Maybe I should just avoid reading the news, but that won't solve the problem. The latest news report that I found disturbing was regarding bullying of food allergic children. Yesterday on msnbc.com, they published an article about this. The existence of bullying a child based on his/her allergy was not news to me, unfortuantely, but rather that it was significant enough of a problem that someone was able to quantify it and provide statistics.
While I presume my child is too young to be exposed to such bullies, its something I have to keep in the back of my mind for the future. And here I'm hoping she can be mainstreamed and not homeschooled due to the severity of her allergies...
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Gluten Free is not a "Lifestyle" choice
Our local paper ran an article today from the Associated Press entitled, "The 'it' diet: Gluten-free has gone big time, but why so popular?". It speculated about the popularity of people opting to go Gluten-free, and not for any diagnosed medical problem. I found it sorely neglected the insight of people who go gluten free due to necessity.
I adopted this "lifestyle" for the love and well-being of my daughter. While she has more severe allergies to other food items, which may result in anaphylaxis, wheat and other foods with gluten cause her to suffer from eczema, hives, and stomach ailments. Why would I choose to feed my daughter a food that results in constant irritation and sometimes sores requiring steroid creams?
Furthermore, living a gluten-free life is not the most affordable "lifestyle". In fact, a box of gluten-free pasta is generally at least 4 times the cost of wheat-based pasta priced per ounce. And of course, if I want dessert, it requires me to bake like a scientist.
So to Michael Hill, author of the aforesaid article, I invite him to investigate this lifestyle from the perspective of those who do this to make a better, healthier, safer life for themselves and their loved ones, and not because some A-lister is doing it.
I adopted this "lifestyle" for the love and well-being of my daughter. While she has more severe allergies to other food items, which may result in anaphylaxis, wheat and other foods with gluten cause her to suffer from eczema, hives, and stomach ailments. Why would I choose to feed my daughter a food that results in constant irritation and sometimes sores requiring steroid creams?
Furthermore, living a gluten-free life is not the most affordable "lifestyle". In fact, a box of gluten-free pasta is generally at least 4 times the cost of wheat-based pasta priced per ounce. And of course, if I want dessert, it requires me to bake like a scientist.
So to Michael Hill, author of the aforesaid article, I invite him to investigate this lifestyle from the perspective of those who do this to make a better, healthier, safer life for themselves and their loved ones, and not because some A-lister is doing it.
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