Where to start... I've never really blogged before but I figured there's a blog for just about anything so why not blog about awesome foods and films.
My son is 14. For the last 7 or so years he has had ongoing stomach aches, head aches, etc. and they all got attributed to a side effect to a medication he's on. His stomach aches would come out of the blue without warning and it was too bad because he really needed the medication too. It was a tough balance.
About 14 months ago Dylan was tested for food allergies. It was a second thought really-more like a let's just do it and see since it had never been done before. His allergist was testing for outdoor stuff too. While Dylan is basically allergic to the outdoors, and we knew this from his allergist in VT, he is also allergic to some of the most popular and common kitchen/cooking ingredients! Who knew?
The past year has been an eye opening experience. His more severe food allergies include Soy, Peanuts and tree nuts (almonds are the worst for him), and Sesame seeds. He even has an epipen for these allergies. This isn't too bad, at least it is marked on all packages except for sesame seeds but they are easy to avoid. In the moderate allergy category he is allergic to cottenseed, canteloupe, watermelon, and a bunch of other stuff he doesn't like. Worst of all in this category is CORN. Corn is NOT marked on anything. Corn includes derivatives such as high fructose corn syrup, corn flour, corn meal, cellulose gum, artificial sweeteners, most things starting with "sodium" _____ , corn starch and the list goes on. It is virtually impossible to avoid corn in your every day diet here in the U.S. Dylan also has mild food allergies to carrots and cherries. All together he has 27 food items he is allergic too.
I can't tell you how many times people have said "at least he isn't allergic to wheat". I wish he was allergic to wheat instead of corn. Why? Because it is marked on packages.
I make a lot of items from scratch, I've become a food pro at reading labels, I get creative with substitutes and we're surviving. In 14 months of a complete diet change and overhaul, he has only had a couple stomach aches and the headaches have gone away!!!!
Through this blog I will share my recipes as I create them. I will share some of the "eat this not that" things I have found. I will also blog on films because what goes better with a good meal than a movie??? Not everything in this blog will be about food allergies but I will dish on some restaurants that are GREAT at accommodating food allergies and others who aren't so great.
**DISCLAIMER- I am not a dietician or a doctor of any kind. These are things I've learned as a parent to a child with food allergies and nothing more.
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