I'm again frustrated with the lack of appropriate wording for corn allergies.
The only word we have for a potentially debilitating reaction caused by an ingested substance is 'allergy'. But when it comes to corn and corn derivatives, allergy doesn't describe the half of it.
You see, food allergies indicate potential anaphylaxis. And while with corn, we do have the potential for anaphylaxis, most professionals also associate true food allergies with food proteins.
Corn derivatives like xanthan gum, citric acid and microcrystalline cellulose are 'pure'. They don't have protein. But they still manage to pack quite the whollop. So, Corn avoiders tend to avoid all corn derivatives, at least until they figure out which ones they, personally, can tolerate.
Most allergists run diagnostic testing when determining food allergies. They start with skin tests, and then draw blood. The intention is to measure the antibodies present and then determine the likelihood of a severe reaction.
However, as this South African Journal notes, corn/maize frequently reveals a false negative result. Double blind placebo trials reveal reactions.
In short, corn/maize does NOT follow the typical allergy rules. It's not always protein mediated. And the typical allergy testing rarely reveals a positive result.
There are also multiple potential allergens in corn, although studies have not been done to evaluate them thoroughly.
While I know all this, not everyone in the medical community seems to. Even worse, the companies who produce and package my food, and everyone else's, tend to have a very tenuous hold on the understanding of corn and it's potential for causing reactions.
This understanding is encouraged by the belief that food proteins are the problematic substance when dealing with food allergies; and that the Top 8 are the main (frequently misunderstood as 'only') foods responsible for 'real' reactions.
So when I contact a company and say "Is there corn in this?", they respond with "Of course not, it's a bottle of fruit juice." When, in fact, there may be 3 or 4 different corn derived ingredients either on the label or used as a processing agent.
(If you're wondering, off the top of my head: Ascorbic acid, citric acid, xanthan gum, and vitamin enrichments are the first 4 ingredients I can think of found in juice drinks that are often corn-taminated)
Some companies get it. When they say "There are no corn derivatives" they mean that they pick the fruit, squeeze it directly into pure, clean glass bottles and seal it up for distribution. They KNOW what's in there.
Shopping with a corn/maize allergy (or whatever it is you want to call this condition) is a completely different experience from what shopping used to be. There are entire aisles in the grocery store that are off limits. And even the aisles that are inviting seem ominous. New products are tempting, and yet need to be cautiously evaluated. First, the label is scrutinized. Questionable ingredients noted. The company then needs to be contacted to verify the source of questionable ingredients, and to ask about processing. And then comes the moment of truth. The deep breath, the taste. And hopefully, if the evening passes without reaction, a full out meal.
And then it gets added to the normal rotation. However, just because an item is familiar doesn't mean that a shopping trip is filled with confidence or that each purchase is quick and safe. Every single time I go to the store, I read ingredients. I scan for red flags that sound 'different' from last time. If packaging changes, it means I need to contact the company (and/or double check with the corn-free community on delphi) to see if any portion of the packaging process has changed.
If corn were like dairy or eggs or even gluten, answers would be easier to get. The protein would be the main item of concern, the answers would be straight forward. They are for my daughter. But corn...corn is complicated. It has so many facets and is used so many different ways.
Learning life without corn derivatives is truly like navigating a maze, except that rather than navigating a complicated labyrinth to discover a vicious minotaur, the maze itself is the danger and once we find the center, the danger is over...as long as we continue to stay vigilant.
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Grocery budget and food allergies
As any allergy sufferer knows, allergy friendly foods don't come cheap. The more varied your avoidance list, and the stronger your sensitivity, the more brand loyal you become. And the most allergy friendly companies are often the ones rarely on sale.
Luckily, whole foods are healthy foods, and many are relatively the cheap. Labor intensive, but bank book friendly. Most people who have dietary restrictions try to balance their diets with fun, packaged preprepared safe foods that might cost exponentially more than the safe counterpart and cheap, healthy, labor intensive ingredients. Many find themselves "stuck" following a healthier diet that way.
And others are completely price tag blind when it comes to food.
In our house, food is an ongoing struggle.
There are 4 individuals. One needs to lose weight, and has no will power. (well, very little anyways. But I love him anyway.) He's the one often taking over food prep or presentation, when I'm not up for it. One has very few food restrictions; is exceptionally picky, and is a perfect weight. Two are avoiding gluten (among other things) and need to gain. One of them is also avoiding corn, in charge of all cooking and budget keeping...and dealing with stomach issues on an ongoing basis.
Hopefully you can visualize the bones of the problem here...variety and options. When Bumblebee wants to live off of toast and jam, not only is that not healthy but it takes an extra layer of thought to keep her happy, fed, and the rest of us safe.
Now, we've done fairly well with budgeting so far. It's hard...but we figure the trade off is that our expensive meals come to under $15...and for a family our size to eat out is probably at least twice that, depending on where we went and whether the kids drink juice, soda or water.
However, lately we've slipped a bit. Mr Violets has been packing more lunches, and picking up odds and ends from the grocery store. And I've been blissfully ignorant of the potential ramifications. Until the credit card bill arrived and knocked me off my feet.
This opened a dialogue on what exactly the kids have been finding in their lunches.
And wait a minute...how many loaves of gluten free bread are you buying a week?
It's a miracle we can still make rent.
(Getting angry at your husband for helping out around the house isn't always a good move, by the way. It raises his hackles and hurts his feelings.)
Mr Violets' response was that we needed groceries. He's been running to the store every time Penguin ran out of bread or bagels, he's been making sure we have enough squeezy applesauce in the cupboard (Which, he might add, I don't even buy enough to get through a full week!), he's been the one tossing crackers and green beans and bars into lunch bags. I should be grateful.
(Girls? What happens to those bars? Wide eyes. Gulp. Shift weight from one foot to the other. Whispers. "Well, X really likes them. And so, um, sometimes I take a bite and then...it's already open. So I don't want to throw it away..." That's enough. That's okay. You're not in trouble.)
So...in the end, we've been spending expensive bagged lunches to school with the girls so they could give away the good stuff. Grumble.
I had to take a few steps back to see why Mr. Violets was getting so defensive. Why couldn't he see that spending a fortune on food was a huge problem?
"It's just money," he said, "I'll make more."
And later "If that's what it costs, that's what it costs. It's a sacrifice we have to make. We can't let her starve."
This is where I began to realize we were fighting two different fights.
To him, the grocery budget is not a budget. We need food, we buy food. We buy what the kids will eat, what they want, what we want. We splurge on candy or cookies. But basics? Protein, beans, grains? Those are free foods. We buy as many as we "need". For me to put a limit on something as basic as bread (and casein free cheese) is akin to attacking his ability to provide.
I was having trouble explaining that I look at the prepackaged options. I break the meals down into dollars and cents. Sure, applesauce in a squeeze is fun. But at a dollar a pop, it isn't an everyday snack food. It goes into lunches once a week. So that there are room for other once a week snack foods. Potato chips, protein bars, yoghurt. (Coconut yoghurt may taste better than soy but it's nearly twice as much. Making it a yummy TREAT that happens to be healthy. Not a necessity.) We can't consume the cheap calories half their friends are spilling across the lunchtables. That doesn't mean we can afford the look alike comparisons for our kids to *spill across the lunch table*. We can afford plenty of options. Plenty of calories. Plenty of safe, delicious, healthy food.
Just not a lot of "normal" cheap and easy fundamentals.
I may not be expressing myself well. But the next few months we are tightening the grocery reins, Bumblebee will fuss and scream and our guilt mode will be on high alert as the neighbors tsk and tut about the "poor child whose evil mother starves her" (I feed her. Food is on the table. Snacks are in the cupboard. Even on a budget, there will be appropriate food available to the tearful, tantruming, heartbreaking child who has everyone she meets enchanted.) Penguin will happily scarf down whatever bits and pieces I come up with, giving vivid descriptions of what's right and wrong with my cooking. (most of it boiling down to 'a little bit of real cheese and corn...I'm sorry Mommy, but I think something with corn in it would maybe help') Mr. Violets will endeavor to learn the difference between "fun healthy food" and cheap basics.
And me...well, I'm going to have to work even harder on this whole meal planning thing. We have a bit of a plan with tuna casserole on Fridays, and chicken and rice on Tuesdays. Leftovers Saturday and Wednesday. But that leaves 3 days. And a hungry Bumblebee. (Who will stare at either meal and wait patiently until we're ready to serve her something different.)
Luckily, whole foods are healthy foods, and many are relatively the cheap. Labor intensive, but bank book friendly. Most people who have dietary restrictions try to balance their diets with fun, packaged preprepared safe foods that might cost exponentially more than the safe counterpart and cheap, healthy, labor intensive ingredients. Many find themselves "stuck" following a healthier diet that way.
And others are completely price tag blind when it comes to food.
In our house, food is an ongoing struggle.
There are 4 individuals. One needs to lose weight, and has no will power. (well, very little anyways. But I love him anyway.) He's the one often taking over food prep or presentation, when I'm not up for it. One has very few food restrictions; is exceptionally picky, and is a perfect weight. Two are avoiding gluten (among other things) and need to gain. One of them is also avoiding corn, in charge of all cooking and budget keeping...and dealing with stomach issues on an ongoing basis.
Hopefully you can visualize the bones of the problem here...variety and options. When Bumblebee wants to live off of toast and jam, not only is that not healthy but it takes an extra layer of thought to keep her happy, fed, and the rest of us safe.
Now, we've done fairly well with budgeting so far. It's hard...but we figure the trade off is that our expensive meals come to under $15...and for a family our size to eat out is probably at least twice that, depending on where we went and whether the kids drink juice, soda or water.
However, lately we've slipped a bit. Mr Violets has been packing more lunches, and picking up odds and ends from the grocery store. And I've been blissfully ignorant of the potential ramifications. Until the credit card bill arrived and knocked me off my feet.
This opened a dialogue on what exactly the kids have been finding in their lunches.
And wait a minute...how many loaves of gluten free bread are you buying a week?
It's a miracle we can still make rent.
(Getting angry at your husband for helping out around the house isn't always a good move, by the way. It raises his hackles and hurts his feelings.)
Mr Violets' response was that we needed groceries. He's been running to the store every time Penguin ran out of bread or bagels, he's been making sure we have enough squeezy applesauce in the cupboard (Which, he might add, I don't even buy enough to get through a full week!), he's been the one tossing crackers and green beans and bars into lunch bags. I should be grateful.
(Girls? What happens to those bars? Wide eyes. Gulp. Shift weight from one foot to the other. Whispers. "Well, X really likes them. And so, um, sometimes I take a bite and then...it's already open. So I don't want to throw it away..." That's enough. That's okay. You're not in trouble.)
So...in the end, we've been spending expensive bagged lunches to school with the girls so they could give away the good stuff. Grumble.
I had to take a few steps back to see why Mr. Violets was getting so defensive. Why couldn't he see that spending a fortune on food was a huge problem?
"It's just money," he said, "I'll make more."
And later "If that's what it costs, that's what it costs. It's a sacrifice we have to make. We can't let her starve."
This is where I began to realize we were fighting two different fights.
To him, the grocery budget is not a budget. We need food, we buy food. We buy what the kids will eat, what they want, what we want. We splurge on candy or cookies. But basics? Protein, beans, grains? Those are free foods. We buy as many as we "need". For me to put a limit on something as basic as bread (and casein free cheese) is akin to attacking his ability to provide.
I was having trouble explaining that I look at the prepackaged options. I break the meals down into dollars and cents. Sure, applesauce in a squeeze is fun. But at a dollar a pop, it isn't an everyday snack food. It goes into lunches once a week. So that there are room for other once a week snack foods. Potato chips, protein bars, yoghurt. (Coconut yoghurt may taste better than soy but it's nearly twice as much. Making it a yummy TREAT that happens to be healthy. Not a necessity.) We can't consume the cheap calories half their friends are spilling across the lunchtables. That doesn't mean we can afford the look alike comparisons for our kids to *spill across the lunch table*. We can afford plenty of options. Plenty of calories. Plenty of safe, delicious, healthy food.
Just not a lot of "normal" cheap and easy fundamentals.
I may not be expressing myself well. But the next few months we are tightening the grocery reins, Bumblebee will fuss and scream and our guilt mode will be on high alert as the neighbors tsk and tut about the "poor child whose evil mother starves her" (I feed her. Food is on the table. Snacks are in the cupboard. Even on a budget, there will be appropriate food available to the tearful, tantruming, heartbreaking child who has everyone she meets enchanted.) Penguin will happily scarf down whatever bits and pieces I come up with, giving vivid descriptions of what's right and wrong with my cooking. (most of it boiling down to 'a little bit of real cheese and corn...I'm sorry Mommy, but I think something with corn in it would maybe help') Mr. Violets will endeavor to learn the difference between "fun healthy food" and cheap basics.
And me...well, I'm going to have to work even harder on this whole meal planning thing. We have a bit of a plan with tuna casserole on Fridays, and chicken and rice on Tuesdays. Leftovers Saturday and Wednesday. But that leaves 3 days. And a hungry Bumblebee. (Who will stare at either meal and wait patiently until we're ready to serve her something different.)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Enjoy Life
In the world of food allergies, there are certain companies that stand out.
And in the world of Corn Allergies, company loyalty seems to reach an all-new high. We thoroughly read every label, looking for minute additives...and then catch the hopeful words "No Corn". Of course, we know that these two little words simply mean whatever the company has decided that they mean. Perhaps that there is no unprocessed corn product. Or that there is no high fructose corn syrup (Post declared it's Raisin Bran corn free because they use regular corn syrup) Or maybe it means that they actually, *gasp*, know the origins of all of their products...and not one are derived from corn.
As a corn allergy sufferer, I'm always holding my breath for the latter.
Then there are companies who try, really hard, to understand the dynamics of corn allergy. Who contact FAAN and work with them. Continually proclaiming their product to be corn free while the supersensitive of us shiver, shake and break out in hives. "Well, you see, that's very unusual," is the usual response.
But we asked in advance because we knew this was a potential problem.
You can almost hear the shrugging on the other end of the line.
Fortunately, there is one brand that doesn't shrug it off. Enjoy Life foods does claim their food to be corn free, as per FAAN's standards. But they will be upfront and admit in letters and email that if you are very sensitive to corn, the only products truly safe are the Cinnamon Crunch Granola, the Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and the Boom Choco Boom Dark Chocolate Bar. (Note: Only the varieties above are safe to my knowledge. Always read labels, and contact the company directly about any questions.) Other products have minute amounts of maltodextrin or xanthan or other corn derivatives.
While some of my fellow Uncornies scorn Enjoy Life for claiming corn free when they use some corn derivatives, I have to give them credit for patiently walking the middle ground. They are honest and upfront. As far as the general public goes, these products are corn free. And for the majority of corn allergy sufferers muddling through the grocery store, the purer derivatives are safe enough. It's only for a few of us that there is a problem.
And Enjoy Life is kind enough to answer our questions, offer advice, and encourage us to check with a medical professional before taking any risks.
After 7 years (or so) of experience contacting companies and requesting information, I have to say that Enjoy Life is one of the best companies to deal with. They are responsive, and seem open. They are encouraging and do their best to really understand, or at least sympathize with what the food allergy patient deals with daily.
Thanks Enjoy Life!!!
And in the world of Corn Allergies, company loyalty seems to reach an all-new high. We thoroughly read every label, looking for minute additives...and then catch the hopeful words "No Corn". Of course, we know that these two little words simply mean whatever the company has decided that they mean. Perhaps that there is no unprocessed corn product. Or that there is no high fructose corn syrup (Post declared it's Raisin Bran corn free because they use regular corn syrup) Or maybe it means that they actually, *gasp*, know the origins of all of their products...and not one are derived from corn.
As a corn allergy sufferer, I'm always holding my breath for the latter.
Then there are companies who try, really hard, to understand the dynamics of corn allergy. Who contact FAAN and work with them. Continually proclaiming their product to be corn free while the supersensitive of us shiver, shake and break out in hives. "Well, you see, that's very unusual," is the usual response.
But we asked in advance because we knew this was a potential problem.
You can almost hear the shrugging on the other end of the line.
Fortunately, there is one brand that doesn't shrug it off. Enjoy Life foods does claim their food to be corn free, as per FAAN's standards. But they will be upfront and admit in letters and email that if you are very sensitive to corn, the only products truly safe are the Cinnamon Crunch Granola, the Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and the Boom Choco Boom Dark Chocolate Bar. (Note: Only the varieties above are safe to my knowledge. Always read labels, and contact the company directly about any questions.) Other products have minute amounts of maltodextrin or xanthan or other corn derivatives.
While some of my fellow Uncornies scorn Enjoy Life for claiming corn free when they use some corn derivatives, I have to give them credit for patiently walking the middle ground. They are honest and upfront. As far as the general public goes, these products are corn free. And for the majority of corn allergy sufferers muddling through the grocery store, the purer derivatives are safe enough. It's only for a few of us that there is a problem.
And Enjoy Life is kind enough to answer our questions, offer advice, and encourage us to check with a medical professional before taking any risks.
After 7 years (or so) of experience contacting companies and requesting information, I have to say that Enjoy Life is one of the best companies to deal with. They are responsive, and seem open. They are encouraging and do their best to really understand, or at least sympathize with what the food allergy patient deals with daily.
Thanks Enjoy Life!!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Avoiding GMOs
Handy trick I just learned from America's Test Kitchen : To find out how fresh produce was grown look at the sticker. The one that has little numbers on it (Penguin likes to decorate her lunchbox with them) It also happens to have a secret code.
In brief: 4 digits indicate conventional produce and usually start with a 3 or a 4. 5 letter digits beginning with a 9 are the sought after "organically grown" fruits and veggies. And 5 letter digits beginning with the number 8 should be avoided at all costs, since they stand for genetically modified organisms.
I suppose you can purchase number 8 if you like...but personally I find the concept of designer DNA disturbing. I'll stick to organics, thank you. Or conventional. Even if there is the very real potential of "drift" from GMO fields. I want my money to say NO to GMO. And support the farmers who are struggling to agree.
In brief: 4 digits indicate conventional produce and usually start with a 3 or a 4. 5 letter digits beginning with a 9 are the sought after "organically grown" fruits and veggies. And 5 letter digits beginning with the number 8 should be avoided at all costs, since they stand for genetically modified organisms.
I suppose you can purchase number 8 if you like...but personally I find the concept of designer DNA disturbing. I'll stick to organics, thank you. Or conventional. Even if there is the very real potential of "drift" from GMO fields. I want my money to say NO to GMO. And support the farmers who are struggling to agree.
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