The holiday's can be challenging for families living with food allergies. Creating a safe environment, most of the time, means hosting all food events. For my house it also means asking everyone to wash their hands upon arrival and taking off their shoes. There's always that hidden worry that someone ate milk proteins before coming over and there's a morsel lingering on their clothes. But we do what we have to do to keep our family and friend relationships moving on the same path. It's so much easier to isolate your child and yourself but at what cost? Altering family recipes with safe ingredients has to happen because really what's a family recipe when all of the family can't enjoy it? We are so truly blessed to have a family that tries their best and makes things possible for us to be so close. If we can't get through to the one's who love us then how can we expect the rest of the world to listen?
Have you ever looked at a map of the world, all laid out in front you, and thought, "hmmm...where to go?" Even if you are an adventurous, free-spirited person, food allergies have a way of paralyzingly our curiosity through fear. The constant need to have to be aware of all of our surroundings, naturally develops into taking less unnecessary trips; Always packing our own food and knowing the specific details of the environments we plan to enter ahead of time. The lack of general knowledge of food allergies in the public can force us into creating our own safety bubble. It's a cause and effect reaction that can force families with very severe food allergies to first, find themselves excluded, and then inevitably, because of their previous absence, not given any consideration. People and the public, in general, can become a safety hazard. To make matters even more difficult and suspect, food itself becomes a weapon because of cross contamination, poor labeling, and very l...
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