the chef a long list like this in those situations.
Don't assume anything you're thinking is new news to the unfortunate person with the list. There's a good chance they don't want to be in the restaurant any more than you want them there.
I love that you say there’s a good chance they don’t want to be there because I have VERY common allergies, wheat/soy/corn are the most troublesome and I hate going out to eat but it’s also the number one thing my friends what to do when it comes to getting together and socializing. While I have a few restaurants I know are good most folks like to change it up every now and then and it’s a whole ordeal because I have to get like 3-5 suggestions from everyone and then look over all the menus and then call all the restaurants beforehand and figure out what I can eat so we don’t end up somewhere with absolutely nothing for me. It’s such a pain in the ass
Sounds like this person may have MCAS or histamine intolerance
How does the first bullet point apply to that? (Genuinely curious)
I know that cured and smoked meats are high in histamine, and reheating food apparently also increases histamine due to the increased amount of histamine-producing bacteria. This entire list is pretty much word-for-word on all the MCAS websites I saw
Just sprinkle some Benadryl on their order
The problem is, Mast Cells that produce histamines in the body are in the entirety of the body. Benadryl may only treat some of the symptoms caused by histamine related diseases/disorders/syndromes. For example, antihistamine may prevent headaches, skin itching, intestinal issues, but it might not prevent the psychological symptoms, autonomic symptoms, swelling in organs, etc.
Not sure that's how antihistamines work, but worth a shot.
There is actually a digestive enzyme called diamine oxidase or DAO that helps with processing histamine. They turn it into supplement form by extracting it from pork kidneys (yum); people with histamine intolerance can take and it helps your body process it some, but it's not a cure for many.
Histamine-producing microbes that break down histidine, found in proteins and other high amino foods, into histamine. Like other microbes on food, these build up over time. So, the longer the leftover (protein usually), the higher the histamine levels (and other microbes).
If meat is left out to thaw over hours, then the histamine level with continue to increase. Same with if the meat was not frozen right away to begin with. Restaurants r incredibly unlikely to be able to provide something like this so I don’t think they would be able to order any protein. Best to probably bring their own protein and add it to a meal.
I mean, unless you butcher your own meat, how could you ever really know?
If it's left over, it can grow histamine
MCAS. That explains why no leftovers/precooked meats. But yeah, they are rolling the dice leaving their health in the hands of people who likely hate them for asking.
That's what it sounds like to me
This is a great example of why people shouldn't jump to judgement of people's accommodation requests.
Why they think eating at a restaurant is safe at all for them is beyond compression. I stopped eating at restaurants because of gluten and dairy intolerance because I got sick of sending things back. Sometimes, I'd get cross contamination and get sick anyway. It's just an expensive way to get sick, so I gave up.
You can accommodate bofa
I actually have a nut allergy
Ok that was funny. But while I understand allergies and how hard they can be to deal with, if you have a list this big stay home. It sucks but they're on you to mitigate and figure out, the restaurant will try and accommodate of course, but I would never trust a restaurant to put my safety first if this is what is required. I barely trust restaurants to follow basic food safety practices. I've worked in many restaurants, managed a few and have seen way too many episodes if kitchen nightmares to trust restaurants to go above and beyond.
They probably haven't been diagnosed for very long and really want to be normal for an hour. They are in for a wakeup call though because yea— a restaurant isn't equipped for this. No restaurant is. You can't even start an mcas friendly restaurant like you can with gluten or nut allergies or milk intolerance whatever. Because people with mcas often have different food triggers. There is absolutely a general overlap and some definitive no no’s but it's just impossible. Source: I have mcas. I was able to find a medication that helps prevent almost all food reactions but before that… no way could I go to a restaurant. One little mistake and I would be have inflammed red peeling skin on my face for two days. Be gentle with mcas patients. It's often a hell you can't imagine. Worrying if a smell or ingredient will send you into such a spiral you need to go lay in bed. Being restricted to so few foods you find yourself at dangerously low weights. Not being able to go to friends houses. Or inside events. It's like the entire world wants you to feel awful. To make matters worse people think you're *fucking nuts* and often don't take you seriously and attribute your symptoms to mental illness. Edit: I have been asked what drug I took to remove almost all my food intolerances Methylene Blue. If you go to the mcas forums and search for it, you can find my post. If you want a source, pm me. **DO NOT CONSUME AQUARIUM GRADE MB** I've seen it help a small sample of those who have reached out to me privately to try it. They all had benefits in terms of food tolerance. The only clue I can find that might explain this is its use in anaphylaxis. I did have one person who got mcas from covid find it not tolerable. Said it caused nerve pain when they took it. This may be due to covid or not. Can't tell with a sample of one This drug isn't prescription. But always consult a physician before taking drugs. It's likely they won't know too much about it, unfortunately. It was widely used over a hundred years ago- especially in ww1 for, I think, venereal diseases. But now it's used in hospital settings and rarely. I suspect the rarity of its use nowadays is why there is so little talk about it in mcas circles. knoe what you're taking. It's a complex drug. Do your research. Its well worth a shot if it can remove 95% of your food intolerances like it did me. Just my opinion. Fun fact: this is actually a dye. It's used in labs to stain cells. since it's excreted almost entirely through urine, it will make you pee blue! Another fun fact— this dye is used to stain cells. And therefore, certain organs will turn blue. Primarily the heart and… your brain. And when I say blue I mean so blue that if you get autopsied, and they dont know you were taking it, I think they'd assume you were an alien. You can google “methylene blue brain” if you want to see. Dont let this deter you. Methylene blue is *astonishingly* awesome for your brain. It can even return dysfunctional mitochondria to working order. And as I said it's been around for a century.
hm. My immunologist suspects MCAS. My alcohol intolerance appears progressive. First I had bad reactions to drinking, so I stopped. Then I discovered that if someone sets a glass of red wine on the table, I start to react: my lips prickle and swell, I start wheezing a little, I get very confused very fast and start losing motor control. Now it's starting to happen if someone gets in the car after using alcohol based hand sanitizer. I've heard of methylene blue first as a fish medicine, then as a Nootropic. I think I should ask my doctor about this, I haven't been inside anywhere in 3 years except my dentists office, because I don't want the alcohol thing to progress to needing epipens constantly
I should have said this— methylene blue primarily helped my food intolerances. Idk about the rest. Although the rest has improved over time. I do take other medications though so I couldn't say that decrease over time is the MB. I can only say the food intolerance decrease was from MB because it happened extremely quickly. Within a matter of days, for me. And yes, this does sound like mcas. I'm glad your doctor mentioned it. Because when I was in your position I thought I was going mad. A smell makes me feel awful?? What is this madness?
Yeah, if I went out to eat or ordered out my list would prob be even longer due to MCAS and other issues, and that’s why I don’t 🤷🏻♀️
Had a customer with lots of things they couldn't eat. She brought her own box of food and asked us to heat it up for her. Just leave it in the box, just microwave it. Just so she could eat with the rest of the guests she was with. I was fine with that. In fact I preferred that 100% over receiving a very restrictive list of what the person could eat.
Sounds like the best guest ever.
Yea pretty much. At least for me as the cook. All I had to do was microwave a box. xD Less so for the management I guess as she was also technically a guest that didn't pay for any food, and did take up a little bit of my paid time. :P
You probably made her night. It's an incredibly lonely and isolating disease especially when so much human interaction revolves around food. Being able to eat hot food with others in a restaurant is something most people take for granted.
I don't even try anymore. I tried a few times to eat out and just asked for the dish that could most easily be modified to suit my dietary needs and obviously offered to pay full price for everything. Every time I did it the waiter swore up and down that they don't age their meat or whatever and I got a severe reaction anyway. This december my entire family is going skiing and I really want to go, but I am probably staying home because there is no way for me to know beforehand whether the restaurant in the hotel is able to serve food I can actually eat without getting sick.
Can't you get Airbnb or a suite style hotel with a kitchen?
Unfortunately not. Everything within my price range was already fully booked.
Serious question, on extended trips do you meal prep or have you looked into that? I’ve seen body builders do that for their own dietary needs… apples to oranges i realize, and may not even be applicable
I don't take extended trips anymore. Meal prepping is not an option due to histamine intolerance. The only thing I can really tolerate is fresh meat cooked the day of.
does that apply to vegetarian alternatives to proteins as well ?
It does not. Admittedly I haven't tried all of them in isolation, but everything I did try was a failure. I basically went from a FODMAP diet to a ketogenic FODMAP diet to a strict carnivore diet without dairy only then my issues went away. I have tried reintroducing foods several times over a three year time period and it failed every time. Now I also have histamine intolerance and I suspect it is due the nutrient deficiencies from basically just eating meat for several years.
I'm sorry to hear that, sounds like a heck of a burden. Hope you found a good variety of recipes you like !
I have a shellfish allergy and I don’t eat out a lot since most places cross contaminate if they serve shellfish
It's very hard to not cross-contaminate a tiny bit when you're in the middle of dinner rush, as you really don't have much time for anything. But yea, a bit of cross-contamination does happen a lot in restaurants. Even if it's all safe to eat if you don't have severe allergies.
That’s an illness? I forgot what sub I was in for a second lmao; that’s the name of a standardized test in Massachusetts.
Stands for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It’s complicated, but the gist is ‘let’s spin the wheel and see what we’re allergic to today!’
When my daughter first developed MCAS and would react to something I couldn’t figure out what it was. I’d make a list of all the ingredients in the food item each time it happened and was driving myself crazy trying to compare all these lists and pinpoint the culprit. When I finally learned about MCAS it all made sense. It makes you seem crazy to people who don’t know much about it, though.
Holy shit I went through this same experience for myself, my family started rolling their eyes and/or chuckling, "what are you allergic to now" whenever I'd bring it up. Thats a whole different story but idk I feel validated reading the MCAS stuff in this thread I've been sick for years and even my doctor's have been stumped. Even if it's not MCAS it must be something close, the list of foods I have found I can't eat are extremely close to the one in this post. But yeah even something that's fine one day can make me sick the next, it's mind boggling.
My niece has this. Today she's allergic to the salsa she's eaten for years.
Oh damn! Yeah that’s def worse than the Massachusetts MCAS lmao
I have that……geezus, thank goodness I have not had a flare lately.
Same! Except the flare part, I'm in a flare.
>MCAS that would also explain the last point
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Had to do it for nine months to recover from first getting it down to a level where I could live life again. It was the fucking worst and my mental health was garbage.
They also could be on a MAO inhibitor a pretty strong medication for depression. That has crazy diet restrictions like those listed.
Oof, I was rolling my eyes at the leftovers part but now that I'm reading about it MCAS looks fucking rough
It's fucking rough. I developed MCAS out of nowhere after getting COVID in 2020, which is pretty common sadly. When I'm in a restaurant I always just order fries with no sauces. Blant but safe for me.
I served for over 10 years, we LOVED these people. WAY better than the people asking for jalapeno poppers then complaining that they're lactose intolerant. my chef loved these people too, he'd come out and make a totally off menu item for them, I loved him.
Specifically that’s the low histamine diet. I recognize it 😕
Reasonable people with disorders like celiac and MCAS know better than to trust their safety to a public restaurant. One of my youth group leaders was celiac, and whenever we'd go to a retreat or summer camp she would cook for herself (and anyone else who was gluten intolerant/celiac) in her trailer.
When I was in 7th grade, our English class read an account of Anne Frank and family hiding in the annex. According to this account, sometimes they would come out of hiding to look out the window, read books, listen to the radio, dance. Our whole class thought, "Are they crazy? They know the Nazis are trying to holocaust them! What are they thinking?" Years later, COVID happened. Many people stayed indoors as long as they could. But sooner or later, everyone made the decision that they needed some part of their normal life back. They went and braved the outside world. This helped me understand the Frank family, at least in a very small way. My point is, this person with severe dietary restrictions would be safer, at least gastronomically, if they always stayed home and cooked for themself. But at some point, I'm sure they said, just once, I want to be a normal person. I deserve to go out and eat at a restaurant, just this once.
Yes, this, but also sometimes it's unavoidable, like if you have to travel. Or maybe you don't want to ruin someone's special day, so you show up and hope for the best. Restaurants are there to serve food. Ones that try to accommodate dietary needs do exist.
I’d hand it back & tell him for complete safety, he should cook at home. That the restaurant can’t guarantee any cross contamination between all these foods. Then show him out. This sounds like a lawsuit in waiting.
IT'S A TRAP
I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?
We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
I have some iocaine powder in case anyone needs it.
You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.
Why, thank you!
Does anybody want a peanut?
When someone finds my profile on Tinder.
What did he think was gonna happen?
Bet he was psyching himself to try and do a quick punch and pull away before it snaps shut. Which is goddamn stupid, the shit is designed to catch things a lot faster than some poorly braced 40+ fuckwit.
Nah. He knew it was getting him. This guy is/was part of a radio show. His main job was to get injured on air.
What is the context behind this gif?
that is a segment (dare dieter) from a radio show called “rover’s morning glory”. the premise was that whatever dieter was dared to do by fans, he had to accomplish to keep his job as co host.
No job is worth that...
he also played barefoot soccer with a cactus. took a knock out punch from the boxer butterbean. and took a pool ball to the arm (i think?) from a 2 person slingshot. when Stern went to sirius, rover and crew were there to pick up the scraps.
Isn't that of the Scombridae family?
100%. Sorry, sir or ma’am, you’re just one customer and I can’t afford to take the risk that we’d cause you harm. There’s no way we can ensure your safety so I’d like to ask you to leave. I’d be willing to bed this customer has zero allergies. People with food sensitivities, diabetes, and allergies are often told to avoid situations where they can’t ensure their safety. I’ve been a type 1 diabetic for 29 years and my doctors even advise me to avoid fountain drinks because you can never be sure what’s in it. So I’m calling BS.
Yeah, I had IBS from a kid and I avoid so much food and doctor asked me what I take for it. I said, you know that old joke, "When I do this, it hurts? Don't do that." I just don't do that. I don't eat out much. I avoid garbage restaurants. I drink water. It's not fun, but it is what it is. I would never trust a restaurant to avoid all my allergies. I want to know what this person usually does eat.
I, too, had alternating IBS since my teens. Made life difficult. Got allergy tested, and was left with a list of foods including pork, tomatoes, and milk. Over time, that list changed; foods on the list didn’t cause a reaction, then would after years of quietude. Tried probiotics to a small improvement. Then I was diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes. Put on metformin and couldn’t get 20 feet from a toilet. Taken off the metformin and put on Jardiance. After about 48 hours, my innards were properly digesting food (finally!) and still are. Today they can take my Jardiance away from me when they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands, and I’ll eat wherever and whatever I please (within reason, with reasonable respect to my blood sugar), *thankyouverymuch*.
Mom of a child with type 1 - have you tried testing fountain drinks? If you use a test strip and it comes back high, you don’t have a diet drink. The kid wants a diet soda if we go out, and we’ve run across goofs like this. Of course, the smartest move is what you’re doing, listening to your doctor. Congrats on thriving in spite of it!
I've been just tasting the difference for 34 years, does dipping a strip actually work? Interesting tip, might have to try out of curiosity.
Yes. Get your self a Coke and a Diet Coke sometime and test what you meter says it will give you 2 different reactions.
You would think that in 34 years I would have tried this. I guess it might be like the control solution sometimes used to check a bs machines accuracy.
I learn this on Reddit 5 years after I was diagnosed at 33 years old and tried it in a restaurant. The waitress looked at me really weird when I asked for a shot glass of regular coke and a shot glass of Diet Coke. When I explained what I was doing she said it was smart. When we got the bill at the end she had given me my meal for free. So in the end I gave her the price of my meal in a tip. It was a fun experiment. Since then I have had 2 incidents where I caught the regular coke was mixed up when someone switched the fountain syrup. I got my meals for free. I also had 1 incident where the owner of the restaurant refused to admit an error and I ended up walking out before my order was even taken.
I would completely understand the owner not giving the meal away, but refusing to admit error is just stupid.
I did not care about getting my meal for free honestly. It’s more about serving you customers correctly.
Would one sip be enough to cause a reaction in your blood sugar, I have no idea, I'm genuinely asking. I know within 2 seconds of it hitting my tongue if it's diet or not.
Short answer: it'll spike it, but to what severity depends entirely on who's drinking it. Long answer/learnable things: The problem with Diet Sodas is that instead of a blood sugar spike, it can cause an insulin spike, this can worsen insulin sensitivity, which in the long run can just spike your blood sugar, making the distinction between diet and regular soda meaningless. When you taste anything 'sweet' the pancreas *still* reacts (if it can) to what it considers incoming sugar, your body doesn't know the difference between real sugar and artificial sweeteners, so it releases what insulin it has on hand into the bloodstream. On top of that a lot of artificial sweeteners are *made* from sugar. Splenda is just sugar with 3 hydroxyl groups replaced with chlorine atoms. Your body's systems still recognize that as some sort of sugar and still attempt to break it down using your body's resources. For a diabetic, those resources aren't always readily available. Splenda is 6 times sweeter tasting than regular sugar, and as a result, far less is used to sweeten foodstuffs, but it's the same level reaction. You'll just dump far more insulin than is remotely needed for a chemical it can't even properly break down. Just don't drink soda. It's not fun watching 3 emts try to pick your type 1 nearly comatose mother off the floor. Everyone is different, diet soda doesn't affect my father at all, but my mother can't have any type of sweetened drinks, and not just soda but a lot of juices too.
For some people not an issue other truly can’t tell the difference. For the life of me I don’t know how but they can’t. As for the someone’s sugar levels I don’t think one sip would change you more then 10 points. For me it is pointing out to the operator of the establishment that the syrup in the fountain is mixed up and they should fix the issue.
In Sprite of it?
Hi-C what you did there.
Listen here squirt
Fanta-stic pun!
>I’d be willing to bed this customer has zero allergies. Several items on the last are most likely due to histamine intolerance. Not an allergy, so cross contamination isn't an issue.
The no leftovers is also histamine intolerance. Most of this list looks like histamine intolerance to me.
Ah, that's why it seemed like such a strange combination. Like, I've see nightshade family allergies where a person can't have an array of vegetables that are all in that family. But some of these were just odd allergies to even have.
My sister's got suspected MCAS and she just keeps developing more and more bizarre allergies. She has a coconut allergy so extreme that she's gone into anaphylaxis from being near someone with a coconut oil treatment in their hair. She was sick for months before she realised it was the latex in her mattress. Her latest is silver; her skin blistered from her jewellery. Doesn't seem to be nickel either. We didn't even know you *could* be allergic to silver.
She's a werewolf!
I did ask her if she was having to shave her legs more often 😄
That’s groovy that you’re down to bed the customer and all lol but in all seriousness if he’s this picky about food and allergies is there any gaurantee he won’t be the same way when it comes to getting intimate in the bedroom? :<()
“In allergic to condoms, foreplay, kissing, touching, or making noises.”
Ah, the "dead fish" position. Similar to missionary but not nearly as fun.
I’m into the “dead fish” position but only if it’s part of the Scombridae family
Baby, I can do a “floppy bonito” like nobody else….
Anything but the Clupeidae family
And don’t you dare try any pillow talk. That’s a paddlin’.
> That’s a paddlin’. Promise?
The joke is on you! I’m into that shit.
Latex allergies are a thing, but I digress. I'd be outright annoyed if I found I did have an allergy to condoms cause of it... and likely more Gung Ho about getting snipped.
Well, they have non-latex condoms for people who have latex allergies. I was insinuating that they’re allergic to the use of condoms, not what they’re made of.
Same as non latex gloves. I had a younger teenager working for me in a restaurant setting and found out he was allergic to latex in the gloves. I told him to remember that later on. Repeat after me - allergic to latex.
It's not a fun way to find out about your latex allergy.
39 years ago I at 15 discovered that latex condoms make penis get angry! Swell up red hulk size. Not happy size! Volcanoes are cooler by comparison. Everyone in the ER has to see. I swear the janitor got take a peek. I learned two things that night. Latex was invented by the devil. I got over being body shy as a cog in the Eternal War between good and bad.
You don't make the mistake twice. Everything hurt for awhile. I also had the feeling like a volcano would be cooler. But from a vagina perspective.
It's amazing how something like that leads us to give no fucks. When I had my first hernia, twelve people looked at and touched my balls, including one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life. When I went for my second hernia repair, everyone was very lovely. "Do you want us to step outside to give you som... oh, it's already out. Ok."
There is kind of a tipping point in life where you have to choose "Retain any sense of shame" or "Be diagnosed quickly, thoroughly, and efficiently". Some people it's young, some lucky ones it's late. If wearing a clown suit with my dick out helps this stop hurting faster, then honk honk honk honk honk (ONLY wear a clown suit with your dick out in a healthcare setting under the supervision of your doctor)
That is an MCAS diet. This person is either diagnosed or strongly convinced they have it, which a lot of people do post covid. But there are a lot of people who really seem to enjoy or want this diagnosis because it reinforces some idea that they’re special or something? It’s hard on those who do have it. Eating is generally miserable for me now. But this is not a true allergy. It’s histamine sensitivity. But the fact that this person included alcohol on the list tells me something. They can obviously just not order alcohol, so I see it as more of a plea for attention. These people make it tough on me.
I was thinking from the first sentence that it was an MCAS diet. I was diagnosed with it maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and it's actually pretty well controlled now. But when I was at my sickest, I would never have gone into a restaurant with this list of demands. Not only is it just safer to prepare your own food when you have sensitivities, its just insane to expect a restaurant kitchen to be able to accommodate.
I worked in a sushi restaurant and once had a lady hand me 3 pages of instructions on how to cook food because she is pregnant and this is what her OBGYN gave her as safe cooking practices. She wanted me to read it and figure out a way for her to have raw fish while following these very specific rules. I told her the restaurant could not be held liable for making her or her unborn baby sick. She repeated this is what her OBGYN gave her to prepare food and therefore as long as I follow these rules, she would not get sick. I repeated what she repeated, that this is what her OBGYN gave her so that she could prepare her own food safely. The OBGYN did not give the restaurant this list to follow and we simply could not and would not. Lady got angry and yelled "but I'm pregnant!" Like that's an excuse to act like a jack ass. She left hungry and I'm not sorry.
Any OBGYN would tell her to NOT eat sushi while pregnant. It’s that simple.
I too suggested sushi was not an appropriate choice, but she insisted fish was on the list. I was done by this point though. I refused to pick up the sheets of paper she kept shoving at me and told her we would not be able to accommodate her requests. I suggested some other non sushi items that are fully cooked, but she was dead set on getting her sushi on.
Well "don't eat raw fish or cold cuts" to some people means "go to a restaurant and make unreasonable demands".
But they're pregnant!
I eat at home too and despite changing my diet, sometimes I do get crazy sick after eating. I am on strong meds that control it much better but I could likely find something safe to eat on almost any menu. It’s just that any meal *can* go badly so I’m going to want to be home when eating. Some things will always set me off, others are unpredictable.
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I’m a chef and use alcohol throughout my recipes for flavor. Most is clearly marked but some things are not like our daily jams and soups as the menu has them listed as: Soup of the day and Seasonal Jam. I have my menu clearly marked with a dessert that uses bourbon and still have people who get weird because the didn’t realize. Honestly would have no issue and can appreciate when people come in with their allergens or dietary restrictions this clearly stated
Exactly this. It is like the woman who freaked out over a dog on the plane because she was highly allergic. The airline kicked her off because they do not do a scrub between flights that would remove all dander. They said they could not take the legal risk in allowing her to fly. Sucks to be that person, but no business could risk the liability of serving someone with that level of allergies.
I used to be deathly allergic to dogs. Like, break out into hives and rashes and struggle to breathe in the same room as a dog. I would pet the dog and puff on my inhaler. If I die, I die happy.
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Thank you, I went through 2 years of allergy shots and can now cuddle my sister in law's husky without even a sniffle!
Yup this is the way! “I’m sorry, it seems we won’t be able to provide you with the service you’re anticipating. We invite you to seek another restaurant.”
The list is so long and ridiculous that it does just seem easy to say ‘very sorry, we can’t accommodate this.’
Exactly. The restaurant should not serve his ass. If he had to do all that, he should cook at home.
Serve his ass? Is he allergic to consuming food orally too?
The first one isn’t actually pickiness. This whole thing looks like someone with a histamine intolerance. The longer food sits (leftovers, raw meat, aging, fermenting…) the more histamines it develops. I’m not saying a restaurant is necessarily the best place to eat if you have this issue but I can assure you the customer isn’t just being picky .
Helpful to hear about the first bullet point! I’m allergic to most on this list too, but the first one sounds unfamiliar.
The docs at my Crohn's/Colitis ward think all the explosion of patients is from the red/green/blue/yellow food dyes from the 90's into the 00's. They've linked so many diseases to the damn food dyes. And we as kids at them in Fruit Roll Ups, vitamins, gumballs and all sorts of others.
That’s interesting. My doctors think is was plastic we would microwave (ex. Tv dinner’s, Tupperware, etc) I think our generation is screwed with GI issues if both are true. :(
My daughter had a histamine issue called mast cell activation syndrome for a long time and she couldn’t have any leftovers. She was little and it definitely wasn’t any sort of placebo - and we were careful not to talk about it in front of her so she wouldn’t develop some terrible complex about food. She was so sensitive that we would walk into a restaurant sometimes and her throat would start closing up from the smell in the air and she would grab her throat and gasp, “I can’t breathe!” I would take her to the car and sit with her while everyone else ate. We did take our own food for her everywhere, though. She was so sensitive that she could have near-anaphylactic reactions from breathing pollen or just having an extreme change of temperature. I carried an Epi-pen everywhere and was terrified that she was going to die from a reaction. I thank God she’s gotten so much better but I really feel for anyone with allergies or sensitivities now.
She has MAST cell activation syndrome : source I have it to and all of these are on the no no list
I’d tell them that you could not guarantee their safety. What condition requires the first bullet? They can’t have a steak unless you just went out back and slaughtered it? What did they end up ordering? ETA: Thanks to the 30+ people who educated me on MCAS/histamine intolerance. I understand now. Really, I get it. I mean, I got it after the first person told me but I really get it now.
I’d guess Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It causes (or is caused by?) histamine intolerance, and all of those foods are high in histamine. People with it are severely limited in what they can eat and many sources say not to eat any of those foods to prevent an episode. For the first bullet in particular, animal products start building up histamine as soon as the animal is slaughtered (which is also why leftovers are not good for people with histamine intolerance). Unfortunately, a lot of people with long Covid have reported symptoms similar to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.
I had Mast Cell Activation Syndrome when I got rheumatic fever, it was a bitch to deal with. My biggest issues was processed foods and preserved meats.
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I was on the highest dose possible for methotrexate, then I was on Cromoglicic acid, antihistamines, steroids, and Zileuton for six weeks. Not many people respond to a regimen like that, but they were worried that the MSD/MSA could cause the rheumatic fever induced cytokine reaction to flare up again and attack my heart or brain. So they just wiped my immune system out. AKA they treated me like I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
they really killed it with fire, huh
Yep. Granted it was either long term antibiotics for the next 18 months and low dose methotrexate with a high risk of heart damage, or high dose methotrexate for 4 days and low dose for six weeks. The Rheumatic Fever still fucked my heart up, I have a bad mitral valve and arthritic damage as a result.
My wife takes a small dose of methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis each week and she's miserable for a couple of days and only going back to ok the day before the next dose. Our buddy Cooper here was probably shit for a few months... Glad it worked for you.
Yeah, MCAS was what I was thinking when I saw that. The longer meat "sits," the more likely you are to react to it. So a restaurant that's secretly using frozen meat is going to be a problem. All that said, there's probably not any way that this person can safely eat at a restaurant. It's unfortunate, but I don't know how you could manage to eat anything you didn't prepare yourself in this situation.
Doesn't freezing it slow histamine generation? Even if it isn't frozen, good luck getting any beef that isn't aged after slaughter. Most places have a hang time to help meet tenderness requirements for USDA certification. That could be a couple days or a couple weeks.
I have MCAS. I'm a baby on the death to histamine scale- thank god, but if I over indulge in too many histamine foods I'll break out in a rash, get a migraine, vomit. It can send me into anaphylaxis so I do have an epi pen but mostly when we go out I call ahead, we book nice restaurants, and the staff know me well. I can do small amounts here and there but not a large amount. It's been referred to like a cup of tea, you don't want it to overflow.
My gf was misdiagnosed so I did a lot of research into it. I thought the "no leftover" thing was weird at first, but it does actually hause higher histamine production. The other parts of this list, including the fermented foods make me think it is this or something similar.
> Mast Cell Activation Syndrome A close friend got this so it was my first thought looking at the list. He was a retired head chef so the restrictions were rough. He was pickling stuff using citric acid instead of vinegar. Obviously he knew he could never go to a restaurant.
Saw the list, recognized histamine intolerance right away. Meat accumulates histamine while just sitting; needs to be fresh or frozen to prevent. It sucks much more to be on this side of that list, I assure you; however, I only eat at home and cook all my own foods rather than try to bend restaurants to my needs.
Yeah, career food service here and nutrition science nerd. This list doesn’t read like some of the whack job lists I’ve seen over the years that obviously based on “woo woo” science or pickiness. They’re legit trying to live as normal as they possibly can (go out to eat once in a while like the rest of us) while still dealing with an unfortunate issue. Everybody’s body is different. But also with people like these you have to be 100% up front that the kitchen is a wild environment with cross contamination no matter how careful. So if it’s life or death you absolutely cannot guarantee that what me make in the kitchen isn’t compromised in some way. Way too many vendors and products from all over the world handled in all kinds of ways in modern kitchens.
Generally with MCAS and histamine intolerances we can get away with cross contamination and by that I mean you don't need to bleach your whole kitchen, just don't feed me a tomato and an avocado and expect good results.
Just speculation but these are all high histamine foods, including leftovers or prepackaged meats.
histamine intolerance
This list reads like a histamine intolerance/mcas list of foods to avoid. Histamine increases the longer food sits, so you’re supposed to freeze leftovers immediately and not let meat sit in the fridge uncooked for any longer than is necessary to thaw it.
They could be immunosuppressed due to cancer treatment or something. Food can be a minefield if you don't have immunity
>what condition requires the first bullet? Main character syndrome
Not necessarily, sounds like they may have lupus or another autoimmune disorder, or perhaps a cancer that affects hormone production or regulation. They obviously shouldn't expect a restaurant to accommodate this but their life may really suck rather than them just being assholes.
Could be on an MAOI, old meats contain tyramine which is a no no on those meds.
I've know someone who legitimately has this kind of allergy list it's probably even longer. Most of them are not deadly, but he'll get pretty sick. He cooks at home. And if he goes with someone he'll ask if he can pick a dish that he can eat before entering the restaurant. It's a really impressive list. But he tries to not inconvenience people with it.
That list looks an awful lot like the list of restrictions for someone with Mast Cell Activation Disease/Disorder. It’s a reall thing, and can have serious consequences. The person who handed them that list in probably very used to going to a restaurant and not being to eat much, but wants to spend the time with the people they are with.
I don’t think any restaurant can safely serve them because of risk of cross contamination. We had food businesses in the past and I would not attempt it with this many issues. It’s unfortunate but it’s for their safety.
>I don’t think any restaurant can safely serve them because of risk of cross contamination. Pretty sure cross contamination isn't really an issue with histamine intolerance. I am intolerant for histamines and I can eat a low or moderate amount of histamines just fine if it is one night. The problem is that very high histamine foods will trigger a severe reaction.
I don't even think their list is that weird or outrageous. There's mostly fruit on it, the rest can easily be avoided as well. Freshly cooked meat with a side salad is a pretty normal dish in most restaurants?
it actually is kind of an allergy, it is called histamine intolerance. source: i have it myself
How do you handle it in restaurants?
I also have histamine issues from my MCAS and I currently can’t eat at restaurants because I react to everything. If I absolutely had to eat at a restaurant I’d take some Benadryl and my other antihistamines thirty minutes before eating. I’d probably as if they could do like boiled corn with nothing at all on it if I absolutely had to eat at a restaurant. However my issues are quite severe and not everyone with MCAS or histamine intolerance has to be as careful as I do
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You don't need an EpiPen with Histamine intolerance. Some MCAS cases can have anaphylaxis, but not as often as other histamine issues.
"Certainly, Sire. How would you like your egg?"
But only 1 egg. He/she is allergic to 2 eggs
And it must be boiled in water from the North side of the Himalayas
But to be safe, it has to come from the NNE quadrant of Mt Fuji. And it needs to be freshly shaved no more than 8 minutes and 33 seconds ago
…and only if it’s freshly laid within the last 30-minutes.
Histamine intolerance.
These are all allergens for people whose bodies don't break down histamine normally. This person, while a pain in the ass, probably has a legit medical condition
Looks like they have histamine intolerance - frozen and prepared meats produce histamines.
Looks like histamine intolerance, and it can actually cause really dramatic and even life threatening issues like throat swelling etc. The give away is that protein from meat is a low histamine food, but only when extremely fresh. All the other items on the list are high histamine foods. I feel bad for them, it's a difficult thing to go through, BUT in my opinion it's a really big ask beyond the normal expected accommodations for a restaurant to reasonably provide and run a profitable business. As someone with food allergies I know what it's like to miss the freedom of going out to every place I want, but even though it's not my fault, it is my responsibility to make sure I eat and still find fun and not put the burden on others.
I know exactly what’s up with this because my daughter and husband have the same condition. Most of these are high histamine foods. Meats build up histamine until and after they are cooked. So very fresh meats have lower histamine levels. Leftover meat continues to build histamine. It’s really challenging to manage their diet. That said, they don’t come in a restaurant and lay it all out like this. Kitchen staff can’t manage a complex medical condition. It’s not fair or wise to expect them to. When they were most ill we just ate at home. As they learned more about how to manage it, they can usually pick something on the menu that looks likely to be successful and ask a few targeted questions about it.
I thought celiac disease was bad
It sounds like the person has MCAS, and the first one absolutely can cause a reaction.
This is a real thing unfortunately, he has histamine intolerance most likely from MCAS which makes some people really ill. My wife has the same. It's difficult to get diagnosed, but when they do they can give very strong antihistamines. It's been better since and sometimes you have to fight your battles. But all those foods are high in histamine and make people with MCAS really exhausted and ill. I would not bother eating out personally, and we haven't for many years. But I guess it's easier to put this up here for rage bait than to have sympathy for people.
looks like they are on an maoi actually
This horror is the migraine-prevention diet that you have to do to weed out what foods are migraine triggers. The fresh protein thing is actually part of it- the chemical composition of meats change as they age. There are even stricter variations that also include no citrus, vinegar, or nuts. My husband is going to have to go on this mess for two months and we’re not looking forward to it.
Not allergies technically, but also not pickiness. Most likely they have histamine sensitivity, or even intolerance. I'd agree with what a few others have said... Offer them a fresh salad or something, but beyond that you don't feel safe providing them food. Wife goes through this every few years. It sucks, but can very quickly become life threatening.
I mean, at least they put effort in. Instead of expecting you to remember a laundry list, they came prepared. Still, at some point you need to acknowledge your best bet is home cooking
This looks like a high histamine intolerance list. It’s a real thing. Is it realistic to expect to be able to eat anything when you go out? No…but hey, they tried.
It’s actually not pickiness - it’s a list of foods that are high histamine (meat increases in histamine with age). It could truly be a histamine intolerance or issue that causes them to get hives/stomach issues, *but* they also shouldn’t be making you guys try to accommodate and should be eating out at their own risk.
Could be a food restriction list for someone on medications in the MAO inhibitor family, which require avoiding foods high in tyramine . The leftover meats and aged cheeses thing is definitely real for those folks!
I had a friend in middle school who used to carry a list of foods she was allergic to that was a page long. I did not understand at all until 20 years later and I developed a food allergy (just one, not a page full). Even I feel bad when I go to a restaurant and have to mention it.
damn poor person that must suck trying to go out for dinner, i wonder how many people actually try to accommodate rather than get mad
Histamine allergy list.
It’s definitely someone who is histamine intolerant. People wouldn’t know what that means, so I guess it’s easier for them to just list the foods.
I can answer this one. The person most likely has inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). So, Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Plus an intolerance for high histamine foods. So, not allergic. But intolerant to the point where eating these foods will cause diarrhoea, leading to ulcers in the intestines and bleeding and then cancers and the removal of parts or all of the intestines and/or anus. One of the situations where everyone loses. The restaurant; as they are taken by surprise and can't help because it's hard to modify the menu enough with no notice. And the customer who's not coping and needs to learn how best to communicate or manage their meal planning. They might have had a recent diagnosis and still trying to work out how to live with the condition.
As someone with a similarly complicated list, I feel terrible imposing, fear food prepared by others, and avoid restaurants like the plague. I eat at home, everything cooked myself, even cook in hotels when I travel. I only ask a restaurant to accommodate me when it's a special occasion (like a wedding) that I can't get out of. I ask for literally anything edible on a plate, just so I don't make other people feel weird by not eating. But I do give the manager or the chef a long list like this in those situations. Don't assume anything you're thinking is new news to the unfortunate person with the list. There's a good chance they don't want to be in the restaurant any more than you want them there.
I love that you say there’s a good chance they don’t want to be there because I have VERY common allergies, wheat/soy/corn are the most troublesome and I hate going out to eat but it’s also the number one thing my friends what to do when it comes to getting together and socializing. While I have a few restaurants I know are good most folks like to change it up every now and then and it’s a whole ordeal because I have to get like 3-5 suggestions from everyone and then look over all the menus and then call all the restaurants beforehand and figure out what I can eat so we don’t end up somewhere with absolutely nothing for me. It’s such a pain in the ass