Living with food allergies is a challenge. You have to constantly be aware of every ingredient in anything that is in close contact to you.
Anaphylaxis is a nightmare. The fact that there is food out there that could potentially threaten your life is horrifying. It is even more horrifying to think of all the people around you who eat these very same things which are poison to you.
When we first became aware of Maya’s food allergies, we thought, “Okay, we can handle this.” It has been difficult to find things for her to eat, to alter every single meal and to pack food she can tolerate everywhere we go. For the most part, I feel like we have a handle on it. All except for that one day in June when the unthinkable happened, the nightmare became reality, and we realized how severe Maya’s milk allergy actually was, that it is her poison. I won’t go into too much detail, but leave it at this: it was in someone else’s hands. I felt helpless, but comforted at the same time. The words, “she will be fine,” were on repeat in my mind and I somehow found calmness amidst the chaos. I am happy and very relieved to now know that these come in a 2-pack.
I’ve thought about the incident a lot, but recently it has been on my mind more than usual. I think the cause is that Maya is growing up; she is becoming friendlier, she is nursery-age, she is into everything and the reality of actually living life despite her poison is more and more frightening. What happens when she goes to school and I can’t watch her at every meal? What happens when she is in public somewhere and a friend shares some snacks? How do I make everyone in her life aware of her life-threatening allergies? A question that is too overwhelming to think about.
A friend recently told me as I was explaining to her how to check for allergy warnings on nearly all ingredient lists, that if we inspected every “ingredient” in our lives, and what we expose ourselves to, as closely as one has to inspect ingredients for food allergies, how much happier and stronger we would be mentally, emotionally, spiritually. What is in your life that is acting as a poison or holding you back from something better? What would be listed in bold to warn you of danger in the ingredients of your life?
I loved this thought and how it created a positive and relatable spin for me on Maya’s allergies. Yes I get choked up over anaphylactic shock commercials on TV, but I try to stay positive and hope that food allergy awareness is becoming more and more widespread.
For now, it is one day at a time, one meal at a time and checking my own life’s ingredients just as carefully.
Maya enjoying dairy, egg and soy-free banana pancakes to celebrate her 18 months of life
I love this website for food allergies. Always positive and motivating with good recipe ideas.
I know I need to update the blog header…my being lazy and in denial and missing London...
