Tag Archives: food allergies

Back to School Clean Eating Cookies Made Just About Any Way You Like!

allergy cookies

It’s that time of year again for brown bag lunches and busy fall schedules. To keep the kids healthy AND keep their sweet tooth happy, try these super simple, super clean cookies. What we love about these cookies is that they are very forgiving and flexible in terms of the goodies you add in at the end.

Consider adding almond butter, cocoa powder, protein powder, chopped almonds, canned pumpkin, extra cinnamon…the sky’s the limit!

healthy cookie ingredients

The mashed bananas as the base is a great way to keep the cookies moist while providing a stable base packed with nutrition and energy. Adding oats provides essential fiber to keep little bellies full. (more…)

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Katie McGrath

Moms Petition Similac to Remove GMOs in Infant Formula

“They say that moms with children with food allergies do more research than the CIA, and I think that’s true,” quips Leah Segedie at the opening of a three-minute video she’s using to get the attention of moms and and baby formula giant Similac. She wants the company to get rid of the GMOs they put in their line of formulas, something Similac (Abbott Laboratories) decided not to do at their recent annual shareholder meeting.

To join Leah’s fight and let Similac and its competitors know you won’t stand for this, sign this petition at Change.org. Also, join us on the #SimilacNoGMO Twitter party Wednesday, May 22nd from 8-9:30pm EST, where you’ll join host Leah @BookieBoo and @DietsInReview as a panelist. (more…)

Posted on May 21, 2023 by Natalie K

Is Gluten Free Right For Me? 6 Pros and Cons for this Diet

Today “gluten free” is all the rage, but what’s the science behind it? Let’s look at the three most common reasons why people follow gluten-free diets.

1. Being diagnosed with celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder in where the body triggers an attack on the intestines every time gluten is eaten. This destroys part of the small intestine that absorbs vital nutrients and results in malabsorption. For these people, eating food that contains gluten can cause significant pain. While the disease affects only 1% of healthy, average Americans, 97% of those affected have not yet been diagnosed.

2. Having a gluten sensitivity. While this sensitivity shares many symptoms with celiac disease, it fortunately does not share the same likelihood of intestinal damage.

3. Trying the latest and coolest ‘fad’ diet that received rave reviews for achieving (insert your favorite health claim) Lose Weight! / Eat Healthier! / Improve Skin Quality! People want to improve their health however they can, so why not give this a chance?

Why would someone choose to adhere to a gluten-free diet if they don’t have to? What is “gluten” and when did it get a bad reputation? Let me explain. (more…)

Posted on April 9, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Niftyfare Serves Allergy Friendly Foods with Artisan Flare

If you’ve ever known someone who had food allergies or you’ve suffered from food intolerances yourself, you know how much of a task it can be to find allergy-friendly foods that you can feel good about eating.

It seems the number of people with food allergies has been on the rise in recent years. According to a recent story from Care2, the number of people in the U.S. alone with gluten intolerances is close to 18 million with nearly 3 million of those having celiac disease. When it comes to dairy the news is even worse as an estimated 30 to 50 million adults have a lactose intolerance.

These numbers have clearly been on the rise and food manufactures have struggled to keep up with the demand for products that cater to this growing demographic. In addition to just vegan products or those that are gluten free, there’s also an increasing need for products that cater to several dietary needs, such as a person that is intolerant of peanuts, dairy and gluten. The number of these types of convenience products that cover numerous intolerances is slim. It was for this reason that Portland, Oregon resident Jennifer “Nif” Lindsay developed her own food company that did just that.

Lindsay’s company is called Niftyfare – after her nickname “Nif” –  and unlike most specialty food producers it’s an artisan food manufacturer that seeks to simplify special diets.  (more…)

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Dana

10 Ways to Have a Healthy Girls’ Night Out

If you’re like me, you love a good girls’ night. It’s like a beach vacation after years of being landlocked – refreshing and always a blast.

But there’s just one problem with ladies-only gatherings: They often center around alcohol, heavy appetizers and way too much chocolate. While this can be a fun way to celebrate every once in a while, it’s not the healthiest habit to fall into especially if it’s a weekly affair.

But if booze and french fries are a trend you and your girlfriends are hoping to get away from, we’ve got a solution for you: A quick guide filled with 10 healthy and fun ideas to get your girls’ nights back on the healthy track.

 

Posted on August 17, 2023 by Dana

Food Intolerance Testing False Positives are Leading to Overdiagnosing

Intolerance or sensitivity is a hot topic in the food world these days. Food packaging is clearly in on the trend as it is common to see food labeled “gluten free,” “lactose free,” or “contains wheat.” What has brought about this trend? Why are so many people unable to eat certain types of food? It is possible that testing for these allegies and intolerances is flawed, and it is leading to overdiagnosis.

There are many types of food testing available today. Some are very unorthodox and come to conclusions that seem very hard to swallow, like eating green peppers may cause bloating and lethargy, lemons trigger headaches, or chicken may act like poison in your body.

Other non-traditional practitioners may diagnose food sensitivities by analyzing hair, assessing muscle strength, or by performing a test that assesses the body’s “energy pathways.” From these tests, patients are told what foods may be causing their troubling symptoms. Sometimes these tests are concluding that serious issues like irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune disease, and arthritis are being caused by particular foods.

These are tall claims and allergists and gastroenterologists are questioning these methods. Most allergists and gastroenterologists agree that food intolerances do occur from time to time, but they also agree that the tests being marketed have no scientific basis. The tests are prone to false positives and lead people to eliminate foods from their diets unnecessarily.

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Posted on April 23, 2023 by Lacy

Help Your Child go Back to School Safely with a Peanut Allergy

My son has a severe, life threatening allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. We discovered this food allergy when he was two years old and we just could not figure out why he had severe asthma, requiring multiple emergency room visits, steroids and the like. He also randomly developed enormous hives all over his body and had difficulty breathing when the hives occurred. We took him to an allergist who tested him with both a skin test and a blood test, and we learned of the severity and breadth of the allergies.

Food allergies are different from food intolerances. A food intolerance can cause stomach upset, gastric distress, and possibly digestive issues in the form of diarrhea and constipation. Many people claim that they have a food allergy when a food does not agree with them, and this diminishes the severity for those with a true, life threatening allergy. A food allergy is defined as an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body’s immune system, and is most often triggered by the so called “Big 8”.  These eight foods account for 90% of all food reactions and are milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, shellfish, sesame, wheat and soy.

You may hear of a person outgrowing their food allergies, but peanut and shellfish most often remain as lifelong allergies. A food allergy affects the breathing and heart and can, if not stopped in time, lead to death. People who have been diagnosed with a food allergy are often prescribed an epi-pen, an auto-injector of epinephrine that must be injected into the upper thigh to stop the reaction.

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Posted on August 19, 2023 by Carmen

Food Sensitivity: The Surprising Reason You’re Gaining Weight

By Steven V. Joyal, MD, VP of Medical & Scientific Affairs at Life Extension. Life Extension has been a pioneer in funding and reporting the latest anti-aging research and integrative health therapies while offering superior-quality dietary supplements to consumers.

Feeling bloated? Gaining weight but don’t know why? Food sensitivity might be the cause. Chronic, low-level inflammation due to food sensitivity is a little-appreciated contributing factor for unwanted weight gain, along with other health conditions like fatigue, fluid retention, headache, and skin conditions.

Before we review how sensitivity to certain foods can make weight loss difficult, we need to understand the difference between food sensitivity and food allergy.

Classic food allergy occurs when certain foods trigger the immune system to release large amounts of the chemical histamine. When large amounts of histamine flood the body, a potentially life-threatening condition called anaphylaxis can occur. This potentially fatal condition causes the throat to swell, potentially cutting off the air supply to the lungs.

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Posted on June 26, 2023 by GuestBlogger

The Mysteries of Gluten Explained

Mary Hartley, RD, MPH, is the director of nutrition for Calorie Count, providing domain expertise on issues related to nutrition, weight loss and health. She creates original content for weekly blogs and newsletters, for the Calorie Count library, and for her popular daily Question-and-Answer section, Ask Mary. Ms. Hartley also furnishes direction for the site features and for product development.

Calorie Count members want to know more about the mysteries of gluten. Here are some of our readers’ favorite “Ask Mary Q+A’s,” all gluten-free.

How would I know if I’m unable to tolerate gluten?

The classic signs of gluten intolerance are digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, gas, and bloating. And although not as common, not being able to tolerate gluten can also cause skin rash, joint pain, headaches, and anemia. Sometimes, gluten intolerance can actually show no obvious symptoms at all. Since there is a lot of overlap between gluten intolerance and dozens of other diseases, you should visit a doctor for evaluation if you have any concerns. You also should also consult a doctor before starting a gluten-free diet as this change can impact the test results and confound the diagnosis.

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Posted on May 22, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Fight Seasonal Allergies with Your Diet

According to WebMD, approximately 35 million Americans have problems with seasonal allergies associated with pollen, grass, flowers, and other plants.

Seasonal allergies can be a life-changing experience, making us cough and sneeze to the point of even avoiding social situations. While there are certainly prescription and over-the-counter medical remedies that you can seek out, there are actually natural ways you can go about easing symptoms through your diet.

Whether it’s mold, pollen, ragweed, or what have you, it’s possible to find seasonal allergy relief (red skin, itchy eyes, and those embarrassing sneezes) from what you eat and other natural remedies.

“Using nature-based products can be a very useful way to handle mild allergies and a useful adjunct for more significant allergies, and there are many types of treatments you can safely try,” says Mary Hardy, MD, director of integrative medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Here’s where you can begin:

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Posted on April 15, 2024 by Jason

Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Act Passed

Five years after the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act was first introduced in the U.S. Congress, the bill (more commonly called FAAMA) has finally passed. Part of an overall food safety bill,  it is expected that President Obama will sign it into law.

The bill was introduced in 2005 as part of the Food Allergy Awareness Network’s inaugural Kids’ Congress. It was approved on December 19 by the Senate and then by The House on December 21.

The bill creates a much needed set of regulations to help deal with food allergies in schools. The guidelines are not mandatory for schools; however, they will give schools without food allergy management policies a place to begin to create one. The new policies will give educate school officials about the severity of food allergies and implement plans for severe reactions, including anaphylaxis, should they occur while on school property. The guidelines are also helpful for those parents who are aware of their child’s food allergies and gives them a set of guidelines for reinforcement in the school setting.

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Posted on December 23, 2023 by Carmen