Healthy Crumbs Week: Guest Blogger Wednesday: Food and Pet Allergies and Behavior of School Age Children

HEALTHY CRUMB: GUEST BLOGGER WEDNESDAY

This month as we start getting ready to send our kids back to school, I couldn't think of a better guest blogger for this month than my dad, Dane Way. He has been an educator in the public school sector for over 35 years and has seen it all. In his post he highlights how important it is to include allergy testing as part of your child's medical workup. He has also included a number of great links to check out if you think your child may be suffering from allergies, an intolerance or a food sensitivity. The articles discuss how food can have an effect on your child's behavior and are a must read for any parent! I hope you enjoy!

Food and Pet Allergies and Behavior of School Age Children by Dane Way

As an educator in the public school sector for over 35 years, and someone that has dealt with allergies all my life, I am elated when I hear that the parents of a youngster having trouble in school include allergy tests as a part of their efforts to help their child.

If you are the parent of a child that is having trouble settling down or staying on task or focussing on an activity for any length of time, I would suggest that you do some research on your local area physicians and naturopaths and find one that will include allergy testing as part of their workup of your child.  Although family practitioners are getting better at including allergy tests when dealing with child behavior issues, many times your normal family doctor is not trained to think about allergies or to find the best solutions when allergies are indicated.

It is in your child's best interest if you take the time to find a doctor that isn't going to make a snap decision to quickly throw drugs at the problem.  Don't get me wrong, I have seen situations where the correct drug with the correct dosage has turned a child's life around.  But for as many of those success stories there are as many that didn't work out.

There are simple blood tests that can show allergy tendencies as well as scratch tests.  I tend to put more weight in the accuracies of the blood tests over the scratch tests, but you can make that decison when talking to the physician of your choice.

I have included a few links that will hopefully give you food for thought and more information to help you make the best informed decisions for your son or daughter.

http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1676

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/3_00/diet_behavior.html

http://www.borntoexplore.org/allergies.htm

http://www.allergicchild.com/prevalance.htm

http://www.foodsmatter.com/

Elizabeth's thoughts; I hope you enjoyed this post and found it informative. If your child is having difficulty with behavioral problems in school this might be a good, inexpensive option for you to check into and discuss with your physician. And remember since allergies tend to be a genetic thing maybe as a parent you can get tested along with your child to ease some of your child's fears about getting tested. Who knows it might just turn into a bonding experience for your whole family! Do you have a school aged child with allergies?  Have you noticed a difference in behavior in school since finding out? I would love to hear your stories, as always, please feel free to comment and share with your fellow readers.

posted by Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me! at 11:07 AM 0 comments

Healthy Crumbs Week: Guest Blogger Wednesday: Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Bars!

Healthy Crumb: Guest Blogger Wednesday

A very good friend of mine makes these delicious Chocolate Raspberry Bars. She has made them on several occasions and they are always so yummy I end up eating almost the entire pan myself!  The best part is they are gluten, dairy, and egg free! I asked her if she would be willing to share her recipe and be my guest blogger this month. She happily accepted, but wanted to remain anonymous so we will just call her Claire. She is shy like that, but it's one of the reasons why I love her so much! Not to mention she made an entire recipe just for me! Claire lives with her husband and three very cute dogs. I hope you enjoy! 

Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Bars

I first started making these bars when Elizabeth found out she was gluten, dairy, and egg intolerant.  She and her husband were coming over for dinner and I didn't want her to feel left out when the rest of us had my very non allergy friendly cherry cheesecake. So I came up with this little recipe and decided to try it out on her. To my utter surprise, she loved it! I was a bit skeptical and hadn't even tried it myself, but to my surprise it ended up getting eaten faster than my cheesecake and has fast become a favorite even among all of my non allergic friends. So thank you Elizabeth for getting us all to try what has become one of our absolute favorite desserts. :)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix together:

  2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour blend* (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix)
  1 cup almond flour
  1 cup sugar

  *3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (if not already included in GF flour blend)

In a separate bowl whisk together with a fork:

  8 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or similar butter substitute)
  4 ounces applesauce
  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients slowly mixing on low speed until thoroughly combined.

Remove about one cup of the dough and set aside.

Add to the remaining dough that is still in the mixing bowl:

  1/3 cup cocoa powder
  1/4 cup allergen free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips)

Mix on low, scraping the sides frequently until the cocoa and chips are blended in. (You could also do this by hand but I am lazy :))

Line a 8” x 8” pan with parchment paper or grease lightly with a little oil. Press the chocolate dough into the bottom of the pan and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool a few minutes. Spread out over the cake to about 1/4 inch from the sides:

  1 cup raspberry (or any favorite berry) jam

Dot the whole thing with the remaining vanilla dough, dropping in small chunks over the raspberry jam.

Put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Cool thoroughly. Remove from the pan and cut into bars.

Elizabeth's thoughts; I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, you really must try them they are absolutely delicious!  I must confess I have never actually made them myself because, well frankly, she makes them so well I don't want to ruin a good thing! But she says they are super easy to make and after reading the recipe, I agree, so I will have to give them a try very soon! Enjoy!

posted by Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me! at 10:00 AM 3 comments

Healthy Crumbs Week: Guest Blogger Wednesday: The Non-Allergic Voice!

HEALTHY CRUMB: GUEST BLOGGER WEDNESDAY

Guest 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.

posted by Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me! at 8:49 AM 2 comments