• Anything that contains eggs, milk, honey, mustard, mayonnaise, and sesame seed dressing. These items are not acceptable on a vegan diet.
• Anything that contains large amounts of soy, cottonseed, peanuts, peanuts, sunflower, flaxseed, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, or quinoa, or does not contain the vegan ingredient beans, peas, or soybeans. If you’re allergic to these, these foods should be removed from your diet. (Vegan versions of these foods are often available on the shelf.)
• Anything that contains milk from non-dairy sources and includes cream. If you’re allergic to dairy, you can use other non-dairy cream substitutes.
• Anything containing peanut butter.
• Anything containing nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and cashew nuts) that are ground.
• Anything containing honey and contains more than 1% or 2% honey by weight.
• Anything containing breads, pasta, grains, or baked goods that are made from wheat flour.
• Anything containing wheat.
• Anything containing rice that is not brown rice, cooked rice, or uncooked rice.
• Anything containing starchy vegetables such as peas, corn, potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. If you’re allergic to potatoes, you should avoid these as well.
• Anything containing egg yolks.
• Anything containing nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and cashew nuts).

While it’s nice to be able to cross-reference the list of ingredients and still choose an assortment of foods that don’t pose a health threat, most of us can’t handle it. Especially those of us who experience reaction to one of these ingredients—which, in my experience, comes quickly—there’s a risk of creating a full-blown allergy to the entire family if we rely on one source of food. Many of the same factors that make us hesitant to avoid the smallest things may make us take allergy warnings a little more seriously.

Have you ever attempted to avoid all nuts on a dairy or soy-free diet? Have you tried a similar diet with a cross-contamination issue? Let us know what you think!