As of Jan 2018, I am no longer have allergies. I have tested negative to everything. I may have been misdiagnosed to some of the food allergies. Allergy testing used to be just a skin scratch with the occasional blood test. Blood test were not necessarily performed. I was tested for varies food allergies in Germany with just a skin test. When I got to the states, I was tested again on Eglin through scratch and 2 other blood tests for carrot and tomato. He tested me for the most common 10 food allergies and some vegetables. The carrot and tomato were the worst on my skin that is why they decided to perform blood tests. It was determined that I was allergic to melons, tomatoes, carrots. and oranges. Eglin removed allergist from the base and I was moved to Allergy Partners in Fort Walton Beach.
Allergy Partners tested me for variety of foods, trees, grasses, weeds, and molds. I tested positive for a lot of out door elements. The doctors there were curious about my other allergies and tested me for foods. I tested positive for a number of items. The reactions for these food items were pretty bad since they had to stop the skin reactions after 10 minutes. It should have gone for 20. I was given a list of bad food at the time and went on. After a problem with my heart and stopped allergy shots. I just continued with skin testing and working with the results given. I have had allergies of some kind since 1996.
Well, my amazing doctors at Allergy Partners are always being trained and do their own research and called had me retested for food items. Some people react to food through a skin test even though they are not allergic to food. My body was reacting to the tree, molds, weeds, and grass relatives of foods. My body thought I was eating a tree or weed or whatever out door element the food was related to. If you follow a foods family tree you will ultimately find some of them are distant relatives. The doctor had me do multiple food challenges to prove to him I was okay. A food Challenge is a 4-hour test that consists of eating a food in gradual increasing amounts over 4 hours. The doctor has the nurse check on you every chance they get to make sure you are not breaking out, having shortness of breathe, or anything else that normally goes along with food allergies.
I was having food sensitivities to some of them. I still have issues with carrots but I now know that I am not allergic and it is not going to kill me. I still pay extra attention to when I am eating food and my husband and friends alway watch to make sure I am not turning red or breaking out. I can not eat actually soy sauce, it bothers me. I do not eat a lot of carrots. I am very grateful for my doctors Dr. DeVuyst and Dr. Neuland of Allergy Partners in Fort Walton Beach. I am not bitter but I actually ate better with the food allergies and plan to keep eating the same. The lesson taken from this past 12 or so years is to read your food labels. There is a lot of unnecessary chemicals in the food in the center of our grocery stores. Shop the outside of the stores.
Health
The Flu Shot
The flu shot is the flu but it is a small dose of it to build immunity to it. I get it people are afraid of the shot because they will be injected with the flu. How do you build up an immune system to the flu if you don’t get your body used to it? Ok, how many get allergy shots? Yep, allergy shots… let’s talk about them. What are they? Guess what? They are small doses of the allergen you are allergic too! No way! Yes way! They inject you with small samples of the allergen to build up an immunity to it. Your body will learn to recognize the allergen and eventually the allergen won’t kill you. The allergen will become familiar to your body just like in the flu. You say but it is a different strain, well so are allergy shots. Each vial of serum of pollen can be different from your last one. The older we get, the immune system forgets how to protect you, so help you immune system and get your shot.
My son and his wife did not get their shots BUT they made sure The baby got his. Guess what? My son and his wife got the flu 2x last season and yep, the baby DID NOT. It was too bad a 3 year old couldn’t care for his parents. I have not had the flu but I do get colds.
I hope someone reads my blog.
Cookies and Stuff
Parenting can be tough! Food choices for children are not always healthy. I have some tips for parents on snacks. These are actually things I did with and for my children.
Yogurt cups- buy regular plain yogurt and chop Oreo, sprinkles, fruit, cookies or nuts. Have these stored in containers so your child just has to scoop the yogurt and add 2 tsp of their favorite snack into the yogurt.
Cookies- don’t buy processed cookies. My children made their cookies. If they want cookies, let them make them. This is going to mean you will have to have all the ingredients in house. Cookies we made are: chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, and butter cookies.
Potato chips- easy as pie. Slice potatoes thin and fry in oil. You can bake them also by coating the slices with oil and salt n pepper and bake in the oven in high heat for 10-15 minutes. Chips need to be eaten within 1/2 hour of cooking. These are addictive and will cause you kids and their friends to always be in your kitchen. Frying the potatoes takes time and a large fry pan.
Fruit- if you have fruit in a bowl they will eat it. Especially, if they are “starving” and just got home from sports, school, or in from swimming. Buy their favorite fruit and store them out of fridge. Most fruit can be stored on the table in a bowl. How did you buy them? Were they refrigerated or just on the produce shelf. Think about it.
Juice- it’s gets a bad wrap. My children’s choices for drinks were: water, juice, milk, and Gatorade. We almost Never had soda. I also froze the juice in ice trays and made ice pops. Their teeth are great. They did not go to bed with juice in their bottles either. They are now 27 & 29. Now they drink all sodas they want and the alcohol he wants. Lol, lets be real.
Ice cream- yes, I made ice cream as well. Ice cream makers are inexpensive and amazing. Buy one and make some ice cream. The instructions and recipes are simple but follow you machines instructions and recipe.
Cereal- I guess cereals today are not a wise choice but we ate cereal as snacks.
I hope this helps some of you.
Allergies
This my current allergy list. The items highlighted are the ones I can’t have. I have blood work still out for potatoes, carrots, and cucumber. I have one unique body.
I would love to eat cucumbers and potatoes again. Carrots, not so much. Cooked carrots 🥕 are good and I don’t mind eating them. It will be nice to see a carrot in my salad and not freak out. If I can have potatoes 🥔, I am making French fries!
It is still going to be rough finding food because I am still very allergic to soy, peanut, and sunflower. When I go shopping I have to read every label. I really don’t mind but it takes time. I do go crazy when I find a food without all those things. I tend to buy quite a few of them.
If you have questions, please ask. I hope someone is reading my blog.
Diabetes is Rough
In our society, we are faced with food everywhere we go and visit. Everyone wants to feed you or give you free tastes. The next time you go into Sam’s Club or an outreach event you will notice candy, food samples or snacks on every isle. Our own families are trying to get us to eat food we should not be eating.
How do you stock your kitchen with good wholesome food that everyone will eat? We should stock our kitchens with good food and make as much of our food from scratch when we can. We can make bread easily with bread makers. They are inexpensive. Many small kitchen appliances are available for purchase so we can make better food for our families, try second hand stores. We can make our own junk food. Yes, junk food. It will be better for our bodies if we remove all the chemicals/preservatives by making them ourselves. Our body breaks food down more efficiently if it recognizes the food. When we eat fake food, our body does not know what to do with it. We should be eating small meals. A cup of water is 8 ounces and if you pour more then 8 ounces it will spill over right? Well, when you eat 2 hamburgers, fries, veggies or 8 cookies, milk or hot coco, your body can’t break all that down because you have spilled your cup. Eat small and let your body do its thing. Do you want to know if your body is doing its job? Sure you do, test your sugar before you eat and than 2 hours later. How did you do? Is your sugar high? Keep a personaI record and you will see a pattern. You will be able to see what you can eat and what you can not. I personally keep my sugar no higher then 175 during the day. It should be lower and this is something I need to work on.
How do we refuse food when we visit? We don’t want to be rude. People can sometimes get upset or offended if we don’t eat or accept their offers.
What we can do:
- Tell them you are diabetic and are trying to keep it controlled. Most people will understand but if not chose another option.
- Eat before you go
- Bring a snack with you
- visit during a non meal time for example: go visit between meals or after dinner.
- Politely say “no thank you”
What our friends can do to help us:
- if we are not getting together for a meal, please do not offer food.
- Do not get upset if we tell you no.
- Do not be upset if we bring our own snack.
There are times when diabetics like me will want to see you but don’t necessarily want to eat. Don’t feel obligated to feed us. If we are coming over for a meal then yes please feed us. Ask if there are any dietary concerns before we get there. It is not just diabetes anymore; there are many people like me with food allergies too.
I was doing outreach for my job on Saturday at the mall. I had a table with coloring sheets, bookmarks, information about the library, and yes candy. We are encouraged to have free stuff to give away and stuff to get people to stop by the table. We use the candy to get people to stop by. People of all ages stop by for candy. We all love candy. There were quite a few other tables with candy. Candy is an inexpensive way to get people to stop by the table. This event is geared toward families with children. The candy is probably the reason I met a boy who wore an insulin pump. An insulin pump is for an individual that has type 1 diabetes. This child has to worry about what he is eating and how it will effect his body. He is young and lives in a society that teaches him to eat badly. He does have a good family to help him stay on task. He is a child and children love candy, cookies, ice cream, pizza and more. They typically do not prefer to eat carrots, grapes, bananas, green beans or wheat bread. We should all be worried about what we put in our bodies. We only get one body. Diabetics are not the only ones who should watch what they eat but everybody should eat like they have diabetes.
Please keep in mind, I am not a doctor and this site is strictly my opinion. This post covers many of my daily struggles with food.
The American Diabetes Association the pump has many advantages and disadvantages. Please refer to their website for questions.