No Thanks, I'm Allergic To That

Tomorrow is our turn to bring the snack for my daughter’s preschool class.

Before we get it ready, we read through the list of requirements: must have a fruit, a dairy product or meat product and a grain product.

Not too difficult to put together a healthy snack for a bunch of 4 year olds with that, right?

What catches my eye is the DONT’S. No nuts. Seems like a simple request, but when I dig back into my memory bank, I don’t remember ever being told as a kid that I couldn’t bring nuts to school. In fact, I probably had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at least 3 days a week for lunch through most of my childhood.

So, what happened over the last 30 years that has made peanuts and other “allergic” foods become banned substances.

Well, here are some statistics I came across recently:


· Food allergy related hospital admissions increased from 2,600 per year (1998-2000) to 9,500 per year (2004-2006), according to a study from Branum and colleagues.
· The prevalence of food allergy among children under the age of 18 increased 18% percent from 1997 to 2007.
· Peanut allergies doubled in children from 1997-2002.

There are many theories running around as to why food allergies have become so prevalent in recent years. Some say formula fed infants don’t have as well developed immune systems as breast-fed infants and this can lead to food allergies. Another theory is that the introduction of Genetically-Modified Foods (labeled GMO) into the American diet have created digestive problems that can lead to food allergies. Personally, I believe that both of these theories, and many others, have merit, but there’s more to it than that.

Our modern society has afforded us some wonderful luxuries, but in the process we have taken on this “fear mentality” towards what we eat. We read diet and nutrition books that say “you can’t eat this because of your blood type” or “your metabolic type can’t digest that.” And we buy into it and start over-analyzing our plates at every meal. We’ve become afraid to eat.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying allergies don’t exist. I’ve seen young kids as well as adults go through terrible, terrible allergic reactions to foods and environmental allergens. It’s a very real thing and it requires treatment on multiple levels – chemical, nutritional, energetic and emotional.

I can relate to this, because not too long ago, I was the one reading all the books and buying into the hype. I had severe skin problems that were caused by some issues in my digestive tract. I worked hard to correct it and with the help of some great doctors and treatments (all natural and holistic of course) my skin was completely clear. Unfortunately, it came back from time to time and that was really irritating to me. It was found that I was allergic to tomatoes and I was treated energetically and chemically to relieve the allergy, but they still made me break out when I ate them. So, I resigned myself to the fact that I just wouldn’t eat them anymore and everything would be fine. Until a friend would invite me over to their house to have pizza or I’d order a sandwich or salad and forget to have the tomatoes taken off. Of course, if I ate them, my skin broke out. Why? Because my thoughts were controlling my physiology.

I was so fearful, I had my entire family following strict diets based on their blood type. Unfortunately we didn’t all have the same blood type and it made meal planning a huge chore. This went on a for a few years and finally one night at the dinner table I said out loud “FORGET IT. I don’t care if we’re allergic to these foods or not, I’m tired of these restrictive diets, from now on we eat what we want and we don’t feel guilty about it.” Now, I know what you’re thinking, what about chemicals and additives and preservatives and MSG and High-Fructose Corn Syrup? I do recommend avoiding these things, but remember, they are not food, they are chemical additives. I’m talking about things like tomatoes and peanuts and strawberries. Naturally grown foods that have wonderful nutritional value and that the vast majority of people can eat with NO problems.

At that moment, my entire mentality towards food did a complete 180. I’m not afraid to eat tomatoes or anything else for that matter and I haven’t had foods trigger a skin reaction since. My thoughts still control my physiology, except now I have control over my thoughts.

The point I want to get across is that living in fear of what might harm us is no way to approach the problem. To truly make a change will allergies, it is important to re-program the body’s energetic and chemical reactions to the substance, improve and support the digestive and immune systems and most importantly re-write the emotional script that is perpetuating the fear that foods are bad for us.

In order to truly turn the tide on food allergies, we must correct the problem at the earliest stage. Healthy, allergy free children that are well educated and “fear-less” will lead the way to the next generation of healthy, allergy free children.