Read with interest the simple "
How To Organize Your Loose Recipes" post on
Wikihow from fellow NAPO-Chicago member, Barb Tischler this week. My multiple food-allergic tween and I have been collecting recipes from magazines, on-line searches, and
FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) newsletters (from back in the day when newsletters were of the snail-mail variety) for several years. Inspired, we piled our collection and got to work.
My almost-not-a-tween spent her own time culling and sorting, so I stepped aside. Adapting the binder idea, she re-used an accordian-style folder from school. The result is a file of sheets of recipe options she has used, will use, or will adapt to use. The plan is to collect the most successful recipes from the collection and start a new binder with the plastic protectors per Barb's suggestion. It will be her very own Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free (except almonds!), and Sesame-free cookbook!
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The Gifts of Food Allergy
I want to share an excerpt from our former
FAAN newsletter binder of recipes. It is an uplifting message from 2003 that my almost-not-a-tween found, highlighted with happy orange marker, and posted on the fridge. It speaks to the value of living with food allergies and we live it every day.
Post as it appeared in 2003:
The Gifts of Food Allergy
Raising a child who has food allergies brings many unexpected challenges into our lives. Life would be much easier without having to deal with food allergies. However, think of all you have learned and the positive ways food allergy has affected your life.
Nothing is all bad or good, and food allergy is no exception. Listed below are some of the positive ways food allergy has enriched the lives of families
just like yours.
* Your family is aware of what they eat, and is likely to make healthy food choices.
* You are active in your child's academic life; the administration, nurse, and teachers all know you.
* You've become more than you were (stronger, wiser, more assertive) to keep your child healthy and happy.
* Your child knows what it feels like to be different and has learned to be compassionate to others.
* Your family has learned to "look out for each other," allowing children to learn true caring.
* Your child has learned that his or her actions can have extreme consequences and has
learned to make responsible decisions.
* Food allergy teaches patience, safety, and restraint as opposed to immediate gratification (e.g., the label must be read before eating an item, food cannot be shared, etc.)
*
Your child grows up focusing on activities rather than snacks and meals.
These are only a few ways that food allergy can affect our lives in positive ways. There are many, many others. Feel free to share some of yours with us. We'd love to hear from you.
Tween and I would love to hear from you too!
Eat happy :)
