Lending Library

Due to a generous FAAN grant, we now have a lending library for our support group.
Here are the titles that are available:

• Preparing for Camp and Overnight School Trips 
• Letting Go: Teaching Children Responsibility 
• "Food Allergies for Dummies" by Dr. Robert Wood 
• Nutrition Guide to Food Allergies 
• Childcare & Preschool Guide with DVD 
• School Food Allergy Program 
• "The BugaBees Friends With Food Allergies" by Amy Recob
• "The Peanut-Free Café" by Gloria Koster 

If you are interested in borrowing any of these materials, please leave a comment here or on our Facebook page, specifying the item you would like to borrow. 

Please feel free to add any allergy-related materials to the library. 

FAAN Reduced Annual Membership Fee

If you have been thinking about joining FAAN, now it is a great time to do it. They are offering a 30% discount, as long as you are a support group member. That brings the membership fee down to $35/year.

Benefits of membership include:

• Food Allergy News: Packed with practical tips for managing food allergies, allergen-free recipes, nutrition information, the latest food allergy research, and much more.
• Food Allergy News for Kids: Loaded with games, tips, education, and fun activities for children who have food allergies.
• Discounts on everything FAAN has to offer: events, products, books, and more

There is a new feature for members only: you can e-mail questions at member@foodallergy.org. Every month answers will be posted from a special guest in the Members Only section of the FAAN website.

Remember, you have to join a local support group in order to qualify for the discount. The offer ends June 24, 2011.

Food Allergies Workshop Wednesday, May 18

Good Earth Market will be hosting a workshop titled "Food Allergies - Are They Real?" Wednesday, May 18, at 6:00PM. The speaker is Dr. Deborah Angersbach from the Yellowstone Naturopathic Clinic.

Here is the description posted on GEM's website: "Food allergies – are they real? How can you find out if you have them, and if you do, what do you do about them? In this talk, Dr. Angersbach will explain about different types of food allergies and intolerances, and what symptoms are associated with them. We will go over what testing is available, and what can be done to treat and heal the GI tract."

Although I completely disagree with the title, I have no doubt that the workshop will be interesting and informative.

Good Earth Market is located at 3024 2nd Ave N, Billings, MT 59101.

Food Allergy Awareness Week: May 8-14

FAAW 2011 has arrived. It is time to accelerate our efforts and spread the word about food allergies. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) website offers many resources to help raise awareness: flyers, various presentations, brochures, and posters, all aimed at different age groups and segments of the population.

Remember, understanding your or your child's food allergies is essential, but it is NOT enough. Educating others is just as important. Get out there and spread the word in any way you can. Put a flyer up at work or at school, hand out brochures when you're with friends and family. The more people around you understand why and what you do, and how serious food allergies are, the safer your environment will be.

Have a great week!

Keeping Up With Recalled Products

As an allergy mom, I try to stay informed and be aware of safety recalls involving food items, cosmetics, and drugs that we might currently use or have stored in our cabinets. FDA offers several ways to stay updated. You can sign up to have recalls e-mailed to your inbox, subscribe to their RSS feed, download an app for your Android phone, add a widget to your website and/or blog, or follow them on Twitter. Whichever you choose, I'm sure you will find it useful. You will be surprised by how many recalls there are every single week, many of them involving undeclared allergens.

No Child Left Behind....Let's Hope!

If you are familiar with the Edgewater Elementary story and are interested in supporting the allergic girl and her family, there is now a support page on Facebook and a mass e-mailing campaign is planned for this coming Monday, March 28. Please show your support by joining the group. There is not much else we can do for them right now.

The 2011 American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting

The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting is currently underway in San Francisco. Food allergies are, of course, among the many topics that are being discussed. I have been following the #AAAAI hashtag, @utahallergy, and @allergistmommy (she is a must-follow, by the way) on Twitter and thought I'd share some of the things I learned.

• Sensitization alone is not sufficient for diagnosis of food allergy. Diagnosis should be based on a combination of sensitization (blood tests) and clinical symptoms.
• There is insufficient evidence to recommend dietary modification/restrictions from allergens during pregnancy. In high risk food allergy families, peanut may be a notable exception.
• Peanut and sesame oils may contain trace amounts of protein (depending on how they are processed), so should be avoided.
• Those who tolerate baked milk are more likely to outgrow their allergy, and faster than those who don't.
• Approximately 75% of children with food allergy will tolerate heated egg or milk.
• As moms, we do our very best for our children. Please never blame yourself for child's allergy. INCREDIBLY complicated. (I particularly appreciated this comment since I keep asking myself what I could have done better/different to prevent my child's allergies.)

There are many more on Twitter. I have mentioned only a few to give you an idea of the valuable content you can find there.