Follow this link to receive a free asthma storybook for elementary age children from Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) and Schering-Plough!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Book Give-Away!
Be sure to stop by the Food Allergy Association of Wisconsin blog for your chance to win a new children's food allergy book! The Bugabees was written by a local author who wrote the book for her daughter who has food allergies.
The 20th person to leave a comment at http://foodallergywisconsin.blogspot.com/ will win a free book!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Blueberry Muffins
Each year our elementary school celebrates Mother's Day by inviting all the mom's to join their child for a quick breakfast at the beginning of the school day...otherwise known as "Muffins For Moms". Brody was very excited to have me come to school with him for this event, so I asked what kind of muffin he would like me to make for him to bring along. It was a tough decision between Banana, Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon, etc...but he finally decided on Blueberry!
Blueberry Muffins (milk, egg, peanut & tree nut free!)
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour (I like to use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup rice milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup frozen blueberries
Topping:
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp dairy-free margarine, room temperature
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups. In large bowl combine 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, lemon juice, rice milk, and applesauce. Mix until thoroughly combined. In small bowl toss blueberries with remaining 2 Tbsp flour just to coat (prevents from sinking), then fold them into batter gently. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling half full. Set aside.
To Prepare Topping: In separate small bowl, stir sugar, margarine, cinnamon and nutmeg with a fork until crumbly. Spoon evenly over each muffin before baking.
Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
Top 10 List
In honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week, food allergy author Linda Coss has released her list of the top 10 things that parents of children with life-threatening food allergies want:
#10: Delicious and Easy Recipes - For those who must eliminate multiple and/or common ingredients, cooking can be an enormous challenge.
#9: To Be Able to Easily Dine Out - We understand that it is not easy to prepare allergen-free food in the typical busy restaurant kitchen. But it would be nice if we could easily get correct answers regarding what's in the food.
#8: Nut-Free Flights - Airlines cannot control the food brought on board a flight by their passengers, but why must they serve little bags of peanuts? How about crackers, pretzels, raisins, licorice, tortilla chips, or just about any other popular snack food?
#7: Empowered EMTs - In many parts of the country emergency medical technicians do not carry - and are forbidden from administering - potentially life-saving shots of epinephrine. This is ridiculous.
#6: Appropriate ER Protocols - Because up to 40-50% of severe reactions are biphasic, those who go to the hospital for treatment should always be kept under observation for at least 5 hours. Unfortunately many emergency rooms discharge these patients as soon as they first stabilize.
#5: Understanding - We want the people in our lives to understand that we are not a bunch of paranoid hysterical oddballs who are making all of this up for the purpose of calling attention to ourselves and our children. Life-threatening food allergies are a very real condition. And yes, we really do have to take a lot of precautions to keep our kids safe.
#4: Knowledge - Currently the only treatment for life-threatening food allergies is complete avoidance of the offending allergens. Since food, and food residue, is everywhere, parents want to know exactly how to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. What steps do they need to take? What hidden dangers do they need to avoid?
#3: Clear Labels on Packaged Food Products - If there is a chance that a product may contain an allergen that is not included in the ingredient label, the package should say so. But if not, companies should not put "may contain" verbiage on the package.
#2: Safe School Environments - Our kids are not learning disabled and do not need "special education." But they do need a school environment that is not covered with allergenic food residue, and teachers who are prepared to recognize and treat an allergic reaction.
#1: A Cure - Most of all, we want a cure. A real cure - the type of cure that would result in our children being able to eat whatever they wanted to eat, without any risk of an adverse reaction.
Ms. Coss is the author of "How to Manage Your Child's Life-Threatening Food Allergies," as well as two popular food allergy cookbooks, "What's to Eat?" and "What Else is to Eat?" - both of which provide recipes for cooking without dairy, egg, peanut or tree nut ingredients. All three books are available at www.FoodAllergyBooks.com, at Amazon.com, and at various retailers nationwide.
#10: Delicious and Easy Recipes - For those who must eliminate multiple and/or common ingredients, cooking can be an enormous challenge.
#9: To Be Able to Easily Dine Out - We understand that it is not easy to prepare allergen-free food in the typical busy restaurant kitchen. But it would be nice if we could easily get correct answers regarding what's in the food.
#8: Nut-Free Flights - Airlines cannot control the food brought on board a flight by their passengers, but why must they serve little bags of peanuts? How about crackers, pretzels, raisins, licorice, tortilla chips, or just about any other popular snack food?
#7: Empowered EMTs - In many parts of the country emergency medical technicians do not carry - and are forbidden from administering - potentially life-saving shots of epinephrine. This is ridiculous.
#6: Appropriate ER Protocols - Because up to 40-50% of severe reactions are biphasic, those who go to the hospital for treatment should always be kept under observation for at least 5 hours. Unfortunately many emergency rooms discharge these patients as soon as they first stabilize.
#5: Understanding - We want the people in our lives to understand that we are not a bunch of paranoid hysterical oddballs who are making all of this up for the purpose of calling attention to ourselves and our children. Life-threatening food allergies are a very real condition. And yes, we really do have to take a lot of precautions to keep our kids safe.
#4: Knowledge - Currently the only treatment for life-threatening food allergies is complete avoidance of the offending allergens. Since food, and food residue, is everywhere, parents want to know exactly how to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. What steps do they need to take? What hidden dangers do they need to avoid?
#3: Clear Labels on Packaged Food Products - If there is a chance that a product may contain an allergen that is not included in the ingredient label, the package should say so. But if not, companies should not put "may contain" verbiage on the package.
#2: Safe School Environments - Our kids are not learning disabled and do not need "special education." But they do need a school environment that is not covered with allergenic food residue, and teachers who are prepared to recognize and treat an allergic reaction.
#1: A Cure - Most of all, we want a cure. A real cure - the type of cure that would result in our children being able to eat whatever they wanted to eat, without any risk of an adverse reaction.
Ms. Coss is the author of "How to Manage Your Child's Life-Threatening Food Allergies," as well as two popular food allergy cookbooks, "What's to Eat?" and "What Else is to Eat?" - both of which provide recipes for cooking without dairy, egg, peanut or tree nut ingredients. All three books are available at www.FoodAllergyBooks.com, at Amazon.com, and at various retailers nationwide.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Ninja Boy- The Ups and Downs
Brody graduated to his red-stripe belt in karate last week! Only 3 more belts to go until he gets his black belt!! 
Obviously that was the Upper, now for the Downer...We were just told a few days ago that Karate America Portage was closing it's doors for good this week. Brody and the other kids from his karate class are all brokenhearted, yet determined to keep working towards their black belts. We are looking into our options at other karate schools, but unfortunately it will mean traveling farther than Portage. Luckily Brody is busy practicing hard for the school talent show try-outs (karate form to music), so that is keeping him focused right now. Hopefully we will find a good fit for a new karate school soon!
Bleach Baths for Eczema Treatment
Recently a study was done looking at the role of bleach baths in the treatment of atopic dermatitis (eczema). Click HERE to view the entire article.
"The treated group had improvements in several eczema scores compared to the untreated group, with improvements only seen in the body (submerged in the bleach baths) and not the head and neck. For example, compared to baseline, after three months the treated group had on average 24% less of their body affected by rash compared to a 3% improvement in the placebo group."
When Brody was younger his eczema was so out of control that his entire body was red, scaly and constantly itchy. Both our allergist and dermatologist suggested adding bleach to Brody's bath water twice a week to try to help kill the bacteria on the skin to reduce the chance of infection. Also, swimming in a chlorinated pool weekly was recommended. At first the thought of adding bleach to my little guy's bath water seemed like it would be torture on his already extremely
sensitive skin, but actually we found it to be quite soothing for him. Luckily Brody's eczema is under much better control now, but next time an eczema flare rears it's ugly head we definitely won't hesitate to pull the bleach out again!
"The treated group had improvements in several eczema scores compared to the untreated group, with improvements only seen in the body (submerged in the bleach baths) and not the head and neck. For example, compared to baseline, after three months the treated group had on average 24% less of their body affected by rash compared to a 3% improvement in the placebo group."
When Brody was younger his eczema was so out of control that his entire body was red, scaly and constantly itchy. Both our allergist and dermatologist suggested adding bleach to Brody's bath water twice a week to try to help kill the bacteria on the skin to reduce the chance of infection. Also, swimming in a chlorinated pool weekly was recommended. At first the thought of adding bleach to my little guy's bath water seemed like it would be torture on his already extremely
sensitive skin, but actually we found it to be quite soothing for him. Luckily Brody's eczema is under much better control now, but next time an eczema flare rears it's ugly head we definitely won't hesitate to pull the bleach out again!Friday, May 1, 2009
Vote for Trixie!
Last month the boys wanted to enter Trixie's picture into the Hotel For Dogs Cutest Dog Contest at our local Family Video store...and she won! Now her picture is automatically entered into the National Cutest Dog Contest. Online voting begins today and will end May 8th.
There are lots of cute doggie entries (about 430 I believe!), but we would really appreciate it if you would vote for Trixie! http://contest.familyvideo.com/entries#3421
There are lots of cute doggie entries (about 430 I believe!), but we would really appreciate it if you would vote for Trixie! http://contest.familyvideo.com/entries#3421
Thank You!
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