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Allergy-Friendly

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Disclosure: This post is inspired, in part, by the recent online Gluten Free Expo, sponsored by the Gluten Intolerance Group and presented by the Nourished Festivals. I was not asked to write a blog post–and per usual, everything in here is mine (thoughts, opinions, ideas).

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I can’t wait to see my family for Thanksgiving and many of my friends are just as excited for Hanukkah, Christmas, and all of the other winter celebrations. The first year we had our annual family Thanksgiving extravaganza after I stopped eating meat, my parents were very concerned that I was somehow going to starve during the week I spent at home. I love them for stocking up on all of the frozen veggie burgers and such, but it really wasn’t necessary (I was perfectly happy to gorge myself on the mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, turkey-free “stuffing,” cranberry sauce, green salad, and other meat-free items). Eventually they got used to the idea that I didn’t need special pretend-meat items for every meal. I’m lucky this isn’t a food allergy, and that the majority of the world is pretty easy to navigate as a vegetarian.

Later on in life, my Bonus Mom (that’s Dad’s wife, they got married long after us kids moved out of the house, so “Stepmother” sounds weird and also she’s not some meanie from a fairy tale) had to follow a low-FODMAP diet one year due to a health issue. We were all pretty baffled, as we found out at the last minute and didn’t have time to adjust our plans. When we asked her what was on the “no list,” she was frustrated and baffled herself, as it was a new-to-her situation.

What is a Food Allergy?

Let’s start at the beginning: a food allergy is not a personal choice. When a person with a food allergy eats that food, their immune system kicks up a fuss. The body produces extra histamines–the chemicals that cause inflammation–as they go on attack. The results might be itching, hives, or a rash; side-effects can include constipation or diarrhea or vomiting; severe side effects might include swelling of the throat (cutting off the ability to breathe) or an anaphylactic reaction–a severe, life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical attention. The symptoms might last a few hours or a few days.

Even a very small amount of an allergen can cause serious, life-threatening reactions in some people. A food allergy is very different from a personal preference (a la “I went gluten-free because [celebrity name here] told me it was the best”). Not that I’m saying you should ignore a guest’s food preferences, but an allergy is not the same as choosing not to eat something!

Food allergies are common! About 5% of all adults in the U.S. have a food allergy. Food allergies are more common in children. Since you can’t see a food allergy, your guest might not have an obvious need for accommodation. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. If you’re a guest, remember that–it’s important to let people know!

Know the Top Eight. The top food allergens are: cow milk/dairy, eggs, tree nuts (including but not limited to walnuts, pine nuts, cashews, pistachios, almonds, Brazil nuts), peanuts (which are legumes and not tree nuts), shellfish, wheat (including but not limited to gluten, a component of wheat), soy, and fish.

Be a Gracious and Communicative Guest

If you have a food allergy or other dietary limitation, or another allergy, please tell your hosts! Be clear about what your limitations are and how they can be accommodated. For example, most people do not know that “gluten free” is not the same as “safe for people with Celiac disease.” They don’t know they can’t use the same knife on the gluten-free pizza that they used on the wheat-pizza.

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Teach people how to feed you. If you can, make up your own “guide to safely feeding me,” with bullet points of tips and lists of “safe for me” foods. Offer it as a way to help your host learn, and make it clear you’re not demanding all food in the house follow “your” rules. Definitely include a definition of your allergy and how serious it is (will you sniffle, or is there a chance you’ll die?). You might include a link to your favorite medical website that addresses your allergy, a favorite food blogger.

Help keep yourself fed. The typical advice is to offer to bring a dish you know you can eat to the meal. I’m writing this in the context of allergies, but as a vegetarian I’m always bringing something substantial to ensure I get fed. If it’s appropriate, offer up a dish! Of course I’ve also packed emergency food in my suitcase (just in case).

Have an allergic-reaction plan and share it. This seems like a no-brainer, but if you have a plan and have not shared it, in the event you become incapacitated no one else will know what to do! If you have an epi-pen in your purse/pocket at all times that’s great, but someone else needs to know when to use it.

Be a Warm and Safe Host

Ask your guests about allergies. You don’t want to accidentally poison your guests! Find out what they allergy is, and ask how severe it is. Do they need the allergen to stay 6′ away from them? Or just not in their food. One of my parents’ friends was allergic to eggs. While visiting a friend in the hospital he was there long enough to need to eat a meal. In the cafeteria, he asked for a grilled cheese sandwich–no eggs in that, right? When he ate the sandwich, he went into anaphylactic shock. Why? The grill had eggs on it earlier in the day, and while the grill was scraped down/wiped down in standard restaurant practice, that’s not good enough to prevent cross-contamination. (He was in a hospital, so got prompt medical attention, and lived many more years.) ASK QUESTIONS. A guest with food allergies will appreciate you trying to accommodate them!

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Ask your guests for tips and suggestions. Maybe they have a favorite recipe, meal suggestion, online resource, or other pointer for you. Again, ASK QUESTIONS.

Educate yourself about best practices. This is super important if your guest has a serious food allergy (one that might kill them) or has Celiac disease. For example, you should assume that any kitchen implement that is porous–made of wood, stone, cast iron, etc.–is NOT safe to use on the allergen you’re trying to avoid. Assume your best bet is to use a fresh/clean pan for the allergen-free dishes (one that hasn’t just been used to cook something with the allergen in it). Head over to Laulima Kitchen for up-to-date information about a Celiac-safe kitchen (and grab her “10 Ways to Keep Your Kitchen Celiac Safe” while you are there).

Include allergy-friendly dishes. In most cases this isn’t that hard to do. I once made dinner for a group that included vegans (so no meat, dairy, eggs, honey in those dishes) as well as different people with allergies to potatoes, chicken, onions, and bell pepper. I wrote out my plan on paper to make sure I had enough options for everyone, and it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d imagined–I made two crock pot dishes and a soup, and served the meal with an appetizer cheese and veggie tray, bread, salad, store-bought hummus, and fresh fruit for dessert.

Learn about local allergy-friendly restaurants. Local bloggers are often your best bet for finding a safe place to eat a meal out, and this is especially true for those with Celiac disease. If you’re not sure about your favorite, call them up and ask. Do they have items on the menu that might be appropriate? What about kitchen prep? (If your guest has Celiac, potatoes cooked in a shared fryer–one where a wheat-batter-coated onion rings once fried–eating those potatoes can make them sick for a few days. Yuck.)

Don’t Forget the Non-Food Allergies!

While this post has focused on food allergens, there are plenty of people who are allergic to other things. Just like food allergens, non-food allergens can send the immune system into overdrive and produce symptoms from mild (runny nose, slightly itchy eyes) to the severe and life-threatening (anaphylaxsis).

Indoors: Pets and Pests and More, Oh My! The top non-food allergens inside your home include pets (cats, dogs, and others!), pests (dust mites, cockroaches), latex, pollen, mold, medications, perfume/fragrance (including essential oils), and medication. The number one thing you can do to help your guests with allergies is to deep-clean everything; rugs, carpets, drapes, and bedding can all harbor pet hair and pet dander, pests, pollen, and more. Mom used to choke when the air had strong fragrances and perfumes, as it exacerbated her asthma. (Not really an allergy, but equally unpleasant.) Hot tips indoors:

  • Steam clean carpeting and rugs
  • Wash drapes and bedding in hot water and dry thoroughly
  • Avoid scented laundry detergent and soaps for bedding and towels (I use Dropps unscented)
  • Dust using a microfiber cloth
  • Avoid using heavily-scented cleaning products (or air out the house after cleaning)
  • Avoid air fresheners, including essential oil diffusers
  • Stock your medicine chest with an over-the-counter allergy medication
  • If you live in a moist climate, run a dehumidifier and ensure air circulation in closets and around furniture to avoid mold growth (I live in Oregon–this IS a thing)
  • Groom your pet (a bath and a brushing go a long way to remove both dander and other items that may get trapped in pet hair/fur)

If your guest has a pet allergy, find out well in advance how severe the allergy is. I have a cat, and I have many friends with cat allergies. Some of my friends are fine staying in my house for a weekend as long as they have an over-the-counter allergy tablet; others are so allergic that they will break out in hives if the cat rubs against them. You might be able to keep your pet and your guest separated if they have a mild allergy, but for a more serious allergy your guest might be better off in a hotel.

Outdoors. The nice part about outdoor allergies in the winter is that they tend to be less of a problem, at least in places like Michigan where the air turns crispy and everything gets covered in snow. (If you’re out in the Pacific Northwest, mold allergies can still be ugly in the winter.) Top outdoor allergens include pets (hey, dogs go outdoors!), insect stings, and pollens. Insect allergens include biting (mosquito, horse fly) and stinging (wasp, bee, yellow jacket, fire ants) insects. Pollens from trees, flowers, and grasses can cause misery almost all year long. Hot tips:

  • Pollen can be problematic almost all year: tree pollen is most common in spring, weed pollen in summer and fall, and grass pollen in summer. If your guest is very allergic, it’s nice to move some of the party indoors.
  • To avoid attracting insects–you may attract them, but they can bite/sting who they choose–don’t wear perfume/cologne or use heavily scented products for outdoor events.
  • Have bug repellant products on hand for outdoor gatherings
  • Consider careful use of bug repellant products (such as candles, sprays, bug zappers, and sonic products) to keep pests away from your gathering.
  • In addition to an over-the-counter allergy tablet, add topical anti-inflammatory and anti-itch products to your medicine cabinet
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Got Tips?

What are your best pointers for hosting an allergy-friendly meal?

What are the best things you can do for a guest with allergies in your home to make them feel comfortable?

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Halloween is my favorite holiday (has been since I was a kid). Hopefully you’ve heard the great news from Dr. Fauci: it’s safe to go out trick or treating! So let’s get ready to welcome back all the little goblins and princesses and robots and monsters. The global COVID-19 pandemic robbed many kids of trick or treating in 2020, and it’s up to us to make 2021 awesome enough to make up for it.

If you’re like me, for most of your adulting years you’ve just gone to the grocery store and grabbed candy based on either what you like best (yay, leftovers!) or based on what you hate (yay, no temptation!). While there’s nothing wrong with that approach, you may be inadvertently excluding some kids from the fun or, worse, giving them candy their parents will have to take away when they get home. Why? Food allergies.

Before you dismiss food allergies as “no big deal,” the CDC advises that “food allergies are a growing food safety and public health concern that affect an estimated 8% of children in the United States.” That’s 1 in 13 children, friends! Further, “A food allergy occurs when the body has a specific and reproducible immune response to certain foods. The body’s immune response can be severe and life threatening, such as anaphylaxis.” I believe those kids have the same right to a fun (and delicious!) trick or treating experience as every other kid, without fear of possibly dying. amiright? (Absolutely!)

Since there are now only 10 days left to get ready for Halloween trick or treating, and you don’t want to make the mistake I made one year while living in Alameda (I waited until the 31st to go buy candy and no one had any), I’m writing a quick guide to including all kids.

First: Know Thy Allergens

If you’ve got the time to read the labels on your favorites, jot down the top allergens before you go shopping. Approximately 90 percent of all food allergies are caused by eight foods:

  • Milk (may appear as whey, cream, butter, and more–see a printable list HERE)
  • Eggs
  • Wheat
  • Soy
  • Tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Read more HERE)
  • Peanuts (technically a legume, and not a nut)

While fish and shellfish round out the top eight, it’s highly unlikely you’re off to buy candy containing those components; good to know, in any case. According to Johns-Hopkins, “Eggs, milk, and peanuts are the most common causes of food allergies in children, with wheat, soy, and tree nuts also included. Peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish commonly cause the most severe reactions.”

The Easy Route: Where to Find Lists of Allergy-Friendly Candy

If you’re now thinking, “damn, reading all those labels is a ton of work and ain’t nobody got time for that!” please trust me, I feel your pain. I’m taking the slacker route with these printables–I’ll take the list with me, and only read the labels on these packages (for “just in case” purposes–companies can change their recipes at any time).

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Easiest Option? Something Other Than Candy

Yeah, if you’re a kid this is also the “lame” route (or whatever kids say these days when something isn’t cool). We all remember the dentist in the neighborhood who handed out toothbrushes and floss, right? (Okay so I actually liked that guy, he even let us choose the color of the toothbrush.) Due to supply chain issues, some of these are probably not an option for 2021–you can’t place the order and have it arrive in time–buy maybe next year?

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  • Milkweed seeds from Save Our Monarchs (I already have mine!)
  • Halloween-themed stickers
  • Halloween-themed school supplies (pencils, erasers, etc.)
  • Anything pumpkin-shaped
  • Bubbles
  • Glow-sticks and glow necklaces and bracelets (bonus: instantly usable!)
  • Slime
  • Play-Doh, Silly Putty, and other moldable toys
  • Art supplies (e.g. 8 pack Crayola crayons, pink erasers)
  • Halloween ink stampers
  • Small stuffed animals
  • Bookmarks
  • Stickers/decals
  • Bouncy balls (we called these “super balls” when I was a kid)
  • Spider rings
  • Slap bracelets
  • Drink mix packets (e.g. Kool-Aid, hot cider, hot cocoa)
  • Temporary tattoos

Sources for these include: your local shops, etsy, Target (the aisles in front with the holiday merch), Oriental Trading Company, and the behemoth (Amazon). Be creative! Plenty of stores are already discounting their fall and Halloween-themed items. You’ve even still got time to make stuff if you are crafty.

Finally, Get A Teal Pumpkin!

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You may have seen teal (blue/green) pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and wondered if the Smurfs are now a Halloween fixture. Nope! It’s the Teal Pumpkin Project!

“The Teal Pumpkin Project is a simple way to make trick-or-treating safer and more inclusive for the one in 13 children living with food allergies, and many others impacted by intolerances and other conditions. Placing a teal pumpkin on your doorstep signals that, in addition to candy, you offer non-food trinkets and treats that are safe for all trick or treaters. Help us make this Halloween one to remember!”

It is important to keep your allergy-safe treats separate from other candy! We’ve all seen bags of candy where one or more pieces are not wrapped up all the way (or at all). While you are annoyed, that can spell disaster for a kid with a severe allergy. Please, keep your allergy-safe treats away from other candy so you don’t pull any unintended dangerous tricks.

What do you think?

Tell me about your favorite allergy-safe Halloween goodies?

Does your family appreciate it when others offer allergy-safe treats?

Where do you get your Halloween candy that’s free of major allergens?