But those of you who deal with this already know that, right?
USA Today recently ran a front-page story about the difficulties of not just eating in a restaurant with food allergies, but eating in someone's home with food allergies.
But the really interesting part of the article? Check out the comments. It never fails to amaze me how people hide behind the Internet to post hateful and just plain mean thoughts.
It's like half of the world refuses to believe that people do in fact have severe reactions to food. What ever happened to empathy? Most of theses haters think people with food allergies should just stay in their house. Well, Mr. Hateration, what if you had food allergies? Would you like it if I told you to stay in your house just because the extra few minutes in took for you to order your food held me up? Heaven forbid we take two seconds to help our fellow man, neighbor, etc.
Boo to you.
I really appreciate this blog and particularly this post. You are so right about the haters. People understand drug allergies (say narcotics), pet allergies and plant allergies. Why are food allergies so hard to grasp? I don't get it. Do they think we're faking these symptoms?
A man of my acquaintance (a very dear man, just a little narrow minded on some things) once announced after hearing that a little girl we knew was lactose intolerant "Well, if she came here to live, she'd get OVER her little intolerance!" His wife then mildly informed him that the child threw up whenever she drank milk and he grudgingly conceded she might actually have a problem.
I think I have a mild wheat gluten or barley allergy (maybe both) though I've never been officially diagnosed.
My midwife introduced me to the "Eat right for Your Blood Type" diet. For my type (O+), it calls for cutting out most grains and dairy which I did. I couldn't believe the difference in how I felt.
Then one night, I ate two slices of what I thought was "safe" bread. Supposedly all sprouted grains. Unbeknownst to me however, the manufacturers had added malted barley and wheat gluten. Organic! barley and gluten they hastened to assure you on the label. Like that made it any better. Almost immediately, I started having a reaction. It was horrible. It reminded me how important it is to read labels. I can't imagine how bad it would be if my reaction to such things was life threatening.
Anyway, that was long and rambling but I guess my point is other people's feelings are not worth hurting yourself or your kids. If it means eating only two items from a seven course meal, do it.
Thanks again for the blog.
Thanks for your comments Felicia. It always amazes me how aggressively people will come down on those who have food allergies. Like if they can't have a peanut butter sandwich for one day, it's the end of the world.
I'd be interested to know more about the Blood Type diet if you would care to share.
Certainly. It's a book by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo who is a naturopathic doctor. http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Right-Your-Type-Individualized/dp/039914255X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264307068&sr=1-1
That book hasn't arrived yet (though I have ordered it) so I really don't know many details yet. All I have right now is the little supplement book for my blood type that simply gives you lists in every category (meats, grains, spices, etc.) of what you should and shouldn't eat. Each category is broken into 3 sections. The highly beneficial foods of that category that supposedly function like a medicine in your body, the neutral foods which only act as food and the avoid foods which act like a poison in your body.
My midwife recommended it to me. She also says that many of her patients have felt much better on it and gotten to their ideal weight. The weight thing was enough to hook me right there. :-) I've been trying to shed between 20-40 pounds for years.
I've been on it for about 5 1/2 days now and I already feel a rather startling difference. My energy levels are higher, my morning sickness (I'm pregnant with my second child) has been rapidly disappearing and I've lost about 4 pounds. Of course since I'm pregnant, I don't expect to lose much for about 7 months. :-)
Anyway, all that to say I'd recommend it to anybody. I'm convinced it works.