Parties, Friends and Food Allergies

Thank God for good friends....the ones who may not understand the details of your food allergies, but are willing to do anything to accomodate.

Our good friends had a birthday party this weekend and they didn't flinch as I stood in front of the grill-master identifying exactly how to grill the allergen-free hotdogs and hamburgers.

The conversation was something like, "Do you mind if I take a look at the spray used on the grill?" "Oh, I didn't even think of that."

And, "When you cook the hotdogs, could you use a separate spatula so that the cheese from the hamburgers on the other side of the grill doesn't cross-contaminate?" "Ahh, ok we'll use the thongs instead."

And then, there were questions about the potato salad and dressing used with the spinach strawberry salad.

And last but not least, the cake. This time we brought a gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free cake to share. Aidan and I were very happy and so were some guests who desperately wanted a chocolate fix.

So, Aidan and I had plenty of safe foods to enjoy the party with others and our friends so graciously learned more about allergic-living.

The Proverbial Lemonade Stand

Periodically we encounter the neighborhood kids with their makeshift lemonade stand. I feel the need to stop and support them and yet I have an immediate hesitation about whether the lemonade is ‘safe’ for my allergic son.

Could their possibly be peanut, treenut, egg, dairy or shellfish contamination…in lemonade?

If anyone has read the Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink story by Victoria Kann, you may remember it as an engaging read.

Without her mom’s knowledge, Pinkalicious decides that the perfect ingredients for coloring the lemonade pink are watermelon, pink grapefruit and pink frosting. Hmmmm?

I certainly don’t want to grill the kids as to what their ingredients are, nor do I want to ask for an adult to come speak with me, but can I really be sure it is safe?

Kids are creative so I always air on the safe side and avoid it for Aidan while dropping them a few coins to support the effort.

Parents of Children with Food Allergies: Join the Club

It’s Food Allergy Awareness Week…FAAN, AAFA and the numerous support groups and schools across the country are making it a priority to think and act on behalf of all who suffer with allergies.

For many of us, food allergy is on our mind on a daily basis. We create awareness of food allergy just by interacting in our social environments.

In a way, I feel that those of us with allergies and children with allergies are in a club of our own. A club we never chose but we find support from nonetheless.

I recently attended another of our local support group meetings. Regardless of our varied backgrounds, we are united in one mission- to keep our children safe. In doing so, we feel the need to keep others safe.

Yes, I do believe that making others aware of allergies is vital to the overall effort to find a cure.
And yes, if you are looking for encouragement or just like to keep up on all things allergies then join the club; literally, join a local food allergy group or do what our leader did…start one yourself!

Allergen-Free Easter Candy

We just filled the baskets and plastic eggs. They are now scattered about the house for tomorrow mornings hunt!

We try to avoid anything artificial so we opted this year for:

• Surf Sweets gummy bears and jelly beans
• Yummy Earth Lolly Pops and gummies
• Enjoy Life rice chocolate bars

Sometimes I melt the Enjoy Life chocolate chips and mold them into shapes...then cover with foil, but this year we spent most of our time making gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free chocolate and strawberry bunny cupcakes.

King Arthur's new line of gluten-free baking products are amazing!

Our daughter really wanted pink frosted cupcakes so we bought some strawberries, mashed them in the strainer and let the juice do the coloring...the all natural way.

We followed Disney's Family Fun online magazine suggestion for decorating Easter Bunny Cupcakes:
http://familyfun.go.com/easter/easter-recipes/easter-cakes-desserts/easter-bunny-cupcakes-685427/

Happy Easter!

Food Banks Need Allergen-Free Donations

Our local food bank has initiated a dedicated section in their pantry for allergen-free foods. Patrons who are on restricted diets because of allergies, celiac or diabetes can choose from a variety of safe foods that are dedicated just for them.

But our food pantry is unique. Not every food bank can accomodate those with dietary restrictions.

I realized those of us with food allergies can help. We know what foods to buy because they are in our pantry. We know where to shop because sometimes it's three different stores or even online. And we are experts at reading labels!

Here are some things we can do:

• Volunteer some time setting up an allergen-free section at your local pantry
• Offer information about allergen-free products
• Purchase and drop off allergen-free foods
• Donate funds or hold a food drive
• Write an article to the local paper in support of the effort

Does anyone have experience with this in their community? If so, please leave a comment about your successes and strategies!

Food Allergy Activity For Classroom/Homeschool

Make a pretend stew. Best for young children under 8 years old.

We homeschool our children and gather with other families once a week. Last season, each mom took a week to discuss a topic with the kids. My topic was food allergies.

First, we read a few allergy-related children stories, and then got to work on our craft project.

Ahead of time, on plain white paper, I drew small outlines of several garden vegetables (about eight of each veggie such as carrots, beans, squash, tomato, potato, etc).

I made sure that no one was allergic to these vegetables. We had miniature black kettles left over from a party (they can be found at the party store or online at Oriental Trading http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/search/processRequest.do?Ntt=black+pots&requestURI=searchMain&Ntk=all&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&N=0).

Each child was told to choose their favorite vegetables, color them and add to their pot. They each named their new special stew recipe.

This activity gets kids thinking about food allergies but also about nutrition. They ponder what their favorite vegetables are and come up with their own special creation!

What does the Psychosocial Impact of Food Allergies and Scaredy Squirrel Have in Common?

If anyone has read the children's picture book Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, it is uncanny how the fear and trepidation of the main character is easily relatable to a parents fear of letting an allergic child out of sight.

In the story, Scaredy has a fear about leaving his safe nut tree and venturing into the unknown. As parents of children with food allergies, we hold a similar fear about anywhere outside the home.

In my mind, life with food allergies can be like Scaredy's nut tree; home is a safe place away from the unknown allergens with everything that we need and more importantly the things we don't want. The unknown can seem dangerous for our children, places like a birthday or family party, soccer field, school or even the playground.

We constantly have to plan ahead and bring the safe snacks and treats, then be on guard and make sure the table is clean and others are careful while eating around our child. Then we have to spring into action when the unexpected happens, like when the soccer team breaks out peanut butter crackers.

Like Scaredy, when we do venture out, we bring our emergency kit. But instead of a parachute, bug spray, rubber gloves, net and sardines, we carry emergency medicines; epinephrine, antihistamine and inhalers.

So the more recent research about the psychosocial impact of food allergies in children and their families is no doubt valid. The fear of avoiding an offending food as well as preconditioned feelings from unnerving past experiences is enough to make one obsess about never leaving home.

But then, we use our reason to reflect that more often than not, everything will be fine and the best we can do is take the necessary precautions.

For anyone who has read the Scaredy Squirrel series, it is filled with humor that we can all relate to. And when living with food allergies, humor can sometimes make life easier.