I’m not sure if I’ve shared this before but I’m a member of Rotary International. In fact, up until Sunday, I was the club president for my morning Rotary club here in Duncan and am now immediate past president. The ideals of Rotary are ones I appreciate because they promote care and understanding both locally and internationally; something I’ve always tried to teach my kids.

One of the programs within Rotary that I think is so vital is the Youth Exchange Program. This program has many different options from summer exchanges through to full year placements world-wide. My oldest daughter decided to do the summer exchange program this year which means that we get a student for a full month at the same time as my daughter and then they go together to the other student’s home. In our case, we have a student from just outside Paris who arrived last night and both my daughter and this teen will go to France July 28th. My daughter will then come back alone on August 22nd.

Rob and I have always advocated travel with our children as we believe that it opens up understanding between cultures and allows one to learn so many things that cannot be taught with books. However, it is a challenge to travel with food allergies, even when traveling in your own country. For that reason, we always planned on having our oldest child participate in a Rotary exchange (she’s outgrown her food allergies and only has drug allergies now) but never felt comfortable with our youngest child and her 4 food allergies going on an exchange. We may need to rethink that.

The 15 year old that we brought to our home last night has many allergies, including to animals and a life-threatening peanut allergy. The original family that she had been paired with was unable to accommodate these allergies and so she inadvertently got paired with ours instead. It was a very fortuitous pairing since I’m allergic to animals and my youngest is allergic to peanuts; our house is a haven for our French teen. Her parents were very relieved as we’ve arranged everything through emails over the last few months. It also helps that our family speaks French and the French student speaks very good English – so no language barrier there.

But that takes a lot of faith for our French student’s family to trust another family halfway across the world with a life-threatening food allergy. I’m not sure I’d be up for that. Until our student was coming, my food allergic child also did not feel comfortable with applying for the Rotary Youth Exchange program as she thought that there was no way she would be able to find a family who she would feel safe with. And yet, our French teen’s family found just that with us.

Is it too much to expect that we might find someone who had food allergies too within the Rotary Youth Exchange Program? And what about the language barrier that is often present? We can rank our preferences for the country our child goes but that’s not always guaranteed. Right now, there are too many uncertainties for me to feel comfortable but am I placing limits on our food allergic child that are unreasonable if she feels comfortable? Next summer she would be almost 16 and at some point I have to be able to let go but is that first step sending her halfway across the world?

What do you think?

For those of you who have followed my blog for the last couple of years, you know that we’ve been no stranger to travel despite 6 food allergies in our family. We’ve been to the US, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, England and Costa Rica. We’ve flown, ferried, and even dugout canoed through canals in Costa Rica to get to our final destination (and yes, there were alligators!).

These travels have not been without their stresses and pre-planning is definitely key. The vast majority of our trips had us staying with very supportive family members and/or renting suites that had a kitchen so that we could do all of our own cooking.

The most difficult trips for planning are those that have us moving daily and trying to catch meals on the fly. If any of you have tried to get a safe meal in an airport, you know the frustration of not having your own food at your fingertips. Well, Megan (4 food allergies) and I are leaving on Friday morning at 5:30 am for her band trip down the coast of Washington, Oregon and California. It’s definitely a challenge given that we are in a different place each night until we reach Anaheim, where we have 3 nights with our own fridge and microwave.

Luckily, I have spent lots of time in Washington and Oregon of late plus we’ve had 2 previous trips to Disney (which has been fantastic for food allergies) and one to Universal Studios (which was not a helpful place for food allergies) plus my oldest daughter went on the same trip 2 years ago so I know what to expect. As a result, we have got a suitcase of granola bars, granola, trail mix, cookies, crackers, chocolates, soup and utensils. I’ve also got granola bars for all of the kids on the bus so that they can have a safe snack when necessary without resorting to items with Megan’s 4 allergies in them. This is one time it comes in handy to own an allergy friendly food company!

We’re also attending Medieval Times so I’ve called them and they’ve sent a menu with all of the ingredient lists so that we can specify how to change her menu. I’m also checking for the gluten in the meals so this might get quite interesting.

I would say that the most difficult times are when everybody else is eating dessert and we can’t or when the tour goes to a chocolate factory in San Francisco and we can’t have any of the chocolates and fudge that the other kids will be buying by the truckload. I try to mitigate that unfairness with a bunch of safe Easter chocolates I’ve found and packed into the suitcase but I’m the first to admit it’s just not the same. It’s certainly easier when we travel as a family since we all eat the same for everybody’s allergies but in a group, you can’t ask the other kids not to eat their dessert.

So wish us luck as I navigate the food allergy highway, particularly with a bunch of junior high school kids!

Last year I wrote a grinchy post.  Yes, me, usually overly optimistic, glass is full kinda gal.  But I couldn’t help it.  It was the first time in a  long time that I had hosted my whole family for Christmas for a week plus I had an exchange student from France who couldn’t eat dairy.  Add that in to our 6 food allergies, it was liking going back to when the girls were little and we had to avoid dairy too.  Plus I’m a perfectionist so the house cleaning, baking, decorating, etc. had to be just so before everybody arrived.  My husband and children wisely kept quiet.

Skip forward a whole year and I’m in a less grinchy frame of mind.  I’m still trying to get 5 new products finalized this week (for launch in February), am President of my Rotary with 4 meetings this week alone (don’t ask) and hosted our employee Christmas party on Sunday (you should have seen Sandy and Sheila fight over that bottle of wine).  But we’re going to my parents’ house for Christmas, yippee! 

There are so many things to be said for someone else hosting Christmas, kind of like having your child’s birthday party at the local bowling alley.  You have to decorate very little, can leave the house dusty, put up fewer lights outside, struggle with the holly bush less often,  bake less and when it’s all over YOU get to LEAVE!  Ah, ha, ha (cue the evil laughter). 

And since my parents are so good with my family’s allergies, I know that we will only have to check things once.  My mom has it down pat and makes sure that all of the ingredients she buys she keeps the labels for so that I can have a quick go over.  Now all I have to do is bake some buns and muffins and we’re good to go. 

So my stockings are hung, my Christmas tree is glowing brightly and I have a twinkle in my eye.  Of course, I still have to do a bunch of shopping but that’s a blog post for another day.  I wish that you too can have an unGrinchy Christmas season.

How many times have you been traveling and either had safe bread products with you or found some safe bread products but you were afraid to put your safe product into the toaster? I’ve certainly been in that situation with my family and so I found a great little product that helps keep the toaster cross contamination out while allowing us to eat safely: Toast-It! Bags.

Originally created for containing grilled cheese sandwiches in a toaster, they are now well used and loved by many with special diets who want to use a toaster while visiting family or a breakfast buffet with their own safe bread product. You simply slip your own bread (or thinly sliced bagel, muffin, etc.), into the Toast-It! Bag and then pop it into the toaster. Gluten free breads may need a second run through but then you can just slide out your item and enjoy.

The website says that they also work in toaster ovens and on grills like the George Foreman Grill. I do know of someone who tried it successfully in a toaster oven but I’m not sure if that was on the toast or bake setting. I’m also not sure if they might work for something like a small individual pizza but it’s certainly worth a try.

If you’re traveling for the holidays or travel a lot for work and need to take your own food with you like we do, this handy little product could be a life saver (literally) and you no longer have to take your toaster with you. They can even be washed at home, dried and reused several times. Take a look on their website at: http://www.toastitbags.com/

I’m here to tell you a secret;  traveling is not all glamor.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?

I remember when my kids were little and my husband had to travel for work conferences.  I’d be exhausted when he came home and he had the nerve to be exhausted too!  How could that be when he’d had a hotel to go to sleep in, meals provided, banquets to attend, no children to wake him up in the middle of the night, no carting the kids back and forth between childcare plus work?  Now, I’ve discovered why as the shoe is on the other foot.

Because it is my company that I travel for, no one is planning my dinners for me at lovely restaurants when I’m away.   And, like many of you with food allergies and intolerances, I cart my own food with me so that I can eat safely and healthfully and try to book hotels with a microwave and fridge wherever I can.  I’ve been traveling so much in the last 3 months that I haven’t spent more than 10 days at home at a time.  At one point, I looked out of my plane at the city beyond and forgot where I was (Vancouver)!

So you might ask, why do I do it?   Here are the things that keep me going:

The eleven year old boy at the Canadian Celiac Association’s National Conference in Winnipeg who mowed through all of our samples once his mom had determined all of our products were safe for his Celiac disease, peanut allergies, egg allergies and dairy allergies.  What a smile on his face and his mom’s too!

The lady at Choices gluten free fair in White Rock who found out we’re free of sulfites and dairy.  She told me that she was in love with our company. 

The store owner who came up to our booth at the Canadian Health Food Association’s Expo West who said she can’t keep our Energy Explosion trail mix on the shelf, people love it so much.

The lady who’s been a customer for years who introduced herself at the Celiac Disease Foundation’s Annual Conference in Los Angeles in May.  It felt like I was meeting an old friend.

But it’s the same in all that we do isn’t it?  We handle all of the education and anxiety necessary to deal with our family’s food allergies and at times it can be really overwhelming.  We plough on, sometimes just putting our heads down and marching ahead because it’s really all we can do.  But then we get those moments of bright light; that small thing that may not mean much to someone not in our shoes but can mean the world to us.  A new safe product, a medical situation handled well, excitement over finding someone else who really “gets it”.

Small things – they’re really what makes the world go round.

If you’re a subscriber to my enewsletter, you know that I like to showcase other special diet websites and products that I feel could be helpful to our Nonuttin’ clients.  One such company that we’ve been getting to know is Nutrition for your Condition.  The ladies who began this company know how difficult it is to go anywhere and eat safely so they put together a travel kit that anyone with a special diet could easily take with them to school or on the road or plane.

I asked Crystal Paulitzki, one of the founders,  to provide our followers with a bit of information about their company which she has done below.  She’s also graciously offered Nonuttin’ clients a discount coupon for use when purchasing any Nutrition for your Condition products.  Here’s what Crystal had to say: Read more »

Oh boy, you’d think that being deprived of peanuts and nuts for approximately 1-14 hours was akin to snatching a bottle out of a baby’s hands.  Add in food allergies being referred to as a disability and you’ve got people frothing at the mouth. Read more »

I am childless!  After sending one child off on a plane on Saturday and delivering another to her grandparents for a trip to auntie’s house in Calgary on Tuesday, our house is really quiet.  And for someone who is now supposed to be eating ice cream until midnight and bouncing on the bed, I find myself somewhat rudderless.

Gone are all of the electronic noises, teenage groans and sibling arguments.  I no longer have to prod children to complete chores, I simply have to do them myself.  No more fighting for time on the family computer, the phone isn’t being used when I want it.  But it’s too quiet.  I got a call from my allergic child last night since I’d requested she phone once she arrived after the 3 day journey.  She had the audacity to want to get off the phone quickly so she could rejoin her uncle’s birthday party.  Hmmph!

As my husband said at dinner last night, “so this is what it will be like in a few years”.  I’m not so sure I’m liking that too much.  Because all of this silence isn’t exactly worry free you know.  Tween and teen children (allergic and otherwise) in the care of other people and perhaps taking on personal responsibility?  That would mean I’ve done my job well and they don’t need me anymore.  Ack!

Maybe it’s time to go get that ice cream out.

It’s the Victoria Day long weekend and so begins the odyssey of lily-white, sun-starved Canadians into the wilds of Canada bearing backpacks, tents, hot dog forks and sunscreen.  Forget that the forecast is only a chilly 15 degrees Celsius here on Vancouver Island this weekend, we’re going if we have to wear toques.  Luckily, we upgraded to a tent trailer last year so no sleeping on the ground will be required.

So what does it take to go camping with a peanut, nut and kiwi allergic child?  Surprisingly, it’s getting a little easier now that we have some favorite brands of items that go with us, not to mention Nonuttin’ granola, granola bars and trail mix.  We take a nut free brand of chocolate covered cookies that we use for S’mores, our own bread and buns, bake our own goodies and after that, it’s all about fruit, veggies and what can be cooked on an open flame.

This time, we’re not going alone so the planning does get a bit more complicated.  Like school events, this is where I find it easiest to simply volunteer to make all of the baked goods required.  Luckily, my 2 girls are like their mom and love to bake and cook so while I worked today, the muffins, banana bread and cake (there’s an anniversary celebration today too) were magically created at home since my girls had the day off school.  I love this teenager stuff (bet you don’t hear that too often).

I have to admit that when we first started camping when the girls were little, I was really concerned about being away from home in case an allergic reaction occurred.  Of course, we always have epi pens both on our daughter and ourselves but being away from civilization was worrisome.  What I discovered, at least on Vancouver Island, is that camping is not what I remember it to be when I was a child.  My dad was one of those guys who eschewed anything paved and took us on back roads into places I’m not sure we were actually allowed to camp.  I remember being rescued from a mud pit once by a logging crew after my dad got my grandparents motorhome stuck on particularly nasty back road.  Not exactly where I’d want to be in case of an emergency.

But every provincial park we’ve been to so far is removed from the main roads enough to feel isolated and away from civilization while still being no more than 10 minutes from a main highway, phones and even a grocery store.  I feel fairly comfortable with that. 

And now that I  have convinced my husband that camp food can be more than just hot dogs and eating out of cans, we’re all set.

Our family  just got back yesterday from Tofino where we took the Manitoba in-laws for their first look at the Pacific Rim National Park, gray whales, sea otters, rain, rain, rain and…snow.  Ah, nothing like spring on the west coast of Canada!

Like many allergy families, we got a kitchenette and dragged all of our own food along so that we wouldn’t have to eat out.  Despite all of the careful attention to detail, I had a bit of anxiety when it came time to bedtime.  While the suite slept 8, 2 of those 8 were on a pullout and we had planned to have our allergic child there so us parents could have a little privacy. 

But, I just couldn’t put her on the pullout when so many people sit and eat on the sofa.  We ate at the sofa while we were there since there wasn’t quite enough room at the table.  While we weren’t eating nuts, how many people had sat there before us?  How many people would come later  that have allergies to wheat from our breadcrumbs?  In the end, I ended up sleeping with said allergic child in a bed while our oldest daughter was alone on the pullout. 

My husband thought I was going a bit overboard but in the end, I managed to sleep (somewhat, given her elbow in my throat), knowing that we were sleeping in the room farthest from the kitchen.