And I Quote: "What Is a Tree Nut?"

On two separate occasions and at two separate restaurants in the past month I've had a waitress ask me "What is a tree nut?"

On both occasions I tried to answer without first saying "Are you effing kidding me?"

First: If you're going to work at a restaurant you damn well better know what a tree nut is.

Second: See above.

At the first restaurant I explained all the different types of tree nuts and that both of my children were allergic to many of them.

Today, at Bob Evans (!!!) of all places this is what happened:

1. I told the waitress that my daughters had food allergies. She gave me a blank stare. I said "you probably should write these down."

2. I said "tree nuts." She says "what is a tree nut?" I said "Um, really? Tree nuts include pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios ... you know NUTS THAT GROW ON TREES." She says "Oh."

3. I stopped the manager and asked HIM if he knew what a tree nut was. "Yes, I think so," he says. I say "well, I suggest you explain it to your wait staff because our waitress has NO idea what tree nuts are."

There is absolutely NO excuse for this lack of knowledge when you're serving food to people who might have food allergies. And at a major chain like Bob Evan? It's beyond inexcusable.

Allergy Re-Testing Day

Today was the day - time for the every-18-months retesting for Liv's allergies. (Actually the original day was December 27 but we were dealing with hives and illness on that day so today was the new day).

First things first: ALWAYS ask what is going on at the allergist's office. They were only going to test her for the "seasonal" stuff today because they said her last skin test didn't show any positive food allergies (it did but I was armed with the results anyway). I pushed back and said "Here are her results from April 2015 and you can see that she's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds. You WILL be testing for food again today."

And they did test for food. And we have a few new items to add to our list.

Today the skin test results were positive for shellfish (totally new to us) and were once again positive for corn and soybeans (originally showed up on her first skin test back in 2011 but hasn't shown up again until today).

Liv's arms, halfway through the test

So...long story short: she eats corn products and items made with soy all the time with no issues so the allergist said to continue doing so unless we see an issue. The shellfish was a different story - we were told to avoid all shellfish. Which is fine, since Liv doesn't eat or like shellfish. Easy peasy.

Her positive reaction to almonds wasn't a complete surprise - we know she's allergic to almonds - but it's now a 4 out of 5 on the scale our allergist uses. Hazelnuts, peanuts, and sesame seeds were all still prevalent too.

[As an aside, I'm looking at her test results from 2015 and am seeing that at that appointment they didn't even run the tree nut panel - our results were from the blood test only! GAH! Another reason to always pay attention at an appointment].

The CNP today was great - she went down Liv's arm, one wheal (think: small hive) at a time making a determination by TOUCH of their severity. This had never been done at the office - except maybe back in 2011 at her very first visit. [In 2015 the nurse was hurried and didn't pay much attention at all, which is likely what lead to the miscommunication at today's visit.]

It was so nice to have someone take the time to discuss the new allergies and we even talked about the gluten sensitivity - and we're continuing the gluten free protocol because we're seeing positive (read: good) results with relation to the autoimmune diseases.

As always, we also did a blood screening for IgE levels for almond, brazil nuts, cashew, coconut, hazelnut, peanut, pecan, pistachio, walnut, sesame seed, soybean, and corn. Basically Liv spent 2 1/2 hours today getting poked by needles. 

Oh, and on the non-food side Liv is now allergic to horses and guinea pigs. Those are new to the list. Her "seasonal" allergies are getting better - so in 6 months we might be able to go to once-a-month allergy shots. At least we're making progress there. :)

And in the end we keep on keepin' on. Avoiding peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, and now shellfish. Keeping an eye on corn and soybean. And Liv is never getting a horse. Or a guinea pig.

Happy 13th Birthday

Olivia turned 13 earlier this week (!!!) and we celebrated with a night out at Georgio's, a high-end restaurant here in town.

We love Georgio's - and we try to go once a year (usually for Liv's birthday). It's really REALLY expensive but oh so worth it (and a gift certificate each year helps a lot).

In the past Georgio's has been great about Liv's allergies - we let the waitress know what needs to be avoided and the kitchen makes it happen. Of course, she's usually ordering steak so that's pretty easy.

This year we added "no gluten" to the mix and the kitchen was, once again, wonderful. Liv loves the sauteed Haloumi cheese (really...you need to order this!) and the kitchen used corn starch instead of flour to coat the cheese. She also ordered a steak dish that came with a red wine reduction and the kitchen made a roux WITHOUT FLOUR just for Liv.

And THAT my friends is how you deal with food allergies.

The only setback came when they brought out a slice of cake for her birthday - with candles and all - and the cake was a Macadamia Nut Bomb. The waitress felt horrible about her mistake and quickly returned with a bowl of vanilla ice cream AND chocolate creme brulee.

the cake with nuts! :(

If you're ever in Toledo and you're looking for a wonderful place for lunch or dinner, make the drive downtown for Georgio's. It'll be worth it.

No Nuts = NO Nuts

Over the weekend Olivia was part of a ballet production here in town.

A few days before dress rehearsal a set of production notes were sent out and in those notes was a sentence (in bright red text and all caps) that basically said do not bring any kind of nuts backstage for snacks.

This directive was due to the fact that there are a couple dancers (Olivia included) who are allergic to peanuts and/or tree nuts.

So...the first night of rehearsal I saw at least one dancer eating a peanut butter snack. 

Night two of rehearsal one of Liv's friends came running upstairs to tell me there was an open bag of almonds backstage in the dressing room. So...we told the production manager about it and she quickly went downstairs to repeat the NO NUT directive.

My one thought was: SERIOUSLY? And then I thought "Can people just not read"? ... or do they just not care? And I decided it was mostly the latter.

Parents of kids without food allergies see the "don't send nuts" directive and either choose to ignore it or think it only means PEANUTS. Or (again) maybe they're just clueless and don't care.

Over the course of the weekend I had to tell another dancer she couldn't eat a doughnut that was coated in peanuts (!!!!!) and she then threw out TWO MORE doughnuts that were swimming in nuts (WTH?) and then ANOTHER dancer said "Can I eat pistachios? They aren't peanuts."

Um....NO. You can't eat pistachios.
Or peanuts.
Or hazelnuts.
Or Nutella.
Or almonds.
Or walnuts.
Or anything that is a peanut and/or tree nut. 

Honestly people - if your child is involved in dance or theater or sports or anything where food might be involved and you get a note sent home that asks you to NOT send in any snacks that contain/might contain peanuts and/or tree nuts please FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY listen to that request and honor it.

No one is trying to deny your child's God-given right (insert eye roll here) to eat a PB&J or a bag of almonds. We're just simply requesting that it isn't done in close proximity to our kid who could get sick (or even die) from a reaction to said PB&J or bag of almonds.

You think we're kidding?
Watch this video and then reconsider sending those peanut and tree nut snacks.

Random Things I Think About All the Time

I will freely admit that I'm always thinking about Olivia's food allergies.

I'll see a recipe in a food magazine and think "well, that's one more thing I can't make." Or I'll be watching a cooking show (as I do every night while I cook dinner) and the chef will be making something with hazelnuts, or peanuts, or pecans and before thinking "wow that looks amazing!" I'll think "Olivia will never get to eat that." Or I'll be checking out a menu at a local restaurant and the only words that pop out are "sesame," "hazelnut," "pecans", and the like.

Now that might sound all doom-and-gloom to you but it's the reality we deal with.

As of right this very moment Olivia can't eat a myriad of things including: pesto (pine nuts = tree nuts), pecan pie, Nutella, most candy bars including those "without" nuts because they're processed in the same facility as peanuts and/or tree nuts, a bagel from our local bagel spot (Barry Bagels), a Big Mac, a Quarter Pounder, a burger or anything else from Five Guys, some brands of pretzels, some types of crackers, pistachios, anything from Chick Fil A, hummus, Almond Milk (or Cashew Milk), M&Ms, Burger King, anything with peanut butter, sesame seeds, most break-and-bake cookies, peanuts, doughnuts and cookies from most bakeries, most chocolate chips, some cereals, regular bread crumbs, milkshakes from Steak 'n Shake, Cool Whip, McFlurries from McDonalds, frozen coffees from just about every coffee shop, almonds, walnuts, any tree nuts (the risk isn't worth it), anything processed in a facility that also processed peanuts and/or tree nuts, anything with sesame seeds....and the list goes on.

Trust me when I say the list of can't-eat items is MUCH longer but I decided to NOT add everything. But you get the idea, right? 

It's no wonder that I spend a lot of time thinking about Olivia's allergies.

I also think these random thoughts:

- I hope she never gets bullied at school for her food allergies. Kids (and adults) can be so mean and heartless. 

- What if someone tries to bully her with food? 

- Why does everything at school have to revolve around food? Since when did cupcakes become so freaking important?

- What happens when she starts dating? What if her boyfriend wants to kiss her but he just ate Nutella? Oh my gosh! She's going to be kissing boys! And they can't eat the food she's allergic too! 

-What happens when she goes out with her friends in high school and she has to carry her EpiPens? Will her friends be supportive of her and the food choices she has to make? 

- Oh crap. She's going to go to college someday. Will she be able to manage her food allergies?

- I just ate pecan pie at Thanksgiving dinner. Now I can't/won't give her a kiss goodnight. 

- We're on a plane. I hope no one eats anything that she's allergic too. Oh great, they're selling snack boxes full of things with tree nuts. 

- I hate nuts. 

- Crap. I ate a sesame seed bagel at lunch. I need to wash my hands. And brush my teeth. 

- Oh good. It's Halloween again. Time to trick-or-treat and get a bucket full of candy she can't eat. I hate holidays. 

- This is so unfair for Olivia. 

- OK. Time to create an Easter basket with no candy. 

- I sure hope the allergy tests are negative next time. 

- Maybe it's time to do a food challenge?

- Why her?

- Oh man. She wants to try crab legs at dinner. What if she's allergic to shellfish and we don't know it? Good thing the EpiPens are nearby. 

- I hate food allergies. 

- The waitress says she told the chef about Olivia's allergies. But what if she didn't? 

- Did the waiter/waitress REALLY write down the list of food allergies? 

- Oh shit! Olivia just opened a package of crackers that were covered in sesame seeds! Holy SHIT! Quick! Brush off the table. Get the crackers away! Wash her hands. (This actually DID happen a few weeks ago - we were at a new-to-us place in the Outer Banks and Olivia opened a package of crackers that had sesame seeds on top. I have NEVER seen someone drop something SO FAST. She recovered quickly. Me, not so much).

...and the list goes on and on. 

So you see...allergies are an everyday kind of thing.
We take the good with the bad.
There are small victories and big defeats.

Yesterday Olivia's dad took her to the ice cream shop up in Maberry and SURPRISE! they really DID have a bottle of Hersheys' chocolate syrup behind the counter. So my vanilla ice cream kid was able to skip the sprinkles and have chocolate syrup instead. She was VERY happy.

Which just goes to show: sometimes all it takes is some chocolate syrup on a bowl of vanilla ice cream and all is right with the world.

Allergens Show Up in the Strangest Spots

As a parent of a child with food allergies I spend a lot of time reading labels.

I'm talking about A LOT OF TIME.

If you happen to see my in the grocery store it's a good bet that you'll find me reading a label.

Food labels are a tough nut to crack sometimes (sorry). There's no rhyme or reason really when it comes to food labeling. Sometimes allergens are listed, sometimes they're not.

The FDA requires that the top eight allergens are listed - milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, wheat, soy, fish, crustacean shellfish - but other than that it's sort of a free for all. There's no real requirement about the whole "manufactured in a facility that processes" labeling.

Which is why parents of kids with food allergies read EVERY SINGLE LABEL.

And if something says "processed in a facility" or "may contain" or anything of that sort and those words are followed by peanuts or tree nuts, it's going to be off limits for Olivia.

The hardest ingredient right now is sesame seed because it doesn't have to be listed at all.

Why?

Because it's NUMBER 9 on the FDA's list of top allergens and only the TOP 8 MUST BE LISTED.

Yep, that's right. There's not a top 10 list of allergens that must be listed - there's a top 8 list. And sesame is number 9.

Things that contain or may contain sesame seeds include bread crumbs, most of the Pepperidge Farm breads, bagels, hummus, Asian food, Mediterranean food, crackers, some pretzels, some chips, and the list goes on.

And it's not always food that is the culprit. Last December I discovered the Lip Smackers brand lip gloss is made with sesame seed oil (WTH?).

So the label reading goes as far as beauty products, lotion, shampoo, makeup, etc.

You just never know where those pesky allergens are going to show up!

Dining Out with Food Allergies

After Olivia was diagnosed with food allergies, our dining out routine changed dramatically.

Gone were the days where we could say "hey, let's try out that new restaurant" without a second thought about the menu.

Now we have a running list of where we can go and where we can't go. Olivia will never eat at Five Guys. She likely won't learn how amazing sushi can be. Hibachi restaurants are off limits. Chick-Fil-A is a no-go. Burger King is off the list.

Why so many "no" restaurants, you ask? Let me explain....

Five Guys fries in peanut oil and has boxes of peanuts at the door. It would be like walking through a mine field. Sushi = sesame seeds which = cross contact. Same with the hibachi restaurants. The last time we ate at one Olivia was sick the rest of the night (this was B.A. - before allergies). Chick-Fil-A also has a peanut oil issue. And have you seen the buns at Burger King? It's sesame seed heaven.

Nope. Nope. And nope.

Now our restaurant routine is more like "Hey, we should go here." To which I normally respond "I'm not sure if it's safe for Olivia. I'll have to call/check the menu."

I'm a big menu reader. And since Olivia's diagnosis my eyes immediately dart to words like "sesame seeds," "coconut shrimp," and "[insert peanut and/or tree nut] encrusted whatever."

Who would have thought that words as innocuous as "sesame," "coconut," "pecans," and "hazelnut" would become my red flag words? 

If we're dining somewhere new the first thing I do is tell the waitress "My daughter has a peanut, tree nut, and sesame seed allergy so please inform the kitchen of this so they can ensure there is no cross contact." I also make sure that the food isn't fried in peanut oil. And if I see things like coconut shrimp on the menu I know we can't order anything fried. The risk just isn't worth it.

Recently on vacation we stopped to dine at a Mexican restaurant in West Virginia and when I asked the waiter if the tortilla chips were fried in peanut oil his response was "Cheese dip?" It took several attempts at asking the same question (and getting the same "cheese dip?" answer) before we learned the chips were safe.

Sometimes food allergies are lost in translation.

We have a running list of "safe" places for Liv here in Toledo (and a list of "no way Jose!" places too). 

We love dining at Ciao! for special occasions like birthdays - they are always receptive to my "allergy instructions." The same is true of Mancy's Italian. Olive Garden is a good spot and Liv recently dined at Red Lobster with her dad and they gave her their "allergy menu" which was pretty awesome.

We frequent our local Fricker's for wings. Subway is a good bet for sandwiches (in turn we avoid the local bagel shop because there are sesame seeds everywhere).

Basically if I walk into a restaurant and tell the waitress/waiter about Olivia's food allergies and they (1) write it down and (2) come back with updates from the chef about what is safe/not safe I am willing to add that spot to our "safe to visit" list.

Of course menus can always change and ingredients can and do change so it's a good idea to ALWAYS tell the servers about Liv's allergies.

And sometimes I need to do some investigation before allowing Olivia to visit a restaurant - including reading the menu if it is online or even visiting in person to see what's what. 

Dining out with food allergies is challenging but it can be done. One of the things I'm going to do with this blog is short reviews of local restaurants with a good/bad rating when it comes to allergies.

Happy dining!

I Scream. You Scream. We All Don't Scream for Ice Cream.

I love ice cream.

Like seriously LOVE it. I could eat ice cream every night - but I don't because I'm trying to lose weight.

Olivia also LOVES ice cream, but it's a sticky and slippery slope when it comes to finding a safe place for her to enjoy her second favorite dessert (chocolate mousse is her first favorite).

Here in Toledo we used to visit a spot called Mr. Freeze - it's a seasonal place, serving soft serve cones and sundaes from March through October. We don't go there anymore because they have a rather prominent sign at the counter that basically says "if you have a peanut or tree nut allergy we don't think it's a good idea for you to eat here."

Another soft serve spot - Melo-Creme - has been better, in that we've visited there once and they wore food service gloves and took out about 10 cones to find a "safe" (read: no cross contact here!) cone for Olivia.

Currently our go-to spot is a little place up in Mayberry (in Sylvania). It's a coffee shop-slash-ice cream shop and for the most part they're good (not great) when it comes to Olivia's allergies.

Their soft serve ice cream is safe and they'll usually open a new box of sprinkles for her. But a kid can only eat so much vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles before it gets really boring!

So the other day Olivia want to change it up a bit - she wanted something different. Which, when you have peanut and tree nut allergies, isn't always easy. Especially when it comes to ice cream. She wanted hot fudge on her vanilla soft serve.

That was a no-go. The hot fudge was processed in a facility that also processes peanut and tree nuts. So, I asked if they had any Hershey's chocolate syrup (since that's a safe option). Nope. No chocolate syrup. The somewhat clueless teenagers behind the counter looked at the different varieties of scoop ice cream and said "we can open a new container of one of these for her."

Um, thanks for the idea but look at the ingredients - 95 percent of the ice cream there has nuts or tree nuts as an ingredient.

Olivia, knowing the ice cream battle was lost, said "I'll just have what I always get." And then she proceeded to eat about 10 bites and threw out the rest.

Ice cream -1, Olivia - 0.

It's very frustrating for Olivia - she used to love to go out for ice cream. Now when we suggest it she rarely wants to go.

Like I said, you can only eat so much vanilla soft serve with sprinkles before it gets really OLD. 

We used to have a Cold Stone Creamery right down the road and we could go in there and they'd know Olivia (it's the peanut allergy girl!) and whoever was working would go to the back, open a brand new cotton candy ice cream, get a clean bowl and scoop, and mix in chocolate shavings and sprinkles for Olivia. Sadly the store closed last year. :( 

I think our favorite ice cream shop is Scammell's Corner Surf Shop and Ice Cream Parlor in Nags Head, North Carolina (in the Outer Banks). Not only does the owner sing as he scoops ice cream but he has ALL THE PEANUT AND TREE NUT FREE ICE CREAM in ONE cooler! It's totally separate from the other ice cream flavors. Pure genius. And, he always uses a clean scoop to scoop out the ice cream. AND he has Hershey's syrup and hot fudge for the ice cream.

I'm not ashamed to say we visited there about four times on our most recent OBX vacation. Also, we totally need a Toledo-based Scammell's. I'm just sayin'.

I wish I could open a totally peanut- and tree nut-free ice cream parlor where we could serve all nut-free and peanut-free ice cream with safe toppings. It could be connected to my nut-free and peanut-free bakery and restaurant.

Safe ice cream and cookies and cakes for everyone!