HEALTHY CRUMB: GUEST BLOGGER WEDNESDAYGuest Blogger Wednesday is exactly what it sounds like! Each Guest Blogger Wednesday, a special guest blogger will be highlighted and will write a post. This is a fun way for me to help introduce different perspectives, stories, experiences, and ideas about allergies to all of you! Look for a variety of allergy related topics from people with different backgrounds, lifestyles, and expertise, as well as, tips about food allergies and food intolerances.
Healthy Crumb; Guest Blogger Wednesday: The Non-Allergic Voice
We are happy this week to have our first guest blogger! I couldn't think of anyone better to have as our first guest blogger then someone very near and dear to me, my husband (plus he really wanted to do a blog post). Who, as he would say, is the real victim of my food allergies. In his blog post he gives a funny yet accurate view from a person without food allergies who lives with a person with food allergies, and tips and tricks on how to deal. He is a two time blog poster who's readership went viral among immediate family members in 2011. In his spare time he enjoys his wife's delicious (rice, water, and air) meals, listening to records, and spending time with his wife (me). All kidding aside, without his support I wouldn't have made it this far in my allergy journey. I hope you enjoy!
The Non-Allergic Voice. (or delicious meals out of rice, water, and air)
Food allergy blogs are great, not just for the folks who have food allergies themselves, but for the friends and family members who live with or hang around people with sensitivities to certain types of food. Like Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me, these blogs help friends and family members gain a better understanding and awareness of different types of food allergies that exist and how to best address them so they are not a problem. Ultimately, the posts are written for the people who actually have the food allergies, not for those that do not. Well, this post is different. This post will try to shift some of the focus toward people without food allergies who live in a world dominated by food allergies.
Initially, from the perspective of someone who does not have any food allergies or intolerances, finding out someone close to you has food allergies can be scary. Not just scary because you are unsure how to support someone with food sensitivities, but also because you realize that, by default, now you have food allergies too. (Cue the soundtrack of a thousand taste buds screaming.) In our household that means no more soy, eggs, gluen, corn, and dairy because those are the things my wife is allergic too. While my first thoughts were focused on the "for better or for worse" part of our wedding vows and how could this be happening considering Darwin's work on natural selection, my later thoughts were much more rational; you can make lots of delicious meals with rice, water, and air. Yep, that's what goes through the minds of those of us without food allergies. Okay, maybe not everyone, but some. So now what?
To help those of you who have recently experienced the situation I described above and are looking for some help, please read through these six mantras and suggestions that helped me and others make it through this period in our lives:
1) Food allergies are not the end of the culinary world as you know it; just like powder blue leisure suits or hammer pants were not the end of the fashion world.
2) Use this situation as an opportunity to change the food rut we all find ourselves in from time to time. You now have a great excuse to venture out and expose your palette to a variety of new and delicious foods.
3) Both you and the person with food allergies will have meltdowns. As long as the other person's food allergies are not fatal, committing culinary sin once in a while will not harm your eternal soul.
4) Know that there will be times of frustration because it seems like you cannot eat what you want to eat since the person or people you regularly share meals with have food allergies. This feeling will eventually become less frequent as you begin to find substitutes for the foods you use to eat all the time that are cheaper and much healthier for you in the long-run.
5) Try not to make a big deal out of it. When you do, you just make the person with the food sensitivities feel bad; then you feel bad. There's enough negativity in the world.
6) Accept that Thanksgiving dinner may never be the same again. (And hard cider gravy makes everything taste better.)
I hope these help with your transition into the allergy free world. No matter how much I believe in this list nor how many non-allergic people it has helped over the years, it is by no means exclusive. I would love to here from you about your mantras and suggestions that have helped non-allergic folks live and survive in your allergy free world. Please leave your comments below so I can see if I need to expand my list. Until then, be well.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI commend you on living with a very allergic person it must be difficult having your diet restricted.
I was wondering if you could ask Elizabeth what the differences might be in rice. I have been wanting a sticky rice to go with a few dishes and wondering if that is a special rice or just a cooking methods.
Thanks and hang in there!
There are differences in rice. To make sticky rice you need what is called "glutinous rice" also sometimes called, sushi rice, sweet rice, Chinese sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, mochi rice, Japanese rice or pearl rice.
ReplyDeleteDespite its name, this rice isn't sweet and it does NOT contain gluten. It's a very sticky, short-grain rice.
Risotto rice can also work well in sushi. You can also try use brown short-grain rice but it doesn't stick together as well as white short-grain rice.
Hope this helps! Elizabeth :)