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Hi! Thanks for tuning in. You have found the checklist for those newly diagnosed with a food allergy. I am Amy Jones Anichini. I am
Founder and CEO of Egg-Free Epicurean (peanut-free and tree nut-free too)
and we're going to be discussing some of the educational content on our website, EggFreeEpicurean.com. Now you might be
and we're going to be discussing some of the educational content on our website, EggFreeEpicurean.com. Now you might be
wondering why does a bakery website have educational content at all, much less a checklist for those newly diagnosed with a food allergy?
Well there's a very good explanation for that. The most important is before we created our checklist for the newly diagnosed, there wan't one out there.
You can find some educational information on different websites, some that are very good that we'll be discussing with you, and you can get
advice from other parents, but when your child is first diagnosed with a food allergy
the first thing that sets in is panic and what you really want is you really want someone to hold your hand and say, "Don't panic, we're here to help.
"We'll show you the ropes, we've been there. Let us tell you what you need to do
"so you can wrap your arms around this new information, get a handle on your life, start to move ahead and adapt and keep your child healthy."
So that's why we're here. A little bit more background on us just so you know we do have a child with food allergies.
So that's why we're here. A little bit more background on us just so you know we do have a child with food allergies.
She was diagnosed several years ago. She has got 3 of the Top 8 food allergies. She's allergic to eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts,
as well as sesame seeds. So we've been living in the trenches with a food allergic child for many years and we have to say that based on our
research and our diligence in educating ourselves and our child, it's going about as well as it could be expected.
She goes to a large public school and she is involved in many extracurricular activities
some of which, we're not even present for. She's able to just, kind of, manage things herself with the tools that
we have given her. On the bright side she has never had a severe allergic reaction that has sent us to the emergency room
and we have never had to use the EpiPen so
bearing all that in mind, we think that puts us in a unique position for being able to share what we've learned and hope to help you in
your quest to live a normal life in spite of having food allergies. So let's get right on with the checklist.
your quest to live a normal life in spite of having food allergies. So let's get right on with the checklist.
Checklist Item #1: Don't panic. Instead, educate yourself and always be prepared.
So the first thing that happens when you find out that your child has a food allergy is you panic!
"What am I supposed to do now? Do I have to throw out all the food in my house? How do I feed him/her?" It's very confusing and
What you want to do, what you feel like doing, what's natural to do is to panic. It's OK to do that, panic a little bit, and then get it out of your system.
The best way not to panic is to educate yourself and there are four key ways that you can do that.
1. Talk to your allergist. If you don't have an allergist, get one. You probably do if your child has been diagnosed with a food allergy.
but go beyond the pediatrician and get an allergist. Ask them any kind of questions that you need to get yourself comfortable.
2. Go through each item in our checklist and do what we suggest. We're just there to help.
3. Visit the websites - two important educational websites - one is
FAAN, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (www.foodallergy.org), and the other is FAI, Food Allergy Initiative (www.faiusa.org). Now both of
these websites have been so valuable to us in our quest to wrap our brains around how to live with food allergies in our family. Both of them have got
medical advisory boards so they've got doctors sort of backing them and acting as consultants.
so a lot of the information that you get there is going to be medically accurate so they're just both really good resources for understanding
some things like what the symptoms of an allergic reaction might be, and
"What causes food allergies?" "Why does my child have food allergies?" Those two websites are the websites to go to
to learn more about those kinds of questions that you probably have.
Another really wonderful website is part of our item number 4.
4. Talk to as many people as possible about your child's food allergies.
4. Talk to as many people as possible about your child's food allergies.
Now that might sound counterintuitive, you might want to just sort of protect that information.
But don't protect that information. The best way to get advice and to learn how to live is to talk to other people about how they're getting through, such as
talking to us, via these videos, or going back to our website, also talking to people in your community. We predict that by the time you tell five
people about your child's food allergies, that you will find someone who has some kind of connection to someone who also has a food allergy.
Get their information and call them up!
Now if you're not comfortable with that there's another really wonderful website that we'd like to steer you to.
It's called Kids with Food Allergies (KFA) (www.kidswithfoodallergies.org). Now this website is interesting in a lot of ways so
please do explore it yourself, but one of the reasons we wanted to bring it up to you is that you can click on one of their menu items called
"Find Friends" and you can find a local support group right in your community.
In addition to that, they've got a forum, right on their website. You can click on questions and you can see other parents who have answered
those kinds of questions and it just opens up a great dialog. Now one other thing I want to suggest to you
One of the easiest ways to connect with FAAN, Food Allergy Initiative, and Kids with Food Allergies is, believe it or not,
via Facebook. Yup, that's right. Even if you're not a fan of Facebook, go ahead and create a Facebook account for the express
purpose of connecting with entities that can help you in your quest to learn
more, about food allergies. So what you want to do with your Facebook page is go find FAAN, FAI, and Kids with Food Allergies
and "Like" them, so you basically click the little thumbs-up "Like" button. Then by doing that, every time when you go back into Facebook, on your
news page there will be press releases from them, you'll get information about food that's been recalled,
and there will also be topics for discussion that will be raised, particularly by Kids with Food Allergies.
So it's just a really great way eighths to educate yourself. So
the way to get over the panic is to educate yourself. And those four key ways to educate yourself again were:
1. Talk to your allergist
2. Go through our checklist for the newly diagnosed
3. Visit the websites of FAAN, Food Allergy Initiative, and Kids with Food Allergies
4. Talk to as many people as possible about your child's food allergies.
And you're on your way to reducing the panic and in educating yourself.