Going Out To Eat…

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Asa is now 5 1/2 years old. A few months ago, I was in the car with her and I was running to pick up some dinner for me while my husband was in our other car running to get food for him and the other kids (that’s life with Celiac Disease for you…). From the backseat, Asa said, “Mom, can we please stop and get some food for me too?” Thinking she meant something from the grocery store I said, “No, we already have food for you at home.” She replied, “No, Mom. Can we please stop at a restaurant and get something for me? I don’t even care what it is. I’ll eat anything. I just want to get something from a restaurant like the rest of you.”

My heart broke. It was the first time that she was really expressing that she felt left out. She went on to tell me that every time we bring food home like this, the rest of us have our food from eating out and she just has food from home and she hates just watching us eat our special food. She said she just wants to be included.

We’ve spent close to 6 years protecting her from restaurants. We’ve packed safe meals every time we’ve gone out. We’ve avoided meals out just to keep her safe. We’ve cooked elaborate meals at home and ordered special ingredients just to make sure we had all the safe foods we needed right in our four walls. I’ve dreaded navigating menus. I’ve shed tears thinking about ordering from a restaurant and trusting them with her allergies. I’ve conjured up images of giving the epipen in the middle of the restaurant because an allergic reaction happened. To say I’m scared is an understatement.

But I also know I need to prepare her. I need to help set her up for the real world. I need to teach her how to navigate restaurants, menus, wait staff, and chefs. I need to help her have confidence using her voice in these situations. I have to be her example. I have to show her how to live with caution but not fear. Anxiety is a real side effect of life with food allergies. And I don’t want her to be paralyzed by it as she grows up.

So we started researching places to go. I started reading menus online, going to local allergy groups I’m in on Facebook, and calling places. I started using MY voice more and slowly but surely I started feeling more confident in letting her eat out at a few different places!

I wanted to share a few of those in hopes that they help others if in no other way than to help you know that it’s possible to navigate eating out, even with multiple food allergies! As a reminder, Asa is allergic to milk, egg, peanut, and some tree nuts.

One of National places that we found was Chick-fil-a. They have a great allergy menu online which makes it easy to plan before you go. (I linked their allergy menu above!) They have a separate fryer for their fries so they stay gluten free (yay!) and their grilled chicken is a great option for those with egg, milk, wheat, gluten, and nut allergies! Their kids meals also have options of fruit or applesauce as alternatives to fries. Asa and I have both eaten there safely multiple times now!

Another great regional restaurant we’ve come to love is Hawaiian Bros. (Their allergen menu is linked above!) Almost their entire menu is dairy, egg, and gluten free. They are also VERY allergy conscious. The best part – they serve Dole Whip as dessert! If you have allergies, you probably know what a treasure Dole Whip is! And if you don’t, find your local place with Dole Whip and get some pronto! For the record, Asa’s favorite food at Hawaiian Bros is the Luau Pig so try it if you go.

Our list is slowly growing and we’ve found some great local spots too. I’ll share more as I find them! Feel free to share yours too!

Our food allergy warrior eating out safely!

Allergies and Asthma and Epipens… Oh My!

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This past weekend, Asa took her first ambulance ride. She also received her first epipen in over 3 years…

I’m not gonna lie, it was scary. We were having a totally normal night at home. Then out of nowhere, she started coughing a lot and then said her stomach hurt. At first we weren’t sure what was going on. I had her come closer to me and could tell that she was wheezing. I got up and immediately gave her her Albuterol inhaler. We’ve been monitoring her for asthma symptoms for the past 6 months or so. She hasn’t been fully diagnosed with it yet, but she’s been having some “asthma-like” symptoms so we’ve been prescribed inhalers and are supposed to use them when she’s sick, develops a cough, or starts wheezing. I knew this was a moment to use it.

We still couldn’t figure out what was going on or what was causing her to start this episode that seemed like an allergic reaction.

Then I started wondering… the stupid cookies I had baked had peanut butter in them. I made them knowing she wasn’t going to eat them and she’s never had an airborne reaction before. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking it would be a big deal. But when she started coughing and acting strange, I realized that the peanut smell was really strong, and if it was that strong, maybe she was reacting to it.

We immediately started opening windows in the house, putting the cookies into a sealed container, gave her Benedryl, and took her outside to breath the fresh air. Her wheezing stopped right after she got her inhaler. We kept monitoring her and asking her how she felt. Eventually she said that the pain in her tummy was now in her chest too. When she said that, I gave the epipen. Ryan called 911.

In hindsight, I probably should have given it a little sooner. I feel like we learn something in every single one of her reactions – whether it’s a small reaction or a big one. You always see a little more clearly when you are looking back at the situation. But still… By the time the paramedics arrived at the house, Asa was acting pretty normal. They listened to her and said that she sounded great and that we had done the right thing. We explained everything that happened and they said a hospital visit was needed to be monitored following administering an epipen (we already knew that drill!).

They had her ride in the ambulance. At this point the epipen had kicked in and her adrenaline was up. When she heard she was riding in the ambulance, she literally yelled, “YES!” and couldn’t get her shoes on fast enough! She was cracking us all up even in the midst of a really scary situation.

At the hospital all of her vitals looked strong and remained that way. When the doctor finally came in, he basically acted like it was almost impossible that she had had an airborne reaction to the cookies. When I explained that I didn’t know what else it could have been, he didn’t offer any other suggestions and instead just said, “Well if she’s that sensitive to peanut you should probably get rid of everything peanut in your house…” (thank you, sir…) and then said, “She looks fine now!” It was almost as if he didn’t even believe she had had a reaction at all. It was frustrating to say the least. But at least she was safe.

The rest of the weekend, I ruminated over the event. I couldn’t stop re-playing it, wondering what had really happened and if there was something I could have done better. Should I have given Epi sooner? Was it really an airborne reaction? Did she have an asthma attack? Did she react to some new food and I didn’t know it? Why was that doctor such a jerk? Hadn’t he heard of good bedside manner?

Today we took Asa to her allergist. After going over the whole event with her, she truly thinks Asa had an asthma attack – a “viral induced asthma attack” to be exact. After she said that, I told her that when we followed up with her pediatrician, we found out that she had an ear infection and this only made the allergist feel even stronger that Asa was probably working through a virus and had an asthma attack as a result. We came up with a whole asthma action plan to add to her allergy action plan. Now she has to carry not only an epipen with her to school, but an emergency inhaler as well. She’s also on a daily inhaler for at least the next month while we monitor her closely.

The allergist made sure to tell me that I did everything right in the event this past weekend. As allergy parents, we are taught to look for certain symptoms, and not to hesitate with the Epipen if those symptoms are present. She said that giving the Epipen is never going to hurt, but not giving it can be deadly, so giving it is always what we should do in these situations! As we always say… “Epi First, Epi Fast!”

The life of a food allergy parent is hard. It’s so easy to beat yourself up – to wonder if you did the right thing and if you should have done something differently. It’s exhausting – both mentally and emotionally. The fear you experience in the heat of the moment, and the sigh of relief you feel after, are so heavy. I walked around for days feeling somewhat depressed just because the weight I was feeling was so heavy.

If you’ve never experienced this before, I’m so happy that you haven’t! And if you have, just know that you are not alone. When I was upset and confused the day after asthma attack, I turned to some allergy communities that I am apart of (and my own social media pages that I run) and felt so supported! It’s a community that none of us want to belong to but we find a lot of comfort in because we know how each other feel and what we are going through. So when you’re feeling heavy, reach out. I’m here for you, and others are too!

Back to her normal spunky self!

Preparing For a Food Allergy Challenge

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Tomorrow Asa goes in for her second food allergy challenge. This time we are doing a macadamia nut challenge. I spent hours tonight making macadamia nut butter. My child better always know how much I love her! 😉

I’ve had a lot of people ask me to explain what exactly a food allergy challenge is and why we do them, so I decided to write a blog about the subject. A super common misconception about allergies is that a skin test or a blood test can tell you everything you need to know. Unfortunately, this just isn’t true. Skin tests and blood tests are good indications of allergies but they aren’t 100% accurate. The only TRUE test for a food allergy is actually ingesting it. Typically an allergist will begin with a skin test to see what shows as positive. From there, they will try to confirm the allergens with a blood test. A good allergist will only test you for things that you’ve already reacted to or that are in the same family (for example, you’ve reacted to one tree nut and so they test you for all of them). Most allergists will not run a full blood panel just to see what comes back positive because too many false positives can occur.

A good example of this is exactly why we are doing the food challenges right now. Asa tested positive on a blood panel to tree nuts. Her cashew and pistachio levels came back EXTREMELY high on both a skin and blood test. Some of her other tree nuts came back with really low numbers that are kind of inconclusive. She could be allergic, but she also could be just showing a false positive. For example, she also showed with some positive numbers to almond which she eats constantly and has no reaction to whatsoever. Her numbers to almond were very similar to her numbers for several other tree nuts, so we decided to do some food challenges for these other nuts in the doctor’s office, in a controlled environment, where she can be monitored closely and given medicine and treatment immediately if needed.

Back in February she did her first food challenge for walnut. Essentially what happens is that they give her walnut or walnut butter in doses that increasingly get bigger every 15-20 minutes. During those times they monitor her closely for any signs of an allergic reaction. Once we even had to wait an additional 15 minutes between dosing because she got the hiccups which can sometimes be a precursor to vomiting (who knew!) and they wanted to be sure it wasn’t a symptom! After her last dose, we have to sit in the office for 2 hours for them to continue to monitor for a delayed allergic reaction. If she still stays symptom-free, she is considered “passing” and is allowed to eat the food freely from then on! The visit takes about 4-5 hours total so it’s a long day at the office!

Another difficult thing to point out with the nuts in particular, is that you have to prepare either the nuts or the nut butter ahead of the appointment because nuts and nut butters that do not have any chance of cross-contamination are extremely hard to find. For example, with her macadamia nut challenge tomorrow, we have to be sure that she is ONLY eating macadamia nut and that there are no traces of any other nuts on them because that could obviously totally change the outcome of the test. Because of that, we have to wash the nuts. Yes, you read that right… we have to literally wash them with Dawn dish soap! Not once… not twice… but three times! Then we have to roast them. You can choose to eat them raw for the test, but we know Asa won’t do that, so we choose to make a nut butter out of them instead. That literally took me hours tonight because the nuts were not cooperating with me. Now I just have to pray that Asa cooperates tomorrow and eats all the doses and most importantly, doesn’t have a reaction!

As you can imagine, challenge days bring a lot of anxiety with them. While I’m so incredibly hopeful that she will pass and we can mark another nut off the “not allergic” list, there is always a part of me that is nervous that we could end up having to give her an epipen, go to the hospital, or worse. And that thought is very hard to shake. If you’re a praying person, your prayers would be much appreciated! I’ll update this post once we go and get results, but for now, please keep us in your prayers and pray for her bravery as well!

I hope this post provided a little knowledge and also helps you see the lengths that allergy parents have to go to for our kids! Being an allergy parent is not for the faint of heart, but we fight every day and our kids do too!

Making macadamia nut butter like a champ… 🙂

Adding more foods to our “no no” list…

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The past two weeks have been extremely hard for me. I’ve been really wanting to talk about them while simultaneously wanting to crawl in a hole and hide.

I found out that I have Celiac Disease. If you’re like a lot of people, you may be asking, “What’s that?” For a great, thorough definition of it, click here. The short definition is, my body can’t process gluten correctly and when I eat it, it’s damaging my small intestine.

I’ve known something was wrong for quite some time. I went and saw a new gastroenterologist last July and he did bloodwork that pointed towards Celiac. He ordered a colonoscopy and endoscopy but due to insurance issues and a multitude of crazy one-offs, we had to reschedule the procedures multiple times. I finally had them two weeks ago and it confirmed that I did, indeed, have Celiac Disease.

Since then, I’ve been feeling a multitude of emotions: anger, sadness, and disbelief mixed with a little bit of relief to have an answer for the pain and discomfort that I’ve been feeling for so long now.

But the anger and sadness has been a little overwhelming. We already have to read so many labels. We already have to avoid so many foods. My daughter, Asa’s allergies mean that we already have to avoid peanut, milk, egg, and multiple tree nuts. Adding gluten to this long list just seems overwhelming. So many recipes that we have perfected now have to be changed all over again.

I’m angry at the additional cost this will add to our grocery bill. For example, gluten free bagels come with 2 less bagels in the package and cost literally $3.00 more… It’s insane! Our bill is already so high from the dairy-free milks and creamers, egg-less noodles, and special almond butter we have to order to make sure it’s not cross-contaminated. Now it’s going to go up even higher? Why is this happening to us?

Then there’s the sadness over the foods I will miss. It may sound trivial, but let’s be real… food is a part of our culture. We base so much of our life around food. I was joking that I don’t even feel like a true St. Louisian anymore because I can’t have Imo’s pizza, toasted ravioli, or gooey butter cake anymore. Who even am I? Not to mention that I can’t even drown my sorrows in my normal comfort foods because they are no longer things I can eat! It’s just depressing.

I am well aware of all of the amazing foods that exist that are gluten free now and I’ve already tried a lot of them! I am working my way through the stages of grief and will get to acceptance. I know that there are worse things in life than having Celiac Disease. But I also know that right now I need to feel my feelings, and that it’s perfectly acceptable to do so.

Changing your food habits is HARD. All of you in the food allergies community know this first hand. Altering recipes, finding new brands, researching companies online, looking up restaurant menus ahead of time, checking labels in the grocery store… all of it can be extremely stressful. But just know what there are others out here fighting the same fight with you. This community has been wonderful for me. And you’ve helped me navigate through my daughter’s allergies for 3 years. Now I hope you’ll help me navigate through my own food journey too!

My and my food allergy buddy. I told her we are in this together til the end! #myminime

Starting School With a Food Allergy

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Asa starting preschool this past Monday. (It’s Friday night as I’m writing this.) I have so many things to write about but I’ve honestly been putting it off because I’m a little overwhelmed and exhausted by it all.

We knew this day was coming. She turned 3 in December and the plan was to enroll her then. With COVID, we decided to delay that start date a little. We finally felt it was the right time to send her, but our nerves on the allergy front haven’t lessened at all. How could they, really? This is the first time that she has ever really been with anyone other than our parents. We have left her in church Sunday school before, and honestly, even that brings me anxiety! But this is a whole new ballgame. Dropping her off, out of our sight, with complete strangers, knowing that we can’t be there to watch her every move is completely terrifying. It’s unlike anything I can even explain. If you have children, you know the anxieties that come with the first day of school. Now take those anxieties and amplify them by 100. Maybe that can help give you a little taste of what I was feeling leading up to Monday.

We tried to be extremely prepared. We contacted the school months ago and I met with the principal to talk about our concerns. (Reminder that Asa has 3 major food allergies – milk, egg, and peanut.) That led to a conversation with the school nurse to develop an individualized health plan to go over what to do in case of an emergency. We agreed that Asa’s EpiPen would stay in her backpack with her in the classroom at all times so that it would be readily available in case it was needed. We agreed that 911 as well as my husband and I would be called immediately if they even suspected she had been in contact with an allergen. We went over the snack list and agreed that we could send in our own snacks from home just to control exactly what she could have. She would be given soy milk instead of normal milk in the classroom. We sent over her allergy plan from her allergist. I even took time to label her EpiPen cases clearly with her allergens. We felt as prepared as we possibly could be, but the anxiety and fear was still there.

I bought her EpiPen cases from PracMedic and labeled them with her allergies myself using vinyl and my Cricut 🙂

Monday came and Asa was SO excited to start school. She had been wearing her backpack around the house for at least a week and was so excited that she was going to school just like her big sissy. She couldn’t wait to use her new water bottle and go meet her new teacher. She was excited and filled with hope. We were excited but also filled with fear. I tried to occupy my brain by making her a shirt for her first day. She wore it proudly and looked adorable when we dropped her off for her first day.

Our big girl on her first day!

After dropping her off with tears in our eyes, my husband and I both started saying that we still felt slightly unsettled. While developing her health plan with the school we had asked about having all of the kids hands/mouths washed or wiped down after snack time to ensure that no allergens were left on them after they ate and drank. We were told that wasn’t really feasible. It wasn’t sitting well with us.

I posted on Facebook about Asa’s first day of school and asked for people to be praying for our anxieties and for her to be safe. A fellow allergy mom reached out to me and asked if we had a 504 in place. My response was basically, “A 50-what?” I had no idea what a 504 was. A 504 for food allergies is essentially a kind of written management plan that is very commonly used for several kind of disabilities or health conditions including food allergies. More information on them can be found here. She advised that we work on one immediately as they are legally binding and are more official than the individuated health plan we had already created (which was still a great first step).

I immediately started looking up information. I also posted in a local group on Facebook to try to find other food allergy parents in our school district who already had 504s for their children to see if they would share their experiences with me. I was in the luck! I had one of them immediately message me and then ask if she could call me. She talked to me like we had known each other for years. The food allergy community is amazing. Once you have a child with food allergies – you just get it. You understand the struggles, the fears, the constant worry, and you just empathize in a way that makes you want to help others. She told me that part of her child’s 504 includes his classmates washing their hands after they eat every single time. (That was funny since we were told that wasn’t feasible.) She armed me with a lot of great information.

I reached out to the principal, the school nurse, and Asa’s teacher immediately. We set up a meeting to discuss a 504 and talk about our concerns. In the meeting with them, I started by saying that I didn’t ask to have this meeting because I thought they were doing a horrible job. I was actually really impressed with the way our district handles food allergies and think that they are leaps and bounds above other school districts in this matter. I thanked them for their help so far. I then told them that they needed to understand that one small accident could lead to my child’s death. I explained that it’s hard for me to feel confident leaving Asa in anyone’s care when I don’t even fully trust myself. I have to double and triple check every single thing I give to her because I never know when I manufacturer that I trust is going to change their recipe or change their factory and make it unsafe for my daughter. I am constantly concerned that one little slip up could result in an anaphylactic reaction. I also explained that in her 3 years of life we have had to use an EpiPen 2 times. I said that the last thing that I wanted was for a teacher or a staff member to have to administer an EpiPen to her. It’s stressful and scary and I didn’t want them to have to go through that. I tried to be firm and blunt but understanding and caring in my delivery.

They were so incredibly helpful. When we brought up the hand washing this time, they didn’t bat an eye. In fact, they took it a step further and said that it may be better to just remove the allergens from the classroom altogether. (YES, PLEASE!) They are writing up her 504 right now and we will have it completed in the next couple of weeks. With the 504, it will follow her throughout the district as she moves up in grades but will be adjusted every year based on her needs, so we will have these meetings yearly.

I wanted to write all of this out because I thought it was important information for others to have. I know that we are all in various stages of our food allergy journeys. Maybe you aren’t even a food allergy parent, but you are reading this to be informed, and if you are – thank you! Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. When I posted in the Facebook group asking for allergy parents who have made a 504, I had several people comment telling me “504s aren’t for allergies” or “just talk to a principal”. Many people were immediately dismissive of me for absolutely no reason. It was incredibly disheartening. Along with that, I had a lot of allergy parents come to my defense and offer their support and help. I hope that this blog if one of those resources to those of you fighting this fight. I know the fears you face every day because I face them too.

I have still been spending this week thinking of even more ways to keep Asa safer. I added more visuals to her backpack to remind people of her allergies.

Got these lanyards (left) from Target awhile back so I turned it into a tag for her backpack! I have extras so if you want one – hit me up and I’ll send one to you! The little EpiPen clips (right) were purchased from Amazon here.

I don’t think that will ever stop. I’ll probably always be innovating new ways to make her allergies more known so that she is safer at school. For now though, she made it through week 1 and I feel more empowered after advocating for her and using my voice to speak up! I’m also super thankful to the food allergy mom who called me even when she didn’t know me because she encouraged me to do just that! (Shoutout Kristin!) And special thanks to Sarah who is always a huge support for me and messaged me about the 504 in the first place!! You’re a rockstar!! If you have questions about anything I mentioned in this blog, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Or if you just want to vent or talk, I’m here for that too.

Vegan Pancake/Waffle Mix!

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When you have a child with milk and egg allergies, you spend a lot of your time re-vamping recipes to make them safe for your family. So many foods, especially breakfast foods, contain eggs and milk. Doing a google search for recipes sometimes leaves you with bland foods or gritty textures and can leave those of us that are used to “regular” recipes unfulfilled. But there is hope!

My husband spent a lot of time perfecting his pancake/waffle mix recipe and I want to share it with you all today!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 egg equivalent of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
  • 3/4 cup of oat milk (you can use another dairy free milk, but we really recommend oat milk because we think it has the best consistency)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together first. Make your egg replacer by following directions on the back of the bag. After the egg replacer is made, mix the oat milk into the egg replacer. Add that combination to the dry ingredients and mix it all together. Then add in your olive oil, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. To get desired consistency, add water as needed (We normally add about 1-2 tbsp of water but it may not be necessary. We feel like it makes them fluffier, though.) Use can use this batter for both waffles and pancakes!

When I say that this pancake/waffle mix is delicious, I mean it! Trust me, you want to try this. You won’t be able to tell that it is egg and milk free. Everyone in our house loves it – our daughter with allergies, as well as the rest of us! In fact, my oldest daughter says that she prefers them to the regular ones! If you try the recipe, make sure to let us know what you think, and make sure to thank my husband – this recipe was all him!

Yummy Vegan Biscuits (Repost)

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Biscuits and gravy has always been one of the best meals my husband makes. He’s been dying to find a way to let our daughter try them but her dairy and egg allergies have made that difficult. Today he adapted a recipe found on Pinterest to make vegan biscuits and they were DELICIOUS!!! We’ll attempt gravy soon and I’ll share once we find a good recipe. But for now I’ll leave you with the biscuit recipe! PS – they were taste approved by everyone in our house! Once again, I’ll include exactly the items we used for those that may not know where to start with using good substitutes, but feel free to modify to your favorite brands if you want!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup Country Crock Plant Butter (sticks – chilled and cubed)
  • 3/4 cup Oat Milk (we used Silk brand) chilled in the freezer

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place the cubed plant butter and oat milk in the freezer.
  • Combine sugar, salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. 
  • Use a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don’t have one) to add the chilled cubed butter into the dry mix. This will make the mixture a course ground consistency. 
  • Add the oat milk and work into the flour to form a crumbly, soft dough. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead into a 5-6 inch rectangle. Fold in half and knead a total of 3 times. You should end with the same 5-6 inch rectangle.
  • Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and cut about 6-8 biscuits using a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a juice glass. Reknead the remaining dough and repeat these steps to cut more biscuits. 
  • Brush with melted plant butter and bake for 11-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 

**This recipe is dairy and egg free. The Country Crock plant butter, however may contain soy so you’ll want to swap that for a different vegan butter if you have a soy allergy! 

If you try this recipe, make sure to let me know how you like it! It’s definitely going to be our go-to biscuit recipe from now on!

Blow after blow…

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Two years ago yesterday we had to administer our first epipen. I had just gotten home from work. My husband had tried peanut butter with Asa for the first time and it had seemed to go well! Hours had gone by with no reaction. But soon after I got home, I noticed a hive. We kept looking and more just kept appearing. We were so confused. It had been hours! Surely this wasn’t an allergy, right? Wrong.

The hives continued and just kept getting worse. We called 911 because we were worried about her breathing and hoped they’d come check her. On their way to our house, the hives started covering her body. We decided not to risk it. I had to put my practice to the test and administer the first EpiPen I’ve even done (unfortunately not my last). I was scared, but honestly, my adrenaline took over in that moment, and I just did what I knew I needed to do to protect and save my daughter.

Thankfully, we gave the Epi in time and Asa was able to get all the help she needed. We followed up with the hospital and they monitored her for a few hours. They told us that delayed reactions can indeed happen. We were so sad and discouraged. The milk allergy was already hard enough and we were still trying to figure out how to navigate life with food allergies. Now we had to add in another one? Was there anything left for her to even eat? How would we manage a household with two major food allergies in it? How could we protect her?

We didn’t know that just a few months later we’d have to tag on another allergy – egg – and would have to once again administer an EpiPen. We felt like we just kept getting hit with blow after blow.

I know that some of you are reading this and think that it feels all too familiar. I know my family isn’t alone. It’s ok to be sad. It’s ok to mourn the “normal” life that others get to enjoy while yours is filled with anxiety and worry 24/7. It’s ok to be scared and overwhelmed. It was those feelings that led me to start this blog and my social media pages to begin with. I needed an outlet for my own feelings, and I needed a community that understood what I was going through. I needed support and I wanted to provide support to others.

We have since learned to cope and have become so much more knowledgable. We discovered that, yes, there were plenty of food lefts for her to eat! We just needed to educate ourselves (and others) a bit more. I hope that you read this and know that there are others that understand your struggle. If you ever have any questions, or just need someone to vent to, feel free to reach out! I’m always more than happy to talk!

It’s been a year already?

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How is that even possible? It’s been exactly one year since I decided that I needed to start this website. I remember what sparked me to start it was a very close encounter with an allergy at Thanksgiving dinner last year (see my blog on that here). We were still pretty new to our food allergy journey and I was constantly being shocked and surprised by the places I was finding allergies hiding in the things I assumed would be safe. It was then that I realized I wasn’t the only person fighting this fight. There were countless others like me, trying to keep their kids safe in a very scary and anxiety-filled world.

I hope that this page has helped you in some way – whether it was just by letting you know that you aren’t alone, or giving you allergy-friendly recipes and fun recommendations, or letting you know about things to avoid. This page has been major therapy for me. It’s helped me find a community of people. Between all of my social media platforms, I have found a group of of people – my people – who really understand the daily struggles of being a food allergy parent.

I’m going to keep on trucking, and I hope that you’ll stick along for the ride!

In honor of our one year anniversary, here’s an updated photo of me and my little food allergy warrior! She is the reason I fight every day and I will never stop being her advocate!

Me and my mini me

Teal Pumpkin Project – Supporting Kids with Food Allergies During Halloween

foodallergiesmom

I’ve had several people reach out to me asking about the Teal Pumpkin Project – either about what it is, or about how to support it. So let me address both!

The Teal Pumpkin Project was started as a way to show solidarity and support to those that live with food allergies – specifically during Halloween. Teal is the color for food allergies, so having a teal pumpkin outside your house is an indicator that you have non-food treats for trick-or-treaters! It can also be used to signify that your child HAS food allergies if you let them carry a teal pumpkin or bag. You can find out more information about the Teal Pumpkin Project here. On the website, you can even sign up to take the pledge and receive a free certificate that you can hang in your window to show that you have non-food treats for kids!

My girl with her teal pumpkin bucket!

Over the years, the idea of the teal pumpkins have become widely accepted and you can now find the teal plastic pumpkins just about anywhere! You can find them at Target here or at Walmart here. You can also find more decorative teal pumpkins if you search their websites! Target even has these awesome bags for kids with food allergies to carry as their trick-or-treat bags! One of my best friends picked them up for my daughter!

Adorable little Food Allergy bags! You can find these in “Bullseye’s Playground” at Target! (Commonly referred to as the dollar section.) These are just $1!

My husband and I are working a “Spooktacular Walk” in a neighboring town in a few weeks and decided that our table will be completely allergy-friendly. We are going to use a teal table cloth to cover our table, and will only be handing out non-candy items to the kids. It’s so important to be inclusive during the holidays – and Halloween is no exception. I can’t tell you how much it means to me when I see that someone has thought about Asa and other kids like her by including non-food items to keep her safe! One incident of cross-contamination could send her into anaphylactic shock, so the holidays can be scary and nerve wracking for those of us with food allergies. Anything you can do to help put parents like me at ease means more than you know!

Hopefully by now, I’ve convinced you to offer more than just candy for the trick-or-treaters who may come by your house. Now you may be wondering what the heck you should get instead of Snickers or Hersheys bars. Well, I’m here to help! Here are some ideas along with some links for easy purchasing if you’d like. 🤗

By no means does this list cover everything, but hopefully it will at least spark some ideas for you!

If you are bound and determined to still offer food treats, consider a few brands that are known for being allergy friendly with the Top 8 allergens. However, it’s important to remember that people can be allergic to things outside of those top 8, and it’s still incredibly important to read ingredients and do your research! Some ideas are:

  • Dum Dums suckers – Visit their website here for allergy info.
  • Enjoy Life brand candies – Visit their website here to see their options and allergy info! (You can now find these at some retail stores and grocery stores!)
  • Pez – Visit their website here for allergy information.
  • YumEarth candies – Visit their website here for allergy information. (Please note that their candy corn contains eggs but the rest of their products are free of the Top 8!!!)

I hope that this has helped some of you! And thanks for being inclusive for my kiddo and others like her! 😍