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Healthier Food Allergy Awareness Week!

Good day food allergy families and family members! It's Food Allergy Awareness week, so I wanted to share some intriguing and magnificent news that I've learned in hopes to educate and support others. 

*ALLERGIES INSPIRE HEALTH

As a "food allergy mom" to a child with a milk allergy (among other new ones), I've learned more about food than I ever thought I'd have an interest to. Removing your child and family from the billion dollar milk BIG BUSINESS industry has changed our lives. As most people look at us with pity and bewilderment about how a human can survive without milk, we find ourselves soaring into unchartered territory and thriving! We've learned so much about the food industry that has completely changed our lives ...for the better. It's a one way road to the effect that once you learn something, you can never "unlearn" it. In fact, the challenges that food allergy families face come more from lack of compassion toward safety, unwillingness to change when around us, and isolation from others because of food. I've always said "food shouldn't trump humanity", but as most of us have experienced, in general, it does. THAT is the biggest struggle that my household faces.  

We have all gotten healthier, more aware of what we're actually eating, and thinking on our own --instead of simply trusting marketing campaigns. We can clearly see the once blurry lines between actual healthy and the disguise of it for financial gain.


*DISCOVER YOUR OWN PATH

We used to be of mainstream mindset and think " how is our daughter going to get calcium without milk?" Did you know there's calcium in fruits and veggies? Nuts, mushrooms, and majorly in sesame seeds? Calcium is in just so many naturally untouched foods, there just hasn't been any big business marketing campaigns informing us, so it goes virtually unknown. Calcium chews, if they aren't milk containing, or subject to cross contamination from shared conveyor belts, aren't easily absorbable. It's always better to get the vitamin from the source, not the processed form of it. We all know, or should, that vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium. I've spent years searching for allergen safe supplements for multivitamins, calcium, and vitamin D. The truth is that with a whole foods diet and some natural supplements like coral calcium and bee pollen, none of that is needed! 


*OUR JOURNEY MAY HELP YOURS

I've found what works for us and so I wanted to share, in the event that some of you may still be figuring things out. I want to help ease the transition into becoming a food allergy family. Food allergies are treated by avoidance and the diagnosis is a family diagnoses. Taking this on as a family unit connects you deeply with trust, support and better health. I'm more than just mommy. My daughter trusts that I'll keep her safe from the milky world surrounding us. Think about that for 1 minute and you'll see that's a really big deal! She is unusually and severely allergic allergic to milk through ingestion, physical contact, and airborne exposures, so we've had some extremely scary days together. 


*FAMILY UNIT

For us, it's the invisible things that are the worst assailants. For everything, she's been through that has potentially threatened her very life- she knows we have protocols in place to remove risks. We do as much open- aired living as we can, she wears her "allergy leggings" and "allergy gloves", and we steer clear of people who have shown by their actions time and time again that they simply don't understand how to not compromise her life. Although we don't judge them, it does become reckless for them to be around her if they are unwilling to learn how to do it safely. It does affect relationships with family and friends. That is another great resource that Food Allergy Resources & Mentoring (FARM) provides. Food allergies affect the entire family unit, and each member will face obstacles to adjust. Doing this with grace and togetherness is learned.


*BREAKFAST FOR CHAMPIONS 

Sophia's breakfast daily is a smoothie. My whole family loves strawberries so the smoothie usually consists of organic frozen strawberries,  one banana, organic-Non GMO non-dairy milk (we rotate between hemp, almond, coconut, rice) chia seeds, coral calcium, and Raw Vitamin Code probiotics, a scoop of LifeTime Non GMO Plant Protein and then raw honey. Based on our whole food diet that she is accustomed to, to her,  breakfast is a treat. This naturally sweet treat is chalk full of nutrients. More nutrition than what an average American eats in a whole day for nutrition. It takes me less than 5 minutes to make the shake for our entire family's breakfast. 
I wanted to share a glimpse of our lifestyle and our breakfast to enlighten and share how amazing it is For kids with food allergies to learn whole food diets. And, how easy and delicious it is! 
I'm just sharing what works for us, please feel free to share what works for you. We have many new members of this group- all at different stages of adapting to life with food allergies. Next time I'll share our green juice after lunch daily with kale and bee pollen AND kid approved!

Here's some incredible information about a great source of calcium....

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