Peanut Allergy at School - Watch out for the Friendly Fire

So, I take Conor to school today. No, this is not the school that Cruella runs, but our local little pre-school in our new small town neighborhood. I love this pre-school, and everyone is very nice and really does try to accommodate Conor to the best of their abilities. Yes, as I know to well, sending a child to school with food allergies, and especially a life threatening peanut allergy is fraught with danger. I thought I had dealt with the enemy




but instead forgot to always watch out for the friendly fire.

As I walked in the door of the school I saw a small can of almonds sitting on a table with a tag nicely stating "take one" Thankfully it was almonds and not peanuts, or I would probably have had a breakdown right then. If there was a picture of Mr. Peanut on the can, I surely would have been a blubbering sobbing mess. But lucky for us all it was only almonds. My first thought was to take the can, run out the door, run over to the local cliffs, and launch it out as far as I could into the ocean. Then of course my disturbed little mind thought "oh no, what if they got on the beach, and some poor unsuspecting nut allergic child got a hold of them and had a reaction. I could never forgive myself.

So I took a few deep cleansing breaths and walked over to our new school director.

(Lets call him Doc the Dwarf from the Seven Dwarfs to protect his identity

Anyways, I calmly walked over to Doc with the can of nuts in my hand and politely said "can I ask you a favor?" Of course in my mind was the thought "You stupid idiot!!! How dare you endanger my child by leaving this poison out here for anyone to get at!!!! What were you thinking??? #@###!!@#&*&^^&^&**(((&^%$^&*((#$$#!!"

Doc responds in his authoritative yet misguided way, "why of course, any favor you need" I asked him to please remove the nuts from the table and preferably the wonderful establishment as soon as possible because they could possibly harm my sweet little boy. Doc apologized profusely, and let me remove the offending allergy evil from the school. His last comment to me as I left for the day was, "Don't worry, we will get better at his with practice."

So just a reminder allergy friends. Always watch out for friendly fire.

Restaurants and Food Allergies - Places We Eat, Places We Don't, Places We Wish We Could

Over the weekend my husband Mick asked the repeated question he frequently ask..."Is there anywhere else we can possibly eat besides McDonalds. AGAIN!!" Dining out with food allergies, and especially life threatening peanut allergies is a tricky proposition. I knew I had all sorts of random information on my computer about eating out with food allergies, but had not centralized all of our exciting web friendly restaurant options in one list of allergy friendly restaurants. So everyone, here it is. Places we eat, places we don't and places we wish we could.



Conor's peanut allergy is anaphalytic, so I generally only take him to completely peanut free restaurants. I have a friend who works at one of these restaurants and one night she told me what she thought was a very funny story. This is a sit down restaurant with a separate kitchen, chef and waiter, etc. Anyways, a little boy ordered a hot fudge sundae for his dessert. When he took a bite he told his mother it tasted strange. The mother tasted it, and immediately called over the waiter. Apparently someone in the kitchen had accidentally put teriyaki sauce on the ice cream instead of fudge. Yikes!! This put fear into my little heart. If you can put teriyaki sauce on ice cream, how can I be sure you won't accidentally cross contaminate my son's food despite the fact that I have repeatedly told you about his life threatening peanut allergy.. I figure the only way to be somewhat safe is to have a peanut free restaurant. Then it would be hard (but not impossible) to make this sort of mistake.



Thankfully Conor is not as sensitive to egg, so I am not as concerned about eating out with his egg allergy. I really have no clue how those of you dealing with more serious egg, milk, etc allergies survive. I have trouble just dealing with what is on our plate. (pun intended)

A &W Restaurants
http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_aw.asp

Arbys
http://www.arbys.com/nutrition/

Burger King
http://www.bk.com/ –

Look for nutrition page has clear allergen info

Chipotle
http://www.chipotle.com/Chipotle_Allergen_Card.pdf
I love Chipotle. It is one of my many peanut free restaurant options. They also are egg free, and no fish free. Since we only have peanut and egg allergies it is one of the few places we can go into, and Conor can eat anything on the menu. Also it is not so fast food yucky, and they have great burritos and chips. Sometimes I even go there alone, just because I like the food, and not because it is the only safe option.

Chuck E Cheese
http://www.chuckecheese.com/menu/allergy-information.php

I was surprised to discover that Chuck E. is actually within our comfort zone. Although it is not my favorite place in the world we went quite a few times over the years. Thankfully recently Conor is deathly afraid of that big scary looking mouse guy, so we have not been in a while. One of the last times we were there, Chucky just seemed a little off. Kids were following him around trying to say hi, and Chucky just wanted to play video games. He is kind of a scary looking mouse......Then I started really looking at those sort of distorted pictures of kids on the walls, and all the lights, loud noises and blinking games, and I started to get a little freaked out myself.

Chili's
http://www.brinker.com/gr/allergens/Chilis%20Allergen.PDF

Dunkin Doughnuts
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/nutrition/

Domino's Pizza
http://www.dominos.com/home/menu/dominos_nutrition.pdf

Believe it or not, we now live in an area that Dominos pizza does not deliver to. Can you believe it???? What is this world coming to? Western civilization as we know it is breaking down. We live within 30 or so miles of San Francisco, but no Dominos Pizza here. Before we moved to this Domino's devoid area, we felt it was safe and ordered from them quite a bit.

Jack in the Box
http://www.jackinthebox.com/ourfood/ingredients.php

In and Out Burger http://www.in-n-out.com/
Although they have no ingredient information on their website, I have previously emailed them, and was told there were a peanut free restaurants. The only potential danger was the milk shakes, as they could not verify the source they came from to be free of cross contamination. I have heard that as far as fast food restaurant chains go they are very allergy aware, and have even called people in response to email inquiries. We also eat here way too much, and have never had a problem.

Kentucky Fried Chicken
http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_kfc.asp

Krispy Kreme
http://www.krispykreme.com/nutri.html
We used to go here when we thought Conor was only allergic to nuts. WoooHooo peanut free doughnuts. It is a great safe dessert option if you are only dealing with nut allergies.
INGREDIENT INFORMATION
The only animal by-products used in our doughnuts are eggs (whites and yolks) and dairy products (including milk, butter, yogurt, whey, nonfat milk and nonfat whey). Our doughnuts are cooked in zero grams trans fat shortening (palm, soybean, and/or cottonseed and canola oil). All monoglycerides and diglycerides are vegetable based. Enzymes are also present. The lecithin we use is soy based. We also use wheat in our doughnuts, including bran, germ, gluten, starch and flour. Our products may contain allergens. To get further information about our products call us at 1-800-4KRISPY.

Macaroni Grill
http://www.brinker.com/gr/allergens/mac%20allergen.pdf

McDonalds
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.htmlindex.html I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with McDonalds. I love that they are within our comfort zone and we can get safe ice cream and hot fudge sundaes there. I hate most of the food there, and the way they can get my children to beg to go there simply to get the ever exciting Happy Meal toy. Yes, we spend way, way, way to much time at McDonalds. Just be careful if the person at the table next to you happens to open up the sealed package of peanuts with a careless disregard for the peanut allergic.

Outback Steakhouse
http://www.outback.com/foodandmenus/nutritionalinfo.aspx

Papa Johns http://www.papajohns.com/menu/faqs.htm

Pizza Hut
http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_ph.asp

Quiznos
http://www.quiznos.com/menu/files/allergen_table.pdf

Quiznos has a wonderfully clear allergy table that clearly lays out all the foods that are peanut free, egg free, etc. We have actually never eaten there before, but it appears that they have a peanut free restaurant. Next time we are in the neighborhood we will have to stop by and try it out.

Subway

http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/index.aspx

Taco Bell http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_tb.asp

Taco Bell also appears to have no nuts on their restaurant menu. They also have a great clear allergy page. This is another exciting option for us that I had not really checked into before. Also near where we live is a Taco Bell right on the ocean. It is supposed to have the best view for any fast food restaurant. Ever!!! I know where we are going next time someone is in town for a nice dinner out.

Wendys
http://www.wendys.com/food/Menu.jsp

Blogs
Yes, that is right, someone has actually started a blog dedicated entirely to eating out with food allergies. This blog writer is my hero!! While I love to provide useful information, I also love to write little bizarre antidotes about fictional characters like Mr. Peanut or Mr. Food allergy. She has lists of restaurants in different cities around the country, chains and fast food restaurants with actual quotes from the web sites about their food allergy policies. Go check it out!! It is awesome!!!!.

Can I Eat There
A blog entirely dedicated to eating out with food allergies.
http://canieatthere.blogspot.com/2008/01/national-chains-dine-in.html

People with food allergies should contact restaurants or companies directly to confirm allergen information. Allergy sufferers should check all ingredients before eating, every time. Comments from the Peanut Free Gallery, its authors and contributors, are not responsible for how this information is used or any allergic reactions that occur as a result of using information provided on this site. Comments from the Peanut Free Gallery authors are not, and do not claim to be, doctors, nurses, nutritionists or any type of health care provider/practitioner. The content on this blog should not be considered medical advice.

Why I Hate Mr. Peanut

Only bad guys have a monocle. Who else but an evil villain could put on such a fake plastered smile? And who puts their pinky up in the air while holding a dandy top hat with their name emblazoned across the front of it. Only the worst of the worst could wear such an air of impunity.

That is right!!!! The evil legume feared by peanut allergic families near and far - MR. PEANUT!!!. Just the very site of his yellowish tinge and spindly little arms makes me quake in my boots and shiver in terror. Just a tiny bite of his evil poison has the ability to kill young and old alike (assuming they have a peanut allergy of course).

(just as a fascinating and disturbing side note, the above picture is actually an advertisement on a bottle of peanut flavored liquor called Peanut Lolita that apparently had a history with the Washington elite:

"The logo and fonts on the label suggest the early 1960s, but according to what little research exists, Peanut Lolita was still around in the mid-1970s, when infamous presidential brother Billy Carter “often made drunken appearances” with the liqueur’s spokes model, according to an essay by Christopher S. Kelley in “Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President’s House” (SUNY Press, 2004).)

So, in order to try and defeat my evil arch nemesis, I decided to look at his past to take him down in the present. In order to do this, I consulted my secret weapon Wikipedia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Peanut)

"Mr. Peanut is the dandy advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. He consists of a drawing of an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats, and a cane.
Mr. Peanut is based on a drawing by a Virginia schoolboy, Antonio Gentile, an Italian-American who won a $5 prize in a 1916 contest for his "little peanut person." The mascot made its debut in 1918 in The Saturday Evening Post.
According to the company, Mr. Peanut's hat, shoes, cane, and monocle symbolize fresh taste. The gloves do not symbolize anything; Mr. Peanut simply likes them.
Since his conception, Mr. Peanut has appeared in many TV commercials as an animated cartoon character. More recent commercials have shown him computer animated in a real-world setting. His appearances are often accompanied by an elegant accented narrator, and throughout his extensive television life, Mr. Peanut has rarely spoken.
In 2006, Planters conducted an online poll to determine whether to add a bow tie, cuff links, or a pocket watch to Mr. Peanut. The public voted for no change."

First off, why in the world did Planters feel that dressing a peanut up in a top hat, gloves and a monocle would be an appealing advertising symbol. But, unbenonst to me and my infinite wisdom, Mr. Peanut has been an advertising success since his initial appearance in 1918. There are web sites devoted to Mr. Peanut, such as 4 Mr. Peanut( http://4mrpeanut.com/) where you can join the Mr. Peanut fan club and become a "Mr. Peanut Pal" The Peanut Pal club boasts over 900 members and hosts regional meetings and conventions to display merchandise and discuss history and value of Mr. Peanut items. They also publish a bimonthly newsletter. Oh my gosh, he has created conventions of followers

I think it is actually more of a cover. They made Mr. Peanut appear charming and dandy and dapper to hide his true identity.

I think Mr. Peanut really looks more like this poster from the 1940's. Captured behind the scenes thinking his image would never be captured, the evil legume reveals his true nature.

So, yes, I hate Mr. Peanut. I know I have not right to hate an advertising figure so much, but gosh darn it, I do!! And I am OK with the fact that I hate an imaginary figure of a peanut dressed up as a gentleman. (although apparently not always) I know his true nature. I know what he can do.

I hate that spindly legume with a passion. I would like to say that Mr. Peanut has not done anything to hurt me, but alas, he has. In October of 2006, my then 2 year old son Conor took a bite of a peanut butter cracker at his pre-school. I was not there, but I imagine that the packaging of that cracker contained a certain fake smile, top hat and pointy pinky. Drawn in by the evil legume Conor delved into Mr. Peanut's evil plan. Apparently immediately after taking a bite of a peanut butter cracker he had started coughing, clawing at his throat, and screaming. He was covered in hives, and his head was swelling up like a basketball.

Thankfully Conor ended up being ok, and we learned that Mr. Peanut was a very, very bad legume who had the power to kill. Again, I understand that he is merely a mascot for a food product, but for me, that is no excuse.

Ok, since no one is reading this anyways, I will admit here, but when I was young, I actually used to like Mr. Peanut. I thought he was cool and dapper and dandy. I grew up with him, and his top hat, and his monocle. I once even saved up some wrappers to send away for a stuffed version of that cool legume. It took months and months to finally receive, but when my Mr. Peanut came in the mail I was shelled. (yes a bad pun)

"People have grown up with Mr. Peanut," says John Barrows, director of corporate communication for Nabisco. "He is an enduring icon of our lives who never changes. Nostalgia is a powerful force in our culture, and symbols of our past are often symbols of what we think of as better times, simpler eras."
"There's something reassuring about Mr. Peanut's continued vitality that is quite compelling," Barrows continues. "And he's clearly one very cool customer."

I think one of the things that has upset me so much is that Mr. Peanut has turned on me. I used to trust him, and he reminds me of my childhood when I never had to worry what about the dangers of what I might eat. I thought he was my friend, and I trusted his toothy smile. It never never occurred to me that he could hurt someone I loved.

I think when we live in a world of life threatening food allergies, it is a bit of an altered universe where things that everyone around us takes for granted may not be what they appear. We live our day to day lives worried about what is in every food, where it was made and what it may have touched on the way to our plates. Most people can not comprehend how just a tiny piece of a food they or their children enjoy could possibly harm anyone. In our altered food allergy universe we must only trust what we know is safe for us, not for everyone else.

And of course most of the people I come in contact with don't really understand that it is possible that a single bite of a food they eat every day can harm someone so badly. Some are kind, and try to understand what our life is like on a day to day basis, trying to avoid any trace of commonplace substances that to us are poison. Some are nice, but happy not to have to venture out of their own non food allergy universes, Some think we are over reacting and roll their eyes when they think we can no longer see them. The worst are those who revel in their ignorance, and fight for their right to a Mr. Peanut party.

Most people see Mr. Peanut as a cool legume, and happy symbol from their childhood. To me, he represents the contradiction we deal with every day. How can something that is so good for everyone else be so bad for us. I sometimes even have trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that a peanut (or any food) really can kill. Sometimes I even find it hard to believe myself. For me, Mr. Peanut is not an enduring icon of things that never change, but a reminder of things that do. Even though I know it is ridiculous to blame an advertising icon for things so out of his (and my) control, it makes me feel better to make him the evil legume villain. I will shout it from the rooftops, and spread the message to the world:

I HATE MR. PEANUT!!!

Trader Joe - Friend or Foe

So, we went to Trader Joes, after a long absence. There is one directly across from the YMCA, but I have not been brave enough to take all three children in with me after a workout. Yesterday I only had Michael and Natalie with me, so I figured, what the heck, lets give it a whirl. While I love Trader Joes, I had forgoten that Joe is not the friendliest trader for the peanut allergic population. I would say 75% of the items in the store have a warning of some sort for nuts, and those that don't have a nut warning put an egg warning on it just to make me crazy.

So, we were walking down the aisles, and I was trying to remeber the 5 things we actually can purchase from there, and Michael and Natalie were eyeing everything asking if we could get it. Natalie was particluarily upset because she could actually have the sample, and was expecting it to be a giant chocolate suprise. Unfortunatly, it was some sort of unidentifiable sausage that did not meet with her cookie expectations, and she was very clear in letting me know her displeasure.

So, she wanted to buy something she picked out. ANYTHING. So we were walking down the isles, and my two 5 year olds would keep point out and asking :

"can we have this?"

"can we have this?"

"can we have this?".

Of course I kept checking labels, and of course the answer was always

"no, I am sorry, that is not safe".

Natalie thought she had a sure bet when she spotted Trader Joe cheerios, but again I checked the label, and disappointment prevailed....... not safe. It started to remind me of when we went to Ireland to visit Nana, and we found a may contain peanuts label on some flour. Anyways, in my annoyance I realised I was saying

"it is not safe"

louder and louder to my two frustrated children. Then I noticed all these people in the aisle around us were kind of looking at us and whispering to each other. I finally got it (yes, I can be a bit slow), they were trying to figure out why Trader Joe's was so unsafe. Was there another report of contaminated tomatoes????? Was there a new recall they had not heard about?????? What was this important news they had missed that that could be threatening their very health???? As we finally made our way to the register, I have to say I felt a little sad that for us that so much was unsafe. All these other shoppers I had gotten worried (he he he, it is a little funny) have no clue why just walking down the aisle in a market can be so frought with danger. They don't know how lucky they are.

Children's Book Reviews

Children's Books

We only own two of the children's books, and both are about peanut allergies. There have been many others I would like to get, but I am unfortunatly motivated by instant gratification, and have only been able to find the books online. I am not sure why I acutally ordered these two books, but alas lucky authors I did, and I have almost memorized them since I have read them so many times


Allie the Allergic Elephant
When I first got this book, I thought it was the same book that FAAN sold. Much later I was shocked to discover that Allie was not the only elephant in town allergic to peanuts. Apparently there is also a Alexander who is also peanut allergic. I think the two of them should meet up and talk about the difficulties of not only life as an elephant, but the burdens of life as an elephant allergic to peanuts. It could be a small but productive support group, and perhaps they could work towards removing peanuts from circuses and zoos.

My sweet little peanut allergic child absolutely loves this book. Right now it is his favorite book, and he asks to read it every single night. I like it because it is short and to the point, and covers some of the basic concepts of peanut allergy and the symptoms of anaphalyxis without being scary. Conor likes all the funny animals in the pictures, and the medical alert ad in the back with the cool red medical alert bracelet he wants for his birthday. He likes that Allie wears a medical alert bracelet, and her parents carry an epipen, but is very concerned about whether elephants really wear bracelets in real life. I think next time we go to the zoo he is going to be checking out the elephants and looking whether it is really possible for them to wear bracelets.


Peter Can't Eat Peanuts
I think I ordered this book pretty soon after Conor was diagnosed with his peanut allergy. I am not sure why I picked it, or even where I got it from, but I am very happy I did. This is Conor's second favorite book, and in some ways he relates to it more directly because Peter is a person, and also a boy. While we love Allie to bits, Peter frequently gets comments such as "he is just like me", during readings.

As the title pretty much sums up, the story is about a little boy named Peter, who discovers he is allergic to peanuts. He has a reaction, goes to the hospital, meets a wonderful allergist (named Dr. Sweeter - hhhhhmmmm, perhaps to rhyme with the name Peter????) and learns how to deal with his allergy. I like that this books stresses that Peter did not do anything wrong, having an allergy is just how he is. At the end of the book, Peter is very important going with his mother to meet with the school on how to keep him safe, and this makes him very special. Conor's favorite parts are where Peter is given his first Medical Alert bracelet (no medical alert ad with the cool red bracelet he wants for his birthday in the back though), and that Peter has an epi-pen just like him. Conor also has a cousin named Peter, and we always have to clarify that the boy in the book is not his cousin Peter.

This is a Test of the Emergency Broadcasting System, This is Only a Test........ I Think

OK, Here I am, I think I am doing it. This is a test post on my new and exciting blog.

This is my blog with comments and musings on my life as a stay at home mother to 5 year old twins, and an almost 4 year old. My wonderful husband works in the biotech industry. My youngest son has life threatening allergies to peanuts, is allergic to eggs, and has eczema, asthma, and more allergies to everything that grows then I care to remember. He is also allergic to cats, dogs, dust, penicillin, and many many many many many other things we have not discovered yet. We have an Au Pair from Thailand that lives with us, who is a wonderful help. She has even taught me how to say help in Thai.

I just got interrupted there for a minute by some chaos on how Jan (our Au Pair) somehow stepped on Michael's (one of the 5 year old twins) nose. I had to stop for a few minutes to discover
1) Is he OK?? and also...
2)What was his nose doing in a place Jan could step on it.

Ok, back to me. I also run marathons, go to Weight Watchers on an endless pursuit to lose weight. (yes you can run a marathon and still be "chubby"), and just try to make it through the day without pulling my hair out