SAFE TRAVELING AND DINING

If you live with a severe food allergy, the school cafeteria can be a scary place. So, instead of sitting down for a meal, I pack my bag with easy, safe snacks like chips and crackers, and I usually eat as I walk between classes. My lunch may not be the most nutritious, but it’s kept me alive so far. The problem is that my routine leaves me feeling bad in my body and with bad acne. Frustrated, I decided to investigate what might be causing me to feel so off. That’s when I

A recent post of mine left some people without allergies wondering why they can’t eat nuts if they are sitting next to me on a plane. I want to respond. Asking you to not eat nuts (or peanuts) might seem extreme, but the concern isn’t that your peanut is going to end up in my mouth or in the plane’s air. The problem is what happens after you eat them. If you eat a handful of nuts and then touch the seat, or seatbelt, or arm rest, you transfer nut proteins to those surfaces

Wrong. This is an allergy misconception. For some people, even a little bit of an allergen can be deadly. When it comes to the severity of allergies, there is a range. Some people can eat something they are allergic to and experience more of a minimal reaction, like an itchy tongue for example. Others might need to use an epi pen just from cross contamination. This means even a little of the dust or oil from an allergen can cause an anaphylactic reaction in some people. For t