Written by: Alicia
I just happened to stumble upon this find: The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). I joined a local triplet connection club and saw a post about a triplet Mom walking for FAAN. Curious, I did my typical Google search and found a great organization. I can't believe I had not heard of them before.
FAAN was established in 1991. Anne Muñoz-Furlong founded the organization after her daughter was diagnosed with milk and egg allergy as an infant. She discovered that information vital to raising a child with food allergies was not widely available. Their mission is "To raise public awareness, to provide advocacy and education, and to advance research on behalf of all those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis."
Gina has touched on this subject a few times recently and I would like to reiterate the fact that our schools need to be more sensitive to food allergies. My kids are gluten-free/dairy-free and I have learned from my pre-school adventures that most teachers do not know much about this type of food allergy (and quite honestly, why would they if this has never been advocated before)? Some teachers have given my children gluten without knowing it. They look on the label and do not see "gluten" listed under ingredients and think it is okay.
Although I appreciate them looking at the label, a gluten allergy involves so much more than looking for the word, "Gluten." Gluten disguises itself in a hundred different ways. Those with Celiac disease will easily understand my frustration on this. I don't expect teachers to become nutritionists but if they are handing food out to my kids I do want them to understand all of the food allergies (not just peanut allergies). These teachers need to be educated on what to look for or they need to allow parents, like me, to bring in my own food for my children.
Many schools will not let you bring in your own food because they worry about cross contamination which is an understandable concern. There has to be a better way. It seems more and more kids are experiencing food allergies so our schools need to jump on board in order to help protect our children. Procedures have to be put in place in order for parents to drop kids off at school and not worry about if someone will mistakenly feed them a food they are allergic to.
Personally, when I drop my kids off at school I want my only concern to be if they will learn something new today – not what will they eat today.
If you want to learn more about their organization visit their web site: http://www.foodallergy.org/
If you want to help raise awareness by taking a long walk visit: http://www.foodallergywalk.org/site/PageServer?pagename=2010Walks
Take Care,
Alicia
Let sleeping babes lie.
4 days ago
Hey babes (er, I mean, uh, ladies),
Gave you gals a vote on bloggerschoice. Good blog, but mostly because you use proper grammar and spelling. Seriously- poor writing is becoming endemic.
Also, my ex was a Celiac and EXTREMELY sensitive. If a pan had scratches in it then she couldn't use it because gluten would stick in the cracks despite washings and scrubbings. Weird.
Also, maybe TMI, she could even get sick from my, uh, you know. Apparently there were trace amounts of gluten?
It's weird; you never think about these things until you or someone you know is afflicted. Now I'm a bit of an expert.
Oddly enough, even with her restrictive diet, she was a healthier and more diverse eater than me.
Then again, I like Bud Light and chicken wings.
Later girls!
Thank you for the vote, Caleb. We appreciate it. It will help many people the more we can bring awareness and understanding about how real food allergies are.
Food allergies are REAL, they are serious, and can create an unfolding event of other illnesses if not addressed.
Duke refers their patients to my doctor when they can't figure out the root of the illness of their patients, and in many cases the underlying issues is food allergens which have damaged the digestive system. In turn, other systems are damaged and it can be life threatening.
Your ex's condition tells me she has needed opportunity for her digestive system to heal. Avoiding what is making her sick helps, but a person like her needs to also repair what has been damaged. There are ways of doing that. (By the way, she is a champ. Learning to eat different is tough when everything around you is gluten in society.) I have to do it myself.
Yes, her being affected the way you described is possible. I have a cookbook that states gluten can be such an issue that anything it sticks to has to be removed: the stove-- if anything with gluten was baked in it, plastic containers-- if any gluten was store in them, toasters, etc. It is not her fault. Her systems have been damaged by other things. Really damaged, apparently.
If we can just get all our doctors on the same page to work together on this topic, and can equip people with the knowledge and understanding about this issue maybe we can resolve an epidemic that is growing.
Natalie