4 reasons why you'll want to read this if you're an allergy kid/parent

1. I'm an allergy kid. I'm in high school and am currently alive. You're probably quite stressed and want to know what to do without living with the worry that you might have an allergic reaction.
2. I have more than the doctors tell you. No, I'm not going into details about all the sciency and technical stuff. I can share with you real experiences and advice from things that happened to me and what I've learned...sometimes the hard way. I can help prevent that for you.
3. I'm a human being. Ask me questions by commenting!
4. I have loopholes so you don't have to avoid EVERYTHING. I can tell you the secrets that most restaurants and doctors won't tell you so you can get the food you want without having an allergy attack.

You're NOT ALONE! Allergies are so common these days. My goal is to build a community / support group thing that will STOP THE STRESS that people carry with them when they eat food. 

I will post more specific things about my personal experiences and advice. Hope this made you at least a little more relaxed and confident that everything will be okay. :)

Can kissing cause allergic reactions?

You lean in to kiss her goodnight and... Oh no! You ate a PB& J sandwich for lunch and she's allergic. You've heard stories that people have had allergic reactions from kissing. You're not sure what to do.

It's always good to take precautions, but according to a WebMD article, research conducted by Jennifer M. Maloney, MD, a pediatric allergist at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, it's been proven that allergens can remain in saliva for up to 4.5 hours. Even if it has been that much time, it's better to be safe than sorry. Brush your teeth or skip nuts for the day altogether. But make sure you wait a few hours.

It's not very romantic to give your parter an allergic reaction on a date. 

Even if you're a parent and you think you've spared your child from eating your pistachio ice cream, if you kiss your little one on the forehead right after, he or she could actually have a reaction.

So BE CAREFUL! And happy kissing!

Ways to...wait for it...PREVENT allergies???

Some exciting research has come out that there are ways to actually prevent allergies before they develop in children. According to a recent NY Times article, studies show that feeding allergenic foods (peanuts, eggs, etc.) to children under one year old reduces the risk of developing the allergy. When I was a little kid, I used to eat sesame all the time without any affects. Because my blood test results showed a likely allergy to sesame, the doctor told my parents to stop feeding it to me. Perhaps because I stopped eating it, I lost my immunity to it and gained a severe allergy. Although this research is too late for me because it suggests that my doctor gave bad advice, it's promising to reduce allergies of young kids.

Bon voyage! Travel fearlessly.

As winter break just ended and with President's Week around the corner, I was reminded of precautions to take when you go to another country.
1. Be prepared for non-English speakers
Oftentimes vendors and servers don't understand what "nuts," "sesame," or other things mean. Make sure you know how to say what your allergy is in whatever languages you might be encountering on your trip. When I went to Budapest and Prague last year, I carried around a notecard with my allergies listed in English, Hungarian and Czech. Although for the most part they understood the words in English, many locals did not know what "sesame was," hence the card came in handy.
2. Before the flight
It's also a good idea to inform your airline in advance of your allergy so they can prepare a special allergy-free meal just for you. Even vegetarians and gluten-free people can do this! They will have your seat number and will know what foods are okay to give you.
3. Back-up fuel
You should bring your own snacks just in case the food around you is unreliable at times. In Europe, most desserts and snacks have nuts in them, so I thrived off of Fiber One bars, Craisins, cheese sticks, and easy mac n' cheese.
It's important to be careful if you're not familiar with the local cuisine because you never know what hidden ingredients there may be!
Happy travels :)

The line to remain uncrossed

There's a line between being careful and being downright mean.
When I was in elementary school, many people crossed to the mean side. I was instructed by teachers to sit at the designated "peanut allergy table," which was supposed to make me feel more comfortable and less at risk, but it just made me feel isolated and miserable. I switched back to my normal classroom table. Also, sometimes kids would tease me and shove Nutella in my face. This is not okay at all because it actually both physically and mentally bothered me (the smell made me nauseous). People should be respectful and cautious, but not to the extent that it's exclusive. Like I've said in other blogs, we allergy people aren't allergic to the subject. We don't need to be discriminated against because we have allergies either. Of course, not everyone realizes this and won't follow this perfectly. Don't let it get you down! You're not worse than anyone else because of your allergy. You're different. You're YOU and that's okay! :)


               Careful
Line: ---------------------
                 Mean

Fake Allergies

Have you ever gotten an itchy throat from eating a fruit? Let's say, an apple. Or a strawberry. Or maybe even a grape. During my entire early childhood I thought I was allergic to apple skins because sometimes they made my throat itchy, so my mom peeled them off for me. The same itchiness has happened to me with other fruits.

I was wrong! What actually was bothering me was that the protein in the fruit has a similar protein to the trees, weeds and grasses of my hay fever allergy. Some people even say that there is some pollen on the fruit. If you have seasonal allergies like me, this has probably happened to you or will happen at some point. Have no fear! It's totally normal. And the symptoms don't usually last long. It may not bother you when the season changes so you can eat with comfort then. Or if the fruit is cooked, you should have no problem.

Don't get tricked by that sneaky pollen-food allergy!  You're good to go.

Am I having an allergic reaction?

Symptoms:

• Itchy throat
• Hives
• Slight nauseia
• Extreme nauseia, vomiting
• Heartburn
• Having trouble breathing
• Having trouble swallowing

The blue symptoms are minor reactions, whereas the red symptoms are the more dangerous warnings.

If you're having a blue symptom you can take an allergy pill like Benadryl or ignore it. 

If you're having a red symptom, then it's more serious and you should definitely take Benadryl. If you have trouble breathing or swallowing, that's where an adrenaline auto injector like "EpiPen" comes into play.

Separate but Equal

A common mistake is that people think that if the thing they're allergic to isn't an ingredient in their food, they won't have a reaction. But sometimes if it's in the same box as the thing they're allergic to, they can still have a reaction.
One time my aunt put cookies that had nuts in them in the same box as a cookie that I ate (that didn't have nuts), and I had a reaction. 
This is why it's important to keep the foods separate but equal. You can still have your delicious food, but without it touching the things you're allergic to. 

Always expect the unexpected

ALWAYS ASK restaurants, bakers, cooks, etc. if the food you're getting contains your allergen. This could seem odd, but trust me, sometimes foods include weird ingredients.
For example, I've encountered a bakery that used almond paste for ALL of its baked goods, including bread. Also, many restaurants use peanut and sesame oil to cook their foods (including burgers)! In other countries and in foreign foods (that are even sold in America) they use different names for the same foods. You need to make sure that you know the different names for your allergen. For example, my mom cooked a ravioli that had an ingredient called "pinoli" in its sauce that actually meant "pine nut," but my mom didn't know that and assumed it was fine. IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT, LOOK IT UP. Don't take the risk. It never hurts to ask!

Allergies on the down-low

For many years of my life I avoided eating sesame buns with my burgers. One day I decided to try it (knowing that if I had an allergic reaction, it would only be as minor as an itchy throat). I was completely fine. Yet, I am still highly allergic to hummus, which has a major ingredient of sesame. Weird, right? Often, when foods get cooked, the proteins in them that cause allergic reactions are killed. The sesame seeds on bagels and hamburger buns are cooked and aren't harmful to me. 

The same goes with many oils. Often, cheap oils are cooked and therefore don't have the ability to cause an allergic reaction. For example, I'm allergic to coconuts, (common for those with nut allergies), yet I can still eat packaged ice cream that has coconut oil. However, in restaurants the oils are often "cold pressed" and can still cause reactions. I usually avoid these oils at all cost just because I'll never really know if they'll cause an allergic reaction. 

We're allergic to the food, not the topic

We allergy kids know you mean well by not bringing up our allergies. You don't want us to feel bad. Yeah, it's nice if you don't eat that stuff in front of us. That doesn't mean we'll be offended if you talk about the foods. We're allergic to the food, not the topic! 
My friends often apologize when they talk about nuts. If they say they love nutella, they quickly apologize to me as if I'd burst into hives just from hearing them! Don't apologize. I don't care if people like foods that I'm allergic to or if they want to talk about it. It's not like people refrain from talking about ice cream in front of lactose-intolerant people. We're not dying or diseased! You can talk about it in front of us and we won't mind. (I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I feel annoyed every time people act like I'll be offended)

As a little kid, I was sometimes made fun of because of my allergy. "Ha ha you can't have this" was expected to make me feel bad. I learned that showing that I absolutely didn't care and it didn't affect me caused them to stop. What was the point in making fun of me if I didn't care? Allergy kids shouldn't let these kind of things bother them, especially since it's often harmless. 
A common response I used and still use is "I wouldn't like it anyway." And this is absolutely true. I've found that the things I'm allergic to have a distinct taste and scent that is repulsive and nauseating to me. It must be instinctual; my body's probably warning me that I should not eat whatever it is. Often when I've eaten something with nuts (without knowing) I immediately taste something wrong. Peanut butter and oranges smell and taste strong and almost noxious.

The "May Contained" Situation

Restaurants:
When you ask restaurants or bakeries if the food you're buying contains whatever you're allergic to, a common answer you will get is: "We can't guarantee anything because there might be cross-contamination / they were made near each other." Now, this might make you want to back off and give up purchasing the food. But I'd eat the food anyway. Why? The chance of it actually containing the things I'm allergic to is extremely low. The cooks are required to say that because they don't want to be blamed if something actually happens. 
I still need to be prepared, but I want to eat in restaurants like everyone else.

Even so, I can't guarantee you anything. This is just what I do. If I want to eat a brownie that doesn't have nuts in its ingredients but was made in the same kitchen as nuts, I'll eat it. 
HOWEVER, if the person selling the food doesn't know for sure if it contains the thing you're allergic to, DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE. Too many times I've eaten a home-baked good after the baker told me he/she was "pretty sure" there weren't any nuts...this was false and I suffered as a result. Make sure the person talks to the chef or reads the ingredients. Even if an innocent mom brings in cookies or candy, make sure she's read the ingredients on the package.



Buying packaged food:
Often, when you read the ingredients to packaged food you'll see a "may contain" list. Similar to my restaurant explanation, the companies don't want to get in trouble if any cross-contamination occurs. Having an allergic reaction to something on the "may contain" list is very unlikely. 
I'm in love with chocolate, and many of my favorite candies have nuts on their "may contain list." It seems silly to give up my Crunch and Hershey's just because they were made in the same factory as candies with nuts.