Food allergies and emotions

I have been very busy with research for upcoming topics and interviews to be shared on here soon. As many of you know, life gets busy. If you have commented on posts, I will be replying soon. In the interim, I would like to share with you a post I recently wrote on my other blog, about life with food allergies. The fear and worries as well as ways to overcome them. I have had food allergies my entire life and am only now sharing how it truly feels to the public. It is something that has been hard to open up about as I’ve often thought it was only me. After several comments and DM’s it is clear that this is a topic I need to explore more.

Please have a read and let me know what you think. Here’s the link to my article on http://www.livingwithallergies.ca

I am curious. What do you do to overcome your worries, stress or fear with other allergies? If you get hives from different fabrics, dyes or soaps, shampoos and lotions, do you feel that you have some fear or worry around trying new products? Please let me know in the comments below.

Have a wonderful day!

Erika

Have an Allergy free Thanksgiving

(A repeat of my previous blog 11/15/10)

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and my kids with allergies are coming for dinner. My family is allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and eggs. The turkey will be fine, but what about the dressing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie?

Turkey: Turkeys themselves are not usually a problem for people with allergies. Some commercial turkeys have been infused with a broth that may have wheat in it. Be sure to read the label carefully or just buy a fresh turkey.

Dressing/Stuffing: My favorite way to make gluten-free dressing is to use wild rice or a mixture of wild and long grain rice as the base instead of bread. I use the drippings from the turkey combined with enough gluten-free turkey stock according to the directions to cook the rice. In another pan, in a small amount of olive oil, I sauté chopped celery, chopped water chestnuts, and a chopped medium onion. Then I add the cooked rice, dried cranberries, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper and 1/4 c white wine. Everything you would use to make regular dressing except the bread crumbs. I don’t use a recipe, it all tastes good just mix it together, you can’t go wrong. If you can’t find gluten-free turkey stock, gluten-free chicken stock or a combination of chicken and beef stock work well. Or of course you can make your own.

Gravy: Do not use the prepackaged gravy that may come with the turkey or you can buy at the store, they contain wheat flour. I heat the turkey drippings with gluten-free turkey broth, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, then add tablespoon of corn starch or tapioca starch (it takes more of the tapioca) mixed with a 1/8 cup or less of cool broth or water. Hint: always mix your tapioca flour or corn starch with a tiny amount of cool broth or water before adding to the hot gravy mixture and stir constantly until mixture thickens, this help to avoid lumps. Only add a little starch mixture at first, more can be added as needed.

Mash potatoes: My family is allergic to dairy, so I use a little chicken broth for the liquid, and olive oil for the margarine. Use you favorite seasonings, the potatoes taste great and it also cuts down on calories.

Pumpkin Pie: Since my family is allergic to gluten, soy, dairy and eggs, this is a real challenge. The filling can be made using a traditional pumpkin recipe (on the back of the can) using almond milk or Coconut milk and EnerG Egg replacer instead of the usually milk and eggs. The almond milk is a little thinner than condensed milk, so it needs a little buckwheat flour or gluten-free oatmeal added to thicken it up a bit. There are gluten-free crusts available at the store, but they usually won’t work when there are other food allergies. I use crushed Rice Chex cereal instead of a graham cracker crust. One trick I love is to pour melted “Enjoy Life” semi-sweet chocolate over the crushed Rice Cereal and letting it set up, before pouring in the filling. The Rice Chex get a bit soggy if you don’t use the chocolate. As a special topping, there is a product called Rich Whip® Frozen topping, that is sold near the Coolwhip section, it has no wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, or shellfish.

Hope these hints help to make your Thanksgiving Holiday happy and uneventful allergy wise.

Would anyone like to take over this allergy blog?

I love writing this blog and hearing from people who are suffering from the same allergies I am. I like to think I have helped a few readers along the way. My life is very busy right now and I am finding I have less and less time to devote to this blog. I must simplify my life to survive. If anyone is seriously interested, let me know. I also own the matching URL allergycomfortzone.com , a Twitter account and Facebook account in the same name. This WordPress account gets about 100 visits a day.  This WordPress account is not monetized but it can be, by using the matching URL. I have not kept up with the Facebook and Twitter accounts lately.

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May is Allergy & Asthma Awareness Month

May is a peak time for people dealing with allergies and asthma and a perfect time to raise awareness about these diseases.

What are allergies?

Allergies are an overreaction of the immune system to allergens that usually do not cause a reaction in most people. Some of the symptoms of allergies include sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and itching; some allergies (food or drug) can cause an extreme response (anaphylaxis) that is life-threatening, is a medical emergency, and is the most severe allergic reaction. If you or someone around you is having an anaphylactic reaction, please call 911 right away.

For those with extreme allergies that cause anaphylaxis, I suggest reading about them on this WebMD web site.

I’m having problems trying to eat all organic food

I have been wondering if the pesticides in my foods have anything to do with my skin allergies. I changed my breakfast cereal from GoLean (which contains GM soy) to Natures Path an organic cereal. I have also been trying to eat more organic foods. It’s not easy and it definitely is not cheap.

Organic foods are expensive and I can’t seem to find everything I eat in organic. I am lucky to live in an area with a lot of food sources. We have Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, many Farmers Markets, even my local supermarket has a large organic section. What’s my problem? Eating organic limits my access to my favorite things to eat. When you can’t find one ingredient you need and substitute something non-organic the whole meal becomes non-organic. I guess it’s best to use organic products when you can especially the worst offenders.

I have found some foods are more pesticide laden than others. They are called the dirty dozen. Here is link to a handy shopping guide: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/?tag=2012FoodnewsAd&gclid=CMOH-e2turICFYyPPAodkU8ABA A quick run down of the worst offenders in the food world: Apples, Celery, Sweet Bell Peppers, Peaches, Strawberries, Nectarines, Grapes, Spinach, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Blueberries and Potatoes.

Also I believe we should be concerned about Genetically Modified Foods. Here is a list of GM food to be watch for (GMO are not labeled in the U.S.): Rapeseed oil (Canola Oil), Honey produced form GM crops, Cotton, Rice, Soybean, Sugar Cane, Tomatoes, Corn (Used for animal feed, Oil, Sweeteners and Soft Drinks), and Sweet Corn, Potatoes, Flax Oil, Papaya, Squash, Meat, Peas, Sugar Beets and Dairy Products.

How can the public make informed decisions about genetically modified (GM) foods when there is so little information about its safety?

According to the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are over 40 plant varieties that have completed all of the federal requirements for commercialization.

Future planned applications of GMOs are diverse and may include drugs in foods, for example, bananas that produce human vaccines against infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B, metabolically engineered fish that mature more quickly, fruit and nut trees that yield years earlier, and plants that produce new plastics with unique properties.

“History has many records of crimes against humanity, which were also justified by dominant commercial interests and governments of the day. Despite protests from citizens, social justice for the common good was eroded in favour of private profits. Today, patenting of life forms and the genetic engineering which it stimulates, is being justified on the grounds that it will benefit society, especially the poor, by providing better and more food and medicine. But in fact, by monopolising the ‘raw’ biological materials, the development of other options is deliberately blocked. Farmers therefore, become totally dependent on the corporations for seeds.” – Professor Wangari Mathai.

Citation: Disabled World News (2009-09-22) – Genetically modified foods information including list of GM foods with dna changes and pros and cons of GM food: http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/gm-foods.php#ixzz26e66RZHD

Is a food allergy to blame for for chronic skin problems?

If you read this blog regularly you know that I’ve tried eliminating certain foods from my diet to see if any of them were causing an auto-immune response where my skin would be more sensitive to dyes and finishes on clothes and other things in my environment.

Last time I tried eliminating gluten from my diet for 6 weeks. I did not see any difference in my skin. It was very hard for me to eliminate gluten, I found it is in almost everything that is packaged or prepared. I stuck with the diet for the full 6 weeks and didn’t see any change.

I have also tried a dairy-free diet and I didn’t seen a change. This diet was easier for me because I love Almond Milk, and don’t eat much cheese anyway.

Now I am wondering what should be the next food to try to eliminate. Soy is a food that is genetically modified quite often and used in many foods, it could be the culprit. Soy is in a lot of things we eat. I eliminated Go Lean Cereal from my diet several months ago because I found out it had a large percentage of GMO Soy.  I really liked Go Lean Cereal so it was hard to find a substitute. I now eat one of the Natures Path Organic Cereals, They taste great, but they are not as high in protein and a little sweeter than I would like.

Maybe we should all try eating all organic foods for a month. Skin problems could be caused by the pesticides in our food weakening our natural defenses and causing autoimmune problems.  You are lucky if you live in a city that has plenty of stores offering organic foods like I do. The problem is they are very expensive. I know organic is better for us, but hate to raise my food bill so much.

I will ponder this problem and decide what step to take next. I will share the results.

Kashi Cereal has let us all down

I eat Kashi Go Lean Cereal every day, I love it because it has more protein than all other cereals. I thought it was safe and healthy for me. I figured all the sugar-coated mass marketed cereals had GMOs (genetically modified organism), but Kashi seemed above that. I was wrong, Kashi uses GM Soybeans. Well over 1/2 of all soybeans are GM, so it’s had to find organic or unadulterated soybeans. Even if farmers try to raise non-GM soybeans they can be contaminated by nearby GM fields.

If you want to know more about GMO’s, I have a quoted from  transformyourhealth.com
Just Say No to GMO’s Sowing the Seeds of Deception – Part 1 By Jeffrey M. Smith – Extraordinary Health Article
This site has a lot more information on GM foods and the dangers or eating them, so visit the site for more information.

More about GMO’s

“Perhaps not everyone is familiar with GM foods. For starters, genetic engineering is quite distinct from selective breeding because it involves taking genes from a completely different species and inserting them into the DNA of a plant or animal. The long term effects of this for our health and our planet’s biodiversity are unknown— and that’s cause for concern.

Fortunately, in the past, there have been institutions tracking unhealthy trends. For example, AAEM, an “Academy of Firsts,” was the first U.S. medical organization to describe or acknowledge Gulf War Syndrome, chemical sensitivity, food allergy/addiction, and a host of other medical issues. Unfortunately, the potential for harm from GMOs dwarfs anything they have identified thus far. The harsh reality is that GMOs can impact anyone who eats—in other words: everyone.

Here’s part of what we’re all facing: More than 70% of the foods on supermarket shelves contain derivatives of the eight GM foods on the market—soy, corn, oil from canola and cottonseed, sugar from sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, and a small amount of zucchini and crook neck squash. It doesn’t stop there, though.

The biotech industry hopes to genetically engineer virtually all remaining vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, and even animals.

You will be interested to know that there are two primary reasons why plants are engineered: to allow them to either drink poison or to produce poison. The poison drinkers are called herbicide tolerant. They’re inserted with bacterial genes that allow them to survive otherwise deadly doses of toxic herbicide.

Biotech companies sell the seed and herbicide as a package deal, and U.S. farmers use hundreds of millions of pounds more herbicide because of these types of GM crops. The poison producers are called Bt crops. Inserted genes produce an insect-killing pesticide called Bt-toxin in every cell of the plant. Not surprisingly, both classes of GM crops are linked to dangerous side effects.”

I’m going to search for an alternative to Kashi Go Lean Cereal today. I will let you know what I find that has as much protein. I am so sensitive to everything I eat or touch, maybe GM soybeans are causing my chronic rash.

Please comment below, I would love to hear what you have to say about GMO’s

Allergic to Food Additives

Why am I writing abut food additives on an allergy blog?

Food additive aren’t absolutely necessary in most foods. Most have no added nutrients for our bodies to use. I feel they are dangerous and unnecessary in foods and can cause health problems as well as allergic reactions. The FDA currently maintains a list of ingredients called “Everything Added to Food in the United States” (EAFUS), which features more than 3,000 items and counting. Thankfully, most EAFUS ingredients are benign, but a few of them do have potentially harmful effects.  It’s a mystery to me and most everyone else, why so many are legal.

Caramel Coloring

When made from only from sugar, it’s relatively safe. If it is produced with ammonia it gives off 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, chemicals that have been linked to cancer in mice.  Unfortunately, companies aren’t required to disclose whether their coloring is made with ammonia or sugar.

 Olestra

Used in foods as a fat replacement. Warning labels are no longer required  to notify customers about the risk of “loose stools.”Olestra also appears to interfere with the body’s ability to absorb some crucial nutrients like beta-carotene and lycopene.

Potassium Bromate

Potassium bromate causes thyroid and kidney tumors in rats, and it’s banned from food use in many countries, but not the U.S.

Saccharin (Sweet’N Low)

Studies have linked saccharin to bladder tumors in rats, and in 1977, the FDA required warning labels on all saccharin-containing foods. In 2000, the FDA changed its stance and allowed saccharin to be sold without warning labels. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely safe. A 2008 Purdue study found that replacing sugar with saccharin in rats’ diets actually made them gain more weight.

(BHA) (BHT)

The Department of Health and Human Services says BHA is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” yet the FDA allows it to be used anyway. BHT is considered less dangerous, but in animal research, it too has resulted in cancer.

Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

Partially hydrogenated fats are the principle sources of trans fat in the American diet, and a Harvard study estimated that trans fat causes 70,000 heart attacks every year. This fat became very popular during the cholesterol scare in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Food manufacturers at that time scrabbled to label products “Cholesterol Free” even if that meant adding trans fats that are worse than eating the cholesterol that was naturally contained in foods. This is a food additive to avoid.

Sulfites

Humans have used sulfites to keep food fresh for thousands of years, but some people—especially asthma sufferers—experience breathing difficulties when exposed. Sulfites have been used for centuries, mainly as food additives, but can also occur naturally in foods such as fermented beverages and wines.

Azodicarbonamide

This chemical is used most frequently in the production of industrial foam plastic, and although the FDA has approved its use for food in the States. The United Kingdom has labeled it a potential cause of asthma.

Carrageenan

Seaweed is actually good for you, but carrageenan is a mere seaweed byproduct. Through animal studies, it has been linked to cancer, colon trouble, and ulcers. It isn’t certain that carrageenan harms humans, but avoiding it is clearly the safer option.

Aspartame (Equal)

Over the past 30 years, the FDA has received thousands of consumer complaints due mostly to neurological symptoms such as headaches dizziness, memory loss, and, in rare cases, epileptic seizures. Many studies have shown the sweetener to be completely harmless, while other have linked the additive to cancer. Why take a chance when other sweeteners like Stevia are safer.

 Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

After forty years of scrutiny, research has yet to reach a definitive verdict on MSG. Studies have shown that injecting the amino acid into mice causes brain-cell damage, but the FDA believes these results are not typical for humans. Still, the administration fields complaints every year for nausea, headaches, chest pains, and weakness. It could be that the results are limited to people with acute MSG sensitivity (read: allergy), so the FDA continues to allow manufacturers to use it. If you are allergic to MSG it is a very serious problem.

Nitrates and nitrites

Nitrates and nitrites have a tendency to fuse with amino acids to become carcinogenic nitrosamines. Ironically, the processed meats into which nitrates are commonly added are rich with amino acids, making nitrosamine formation very likely. In addition to concerns about cancer, increased nitrate and nitrite intake has been linked to deaths in Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s patients. Despite the risks, the valuable use of nitrates and nitrites as inhibitors of botulism warrant their acceptance as food additives in the eyes of the FDA.

Blue #2

A study published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest showed that the ingestion of Blue #2 led to increases in tumor development in the brain and mammary glands in lab rats. The FDA dismissed these findings, citing a variety of nebulous weaknesses in the study’s methods. The bottom line: whether or not artificial dyes are harmful, the foods they appear in are the most heavily processed, nutritionally bankrupt foods in the supermarket.

 Paraben

It’s been documented that parabens act as mild estrogens, and according to the Environmental Working Group, they can disrupt the natural balance of hormones in your body. In a Japanese study, male rats fed propyl paraben daily for four weeks suffered lower sperm and testosterone production, and other studies have found parabens present in breast cancer tissues.

Check your food labels carefully, some of the above food additives may be causing you problems and should be limited in your diet.

Low-gluten Communion Hosts

Exciting developments for all Christians:

Many Christians have been unable to partake in the Eucharist because of Celiac Disease. The issue made national headlines in 2001 when the parents of a 5-year-old Boston girl with celiac disease left the Catholic Church after their pastor and subsequently Cardinal Bernard Law would not allow them to substitute the wheat host with a rice wafer for her First Communion.

Dr. Alessio Fasano, researcher at the University of Maryland published a ground-breaking study last year revealed that . . . [celiac*] disease is far more prevalent than previously thought. He told The Catholic Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, “If there are about 300 people in church for Mass on Sunday, then we now know that two or three of them at least are likely to have celiac.”

The Vatican requires that Communion hosts contain some gluten, an essential ingredient in bread. Just a little over a year ago a pair of Benedictine sisters, after exhausting trial and error finally found a way to provide an acceptable host.

Thanks to their patience and perseverance and after over two years of experiments, Sisters Jane Heschmeyer and Lynn Marie D’Souza, of the Benedictine convent in Clyde, Missouri,  have developed a Communion wafer that has been approved as acceptable for the Eucharist by the Holy See. With a level of gluten content of 0.01% it is safe enough for consumption by almost all celiac* suffers, according to Dr. Alessio Fasano. (Please check with your doctor)

The U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy has deemed the sisters’ bread “the only true, low-gluten altar bread approved for use at Mass in the United States.” These unexciting wafers are the result of more than a decade of trial and error by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration to develop an altar bread that is safe for consumption by sufferers of celiac disease, yet also remain in compliance with the strict guidelines of Canon Law.

To order this altar bread for your church: http://www.benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php

*Celiac disease is a digestive disorder triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and other grains. It affects about one in 130 Americans.

You can read more about this exciting development:

http://www.catholickey.com/index.php3?gif=news.gif&mode=view&issue=20040409&article_id=2858

My First Gluten-free Restaurant Review

I had lunch with a good friend of mine who is gluten intolerant this week. I called several places that specialize in gluten-free food hoping to find a good place to eat lunch. I found a new place called New Day Gluten-free  that would be officially open  for lunch in a few days, but said they would fix anything on their to-go menu for us if we came.

They were very enthusiastic as a new business should be and offered a large selection of gluten-free food items. I thought my friend would be thrilled. As you would expect, New Day is very focused on providing foods that are substitutes for foods that normally contain gluten. There was little my friend was interested in. She has learned through the years to not crave  foods normally laden with gluten, so she usually eats salads, and plain meats and vegetables and is very satisfied ( and also very thin).

They did not offer any salads with gluten-free dressing or plain vegetables and meat. We ended up sharing an excellent gluten-free sausage pizza and each having a tasty chocolate chip cookie, but what she really wanted for lunch was a salad with gluten-free dressing. I really liked the pizza and would consider ordering it again, I would like to try the vegetarian version.

New Day Gluten-free is a made-from-scratch dedicated gluten and peanut free cafe and bakery that also supplies prepared meals to-go. They have a few tables for eating-in. They supply gluten-free pizzas and gluten-free entrees to many of the better known restaurants and pizza parlors in our area. They also carry, several pasta dishes, pies, breads, muffins, made to order birthday cakes and of course cookies. When their cafe opens later this week they will also be selling sandwiches made with gluten-free Boars Head deli meats and cheeses. New Day Gluten-free is located just outside St. Louis, in Ellisville, Missouri. Worth a visit if you crave foods normally made with gluten or have a peanut allergy.

How to Do an Elimination Diet.

Image: zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have found a shorter, faster and lass painful way to accomplish almost the same results. For two to four weeks stop eating the most common foods that cause irritation and allergy. The usually suspects are: soy, dairy, wheat, other gluten grains, eggs, citrus, shell fish and nuts. You can also eliminate any other foods that seem to cause you digestive upset .

Be sure to check the labels on the foods you eat very carefully. Gluten can be added to foods without any mention on the label. Look for: wheat, durum, semolina, faro, kamut, spelt, rye, barley, added vitamins, baking powder, caramel color, dextrin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, malt, MSG, flavorings and colorings, spices, starches and vinegar. With gluten, it’s best not to trust any prepared foods except those especially marked as gluten-free.

If symptoms don’t improve during the elimination period, you may not have a dietary trigger for you allergy or the food items you eliminated may not be the culprits. If you find relief, try adding back one eliminated food every few days. If you suffer a reaction take that food back out of your diet and try another food.

This process will take about two months. By the end you will have a good idea what foods you are better off eliminating from your diet..

Make Hay Fever Season More Comfortable for You and Your Child

One out of seven children in the U.S. suffers from seasonal allergies.
Hay fever is a seasonal allergy that occurs when tree, grass, weeds or flower pollen in the air comes in contact with nose membranes and it triggers inflammation, causing sneezing, itchy eyes, congestion, runny nose and cough.

You can reduce or even eliminate allergy symptoms gently and naturally by reducing contact with the allergens and building up your immune systems.

1. Keep windows and doors closed to reduce allergens in the air in your home. Air conditioning can keep the air pollen free and  make allergy sufferers feel better in warm weather.

2. Wash exposed skin, hair and clothing after exposure to pollens. Never send an allergy prone child to bed after playing outside, without bathing and changing their clothes. The pollen on their skin will and hair will contaminate their bedding and cause distress at night.

3. Use HEPA filters in an air purifier in bedrooms to remove pollen and dust from the air.

4. Clean out nasal passages. You can use a saline spray or a net pot with saline to help reduce contact with pollen and reduce allergy symptoms in the nasal passages.

5. Eat anti-inflammatory foods and eliminate foods that cause problems. Foods such as dairy and wheat can cause mucus to form and cause more inflammation. Add antioxidant foods to your diet, such as: tomatoes, nuts, fish, oranges, apples, and berries. These foods fight free-radical cell damage which can interfere with your immune system.

5. Drink herbal tea to soothe the throat and nasal passages. Green tea is also very good to strengthen the immune system, though it does have a small amount of caffeine.

If you have any more ideas to relieve allergies, please make a comment below.

Yes, you can be sensitive to gluten and NOT have celiac decease.

Finally the medical community is agreeing with a fact that many of us have known for a long time. According to a new study in the journal BMC Medicine, gluten can cause a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system even in people who do NOT test positive for celiac disease.

Patients with gluten sensitivity or intolerance have known this for years, but finally there is scientific evidence that “gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease.” says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research.

Patients have suspected that a broad range of aliments such as IBS-like stomach problems, headaches, fatigue, numbness and depression, may be linked to their gluten intake, but have failed to find doctors who agree. “Patients have been told if it didn’t test as celiac disease, it wasn’t anything. It was all in their heads,” says Cynthia Kupper, executive director of the nonprofit Gluten Intolerance Group of North America.

Could the findings of Dr. Fasano help explain why some parents of autistic children say their symptoms have improved—sometimes dramatically—when gluten was eliminated from their diets? To date, no scientific studies have emerged to back up such reports.

True celiac disease is a much more serious decease, which causes the immune system to mistakenly attack the body’s own tissue. The intestines are unable to absorb the nutrients from food. Celiac disease can be diagnosed with a simple blood test. See an article in the Wall Street Journal about the health effects of Gluten Sensitivity at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200393522456636.html
If you would like to make a comment please use the link below.

One Year of Writing Allergy Comfort Zone

Last week I officially passed the one year mark writing this blog. Thank you all for a successful first year. I have had fun writing and researching this blog and I have learned a lot from the comments reader leave on the Allergy Comfort Zone Forum. I have found that my most searched blogs are the ones on skin allergies, eczema and contact dermatitis caused by fabrics, fabric dyes and fabric coatings. My second and third most searched blogs are the ones dealing with seasonal allergies and food allergies. My least searched blogs are the ones about asthma. In the next year I will phase out the articles on Asthma and concentrate more on skin allergies.

In my second year of blogging about allergies, I would like even more feed back from readers. A two-way conversation is so much more fun and educational. Please leave a comment on the Allergy Comfort Zone Forum below in comments.

How to have an allergy-free Thanksgiving

Thanks giving is just around the corner and my kids with allergies are coming home for dinner. My family is allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and eggs. The turkey will be fine, but what about the dressing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie? I want to keep this simple, but still give them all the traditional foods.

Go to my Allergy Comfort Blog read about what I will be cooking.

Please comment below to share what you are making for your allergy-free Thanksgiving

Certain foods can make seasonal allergies worse

If you are allergic to ragweed and having a particularly bad Fall look to what you are eating. Some foods can actually make the symptoms of your ragweed allergy worse. When your body is being bombarded with irritants to which you are sensitive, you must be careful of everything that you come into contact with including foods.

Chamomile tea, watermelon, honeydew melons, cantaloupe and bananas can make your ragweed allergy symptoms worse. Years ago these melons were not in season at this time of year and there wasn’t a problem. Today with supermarkets bringing in fruit in all year-long people are starting to notice the connection.

Other foods and drinks such as, soy sauce, shell-fish, eggs, beer, liquor and wine release histamine which can make swelling and itching worse. Not only do you have to control your exposure to the pollens outdoors, but also what you are putting into your body.

Is a celiac vaccine in the future?

An Australian research team reports the new findings in the July 21 Science Translational Medicine. The breakthrough work isolating three partial peptides has opened the way for development of a therapeutic vaccine that might help celiac patients tolerate foods that contain celiac. The research team, led by study coauthor Robert Anderson, a gastroenterologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville, Australia is reporting their findings. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61321/title/Separating_wheat_from_chaff_in_celiac_disease

Celiac patients usually deal with their condition by avoiding wheat, rye and barley. Most people digest these cereals effortlessly, but people with celiac disease have a genetic predisposition that causes an aberrant immune response to gluten. This response damages the walls of the small intestine and sabotages their ability to absorb food. Celiac disease can cause painful bloating, diarrhea, constipation, lethargy and other problems.

The Australian team has begun an early-stage clinical trial using these peptides in a vaccine that aims to desensitize celiac patients and make them tolerant of the compounds. The group expects to report preliminary safety results later this year.

Would you take this vaccine to help your celiac disease?

Celiac disease is NOT a fad diet for the millions of true celiacs and gluten intolerants.

I recently heard on the Today Show that gluten Intolerance and celiac disease has become a “fad” condition. Movie stars are jumping on the celiac bandwagon to improve health and lose weight. It’s important to realize that true celiac disease and gluten intolerance are very serious condition for those who test positive. Just because gluten-free diets are popular right now and many people are trying out the fad, is not a reason to discount the true health ramifications to the many real celiacs and gluten intolerants in the world. This is a serious condition!

If the new fad followers (not true celiacs) just limit their intake of gluten laden foods and prepare all  fresh foods from scratch, all will be well. But if many new products lines are developed to fill the gap, I’m afraid that the  diets of consumers  in general will suffer another blow. Many prepackaged convenience foods that are gluten-free are also very high in sugar and fat. This reminds me of the no-cholesterol and low cholesterol fad of the 70’s and 80’s. Every product was shouting it was cholesterol-free. Many products at that time started using trans fats (which are worse for health) to fill the gap. As consumers we ended up with a less healthy diet than before.

This fad can either help or hurt true celiacs and gluten-intolerants. It may help because more money for more research will become available or it may hurt the cause, because it will be thought of as a fad and people with the true condition will not be taken seriously. What do you think about this situation? Comment on the Allergy Comfort Zone Forum below.

Recipe for Kale Chips

My daughter is allergic to gluten, soy, eggs, milk and navy beans. My Son is vegetarian. This makes it really hard to find tasty food they can both eat. Below is a recipe my daughter came up with for Kale Chips.

I don’t usually follow a recipe on this, but this is how I do it: Wash kale and dry well, tear into pieces and put in large bowl with a very small amount of olive oil and sea salt to your tasting, make sure all leaves are covered but not soggy, it does not take much. Then sprinkle vinegar on top and mix. Place parchment paper on non-insulated cookie sheet and place kale on top spread it out. Oven temp 350 and cook for about 9-10 min. it should be crispy and yummy. If you don’t have a milk allergy you might sprinkle lightly with shredded or grated parmesan cheese while it’s still hot.

Kale is the vegetable with the most vitamin A, K and beta carotene. A cup of fresh boiled kale has over 1,000 percent of the percent daily value of vitamin K, and over 150 percent of the percent daily value of vitamin A and beta carotene. Kale is also unusually high in vitamin C, manganese and dietary fiber.  Also one cup of cooked Kale=179 mg calcium.

Please comment on some of your own allergy conscious recipes below.

Dining in Italy with Allergies

I just got back from a wonderful vacation in Italy. Read my blog about my experiences with food and wine in that beautiful country. Ever since my daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease, egg allergy, casein allergy and soy allergies, I have become extremely interested in what ingredients are in foods. She was not traveling with me on this trip but I took note of what would be available for her for future reference.

The Italian restaurants seemed to be more aware of celiac disease than restaurants here in the U.S. I noted a few places with special notations on their menus about gluten-free foods. Languages are my weakness and I could not always communicate fully. The Italians were very eager to please, and accommodated all requests when possible. Very little of their food is processed, almost all is made with fresh local ingredients. It is important to stay away from pastas and pizza. I also found…