Peanut Allergies Have TRIPLED In the Last 10 Years?!  

Yes, by all means read it! It's very informative as to how allergens work.

Actually, a cashew isn't a kind of peanut. Peanuts are actually a bean, & cashews are a true nut. I know, don't be pedantic. I can't help it; I'm a wealth of trivia encyclopedia!

I think your grandmother has a great sense of humor! I'm sorry she can't eat cashews--I love them, too! I'd be loathe to "eschew" eating them! :o) She has my sympathy! But I wonder, is the "chemical" in all cashews, or were the ones she ate treated in some way with it. If the doctor meant the latter, then perhaps you could locate organic cashews, so that she could enjoy them again. Do you know?

Thanks for the quick response!

Maggiepie
John Adams: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

::gasp!:: I've just been informed that cashews are NOT a true nut either! They, too, are a bean, it turns out. Live & learn! And blush!

Maggiepie
"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we think they ought to have." ~ Former president of CBS News, Richard Salant (another "we know best" Leftist)

Hi Hatley! I've been here! Guess I'm invisible.

It's a shame about the MSG problem. A lot of folks have that, including my bff, Elic, fellow MyLotter. But we sometimes eat at certain Chinese restaurants where they'll accommodate her by leaving out the MSG & the corn. Corn syrup is the only form of corn she can have.

I'm diabetic, but I eat it anyway, in limited amounts. You are aware that the recommended quick fix for low sugars with diabetics is a piece of hard candy, right? I keep some butterscotch things handy. I don't know if they have corn syrup or what, though.

My particular "vice" is starchy foods, but they're the cheapest, & I have a very small food budget (which in the current economy isn't worth even as much as it used to be a couple of years ago)! Ah, well. We do the best we can, you know?

Maggiepie
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." ~ -- Alexis de Tocqueville

hi I also always have hard candy on hand as I have the odd habit of going low in the middle of thenight, and here in this retirement center of all things with a lot of fellow diabetics they keep no emergency sweets of anykind on hand so I quickly learned the hard way to always have hard candy on hand in my room. so I use my small budget to keep peanut butte and cheese and ritz crackers on hand along with a supply of Worthers caramel candies. the one night the care giver told me to drink the lemonade that was left on a cart by the kitchen,it took three and a half glasses of the stuff to take my fifty up to a comfortable ninety on my glucometer. so I did stock up and to hell with depending on them for an emergency at all. But one night i was out of candy and went very low, and the night nurse got into the kichen and got me a huge glassful of orange juice plus an orange, I was only 39 the lowest I have ever been and too weak and shaking to help; myself so my roomie called the nurse told her I was at 39 and she was there in two minutes. but she is not always on. so I do not take one chance at all anymore.

One nursing home where I worked we had a resident go about 35. He had enough dementia that he did not do anything to help himself, like eat the right foods, or drink enough of the right fluids. He had to have IV sugars one evening. We did have things to give him, and proper snacks, etc. but often when they were given they did not bring the sugars up fast enough or far enough. Hatley, I bet the lemonade you were given was artificially sweetened and chemically flavored, and that is why it would not help you at all.

hi the trouble is this is not a nursing home but a retirement center with one nurse here for 90 or more residents and yes I am sure that lemonade had very little sugar in it as usually when I drank the stuff I always put in some sw eet and low to stand it tartness. Iwould not even be here but for the fact that we were broke and no place to live, and between my son and the social worker for adult protective services they made me see that going from one homeless shelter would not do for me at my age with my diabetes and my bad foot.so here I am but boy have I learned to care for myself here just as if I was in my own apt. You know the sad part about that lemonade was that he just told me to go to the cuby hole where the cart was and help myself.I was not even given his help at all.thank god i still have my intellect as one needs it here for sure. I had to find a clean glass even and I was low around 70 and had I been lower I do not know what I would have done.

HATLEY: Good on you! I was in a nursing home once--not a retirement center--& I had to get Elic to bring in healthy food for me! (This was before I went diabetic, thank goodness) I hated that place. You really do have to live by your wits in such places! And shame on that aide not helping you!!

GARDENGERTY: Yes, I'm sure you're correct. Some of those places are little better than homeless shelters. I hope someday the laws will start forcing such businesses to treat clients better. I doubt I'll live to see it, but...well...I guess it won't matter. I'd actually prefer to live out of a shopping cart than have to survive living in what my "income" could afford. I know, because when I was in one, I couldn't get out fast enough! I still get nightmares!

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

Just this morning, as it happens, I saw on the news that a study shows that a lot of misdiagnosing is going on, & that really only about 4% of Americans have a food allergy. The doctor said that the only way to truly know if you have one is to go through a bunch of tests by a bona fide allergist. Apparently, some folks think they have an allergy just because they had a single bad reaction to something, so ever afterward, they simply avoid that food, when in fact, they should try it again--& be tested, just to make sure.

I'd say consult a doctor...just to make sure.

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

I grew up on a farm. While Grandma kept a very clean house, farms are literally all about dirt! I played in it all day, handled animals, etc., so my immune system's fine. I also got a well-rounded diet, though I had a lot less meat back then, than I got later on. I still eat more meat now than I used to as a child, but simple finances have cut out a great deal of it. Meals On Wheels is my biggest meat source, nowadays.

You're so right about the expense of avoiding normal things in food that others take for granted as safe. We discovered that when Elic was being officially tested by her allergist (we were roomies then), & she did what was called a rotation diet, in which she was only allowed to eat one kind of meat on a given day, then wait a week to eat it again, plus at one point she had to eat things she wouldn't normally buy, to flush her system of the typical foods. So, she had to get clams one meal, rabbit the next, etc. $$$$! She still rotates her foods, but some things are just off limits--chiefly corn.

Please let me know what you think of the article! Thanks for responding!

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

Have you been tested & know that milk & such are the official problem? I saw a doctor on TV this morning who says studies show that a lot of people either self-diagnose erroneously, or have non-allergists tell them they're allergic to certain foods, when they actually aren't. I'd get tested, if I were you. That would at least clear up the confusion you must have about milk.

I'm not a big fish lover, having been reared away from bodies of water, except for a nearby creek too small to contain any fish big enough to eat. I had canned tuna (& still prefer canned to fresh! ), but I was about 11 before I tasted fresh fish. I did enjoy it a great deal, but I've never developed a taste for most ocean fish (orange ruffie, cod & a couple of others aside)--especially things with no fins, such as mussels or lobster. In fact, I really dislike the taste of such things, particularly crab & lobster, as those taste sweet to me, in the way food that's starting to go "off" smells. Ick.

But the only food allergies I do have are wheat & eggs, which don't bother me enough to give them up. Especially since both come in cake! LOL!

Now, should I ever develop an allergy to cheeses, tomatoes, or--Heaven forbid!--chocolate......let's just say I'd rather die! LOL!

Now why is it no-one ever seems to develop an allergy to something like tongue or head cheese, or other wretched-looking stuff like those? WHY does it hafta be eggs or milk!?

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

I love peanuts, almost any way I've had them, whether cooked in food, or merely roasted & salted. I even love Thai peanut sauce, but I can't afford it. These days I keep a big jar of crunchy peanut butter, & I mix it with honey, or eat a sandwich of PB & jelly. Sometimes I eat it with raw apples. About the only way I haven't had them is in a recipe I have for peanut soup, which I've never tried. I'd really hate to have to give them up. For one thing, I eat most PB as a replacement for meat, of which I can afford little.

I suppose if I were forced to eschew it, I would, but I surely hope that never happens!

Is there any other food you'd really hate to never eat again?

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

Well, you could be right. I know I have several that have side effects (mainly...shhh! d i a h r e a h ...), but I have to take them. Sigh...

Well, I suppose I could try going without the meds, but my docs all tell me I'd shorten my life considerably if I did!

Double sigh...

Maybe long life is over-rated? ;o> LOL!

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

Yes, I've heard of that...such as folks who must either drive rather than fly, because of peanuts on the planes, or find an airline that doesn't carry peanuts. Even a sniff could hurt, & in some rare cases, even kill! Hard to wrap my mind around that!

My query is, though, why is this on the rise? Can it really be that people need to allow more dirt into their lives, so they can build up their ability to tolerate a variety of stuff? I must say, on the face of it, it does sound as if it's possible!

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

Woops! It's the wee hours of Monday, now! So, happy Monday to you--& I hope your Sunday was glorious! (Personally, I have never met a Sunday I didn't like!)

And you are more right than you know about that age/learning thing. Scientific studies repeatedly show that learning stuff (among other things) keeps one young! So! Repeat after me: antidisestablishmentarianism! (Ha! My online dictionary doesn't list that famous jawbreaker) Now! Describe the Universe, & give me 2 examples! I'll keep you young!

You're welcome to the info; I love to share neat stuff, so it's nice to be appreciated!

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."

You make science sound like a dirty old man!

I love science, but I still hold to one thing scientists don't. There are some things man was not meant to know. One scientist once grew angry upon hearing that, & demanded an example. The other replied, "No man should want to know what the taste of his son's flesh would be like."

Whispers of Nazis' hideous experiments on humans might have run through the scientist's mind, because he did back down, then....

Maggiepie
Thomas Jefferson: "...democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work & give to those who would not."