Food Allergy Awareness Week 2013

by Kelley Lindberg

This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week. All across the country, members of the food allergy community are raising awareness about food allergies, their serious consequences, and ways we can help keep the food-allergic members of our schools, churches, neighborhoods, and workplaces safe.

Why is it important to raise awareness for something like food allergies? We seem to be hit with “awareness” campaigns on a daily basis. Cancer, heart disease, autism… the list goes on and on. Do awareness campaigns really help?

Yes, they do. By making the general population aware and informed about a disease, awareness campaigns help people recognize symptoms they might have missed, help them realize that their neighbors or friends may be affected, identify ways they can help affected friends, spur donations to research the disease for causes and treatments, drive school and workplace policies to become more accommodating, and give the entire population more tools to help prevent the disease’s spread.

Thirteen years ago, when my son was diagnosed with food allergies, there wasn’t much “awareness” of food allergies. Resources were slim, even online, and few people seemed to have heard of them. Schools were unprepared for food-allergic students, restaurants were completely clueless, and even pediatricians seemed uninformed.

Now, most schools are developing food allergy policies, many restaurants can provide lists of common allergens in their foods (and some will even prepare food specially to accommodate common allergies), and almost everyone seems to have heard of food allergies now (and most seem to know at least one person with food allergies). That’s all because of the tremendous effort the food allergy community has exerted over the last decade to “raise awareness.” Food allergies have been featured in news reports, magazine articles, and even written into TV shows and movie scripts. Celebrities have raised support because of their food-allergic children. We have Food Allergy Walks, conferences, and booths at health fairs. The book shelves are now packed with food allergy cookbooks. There’s even a Cub Scout “Food Allergy Aware” patch.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

But not far enough. In the last two months, four children have died because they didn’t have epinephrine with them, or it was administered too late. Gwen Smith, from Allergic Living magazine, writes about these tragic deaths and how we need to educate everyone about epinephrine use: “Food AllergyAwareness 2013: There’s Much Work to Do.” Her article reminds us of how important this education is.

So, for this year’s Food Allergy Awareness Week, look for ways to help spread awareness and information. It doesn’t have to be complicated – in fact, simple is great! Start with downloading Allergic Living magazine’s poster “Six That Save Lives,” and ask your school, workplace, or church to post it where it might save a life. Then check out the Facebook page for the Utah Food Allergy Network (UFAN) and see their flyer for ideas on how to promote food allergy awareness every day this week. Or get creative – post an allergy-free recipe on your Facebook page, donate a food-allergy book to your school library, thank your favorite restaurant manager for making it safe for your family to eat there, or send a thank you card with the recipe for your favorite allergy-free dessert to a favorite teacher, coach, babysitter, family member, or friend who goes out of their way to keep you or your child safe.

However you raise awareness this week, know that your effort, no matter how small, will trigger a ripple of knowledge that will help make the world a safe place for all of us.

 

Celebrate Food Allergy Awareness Week

by Kelley Lindberg


Next week is Food Allergy Awareness Week, from May 13 – 19, 2012. It’s a great time to help educate everyone you meet about the seriousness of food allergies. It’s also a great time to appreciate how much awareness the food allergy community has managed to spread over the last fourteen years, since the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) created the very first Food Allergy Awareness Week in 1998.

When my son was born (in that same year, in fact), I was oblivious about food allergies. A year and a half later, I was painfully yanked into the food allergy world after my son’s first encounters with peanut butter left him with rashes and a hoarse voice. Fortunately, I found a friend whose son was also newly diagnosed with food allergies. Then we both discovered FAAN. Together, my friend and I began the long process of educating ourselves, and continuing to educate ourselves as new information becomes available.

There wasn’t much help back then. Restaurants were clueless, schools were barely aware, and resources were slim.

Now, just fourteen years later, restaurants offer food-allergy menus, schools are beginning to adopt written policies, and FAAN has been joined by a host of other food-allergy resources online, including our very own Utah Food Allergy Network (UFAN), which began 5 years ago. There are cookbooks, and websites, and support groups, and an entire community that I am so very grateful for.

So, if you have a minute, think about ways you can celebrate Food Allergy Awareness Week and the awareness we’ve all had a hand in spreading. Can you do a storytime at your library, and read a children’s book about food allergies? (There are a lot of them out there now.) Can you speak to your child’s class about food allergies? Maybe you can donate some jars of Sunbutter to the local food bank, or send a quick note to the manager of your favorite grocery store, thanking them for carrying specific brands or items that are safe for your food-allergic family member.

The tiniest efforts can reap huge rewards down the road. Just look what we’ve done in fourteen years.

And don’t forget to register for UFAN’s Day of Play at the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum on Tuesday, May 14 from 4 – 6 pm, to help create an artpiece to be displayed at the new Sunflower Market Downtown. But hurry! You have to register and buy your discount tickets for this fun event by May 10. Go to the UFAN website for details.

Food Allergy Awareness Week, May 8-14, 2011

by Kelley Lindberg


Welcome to Food Allergy Awareness Week!

It seems like everyone is raising awareness these days, about one cause or another. After a while, it can start to feel a little boring – gee, another week, another cause. Do we really need to be “aware” of all these things?

Well, yeah. I think we do.

When I was younger (at least a hundred years ago, it seems), no one knew much about anything. Food allergies? I didn’t know anyone who had them. Autism? Never heard of it. Heart disease in women? Nah – only men got heart attacks, right? Breast cancer? I didn’t know about it until my beloved grandmother suddenly got it and died, leaving me devastated. Disabilities? Why should we make businesses, homes, and retail stores accessible to people in wheelchairs – do they spend money, crave social activities, and want to enjoy life, too? Depression? That was something you were supposed to either snap out of or take Valium for, but it was all in your head anyway, so just stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Awareness. In the last twenty years, we’ve all become a lot more aware of a lot of things, and not just because we became grownups, either. We began to talk about things that had been taboo before. Individuals got tired of reinventing the wheel when their child or loved one was diagnosed with a scary condition, and they began to band together, to seek each other out, to build campaigns to teach the rest of the world what it is like be them. And we learned something… we learned that everyone is the same the world over, we all have challenges, and often it doesn’t take a lot of effort to understand each other and make the world a little easier for us all to live in together.

Food allergy awareness has blossomed in the last eleven years since my son was diagnosed. Back then, restaurants were clueless, teachers were scared and/or skeptical, and patients and their families felt isolated.

A decade later, through the tireless efforts of organizations like the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), Kids With Food Allergies, and the Utah Food Allergy Network (UFAN) it’s already a new and more tolerant environment for my son. His school has implemented food allergy policies. Teammates on his sports teams have had allergies, too, so the coaches are clued in. Restaurants bring him special menus. There have been television shows, magazine and newspaper articles, and dozens of books produced to teach everyone about food allergies.

Awareness – just that, just being aware – has made the world a lot safer for my son and the other 12 million Americans who have food allergies. Sure, there are still dangers, still people who don’t “get it,” and still situations that put him at risk, but every year those dangers are being minimized by other people – friends, family, or total strangers – who understand how serious food allergies are and are willing to take an extra step or two to keep him safe.

So I’m thrilled to help celebrate Food Allergy Awareness Week, and I hope you’ll join me in helping to spread the word. It doesn’t take much:

• Talk to someone about food allergies.
• Give a short presentation to your kid’s class about allergies.
• Read a food allergy book for your local library’s story time.
• Ask a restaurant how they handle food allergies.
• Donate allergen-free food to your local food bank (Sunbutter, WowButter, gluten-free pasta, Enjoy Life granola bars, etc., all make great donations).
• Make a cash donation to UFAN or FAAN to help further education, advocacy, and research.

UFAN has a whole week’s worth of great ideas for celebrating FAAW, including signing up for the Food Allergy Walk in October, so check it out at http://www.utahfoodallergy.org/. Or go to FAAN’s website to see their ideas: http://www.foodallergy.org/.

Whatever you do, no matter how small, know that you’re making a difference in someone’s life this week. Thank you!

My Recipe in Home & Heart Magazine

Today marks the start of Food Allergy Awareness Week! All across the country, individuals and groups are finding ways to spread the word about the dangers of food allergies.

I’m especially excited this week, because the May issue of the magazine I manage, Home & Heart, goes on sale tomorrow (Tuesday, May 13) at newsstands everywhere. This issue’s theme is “gift-giving throughout the year.” In it, we spotlight gifts you can make and give for all sorts of fun little holidays, from Administrative Professional’s Day, to Chocolate Chip Day, to Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The best part is, I got to include Food Allergy Awareness Week as one of the gift-giving holidays, and I added my own recipe for “Mom’s Best Apple Bread.” It’s free of nuts, eggs, milk, and soy. To make it wheat-free, substitute your favorite flour blend.

So if you’re interested, look for the May issue of Home & Heart beginning tomorrow for lots of great crafty ideas for holidays throughout the year. And just to get you in the mood for Food Allergy Awareness Week, here’s my recipe from page 28. Enjoy!

Mom’s Best Apple Bread

2 c. flour (1 c. whole wheat and 1 c. white)
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 c. applesauce
1 - 1 1/2 c. apple, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 c. oil
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. apple juice or water

In large bowl, mix together the first six dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the applesauce, chopped apple, and oil. In a large cup, mix together the remaining baking powder, vinegar, and apple juice or water. The mixture will foam rapidly. Pour it immediately into the apple mixture and mix well. Blend wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking oil. Add batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 – 55 minutes. Let the bread cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 – 15 minutes before removing from the pan. (You can cover the bread with a dish towel to keep it from drying out.)

Tip: For a delicious variation, add 1/2 c. raisins or dried cranberries to the apple mixture.