Ian's Natural Foods---Nut-Free Snacks!!

Recently I was contacted by Ian's Natural Foods, a food manufacturer that specializes in organic, gluten-free and allergy-free foods.

I received two sample packs of their Fruit-a-Bits crispy fruit snacks to try. In size and shape, they reminded me of the candy "Nerds" but they had a crispy, fruity flavor that wasn't overly sweet.

My kids were each handed a bag when they got home from school and the snacks disappeared shortly thereafter. I take it that they liked them! In fact, my youngest daughter told me that "they're nice and fruity." The company suggested that they would make a good ice cream or yogurt topping as well and I could also see them as a good, nut-free choice for mixing up your own nut-free snack mix.

If you're looking to avoid chemicals and such in your kids' snacks, Ian's snacks contain no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

The best part? Ian's Fruit-a-Bits are made in a tree nut- and peanut-free facility.

I'm always happy to find a nut-free snack or treat choice for my family and I love the fact that Ian's is organic. I hate giving my kids regular fruit snacks because they're loaded with chemicals and they stick to their teeth. Not so with these. The texture was much less "tooth-adhering."

You can find these Ian's Natural Snacks at natural foods stores, Whole Foods and many supermarkets. Ian's has a store locator on their web site so chances are you can find their variety of foods near you.

See what you think and let me know!

Study Shows a Rise in Food Allergy Among U.S. Kids

Well, a lot of us suspected it, but it looks like the number of U.S. children with a food allergy is bigger than previously thought. A study that will come out in December in the journal Pediatrics reports that 4% of U.S. children have a food allergy. That adds up to about 3.2 million U.S. kids. Peanut and tree nut allergies are one of the top food allergies in children.

Previous estimates stated that 1% of the U.S. population--in total--had a food allergy. Some food allergy opponents liked to quote this 1% as if it were proof that food allergies weren't very common and that people with them weren't very important--even though this added up to more than 12 million people. This number was also used to support arguments against peanut-free tables in schools, peanut-free airline flights and any other accommodations for people with this life-threatening allergy.

The bottom line is that it looks like a lot of children have food allergies. The study showed how it cuts across ethnic, economic and racial lines--eradicating the other argument of food allergy naysayers--that allergies to food are the inventions of bored, rich white yuppie parents. Also, food allergies don't just affect young kids. I just got a note from a woman whose 14-year-old child was just diagnosed. Plus, I hear from adults with this allergy all the time.

The important thing to remember is that the exact numbers are not the most significant point about this issue--it's more important to concentrate on the fact that many, many people are facing severe food allergies. And they don't just affect immediate family members--they also impact grandparents and other relatives, daycare workers, school teachers and other caregivers. So we should focus on figuring out why and putting a stop to it.

I hope that this study is the first of many that exposes food allergies for what they are--a growing, serious and important health threat that needs further study, broadened treatment options and ultimately, a cure.

Gluten-Free Pasta Brand Now Lists Nut Allergy Advisory

One of my blogger/writer buddies, Wendy, from the wonderful blog Celiacs in the House, sent me an alert about a gluten-free pasta that contains an ingredient called "lupin."

Some of you may have heard of a product in gluten-free pasta brands that can cause an allergic reaction in people allergic to nuts--lupin is that ingredient. It contains proteins that are similar to the ones that cause an allergic reaction in people with nut allergies. So we definitely want to avoid it.

Click here to read a previous post I wrote about lupin and gluten-free pasta.

Wendy shared the above photo with me to illustrate that brands of gluten-free pasta, such as Bi-Aglut now has a peanut allergy advisory warning. Progress, definitely! In the past, no such warning was listed on the package.

However, Wendy did tell me that another gluten-free pasta that she uses called "Schar" does not have a nut allergy advisory warning on the package, though it definitely should since it does contain lupin as an ingredient.

The bottom line--if you're nut-allergic and also have allergies to wheat or celiac disease, be very careful of gluten-free pasta. If lupin is an ingredient, avoid it. And of course, ask your allergist for more details. This is a fairly new ingredient but with the influx of gluten-free foods on the market these days, it's something we should be aware of.

Thank you, Wendy, for your consideration in letting us know about this. It's really important info! Anyone living gluten-free should check out Wendy's blog for terrific GF recipes, photos, info and much, much more.

Also, a big thank you to all of you who commented on my previous post asking you about your top concerns as a nut allergy parent or caregiver! I will spend the next several weeks addressing them. And of course, keep your comments and questions coming, either by commenting on the blog or e-mailing me.

And just one word of encouragement to the nut allergy "newbies" out there: You can do this. It does get easier with time and soon you'll see that your child and/or you can live a full life despite the occasional glitches or pitfalls. Don't get discouraged. :)

The Nut-Free Mom Wants to Hear From You!

As we approach the end of the year (and the second year of this blog) I am curious to know what nut allergy questions are still floating around out there. I know I've addressed many of them, but certainly not all of them.! And new questions will always arise.

If you're new to nut allergies, what are your biggest concerns? And if you've been dealing with them for awhile, what are the areas that are most problematic for you?

Likewise, what solutions are working for you? Or do you just feel overwhelmed by the whole thing?

In order to serve you all better, please feel free to post or e-mail your questions or comments. I would love to feature some Q & A on my blog, so let 'er rip!

Thanks!

Enjoy Life Foods Has a New Blog

Just wanted to give a shout out to one of my favorite companies, Enjoy Life Foods. They have a brand-new blog and I look forward to reading it.

Enjoy Life Foods also has the added bonus of being available in many grocery stories nationwide, so not only are they a tasty allergen-free choice, but they are also a convenient one.

Also, The Nut-Free Mom Blog appears on their blog roll. I just found out a few days ago and I'm honored to be in such great company--I see a couple of my blogger buddies there as well.

I have a little story to share about Enjoy Life Foods that illustrates why I love it so much.

A few weeks ago my youngest daughter was at her Daisy Scouts meeting and one of the leaders called me. She knew that I know about nut-free foods and was double-checking a snack they were about to serve the girls. One of the girls has a severe nut allergy, just like my oldest child.

Well, it was unclear from the label if the food was nut-free and I hung up the phone unable to shed any light on it.

I told my oldest daughter what had happened and she said "Don't we have some Enjoy Life Coco Loco Bars?" Yes, we did. In fact, I'd just bought them a day before.

She then offered to bring them to the meeting so the allergic Girl Scout could have a safe snack that we KNEW without a shadow of a doubt was nut-free. My daughter took the short walk over to the school herself and hand-delivered the goods. She told me later that the girl with the nut allergy had her face light up when she saw a "safe" food arrive in a package with the words "nut-free" all over it. Plus, Coco Loco are darn tasty.

Later, the Daisy Scout leader told me that she would keep the Coco Loco box for future meetings and that the girl's mother was ecstatic to learn that Enjoy Life Foods had saved the day. I think ELF got a few new fans that day.

So for all of you who may not have heard of this fabulous allergen-free food company, be sure to check out their web site and look for them at your local grocery store.

How to Have a Safe Thanksgiving with Nut Allergies

The days are getting crisper, the leaves are falling in Chicago and every magazine I flip through seem to feature recipes like these: pecan pie, pine nut turkey stuffing and pumpkin nut bread. That can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And so is a nut allergy minefield if you're not prepared.

Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving--it revolves around feeling thankful, celebrating family and eating a ton of good food. What's not to love? However, we've all got to keep our guard up if we're caring for an allergic child. Something about the fall/winter holidays makes people crave tree nuts, so this is a particularly difficult time for this allergy. Peanut butter and its many related food items seem to be favorites year round, but tree nuts don't usually turn up in such massive quantities until now.

My family has been celebrating Thanksgiving with a nut allergy for nearly 6 years (!) now and I've seen a lot of nutty things happen in the kitchen (that's not even counting the behavior of me and my relatives) so I have a few tips to share that should make it easier for you to cope.

I've said some of these before but they bear repeating. And if you're new to nut allergies at the holidays, take heart. Once you've been through it once, you learn A LOT so you're much better prepared next time. You must not apologize for the allergy or worry about seeming "over the top." Believe me, that's better than winding up in the ER with your child.

The other thing to remember is that family recipes and traditions are different, but one thing is the same at Thanksgiving: the emotional ties to favorite foods. So don't be shocked if you meet resistance to a "nut-free" or altered Thanksgiving menu at first. Your family and friends will get the hang of it as time goes on. And if they don't, you may want to consider hosting the celebration.

Safe Thanksgiving Tips for Nut-Allergies:

1. Communicate about the allergy early and often. Whether you plan to attend a dinner outside of your home or you are the host family, you want to put the word out now about your nut allergy concerns. Things to discuss would be safe brands of bread for stuffing, gravy sauces or sauce enhancers or mixes, stuffing recipes in general (many contain pecans, pine nuts or other nuts), desserts and cross-contamination when cooking or baking. You want to give people plenty of notice about the food to help ensure safe choices. Many times people set their menus and decide what they plan to bring to a dinner early, so go on, make that call today!

2. Offer to provide safe alternatives to family favorites. Does someone always want to make pecan pie or peanut butter blossom cookies? See if you can make an alternative pie or offer to make the cookies using Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) or soybutter. Or, introduce a new recipe that may become a nut-free family favorite.

3. Be careful at the buffet table. Buffet tables present cross-contact problems, since serving spoons may be used for more than one food. You may ask to serve your child first to prevent cross contact, or prepare a separate plate for your child in the kitchen.

4. Suggest an alternative to "mixed nuts in a bowl" and peanut-laden Chex mix-style snacks from the party. Yes, these are a big hit with many family members, but see if you can bring an alternative snack. These are particularly dangerous because younger allergic children may grab these items and eat them before you can stop them. Also, people spread the nut dust and residue around with these snacks.

5. You bring (or make) dessert. Desserts are one of the top foods to cause allergic reactions, so don't chance it. You do the dessert. It may seem like a lot of work but honing your dessert-making skills is a must if you're a nut allergy caregiver. Also, everyone loves desserts, so if you make a good one you'll be one of the "heroes" of the dinner! :) Another thing I plan to do this year is give each child a chocolate turkey from Vermont Nut-Free Chocolate. A way to promote awareness, yes, but also a way to include your child and impress their cousins with a delicious treat. If chocolate is out of reach for you due to other allergies, any little "extra," whether a safe candy or even Thanksgiving-themed pencils, helps your child feel like they brought something special to the party and helps them cope with having to avoid certain foods.

6. If you're really concerned, bring a safe meal for your child. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you may not feel the meal is safe enough for your child to eat. That's OK--it happens. Just bring something extra for them and serve it to them without a lot of fanfare. If anyone asks, use the situation to increase awareness: "Alex can't eat the dinner because of her nut allergy." You never know--this simple statement could result in more cooperation from others for the next celebration.

This is just a start. I'll have more tips as we get closer to the holiday, but if you have any that have worked for you or if you have any questions about managing this nutty holiday, let me know!

Nancy Drew and the Tree Nut Allergy Mystery

My daughter LOVES everything Nancy Drew. She is a fan of the books, from the vintage hardcovers that belonged to my Mom, to modern Nancy series available at bookstores today.

She is also a huge fan of the games from Her Interactive. These award-winning games are a blast even for adults like me who love mysteries and still think Nancy is pretty cool. They always involve educational elements like history, science or social science and they've won a ton of awards.

My daughter is such a fan of these games that I am usually suckered into being among the first to buy new ones when they emerge, every 3-4 months or so. The latest is called Warnings at Waverly Academy and it's all about "mean girls" and a not-so-nice prankster at a girls' boarding school.

When she began the game recently, my daughter ran to tell me about about a character with a tree nut allergy who was put out of commission right off the bat by the school's mystery prankster known as "The Black Cat." The tree nut-allergic character speaks to Nancy's game character via cell phone (I know! It's so fun) and tells Nancy what happened with her accidental ingestion.

According to my daughter, Her Interactive did a pretty good job of explaining that this allergic character needed to use an Epi Pen and that she needed to go to the hospital. My daughter was excited to find validation for her own situation via this tree nut-allergic character in one of her favorite games, even though (ugh) this person was basically poisoned.

A couple of things bothered me, though. The allergic character told "Nancy" that she didn't use the Epi Pen till she got to the hospital (no, you'd use it immediately) and that she winds up in the hospital all the time because she's "not careful." Actually, the latter is actually not a bad reminder to be careful with allergies.

The biggest worry I had was that, as nut allergies become more prominent, they are being used as a way to "off" people in both fiction and film--or at least the attempt is made to do so.

"The DaVinci Code" (book, not movie) used a peanut allergy reaction to kill of a character; likewise the novelist Joanne Harris (of Chocolat fame) devised a character who purposely poisoned a peanut-allergic student in her fairly recent novel "Gentleman and Players." The character survived, BTW. (Incidentally, this a great novel overall.)

I love Her Interactive and their wonderful series of games and I commend them for including a tree nut-allergic character in their latest venture. It does raise awareness, and the fact that the character is hospitalized underscores the seriousness of the allergy and the need to be cautious.

I just wish that nut-allergic characters in literature, film or any form of fiction (like games) weren't always portrayed as victims or used as pawns by malicious characters. As a writer, maybe I'll meet that challenge myself.