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Your child has just settled down at a picnic table to eat her peanut butter sandwich, a side of powder cheese covered snacks, and a cup of that yummy almond milk you’ve recently discovered.  There’s a mother on the other side of the picnic area eyeing your kid warily. You glance her way and wonder if she’s silently judging the lack of carrot sticks in your child’s lunch bag. What you don’t realize is this: Yes, she’s taking stock of what your kid is eating, but not because she’s secretly rating your nutritional choices. Her young child has several food...

You’re prepping a few dozen cupcakes for a class party. You’re pondering whether the kids will prefer a chocolate cake or a yellow one. You’re debating what frosting to make. You’re wondering whether to pull out your piping tips and go crazy or just smear on the sugary gobs of goodness with a butter knife. In the average class, however, there are two other parents wondering whether or not the treats you and other parents are prepping will be safe for their children to consume. These are the parents of the 1 in 13 children with food allergies. Next month...

Our son was staring at the cheese counter in our local store and was curious about the flavors and textures. Rather than explain that he could not safely eat the cheese, I asked him what was interesting and what looked good. I then took him on a creative search through the allergy safe cheese section and helped create an experience he would safely enjoy. We talked about Cheese Plates and how they are sometimes served as an appetizer, a main course and even as a dessert. Thanks to a family visitor for the holidays, we also had a videographer in...

Our family deals with anaphylactic reactions on a regular basis. When you have two highly allergic kids (my son has 18 severe anaphylactic food allergies and my daughter has 6), you come to realize that many individuals know the words anaphylactic and anaphylaxis but don’t fully understand what they mean. For many, an anaphylactic reaction conjures up images of a patient going into shock: blood pressure drops, breathing becomes difficult, there may even be a loss of consciousness. It’s certainly scary. And while that image is true, it’s just one form of anaphylaxis. What is an anaphylactic reaction? To begin...