Egg Free Diet
Some people are only allergic to egg white, others to egg yolk, and some are allergic to the whole egg. Grated apple, pectin and methylcellulose, hemicellulose are sometimes used as binders to replace eggs. You may see albumen on ingredient lists sometimes. This means egg white.
E322 indicates the possible inclusion of egg, and foods should be avoided where this E number is listed on the label.
Fish, liver and meat can replace the nutrients that eggs add to the diet. Use thin salad dressings instead of mayonnaise etc. It is possible to make some kinds of cakes without egg at all.
When eating out, order very plain food, avoiding batter, soups, sauces and thick dressings as well as desserts, gateaux, ice cream and pastry sweets. Generally speaking, waiters and restaurant staff have no idea of what is actually in the food they serve, so asking the waiter whether there is any egg in a dish is not a very reliable way of finding out.
Some pastas/noodles are made without egg. Look at the ingredient boxes and make a list of the ones that are suitable for this diet as you come across them. Make your own pastry at home and be sure it does not contain egg. Make your own drop scones, without the egg ingredient, adding more milk to make up the weight. They will be a little rubbery compared with the type made with egg, but are very acceptable. Scones can be made with raising powder and bound with milk or yoghurt.
Some dishes that are egg concoctions will just have to be avoided, e.g. soufflés. Use grated apple to bind homemade burgers. Fish can be dipped in milk then flour or cornflour instead of egg batter, before light frying in polyunsaturated oil.
On the whole, this is an easy diet to follow and because egg is found in a great number of processed and junk foods it could mean a much healthier diet all round. Eating out is the most difficult part of an egg-free diet.
| FOODS TO AVOID on an egg-free diet. | |
| Baked eggs | Ice cream |
| Batter coated foods | Lecithin-enriched margarines |
| Batter mixes & batters made with egg | Macaroons |
| Batter pudding | Marshmallows and some sweets |
| Bedtime drinks | Marzipan |
| Beefburgers / Hamburgers | Mashed potato |
| Boiled Eggs, soft or hard | Mayonnaise |
| Bread and Butter Pudding | Meat balls, meat loaf |
| Consommé | Meringues |
| Cookies | Muffins |
| Croissants | Omelettes |
| Croquettes | Pancakes |
| Crumpets | Pasta, Macaroni, spaghetti, egg noodles |
| Danish pastries | Pastry with egg ("French pastry") |
| Desserts | Pickled eggs |
| Doughnuts | Poached eggs |
| Dried egg | Quiches and savoury tarts |
| Dropscones | Rissoles |
| Éclairs, profiteroles, choux pastries | Salad creams |
| Egg custard | Sauces |
| Egg glazed items | Scones made with egg |
| Enriched alcoholic drinks ('nogs') | Scotch eggs |
| Enriched bread and rolls | Scrambled eggs |
| Fish cakes | Sorbets |
| Foods made with egg white | Souflés |
| Foods made with egg yolk | Sponges / cakes made from mixes or home made biscuits |
| Foods made with whole egg | Tartare sauce |
| Fried eggs | Waffles |
| Frosting and royal icing | Welshcakes |
| Fruit snow | Yorkshire pudding |
| Hollandaise sauce | |
| Hot cross buns, bath buns, teacakes,fruit buns | |
Please note that any diets and dietary advice in the Patient Guidance section of our website are only intended for the patients attending our own clinics in Southampton and London. These diets are based on a recommendation made by one of the Centre doctors after an appropriate consultation. Our advice relating to use of a particular restricted diet is really only appropriate for individual patients who have consulted us and have been individually assessed by one of the doctors from the Centre and advised that they should follow a particular dietary regime. We do not recommend that people use restricted diets without proper medical supervision. We also recommend to our patients that they should not use a restricted diet for more than 6 weeks in the first instance without further consultation with us, as it may result in nutritional deficiencies. Sometimes food exclusion diets may be clinically effective in the long term, but their management will require a balanced nutritional approach.
We hope that visitors to our website who are not our patients will find much to interest them in this website; we aim to present useful, practical, considered and authoritative information on Complementary and Integrated Medicine. We strongly advise that you should not follow a restricted diet without proper medical supervision by a qualified practitioner.
