The Super Allergy Girl Blog

Allergy FAQ Part II: Frequently Asked Questions on Allergy

In yesterday's post I discussed what an allergy is and how allergies are categorized. Today we will look at what are the symptoms for allergies. The symptoms that IgE and Non-IgE allergies (the difference between IgE and Non-IgE mediated allergies is discussed in Part I -  yesterday's post) can cause is lengthy and includes, but is not limited to: runny nose, stuffy nose, watery eyes, itchy eyes, hay fever, asthma, diarrhea, constipation, eczema, rashes, coughing, wheezing, fever, postnasal drip, sore throat, dark circles under the eyes (allergy shiners), reddish or pink circles under the eyes, stomach problems, headache, migraine, hyperactivity, mood swings, irritability, bed-wetting, urinary incontinency, epilepsy, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, inability to concentrate, hypertension, joint and muscle pain as well as other gastrointestinal disturbances. Now this is a list of symptoms for both IgE and Non-IgE mediated allergies.

About twenty-five hundred years ago, Hippocrates, who is considered to be the Father of Medicine, wrote about how some people would react to foods:

“For cheese does not prove equally injurious to all men, for there are some who can take it to satiety, without being hurt by it in the least, but, on the contrary, it is wonderful what strength it imparts to those it agrees with; but there are some who do not bear it well, their constitutions are different, they differ in this respect, that what in their body is incompatible with cheese, is roused and put in commotion by such a thing; and those in whose bodies such a humor happens to prevail in greater quantity and intensity, are likely to suffer the more from it. But if the thing had been pernicious to the whole nature of man, it would have hurt all.” - Hippocrates

There is a rich body of research that states without question what Hippocrates is stating in the above quotation. In today's time, however, there are medical doctors who will assert that food can not cause the above listed symptoms. This is where, in part, the great divide begins. Consumers like me can go to the medical library - like I did repeatedly - or find in PubMed on-line the body of research on food, food allergies, food sensitivities or intolerances and the like. If your physician is one who tells you that food could not be the source of your health problem - you may want to look for a physician who is more educated on the impact food, nutrition and diet have on health. Of course, I am not saying that if you do have a symptom that it is caused by food, but it is possible that it could be caused by an allergy whether it is IgE or Non-IgE mediated.

Let me take a moment to repeat my warning from yesterday's post: If you get symptoms immediately after or soon after eating a food or after being exposed to a substance - you should seek out a medical doctor right away and make sure you do not have a life-threatening allergy. Allergies can be fatal and if you have an allergy that has the potential to be life-threatening - the IgE mediated allergy - you should know that and carry an Epi-Pen®. The above listed symptoms for IgE and Non-IgE mediated allergies is compiled from several medical resources. The more you know about allergies - the better you can manage your own health and well being! 

Love,

Lisa

Allergy FAQ Part I: Frequently Asked Questions on Allergy

This topic is one that I spend the most amount of time explaining to consumers. I will do this post in several parts because it will simply be too long to put all in one post! Secondly, let me make my disclaimer clear: I am not a medical professional nor is my website or cookbook intended to provide medical advice to consumers. You should get your medical advice from a doctor or other licensed medical practitioner. This allergy FAQ is research-based and is designed to help consumers better understand allergies. Allergies can be life-threatening and should be taken very seriously. If you suffer from certain types of allergies, you should be under the care of a medical doctor and carry an Epi-Pen® as directed by your physician. All that aside, let's look at allergies - what they are and the different types of allergies.

What is an Allergy?

Dr. Clemens Von Pirquet first suggested the term allergy in 1906. (Von Pirquet, C. Allergie. Munch Med Wochenschr 52:1457, 1906.) Dr. Von Pirquet used the word allergy to describe an inappropriate reaction to food or other substances that are not typically harmful or bothersome. Hippocrates, the Greek Physician, who is considered to be the Father of Medicine, stated that food would injure some people, but not all people. Hippocrates research and writings are over twenty-five hundred years old, which is important to note since some modern day medical experts want people to believe that allergies are a new phenomenon. What is also noteworthy is that Dr. Von Pirquet's definition of allergy was quite broad - and based on my medical research - it would remain broad until some time around the 1970's or later.

What are the different types of allergies?

Prior to the 1970's, allergies were described as belonging to one of four types of allergy categories: Type I, Type II, Type III, and Type IV. The discovery of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) around 1966 changed how allergies were categorized. The term IgE stands for Immunoglobulin E, which is a class of immunoglobulins that includes the antibodies elicited by an allergic substance (allergen). A person who has an allergy usually has elevated blood levels for IgE. IgE antibodies attack and engage the invading army of allergens. The E in IgE stands for erythema, which means redness.

Currently, allergies are divided into two broad categories: IgE (Immunoglobulin E) and Non-IgE mediated allergies. IgE mediated allergies are the allergies that produce a symptom immediately or within a short period of time - at the longest a few hours. IgE mediated allergies can cause anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal and therefore must be dealt with in a serious fashion. Non-IgE mediated allergies are often referred to as delayed allergies or sensitivities or intolerances. Non-IgE mediated allergies are typically not life-threatening although they can cause severe symptoms in some people.

IgE mediated allergies can be fatal. Individuals with IgE mediated allergies should see a doctor and carry an Epi-Pen® (epinephrine). Great care and diligence must be used for individuals with IgE allergies. It has been well established in the medical literature that the immediate reaction or IgE allergies represents about 5-10% of food allergies and the delayed reaction or non-IgE mediated allergies represents approximately 90-95% of the food allergies. While delayed or non-IgE mediated food allergies make up the lion's share of food allergies, they receive a minority of the attention from the media.

In Part II, we will look at the symptoms for allergies, testing for allergies and much more! I hope this is helpful to you!

Love,

Lisa

 

 

How to Use the Internet to get Reliable and Good Information on Health

Back in 1997, my husband used the internet to get a profile of a medical diagnosis for juvenile papillomatosis and in the end - my husband was 100% spot on with the condition thus supporting the case that you can get good information from the Internet. In the gluten-free world, people have been using information on the internet to help get themselves diagnosed with Celiac disease for a long time. I have seen a dramatic shift in the number of individuals and companies coming on board to provide "health" information and services since 2007. What concerns me is that some of these individuals do not have a background in anything health related. One man wanted to connect to my website and when I started asking questions about his training and background in health it became readily apparent that he had zero personal education, training or background. What this means to consumers is that you are in a "Buyer Beware" situation. 

So, there is really great health information available to consumers on the world wide web, but you have to know which sites to run from and which sites are above board as there are sites that are bad and should be avoided. Here are the factors to look at when deciding if a website is one you should trust or walk away from.

Credibility:

What is the person's credibility, stature, expertise, education or training? Who endorses them? Who are they affiliated with? What does their resume contain? A reputable website will contain specific information about the person, owner, staff, or other individuals providing services. It should contain pictures of the individuals as well as a phone number and address for use in contacting them. If there is no picture, no bio, no contact information, no resume - I would walk away and never return. This is a huge red flag for questionable individuals, companies and organizations. The website material should give you a clear indication that they have the background to serve your health needs. If that information is missing, you should question why.

No Free Content

If the website has No Free Content - I would walk away especially if you have to "register" to view the content, or see more information. Content is defined as FREE documents, tip sheets, white papers, recipes, videos, blog entries, etc. If you have to register, it is not free. The price of admission IS your contact information even if it is only your e-mail address. Free content does not in and of itself mean that the person is reputable or has credibility.

Google The Person(s)

You might be surprised what this will reveal. If someone is an "expert" they should have pages and pages that they show up on in a Google Search. If you are new to this process or have not vetted anyone using this process - ask for help. You can even post your question here and I will reply! 

You want to get your medical information from your own doctor or health care provider. Information from the Internet can be enormously helpful if you know what you are doing and what to avoid. I hope that this is helpful to you! Let me know if you have any questions as I am here to help!

Love,

Lisa

 

 

Health and Wellness: How to Get Good Sleep and Why it is important

For people who have health problems sleep is one of the most powerful weapons to help your body heal. Why? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and depression. The only time that your body can work on repairing itself is when you are sleeping, which means that if you are not in good health or are teetering on the edge of not being completely well - sleep should be on your agenda! Not getting enough sleep can be an issue of not making sleep a priority or having problems getting quality sleep. There are several reasons why some people have trouble sleeping. This topic is so important that I did a PRWeb News Release on this topic, which included a YouTube video. Here is the link to the PRWeb News Release:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/allergies/sleep_deprivation/prweb2671704.htm

Before I move on to some ideas on how to improve your sleep, let me reiterate that the only time your body can work on healing itself is while you are sleeping. If you are having trouble sleeping there could be several factors at play so you may have to be a little detective and use a trial and error approach to ruling out different aspects. Let's start with your sleeping environment. Is it comfortable and inviting? Is your room clean and dark at night? If not, it would be an investment in your health to make your room clean and inviting as well as dark when you are sleeping.

Another source of sleep issues can be diet related. If you are having trouble getting a sound and full night's sleep, one food item to eliminate at least for a trial period of 30 days is caffeine. While you may have been drinking caffeine for years or decades even, but some people develop issues later in life where drinking caffeine after 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM will keep them awake. You could keep a sleep diary to see if there are other factors that impact your sleep. A sleep diary would be especially helpful if you end up investigating sleep apnea.

Here is my YouTube video on Tips for a Good Night's Sleep:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxh28piLg1k

If you are going to do a sleep diary be sure to include what you ate that day and where as well as your bedtime and waking time coupled with any notes on how you felt when you woke up, etc. I would suggest that you include any environmental changes, trips, etc.

Another factor that can impede a good night's sleep is nutritional deficiencies. You'll have to find a good integrative physician to explore that topic. No matter what you do, if you are not getting enough quality sleep each night - you are putting yourself at increased health risks or at the very least not allowing your body to do the work necessary to heal itself! If you have any questions on how to improve your sleep, check out the above video, which is fairly detailed! Let me know if you have any questions or comments! And have a good sleep tonight!

Love,

Lisa A. Lundy

 

 

 

 

How to Select the right Gluten-free or Allergen Free Cookbook

This is another important topic to me as a gluten-free and allergen free cookbook author and it is an area that consumers struggle with as evidenced by the multiple e-mails in any given week. So, how does a consumer decide which gluten-free or allergen free cookbook to purchase? There are several things someone looking to purchase either a gluten-free or allergen free cookbook needs to know! The first important fact, which may be hard to believe is that not all gluten-free cookbooks are actually gluten-free! When I say that not all gluten-free cookbooks are gluten-free, I mean that some cookbooks that say "gluten-free" on the cover and in their promotional materials actually contain wheat, barley, spelt and other gluten containing grains! From my research and personal experience this has been the case since at least 1985 if not before. The same fact is true about "allergen free" cookbooks. Some cookbooks marketed as dairy-free, egg-free, peanut free and tree nut free actually contain all of these ingredients.

You may wonder - how do the authors get away with that? I really don't know, but they do. What is a consumer to do? Well, the first step - whether you are purchasing a gluten-free or allergen free cookbook is to decide what you need specifically. One potential customer wrote to me in 2007 to ask about my cookbook. I thought she was only in need of a gluten-free cookbook, so I wrote back via e-mail letting her know that if she only needed a gluten-free cookbook she would do well to get a different book...that mine was also dairy-free, egg-free and other allergen free. She thought this was funny and wrote back that while her primary need was a gluten-free cookbook, she also wanted to be able to make appetizers, main dishes and desserts to take to pot luck dinners. It turns out that her neighbor's grandson was egg-free, a relative was allergic to dairy, and someone at her church had allergies to tree nuts. Decide what is important to you before you start shopping.

I would then recommend that you read the Amazon.com reviews. The one cookbook that I am thinking of (marketed as both gluten-free and allergen free from the 1980's) has Amazon.com reviews that specifically state that the cookbook is NOT gluten-free or allergen free. Are some of the Amazon.com reviews "put ons"? Probably so. I definitely had two that made me very suspicious that they were actually reviewing another cookbook based on the content and therefore I posted factual information in response to the two comments.

The second step is to look at the author's website for additional information.

If doing both of these things do not make it implicitly clear, then look at the author's website for recipes to try. I would believe that most gluten-free and allergen-free cookbook authors websites have free recipes on them. Take a few of the recipes and give it a whirl. If they work out, then you should be in good shape. If you still have questions, e-mail or call the author. Someone who is accessible should be able to help you sort this out without any difficulty.

The worst thing in the world is to spend money and have a product that does not meet your needs! I hope this has been helpful to those of you trying to sort out what specialty cookbook to purchase! Happy Baking!

Love,

Lisa

 

Converting Recipes to be Gluten-Free and Allergen Free

This topic is one that I get a fair amount of questions on so I thought I'd do a public post in an effort to help those of you who are looking to convert family recipes to be gluten-free and/or allergen free. Before you begin you should make sure you have a good dose of faith, tenacity and patience. How hard or easy it will be to convert a recipe to be gluten-free or allergen free depends on the nature of the recipe. I should say that the only recipes that I convert as a hard rule are family recipes - recipes that have been in my family for decades. I do not take recipes from other cookbooks or the internet and convert them because that is an issue of integrity for me and of copyright. I'll use an example of a recipe that I recently converted as a way to further the instructions here.

The recipe I converted a few months ago was on I have had for more than 20 years, which was a toll house caramel bar recipe. This was not the easiest to convert because to my knowledge there is no caramel sauce made that does not contain milk. Therefore my first obstacle was making a milk-free and allergen free caramel sauce. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that my first attempt was a failure probably because I did not have a recipe to start with. You who are not concerned about copyright infringement could start with an internet caramel sauce and make modifications to that. But that would not work for me legally. Suffice to say that I eventually got a caramel sauce recipe made. It has not been tested by my testers yet, but it at least worked for me and for the caramel toll house bars.

I didn't think that converting the crust would be all that difficult, but it actually took three tries before we had an edible crust that mirrored the original. For this recipe converting the flours to be gluten-free and adding xanthan gum was the easiest part. The original recipe contained rolled oats in the crust and since I do not consider oats to be gluten-free (yes, that would be a whole separate post), I had to find a substitute for the rolled oats. I started with puffed millet but the crust fell apart because the puffed millet is round little balls and the flour mix did not adhere well to the round balls. Next I tried using more gluten-free flours to replace the oats. This was not the right solution either. We ate them, but I knew immediately that this was not the right solution either.

The third attempt was a charm and in place of the rolled oats I used crushed gluten-free cereal. It was a bit surprising to me that this worked, but it did! The perfection of the caramel toll house bars took a total of three attempts for the crust and three for the caramel sauce. That's actually not bad! Some recipes require little effort to convert. Some recipes require a lot of effort, so you should be prepared when you embark on this type of project! Creating recipes from scratch with no basis for the recipe is an entirely different animal! That, too, would be a topic for another post! Good luck with converting your recipes to be gluten-free and allergen free! Let me know if you have any questions! Happy Baking!

Love,
Lisa 

Gluten Free and Allergy Free Baking: Why won't my baked goods turn out?

Boy this is an important topic! As the author of a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and other allergen free cookbook, I know how critical this area is for people. I devoted a chapter in my book to the things that I know will make a difference. Let's start with having an oven thermometer in your oven at all times, which is my first suggestion if you have a gluten-free or allergen free baked good that is a flop. Why? Because over the last 12 plus years from my own personal experience and from teaching baking classes for almost as many years I have discovered that most home ovens are off in temperature any where from 25 to 40 degrees. This is huge. When you remove gluten and dairy and eggs from a baked good, they are more fragile and not as resilient in my humble opinion - and are therefore more sensitive to oven temperature.

So the first thing I recommend is to get and use an oven thermometer. Let me share how important I discovered this was BEFORE I published my cookbook. I was teaching baking classes at a kitchen store in 2004 and I would tell the class that they needed to get an oven thermometer and why. When I would see the students from the baking class at a subsequent celiac support meeting, without question those people who got an oven thermometer were always successful and the ones who didn't get one were not. The oven temperature fluctuation, by the way, is true for brand new ovens, old ones and those that are in between.

Another factor in success is how you measure your flour. Bette Hagman used to tell people to either sift your flour twice or tap the measuring cup repeatedly to have the flour settle (to get the same effect as if you had sifted the flour). I invented a quicker "heap and dump" method to save time. Regardless of what method you use - you need to understand how the flour is to be measured for the recipe you are using.

Something else that causes baked goods to flop is adding too much liquid, which is sometimes a function of the flour measuring issue I mentioned above. If you could remove gluten, dairy, eggs, etc. and have a baked good come out perfectly without some tricks and techniques - no one would need a cookbook. So there are reasons that gluten-free baked goods and allergen free baked goods flop. If you stick with a recipe that comes from a reputable source and don't make any substitutions in the beginning - you will find your way. If you have any questions about your gluten-free baking and allergen free baking, post a comment here so I can help you! Good luck and happy baking!

Love,

Lisa

American diet falls short in providing adequate nutrition

A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition, titled “Americans Do Not Meet Federal Dietary Recommendations” by Susan M. Krebs-Smith, et al concludes: over 80% of people over the age of 71 and over 90% of all other sex-age groups had intakes of empty calories - solid fats, added sugars and alcoholic beverages – that exceeded the discretionary calorie allowances and nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. Just in case you are clueless about nutrition - nutrition is what fuels your body. It is required to stay alive and to be healthy.

While the above statement from the study is alarming and concerning, the study goes on to state:

“When the same index of diet quality has been applied at a macro level, it is clear that the U.S. food supply has provided an overabundance of solid fats, added sugars, and sodium, and insufficient fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and milk over at least the last several decades(28).”

This is a very powerful study for those of you interested in the research. The average parent is too busy to be reading medical research studies – I get it. Families are struggling to get the children to school, after school sports and activities, doing homework, working themselves. I’m in the same boat – working, home schooling, involved in Toastmasters and other activities. The one big difference is that my youngest child, my daughter, has suffered from pretty severe malnutrition. This was not caused by lack of a healthy diet, but rather from elevated secretory IgA. Not a problem most Americans will deal with. However, as a result of Anne’s malnutrition – I made a conscious decision over six years or so ago that my children would eat more fruits and vegetables.

I am confident that if I had not experienced such severe health issues with my youngest child that I would be feeding my children like most American parents. On almost a daily basis one of my children will ask “What are we having for dinner?” My typical response is “What have you had to eat for breakfast and lunch?” The reason for my response is that if my children have not eaten a sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables for the day – that is exactly what they will have for dinner.

They eat soups that are loaded with vegetables and I mean loaded. They will eat veggie burgers that are obviously made from vegetables including a good dose of greens. They also drink smoothies and eat both cooked and raw vegetables. This did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process. The important aspect for today’s parents and consumers is to make a commitment to change your diet. Add one piece of fruit or one vegetable each day. After a few weeks, add a second fruit or vegetable. The more you think about it, the more ways you will find to get fruits and vegetables and other nutrient dense foods into your diet and the diet of your loved ones.

I speak about this topic a great deal. Here is a link to a YouTube video I did to help parents get their kids to eat healthier:

Lisa Lundy's YouTube video on eating healthier

Tip Sheet on Getting Kids to Eat Healthier

If you don't have kids, but hope to - this is really a topic that you want to pay attention to! Let me know how I can help you increase your nutrition! I'd love to get your comments and questions! 

Love, 
Lisa 

28. Krebs-Smith Smith SM, Reedy J, Bosire C. Healthfulness of the U.S. food supply: little improvement despite decades of dietary guidance. Am J Prev Med 2010: 38:472-7.

Time Management and Health: How Time Management Fuels Health

When I say that your time management skills has everything to do with health and well being - people often question me. It is not a connection that people make readily without some explanation. Let me say as a time management expert who has surpassed the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell points to in his book titled "Outliers", time management and health and well being are related! Anyone who is interested in improving their health and well being would do well to consider where they stand with their time management skills. Since I present seminars, workshops and coach people in the area of time management, I get to see how improving this one life skill positively impacts health! I LOVE time management! I absolutely love it. I have fun with time and time management. It's not a chore, it's freeing. It's O.K. if you don't feel that way - I know most people don't. Let's start with the top benefits of having some level of skill or mastery in time management:

Benefits to Increasing your Time Management Abilities:

1. you will have more time to do what you want.

2. You will have more freedom.

3. You will have more control over your life.

4. You will be making better choices.

5. You will feel more confident and powerful.

6. You will feel happy.

7. You will feel a sense of accomplishment.

8. More often than not, people begin to act on and execute life goals and plans.

9. Usually people expand themselves and take on new challenges.

10. Often people see an increase in their income or corresponding increase in financial well being.

Gee, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if you felt happy, more confident and powerful and a sense of accomplishment that this would add to your health in a positive way. Now, let's add having more time, more freedom, more control and making better choices and it should become clear that devoting a little effort to improving your time management skills has the potential to increase your health and well being. So, where do you begin? Over the next month, I'll devote more posts to this topic as this is a topic of high interest to most people I meet and talk to and it has so much potential.

If you are willing to join me in this exploration, feel free to post a comment with your biggest time management question, issue or problem. It will add to the conversation. Where I will leave you with is a thought for you to consider: What are the things you think and say about time and time management? What do you say to yourself about time and time management? What do you say to other people about this? And equally important - how do you feel about time and time management? This is where I will pick up because what YOU say, think and feel about time and time management affects how you manage your time and your life!

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day),

Love,

Lisa

How to Avoid Developing new food allergies or sensitivities

The way to avoid developing new food allergies or sensitivities is to first understand some basic facts about food allergies and sensitivities and how they develop. This was part of my presentation at the Autism One 2010 Conference in Chicago in May. First of all, I do understand that getting a grip on all of the allergy lingo can be challenging and frustrating. To help you with this aspect, I have compiled a free pdf on the basics of allergies, which you can find here http://thesuperallergycookbook.com/allergyfaq.html. This is a several page document to help you put your arms around food allergy concepts.

I have also written a brief history of food allergies to help consumers come to terms with allergies and food issues. I have received rave reviews from consumers on this white paper because it helps people make sense of food allergies. You can look at the history of food allergies here: http://thesuperallergycookbook.com/history.html. All this background brings me to the topic of today – how to avoid developing food allergies. Whether or not someone will develop a food allergy is dependent upon several factors, the first of which is whether or not they have any tendency or propensity to develop food allergies. Some people are just not prone to develop food allergies, whereas other people are much more likely to develop a food allergy or sensitivity.

The second and third factors are frequency of food consumption and volume of food consumed. In other words how often a food is eaten and in what quantity. My second child became completely intolerant to rice after 18 months on the gluten-free diet for celiac disease. He had many food sensitivities and seemed more prone to develop a food sensitivity than other children his age. When I talk to adults who have developed a severe food allergy – meaning an IgE life-threatening food allergy – to say chicken and walnuts, it is most often the case that this adult ate a lot of chicken and walnuts.

 The way to avoid developing new food allergies is to vary your diet. One more formal program for varying your diet is called the Rotation Diet. Another way to avoid developing food allergies is by eating seasonally or eating what is in season only when it is in season. That is what our ancestors did before we had freezers, mass transportation and refrigerated trucking. 

Can you imagine being allergic or intolerant to rice while on a gluten-free diet? It is excruciatingly difficult. I have met many people on the gluten-free diet who also became intolerant to rice after a period of time on the gluten-free diet. This makes sense when you understand how allergies develop normally. Does everyone need to be on a rotation diet? Of course not. But for people with lots of food issues and on very limited diets, it can be a real safeguard for not losing more foods. If you are on the gluten-free diet, one very simple way to reduce your likelihood of developing issues without doing a rotation diet is to do a rice-free day, a corn-free day, and a potato free day once a week. Rice, corn and potatoes are three of the foods that individuals on a gluten-free diet typically consume a lot of.

 Yes, you have no idea how hard life can be until you are on the gluten-free diet and can’t tolerate rice!  It took about four years of being off rice completely before my son could tolerate rice again. You can be rest assured, we don’t eat a ton of rice. Once was enough. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on this topic. I’d love to hear them.

Love,

Lisa