In the News: Food Allergies, Nut Allergies and Summer Travel

 

Earlier this week, CNN.com quoted me and others (like Anaphylaxis Canada) in a story about food allergies, celiac disease and travel. The story focused on international travel and it had some good information. For example, it looks like many European countries are getting on board with accommodating allergies and celiac disease. You can read the full story by clicking this link. Thanks to the author of this story--she has food allergies herself, so she wanted to spread awareness. I appreciate that she included my remark about not letting allergies hold you back. True, some destinations are better than others, but if you're willing to be flexible, travel with food allergies is something you can incorporate into your life with relative ease.

In the spirit of the season, I gathered links to some of blog posts I've written about travel in the summer.

Here are two links about summer travel including some tips on managing allergies at your destination. Click here and here for these articles.

Regarding air travel with nut allergies: I discuss a spring break trip and how we dealt with the airlines. Click here for that story.

If you have not seen AllergyEats, check it out! It is nationwide (U.S. only) free site that provides peer-reviewed food allergy restaurant advice. You can narrow it down by city, state and multiple food allergens. Even if you don't see a review on a restaurant, you will see what is at your destination and can begin researching. I've used this site and it's very helpful.

One thing I strongly suggest is to have access to a kitchen or even a small refrigerator at your destination whenever possible. That way, you can serve your child safe breakfast or lunch without a lot of searching for "something safe" when everybody's stomach is rumbling and the family is starving. The little 'fridge is a big stress-saver.

If you want a quick link to the food allergy policies on airlines, check the right sidebar of my site for a link to Allergic Living magazine's excellent guide.

What works for you when you travel? Share your tips with us.

For more on coping with nut allergies in general, click here.

In the News: Food Allergies and Restaurants

Lately, the news has been full of stories that touch on food allergies and restaurants. I wanted to share some of them, because dining out with life-threatening food allergies continues to be a stressful experience. We can never be 100% certain that we are being heard in a restaurant regarding allergies -- or that life-threatening food allergies are completely understood by restaurant staff and chefs. That said, there appears to be a growing awareness, so I wanted to share some stories and links that are interesting and/or helpful as we strive to find "safe" places to eat.

A family member forwarded me this recent Wall Street Journal article about how restaurants are coping with diners who have food allergies or food restrictions. Much of the article deals with gluten-free issues, but there is some significant mention of life-threatening food allergies. Click here to read the story.

The Allergic Living Facebook page recently shared this link about a new bill in Rhode Island that proposes each restaurant should have mandatory training on food allergies, to the point that at least one person on staff must be expert at dealing with them. This bill was led by a teen with nut allergies. Currently, Massachusetts is the only state in the U.S. that has any kind of enforced food allergy law with regard to dining establishments. You can read this news story here.

This next article has nothing to do with food allergies, per se, but I wanted to include this link because many times, I have heard from those of us who are being perceived as "over the top" with regard to restaurant caution. Restaurants can be great, but they can also be hazardous to your health for basic food safety/hygiene/management reasons. (Those of you who watch Kitchen Nightmares know that they can fill an entire show with this topic!) Now add severe food allergies: caution is definitely required! Click this link to read about general dining out rules for health and safety.

I wanted to offer a great link from a dining out with allergies expert, Sloane Miller of Allergic Girl. She wrote a wonderful piece for Allergic Living magazine about dining out with food allergies/intolerance and she shares some wonderful tips and reassuring advice. Click here for the article.You can find so much allergy advice in this publication, so go to their web site to find out how to become a subscriber. I'm an associate editor and before that, I was a devoted reader/subscriber. And I still am, of course. :)


Finally, I hope those of you who are coping with nut allergies and feeling overwhelmed by a new diagnosis will check out my e-book : " The New Nut-Free Mom: A Crash Course in Caring for Your Allergic Child, available on Kindle and on your computer using a free Kindle App. You can also download to your iPad. Here is the link to my e-book, available on Amazon. Here is what Susan Weissman, author of "Feeding Eden", a parent's memoir about raising a child with food allergies, had to say about my e-book.

Latest Peanut Allergy News--Guess What, It Tripled in 10 Years!

I know many of you have been hearing these stories lately and a few people have Tweeted me to ask me for links.

Here is a link to a recent story stating that Peanut Allergy Cases Have Tripled in 10Years. The story highlights that peanut and tree nut allergies seem to be increasing by leaps and bounds--with peanut growing at a faster rate than other food allergies.

I've always suspected this just based on my FAAN's Kids Newsletter--nearly every child featured has peanut allergy and most with that have tree nut allergy, even if they have other food allergies those two are in there.

Of course no one knows why this is. I really think we need to find out.

Running concurrently with this story was one in the New York Times on Wednesday that stated food allergies are NOT as prevalent as has been believed.

I think several things are going on here. One: people are mistakenly believing they have food allergies and are not getting a proper diagnosis. They may have a food intolerance (lactose intolerance, celiac disease) or something else entirely. A severe food allergy has the potential to close an airway and cause violent vomiting, wheezing, swelling of the face, etc. It's important to know if you have a true food allergy, both for health and lifestyle reasons. Don't diagnosis yourself, please!

The other thing is that people are getting a positive reading on a blood test and then not reacting to a food. No one is quite sure why this is happening--medical experts are trying to figure out better tests.

Finally, with more awareness of food allergies, more people are getting accurate diagnosis. In other words, yes they have them.

The one thing I hear from folks dealing with food allergies--either they have them or their kids have them--is a sentiment I feel myself. And that's the following: If you're not affected by food allergies then why do you want to disprove them? It really makes our lives harder when this happens.

However, if people really don't have food allergies and claim that they do, that doesn't help us much either. I can't tell you how many times I've read about a restaurant worker or chef who watched an allergic person consume a supposedly allergenic food with no problem. They then have skepticism about anyone who comes in and says they have a food allergy.

As a parent who has witnessed my child have a very severe, life-threatening reaction and then subsequent milder reactions from a miniscule exposure to peanuts, I just want to protect my child. I know this thing is real.

Parents and food allergy folks: what's your take on this?