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Halloween is yet another hurdle one has to maneuver regarding food allergies.   It can be “tricky” but it is important to have a plan that covers school parties, trick or treating and beyond.  In order to make this celebration a not-so- scary one, check out a few of these suggestions.

School Parties

• Attend the party to insure proper safety.
• If you can’t be there, speak with the teacher in advance.  Bring in safe snacks that your child can eat.
• If you don’t want your child to feel left out by eating something entirely different, you can provide a safe snack for the entire class instead.  (Check out Dr. Lucy’s cookies, www.drlucys.com).  Each individually wrapped package comes with three cookies and is very tasty.
• If you are friendly with any of the other parents, encourage them to bring in safe snacks, i.e. apples, grapes etc.
• If the class receives goody bags, encourage room parents, and/or the teacher to fill them with small prizes instead of candy/food.  Pencils, erasers, small activity books, key chains all make great gifts.  (continue reading…)
  

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I sometimes hear arguments to the effect that a certain substance is in a dangerous nonfood product, so the substance is dangerous and should be roundly avoided. At their most extreme and intellectually dishonest, these arguments take the form of “Diammonium phosphate is in flame retardant, plant food and commercial white bread, so you might as well be eating garden fertilizer when you eat Wonder Bread.” White bread might not be good for you, but not because of the diammonium phosphate.

Interestingly, the equivalences don’t usually go the other way. People - Green Diva Mom included - extol the alternate uses of common kitchen ingredients, yet we don’t argue that, because vinegar makes an effective glass polish, vinaigrette is effectively eating window cleaner. (continue reading…)

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One of the common bits of nutritional “wisdom” that gets passed around is “Don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce.” This is troubling advice on two fronts. First, it promotes ignorance of basic science. Chemical compounds with multisyllabic names can be perfectly safe (for example, sodium bicarbonate) and compounds with short names can be quite unhealthy (for example, lead). Compounds that were discovered before their chemical formulas were known, such as water (dihydrogen monoxide) or aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) have an advantage over newer but equally safe (or even safer) compounds like potassium sorbate.

Second, the Don’t Eat What You Can’t Pronounce rule promotes general illiteracy. If our children encounter a word they don’t know, we encourage them to sound it out; there’s no reason we can’t do the same thing with an ingredient label. Taken syllable-by-syllable, butylated hydroxyanisole isn’t really that hard to pronounce, although, unlike the following five common food additives, BHA actually is as scary as it sounds. (continue reading…)

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Processed food makes up a fair to large portion of daily diets. With a little awareness, you can identify the products those are high in saturated fats, trans fats, salt, sugar and other unhealthy ingredietns. Read the small print carefully to find out the less pleasant aspect of the food such as mechanically recovered meat (MRM) and indiscriminate use of additives.

Food labels may not tell the whole story. A can of the apple juice with a mouth-watering picture on the carton may carry in small print, “Only 10% real juice” and the remainder may be sugar, water and additives for coloring and flavoring, which is legal, but not very good for you. Strawberry yogurt or a strawberry shake may contain no strawberry,  only the artificial flavor. Similarly, meat in inexpensive “pork” sausages and other meat products, such as hamburgers, can include mechanically recovered meat (MRM) which is a kind of slurry removed by machine from a carcass after all the other meat has been removed. “Meat” can also include rind, skin, sinew and gristle. (continue reading…)

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Are you Gluten intolerant? You or you family might have thought that you will not enjoy the pizza, lasagna, biscotti, pasta, pretzels, cookies and many varieties of bread anymore, but there is no reason for disappointment. A whole gluten free world waits for you. Gone are the days when there were a limited choices. There are many mail-order gluten free food companies and gluten free stores out there. But, just in case you prefer to eat at home, you should stock up your pantry with the food which is gluten free and can get you all you want to eat. There is a list of things which can help you make whatever you love to eat.

Cornstarch: This is a great thickening agent for sauces and gravies. It is less prone to lumps than wheat flour.

Cornmeal: This can be used for cereals, crusts, accompaniments to roasts, soft or grilled polenta and gluten free batters. Corn bread makes an excellent addition to stuffing, meat and other ground meat dishes. It also replaces the bread crumbs in standard recipes. You will surely relish cornmeal- crusted fish or soft shell crabs sauteed in a little butter or olive oil. (continue reading…)

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People continue to be sick even after following the gluten free diet scrupulously. Problem for those who are celiac can lurk in unexpected places, like the glue used on the envelopes and mailing labels, which is made from the wheat. You can use a damp sponge, self sticking envelopes and stamps, or simply let somebody else in the family do this job.

Some celiacs  are sensitive to gluten as well as to some chemicals. Those with dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin reaction to gluten, should be careful while using craft kits, paste and spray waxes and cleaners. If you cannot avoid using these, only do so wearing a mask and in well ventilated area. Celiacs with highly sensitive skin must avoid wheat germ oil in cosmetics and in personal care products like skin creams and lotions, toothpaste and false teeth fixatives. Ask your dentist which is the best toothpaste for you. (continue reading…)

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