Food Allergies

Hi

If you've ever met people like me, you'll know that we're the ones who stand in the corner of every party who when presented with food give you the whole "I can't cause of my allergies, but thanks!" kid, and you walk away not having the slightest clue what that meant. Hopefully, these blogs can help clear things up.

Growing up with 10 deadly food allergies has been interesting to say the least. It's like the superpower you never wanted. You get care and attention from other people, but then at the same time, every year there's that dreaded day when you think to yourself, "OH NO NOT AGAIN". when "traces of peanuts" turned out to be just the right amount of peanuts.

So what's the big deal about allergies? Well, they vary from person to person. For some, they cause mild symptoms like sneezing or indigestion. For others, it can cause anaphylactic shock and a trip to the ER. It all comes down to the immune system.

I'll write more about the immune system in future posts, but essentially, if your body's immune system sees any substance as a threat, even when its not, it tries to expel the substance out of the body as soon as possible. Reasons for this abnormality haven't been conclusively traced yet, but the fact is that millions of people deal with this issue on a daily basis and they sometimes result in people being hospitalized.

This is not to say that there's no solutions available though. Advancements in the field of allergies are being made constantly, and organizations like FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education, check the about us page for more info) have helped raise awareness about food allergies across the world.

If you want to learn more about allergies, stick around, I'll be continuing to write blogs on this website about the science and daily experience of food allergies in the near future.