Our Fave Chicken Soup Recipe

A friend of mine asked me for our chicken soup recipe. Our daughter loves it, and it's allergen free!

Ingredients:
1. whole chicken
2. 1 onion
3. 2 celery sticks
4. 1 carrot (pealed)
5. broccoli (optional)
6. 2 garlic cloves (optional)
7. 2-3 bay leaves
8. pinch of peppercorns
9. salt to taste
10. fresh / dry herbs options: thyme, herbs de provence, or fresh parsley or cilantro all go well (pick one herb of choice)
11. grain options: noodles, quinoa, rice

Preparation:

Wash the chicken and place it in the water and bring to boil. The trick here is to bring it to boil slowly and when you see foam float to the top you have to skim it. This is how you get a really clear broth.  Another option is to quickly bring the chicken to boil and pour that first water out, wash the chicken and put a new batch of water in this way you will avoid the skimming procedure and still have a clear broth. The downfall of the latter option however, is that you may end up with a very watery broth. So I personally prefer the first option especially if you're getting a good chicken.

Once the chicken is simmering and the water is now fully clear from the continuous skimming of the floaty gray matter, add in the onion (whole), the carrot (whole) and celery stalks (whole). Add a bay leaves, whole peppercorns. Let it cook on slow boil until the chicken is fully done. Once the chicken is done, add in chopped broccoli, the grain of choice (i.e. this is either noodles or quinoa or rice) squeezed garlic, herbs and salt to taste. Let it cook a little longer until everything is fully cooked. Turn off and enjoy!

In search for allergy-free sweets

Having severe allergies to items commonly used in baking is a challenge when you crave a treat or when you throw a party for your kid. Of course the surest way is to make your own desert.  For example, in an earlier blog I shared an amazing chocolate cake that we did for our daughter's third birthday.

Another go-to healthy desert is this luxurious chocolate mouse that only takes a few minutes to make.

Ingredients (makes 2-4 servings):
1 avocado
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (make sure to read the package that it's dairy free)
2 tablespoons of honey

Instructions:
Place cleaned avocado and the other above mentioned ingredients in a blender (I love our Vitamix) and let it blend into a rich mouse.

Optionally you can spice it up with cinnamon or chili powder.

Serve:
You can serve it as is or you can put fresh berries (raspberries is my favorite choice) on top.

It's healthy and absolutely delicious.

But I've also been researching places to buy an allergy-free candy when on the go or when time is of the essence or when you want to change things up a bit.

I've come across these links below:
http://www.premiumchocolatiers.com/

• caution: look out for legumes (like Guar gum, e.t.c. if you / your child has a legume allergy)

http://nocownohow.com/
http://www.etherealconfections.com/
http://www.divvies.com/
https://sjaaks.com/
http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/
http://www.chocolatedecadence.com/
http://www.amandasown.com/
http://www.mama-ganache.com/
http://www.grocersdaughter.com/
http://www.rescuechocolate.com/
http://www.chocolateinspirations.com/
http://www.lagustasluscious.com/shop/
http://www.rosecitychocolates.com/

For M&M replacement - check out Whizzers Chocolate Beans (I'm still tracking down how one can buy these in the US, they are UK-native)

Can Food Really Kill?

I haven't been writing for a while..... I needed that space and time to live through, digest, and come to terms with the new reality. The reality that ironically has always been there - just in the shadows.

Can food really kill? It is a paradox that is hard to grasp. When I think of food, I think of nourishment, I think of different tastes and flavors and textures.

But here I am sitting in the doctor’s office, reviewing the blood work results from my daughter’s most recent test.  Her doctor is patiently walking us through each item. He lovingly shares the stories of his other patients. And he hands us the practice epi-pen, so we can have the pen talk us through the application procedure.

It all seems strangely normal somehow. There seems to be no surprises. We know our daughter is allergic to certain proteins. The results at first glance really didn’t uncover anything we didn’t already know. But it is not until the next few days that the results of the test really hit me.  Yes, why should I be surprised? The test didn’t reveal a new allergen. What hits me though is the severity. Yes, I know she can’t have dairy or nuts of any kind or legumes e.t.c. Yes, we haven’t even been cooking with these ingredients for the last three years. I know she can’t even touch these food items, let alone consume. But I never really thought that her reactions to these foods would be off the charts. I never thought that her sensitivity is the highest that it could be.

I’ve read many blogs and stories of other parents and wept reading them. I sympathized with the severity of their children’s allergies.  I felt what they were going through as I thought I was going through the same thing, but only on a non-life threatening level.  I thought that in our case a little Benadryl will do. 

I’ve been convinced that her allergies will go away one day. Yes, I am still totally convinced. I know she will lead a really full, beautiful, happy and long life. I know she will make her mark on this world. She will touch a lot of people with her radiance, kindness, compassion, and intelligence.

No one prepares you to hear the news that Benadryl and nebulizer may not be enough… no one prepares you for a blood test result that states that your daughter’s numbers in terms of severity of allergies  are off the charts for food groups that are present in so many products.

It’s something I’ve read about. My heart has wept for the children whose life was in real danger. How can food kill?

I felt like I’ve been mourning to a certain extent as the test results are sinking in. Yes, nothing changed. But internally, I have an eruption of emotions. The thought of how it will all work when she needs to start school, the thought of her teenage years, the thoughts that all need to be banished. And I can’t help but feel that she understands everything….

Talking about it doesn’t make it better, unless you’re talking about it with a purpose. The purpose of changing something to help a child like her. I know that unless one lives through the same thing themselves, they won’t understand. Yes they’ll sympathize, perhaps they’ll even offer up advice or site an article they read…but you know they’ll never truly relate. It’s like losing a close loved one – if you haven’t lived through it, you just can’t live through it through someone else. Writing is my panacea. Spilling my thoughts and my fillings on paper, seem to absorb the impact.

Eating Out Can Be More Complicated Than You Think

Even though eating out may be a more convenient and easier option for someone without any dietary restrictions, having allergies makes things a bit more complicated.

When you eliminate the obvious ingredients such as for example creamed sauces for someone with a dairy allergy and check that desert doesn't have nuts for someone with nut allergy you think you're done.... think again!

A great example of some really deceitful items that can give you a reaction are things like steamed vegetables, steaks, and even things like vegetable spring roll. How could this be? Well, in many restaurants, after they steam the veggies they sprinkle them with melted butter.  Similarly, butter on steak is very common during preparation.  And for the spring roll case - what if it was fried in sesame oil.  Now you see how seemingly benign dishes can become a hazard.

Furthermore, what is most interesting is the lack of familiarity and awareness of the severity of allergens from most restaurant staff.  I do have to admit, that I'm very lucky to live in NYC and I find that the staff in NYC tend to be more informed than some other places around the country.

As an example, we had a little ski get-away and we stayed in a very nice resort near Camelback. When we were at dinner, we asked the waiter to just boil some plain pasta with tomato sauce asking them to check with the kitchen to make sure that there is no butter during the preparation of the pasta or the sauce due to our daughter's dairy allergy. We've also offered them an alternative of just plain boiled pasta and olive oil on the side in case the tomato sauce is prepared with butter.  The waiter seemed to understand the situation.  Minutes later they brought the pasta, with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  This is just one example....

And in case you're wondering, yes, we bring a thermos along with our daughter's meals everywhere we go and when we go on family vacations, we stay in places with a kitchen.  We find that to be the most stress-free way to go.

But in case we are going out, we stick to Japanese restaurants, genuine Italian / Spanish, or seafood places.  In a Japanese restaurant at least you know you're most likely good on the dairy side. Similarly in genuine Italian / Spanish places olive oil is the oil of choice, and seafood - well our daughter just loves it so you can't go wrong with say some grilled octopus or fish. Lucky for us, she's not allergic to shellfish.

I hope that one day, the wait staff and importantly the chefs will be fully trained and aware of the ingredients that go into the food that is prepared in the kitchen.  There are a number of initiatives that are being worked on to improve the awareness factor, please see below:
http://www.foodallergy.org/advocacy/restaurants

Also, I found the results of the study done in 2010 that concluded that 90% of managers, wait staff and chefs expressed varying degrees of "comfort" in providing a safe meal for customers with food allergies:
http://allergicliving.com/2010/07/02/restaurants-and-allergies-study-reveals-dangers/

Shout out to Sean Parker

I couldn't resist but share this!
http://allergicliving.com/2014/12/17/tech-mogul-sean-parker-pledges-24-million-to-find-allergy-cure/

I'm so happy that this money is going to Dr. Kari Nadeau (http://nadeaulab.stanford.edu/). I've mentioned her as my inspiration on this journey of allergic living.  She is self-less, persistent, and passionate!

I'm looking forward to coming publications out of the studies that will be sponsored with this donation!

Shaking off the old beliefs on safety of eating

Talking to my own parents and in-laws it takes some convincing to remind them that "no she can't have yogurt" she has a dairy allergy and "no, tzatziki sauce" still does not qualify as an item their grand-daughter can eat. And "no, even if you did't use butter in the recipe" for that yummy dinner role, but you put some on top to brown it in the oven, "she can't have it"....

I feel like after three years of consistent reminders and education of my own family members, we can leave her with one of her grandmothers only and even so, I wouldn't be too comfortable with this being more than perhaps a day (this is besides myself, my husband, and her nanny - all of use live and breath this every day).

I think it comes from two main underlying reasons:

(1) the older generation hasn't really experienced it, so they can't comprehend it as real and the fact that it could be life-threatening is just a tough concept to grasp,

(2) there isn't enough awareness and education, so it is still very much a concept limited to those suffering from allergies or interacting with the sufferers closely.

As crazy as it sounds, but the first instance of a peanut allergy has been recorded in 1920 (according the the Peanut Allergy Answer Book). First case of sesame allergy was recorded in 1950 (http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=107&title=sesame_allergy). It was only in 2008 that the CDC has released it's first federal study focused on childhood allergies (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.pdf).

Therefore, literally a generation ago, allergies have been virtually unheard of....

Now, fast forward to today:
http://www.foodallergy.org/facts-and-stats

How Many People Have Food Allergies?

• Researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans have food allergies.
• This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children (under 18 years of age) in the U.S. That’s roughly two in every classroom.
• The economic cost of children’s food allergies is nearly $25 billion per year.

Food Allergies on the Rise

• According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.
• The number of people who have a food allergy is growing, but there is no clear answer as to why.
• Researchers are trying to discover why food allergies are on the rise in developed countries worldwide, and to learn more about the impact of the disease in developing nations. More than 17 million Europeans have a food allergy, and hospital admissions for severe reactions in children have risen seven-fold over the past decade, according to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

This is quite scary, since we don't have a full understanding of the cause or cure.  We are making hypothesis. Some tie it GMO, some tie to to environmental pollution, some tie to to us becoming too clean, some tie it to vaccinations but we're still searching for answers.

Two things we do know, that if your parents had it you're more likely to have it. That means that we will continue to multiply our allergy statistics on a catastrophic scale. And the second thing we know is that there is no cure... yet.

Are we our own worst enemy? Are we on a path to self-destruction by messing with nature? Will we ever find out? And if so, will we find out when it's too late to reverse the process?

Beware of the Headlines

The recent news explosion in the allergy world titled:

Landmark Study May Change How We Feed Peanut Butter To Infants

High-Risk Infants Fed Peanuts Developed Allergy At Lower Rate Than Other 

Babies - Study May Pave Way for New Prevention Strategies

http://community.kidswithfoodallergies.org/blog/landmark-study-may-change-how-we-feed-peanut-butter-to-infants-to-prevent-peanut-allergy

Reading these headlines, one may think that the allergy problems have been solved. But when we read the article further we come across the following sentence.

“First, every child in this study underwent skin prick testing and physician -supervised oral challenge towards peanut before eating it at home for the first time. About 10% of possible study participants were deemed too risky to enroll due to the large size (greater than 4 millimeter) of their skin test,” he noted.

So yes, the results are great and very encouraging for the children who are either negative (i.e. were not allergic to peanuts in the first place, but had eczema and perhaps another dietary allergy) or those who were moderately positive and hence at risk of developing a full on peanut allergy. However, for the children who already had an allergy this is not the right way to go.

There is current research work underway by certain exceptional people to try to solve the allergy problem for the children who have an allergy from the time they are born. Something myself as well as many other parents unfortunately have seen since birth. When my daughter was born, she was exclusively breastfed, but she started having reactions and I started noting what I eat. So by the time she was eligible for an allergy test at 6-months, I already knew what her allergies were and the test results were just a confirmation. By then, I've already eliminated all of those triggers from my own diet. This is not a unique story, this is a story that I've heard from a number of other moms.  This really points to the fact that we need to re-write all of our books when it comes to feeding.

However, something that we did was when my daughter got a bit older, I can't recall the exact age, but would guess about 11-12 months. What I started doing is introducing one food item at a time to my diet for a week. If all goes well, I would give it to her directly the following week. She did outgrow a number of her former allergies, but there are still certain ones that had given her the most severe reaction, which are still an issue.  The next step is trying them in cooked form. But of course, this is all under supervision both my own and her allergist.  There are also more tests available today that can help break down the components further.  I think slowly but surely, we'll tackle them one by one. But it is not a simple process and nothing is guaranteed.

Some truly inspirational work that I've come across has been done by Dr. Kari Nadeau, a must-read NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/can-a-radical-new-treatment-save-children-with-severe-allergies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Link to her Research Page:

http://nadeaulab.stanford.edu/research.html

She truly is my hero. And has been my inspiration in the whole process. She is very open about the difficulty of Immunotherapy to foods both on the medical as well as financial / political side.  Dr. Nadeau went without salary for 3 years to conduct her studies, because funding for research was minimal compared to the typical drug company-sponsored research. 

Just to give you a sense of the magnitude of her undertaking and the precision of the allergen doses required for immunotherapy, I'm posting this excerpt:

Nadeau experimented with blood samples of allergic patients and was encouraged to see that the allergens seemed not to interact with one another. She consulted with senior colleagues in the field to see if anyone would collaborate on a multiallergen study, but no one was interested. Scientifically the results would be harder to interpret than single-allergen trials. Moreover, each allergen would require getting separate F.D.A. approval, and it was difficult to get even one application approved. When she found herself home sick in bed with a virus for a few days in 2011, she decided she would “knock them all out” and wrote 13 Investigational New Drug Applications, each 90 or so pages long, and soon received F.D.A. approval for each one.

Even more daunting was the question of how to finance the study. Each child would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to treat annually, and treatment could take several years. Flour would have to be manufactured from the proteins of each allergen to prepare precisely measured, minute doses, and it would have to meet the high purity standard for drugs.