Food Allergies are a Fad Diet?

Are people claiming they have food allergies/intolerance as a new FAD to lose weight or to mask their picky eating?

  

I have been food allergic for the last 11 years of my life. I have been about the same weight and height since I was 12 (about 67" tall and around  123 lbs.)  The heaviest I've been is 130 and the lightest was 117 (I was very sick).  I wasn't diagnosed with food allergies until I was 22 and it wasn't as a lifestyle choice, it was literally LIFE or DEATH. I mean it, I nearly died a few times.  
I love food. Prior to food allergies, I never said "No" to food. I wanted to try everything at least once in my life. There are many myths about food allergies and many people that don't have them, claiming  "it's all in people's heads," or "those are just picky eaters," or "they do it to try to lose weight." 

Fact: Food allergies are not the CURE for a massive weight loss! 
Opinion: You could be carrying some extra "bloating" if you are eating foods you are allergic or intolerant to and don't know it. 
Let me assure you, you must not plan to eat gluten free/dairy free cookies and then expect to lose weight. Now, if you want to replace cookies and ice cream with avocado, tomato and pepper well then I totally support. Does that mean you should never ever have a piece of whole wheat bread or meat?- NO! Everything in moderation- unless you are seriously allergic to it. Eat well, live well. 

If you want facts on food allergies and food intolerance, just click this link.


Often times people ask me how I knew or how do you find out- keep reading below on the diary of a food allergic.

I am furious with people jumping into the "Gluten Free" bandwagon" just because someone else did it and felt better without knowing all the facts associated with that. I am furious with those that say they have an allergy/intolerance that don't- say you have a dairy allergy and then at the end of your meal order ice cream or ask for butter? Hello??? Not fair to the rest of it. 


Diary of a Food Allergic: 

I've just been through another battle with my food allergies. I was having some "not so great" physical moments for the last few months including an anaphylaxis event in July due to accidental exposure at a restaurant in Santa Monica. I was concerned that I had developed another food allergy. My kidney had started to shut down again and I was carrying this little extra pouch in the front of my stomach (I knew I wasn't pregnant and I'm not a kangaroo), so I kept trying to track and eliminate other possible food items. I nearly stopped eating out all together, because I thought due to the lack of allergy awareness and sensitivity in restaurants, I was getting "accidental" exposure to my already known food allergies. After my very scary July episode,  I finally ended up at the food allergy doctor for more testing. 

Skin Testing for Food Allergies (60 Pricks)

The nurse took me back and had me undress from the waste up, then lay on my stomach so she could give me sixty (60) skin pricks. See all the red spots--------> those indicate an allergic reaction to whatever I was pricked with. The severity of the food allergy is indicated by how inflamed the skin becomes as well as real life testing (meaning see if you can be in a room with walnuts if you have a walnut allergy. Taste a pistachio and see if you go into anaphylaxis shock or if you just start throwing up or maybe you just itch and scratch for 3 days and then have GI issues. (Yes very scientific, right?) 
Within 30 minutes of testing I went into full anaphylaxis shock and was having a seizure like episode. I felt the cold of death sweep through the insides of my body. 
Result: 7 new severe food allergies found.- but as you can see from above, there are many others just not labeled "severe".  

Many adults with late onset food allergies ask this question: " How is it that I have eaten salmon or vanilla for so long and am now "allergic" to it? Or why can't I be allergic to something I don't like? 

My new food allergies are: Salmon, Cranberry, Oranges, Vanilla, Ginger, and Banana. I already knew I was allergic to Tree Nuts, Peanuts, and Dairy. 

I wasn't surprised about banana because it has a high level of potassium which is harmful in (CKD) chronic kidney disease. Salmon has a high level of protein (also not good for kidney). The others still have me a bit perplexed but in new thoughts, a peanut is part of the legume (bean) family and in cross reactive studies, bodies often times process legume as peanut because it falls in the same family. The same issues apply if you are allergic to one nut you might demonstrate allergic reactions with all tree nuts.  
I don't have answers as to WHY we become allergic to food today but I did notice the kangaroo pouch was completely gone in 3 days after avoiding all of those items. So YES- weight loss (of 3 lbs) happened. My body went back to feeling better and looking normal.  

My "Kangaroo Pouch"

A real kangaroo pouch. 

I am a big sushi fan (BTW) and had cooked a huge salmon the week before. I ate salmon everything. Apart from the kangaroo belly pouch, I was having chest pains and feeling light headed for weeks, along with loss of energy, a few wheezing spells and GI issues which I will spare the details of. 

I CANNOT say for sure that once you have identified your food allergies and gotten them all out of your system, you will loose weight.  What I can say is the bloating, stomach swelling, hives, itching, rashes, chest pains will all go away once you avoid the foods you are allergic to.
The only known CURE for food allergies is strict avoidance. 

Why do people have food allergies?

There is a significant increase in the number of people with food allergies. WHY? 

There is not ONE answer. No one has solid, indisputable evidence as to why certain people have food allergies, just as we don't know why certain people get cancer. If we understood the "why" then we could solve the problem and find the cure. Thus far we cannot.  

I've heard a host of theories but I would like to focus on this one today. 

GMO's: Genetically Modified Organisms

Definition of a GMO: 

GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering, or GE). This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.

Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.

GMO's are banned in food in Europe and Japan, yet food allergies still exist in countries outside the US. In doing research I found that GMO's are not required to be listed on packaging. So how do we know what has them and what does not have them? I asked a friend take pictures of ingredients listed on packaging in UK. I'll do the same with the brother I have living in Japan. Let's see if we can compare the difference in labeling from country to country. (More results to come- keep checking back) 

High-Risk GMO Crops (in commercial production; ingredients derived from these must be tested every time prior to use in Non-GMO Project Verified products (as of December 2011):

• Alfalfa (first planting 2011)
• Canola (approx. 90% of U.S. crop)
• Corn (approx. 88% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Cotton (approx. 90% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Papaya (most of Hawaiian crop; approximately 988 acres)
• Soy (approx. 94% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Sugar Beets (approx. 95% of U.S. crop in 2010)
• Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash (approx. 25,000 acres)

ALSO high-risk: animal products (milk, meat, eggs, honey, etc.) because of contamination in feed.



More information on food allergy sufferers: 

United States: General surveys report that as many as 25-30% of households consider at least 1 family member to have a food allergy. 

International: More than 17 million people in Europe suffer from food allergies according to a June 2012 press release from the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 3.5 million of those 17 million are under 25. The number of hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions has increased 7 fold in the last 10 years. 

In continental Europe the most common food allergy in children is to egg, cow's milk and tree-nuts, while in adulthood it is to fresh fruit, nuts and vegetables. In the UK, walnuts, hazelnuts and peanuts pose the biggest threat and cause 50% of all life-threatening allergic reactions. 2% of the adult population in the Netherlands are affected by food allergies.Allergy to shellfish and cod prevails in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Across Europe, food allergy is the leading cause of anaphylaxis in children aged 0-14. 

Legal in and outs of Food Allergies

Is your food business at risk? 

Commercial kitchens (Food trucks, restaurants, educational facilities, grocery store deli's, coffee stands, etc.)  everywhere are at the highest risk of encountering a person with one or more food allergies, because there are over 220 million people globally with food allergy disease. 

Food allergy injuries and death are on the rise.

What are the rights of the food allergic? What are restaurants required to do? 

Scanning headlines of traditional media sources from time to time, we see more publicity on the food allergy lawsuits and food allergy awareness acts. 
Here are some: 

$55K fine issued for food allergy offence

“Gluten-Free” Trend Spurs Demand for Restaurant Liability Insurance

FDA approves Intelliject's life-saving device for allergy sufferers

NY lawsuit says airline endangered child with peanut allergy

Canadian Hotel Fined for Serving Cheesecake with Nuts to Man With Allergies

McDonald's allegedly hiding French Fry Allergens

Family sues restaurant over seventh-grader's fatal food allergy

Chinese food at school's end-of-year party had peanuts or peanut oil, lab says

New food allergy labels

New Health Canada labelling rules will make it easier for people with food allergies to determine which products to avoid

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/ID/2263899327/?page=5&sort=MostPopular

In the Canadian case, the man sued and won because nuts were served in cheesecake after he said he was allergic. The reason the case was won was because they proved negligence. The server, restaurant owner, managers, cooks, and chefs are unaware of what is in their food items and didn't bother checking the packages. The restaurant and the waitress had to pay $25,000.

Food Allergy Laws:

1. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004, food manufacturers and distributors must label any ingredients that are “major food allergens” so consumers can take appropriate action. There is no cure for food allergies, so avoiding allergens is the only way consumers can protect themselves from potentially severe reactions. FALCPA identifies the following food groups as the “major food allergens:”

• Milk
• Eggs

• Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)

• Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)

• Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)

• Peanuts

• Wheat

• Soybeans

2. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act requires the US Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and make available to schools a policy to manage the risk of food allergy and anaphylaxis in schools. It will provide for school-based food allergy management incentive grants to support implementation of food allergy management guidelines in public schools.

3. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that gives you the right to ask for changes where policies, practices or conditions exclude or disadvantage you. As of January 26, 1992, public entities and public accommodations must ensure that individuals with disabilities have full access to and equal enjoyment of all facilities, programs, goods and services.

The ADA borrows from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment and education in agencies, programs and services that receive federal money. The ADA extends many of the rights and duties of Section 504 to public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, theaters, stores, doctors' offices, museums, private schools and child care programs. They must be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. No one can be excluded or denied services just because he/she is disabled or based on ignorance, attitudes or stereotypes.

Does the ADA Apply to People with Asthma and Allergies?

Yes. In both the ADA and Section 504, a person with a disability is described as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, or is regarded as having such impairments. Breathing, eating, working and going to school are "major life activities." Asthma and allergies are still considered disabilities under the ADA, even if symptoms are controlled by medication.

The ADA can help people with asthma and allergies obtain safer, healthier environments where they work, shop, eat and go to school. The ADA also affects employment policies. For example, a private preschool can not refuse to enroll children because giving medication to or adapting snacks for students with allergies requires special staff training or because insurance rates might go up. A firm can not refuse to hire an otherwise qualified person solely because of the potential time or insurance needs of a family member.

In public schools where policies and practices do not comply with Section 504, the ADA should stimulate significant changes. In contrast, the ADA will cause few changes in schools where students have reliable access to medication, options for physical education, and classrooms that are free of allergens and irritants.


From a Law firm:

"The FDA sheds light on the increasing prevalence of food allergy injuries. Unfortunately, the cases often involve children and too often involve a fatal allergic reaction. The responsibility of avoiding these accidents is shared between consumers and restaurants. Consumers must ensure they inquire and warn restaurant staff about any allergies and food prepares must act diligently to avoid contamination. Sometimes this balance of warning and responding fails. 

The best claim in most states lies in negligence. To succeed on a negligence theory in a lawsuit, the victim will have to establish that the restaurant did not use ordinary and reasonable care in preparing the food, and as a result, the food became contaminated. In a case where the restaurant has been warned about a potential allergy what is reasonable will demand more scrutiny. For example, did the restaurant modify recipes known to contain peanuts? Did it separate utensils that were in contact with peanuts?

In states that have adopted strict product liability proving negligence can be avoided. Strict liability, however, often only applies to activities that are inherently dangerous. Keeping peanuts does not fall in that category. Under  a strict liability theory a patron does not have to show any negligence on the part of the restaurant- the very fact that the customer ate contaminated food and fell ill is sufficient for liability. Whether it is wise policy to add food allergies to state strict liability statutes is debatable. Given the growing prevalence of food allergies in children the debate is worth engaging in.

Solution:

The Food Industry (ALL aspects) should be aware of laws 

BUT

Most importantly focus on safe food practices and education. 

How do you do this? 

1. Take a class in Food Allergy Education for Food Service (many are offered online or can be taught live onsite at your facility) 

2. Buy or create a dedicated AllerKits- that have essentials of what you need to prepare a safe, clean meal. 

3. Work with certified consultant to help you with menu development/safe cooking. 

4. Keep a book of a list of ingredients and sub-component ingredients easy to access for all employees and customers.  

Contact info@ilaraholland.com or visit www.ilaraholland.com to find out how to get your staff and kitchen certified on food allergy awareness and get help with developing policies in your business as to how to manage food allergy challenged customers. Create raving fans and develop a loyal customer base by developing an Allergen Friendly Menu with AllerSmartMenu.