Food Allergies- One Byte at a Time

I had the pleasure of meeting Brynn Elizabeth Hadler while I was at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference this past September. For those of you who may not have heard of her just yet, she is an author, a fellow food allergy mom and you can visit her at AllergyBytes. Much like myself, Brynn shares the same passion of needing to help others navigate through the world of food allergies at an easier pace. (Can I also say that I am possibly partial to her since her website and mine are both a play on words! AllergyBytes, AllergyPhoods...) On a personal basis, she is just a great, down-to-earth person to speak to.

I was even more touched when she asked if I would post a review on her book "7 Ways to Get Your Children to Eat Healthy Food". Although this book is just 43 pages, it is a great item to have for children with food allergies but also for children in general. The very first quote that I took as true to my own thoughts is on page 2 when Brynn writes "When it comes to the diets of children today, there is theory and there is reality." YES, nailed it! One of the first things that I always stress to any person looking to change their diets it to do what they can do to the best of their ability and not what someone else does. In every day life, our lives and schedules do not always allow for a completely home cooked meal but not every meal has to be so extravagant either. And, just as I feel and Brynn addresses in her book, on the days that you don't have all of your energy to commit to foods, keep it simple but keep it healthy. Brynn does a great job reminding us that sometimes children prefer simple- sometimes, it's not all about how fancy we can present things but just the fact that we made an effort to show them something different for that day.

Some other things that Brynn focuses on are

• Keep your children involved- Very,very important to do! I have learned this as a mom myself- the more they are a part of being involved in their foods, the information about their foods and different ways to use them, the more this will stick with them and entice them to want to learn even more on their own.
• What you want to eat in not always what your children want- Agreed again. And even as adults, we do not all want to eat the same foods, so why force it? Try asking them what they want and then have them come up with an idea on how to use the food for their meal.
• Eat what your child eats- Yes, again. If you do not eat what you expect your child to eat, how is that encouraging them? And how many times have you been eating something and you are not even on the second bite and that little face appears, asking if they can have some?
• Use food as powerful knowledge- One of my personal favorites as well. There is nothing more interesting than having your own child tell you something that they have learned about their foods when you thought they were not listening.
• Let your child feed you- Great idea however, I strongly recommend that you either use separate utensils or consider doing this when you know that you (the parent) has not eaten any possible allergic foods earlier that day.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Brynn for giving me the opportunity to read through her book and offer my thoughts. As an author myself, I am always interested to see what everyone else is also sharing with our communities. For more information on Brynn and what she can do to help you or if you are ready to order her book and start to get your child eating better, please visit her website at http://www.allergybytes.com/. 

As I have said before, "If you say that celebration & life is not all about food, you are wrong. It IS about finding the right foods that are healthy and safest. Food is not something that tears us apart, it brings us together. After all, this is how I have connected with all of you." ~ AllergyPhoods.com

*Photo courtesy of AllergyBytes.com