Coping with multiple food allergies isn’t all bad news.. I know it’s a real pain having them, but tonight I started to write a list of the positive benefits of having food allergies…and you know what? I think there are more positives than I originally would have believed!
10 great benefits to having food allergies.
1. Nearly all our meals are made from fresh, raw ingredients – no additives, preservatives or chemicals must mean positive benefits for health.
2. Learning how to cook food free from gluten, diary, egg, soya and celery has given me a real desire to get creative and find ways of producing foods that are similar to those our boys can no longer eat…and it has been a hugely satisfying journey to discover new ways of approaching cooking.
3. Seeing me cook proper meals, cakes, biscuits etc from scratch has given our boys a good understanding of how ingredients come together to make our food.
4. It has also caught their imagination and they all like to help out in the kitchen, and our eldest now asks to cook meals for us all from time to time.
5. We tend to eat at the table together as I tend to cook a traditional family meal, and at a time where so many families are losing this habit, it is nice to be able to talk and catch up with each other during, but especially at the end of the day.
6. As a family, we can no longer eat outside of our home or the homes of our closest family and friends so holidays are a little different to what they were. Yet although we can’t go to hotels, we bought a large tent and discovered a love of camping. Nothing beats the sense of real family togetherness than when you’re wrapped up with a hot chocolate in the tent, playing cards around a table until late into the evening. The boys love it and of course I can cook for them safely and we can all relax.
7. Over the years of experimenting with food, I have discovered ingredients I never knew existed and have tried some weird and wonderful things along the way. The children are much keener to try new things than they were before they were diagnosed, and as long as it comes from my kitchen, they trust the fact they won’t get ill.
8. The boys simply cannot eat huge amounts of sweets as 90% are off limits so their teeth should be protected from the effects of a diet high in sugar.
9. Because they cannot eat high fat fast food, the risk of heart disease and obesity must be much lower for them all.
10. The boys are very protective of each other and carefully check new things together to see if they can eat them. With all three affected, there is a strong bond between them as very few others around them truly understand what it’s really like not to be able to pick up whatever you fancy on the shelves in the local shop.
It helps us to think of our allergies as a challenge we are dealing with and succeeding in!
You are clearly an inspiration to all parents and not just those of children with food allergies. To be so positive about restrictions in your lifestyle and see them as blessings rather than hindrances makes me feel quite inadequate as a mother! Your boys must be very proud of you and I wish you every success with this site and your change of career.
Oh Janice, that’s really kind of you. When I was writing this list I wondered if, in fact, most parents of food allergic children end up with a similar attitude…because the alternative would be to succumb to negative thoughts about the allergies, mourning for a lifestyle that has been lost. But that isn’t what we parents do is it? We all try to protect our children from life’s ups and downs, and we will do everything we can to give them the best start in life possible. Having food allergies is just one of those things we try to play down in front of our children. After all, there are much worse things that could have happened to them!