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Monday, May 10, 2010

Food Allergy Awareness Week

Hey Everyone,

May 9-15th is Food Allergy Awareness Week! Did you know approximately 12 million Americans suffer from Food Allergies? Eight foods account for 90% of all food allergies. If you see someone showing signs of allergic reaction (all over hives, eyes swelling, trouble breathing, heart problems, etc.) use an epi-pen and call 911 immediately!

Since it is Food Allergy Awareness Week and since food allergies have recently affected my family so much I decided to do a post about it. (Also, because my sister is doing a giveaway on her blog and to enter the giveaway we need to spread the word. I dunno if I am eligible though because I am family, but I am doing it anyway.)

I have the most adorable niece in the world and a few months ago we found out that she has severe food allergies. She is allergic to milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, almonds, oats and soy. The poor kid explodes with hives if she even touches these foods, it is really sad. We have an Epi-Pen for her in case of a reaction and luckily haven't had to use it yet. She is also on special formula (we swear it has gold dust in it because it's so expensive.) to help her out since she is 11 months old and hasn't yet doubled her birth weight. She continues to be a very chill and happy little baby. I will most likely do a few more post about food allergies this week so this is just the start.

[My happy little niece Hazel]

2 comments:

Coreena said...

Wow! I know how hard it is for me to not eat wheat and oats, I can't imagine not being to eat any of those things! It sure is expensive to eat with food allergies, especially that many! I know there are alternatives that will do her good and at least she'll grow up with things like rice milk and rice flour so she'll be used to the texture! She is adorable, btw!

Carrie and Waffle said...

food allergies can be hard, I cook during the summer for a kids summer camp. The good news is that they are manageable. It seems that most kids with sever allergies can eat normal home cooked foods. Soy is in a lot of proceesed foods. We had a girl with 11 food allergies, instead of asking her what she couldn't eat, I just asked her waht she wanted to eat and it was amazingly healthy. Turkey,fish, fresh fruit and veg. I somethimes think our growning food allergies maybe a reaction to all the chemicals in processed food.