Life With Food Allergies

If you are new to food allergies, or want to know more to help a friend or family member this post will help you understanding food allergies including lists of what to foods to avoid and tips to help you live with your food allergy.

Please note: It is your responsibility to research this information. Everything that is listed here from this Mama’s own research and may not be complete, in particular the food avoid lists.

Even if a product is recommended, as with everything you buy when you have food allergies, be sure to verify for yourself that any of these products are indeed safe for the food allergies you manage for yourself or your child.

I am not a Dr. and can not offer any advice regarding medical conditions.

This information is only offered as a help and I hope that it is helpful.

Reading Ingredient Lists

The first thing you need to do is learn to read ingredient lists.

#1 Rule: If it is not clear AVOID it, DO NOT EAT IT.

While you are reading ingredients please be aware that you may need to track down manufacturer’s to get the right information. Not everything is clearly marked, although that is being worked on, and some ingredients can be made from several sources. The other main thing to know about reading ingredients is that companies will often change their recipes or formulas, so just because something is allergy-free this time, it might not be the next time. Beware of “New & Improved”

ALWAYS, ALWAYS read ingredients – even if the box says it is allergy-free! It is better to be safe than sorry and it only takes a few minutes extra time.

Just to share a little funny: at age 2 Little Miss would pick up boxes or packages of food and “read” the ingredients, that was her world at the time. It was adorable and used to shock people when she did it. She would declare gluten in almost everything!

Cross-Contamination Issues

If you choose not to have an entirely allergy free kitchen (see allergy free home or no) you will need to be concerned with cross-contamination in your kitchen. Here are a few things that we did in our home that make life so much easier for everyone.

• Mark EVERYTHING that is gluten free (in particular) or for gluten free use with a permanent marker. This includes food containers as well as kitchen utensils.
• Have a separate dedicated shelves in your pantry and refrigerator also marked: with masking tape and permanent marker.
• Plan on purchasing a few items to have seconds of. Think about items that are hard to clean
  • Toaster: fairly inexpensive to have a second one – mark this as well
  • Wooden pizza paddle and stone if you use these items in your home – again mark it
  • Any wooden utensils you use including cutting boards, rolling pins, etc – mark (starting to see a theme?)
  • Grain mill (if you want to make your own gluten-free flours): these can be “cleaned” by running rice through them, but for safety sake it would be wiser to have a second one.
  • Grill: might be worth purchasing one with two separate sections, a separate little one, or an indoor grill. (hmm, I can see the men now…I could get a new grill out of this?)
  • Colander: these are hard to get really clean so it is best to have a separate one – mark it
  • Other utensils: pizza cutter, whisks, wire cooling racks, grater – remember to mark these
  • Bread machine: if you can purchase as second one it is best, but at least purchase a separate bread pan and clean the machine carefully after each use.

For a more information regarding cross-contamination check here and here.

Quick Run Down on Each Major Food Allergy

Since the list of allergens to avoid was extremely long you can now find the information on the following pages by either clicking the links below or in the side-bar on the right side.

Dairy

Egg

Gluten

Peanut

Shellfish

Soy

Tree Nut

Until next time,