author of Feeding Eden

Should you enter your Food Allergic Child in a clinical trial?

What do we all want for our food allergic children? A cure. And if not a cure, a livable treatment.

Last week, FAI's Annual NYC Benefit Luncheon featured videos of several "Clinical Trial Superheroes." Those children, and all the others involved in trials, offered us brave images. I wasn't the only mother swallowing hard, even tearing a bit, as I considered my own child's role in the future of finding viable treatments.

The conundrum? Parents are understandably concerned about their children's emotional and physical well-being. We all worry about the risks. Yet our Good Doctors need more participants in order to learn what works -- and what doesn't. For more information:
Posted May 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Allergic Living … the magazine

For many of us "Allergic Living" could be the byline for our daily life. But it's also a one-of-a kind magazine that provides unique solutions and insights into our daily medical challenges.

And in case you haven't heard, Allergic Living Magazine has launched a US edition! The first Spring 2011 US edition features all kinds of information from medical breakthroughs to recipes to resources. You can order it by subscription only here:
It was an honor to be included in the launch edition. My back-cover contribution is titled Sweet Justice -- "When a tantalizing cake threatens an otherwise perfect day, one allergy mom takes matters into her own hands."

As a writer and avid reader, I can't wait for my next edition....
Posted April 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ahhh-Cherry! Springtime Oral Allergy Syndrome . . . Redux

Two years ago, I wrote a post about Oral Allergy Syndrome which you can read HERE.

Since that time, my daughter, who has seasonal Hay Fever, has had oral food allergy reactions to these foods: raw apples, raw carrots, hazelnuts and peanuts. Once in a while, cherries. Her list is similar, but not identical to, my husband's Oral Allergy Food List. The probable culprit is the Birch Pollen Allergy. Sufferers can react to a long list of foods including certain fruits, nuts and vegetables.
Allergy Parenting is a prime example of the idiom: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
(So don't eat it.)
Posted April 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Food Allergies and Anxiety in Real Time

Food allergy families tend to repeat what works - restaurants, vacations, recipes - often, safety is more important than a better unknown.

So for the last three years my family has vacationed in Naples, Florida during our children's spring vacation. The first year, we rented a house and cooked meals far more often than not. The second year, we stayed in a small hotel on the beach. There, I had a small kitchen in our suite where I cooked breakfast and some lunches and dinners. We ate in the hotel facilities as well. I had devised safety rules and menu options for Eden in advance with the hotel Food and Beverage Manager.
The third year we took a significant leap and we stayed in the "sister hotel" of the previous hotel. It was larger and had better facilities. The same wonderful Food and Beverage Manager helped me navigate Eden's food safety. But (and this is a big but) this hotel did not have full kitchens in their suites. We had a mini-fridge and a stash of dry goods like cereals, snacks etc.
Why did we take change our formula? The second hotel had huge pools with slides, more comfortable rooms, a fabulous beach and . . . I had never ever gone on vacation with Eden without shopping and cooking for most meals. Since I'm amidst edits on my upcoming book about living with food allergies, I was hoping it would be welcome break for all of us.
The good news is that Eden ate more restaurant meals than ever in his lifetime and he stayed completely safe. (Quite a feat for a child with multiple food allergies.) And yes, I liked being able to swim with my children until 6:00 pm knowing that I didn't have to worry about washing vegetables and boiling water. But as the week went on, Eden became more and more anxious about eating out. Although we repeated all our restaurant options, he started to fret about his food choices and his safety well in advance of each meal.
Ironically, mid-week, I received an email from TheMotherhood asking me if I would be interested in co-hosting a class on "How to Manage The Anxiety Often Associated With Food Allergies." The class is live tomorrow, Tuesday April 5th at 1:00 pm EST. None of us manage food allergies perfectly. But join me as I share what I've learned in real time.
Posted April 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Divvies (Part II) Sweet, Sour & Silly

Do allergic kids need candy? Well I think we all need a little candy sometimes. Moreover a little candy can both express our moods and satisfy them in tandem, which is no small feat.

But certain kinds of candy can be allergic minefields: Like chocolate bars. It's difficult to find a chocolate bar free of all of the eight top allergens. Divvies Founder Lori Sandler solved that problem and tackled more - Gourmet Popcorn, Jelly Beans and even a deliciously sour gummy candy called Super Stars.
Since candy preference is subjective, I'll share our favorites: We all enjoyed the Gourmet Popcorn, which was sweet and salty, but not overly so. My daughter, who wears braces and so has a long list of forbidden foods, reported that the Divvies Popcorn didn't stick to her teeth the way other brands have (and no I didn't ask her when and where she had sampled those other brands...)
My son loved the plain BingGo! Divvine Chocolate Bar and the Jelly Beans. He said that the chocolate tasted "so fresh!" The Super Stars were my pick: I like sour and very flavorful tastes and these packed a punch.
Wait. There's more -- I'll be joining Lori Sandler, along with some wonderful hosts and co-hosts, next week on April 25th at 1:00 PM EST for a "Live Talk" on Managing the Anxiety Often Assoicated with Food Allergies -- on --TheMotherhood!
Hmm. That should allow just enough time to buy more Divvies. It's just too bad we can't share virtual treats....
Posted March 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Divvies (Part I) Are They Really Made To Share?

Sharing is a big big deal when you are a kid. From the time many babies sit up and babble, parents begin demonstrating the benefits of generosity. "Thank you!" we beam as they hand us their beloved stuffed animals. "His turn?" we prod as they enter their group-play toddler years. Nowadays great pains are taken for our children to have family meals: Both meals and snacks have become one more way to share.

But from the moment a food allergic child receives their diagnosis, food-sharing becomes forbidden territory. Food allergic children cannot truly share food unless they know with absolute certainty it is safe. Can they share their safe food? Sure. But for most children with food allergies the very fact of it has already made them different from their peers. Allergic children don't really want their food to be viewed as "different."
This truth - that Divvies treats are "so good, they're made to share" - is the brilliance of Divvies Bakery. For the purposes of this review my family, including those without food allergies, sampled every single Divvies baked and confectionery item. (Tough job but someone had to do it.) And since there is so much to recommend, and rave about, today's review is solely on Baked Goods:
Divvies Cupcakes -
Both the chocolate and the vanilla have a similarly fluffy texture, difficult to find in most egg-free cakes. The flavors of the batter shine through so much that my son shuns the frosting, claiming "It just tastes so good plain!" The frosting is worth mention though, in that it is nicely sweet without being granular or clawing. Both kinds of cupcakes are perfectly sized for school children (unlike many other bakery cupcakes.)

Divvies Bakery Cookies -
Our cups runneth-ed over ,these cookies. First, the award winning "choco-lot brownie cookies" are ridiculous. It was 6pm when I bit into that chewy, rich, sugar-topped goodness and my first thought was: Do I really have to wait until after dinner to have another? Sensing danger I gave the remainder to my two children who moaned and voiced that very question aloud. The other varieties? The Divvies sugar cookies melt in your mouth. My son, who almost always favors chocolate over anything vanilla, loves these after school with a cup of rice milk. My top choice is Divvies molasses ginger cookies, which, if you close your eyes, taste exactly like my favorite gingerbread recipe but chewier and therefore, far more interesting.
Now this post is in danger of runneth-ing over, so I'll get us back to the question of sharing: I'm certain that if I were to heap a platter full of Divvies cupcakes and cookies at my next gathering, no one in the room (either child or adult) would guess that were "free-of" anything. But for children like my allergic son to freely enjoy a bounty of baked goods so often denied -- well, I can't imagine a more delicious sight.
Posted March 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Finding the Right Doctor for Your Allergic Child

Remember when your child was first diagnosed with food allergies? Or would you rather not, since that diagnoses came just after that horrible rush to the emergency room? Or was it after an unexpected afternoon filled with Benadryl, hives and adrenaline-laced fear? Maybe it was after that first taste of peanut butter, a switch to soy baby formula, or maybe you had just "introduced" scrambled eggs? Then again, an allergic child can sail through their first birthday without food allergies and eat that one and only bite of, say, almond flavored granola bar...


Either way, you found yourself in need of a doctor (whether pediatrician or allergist) who you could trust to help construct a safe life for your allergic child. Below is an article I wrote for the Huffington Post describing my journey and some suggestions:


Finding the Right Doctor For Your Allergic Child

There is a sage expression "A mother is only happy as her least happy child." I've noticed a more recent parenting trend that goes something like, "A mother is happy in equal proportion to her confidence in her child's doctor(s)."

Many parents have a particular anxiety surrounding our children's medical care. Thanks to the Internet, doctors have fallen from the grace of the All-Knowing and thanks to our health care system many parents cannot access the kind of care they would like for their children. And then there is the dark forest of confusion here parents wander uncertain if their child's doctor qualified or perhaps the wrong fit for their family.

My first child enjoyed good health and so I never questioned her medical care. But within a few weeks of my second child's birth in 2002, my son Eden began exhibiting allergic symptoms like eczema and reflux. His first pediatrician misdiagnosed Eden's milk allergy as "Infant Acid Reflux" asserting, "This isn't a food allergy!" when we questioned it as such....

Continue reading on The Huffington Post...

Posted March 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

“What are you? My mother?!”

Last week I visited a friend who was leaving the next day to fly from NYC to Los Angeles with her two children. During their vacation they were going to stay with friends, rent a camper van on the beach and move about between various locations. "So you're packed?" I asked.

"No. I'll pack later."
It was 4:00 pm. "When? When is your flight?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. We're going out tonight but I'll pack a little before we go and then after I get back from the gym in the morning." I couldn't help it. My face froze into visible alarm. "What!? I'll get it done. Now you're stressing me out!" She joked, "What are you? My mother?!"
Of course. I had forgotten how other parents can travel - - with the ability to buy airport snacks and eat in restaurants -- to bring little more than chewing gum on the plane, rather than two Epipens, two asthma inhalers, dissolvable tablets of Benadryl -- to show up as a house guest and without worrying about taking up too much of their refrigerator space with the groceries you are about to purchase . . . these are the freedoms of some parents.
My family is going to Florida in a few weeks. Some of the tasks I will complete before getting on the airplane:
1) Email with the hotel Food and Beverage Manager with a list of ten plus questions regarding the hotel restaurants; the bread and cereals served at the buffet breakfasts; whether there are hard boiled eggs at the buffet breakfasts; and what foods are in the fryer at the beach stand restaurant 2) Refill my son's inhaler prescriptions so he has an extra set for plane and luggage check 3) Make duplicates of our food allergy restaurant cards for handing to our server 4) Telephone the managers of each restaurant we may want to go to and discuss allergic accommodations 5) Stash quantities of non-perishable allergen-free chocolate bars in the suitcases for desserts when we go out to eat 6) Pre-organize a carry on bag and make duplicates of our medical permission form to carry liquid medications (Epi and inhalers) 7) Locate the nearest supermarket to purchase rice milk to stash in room refrigerator 8) make duplicates of all prescriptions just in case...
My point? Of course I don't mind the doing. I only mind the reasons behind every one of those tasks. Just like any mother.
Posted February 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

You Are Now Entering The Multiple Zone

You are now travelling through into another dimension, a dimension not only of peanuts and tree nuts but of milk, soy, eggs, legumes, seeds and fish. A journey into a land whose boundaries are clearly defined by allergic anaphylaxis. Next stop, The Multiple Food Allergy Zone!


Obviously the original creator of the The Twilight Zone, Rod Sterling, didn't write a sci-fi show about food allergies, but sometimes I feel like food allergies are just as freaky as some of those Twilight Zone shows.
Multiple Food Allergies can bring on a host of misunderstanding and cynicism. I've had parents say to me, "Oh don't worry! I know how to handle Eden's allergies when he visits! My niece is allergic to nuts!"
Or. "He's allergic to that many foods?"
The Multiple Zone can be a lonely place. And for individuals within this zone there are so many combinations of food allergies and restrictions. Most of us Multiple Zone Parents rely on simple, adaptable recipes and dishes. Routines are key. Most of us hit low points inexplicable to those outside our Zone.
And most of us Multiple Zone Parents secretly fantasize about which food allergy they most wish would "Go away!" while our children speak these truths aloud. Maybe we should too.
Posted February 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Food Allergies and Alcohol Don’t Mix

Belonging to a food allergy and asthma support group offers parents of younger children windows into the future as well as moorings in the present. My fellow support group members have allergic babies all the way to teenage and young adults. Unsurprisingly, a common issue for Food Allergic Teenagers is Drinking.

Drinking alcohol can be problematic for food allergic teenagers for several reasons: Drinking can impair judgement and judgement is one of the only weapons our children have to keep themselves safe. Food-allergic teens must have the good sense to abstain from allergens, to keep their medicine nearby and to use follow their medical protocol should they have an accidental allergic reaction.
Another BIG problem: Alcohol ingestion may complicate a person's allergic tolerance. In fact, there are several types of allergies to alcohol. For more on that, I wrote about Allergies and Alcohol in the Huffington Post last year: Throw It Back Or Throw It Up: How Will The Allergy Generation Handle Their Drink?
Evidently, wine makers share my concerns and thanks to a Danish study there is an "allergy-Free" wine in development. But "allergy free" or not, too much wine won't help my son stay safe when he's out in the world without us. So here's what I'm thinking: It's been a long winter. And I do enjoy the warming comfort of a drink at the end of day with dinner. But I'm also going to strive to be a role model for alcoholic moderation for both my children and we will all benefit.
Posted February 7, 2011 | Leave a comment