Websites and food allergy resources that should not be missed…
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network: (FAAN), is what I call the food allergy Mother Ship. Their website is a wealth of knowledge and they offer everything from what to do when first diagnosed, to teen advice, advocacy, research, downloads and teaching materials and they have a store that sells Epi Pen carriers, books, videos and more. They are my go to source! If you decide to join/donate, membership includes a very informative newsletter.
Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), the Food Allergy Initiative often partners with FAAN and works towards finding a cure and education. Their site offers many good educational resources!
Medic Alert –providers of medical identification jewelry that offers a 24 hour on staff support
Allergy and Asthma Medical Group of the Bay Area–offers very nice explanations of items such as skin testing, anaphylaxis, coughing (yes, a real description of what is actually taking place).
Allergic Child: Founded by food allergy mom extraordinaire, Nicole Smith, offers an in-depth and comprehensive website of information about managing all aspects of life with food allergies. As a bonus, her teenage son Morgan also shares his insight! Sign up for her e-newsletter too-she is very much on top of all the happenings in the food allergy world.
Allergic Living: This Canadian magazine has made its way to the US with a bang. The website offers basic information, news, research, recipes, videos, coupons…you name it! This is a one stop resources for sure.
Allergymoms: Founded by Gina Cowles, who is a parent of a food allergic child, but also a Martha Beck trained life coach. Her great website offers support and very interesting interviews with top experts in the world of food allergies. She is very informed and openly and freely shares her knowledge and support.
Kids With Food Allergies: This is one of the largest and most amazing on-line food allergy support group!
One Spot Allergy: Is from Canada and began as a parent to parent support website. Now, you can buy useful products and I really enjoy their blogs (one of my favorites). I find the perspective from Canada very informative as well.
Why Risk It: is another Canadian example of brilliance. This site is directed at teens that is choked full of great information, teen to teen conversation and really sends a strong message of self-management and self acceptance.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease(NIAID), this government site is “the lead Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research in food allergy. We are committed to supporting efforts to help better understand, prevent, and manage this disorder…” as per their website. There is good diagnosis information here including information about Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Food Allergy.
Downloads
Food Allergy Action Plan — Emergency Action plan developed by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). I carry one in each of my child’s emergency medicine kit, in addition to school.
Cleaning Methods – FAAN — a good study evaluating various hand wipes as effective cleaning methods to remove allergens from surfaces.
Food Allegry guidelines for Patients and Caregivers–The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease has created a formal federal guidelines standard of treatment and management for food allergies. This is the Patient’s guide to these standards. It is a tad long, but well worth the read. This guideline will help keep all of us on the same page of information.
HOW TO READ LABELS TO AVOID FOOD ALLERGENS–This document was last updated in 2008 and was created by the Consortium of Food Allergy Research NIAID Grant U19 AI 066738.
Food List of iPhone and iPad Apps–The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network has created this list of over 30 food allergy related Apps!
Epi Pen© Holder and Carriers
Allergy Apparel is a one stop allergy alert shop! Besides selling very stylish and good-looking Epi Pen® carriers, they have it all…hip clothing with cool food allergy warnings, bracelets, even lunch boxes with food allergy warnings too.
Allergy Haven–sells Epi Pen straps that are worn across the body and totes..some quite fashionable too.
AllergyPack-sells Epi Pen® and Epi Pen® and inhaler carriers for the active person.
Activeaide-offers hard case Epi Pen® carriers, key chain alarm to help you find your Epi Pen® in large purse or bag, plus kid style carriers.
Epi-Ready–is a different kind of holder, it mounts to the wall so this is one that stays in place. Good for home, school, grandma’s house, etc.
FAAN Red Medicine Kit Bag–this is the link for the red bag shown above created and sold by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
One Spot Allergy-offers a good-sized waterproof carrier too…amongst other things!
Food Allergy Awareness Products
Allerbling–offers bring bright customizable awareness bracelets for children. The inter changeable allergen charms are fun, simple and easy to understand.
AllerGators–are very cute and fun Allergators delivering food allergy warnings. They sell it all: tee shirts, totes, lunch bags, buttons and even neon disposable wrist bands that could be quite valuable at camps!
Allergy Alert patch and zipper pulls at Amazon — This is very straight forward…I like this concept for camp and even older kids when in a group situation for sports, camping, retreats, etc. I just placed my order for these for ski season for my kids since they are up on the mountains sans their lodge sitting parents.
Allergy Apparel is a stop allergy alert shop! They have it all…hip clothing with cool food allergy warnings, bracelets, even lunch boxes with food allergy warnings too. They even offer a cool new line of Allergy labels for foods, cupcakes and playdates! See XXX blog!
Allergy Monkey has whimsical shirts that are quite funny and get the point across well. The Fish Stinks tee has me chuckling away. They donate back to the community with each purchase and is just a fun website to check out.
Allermate’s line offers bright, whimsy character based bracelets, lunch boxes, dog tag necklaces and tee’s! The site is very cheery to match their Allermates characters! I can’t imagine any kid not loving this stuff!
Blue Bear Aware offers shirts with food allergy warnings on the back. Now this would be a very useful tool at any day care or camp environment! I’ve volunteered at Asthma Camp before and we made special buttons for the food allergic kids so we can identify them!
Buddy Bandz is a Canadian company, but they ship to the US with reasonable fee’s $3.85 per pound. They sell sports bands and a very interesting looking red Epi Pen carrier. I’m always on the look out for a carriers!
Food Allergy Warning Labels sells an interesting assortment of buttons, stickers, tee shirts and even labels for the restaurant industry to use reminding customers to discuss their allergens! When you click on an item, you are directed to Zazzle to make your purchase, so don’t be alarmed when you end up there!
No Nuts Please-this was one of the first food allergy warning shirts I had ever seen a while back! Simple and clean. I loved Lisa, the company’s owner comment: “this shirt acts as a confidence builder and matchmaker. All that in a simple garment.”
STAT Kids–Health ID products for kids sell items for kids with not only food allergies, but diabetes, asthma, Celiac, etc. Their items are boldly designed in most red and include backbacks, bracelets, lunch bags and stickers. Their items are very straight forward and again, I love the RED color, it adds a more serious nature to their products, which for older kids may be more appealing than whimsy.
Magazines and Books
Allergic Living Magazine
Just launched American version April 2011. Articles, recipes, products about hay fever, food allergies, asthma and life style.
www.allergicliving.com
Living Without Magazine
Recipes, articles and news mostly focused on gluten and dairy free living, plus other allergen avoidance articles.
Veg News Magazine
Vegan news, food, recipes, travel–good dairy and egg free recipes, nuts often included in recipes
www.vegnews.com
Books…
Food Allergies for Dummies by Robert Woods. MD–I’ve never liked the names of the Dummies books, but this is a very good basic book that reads easy.
Asthma for Dummies by William Berger, MD–like above, I don’t like handing someone a Dummies book, but again, this is a very good and easy read!
Allergic Girl: Adventures in Living Well with Food Allergies by Sloane Miller. I haven’t read this book yet, but it is a hit in our food allergy world.
Kids’s books about Food Allergies and/or Asthma
The Bugabees, Friends with Food Allergies by Amy Recob is a darling book that highlights the eight major allergens and supports saying, no thanks! I like reading this to my daughter’s class as the kids quickly understand the major allergens and learn its okay to no thank you.
The Princess and the Peanut by Sue Ganz-Schmitt offer incredible illustrations and a great story about an allergic reaction and how it was managed, plus a allergy definition guide in the book of the book.
Video
This video created by the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI) is a lovely video to share with others when trying to educate them on the seriousness of food allergies
