Do you have a food allergy?

An allergy or an intolerance to anything can be a real battle. But to foods or food substances and ingredients, an intolerance or allergy can be quite frustrating and difficult as firstly some people do not understand or believe you, secondly, the labelling of food items is a minefield.

Thankfully if you decide to embark on your healthy eating goals with the Healthy Mummy, it is possible!

So what are allergies and intolerances?

• An allergy is an immunological response to most commonly a protein. That can be in pollen, dust, hair but in today’s discussion, it is in food. When you have an allergy to a protein within a food, your body sees this food as a threat and you will have an immunological response to it. This could be with a mild tingling of the mouth or a rash forming on your body. It could be in wheezing or swelling. Or it could be in the scariest form with anaphylaxis.
• As mothers we are probably aware of anaphylaxis and how severe and life-threatening it can be, especially with our little ones.  Anaphylaxis is common with food items such as nuts, shellfish, seafood or egg amongst other foods.
• An allergy is often quite reactive in that when you consume the protein, the reaction is almost immediate. Although it can take up to 72 hours to present. This is why when you introduce solids to your babies, you do so slowly to be able to identify any foods of concern.
• The interesting thing with allergies is that you can grow out of them.  If your child is allergic to dairy, nuts or fish say, they may not be allergic to them in a couple of years time. If you child has an allergy, it is a good idea to work out an action plan with your medical professional to test their allergy regularly.

• An intolerance, although it may present similarly to an allergy, is actually quite different.  It is a chemical reaction to all different parts of the complete food. It may be the sugar in the milk, lactose, or it could be the glutamates in tomatoes.
• An intolerance is often very difficult to identify as you cannot do so by a simple blood test. It is something that you need to do alongside a medical professional and often an elimination diet and an extensive food diary is required.
• The other tricky thing with intolerances are that they may build up over your life. You may be able to eat all foods until at some point you begin to get a reaction. You get all itchy or start to have symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. It can be confusing as you have always eaten the offending foods.

The most important point with allergies and intolerance is not to self diagnose. If you suspect you have an intolerance or allergy, please see your GP and either use their guidance or seek a referral to a specialist dietician or immunologist.

The other great thing to know is that the Healthy Mummy Range has specifically been designed to incorporate the needs of common allergies and intolerances.

Our three smoothie mixes are:

• Free from dairy protein and lactose
• Free from gluten
• Free from wheat
• Free from nuts
• Free from seafood products
• Free from artificial colours
• Free from all preservatives

This makes it a bit easier if you are someone that does suffer from allergies and intolerances. You can drink our Healthy Mummy Smoothies!!!!