3 Ways to Cope with an Egg Allergy

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We receive about 3 emails or comments per week from people asking how they can modify the Paleo diet, and in particular, Paleo Plan, to accommodate their egg allergy. In this blog post, I’ll answer that question, give you some egg replacement ideas, and link you to a new, delicious egg-free muffin recipe.

But first of all, why can’t people eat eggs?
It’s different for everyone, sometimes people have an immune response to eggs. The immune response and ensuing symptoms can be very immediate and even life-threatening, just like if you were allergic to bee stings or nuts. Or it can be more subtle and delayed. For instance, some people get terrible digestive symptoms right away, and some people have gas that smells like Old Faithful (sulfuric) for a day or two. Some people have skin outbreaks or eczema, brain-fog, fatigue, migraines, or whatever symptom that feisty immune system feels like throwing at them.

You may be among the people who have egg sensitivities or allergies. In fact, if you’ve been Paleo for a while and you’re still having issues, the ubiquitous egg is a good place to start. Just remove it from your diet for a few weeks and see if your symptoms abate. Your conventional doctor will only test you for very particular immune responses, namely the immunoglobulin E activity. There are many, many other parts of your immune system that can play into a response to eggs.

Dinner As Breakfast
So what do you do if you’re among the eggless? First off, you have to revamp what you believe should and should not be on your plate in the morning, since eggs so often show up there in breakfast recipes. Dinner will now be a normal breakfast for you. I had a cold burger patty and a plum for breakfast yesterday (I was in a hurry). Perfectly Paleo and perfectly eggless. It’s also really quick to have dinner leftovers as breakfast – much faster than making an omelet, so lucky you.

Other ideas would be a leftover chicken breast slathered in avocado, Roasted Pepper and Sausage Omelet without the “omelet.” Just leave out the eggs and substitute more meat.

If dinner isn’t always what you’re in the mood for, you can have things like our Almost Oatmeal with bacon for some breakfasts, which we sometimes have on the meal plan menu. That will fill you up for a few hours egglessly.

Baked Good Substitutes
What about in baked goods? Here are some egg substitution ideas. Each option is equal to one egg:

-2 Tbsp arrowroot
-1 tsp baking powder + 1 ½ Tbsp water + 1 ½ Tbsp oil
-1 Tbsp tapioca + ¼ c warm water
-2 Tbsp applesauce
-“Flax Eggs” – 1 Tbsp flax + 3 Tbsp water, let sit to gel for 5 minutes. Whisk.
-“Gelatin Eggs” – 1 Tbsp gelatin + 3 Tbsp warm water, let sit to gel for 5 minutes. Whisk.

To answer the question about how to modify Paleo Plan to fit an egg-free existence, it’s actually pretty easy. We now offer fully customizable plans, and if you remove a certain ingredient, like eggs, you can easily replace it with recipes that are egg-free. Or you can choose to leave it unmodified, and just use the replacement options mentioned above.

Egg Free Grain Free Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins

Finally, we just added a new egg-free Paleo muffin recipe to the roster, called Egg-Free Grain-Free Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins. This recipe is credited to my egg-free friend, Cat, who is not only a fantastic chef, but a fine massage therapist in Boulder as well. (Yes, that was a shameless plug.)

Anyone else have egg replacement recipes or products they love? What’d I miss?