New Free-From Magazine Article: What Can You Even Eat?

One of the most irksome questions I get asked — and I get asked this A LOT — is, “What can you even eat?” Its close cousin is, “Cindy is allergic to everything.”

I’m allergic to a lot. But not to everything. I eat plenty, just differently. In the latest issue of Food Equality Initiative’s Free-From Magazine, I shared a food diary to show what eating with 35+ food allergies really looks like.

The magazine is now only available to paid subscribers, and each subscription helps support the organization’s important work. I’m fortunate to be able to eat as much as I do and as healthfully as I do, but many people with food allergies and other food-treated illnesses aren’t so lucky. They can’t afford to buy the food they need, and assistance programs are severely lacking when it comes to covering diverse diets. Not only will your subscription give you access to great writing (including mine! yay!), but you’ll also be contributing to this important cause.

10 years later…and my new writing endeavor

Yesterday marks 10 years since I first met my allergist, got my initial allergic shock diagnosis, and decided to start this blog.

Thank you for following my journey here for all these years, through food challenges, and starting Xolair, and grappling with what my allergic life looks like. This blog will still be a hub for my food allergy episodes, but I’m also excited to launch a new space for my writing, a Substack newsletter called Chocolate-Covered Lox. There, I’ll be writing about food allergies, Judaism, culture, and more. You can check it out and subscribe here.

New Medium Article: Individual risk assessment Is the old “new normal” for people with food allergies.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the limited expert guidance and the need to make really important health decisions based on your own risk assessment…welcome to the world of food allergies! Check out my latest article on Medium to learn more.

Read it here.

Latest Article: Oil – The Invisible Allergen

Check out the latest issue of Food Equality Initiative’s Free-From Magazine for my latest article about oil allergies. The issue includes some amazing recipes to celebrate the various November holidays, including Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Hispanic Heritage Month.

And with Giving Tuesday around the corner, consider donating to FEI’s Free-From Gala to help provide food for people with special diets who are experiencing food insecurity.

New Article: Surviving College

My latest article for the Food Equality Initiative’s Free-From Magazine details the food allergy mistakes I made in college…and how the landscape for accommodations has grown since I graduated.

It’s not that I didn’t love college — it was awesome! — but I would have done some things differently if I knew then what I knew now. I would have been more careful in the dining hall, pushed harder for the legally-required ADA accommodations, and eaten fewer Ring Dings. Well, maybe not that last one.

Check it out here.

FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK: THE LINK BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND ALLERGIES

In addition to being Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month, May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. I’m passionate about both topics, and in my latest article, I explore the impact food allergies can have on mental health.

Food Allergy Awareness Week: What is Anaphylaxis?

I’ve written about my experience with anaphylaxis before and in honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week, I want to dig into what it really is. We’ve seen the headlines about anaphylaxis and the COVID vaccine — but those headlines were often misleading. Here’s my take on the experience of anaphylaxis.

FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK: NOT JUST PEANUTS!

I’ve documented my rare food allergies in this blog since my biggest scratch test in 2012. In honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week, I’m documenting more of what it means to be allergic to foods that aren’t in the Top 9. More than 170 foods can cause reactions, but we tend to think about allergies as being very specific.

Learn more here.

FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK: INEQUALITY

I may have more food allergies than the typical food-allergic individual, but I recognize that I’m able to manage them because of my extreme privilege. I have great medical care (which I can afford) and the means and access to buy the specialty foods I need. I’ve stared at my grocery bill hundreds of times wondering why I spend so much, and then I remember that I have to.

But what if I couldn’t? What if I simply could not purchase the food I need to eat safely? Or if the choice was between an Epi-Pen and rent?

Pop culture and memes tend to depict people with allergies as privileged, white people who are a little snooty, a little helicopter parent-y, and so out of touch they believe a little bit of peanut is an issue. But the reality is, people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic statuses can have food allergies, and the food allergies are more prevalent among Black communities.

My latest article expands on this issue more. Check it out here.

Food Allergy Awareness Week: Adulting with Allergies

May 9 through May 15 is Food Allergy Awareness Week, and I’ll be participating by posting articles each day this week with different facts and themes about living with food allergies. Follow along here, or on Medium, where you can find my first post about the particular difficulties facing adults with food allergies.

Check it out here.