All Done!

If you're seeing this post, that means that NaBloPoMo is over.

Whew!

I must say that posting every day for 30 days has been a great exercise for me. Expect more posts per month from me in December - although I'm not promising one a day.

At that rate I would be talking about sorting laundry or something.

MSNBC and Epipens

If you're interested, I was interviewed by a reporter for MSNBC about EpiPens.

You can read the article here. I'm on page 2. I spoke to her for about 30 minutes and got about a paragraph of copy. Ah well.

But I am pleased as punch that my good friend Janeen got so much coverage.

Black Friday

Today is the traditional day to go out and spend money on Christmas gifts. We wont be participating since we'll be driving from Phoenix to California, for the first leg of our drive home from Thanksgiving with Mark's dad.

I was listening to NPR this week and heard a local story about the state of food banks in the San Francisco Bay Area - how the need for food is increasing (some folks have been turned away!) and the amount of donations are decreasing.

Mark and I support our local Second Harvest throughout the year, but I'm sure there are groups close to you that do the same thing.

I know we all worry about our children eating peanuts or wheat or shellfish or dairy, but what if we had to worry if they were going to eat at all?

This isn't the best year for a lot of us, I realize that, but even a can or two of food at your local supermarket donation bin will make a difference.

Gobble Gobble.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you're chowing down on something tasty (and peanut free) today. I'm in Arizona enjoying a bird and all the trimmings with family.

This year I'm thankful for my family, my friends, hope for the future of our country (any change is what we needed), and of course that B's peanut allergy may have turned a corner.

I'm also thankful for all of you. You all inspire me! We're a nice little community and I'm so glad I've touched your lives. You've definitely touched mine.

Mwah!

What I'm Making for Thanksgiving

We're in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, but next weekend this is what I'll be making (without the pine nuts of course). You can find the recipe here - doesn't it look yummy? It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe from Ina's new book. Her recipes ALWAYS work for me - I love them.

We'll also do gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, and stuffing (actually THIS stuffing - yum)!

Eating peanut free is no sweat.

What are your favorites?

Your first 'free' Thanksgiving?

Shauna (aka Gluten Free Girl) posted a wonderful, uh, post last week about individuals who are just having their first Gluten Free Thanksgiving.

I think it applies to anyone experiencing a first 'insert your allergen here' free Thanksgiving.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

If It's Monday...

...then we're heading out to Phoenix for the Thanksgiving holiday today.

And since we have a peanut allergy in the family, we're:

- Flying an airline we trust (United in this case)
- Getting on board a few minutes early to wipe down the seat and surrounding areas
- Bringing our own snacks
- Packing multiple Epi-pens and Benadryl in our carryons
- Bracing for a stay at a home that eats peanuts
- Hoping that our 4 year old will behave on the 2 hour flight

We'll be fine, I know, but I'm always anxious when traveling with B. I'm her mom - I can't help but want to keep her safe.

Learning to Lighten Up...

B takes a tumbling class every Friday. She isn't exactly at the tumbling stage right now, more like the jumping on the trampoline and doing somersaults kind of stage.

When she first started, we met one of her teachers, Teacher Frank (not his real name). Once he met her, he started calling her "Peanut Butter and Bella". At first, she couldn't even look at him. And she would whisper to me, "Why does he say that? Doesn't he know I'm ALLERGIC?!"

And she refused to have him teach her. So she joined another class with kids MUCH older than her just so she wouldn't have to be around him. Poor guy - he had no idea why she didn't like him. So he would keep trying, and he kept opening with "Hi Peanut Butter and Bella!". And you know what he would hear?

Crickets. Accompanied by a cold stare. After class, I tried to tell her that he didn't mean any harm, that peanut butter wasn't a bad word for everyone, and that it shouldn't actually be for her either. It's just the name of a food. And the name can't hurt her. And after that, it became a game for us. Any time he said it, she would look at me and laugh, like "what is it with this crazy guy?"

After a few classes, I took him aside quietly and told him why this particular phrase might bother her. And he was mortified!

Now he calls her Bella Bean. And she loves him. But guess what she started asking me?

Yup - "Why doesn't he call me Peanut Butter and Bella anymore?"

Kids. You can't win.

What's the point of this story? I don't know exactly. That it's one step towards B living with her allergy and not taking people who don't exactly get it personally?

Or maybe it's just a story about tumbling class. Maybe that's enough too.

Thanksgiving Landmines

With Thanksgiving coming up this week (in the US at least), I thought I'd give you a gentle reminder about some hidden sources of peanuts (and other nuts):

• Turkey
  If you're having fried turkey, beware. An ideal cooking oil for frying turkeys is peanut oil. It's up to you how comfortable you are with peanut oil, but we would avoid it.
  
• Traditional Foods
  Did you know that a traditional dessert in Sweden is rice pudding and the 'treat' inside is a whole almond? Whoever gets the almond in their dessert is the 'winner!'.
  
• Stuffing
  My all time favorite stuffing has pecans in it, but for obvious reasons it is off limits to us now. Chestnuts are often found in stuffings as well.
  
• Toppings
  Almonds on green beans. Crushed pecans sprinkled over the sweet potatoes. Don't assume it's cheese, people.
  
• Pie Crusts
  Many recipes use nuts to enhance pie crusts. This is something you definitely wont just be able to see when you look at it, so be careful.
  
• Gelatin Molds
  I don't personally eat these at Thanksgiving, but I know lots of folks who do. And did you know that some of them actually have nuts in them?
  

Obviously this isn't a comprehensive list, but you should always be very aware of what you're eating, especially if you haven't made it yourself (or haven't seen it being made). Although you can come off as a bit paranoid, I usually ask hosts about each and every dish - "Does this contain peanuts? Almonds? Pecans? Walnuts?, etc." I'm really specific about how I ask people about dishes. You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't know what a tree nut is. Seriously.

Did I miss anything?

Divvies

Note: I want to preface this by saying that I have zero affiliation with this company. This is just my personal experience with this product. They have not compensated me or given me free products in exchange for this post.

---------------------------------

So, have you tried Divvies yet?

I was lucky enough to get a few free samples at the Food Allergy Walk in September. I couldn't believe how good they were! I was actually sold after the first bite.

I placed an order for a few items with them not long after and we've decided on two favorite flavors in our household: Molasses Ginger and Oatmeal Raisin.

These cookies are so good that the only way I can describe them is that you would honestly never know they were allergen free if you didn't read the label. Soft, not too sugary, flavorful with a wonderful texture (and I can't say that for Enjoy Life: I know, I know I shouldn't say that, but their cookies are, well, taste challenged and look funny - but I love the Chocoboom, so no nasty comments please).

But the taste of Divvies is amazing. If you go to Whole Foods, you may have seen the Dancing Deer brand, which are delish, but sadly not allergy friendly (they have a " Produced in a bakery that processes peanuts and tree nuts." warning). The Divvies molasses cookies taste just like the DD ginger cookies. They are that good.

I ordered a box of prepackaged cookies called the Divvies Doubles. Twelve packages of two cookies. Perfect with a cup of tea (ok, busted! i've been eating them too) or a glass of cold milk. So good!

The only so-so Divvies product for me? Jelly Beans. They look exactly like Jelly Belly's, but they just don't have the same oomph (something's just missing). But if your child has never had Jelly Belly's they'd never know what they are missing. And they don't come with a flavor guide so you don't know what flavor you are eating until it is in your mouth (which can be blech).

I highly recommend that you try Divvies out. You can order on their website, but I had a nice chat with a woman there when I called in my order. Their site has a bunch of cute sampler baskets (did I mention that in addition to cookies and jelly beans, they have chocolate bars, chips, gumballs, popcorn, and cupcakes?!?) and if you don't think the chocolate snowman on their site isn't the cutest, then something is really wrong with you :)

Now if they would just open a stand in my local mall, I'd be the happiest woman in the world.

You'll thank me for this...

I am going to share a secret with you. The BEST thing to make for a holiday breakfast.
It's my family's stuffed french toast recipe. I don't know where it came from (if you recognize it and know the source - let me know!) but it's been a tradition in our family for years.

Prep this the night before, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next morning, pop it in the oven to cook while you open presents or recover from turkey and definitely eat it to fortify yourself before you hit the shops (or the slopes).

And no nuts in this recipe, and I suspect it wouldn't be hard to make dairy free or wheat free. I know I have at least one friend who would be able to do it if it can be done.

Here's the recipe:

Stuffed French Toast
12 slices (basically a loaf) texas toast, cubed
8 oz. block of cream cheese, cubed
12 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup maple syrup (don't be cheap - use the good stuff)

Grease a large baking dish. Use a big one, around 12x13. Put a layer of bread cubes (half of what you have) on the bottom of the dish, making sure the bottom of the dish is covered, but not packed - you want it snug, but not crammed together. Now place a layer of the cream cheese over the bread layer, and finish it off with the rest of the bread.

Mix the eggs, milk and maple syrup together. Add a dash or two of cinnamon if you're feeling wild and crazy. Pour over the bread and cream cheese layers - you might have extra liquid depending on how big your eggs are. Cover the dish with plastic wrap (when i do this, I kind of push down on the bread to make sure all the pieces are soaking up the egg mixture). Refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat your oven to 350F. Uncover and bake casserole for 45 minutes to an hour until it's nice and golden brown on top.

Serve with warm maple syrup, a dash of powdered sugar and a few berries.

Oh and it's low calorie, sure it is.

You're welcome :)

Non Food Uses for Peanuts

From the American Peanut Council:

Non Food Uses for Peanuts:

The shells, skins and kernels of peanuts may be used to make a vast variety of non-food products. For example, the shells may be used in wallboard, fireplace logs, fibre roughage for livestock feed and kitty litter; and, the skins may be used for papermaking. Peanuts are often used as an ingredient in other products such as detergent, salves, metal polish, bleach, ink, axle grease, shaving cream, face creams, soap, linoleum, rubber, cosmetics, paint, explosives, shampoo, and medicine.

Who knew?

The one that really struck me was kitty litter. We're contemplating getting a cat and that's the last thing I thought I would need to worry about.

Avoiding Cross Contamination

Say you have a child who's allergic to peanuts. You decide to eliminate them from your household, do a top to bottom cleaning, and you're done. Right? Well, pretty much, sure.

But what if you have a child who is allergic to 10 things? Things you can't give up for any number of reasons. How do you avoid cross contamination then? How do you make eggs for your oldest child without killing your youngest?

Maybe you have separate pans and utensils you use to cook the allergenic foods? Or separate knives and chopping boards for each food? And you likely isolate the allergens in a cabinet or part of the fridge that your child can't reach (or knows not to). But beyond that, what can you do?

Here are links to some sites I found online that offer some good tips to avoid cross contamination when it comes to allergens:

• CIA - Professional Chef Site focusing on food allergies
• About.com - Food Allergy section of About.com.
• Nut Free Mom Blog

For those of my readers who deal with multiple allergies, how do you avoid cross contamination?

Totally Unrelated to Peanut Allergy

This whole write each day for 30 days thing is rather hard. And I know I am supposed to write about Peanut Allergy on this site, but....

I had to tell you about something we did yesterday.

If you have kids, and cable, you'll have likely seen a guy named Justin Roberts on Noggin. He sings that song "Willie Was a Whale". Not ringing a bell? Here's his latest video:



Anyways, I'm on a home school email list and they sent an announcement last week that Justin would be performing on the 16th at Foothill College, just a short drive down the road for us. So off we went and we had a blast!

We didn't really know much of his music, but it didn't matter. His band is really tight and they put on a great show for kids and adults alike. And there was the cutest little preschool set moshpit down front. B didn't know what to make of it, but she seemed to enjoy herself.

But the BEST part was that after the show we were walking out a side entrance, debating whether or not to make a pit stop before we got in the car. I turn around and who comes walking towards me but Justin Roberts himself! It was awesome! Mark and I chatted with him for a while and he was really nice and very sweet to B, who wedged herself behind me and played shy. She was absolutely beside herself and I don't think her smile could have been any bigger.

All because of a random email I got from a homeschool list I'm on (even though I don't homeschool). Life's funny that way huh?

Anyways, if he's coming to a city near you, I highly recommend you go see him. It's much nicer to hear his music now, knowing how kind he was to little B.

OK, back to Peanut Allergy tomorrow - I promise.

Happy Sunday!

B loves music and Mark and I are always trying to find music that she will like and that we can stand after the 20th time of repeating the same song.

The Barenaked Ladies latest album, Snacktime, has some catchy tunes, including a little ditty called "Allergies". They don't have a video for it (yet?), but a quick YouTube search yielded the following:



The quality is pretty awful, but you get the idea...

"Allergic to nuts, I hate their guts!"

How to Annoy Me...

Should picky eaters fake allergies?
from Serious Eats

I'm sure you know my answer to this, but you should read the comments to see how everyone else feels.

People faking a food allergy just so they don't get something they don't like the taste of on their food makes it that much harder for those of us who have just a little more at risk (like our child's life).

How Do You Say???

I've blogged about this before, but for those of you have never seen it, here are a few good sites that offer chef cards and translation cards that you can present to servers and chefs in restaurants.

Some are free, some aren't. I think the translation cards are definitely worth paying for, especially if you are heading somewhere like China or Japan and don't speak the language (or know the characters of the language).

• Food Allergy Restaurant Cards from AChoo!
• Food and Travel Translation Cards from Select Wisely
• The FAAN Chef Card Template (Free)
• FanKid Chef Card Template (Variation of the FAAN Card above; also Free)
• UK Food Standards Agency Card (Free)
• Allergy Translation
  
• Menu Data (Free, but you have to register)
• Allergy Dictionaries (free - this is a nice list of allergy related words for almost every language you can imagine)
  

The Melting Pot (of anaphylaxis)

Just in case you were thinking of going to The Melting Pot with your peanut allergic child (or friend or spouse or whatever) because it seemed safe enough.

Don't.

Guess what's an ingredient in the Original Chocolate Fondue (in my opinion the whole reason to go to a fondue place)?

Do I really need to tell you?

Check it out for yourself.

Do You Twitter?

I do. Here.

If you do as well, let me know by leaving a comment with your username.

ClinicalTrials.Gov

When B was first diagnosed it coincided with a piece on Good Morning America about Wesley Burks at Duke and his research involving oral desensitization for peanuts (and eggs).

I was a new PA (peanut allergy) mom and I wanted to know how I could get my daughter into a trial!

And that's how I found this site. What is it?

ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. ClinicalTrials.gov gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details.

We're about 3,000 miles away from Duke, so no luck for us. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be close to (and eligible) for one of these? Some of you out there will make it possible for widespread treatment to become a reality.

Us, we're not so lucky.

What to Do First? or Peanut Allergies 101 - Part 1

A reader left a great suggestion for a topic this week. Thanks Sean (next time leave your email/site so I can link to you)!

Here's what he wrote:

I'd love to see some sort of summary post for parents of newly diagnosed children. Call it Peanut Allergies 101.

When our daughter was diagnosed, my first question was "What do we need to do first?" I found that most of the resources online seemed to assume that the parent already knew what to look for, but we didn't. Did we need to bleach the whole house? Could we still eat at restaurants? What did we do if a package didn't make any reference to peanuts at all? That sort of information was surpringly hard to find.

Even now I'm still learning things -- one of your recent posts mentioned beauty products in passing as if was common knowledge that they could be dangerous, but that had never even occured to me.

He's absolutely right! I remember getting the initial diagnosis and thinking "what do I do now?" Well, hopefully this post will help a bit. I've compiled a top 10 list of things to do when your child is newly diagnosed.

This post will include items 1-5 in no particular order. I'll talk about 6-10 in another post this week. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment to add to the discussion!

1. Clear (or peanut proof) Your Home
   In our house we cleared out the whole place of anything peanut related or tree nut related, including anything that contains peanuts or tree nuts, may contain peanuts or tree nuts, or manufactured on equipment that processes peanuts or tree nuts. Most allergists recommend that peanut allergic (or PA for short) kids avoid tree nuts due to the cross contamination possibility. So we cleared the house of both. Our thinking was that we wanted one place in the world that B would be safe to roam around without getting into anything that could kill her. After we threw things out, we made sure any receptacles that contained peanut/tree nut items were thoroughly washed in the dishwasher.
   
   Now if your child has multiple allergies, this is more difficult. You may not want your whole family to go without milk for instance. Each family is different! If you don't want to rid your house completely of peanut products, then make sure they are segregated from other food your peanut allergic child comes into contact with. You may also consider using separate utensils/pans for preparing foods your child is allergic to to reduce the risk of cross contamination.
   
   But in our case, it was just easier to clear it all out. Why take a chance?
   
   And don't just clear out your pantry. Be sure to check all the products your child comes into contact with including soaps, household cleaners, and YOUR personal grooming products (lotions, makeup, etc.). You don't want your child to have a contact reaction.
   
   Bottom line: read every label you come in contact with. Peanuts and tree nuts show up in the most surprising of places. It will become second nature to you, don't worry.
   
   
2. Get an Epi Pen (or Twinject) for Every Conceivable Place Your Child Will Be
   The fact of the matter is that epinephrine pens can save your child's life, so they need to be wherever your child is. And don't just get a single epi pen for your child. Put an allergy kit together for every place your child will be: home, school, daycare, grandparents, other caregivers homes. These should have your epi pens, benadryl, and emergency contact information. I also keep 2 pens and benadryl in my purse with me at all times. And I have a pack that stays by the front door, so if my husband takes off with B on an errand he can grab it on the way out.
   
   The most important thing about epipens: DO NOT LEAVE THEM IN YOUR CAR OR IN THE ELEMENTS IN ANY WAY. EXTREME HEAT AND COLD CAN RENDER THE MEDICATION INACTIVE. And what good is an epipen if it doesn't actually work?
   
   
3. Talk to Your Child's School and/or Daycare and/or After School Care
   Talk to the people that are caring for your child and explain your child's diagnosis. Let them know what your child can and cannot have moving forward. Make sure they have your child's epipen and benadryl in a secure (yet accessible place - NOT locked up in an administrator's office).
   
   You may find that some daycare providers will downplay the allergy (yes, seriously). In some cases they've had other kids with 'allergies' when they are actually just 'intolerances' (yes there is a difference) where the parents had loose standards so they may act like you are overreacting. Let them know that other parents have other comfort levels and that these are yours for your child. Let them know that a little preparation will prevent a call to 911.
   
   Let them know how to identify an allergic reaction and what steps they should take should a reaction occur. Here's a handy one pager that can help.
   
   If your daycare has snacks, ask to see a list of what they serve. If there are items on the list that are questionable, see if you can help them find safe alternatives. In my experience, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you approach this as a team effort, the teachers will appreciate it and you'll get more accomplished. If they serve peanut butter, ask them how they plan to keep your child safe. They may have an allergy table, or they may have the child sit on the opposite end of the table as the child eating it. In any case, you can request that all children wash their hands after eating so the PB stays contained, and doesn't end up on the communal toys.
   
   If your daycare celebrates birthdays with food, you might ask if you can leave a bag of safe treats with them so you know they will always have something safe and will not be excluded from the celebration.
   
   
4. Talk to Your Child
   When your child is diagnosed, you may have an opportunity to talk with them about their diagnosis. There's a fine line between scaring the heck out of your child and being honest with them about the severity of their allergy. But it is imperative that you teach your child to never eat anything unless mommy or daddy says it's ok, or to ask before eating anything.
   
   Your child may feel stressed and excluded. That's normal. But keeping an open dialogue with them will help. Just by talking to B about her day, I've found out all sorts of things about how they REALLY handle allergies at school. It's been eye opening!
   
   
5. Find a Support Group for Yourself
   If you are in a metropolitan area (or heck even suburbia), chances are there is some sort of allergy support group. I started one (we have physical meetings and an online yahoo! group - join us if you'd like). If nothing else, visit www.peanutallergy.com and cruise around the boards. Having someone else out there who gets what you are going through is so helpful, believe me. You will go crazy from anxiety at first (it eats you up!) so do yourself a favor and find someone who can relate - it will make a huge difference in your life. And if you can't find anyone, you've always got me (seriously - if anyone wants to email me directly, go for it!)
   

Well, that's a start, now isn't it? And I am far from done. Look for 6-10 this week!

Craft Idea for the kids

We were at my folks place yesterday. They have some big pine trees and B and I walked around the yard and picked up pine cones while Mark was inside doing some work.

But what to do with the pine cones? Well, when I was a kid in Connecticut, we used to make bird feeders out of pine cones. I immediately decided that that's what we'd do when we got home. You cover the pine cone with something sticky, roll it in bird seed, and then hang it from a tree for the birds to enjoy. What a great afternoon activity!

And then I stopped myself. Memories came flooding back and I remembered that the bird seed stuck on the pine cone with...

peanut butter. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board.

But then I had another thought. What's in my fridge at home that's made from something that birds love? Sunflower Butter!

Bella HATES sunflower butter. I think if I want to punish her, I could threaten her with a Sunbutter sandwich (seriously). So I've had a jar of Sunbutter sitting in my fridge for, oh I don't know, 9 months now. So no time like the present - let's use it up.

So we laid out a cutting board, tied a string (I used kitchen twine) around the top, and I smeared Sunbutter (actually a mixture of sunbutter and shortening, see below) all over the pine cones. We had a glass pie plate filled with bird seed, and after I smeared, I lowered it into the pie plate, where B proceeded to roll it around and sprinkle the seed on top until it was completely covered. I wont lie, it took her a while to get used to the idea of touching something that looked and smelled like peanut butter AND touching something with sunflower seeds (she avoids all nuts and seeds, although she only has the peanut allergy), but after I told her she wouldn't be eating it she was gung ho.

Mark looked at us like we was crazy when we were making these. He's a California boy so he hadn't ever done this. Oh well, I'm sure this isn't the last time :)

But after we were done she was so proud of herself and we had a nice little treat for the birds in our yard. As I write this, though, I can see some squirrels trying to figure out how they are going to get these down from the trees (those rascals)!

Here are some instructions I found online that include photos of the whole process (this is messy, so I wasn't about to break out my camera). We basically followed these directions, although when I was looking online for instructions, lots of folks gave a warning about using straight peanut butter (or in this case, sunflower butter), that it would choke the birds. Not wanting to explain the circle of life to B this early, or wanting to clean up dead birds, we mixed the sunbutter 1/2 and 1/2 with vegetable shortening.

All in all, it was a nice (not too long) crafty endeavor for us.

Thanks for Nothing Martha

Hey, do any of you remember the whole brouhaha with Martha Stewart and her contest for a new publication?

If you remember correctly, you'll remember that a publication geared towards food allergens won but then they were lame-o-lo and decided to publish a magazine devoted to all things pets (don't get me wrong, I love animals, but a whole publication?).

I digress.

So the food allergy publication got 57% of the votes online, but didn't actually 'win'. Instead Martha said they would be incorporating allergy aware recipes in their publications.

Um. I don't think so. I get MSL and Everyday Food and I haven't seen a thing to show that they've changed their approach to helping this market segment.

I work in publishing and I know that she's had more than enough lead time to incorporate this into her layout. And don't get me started on the cookie recipe I got in my email this week. Chocolate 'Surprise' indeed - surprise!! have an anaphylactic reaction sweetie! I just love it when peanut butter is hidden in foods - what a treat!

Martha, will you keep your word on any of this, please? Would it kill you to list at the beginning of your recipes something like "Contains: Wheat, Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Milk", etc? And while you're at it, does every other dessert recipe of yours have to have nuts in it?

I think you'd win some fans back.

Just sayin'.

Maybe it's just me. Have YOU noticed a difference?

Updated 11/10: THIS is what I think would be great on her site - check out the 'ingredient' list under the recipe name. If Food Network can do it Martha, why can't YOU?

What Do You Want To Hear About Peanut Allergy?

As I mentioned last week, I'm participating in NaPoBloMo this month - posting on Peanut Free Mama each day, faithfully, in November.

Being the anal organized self that I am, I put together a calendar of what I'll be posting about. But then I got to thinking: I wonder if there's things that my readers want to hear about?

Well, here's your chance: either leave a comment or email me at peanutfreemama@gmail.com to give me your post suggestions. It could be anything - don't be shy!

Is It Safe?

We take B out to eat at alot of restaurants in our area. We pretty much go anywhere except Thai and Vietnamese (no surprise there). I have my own set of criteria for determining if a restaurant is 'safe' for her. I thought I would list them, in no particular order, (along with some reasoning) for you all.

First I look at their menu (online usually) and scan it for anything peanutty. If that looks good, I'll go to the restaurant with my husband on a date, or I'll go at lunch, at which time I grill the manager and servers and either observe or ask about the following:

• Are there peanuts or peanut butter in any dishes? Is it on the kids menu, or just on the grown up menu?
  If there are peanuts in the main dishes I usually avoid the restaurant with B. BUT if it's just pbj on the kids menu, we may still go. But here's the thing: B hates most kid foods so she eats what we're eating. She's not really a chicken nugget connosieur. So in my tiny mind I assume that kid stuff is not prepared on the same line as grown up stuff (for instance, they are not making a pbj on the same grill as my chicken - does my twisted logic make sense to you?). Plus some places use those smuckers prewrapped ones. If we're at a restaurant while we're on vacation or something and B gets a grilled cheese, I'll usually ask them NOT to cut the sandwich so I can lessen the risk of cross contamination with a dirty knife (I know, I'm crazy thinking this helps, but it does).
  
• Do any of your sauces contain peanuts as a special ingredient or thickener? How about tree nuts?
  You would be surprised at the landmines I've rooted out by asking this. If there are tree nuts in the sauces it's not a deal breaker for us since B isn't tree nut allergic (although we don't feed them to her, her doctor has ok'd anything with trace amounts). But if there's 'peanut butter in the chili' so to speak, we wont take her there.
  
• Are there peanut desserts? Is it a topping or a main ingredient?
  We don't give her dessert out (usually) but if they only have vanilla ice cream with whipped cream on the menu, we'll let her have it as long as they don't do nuts there.
  
• Do they fry in peanut oil? What do they fry in the oil they do use?
  Even if they don't use peanut oil to fry (which some deem safe for PA sufferers anyways) they may be frying nutty items in it (yes, there are fried PBJs). It's worth asking so your little one doesn't react to fries fried in the same oil as a peanut fritter or calzone.
  
• Do they give out crayons? Are they in new packets or in a big cup?
  A big turnoff for me is when I see that big bowl of recycled crayons at a restaurant. Yuck. I don't even want to think of the germs on those, much less the possible peanut residue.
  
• If they make shakes, do they share the equipment with non nutty shakes?
  Not to worry, I would NEVER give B a shake at a place that had pb icecream, but I find that if a restaurant is conscientous about making nutty shakes on a dedicated machine, they'll likely be conscientous about other things too.
  
• How do you manage special requests for food allergies?
  Obviously, this is like the essay question on your LSAT test and is open wide for interpretation. But alot can be said for the response you get. Once I was told matter-of-factly that my daughter was "eating peanuts every day and just didn't know it because peanuts are in everything." Nice attitude huh? Needless to say, we didn't take B there (nor did we venture back in).
  

I didn't say that the questions were all rational, people, and this definitely isn't all that I do to ensure my daughter's safety when dining out. Mind you, some of this goes right out the window if I'm in a funky mood. And sometimes I just get a bad feeling in some places even if they go above and beyond.

And I'm sure some of you will think I'm taking a risk going anywhere.

What is YOUR criteria? What do you deem safe when looking for a restaurant to meet your 'peanut allergy safe' standards?

Premade Mixes from Mall Stores

Halloween JUST came to an end, but not before I received more than one Christmas catalog.

The Crate and Barrel catalog caught my eye, not only for the great gift ideas, but for their allergen warnings in the catalog for their food products, like their Peppermint Bark (which is yummy by the way):

Crate and Barrel Exclusive

The cool flavor and crunch of candy canes mingle with rich dark fudge and sweet white chocolate fudge in this old-fashioned treat.

• Contains dark chocolate, white chocolate and crushed candy canes
• Produced in a facility that processes nuts
• Made in the USA

I think I found one food item in the catalog that didn't carry the warning. Suffice it to say, you'll have a tough time finding something in the Crate & Barrel catalog that you can have (well, that your peanut allergic self or peanut allergic child can have). But at least they list the allergen warning in their catalog (and on their website)!

Can't say the same for Williams-Sonoma. And believe me, NONE of their items are safe for nut allergy sufferers. They all carry a CYA warning.

So be careful if you come across these branded items at a party. Their labels are removable from the pretty tin, so you might not see that warnings they carry. They may look innocent, but might be dangerous for allergy sufferers.

In the SF Bay Area? Join us at our support meeting tonight!

We have a truly great meeting set up for Nov 5th: Practical techniques for dealing with Stress: something that is a constant for everyone these days, and especially so those dealing with food allergies.

Our speaker is Renee Burgard; she is a therapist, an educator, and specializes in teaching others how to deal with daily stress.

Time, Location and More details on the topic:
--------------------------------------------------------
Renee's talk will start at 7.30pm, so please arrive 10 minutes earlier - OR - if you'd like to chat with other members before the talk begins, the room is booked from 7pm!

As always, the meeting location and time are on the front page of our home website: sffoodallergy.org We also have a page for this month's topic.

Let us know!
--------------
Let us know if you can make it by updating our online poll.

This speaker is not to be missed! See you there.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Airline Policies for Peanut Allergy Sufferers

With the holidays coming up, you might be in the market for some airplane tickets.

I thought I'd take the time to pull together links to the allergen (aka 'peanut') policies for some of the major airlines (you may have to scroll down the page in the link to get to the peanut policy):

United

JetBlue

Southwest

American

Virgin

British Airways

Delta

Continental
(their policy sucks the most of all airlines I think)

Alaska
(their policy comes in second in suckage factor)

Northwest

US Airways
(theirs comes in third I think)

Air France: Couldn't find a policy online

Lufthansa: Couldn't find a policy online

Japan Airlines

EasyJet
You really have to scroll down the page to learn that they sell peanuts on their flights. But if you give them advance notice, they say they will try to prevent the sale on your flight.

KLM

And just for good measure, I found a small tidbit on Amtrak (scroll down to the bottom or do a page find for 'allergies'). Basically, if your child has a life threatening food allergy, they can't travel alone on Amtrak (I can't imagine EVER sending B on a trip by herself with PA, but that's another post).
------------

Most have the "we can't control what other people bring on the flight" disclaimer, but isn't it great to see so many that say that they don't serve peanuts or products containing peanuts? I love it!! You should have a pretty good choice of safe(r) airlines if you have a peanut allergy and are choosing air travel this holiday season or otherwise.

Did I miss anyone? Leave me a comment and I'll add it to the list!

Gab

Don't Just Sit There...

Get out and vote for our next president (if you're in the USA, that is).

Our future depends upon it!

There's Wh(e)at in that?

As a peanut allergy mom, I read labels ALL the time.

I bought myself some hairspray last week and found myself looking at the label of that too. And I was shocked by what I found!

No. No peanuts or peanut oil in hairspray.

It's not unusual to find nut oils in beauty products. But I did find wheat!

In John Frieda Frizz-Ease Moisture Barrier Hairspray, the ingredients are:

"Alcohol Denat., Hydrofluorocarbon 152A, Octylacrylamide/Acrylates/Butylaminoethyl/Methacrylate Copolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, Triethyl Citrate, Pentaerythrityl Tetracaprylate/Tetracaprate, Quaternium 52, PEG/PPG 20/15 Dimethicone, AMP Isostearoyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Fragrance"

Now, we don't have a wheat allergy in our house, but I would feel awful if we did and I was spraying this into the air!

Just goes to show that label reading is important, no matter what the product.

Because Moms of Allergic Kids Need MORE Guilt

I'm not the first allergy blogger to link to this, but just in case you missed it, the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology just released an article that finds that delaying feeding your child peanut products might now increase the likelihood of a peanut allergy. What the...?

Look, I work in scientific publishing so I am definitely a fan of primary research literature. And to be honest, I've only skimmed this article, but the last paragraph caught my attention:

"Randomized controlled interventional studies,
such as the Immune Tolerance Network/National Institutes of
Health–funded Learning Early about Peanut Allergy Study
(further information is available at www.leapstudy.co.uk/ and
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT00329784), are
therefore required to determine whether peanut avoidance or
the early dietary introduction of peanut will prevent PA. Until
such evidence is obtained, current recommendations should
remain unchanged. "

So even though they have strong evidence to support this theory, it's still just a theory and their recommendation for the introduction of peanut products remains unchanged. But from the media reports, you'd think just the opposite.

Us moms can never win, and hearing these reports makes me frustrated, because news outlets forget to mention the last part. First it was if you didn't breastfeed then your child would get an allergy, then it was if you DID breastfeed your child would get an allergy via your diet. My pediatrician was adamant that I not introduce peanuts until Bella was 3 (!). And now I should have been feeding them to her along with her first bite of sweet potato puree at 5 months?

If you care to read the article, you can visit the site here. It's a free download this week (not sure if it will always be free, so download it now if you're interested)!

And if you're the parent of a newly diagnosed child (or heck a long time ago diagnosed child), don't beat yourself up when you hear these reports. You can't turn back time, so don't dwell on it. And the kicker is that this article just offers a hypothesis - even they say it is a possibility, that it might be the case. I lost countless hours of my life wondering what I did wrong and I still lose hours thinking of worst case scenarios when B is a teenager. Aye carumba!

I look forward to hearing more reports from researchers who are helping us manage the allergy and hopefully make it go away than I am from folks telling me what I should have been doing.

How Was Halloween? We made it!

Well, let's see. It started with me cleaning up vomit, and was punctuated in the middle by vomit, but we rallied and made it out of the house to visit two of our neighbors tonight in the sprinkling rain.

No more vomit talk! Why don't I start at the beginning of our Halloween festivities?

Thursday was B's school party. She dressed as a cheerleader:


Don't let her face fool you. She had a great time (she wasn't sick yesterday), but it took her a while to warm up to the party. You can't see it, but she's wearing a red satin bow in her hair that just killed me it was so cute. The only hiccup at the school party was looking at the 'chocolate' they handed out - it was a chocolate peanut butter eyeball! And they had no idea! Not that I was about to give B some strange chocolate eyeball, but another mom came up to me totally alarmed, wide eyed asking me "Did you see this?!?!". It is so sweet how the other moms are so protective of B. We've got lots of folks looking out for us.

Since B was feeling sick today, we passed on gymnastics, so there aren't any shots of her as a ballerina. Can you imagine if she was on uneven paralell bars and was sick? Good lord.

After she napped for a few hours, B ate some dinner and insisted that we go out so she could wear her costume (thank goodness she did - I don't even want to talk about how long it took me to make the thing). Here she is (please excuse my lovely belly shot - gotta photoshop that out soon):



And later on, she was playing in it at home:


Lastly, here's a look at my candy for trick or treaters:


Kitkats, Skittles, and Divvies. I made sure there were Divvies for kids with non-nut allergies (oh and the skittles were gluten free). It would have been great if we had more than ONE. Seriously. We only had one lone trick or treater. He scored ALOT of candy at our house.

After we ventured out, B came home and ate two pieces of candy (sweet tarts and some kind of nerd like candy) and went to bed. Happy. Tired. And still a bit sick.

So once all was said and done, it was a pretty good Halloween - no real close calls which was wonderful. Who knows where we'll be next year - maybe allergy free?

Hope your Halloween was just as uneventful (you know what I mean).

G

p.s. see that banner on the right? yeah, that's right, I'm going to attempt to blog once a day for the 30 days of November as part of NaPoBloMo. Not sure if I'll make it without a slipup, but I'll do my best. Wont you join me?