4th annual halloween Non-Food Festival and Trick-or-Treat

We held our 4th annual Halloween Non-Food Festival and Trick-or-Treat yesterday at MCG School of Nursing. It was a great success and enjoyed by many children who would otherwise miss out on Halloween fun!

If you are not familiar with the event, it is designed for kids who are on restricted diets due to medical conditions - EoE, food allergy, diabetes, etc. The creation of the event itself was inspired by one of our EoE families and I am honored to be its coordinator. Every year, I am touched by the families who attend and their kind gratitude for the opportunity to let their child enjoy halloween fun without the stress of what they can or can not eat. My hope is that, each year, we can reach out to more families living with these diet restrictions and share the fun so that every child gets to enjoy Halloween!

Here is a link to brief news clip about the event:

http://vp.mgnetwork.net/traveler.swf?embed_referer=&u=6751b7f8336c102ea6fd001ec92a4a0d&z=JBF&embed_player=1

National Eosinophil Awareness Week

It's the third annual National Eosinophil Awareness Week is here! APFED has a list of resources and national events and information. One of this years themes are Dum-dums - our favorite.

Newly diagnosed?

Eo-what?

Can you write that name down for me?

What does this mean?

What happens if we don't treat it?

Will this ever go away?

What am I supposed to feed him now?


These are just a few of the questions heard most often from parents of children newly-diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). I am guessing that, whether your child was diagnosed yesterday or last year, you can remember saying or thinking some of these! Though we can not offer anwers to all of these questions, our local Eos support group (CSRA Eos) can help. CSRA Eos was founded just for that very purpose - so that families living with EoE can reach out to and help each other, with the big questions and the smaller, but critical, day to day concerns (like how to find foods that fit the diet AND that your child will actually eat!). So, please don't wonder and question and worry alone - join us, in person or long-distance (via email, phone, or the web)!

If you would like to receive monthly meeting reminders/event information, please contact me at: kslagle@mcg.edu or by replying to this blog.

Katy

Halloween Non-Food Event - safe and fun!

Haven't heard about our local Halloween non-food Event? Here it is in a nutshell: imagine all of the fun of Halloween - dressing up, playing games, decorating pumpkins, and trick-or-treating... all with non-food prizes and goodies instead of the standard candy! For the many kids who live with restricted diets, this is a chance to enjoy Halloween without the stressful aftermath of 'no, you can't eat that.' I am proud to say that our nursing students put on another fun -filled festival this past Friday. Thank you to everyone who came - I hope you enjoyed it!

I am including a link to the news coverage of the event - it is brief, but a good start to spreading the word that many children live with restricted diets for a variety of medical conditions, including Eos.

To access the link, simply click on the title of this post "Halloween..." If the video does not load, try clicking the Refresh icon or cut and paste this into your web browser:

http://ww2.wrdw.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipId1=4258440&flvUri=&thirdpartymrssurl=&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Halloween%20Events&d1=80067&redirUrl=&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv

Clean flour!

A local family found a flour that is not only free of the top 6 allergens but also processed "cleanly" (without possible contamination from allergens during processing). Here is the info:

Domata Living Flour
http://www.domatalivingflour.com/index.html

NOTE: The pizza mix DOES contain allergens (milk, egg); both pizza mix and the seasoned flour contain small amount of soy oil, which, as the website says, should be free of the soy allergen (protein); however, your child's diet may require elimination of this too, so discuss with your provider.

Margarine share?

Interested in trying some allergen-free butter? One of our local families has found a butter that is free of the top 6 allergens (mik, soy, egg, wheat, nuts, fish)and is considering ordering it (NOTE: it does contain corn). However, they have to buy a case of it. If you would like to go in on this, the family would like to split the case. You can find more info about the spread at:
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/soy-free/

If you are interested, please contact Kristen (dietician) at kmiddleton@mcg.edu!

Formula needs?

If your child takes a supplemental formula: I have extras of various formulas in my office. Please contact me or respond here if you need some!