My daughter has severe food allergies and celiac disease.
I also have food allergies and celiac disease.
My husband has food allergies.
A good friend of mine has food allergies.
Her daughter does too.
Many more of our friends have food allergies, celiac disease, or gluten intolerance.
- More than 12 million Americans in the U.S. have food allergies.
- There is no cure for food allergies. Strict avoidance of food allergens and early recognition and management of allergic reactions to food are important measures to prevent serious health consequences.
But although both food allergies and celiac disease are on the rise, the awareness around each of them in the general population is still quite poor.
Sometimes you feel like you are talking to a brick wall because no one seems to understand.
Sound familiar?
How to help others understand your dietary needs
Step 1) Live your life the way you need to.
Step 2) Openly talk about your food allergies to help spread awareness.
Step 3) Be open to questions from friends and family to help them understand better.
Step 4) Provide concise, factual information for those who seem to respond well to that type of explanation.
And eventually, your friends and family will start to understand better.
The number one choice that helped us the most was to live our life the way we need to.
We take the precautions necessary to keep our daughter safe (making it clear to guests that our house is a gluten-free and nut-free zone, wiping down picnic tables at parks before eating on them, politely refusing food that isn't safe for us, etc). Even if others don't understand.
and we kindly remind people:
This is our life. We live it every day. It's not odd to us, it's our version of normal.
Do you have any tips? share them in the comments section!
