Friday, February 25, 2011
Curly Girly Bow-tique Hairbow Giveaway ends 2/28
Don't forget to enter my giveway. Please go here to enter. Giveaway ends 2/28!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
What is a Food Allergy?
Before J was diagnosed at 13 months I new very little about food allergies. I new that people had peanut allergies and they could be life threatening, but as far as other food allergies go I pretty much assumed that they were more like intolerances, that you could eat the food but may get a stomach ache. Once J was diagnosed I learned that was so far from what a food allergy is.
A food allergy is basically your body fighting the protein in the food. When the immune system fights the food it releases histamine and other chemicals. This is what causes respiratory reactions, skin reactions or other allergic reactions. The United States recognizes the following foods as the most common allergens: milk, eggs, peanuts, treenuts, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish. It is believed that these foods make up 90 percent of food allergy reactions.
The most common question I am asked is how did you know that J had food allergies? When J was four months old he developed awful weepy eczema. They suggested that he may be sensitive to certain foods since allergies, eczema and asthmas are related, but they would not test him until he was about a year. Then when he was 9 months old we gave him a milk based formula to supplement him since he would not eat baby or table food. Once he injested the formula he broke out in hives and projectile vomited. We then had him allergy tested and he tested positive for milk, eggs, peanuts and treenuts. My daughter was tested at 10 months and my 12 month old was tested at 4 months.
There is no cure or medicine for food allergies. Most children allergic to fish, shelfish, peanuts and treenuts do not outgrow their allergies. Milk and eggs are more likely to be outgrown, however studies, including one at John Hopkins have shown that they are harder to outgrow than they were 20 years ago.
I am planning on doing more reviews on allergy friendly products in the next month and giveaways so keep visiting my blog. If you have any questions about food allergies, please ask- no question is stupid I am more than happy to answer them or direct you to someone that may be able to answer it. Here are some great sites if you would like to learn more:
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
Kids with Food Allergies
A food allergy is basically your body fighting the protein in the food. When the immune system fights the food it releases histamine and other chemicals. This is what causes respiratory reactions, skin reactions or other allergic reactions. The United States recognizes the following foods as the most common allergens: milk, eggs, peanuts, treenuts, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish. It is believed that these foods make up 90 percent of food allergy reactions.
The most common question I am asked is how did you know that J had food allergies? When J was four months old he developed awful weepy eczema. They suggested that he may be sensitive to certain foods since allergies, eczema and asthmas are related, but they would not test him until he was about a year. Then when he was 9 months old we gave him a milk based formula to supplement him since he would not eat baby or table food. Once he injested the formula he broke out in hives and projectile vomited. We then had him allergy tested and he tested positive for milk, eggs, peanuts and treenuts. My daughter was tested at 10 months and my 12 month old was tested at 4 months.
There is no cure or medicine for food allergies. Most children allergic to fish, shelfish, peanuts and treenuts do not outgrow their allergies. Milk and eggs are more likely to be outgrown, however studies, including one at John Hopkins have shown that they are harder to outgrow than they were 20 years ago.
I am planning on doing more reviews on allergy friendly products in the next month and giveaways so keep visiting my blog. If you have any questions about food allergies, please ask- no question is stupid I am more than happy to answer them or direct you to someone that may be able to answer it. Here are some great sites if you would like to learn more:
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
Kids with Food Allergies
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Easy Chicken Soup for a Chilly Day
This morning my son J asked me if he could have chicken soup for dinner. Two weeks ago I made chicken soup for dinner. J would not try the soup for dinner (which is not unusual for him, he is always hesitant to try anything, which we think stems from his food allergies). The next day for lunch he saw me eating a bowl and asked if he could try it. He tried it and loved it so much he had two bowls. He continued to eat the soup the next few days until it was all gone. Here is the the easy recipe that I use:
Cook about a pound of chicken (I actually used 1.8 lbs of chicken breast today because J loves the chicken and the more good non-processed food I can get in the better!). You can also use leftover chicken, I have done this after roasting a chicken and having leftovers.
Add the chicken and broth to the crockpot. I like Aldi's Fit and Active because it does not have MSG in it or milk, eggs, nuts or soy.
Cut up three stalk of celery, a medium onion and three large carrots, throw them into the crockpot. I also added about 1 cup water because there was not enough liquid.
Start the soup in the morning and cook on low in the crock pot all day. By dinner you will have a great pot of healthy, allergen friendly soup!
Cook about a pound of chicken (I actually used 1.8 lbs of chicken breast today because J loves the chicken and the more good non-processed food I can get in the better!). You can also use leftover chicken, I have done this after roasting a chicken and having leftovers.
Add the chicken and broth to the crockpot. I like Aldi's Fit and Active because it does not have MSG in it or milk, eggs, nuts or soy.
Cut up three stalk of celery, a medium onion and three large carrots, throw them into the crockpot. I also added about 1 cup water because there was not enough liquid.
Start the soup in the morning and cook on low in the crock pot all day. By dinner you will have a great pot of healthy, allergen friendly soup!
I'm the Featured blog on Tuesday Blog Trail!
I am so excited that I am the featured blog on Six in the Nest's Tuesday Blog Trail!
Join in the hop here!
If you found me on the hop I would love it if you left me a comment!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Our Trip to the Allergist
This morning I took my 12 month old Mr. T to the allergist. Our family has been through three allergists (the first one I did not care for, the second was part of Children's and they charge a facilities fee in addition to the co-pay- which meant we were paying almost an additional $500 a year to go to Children's, and the third allergist was totally arrogant and did not care for children, but that is another story). Last summer T tested positive to milk, eggs, peanuts and soy, so in order to continue to nurse him (and keep him off of the hypo-allergenic formula) I went on an elimination diet and took those foods and treenuts out of my diet. It has been a challenging eight months! The soy allergy is a much harder allergy to deal with than milk, eggs and nuts since soy is in a lot of food you would never think about.
Well I went into the appointment thinking that he was still going to be allergic to all the foods he tested positive to last summer. They performed the skin test on T and right away the places they were testing for eggs were huge and then milk followed and it was huge. I kept looking at the soy and I think that it was the smallest of everything they were testing for. T has terrible eczema and so the doctor decided to test him for several fruits, oats, corn, wheat, dust mites, beef, chicken, turkey and pork. After about 20 minutes the doctor returned and confirmed that he was still allergic to milk, eggs and peanuts, but was not allergic to soy (yea!!!). However, that is where the good news stopped. She said that his wheat was questionable as well as beef. So in a couple of weeks I am going to take my little guy off of wheat (gasp!), beef, chicken, turkey and pork (thank goodness he can now have soy). Then I will reintroduce them one at a time and see if taking them out of his diet helps his eczema.
The good news for T was not the only good news we recieved at our appointment. We used to see this doctor with the other children until the hospital started charging us a facilities fee and then we went to doctor #3. Well the first time J went to the allergist he was blood tested and his milk was at a 15 (which is really really high). A year ago he tested at a 4.5 (low) and the doctor today told me it may be a false positive and he may not be allergic to milk at all. So we are switching J back to doctor #2, because she wants to try to introduce milk into his diet (he has not had anything with milk in it for four years since he was nine months old) because he may either be able to tolerate it or may not be allergic to it at all!
Well I went into the appointment thinking that he was still going to be allergic to all the foods he tested positive to last summer. They performed the skin test on T and right away the places they were testing for eggs were huge and then milk followed and it was huge. I kept looking at the soy and I think that it was the smallest of everything they were testing for. T has terrible eczema and so the doctor decided to test him for several fruits, oats, corn, wheat, dust mites, beef, chicken, turkey and pork. After about 20 minutes the doctor returned and confirmed that he was still allergic to milk, eggs and peanuts, but was not allergic to soy (yea!!!). However, that is where the good news stopped. She said that his wheat was questionable as well as beef. So in a couple of weeks I am going to take my little guy off of wheat (gasp!), beef, chicken, turkey and pork (thank goodness he can now have soy). Then I will reintroduce them one at a time and see if taking them out of his diet helps his eczema.
The good news for T was not the only good news we recieved at our appointment. We used to see this doctor with the other children until the hospital started charging us a facilities fee and then we went to doctor #3. Well the first time J went to the allergist he was blood tested and his milk was at a 15 (which is really really high). A year ago he tested at a 4.5 (low) and the doctor today told me it may be a false positive and he may not be allergic to milk at all. So we are switching J back to doctor #2, because she wants to try to introduce milk into his diet (he has not had anything with milk in it for four years since he was nine months old) because he may either be able to tolerate it or may not be allergic to it at all!
Friday, February 18, 2011
My Garden
This year will be my fifth year of having a vegetable/fruit garden. You would think that after five years I would have an abundance of knowledge of gardening and have no problems growing plants that produce fruit- well you would be wrong! Every year my garden is a source of great frustration and a money pit!
Year One- The first year I had a new baby and did not think I had enough time for a garden so I bought two raspberry plants. Within a few days my plants were attacked by Japanese bettles, so I covered them up with fabric tulle and used some sort of powder to get rid of them. They were attacked so viciously I thought they would not make it through the year- however those plants were sturdy and have come back every year since and I think that it even produced about a dozen red raspberries over five years.
Year Two- I planted lettuce (the fancy kind) directly into the ground, tomatoes, and peppers. The lettuce was great- I had a ton, however my husband decided he did not like that type of lettuce so even though I had a ton, a lot was wasted because I could not eat that much lettuce. We also had a drought that summer so even though my tomatoes and peppers were watered almost every day we still had problems and had only a few tomatoes (I think that I planted 8 plants) and the garden did not produce any peppers.
Year Three- I planted tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers. My tomato plants were doing great and I had some huge tomatoes which were a few days from being fully ripe and a coyote attacked my garden and knocked down the fencing destroying my tomato plants and removing the tomatoes from the plants and then deciding he did not like green tomatoes and spit them all over the ground. My zucchini plant looked to be doing great then it was attacked by a bug that killed it. The cucumbers were the only vegetable that we were able to eat that year. I think we had three huge cucmbers then the plant was attacked by a bug and died!
Year Four- Last year I decided to go crazy and plant a bunch of things because surely something may work! I started early and planted several different plants in containers and started them inside. I planted sunflowers, turnips, carrots, peas, watermelon, tomatoes, basil, peppers, lettuce, green onions and artichokes. I was so excited because I had six sunflowers and they were a couple feet tall. The flowers on the plants were beautiful, until the deer came by and ate all the tops of the flowers off leaving the rest of the plant to die. The turnips did not grow big enough to eat, the green onions just kind of died, the lettuce did not make it and the artichokes are a two year plant so hopefully this year they will do well. We had several little tomatoes, about 6-8 green peppers, two dinners worth of carrots, one serving of peas, two tiny watermelon and a bunch of basil. At the end of the year I also planted a grape vine and strawberries, which will hopefully come back up this year.
I am hoping that my garden does well this year. I am planning on starting seeds again this year. Today I went to Lowes and bought yellow squash, brussels sprouts and tomatillos. But we shall see!!!
Year One- The first year I had a new baby and did not think I had enough time for a garden so I bought two raspberry plants. Within a few days my plants were attacked by Japanese bettles, so I covered them up with fabric tulle and used some sort of powder to get rid of them. They were attacked so viciously I thought they would not make it through the year- however those plants were sturdy and have come back every year since and I think that it even produced about a dozen red raspberries over five years.
Year Two- I planted lettuce (the fancy kind) directly into the ground, tomatoes, and peppers. The lettuce was great- I had a ton, however my husband decided he did not like that type of lettuce so even though I had a ton, a lot was wasted because I could not eat that much lettuce. We also had a drought that summer so even though my tomatoes and peppers were watered almost every day we still had problems and had only a few tomatoes (I think that I planted 8 plants) and the garden did not produce any peppers.
Year Three- I planted tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers. My tomato plants were doing great and I had some huge tomatoes which were a few days from being fully ripe and a coyote attacked my garden and knocked down the fencing destroying my tomato plants and removing the tomatoes from the plants and then deciding he did not like green tomatoes and spit them all over the ground. My zucchini plant looked to be doing great then it was attacked by a bug that killed it. The cucumbers were the only vegetable that we were able to eat that year. I think we had three huge cucmbers then the plant was attacked by a bug and died!
Year Four- Last year I decided to go crazy and plant a bunch of things because surely something may work! I started early and planted several different plants in containers and started them inside. I planted sunflowers, turnips, carrots, peas, watermelon, tomatoes, basil, peppers, lettuce, green onions and artichokes. I was so excited because I had six sunflowers and they were a couple feet tall. The flowers on the plants were beautiful, until the deer came by and ate all the tops of the flowers off leaving the rest of the plant to die. The turnips did not grow big enough to eat, the green onions just kind of died, the lettuce did not make it and the artichokes are a two year plant so hopefully this year they will do well. We had several little tomatoes, about 6-8 green peppers, two dinners worth of carrots, one serving of peas, two tiny watermelon and a bunch of basil. At the end of the year I also planted a grape vine and strawberries, which will hopefully come back up this year.
I am hoping that my garden does well this year. I am planning on starting seeds again this year. Today I went to Lowes and bought yellow squash, brussels sprouts and tomatillos. But we shall see!!!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Allergy-friendly Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies
This recipe is an allergy friendly version of my husband's favorite cookies.
1/2 cup margarine (I use Earth's Balance soy free)
1/2 cup rice or coconut milk
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Sunflower butter (may have traces of soy)
3 cups of oatmeal (I like to use quick oats)
Mix butter, milk, cocoa and sugar in a pot on the stove on medium heat until it has been boiling for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add sunflower butter and oats. Mix until completely combined. Drop by the spoonful on waxed paper. Let cool before eating.
1/2 cup margarine (I use Earth's Balance soy free)
1/2 cup rice or coconut milk
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Sunflower butter (may have traces of soy)
3 cups of oatmeal (I like to use quick oats)
Mix butter, milk, cocoa and sugar in a pot on the stove on medium heat until it has been boiling for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add sunflower butter and oats. Mix until completely combined. Drop by the spoonful on waxed paper. Let cool before eating.
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