Photo: Getty This is a sidebar to Allergic Living’s feature: Single with Food Allergies: Advice on Dating and Relationships
Food-Free Firsts
Heading out on a first date can be intimidating enough without having to stress about your food allergies. To make the evening easier many allergic singles opt for first dates that don’t involve food.
Our dating experts from this article suggest:
– Hikes in the country or walks with a dog in a city park;
– Going for coffee at a safe café;
– Going to a movie;
– Activities: ice skating, playing pool or mini-putt.
– For later dates, cooking together also presents a relaxed opportunity to discuss label reading and issues like cross-contact.
When trying to figure out a safe and fun date activity, food allergy counselor Sloane Miller’s advice is simple: “Whatever you normally do that’s fun to you, propose that.”
What about Sex?
When a British woman with a nut allergy broke out into hives after having sex with her boyfriend who had eaten Brazil nuts, the food allergy community was left to wonder whether allergens can be sexually transmitted. But that appears an exceedingly rare incident.
Allergist Dr. Scott Sicherer says there is not yet enough solid evidence to say that food allergens can be present in semen in enough quantity to trigger a reaction.
The more relevant risk during sex is saliva, so the recommended precautions to make kissing safe – such as brushing your teeth, Waiting several hours before being physical or avoiding the food allergen altogether – should also make sex allergy-safe.
