Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Question

First, I'll be posting this over on LJ as well so many of you will see this twice. Sorry!

Second, would anyone be willing to help me with a project? I'd like to bring more awareness to food allergies and what is in food after a recent incident (don't worry, I realized long before I ate it what was in it). I think one way to do that is just for my friends and fellow bloggers (that's y'all) to take a picture of what their normal food groceries look like for one week (ie, not the toilet paper). It doesn't need to be impressive. It's okay if you only needed to stock up on the pop tarts and beer. ;-) I just need a photo of the groceries and, if possible, the ingredients (or the sticker on the food item like with bananas, apples, ground beef, ect).

I'd like to put together a project showing how someone with food allergies views "common" food items. I have way too many allergies and my oldest nephew has a peanut allergy. The way we (and my poor sister in law!) have to view food in order to not go to the ER is very different from how those without food allergies live.

The reason I'd like to do this is not just for food allergies but to raise awareness of what we are really eating. It shocked me when I got my corn allergy exactly how many things have corn in them and how hidden that corn can be. Also, I think it would be helpful for those without food allergies when some poor person like me comes over for dinner.

I had a recent incident in which a lady didn't not understand that "no dairy" didn't mean just take the cheese off. It meant absolutely nothing with butter or milk in it. This included cake. I've had this happen before (sometimes with far worse extremes like just taking the cut tomatoes out rather than remaking a salad!)and I'm hoping that by doing a project like this I can help everyone - both people with and without allergies- understand what "no x" really means. And what we are all really eating.

Don't worry, if you don't want, I won't associate your name/blog with your pictures. I'm also happy to do so if you like your name associated with your pictures. Just let me know in an email. For my email, just comment here if you'd like to participate or have any questions about the project.

6 comments:

  1. How do we get the photos to you?

    Also, are we including all sugar substitutes? As an Epileptic, I'm supposed to avoid the traditional artificial sweeteners and Splenda, but it is very hard with all the different names. Plus, they put them in products that used to be safe. I drank Hawaiian Punch and got sick because they had started adding Splenda. It turns out that I'm allergic to Splenda which is made more challenging by it being in a wide variety of products. My colds hard started being worse than usual but when I looked at the ingredients more carefully, the medication had Splenda. All HALLS products have Splenda, too. While I support trying to give people the options of less sugar, people should be able to choose how they want to do that.

    My mom is also allergic to Acesulframe K and sensitive to Aspartame which rules out most chewing gum.

    Yet only milk, eggs, etc. are easily listed and Egg Whites are NOT always listed in the allergens! This makes no sense to me.

    Between avoiding most sweetener subsititutes, avoiding eggs on moral grounds and trying to limit my intake of fat, calories and sodium, food buying can be a long process.

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    1. All I need are the photos of the items and the ingredients list. Don't worry - sugar subs will be part of the project. I've sent you a message through LJ.

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  2. I have been eating Gluten free for a while, and honestly the fact that it could be in TEA astounded me. at this point, if it isn't produce I ALWAYS read the ingredient list, which makes shopping so much longer. on the upside, I AM eating better, not as many processed foods.
    Unfortunately I can't comply with this experiment, as I do not do the shopping!

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    1. Even produce can sometimes be problematic. With veggies and fruit, you need to wash them thoroughly even if they've been washed because of the factory they went through. Very often, that potato was put on the same belt as the wheat grains were earlier. And then there is the fun with ground beef - whether it was corn fed (bad for me) or grass fed.

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  3. When do you need them? I am gluten and lactose free (diagnosed Celiac) and I react to Saccharin, Stevia, etc., so I can only use Splenda. I would be happy to contribute. When I buy GF stuff the cost of the groceries is so much more than just buying fresh produce and meat. It kind of sucks to have to pay so much extra just for bread I can eat...

    And my sister has a corn allergy. She was diagnosed at 6 months, and I couldn't believe the amount of stuff with corn in it when we had to start reading labels.

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    1. There are some gluten free bread recipes out there. I haven't tried them but it might be a nice cheaper option. As someone who does bake their own bread (from scratch!) I can't see ever going back to buying bread. It's too expensive and too much of a pain reading all those labels.

      I'd like to have the photos of the groceries by April 8th. It should give me plenty of time to put together the project by the end of April.

      As for the corn allergy: oh my yes! Corn is the hidden ingredient in a lot of things. Sadly, the corn thing is political and I'll go into it during the project.

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