Another local cookingclass from CSU!

The CSU nutrition center has put together a cooking class for
families looking to avoid allergens. See below for details. Please
pass this on to anyone you think may be interested in such a class.

-Pamela

Join us at the Nutrition Center at CSU to learn new recipes and quick
tips for nutritious meals! Every class will feature a few recipes
with cooking and nutrition education, followed by an optional 30-
minute question and answer session.

FFEBRUARY 9TH AND 10TH 6:30PM: "AVOIDING ALLERGENS"

Are you struggling to think of new meal ideas for yourself or loved
ones with multiple food allergies? In this class we will make
several tasty recipes free of gluten, soy, eggs, nuts, and dairy
products. We will also discuss how to get important nutrients that
may be missing or inadequate in an allergen-free diet, and ways to
keep meals interesting when dealing with restrictions. (Class is
repeated – choose just one!)

HHOW TO JOIN

Where: The Nutrition Center, room 114 Gifford Building

When: All classes will be held at 12-1:30 PM unless otherwise
specified.

Cost: $10; limited to first 15 people

Other information: Registration is required for all classes!
Individual appointments with registered dietitians and graduate
students are also available.

Contact: The Nutrition Center at CSU: 491-8615

The Cooking Class...(a report)

... was so wonderful!! Linda Hoffman who runs "Come Back to the Table" had introduced us to healthy, seasonal, fresh ingredients cooking while incorporting and sharing her thoughts on allergies, and responding to our concerns. She has opened up my eyes to the importance of healthy fat/oil, which are so important in building healthy cell membranes, some facts about some legumes/grains, how to shop smart, so much more topics I can't possibly list them all right here.

Linda has mentioned that despite the wide range of our allergies, her regular clients (non-food-allergy clients) cook up something that was not that much different from what we cooked tonight. We had fish, chicken, lamb, beef, beets, lettuce, tomato, red and green peppers, pineapple, cranberry, garlic, coconut oil, grape oil, kale, onion, mushroom, brussel sprouts, grapefruit, murey (?) lemon, lime, sun dried tomato, corn grits, herbs, brocolli, coconut milk, sea salt & pepper...

It was so nice to be in her serious kitchen to get better ideas on how to cook, select, store. Even her entertainment center was filled with dishes etc... not because of food allergies, but because she (must) enjoys it. I feel I got so much information at one night without having to wade through the overwhelming amount of information out there. She's already done that part for us. An interesting closeness and connection I felt, over interest in eating healthy, with an awareness that food is important and that is what builds our bodies and affects our souls.

Thank you for the fabulous night Linda, thank you so much for setting this up Catherine, and thanks to the 6 other ladies that signed up tonight - all who made the evening very speical.

Sweet Lab School

OK, a little bit more of reveling ourselves. My son goes to the Lab School of Creative Learning. There are only about 14-15 kids in each classrooms, and 7 classes total as of today (K-6). The school has been VERY receptive of my son's allergies, and they have done a marvelous job accommodating him and making us feel safe.

- Pre-entry meeting with principle, teachers, health aid, school nurse have all been positive.
- Allergy conditions and medications are taken seriously and completely accomodated.
- There is good relay of information, we're not in touch all the time but the staff have all been accessible and available whenever needed.
- In the one case where my son needed medication, I felt confident matters were handled the best it could have. (He must have touched a carpet where some other kids wiped their peanut butter hand or cheezy hand, and then touched his face which got itchy, red, with some teary eyes and a bit of swelling - taken care with Benadryl.)
- After this small incident, the school went beyond my expectation and decided to go Peanut Free on their own.
- They have created a allergen free table for my son on their own as well - I don't remember if I gave some or any input, might have made some suggestions, but the school have decided what would be best and have kept my son safe.

Just the other day, the school had a kick off celebration for a fund raising effort, and everyone was served a root-beer-float. For my son, they have prepared a soy-based ice-cream he could have. I didn't know anything till afterwards. I was proud of the school that they could handle things with confidence and include my son even with this food celebration.

Thank you, Lab School!! What a great support you are - You are my son's PAL!

"Depressed Parents and the Effects on Their Children"

Here is another article I found online "Depressed Parents and the Effects on Their Children."

If you feel hopeless, depressed at any point when caring for your child with special needs, don't fret. You're not alone, and things can get better with the right action.

I am certainly still working on re-establishing (or maybe for the first time) my relationship with my son who has food allergies. It has not been an easy balancing act learning about his chronic medical problem, while taking care of myself. Sometime ago, I have felt like he was depressed (at the age of 4) and his pediatrician pointed out to me that I probably needed to be treated first - and I am so glad that I got to do so. Finally after 7 years since his birth, I am glad to report that I am finally getting into that stage where balance seems more like an achievable spot rather than a dream.

This PsychCentral seems to have a lot or articles to offer - thanks for the time of internet - so much helpful information out there.

Forwarded Brown Rice Flour Bread Recipi

My neighbor who is sensitive to wheat has sent me this link of
"Finally, Really Good Sandwhich Bread (with Brown Rice Flour)"

Another neighbor has recently started baking bread and we've bought it from him a couple of times - it has been really good, but both me and my son, have started showing some symptoms: itchyness, tiny rashes, some coughing, more mucus in the airway etc - yes, but it's good to know that this is the extent of our wheat allergies. It is certainly not comfortable, I think my mood actually get affected as well, that I should avoid eating. Yet, it's so hard to resist when a fresh baked bread is sitting right in front of us... I guess the answer is really not to get those tempting products in our house (common sense, right!?)

I have heard somewhere sometime back that, sometimes, when we are sensitive to things, we might actually crave for it - as almost being dictated, sort of like cigarette, alchohol, drugs in a sense?? Not so sure, but this COULD be the case (I'm not saying it IS).

Back to baking, with some subsitute, I hope to try baking it. There has also been an issue of gluten free bread making on Living Without Magazine a while back, but I just haven't been able to get myself into kitchen to experiment! It's been on my want-to-do list, but cooking not being my favorite activity it's been hard. If anyone here wants to try cooking experiment with me, we have a commercial kitchen with a lot of space (not my personal one, belongs to the community), I'd love to host an event, so please let me know!

10 Health Tips in Japanese

I have a mug at home that lists Ten Tips to a Healthy Life in Japanese and wanted to share. The first letter “少-shou” means “less”, the third letter “多-ta” means more.

１．　少肉多菜: Less meat, more vegetables
２．　少塩多酢: Less salt, more vinegar
３．　少糖多果: Less sugar, more fruits
４．　少食多噛: Less eating (portion), more chewing
５．　少衣多浴: Less wearing (clothes), more bathing
６．　少言多行: Less words (speech), more action
７．　少欲多施: Less greed (wants), more giving
８．　少憂多眠: Less worries, more sleep
９．　少車多歩: Less cars, more walking
１０．少憤多笑: Less anger, more laughing

Number 5 might be something that needs a bit of explanation and is something that I should consider doing daily for my allergic/asthmatic son (as well as myself). The thought of training our skin, the largest organ of our body has been around for generations, especially for asthmatic kids. My grandfather (87 as of today) still gets up each day, takes off his shirts and rubs a hand towel all over his upper body. The idea is to stimulate the skin, get the circulation going through the tip of your skin, boost your immune system and become resistant to cold. Frequent bathing is probably similar idea. My interpretation is (which could be well wrong) to take quick cooler (if not cold) showers - similarly in an attempt to strengthen the skin. Have you seen monks for example, sitting under water falls in movies etc?

How lovely if I could practice all this daily!! Maybe I will make this my resolution… for next year;)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2009! In eastern Asia, New Year is a HUGE thing.  In Japan where I grew up, families would gather up to cook for the 3 day celebration, make beautiful "Osechi" dishes all neatly stacked into boxes, so they could be eating mostly those for the next days without having to stand in the kitchen for long hours.  (I think nowadays though, the younger families including myself, don't quite know how to cook them and rather outsource - buy prepackaged Osechi dishes.)  Over here, we had a small potluck gathering, some made soup with (pounded sweet rice) in it, other friends brought some other yummies.   The great thing about Japanese food is, it's so much easier to avoid many allergens (other than fish and soy).  We had a great start into the new year.  If anyone would like to try out Mochi, please let me know :)  It makes a great and filling snack, the ingredients are only rice (sweet short grain) and water.

Wishing you all a good year with lots of laughter and blessings!

Two Book Recommendations

The two books I am listing here today are not books "about food allergies" - but they have certainly helped me understand my food allergic son very much. They would fall into the category of parenting with special needs.

1. "Raising Your Spirited Child - a guide for parents who childe is MORE intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, energetic" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

It talks about how children have their own temperament, has helped me learn to understand and accept my child with the temperament of his own, to view them as a blessing instead of something that I have to change, tame, fight with. I am not alone!
Me and my husband both bought one book each for ourselves, and also a workbook that comes with it. I think I am done with this book and would be happy to pass it on to the next person. So let me know if you'd like this book.

2. "When Love is Not Enough - A Guide to Parenting Children with RAD-Reactive Attachment Disorder" by Nancy L. Thomas

I found this book to be, unexpectedly, very helpful in understanding my own son psychologically. It has made me realize that, before his food allergies were diagnosed, how much pain he was inflicted upon - 24/7, wth no way out. I am not surprised if this sort of "emotional, physical, trauma" has had an impact on how he learns to relate to the world, including his mother. Also included is good tips on how to draw boundries and to protect "myself." It talks about how parents can be emotionally abused when the children they are raising have issues (Reactive Attachment Disorder in this book). In the book, I learned it was OK to fee the way I was (wondering if I understood and was connected to this child, for example), and was also given lots of hopeful tips. If you feel like you need someone to understand your struggle, this book puts a lot of those feelings into words.

Blessings to all of those who are working hard for the best days!!

KozyEpi - EpiPen carrier

Wanted to introduce a seemingly kids-friendly and an easy to carry EpiPen carrier, KozyEpi!

Some alternative/Chinese medicine point of view

This is something I wrote about a year and a half ago, after living in Japan for 15 months in response to someone who asked how allergy test scores and the severity of food reaction relates to each other.

In Japan, allergists are aware that the score does not necessarily relate to severity or reaction, and I got the impression that they take more notes on what has actually happened, also how the numbers have changed, rather than what the number is at the moment.

My son has retested positive to egg yolk/white while we were in Seattle and we were told to stay away. A couple months later, we moved to Japan and the allergist there said something like "although the RAST test gives us this number (which wasn't necessarily small - I will try to find the number), he's been avoiding it for sometime (3.5 years then), and the number has actually decreased, so let's give it a try." and he did pass egg yolk challenge (but not egg white). So I guess I learned that science, numbers cannot tell everything, and sometimes experience is more reliable.

Again, sharing another personal dialogue; when in Japan we have visited a western medicine doctor, whose father was an acupuncturist, his father in law was a Chinese medicine doctor, and his daughter is an acupuncturist as well. So his office basically incorporates both eastern/western medicine. He would check my son's pulse, would look into his eyes, the whole eyeball almost, touches his skin, presses his abdomen, and take notes of his medical history, and gives a thorough traditional diagnostics. According to him, it's been said from the old times that, in general, when a child has bluish lines (blood vessel) between the eyes, they are the very very sensitive type.... not just emotionally, but immune systems tends to be as well....! (I wonder if this is true, parents in this group, I'd appreciate your response, if you can see it on your child's face? Or it could be just for Asians; We do come with Mongolian Patch, blue-ish purplish birthmarks).

My son was then prescribed Chinese herbals and has been on it for about 1 year. The idea is to change the body system (because what you eat is who you are) to be more calmed down, again with sensitivity to all different sensory input, food being one of them.

I asked if accupuncture helps (we don't have to do needles for young ones, but rather simply stimulate the points), and he gave me a great nod "oh yes sure, they will". At first my son was reluctant to the idea of acupuncture (as the word is the same sound with Needle - sounds ouchy), but soon he realized it feels good and he actually asks for it sometimes now.

It might sound bizzar scientifically (my husband who is a scientist does not get it), but I think this one year treatment have greatly improved the situation for us. Ofcourse, it could be that he simply is growing out and growing up with stronger systems. However, I am thankful we have had a chance to be exposed to these new stuff.

Now we moved to Fort Collins, CO after one year in Japan, and are working on BioSET right now.

The L.Ac here says, my son is not actually allergic to peanuts, nuts, eggs, sesame, oats, barley, most dairy, among others (which the RAST-test says he is), but rather "INTOLERANT" - she says he is definitely allergic to milk = albumin (but not cheese) and buckwheat and wheat. I am not quite brave enough to try them yet, but according to her, he's lacking the right amount of enzyme to digest those food (peanuts, nuts, etc) properly that he gets an allergy-like reaction. She says that blood tests, skin tests in allergists office do not give enough information on whether one is truely allergic, or is simply "intolerant" - I'm still needing to test and confirm what she says, but just throwing this out as an example of allergists scientific method not being complete. (I honestly don't think I can give my son Cheese now, just because she says it's OK, but it kind of explains why the test scores alone don't give us the whole picture of what our child is experiencing, what could happen etc).

Now I read over this, and I realized how my son did NOT react to cheese when he ate it without knowing at his friends house (scary!! but without problems!!). This friend told me a couple days later how well he ate their food, I asked what he ate, and in it was cheese ....

Just throwing out some information to confuse people further....