Recently, my son, Morgan, and I spoke at a FARE Community Engagement Council event in Denver on “Preparing for and Going to College with Food Allergies.” It was a wonderful event with dozens of attendees – both parents and teens – managing food allergies.

During the presentation, the first thing we discussed was what parents can do to prepare their children in grades K-12 for college. After all, going to college is something that requires planning! And for children with food allergies, more planning is required. Also, more skills are required to be able to safely attend college.

Here was the list we shared that outlines what your child SHOULD be doing, or is able to do, before leaving for college.

• Always carries epinephrine autoinjector – If your 18 year old is heading off to college and Mom or Dad  is still reminding them to carry their autoinjector, there’s the potential for a very hazardous situation to occur. Parents aren’t going to be able to ensure that an EpiPen or Auvi-Q is being carried every time a child leaves their dorm room. Carrying epinephrine in a fanny pack or other bag can begin as early as four or five years old so that a child begins to understand that anywhere he/she goes the epi comes too!
• Able to order food at a restaurant – This is a learned skill and one that took our family years to perfect. We had a chef card we created that explained Morgan’s allergies, but we also allowed him to begin to practice ordering his food at about age 10. If he forgot to mention something, we were there to assist. As he moved into high school and attended meals without us, we felt confident he knew how to explain his food allergies and cross contact to the wait staff and/or chef.
• Can effectively read product ingredient labels – For Morgan, he does not eat any food that is labeled “may contain,”so he needs to be especially careful to accurately read every piece of text on a label. Learning how to read can become fun in looking for food allergens listed on a label, and we began that in kindergarten. It’s also important to know when to call the customer service telephone number for a product to determine whether the product is safe or not. Morgan continues to pick up the phone to call a company now that he’s an adult to provide for an extra layer of comfort.
• Can identify an allergic reaction and/or anaphylaxis – This is more difficult if your child hasn’t had anaphylaxis since they were a baby, where they may not remember the symptoms. A discussion with your allergist can assist with your child being able to list symptoms and know when it’s time to administer an autoinjector or an antihistamine.
• Can train friends and others about allergic reactions and epinephrine administration – This is especially important in the college setting, because there is no school nurse who is going to be training friends, Resident Assistants or professors. Practicing at home with expired autoinjectors, injecting them into oranges, helps your child know how to explain administration to friends. The Auvi-Q device was great fun for Morgan’s college friends to learn since it talked them through how to administer!
• Is comfortable making appointments and speaking with a doctor – We had Morgan begin to complete all the pre-appointment paperwork for an allergist’s appointment beginning in late middle school. He needed to know what the names of his medications were and what dose he took. Then we transitioned to him discussing his concerns with the allergist at appointments, with Mom also in the room. Finally, he began to make his own appointments with the allergist and to go by himself. This was necessary before he went to college, because Mom or Dad wouldn’t be able to be with him at every doctor’s appointment.
• Remembers to take medications for pollen allergies and/or asthma – This is a difficult skill, and will probably need plenty of parental supervision. There are also apps, alarms and other technological advances that can help with this. This skill comes in late high school or even later depending upon your child.
• Can advocate with teachers, the Disability Services Office, chefs and employers – A college is going to view your child at 18 years old as an adult, capable of completing their own paperwork. Practicing this skill beforehand is vital for good outcomes in college. Advocating with teachers can begin in elementary school. If Mom/Dad resolve every issue, children don’t learn how to advocate for themselves. Talking through a situation, at home, with your child can help them to gain the courage to handle the situation at school. Of course, there are some situations that still need Mom/Dad to guide, but learning how to speak up early in life helps strengthen the advocacy muscle. Talking with an employer about food allergies is a life skill that your child needs to learn, unless they plan on being independently wealthy!
• Able to shop for groceries and cook for oneself – Learning how to cook is great fun and can be a family activity starting in the toddler years. Label reading at the grocery store can start once your child can read. Both of these skills are so helpful for college students to keep themselves safe and well fed.

I imagine that no child with food allergies is perfect at all of these activities; however, knowing that your child can manage the most important skills will allow you, as the parent, to support your child heading off to college!

The first week of June 2018 was a whirlwind of graduation week (from college) for our son, Morgan, and our family. Graduations are an exciting time filled with activities and emotions for every family. And for us, it was a major milestone for Morgan to make it through four years of school with no serious allergic reaction with his allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish!

Because Morgan was the Student Body President his senior year, he was the University of Denver student graduation speaker. And yes, that is a Winnie the Pooh bear on the podium with him! He quoted Pooh several times in his speech. Here’s one snippet: “I hope that we all have at least one something that makes saying goodbye hard. It will be something or someone that we cherish deeply. And it doesn’t have to be big either. As Pooh says, ‘sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.’ Let’s all take the time to express and celebrate that something or someone today.”

Morgan participated in and experienced so many wonderful adventures  in 4 years of college: clubs, student government, study abroad, internships, jobs, friendships, roommates, and intimate relationships. Every one of these were affected by his food allergies, and he learned how to become an even better advocate!

The graduation has brought back memories of how far Morgan has come since he began college almost 4 years ago. And Mom has had to do a lot of growing too!

Living with a Roommate in College

When Morgan graduated from high school, (which I wrote about in a blog post here four years ago),  we knew he was heading to the University of Denver. He really wanted to live in the dorm with a roommate in the Living and Learning community called the Pioneer Leadership Program.

Over that summer in 2014, Morgan and I had one meeting with the chefs at the school, and he determined that with their training from AllerTrain, and their willingness to continue to learn, it would be safe for him to live in the dorm and eat cafeteria food.  We had a single room with a kitchen as a backup, but that would mean he couldn’t live with the Leadership program, which was a major barrier to participation.

He and I had many conversations that summer as I passed the baton, so to speak, to him to determine how he was going to tell his assigned roommate, Thomas, about his food allergies. Truth be told – he did so in a text message after having coffee for 3 hours chatting about how they each wanted their living situation to play out!! That was my first lesson in letting go. I really wanted for him to explain EVERYTHING about food allergies and his asthma to Thomas. And that was the first in a long list of Morgan learning how to take care of himself, in the way HE wanted to create his relationships and his life in college.

Through the years, Thomas was a roommate with Morgan during their first, third and last school years, and he was a travel companion through Europe prior to studying abroad. He now understands everything there is to know about Morgan’s food allergies, recognizing allergic reactions and how to operate Morgan’s Auvi-Q.

I want to talk about staying safe at college. For many of you, that’s many years off; for others, it’s right now! College is an exceptionally exciting time. You are free from a parental burden, you are living on your own, figuring out life for yourself, and taking on all of your own responsibilities. You have to figure out when you go to class, if you even want to go to class, when to complete homework, when to eat, when or if to exercise, when to hang out with friends, when to go to bed, and so on. There’s a lot of new personal responsibility!

And to top it off, you have to manage your food allergies. You have to make sure you carry your own epinephrine autoinjectors without a (friendly?) reminder from Mom. You have to ask people about what food they’ve eaten before you kiss them at a party. You have to figure out where you’re going to eat. This can be unbelievably scary for parents since this might be the first time they don’t have supervision of your food intake or at least even a general knowledge of what you’re eating, where you’re eating, if you’re eating, etc.

Then there are questions of accommodations — can you feel safe in your dorm room? Will your roommate be willing to accommodate your food allergies? How about the dining halls? Will you have access to a kitchen, and if so, do you feel safe using it?

Really, the questions are endless. They are so endless, in fact, you can scare yourself out of going to college and living your life. So, for the moment, stop asking yourself all of those questions.

Let’s focus on what you can do: you can advocate for yourself.

This is the fundamental principle of staying safe in college, and in life. You must be able to self-advocate. This also isn’t something you wake up one day and know how to do; it is developed over months and years of practice. Self-advocacy is a skill that every food allergic child must learn. It may be scary for your parent to let you learn how to self-advocate because it requires you to step outside of your comfort zone, learn how to tell people about your food allergies, learn the potential consequences of not telling someone about your food allergies, and get yourself into situations in which you must self-advocate. But, let me tell you something: it’s a lot scarier to go out into the real world and not know how to advocate for yourself.

Self-advocacy, at its core, is made of two main components:

1. Speaking up.
2. Managing risk.

Speaking Up

Self-advocacy, and therefore staying safe in college and in life, requires you to speak up. You must be able to tell other people about your food allergies, set boundaries around what is acceptable for your safety, and demand nothing less.

To do that, you first must become comfortable with the idea that you have food allergies. Too often, we become the victims of bullying and indifference. We become identified solely as the “food allergic kid” in the class who forces everyone else not to eat PB&J’s or bring in certain foods. We’re teased for it, and in some cases, our life is threatened simply because other kids don’t understand the severity of our food allergy. I had a young boy chase me around the playground in 1st grade with a peanut butter cracker chanting, “I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you!” The good news? He and I became really close friends after he better understood why what he did was not only wrong, but dangerous.

Time and time again, we are told that we are different, that food allergies make us different. And it becomes difficult to accept the reality that we do have food allergies, that we are different, that our health and safety is threatened by a plate of fish or that croissant with almonds. And, what I still struggle with, is that I have to make other people live that reality with me. I have to ask my date to not eat any of my allergens just in case we kiss later. I have to ask my friends in the middle of Italy not to eat at this one restaurant even though we are starving after walking for 8 hours straight because most of their menu is seafood and I just don’t feel comfortable eating there.

But.

Your life is too important to not speak up. You have to accept that you have food allergies, that you (may) wear a MedicAlert bracelet, that yes you have to explain to every waiter at every restaurant you eat at that you have food allergies. Because food allergies is not a badge of shame, but a badge of pride. Be proud of your differences. Recognize that everyone has them: you have food allergies, she has two moms, he has Crohn’s, she has dyslexia, he can’t stand horror movies, she’s afraid of heights, he gets cold easily, and so on. The beauty of food allergies is that it adds another dash of diversity to the incredible mixing pot of humanity. You are incredible and never let anyone tell you differently.

So speak up. Especially when it feels like an inconvenience, speak up. The first day I was in Copenhagen, I ate at a local cafe with a friend and ordered a simple sandwich. I was exhausted after a full day of traveling, on and off metro stops, planes, and walking everywhere. I almost didn’t ask, because I thought it might be safe. But I did, because I’ve trained myself time and time again to always ask. And it was a good thing too: the bread on the sandwich contained sesame.

Could you imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t asked? The sandwich would come out. I might recognize that it has some weird seeds in the bread, I might not. If not, I eat the bread and then go into an allergic reaction. And even if I do recognize it, then I have to explain to my waitress about my food allergies and then force them to remake the sandwich. All of that could be avoided in the first place.

Never be afraid to speak up. Always put your safety first and never settle for less.

Managing Risk

The second part of self-advocacy provides guidelines around what to do after you speak up. After you explain your food allergies to a waiter, to a friend, or to your roommate, there is an infinite combination of responses. They may be the most accommodating and kind person you ever met; or, the dish you ordered and almost every dish on the menu at the restaurant isn’t safe because of cross contact issues.

Managing risk is the really difficult part of self-advocacy, because it requires you to train your “good judgement” muscle. Like any muscle, you need to work it out for it to strengthen.

I want to give a real-life situation that I encounter at college most days: during lunchtime at the University of Denver, the dining hall has a mix of different stations. There’s a salad bar, a pizza station, a grill station, a soup station, and a variety station that differs everyday. I usually go to the grill station because I know the food selection usually contains safe food.

Why? Because previously in the year, I spoke up. I talked with the head chef in the dining hall and got to understand what food they use and how they prepare their meals. I worked hard to make sure the food I was eating was safe. And, if I have any questions at all, I can go directly to the head chef and ask!

That’s very different than ordering at a restaurant. At a restaurant, especially the ones you’ve never been to before, there’s a high amount of risk on dishes you’ve never eaten before. “Good judgement” says that I need to ask about their food preparation practices for my safety every time. And even if I go back to the same restaurant time and time again, I still speak up.

“Good judgement” is simply following this creed:

Safety is your first priority, so always prioritize your safety. Safety is maximized when there is little to no chance of the food actually containing your allergens and little to no chance of cross contact issues in the food.

Really, there’s not much more to it. You have to learn how safe you feel at restaurants and your parents and doctors can help with that. You probably shouldn’t eat french fries that are cooked in the same oil as their fried shrimp; but, if your chicken is prepared separately from the salmon, you’re far more likely to be safe (if you have shellfish or fish allergies, for example).

Final Thoughts

There is a lot more personal responsibility in college, from school to friends to sleep. You get to add in managing food allergies into that mix.

I personally know how…intimidating it can feel. I was in a new city, in a new room, with new friends, taking new classes at a new school, and I had to figure out what the heck I was going to eat! But my Mom and Dad helped me from a very young age to understand how to speak up, how to manage risk with good judgement, and how to maximize my safety. That’s all self-advocacy is.

You may have a roommate that isn’t accommodating to your peanut allergies, and you’ll have to set those boundaries, especially if he or she is constantly storing open jars of Nutella in the room fridge. Like, that’s just blatant disrespect. Your safety comes first and never convince yourself otherwise.

I haven’t had an allergic reaction since age 10 (to fish on a camping trip when I really had no idea I was allergic to fish). You should never accept the “reality” that you may have an allergic reaction. If you’re having allergic reactions, minor or major, you may need to work on strengthening that “good judgement” muscle. If you’re constantly in situations where you don’t feel safe, you may need to evaluate how well you speak up about your needs.

Do I go to restaurants where they serve seafood? Obviously, yeah. Do I allow my friends to order seafood? Yeah, nearly all of the time. Do I personally order seafood? Obviously not. Do I go to college parties? Not really. Do I deal with drunk friends? Yes, of course, it’s college. Do I eat out with friends? Absolutely! Do I usually have influence over which restaurant we go to? Yes. And so forth. Those are the boundaries that I have set, through good judgement, as acceptable for my safety. You need to figure out yours.

Self-advocacy assures you are kept safe. Really, college is just like any other area in life where you deal with food allergies. Instead of talking to an airline’s customer service about their peanut policy, you talk with the university’s Disability Services Office, or their Housing department. Instead of training your teacher at a 504 Plan meeting, you train your friends. And so on.

College is such an exciting time. It’s merely one part in a big journey through life and food allergies are simply one small part of that adventure.

You are always welcome to ask me any questions or voice any concerns you have to me. Send me an e-mail at [email protected]!

My son, Morgan, has been living on campus for two school years, which is required at the University of Denver. We did a lot of work in preparing the cafeteria and his roommates through the years to properly address his allergens and safety-zone needs. If you’d like to read two of the blog posts we have written about preparation, please read, THE FIRST QUARTER OF COLLEGE BY MORGAN SMITH and STARTING COLLEGE – WE’VE WORKED TOWARD THIS GOAL FOREVER!

Now, it’s time for Morgan to move off-campus for his Junior and Senior year. He will be studying abroad for the Fall 2016 quarter in the UK at the University of Lancaster; however, waiting until he returns in December to find a place to live will likely yield him no safe place! Therefore, time is of the essence now, 9 months in advance, to secure housing.

We have lived in our family home for over 22 years. We have ensured that the home is allergy-safe for Morgan. We put in tile floors years ago, and added Air Conditioning, which many people do not have in Colorado. We have HEPA filters on the furnace, and have no pets. Basically, our home is and has been a safe haven for Morgan, and it was the only home he lived in prior to going to college.

I hear from many parents who assume that living off-campus in an apartment is easier for food allergic students than living on campus in a dormitory. That may be true in some cities; however, Denver is seeing a population explosion and rentals are scarce and over-priced. For Morgan, living in a dorm and eating in the cafeteria has worked extremely well, especially since DU Dining Services are well-versed on food allergies. And, on-campus housing is cheaper than any off-campus apartment or shared home.

Food allergies are just one part of the equation for Morgan. He also has mild asthma and pet allergies. Therefore, he has to find a place to live that has central air conditioning, no pets, no smoking, with roommates willing to not eat his allergens, AND come in at a price that’s below his scholarship stipend! That is a difficult combination!

He immediately was able to find the roommates he wanted to live with, and had a discussion about his food allergies to ensure they were okay with his needs. With that hurdle jumped, the real issue began – Denver is big on dogs. And many college students have pets, so about 85% of the available houses and apartments allow for pets in the DU neighborhood. Of the 15% remaining, most do not have air conditioning! That narrowed his selection of available apartments to about 3 buildings.

Thankfully, he started early and has just signed a lease with three other young men to live in a 4-bedroom apartment that has AC, no pets, and no smoking. These transitions are difficult for this Mama to stomach; however, I know that Morgan is making wise decisions of who to live with, and I’m hopeful that this apartment lives up to its promises!

Many of you may remember a previous interview I did with Lauren, a 14 year old high school girl who had a robot for high school because of her inhalant dairy allergy. If you haven’t read our blog post, INHALANT DAIRY ALLERGIES & A CREATIVE SOLUTION – A ROBOT! – you can do so here.

Lauren is now in college at the University of Northern Colorado, and I wanted to interview her, and her mother Melissa, about her experience through the rest of high school. Also, I wanted to see how she is managing in college without having a robot!

Lauren – you were 14 years old when we last interviewed you. How was the rest of high school for you with your dairy allergy? Did you continue to have a robot go to school for you?

The rest of high school was amazing! After using the V-go, my friend had told me about a charter school that was able to accommodate my food allergy. They even banned pizza, and implemented a desk cleaning before each class at the school for me! Everyone was so accepting of my allergy. I still stayed away from food areas and washed my hands often. Except for the occasional hives from dairy contamination, I had no severe reactions while I attended.

Were there any more instances of anaphylaxis during your years in high school?

Not while I was actually at the high school, but during the summer of my junior year I had a really bad one at a women’s retreat that I went to with my mom. There was a miscommunication with the staff that tried accommodating me in terms of food at the camp. I had accidentally eaten a piece of bread with dairy in it. It was a very scary ordeal, considering we were in the mountains & the response time up there is a little longer. I was scared and not sure what was going to happen but after 5 hours, 3 Epipens, 14 times trying to find a place for an IV, 2 Inter muscular injections, a breathing treatment, and lots of prayers the doctors stabilized me! Now I am much more careful and I always make sure my food is extra safe!

How did you prepare for going to college at the University of Northern Colorado?

I set up an appointment to meet with disability services at my school. They were absolutely phenomenal with working with us to make UNC a safe place for me to go. They got me an on campus house where I have a separate, safe apartment. I also took the time to talk to my professors about my allergy.

What made you choose UNC?

I chose UNC because I wanted to go away to college but I knew I really needed to be close to home in case I had a reaction. UNC was a perfect choice because it was only an hour away from my parent’s house. Additionally it had the major I was interested in. Plus, it’s awesome to see family and not have to cook your own food on the weekends!

What is your current living situation at school? How do you ensure that you don’t get near dairy?

I am in a house with a self-contained apartment on campus, I have other girls who live in the same house with me but they are on a totally different side. When I first moved in, I made them all aware of my anaphylaxis, and the severity of it. They are awesome and completely understand the seriousness of my allergy. Whenever I want to hangout in the main house, they make sure to not cook using dairy and they clean the house for me! Two of the girls are from Colorado and two are from Germany, and all have been so supportive and amazing to me, and they are actually some of my best friends now.

What are you planning on majoring in academically?

I am studying Audiology and Speech pathology and I love it! It’ll definitely be awesome to help people with hearing and balance issues one day as an Audiologist.

Have you been able to have a summer job? If so, what “food threats” have you run into with working?

In the past I have lifeguarded during the summer. It was actually a very good fit for me! I have never had a reaction at the pool, and I carry a protective mask in case I ever have to perform CPR. I also talked to my boss about my situation and I let her know that my safety is just as important as the patrons I am guarding, since in order to keep them safe I have to keep myself safe. During my time guarding, there were food parties but I didn’t have to worry about it because the guests couldn’t bring the food near or in the pool. It was definitely an awesome job!

Melissa – when we last interviewed you, Lauren was participating in Dr. Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Did this treatment help Lauren at all?

Lauren is still taking the herbs. When we started the herbs we simply wanted her to be able to go inside school or the grocery store without having a severe reaction, since there was a time before the treatment that it became impossible to be inside places where food was being warmed up because her body seemed to be even more hyper sensitive then usual. We think this treatment might have helped, since (unlike before the herbs) she has been able to be inside schools, food establishments and other public places without her throat immediately closing. She has no reaction when we simply walk past a pizza place anymore (where as before she would react)

Still, if the dairy is being cooked close enough, she does still react. But at least we are headed in the right direction.

What accommodations did you and Lauren request for her in college?

We asked for them to find a place for her that would be safe from dairy. This was quite the challenge, since we live in a dairy filled world. They came up with a self-contained apartment on campus. Separate from the rest of the house. She is able to cook for herself & steers clear of any areas where pizza or food is served. This has been enough to keep her safe at school.

It was very difficult for me to pass the baton of “health watch” over to my son when he went to college. How have you been able to do that with Lauren’s severe dairy allergy?

Passing the “health watch” baton over to Lauren has to be one of the scariest experiences that we STILL struggle with daily. The good news is that since she’s been gone, she has proven herself to be a good self advocate in keeping herself safe. She did have two anaphylactic episodes since she’s been away (one could have been avoided with better diligence but the other could not) Lauren was in fact able to treat herself immediately with her epinephrine and called 911 for help. Her fast response is always critical in her outcome, and she is well aware of that, she also knows that her body keeps needing more epinephrine after the first one or two shots wear off. For me the scary part lies with the ambulance, and hospital personnel, who seem unaware sometimes how fast her reactions or biphasic reactions change in the blink of an eye. It’s paralyzing for us to think about “what if’s” So this is when we had to put our trust in Lauren & ask God to take over, so we wouldn’t lock her inside our house and never let her out.

Thank you Melissa & Lauren for inspiring hope in all of us!

My son, Morgan, is currently a sophomore at the University of Denver (DU). DU is a private university in the heart of Denver, with approximately 5000 undergraduate students.The school requires that all students live on campus for two years, which sounded impossible when managing food allergies. Yet we tried to be open minded when we first visited the campus. After touring the school, meeting with the Dining hall chefs and with the Housing office – we determined it was going to be not only safe, but great!

DU has been wonderful with accommodating students with food allergies; however their website doesn’t have very much information about the wonderful things that they do. We found out how great they were back in 2008 when our daughter, Michaela, (who has celiac disease and a mast cell disorder) attended a music camp for two weeks during the summer. The chefs prepared her meals based upon a list of safe brands of foods and menus that we provided prior to the beginning of the camp. Each meal was safely prepared for her, and it convinced us that this was THE school for food allergy students!

I recently spent 90 minutes in a meeting discussing food allergies and how it impacts students at DU with the Vice Chancellor of Campus Life, Dr. Lili Rodriguez, Dining Services Resident District Manager, Ira Simon, and the DU Communications Director, Elise Chester (who has a two year old son with severe peanut allergies!) I wanted to encourage them to provide the details of how amazing they are on their website. The meeting proved to me that they are totally ready to take on the topic of food allergies on campus.

Here’s some of the takeaways from the meeting:

After Morgan chose to attend DU, he emailed Ira Simon to request a meeting to discuss his food needs. Ira set up the meeting to include all the chefs that worked at all the residence halls on campus. That way Morgan would feel safe eating anywhere on campus. I attended this meeting along with Morgan. We were both very impressed with all the knowledge and willingness the chefs had to provide whatever safe food Morgan needed. A personal meeting with all the chefs on campus is a staple for every student with food allergies, and this personal meeting will now also be part of the campus tour for all families who request it so that they can discuss their child’s specific food allergies with the chefs.

All of the chefs have gone through AllerTrain to be trained on handling food properly to ensure no cross contact, and to be able to properly read labels. You won’t see this information currently on the DU Dining Services website, but this is soon going to be included.

What’s also forthcoming is a request for each student with food needs to quarterly (DU is on the Quarter system) meet with the chefs to review any needs not being met and to share compliments and concerns. This will ensure that the chefs maintain the personal relationship they like to have with each student with food allergies.

DU currently lists the ingredients of every food they serve on their Dining Services website and it’s also listed in their cafeteria. They want to expand the ingredient listings to be available on a smartphone App. Better yet, they hope to be able to have a student input their allergy or allergies and be able to view a menu of safe foods for the upcoming week. Morgan already utilizes the website to click on a menu item to see if any of his allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish or shellfish) is listed as an ingredient. Not all kids are accessing the website currently, which is also fine. The chefs enjoy getting to know the students and what food allergies they are managing.

DU currently offers “Simple Servings”, which are meals free of 7 of the top 8 food allergens, in one of their cafeterias. The only food they do serve is fish. Separate equipment, storage areas, utensils and preparation areas minimize the chance of cross contact in the kitchen.

They have a dietitian on staff to discuss individual nutritional needs of every student, and to manage food allergies, intolerances, diabetes, etc.

DU has been wonderful to Morgan and Dining Services basic motto is “We will provide anything you need to be safe.” That is so comforting as a parent! And this will also be expanded upon on the website in the future.

We also discussed how the University can better identify and manage the huge number of incoming students with food allergies. I was thrilled with how open minded everyone was to discuss better ways to manage students with food allergies, and to provide more information about the University’s current policies to incoming families.

The administrators plan to add the question of “Do you have food allergies?” to the housing request form, which is completed by all admitted students. This will allow the Housing department to match students better to ensure safe dorm living with no food allergens in the room. It will also prepare the Resident Advisor (RA) to be trained on EpiPen administration, and to ensure that other students in that area of the dorm are aware of which foods shouldn’t be eaten. Gathering information from students with food allergies months prior to the start of school will allow DU to share the information with professors too, should accommodations be necessary in the classroom environment.

Of course, any accommodations will need to be approved through the Disability Services Office (DSO) which will also be receiving an update to their area of the website to include food allergies as a potential disability. The DSO paperwork is also slated for an update to include food allergies.

The plan is for all campus staff to be trained on the administration of an EpiPen, including RA’s. Colorado passed a law earlier this year allowing for a Good Samaritan to administer an epinephrine autoinjector, and this law extends to college employees.

One of the housing issues that may impact students with environmental allergies or asthma is “comfort animals” that are brought to college to help calm anxiety issues. Some of these animals are furry friends, similar to service animals. Housing has to place students appropriately in zones so that shared ventilation systems do not cause issues for those with allergies and/or asthma. Again, DU is planning on obtaining this information sooner in the process by asking the question on the Housing application about service or comfort animals.

I’m very hopeful that the DU website and housing application paperwork will be updated by February 2016 to include all of this information for students with food allergies and their families. It’s so exciting to watch a university take on food allergies!

I cannot believe I have finished my first year of college at the University of Denver (DU). It is CRAZY!

Spring Conference

The main event in Spring Quarter was flying out to Los Angeles to attend a conference at the University of Southern California. I founded a chapter of the Roosevelt Institute at DU. Roosevelt is a non-partisan, non-profit, undergraduate think tank (how’s that for a mouthful) that seeks to empower young people in political change ranging from K-12 reform to international development, economic justice to public health issues (like food allergies!). The Western Region held an annual conference at USC that I was invited to since I had recently started up the chapter at DU. They were very understanding of my food allergies and expressed an interest in accommodating them.

Everything didn’t work out how I had planned. I had initially understood sandwiches were going to served for the mid-conference lunch but that was soon changed to Indian food. Needless to say, I was at a loss as to how to work around Indian food. I decided to bring my own bagels and snacks in my suitcase for a safe alternative for food. Thankfully, the breakfast they provided was safe. I knew I had to work around it since it was a last minute change, and I didn’t throw up a fuss. Since I could bring my own food (or heck, even order Jimmy John’s to deliver once I was there), it was not a problem.

For dinner, I ate at In-n-Out Burger. I’ve had In-N-Out before on a trip my senior year and I knew it was safe. I double checked once I was there and they assured me nothing contained sesame. It was absolutely delicious!

Just to reinforce something, this was the first time I had flown alone – no friends, no family, nobody with me besides, well, me! It was a big leap forward. However, I flew Southwest Airlines so I knew no problems would arise. You can indicate (like I did) a “peanut dust allergy” when ordering tickets and get two things: a preboard slip and a PDA slip. Preboarding allowed me to enter first and clean off my seat from any previous flight to prevent contact with allergens. The PDA slip I gave to the flight attendant and because of it, they do not serve peanuts on the flight. Overall, the conference was a safe and successful trip!

My Roommate

I have to say: the reason my first year at college was successful was because of my roommate, Thomas.

Thomas comes from the humble little town of Buena Vista, CO and he is one of the best people I know. He wouldn’t eat my allergens in the dorm room, he’d wash his hands if necessary, be considerate of the restaurants we’re eating at, watch out for my health, and simply would be a good guy. Thomas was truly an amazing roommate. We were randomly assigned through the housing system and I have to say I was very fortunate to be assigned to room with him. I can’t offer enough praise for having such an awesome guy.

I trained Thomas about allergic reactions and what symptoms to look for, and how to administer my EpiPen. He’d even read labels on things! I hope every food allergic child has such an awesome experience.

Certainly, Thomas was aware of my food allergies because I told him – an essential step. When your food allergic child(ren) go to college, tell them this: do not keep them hidden from the person/people you’re living with! I set out the standards of asking him not to eat things I was allergic to in the room and everything worked out amazingly.

Wicked

To celebrate the end of the quarter, I went and saw Wicked, the famous Broadway musical. I have seen it before and I absolutely love the play. Very catchy show tunes – they’re still stuck in my head almost a week later!

The program at DU that helped sponsor this also paid for a pre-show dinner at a local French restaurant called Bistro Vendome. They offered a choice of two appetizers, four entree dishes, and two desserts since we had such a big group (over 30 people!). I told the waitress about my food allergies when I ordered the dishes I wanted and told her also about cross contact issues. She was very nice and helpful and triple checked all the dishes with the chef to make sure they were safe! It was a wonderful and delicious (and free!) dinner.

On Campus Food

The last quick note I’d like to make is that I still had no issue with the food on campus. The local dining hall actually had a change in staff so there was a new head chef! I made sure to introduce myself but since all the food has ingredients clearly labeled on television screens, I knew there wouldn’t be an issue.

Have a wonderful summer!

The second quarter of the year has been fantastic!

Trip to Buena Vista, Colorado

About three weeks into Winter Quarter, my roommate (Thomas), two friends (Bryce & Kieran), and I decided to go down to Thomas’ house in Buena Vista for the weekend. We just wanted a weekend away from college and to be able to relax; what a wonderful time it was! I drove us down Friday evening and we stopped by Beau Jo’s pizza, a famous Colorado-based restaurant. I had absolutely no issues with their pizza and I did double check with the waiter and the chef if it was. We arrived late Friday night at Thomas’ house.

The entire weekend (Friday through Monday morning) was mainly comprised of lounging around and watching movies, but Bryce & I did utilize the kitchen a lot. She and I made breakfast both days and she was very mindful of my allergies. We didn’t make anything I couldn’t eat and, despite her being a vegetarian, the majority of her nut-filled snacks were eaten on the road and she made sure to wash her hands afterward.

Thomas has a dog, Lucy; however, I had absolutely no issues during that weekend with Lucy! It was a huge improvement from a few years ago before I got allergy shots. I didn’t have any tightness in my chest or coughing and I definitely didn’t have an allergic reaction.

We drove down to Salida, CO on Saturday and hung around for a few hours meandering through the streets after having lunch at a local restaurant. The restaurant was very accommodating. The cooks typically pre-prepare their meat at the beginning of the day; because of this, the waitress was concerned that many of the meats could have cross-contaminated with fish and shellfish. When this concern was expressed to the chefs, they made an entire new section of meat just for me so I could have a safe meal! (I was having spicy chicken quesadillas)

On Sunday, Bryce and I coordinated the final dinner, but everyone helped out making an Italian feast comprised of garlic bread, olive oil asparagus, brown butter pasta, and a safe dessert of creme brulee (which I realize is not Italian). The group shopped together and I made sure everything was safe.

On our way back to Denver, we stopped by my parent’s house in Colorado Springs and grabbed lunch, which is always safe!

Winter Quarter Activities

This quarter has been quite busy; although I took one less class than I did in the fall, I filled my spare time with lots of activities.

I arranged an internship at the Colorado State Capitol, working for State Representative Pete Lee who represents downtown Colorado Springs. Rep. Lee and I had met at a previous dinner hosted by a mutual friend, and he had mentioned that I could intern for him during the legislative session! Since Colorado’s legislative session runs for only 5 months, it would be a perfect internship during the Winter & Spring quarters.

There isn’t any food involved, thankfully. The only food in Rep. Lee’s office is in a shared refrigerator, and it is composed of string cheese and Frappucinos. Since I typically intern in the mid-afternoon, I usually don’t bring food and I leave before I need to eat dinner. Even if there was an issue, I know the staff in the office would be superbly accommodating.

I’m also actively following HB 15-1232 in the CO State Legislature. The bill allows organizations other than schools to acquire and stock epinephrine auto-injectors. A food allergic child who is involved with such an organization must get a doctor to sign-off on a prescription allowing the stock epinephrine. It also requires those organizations to train its employees on the use of an epinephrine auto-injector. It’s exciting! It got through the House Health & Human Services committee and is now in House Appropriations for amendment-related information. It’ll be interesting to see if it passes or not!

Near the end of the quarter, I also helped out at the Boettcher Foundation’s annual Finalist interviews. The Boettcher Foundation is a Colorado-based non-profit that awards full-ride scholarships at any Colorado university to a select group of students who show strength in academics, leadership, service, and character. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Boettcher Scholarship last year and I decided to volunteer my time this year!

The Foundation interviews 100 Finalists and must select 40 who receive the scholarship. Needless to say, it’s a rather stressful time for all of the Finalists. I volunteered to be a helper in the waiting area to calm down the nerves and just talk with all of the Finalists as they await to be interviewed.

I worked for almost 5 hours with all of the Finalists, from a little before noon until about 4:30. The Foundation provided lunch to all of the volunteers. The week before, I e-mailed the coordinator of the day and I asked her what food was going to be served. Stephanie, the coordinator, is already aware of my food allergies and is absolutely wonderful! The catering company made an entirely separate lunch that was safe for me and contained all kinds of safe food, like a salad, chips, and a sandwich with safe bread. Stephanie let me know this was happening beforehand and the moment I walked in the door she told me exactly where to find my lunch.

Food at the University of Denver

Winter Quarter was a host to a couple of different events.

To start off, the daily meals have been absolutely wonderful and stress-free. The dining halls always have safe options for breakfast and lunch and I can always find something tasty, somewhat healthy, and safe to eat. The typical breakfast includes fruit, hashbrowns, and sausage (with pancakes somedays).

There are a few exceptions to this. One night, it was Chinese New Year and the dining hall did decide to get a themed dinner going! Unfortunately, all the dishes either contained or cross-contaminated with dishes that contained one of my allergies (nuts and shellfish were the typical ingredients). I walked a minute north on campus to the other dining hall that provides a food court style of serving. They have an entirely safe Mexican option that is reminiscent of Chipotle. I got a safe quesadilla for that night and everything was good. I don’t know if I felt left out, but it certainly was unfortunate that I couldn’t eat with my friends for that night simply because of the options available.

Thankfully, DU is amazing in all other aspects. They have the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management that runs all of their social events, especially the dinners. For the entire year (there was an opening dinner with the Chancellor at the beginning of the year and a couple of interspersed events I got into that also provided dinner), they have been absolutely accommodating. When I RSVP for the event, I include information about my food allergies and I ask what they can do about it. Every time, they respond that “everything is handled!” and guaranteed, it is. For example, they handmade a salad for me so that it didn’t contain nuts (like the rest of them did).

Final Notes

Our Chancellor has office hours once a month and last month I stopped by to introduce myself and ask a couple of questions. Before I left, I mentioned to her about how great DU is with food allergies. She agreed! She comes from two east coast private universities and they did not accommodate food allergies well.

I’m off to another 10 weeks of school! Hopefully, nothing too exciting happens – food wise!

Best wishes,

Morgan

The first quarter of college was exhilarating!

The University of Denver (DU) runs on a quarter system: there are three 10-week quarters during the regular school year plus an optional summer quarter. I went up to school the last day of August for a week-long orientation at DU before classes began and I arrived home the week before Thanksgiving after successfully completing all my finals.

Before arriving at the school, we met with dining services to discuss food options (my mom wrote an entire blog post here about that visit). DU uses Sodexo as their food provider for their three different dining halls, convenience stores, and various cafes around the campus. In the past, I haven’t had extraordinary success with Sodexo; however, at DU, they are simply the best. When we originally visited, the executive chef at the local dining hall – Nelson Hall – had agreed that I could ask him anything about any of the food served, what it contained, and how it was prepared if I didn’t feel safe eating it. Needless to say, he and I have become really good friends. The dining hall has lots of good options for all meals: fruits & veggies are always available and safe flatbread/pizza is available for lunch & dinner. All the chefs are trained by the university on how to use an Epi-Pen as an extra precaution just in case something occurs.

A dining hall, only a little farther north on campus, has a food court-style service: there is a Greek option, an American option, a Mexican option, and an Asian option. The nice thing about this dining hall is that the menu never changes: they always offer the same food no matter when you arrive. More importantly, the Mexican option is 100% safe (after discussions with the executive chef at that dining hall) and the Greek option is safe as long as I don’t eat the pita bread. They also have “to-go” boxes so I can bring the food back to my dorm if I don’t want to eat it there.

Honestly, the food is working out superbly. I typically go grab the Mexican option for lunch in between classes and select one of the safe options at Nelson for breakfast and dinner. I always have friends around when I eat, which is great.

Classes are pretty difficult overall. I only had one 8am class this quarter and there was a surprising lack of food from students in the class. I decided not to tell any of my professors about my food allergies since I didn’t feel it was pertinent to my success as a student. Given that college is very individualistic, the expectation would be for me, and not for the professor, to ask someone not to eat a PB&J next to me. There was never any issue in any of the classrooms related to food. I kept a wary eye out in that 8am class just in case but the only potential “issue” I ever encountered was someone eating a Snickers on the other side of the classroom. I certainly was not worried.

I live on the Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP) floor at DU. PLP is a leadership program at DU that allows a student to obtain a minor in leadership studies. There are a lot of programs like this at different colleges around the nation; however, PLP is unique given that the students of the program live together on a floor in a dorm. Each year, PLP takes 66 new students and these 66 live together on the floor. They’re very driven, responsible, and intelligent students and it’s a blast to live with them! Our Residential Assistants (RAs) are older PLPers who know what the first year is like.

My roommate is phenomenal. He’s so understanding and we established from the get-go rules about food in the dorm: none of my food allergens in the room and if he eats anything that I would be allergic to, he just washes his hands. We have a refrigerator, but typically it’s stocked with caffeinated drinks, not food. We have pretty similar sleep schedules and personalities, so we get along super well. I feel super lucky to have such a good friend as a roommate (but honestly, I get along with everyone in PLP really well).

I applied before the beginning of the school year for an air conditioning unit that filters pollens out of the air to control my asthma; the university approved my accommodation. My roommate was definitely grateful for some cold air given we have windows that face the sun the majority of the day. This has helped immensely and I haven’t had any breathing problems.

I still carry two Epi-Pens and Benadryl in a Garmin case in my right pocket at all times. This is true when I eat, when I go to class, when I walk around the dorm, or really anytime I’m not sleeping. I also have a massive container under my bed with extra medication: Epi-Pens, albuterol, Pulmicort, Nasacort, etc. My roommate has a very similar tub under his. We constantly joke that we could run an underground pharmacy out of our dorm room if we wanted to.

As with any new living situations come new challenges: surprisingly, none of it involved my food allergies or asthma. My first quarter was plagued with sickness, instead.

The first week of class (of all weeks) I got superbly sick that I actually had to go home Wednesday through the weekend to recover. I had a nice combination of headaches, nausea, a fever, and exhaustion for quite a few days; while antibiotics knocked out the majority of my symptoms, I found out (through blood work) that I had an early infection of mono. Thankfully, I didn’t have any continuing symptoms.

I got a head cold halfway through the quarter and a stomach bug near the end of the quarter, and some close friends in PLP were happy to help supply (safe) chicken noodle soup to help me out. I made it through finals week and went home the week before Thanksgiving – the end of the 1st quarter.

The day before Thanksgiving, I woke up with swollen lymph nodes and was pretty tired. Through the weekend, I developed a fever, a superbly sore throat, and once again, I became absolutely exhausted. This time, it was a full blown “re-activated” infection of mono. I’m happily recovering after a week of antibiotics to combat a secondary infection of tonsillitis with plenty of rest, fluids, and reading. Thankfully, I’m home until the New Year so I have plenty of time to recuperate my health and prepare myself for the next quarter.

Certainly, I had more than a couple 2:30am mornings this quarter working on school or hanging out with friends. I think I might be limiting these next quarter to make sure my immune system can cope with everything.

If I had any one suggestion for college, it’s to talk to people. They are your best resources for your health, happiness, and sanity in school. When you’re sick, they can bring you fantastic chicken noodle soup. When you’re healthy, they can be excellent resources for studying, motivation, and even for a break every once in a while.

Overall, my first quarter was absolutely fantastic. College is a blast and I’m so grateful for all of the wonderful people at DU that make it a safe opportunity.

Happy Holidays and I wish you the best for 2015!

For those of us with children with food allergies, awakening in the middle of the night worrying about cupcakes isn’t that unusual! Of course, if you share that concern with your neighbors who don’t have to worry about unsafe food, they may not understand. Food allergy parents understand all too well!

My son started college in September, so I was surprised to find myself awake at 2 am one night recently worrying about our son, Morgan. We had worked really hard to create a safe eating experience for him in the dorm cafeteria, and it was working great. His roommate was more than understanding about not bringing in Morgan’s allergens into the dorm room. Everything was working well – why was I worrying?

Morgan was heading off on a weekend trip with his leadership class. Prior to him leaving for college, we had talked with the coordinator of the leadership class, and the fact that there would be an overnight trip to a cabin in the mountains. It was the night before this particular trip that I found myself awake concerned if he had contacted the chefs like the coordinator had said he could. I was more concerned that he was also bringing along his 2 extra EpiPens (he always carries 2 in his pocket, but I wanted to ensure he was going to be extra cautious)!

So I lay there wondering if Morgan would think I was crazy if I sent him a text at 2am asking him to please remember his 2 extra EpiPens. After 30 minutes, I no longer cared what he thought and went to find my phone to fire off a text to him. Funny thing – he wasn’t up in the middle of the night worried like I was!! In fact, he had already handled the conversation with the chefs and had packed the extra EpiPens – as per his text back to me at 7 am.

No matter what his age, and how many times he has taken care of himself – I’m still a Mom. After 18 years of monitoring his food, his environs and his safety, it’s very difficult to let go and allow Morgan to take the baton and manage his food allergies himself. He’s doing a great job!

Parents Weekend – November 2014

Our son, Morgan, had a great first week of Orientation at the University of Denver (DU). Then, on the first day of classes, he began to get sick – really sick! He continued to have a fever and chills for two days. He knew to start up his Pulmicort inhaler immediately. We discussed the breathing difficulties the Enterovirus 68 creates for children and teens sending them to the ER and Intensive Care. Yet Morgan didn’t have any classic cold symptoms – no runny nose, no sneezing, and only a mild sore throat.

After two days of feeling awful, and missing a few classes in order to sleep, he called me, aka Mom. At that point, I suggested that he go to the Health Clinic on campus; however, it was almost 7 pm and the Clinic was closed. So, we talked and he decided to go to a local Urgent Care. He was feeling so poorly that he asked his roommate to drive him. The wait was over an hour, and the doctor didn’t know what he had. The strep test came back negative, and sadly even if Morgan has strep, the test always come back negative. The doctor prescribed a very strong antibiotic for him to take to kill off any bacteria in his system. He took the antibiotic, and then was up during the night vomiting it back up.

By the next morning, he was feeling so awful, that we talked about him coming home to see our family doctor that has known him his whole life. Once he got into this doctor’s office, his fever was almost 103. He had vomited during the drive home from college, and again in the doctor’s office after another strep test – which also turned out to be negative . Blood was taken to ensure he didn’t have mono, but it would likely come back negative because Morgan didn’t have symptoms long enough for the test to be accurate. The doctor gave him a antibiotic specific to kill off strep.

We also took Morgan to a chiropractor that our family has been seeing who utilizes Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) and Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI) in her practice. She is amazing when it comes to diagnosing the underlying issues that occur with our bodies – and not only the spine, but all illnesses. She determined that Morgan had a bacterial infection just by the way his liver was reacting. She gave him a treatment, plus had him soak his feet in a foot back with herbs. Between this treatment, and the antibiotic, Morgan was feeling much better the next day. 

One day later, however, he broke out in a rash that covered his face, torso and chest. Morgan called back in to the family doctor, who thought it must be some type of virus, and the doctor suggested that he stop taking the antibiotic! In other words, he didn’t know what Morgan had either. Morgan has continued to get better, and has also continued to take the antibiotic.

I wanted to write a post about this because part of sending our children with food allergies off to college is the “hope” that they can take care of their own medical needs, or find a doctor that can assist. In addition to monitoring their food, training others on their EpiPen or Auvi-Q, and if they have asthma, being able to monitor that – they also need to know how to manage the current healthcare system! It’s a lot to take on at 18 years old. And it’s something to consider when sending your child with food allergies off to college where they go far away.

What would you do if your child got REALLY sick and they are 2000 miles away? We were really grateful that Morgan is only 60 miles away, and that we could pick him up and bring him home to see doctors who know him well. We also wanted to see him ourselves to determine just how sick he really was. He was home for 2 1/2 days, and slept most of the time. We took him back to school when he still had a rash, but was feeling much better.

What can you do to make sure that your child is ready to manage doctors in our healthcare system while away at college? Well, here’s what we did long before Morgan left for DU:

1)  Have your child fill out all the doctor office’s paperwork each time you go in. We started this when Morgan was about 12 years old. Name, address, phone number is the basics!

2)  Review with your child what medications they take, what time they take them and what strength. Every time Morgan visited the allergist, he had to write this down on the intake paperwork. It helped him to know exactly what meds he takes. He was very adept at this by high school age.

3)  Have your child make an appointment with a doctor. This is especially important for them to practice when they aren’t feeling well. It’s really hard to deal with a doctor office phone tree when you’re healthy. When you’re sick and have to press a lot of numbers in order to make an appointment, it can be very frustrating. This is good to practice in high school.

4)  Get a health insurance card for your child to keep in their wallet. When you go into a doctor’s office with your child, have them present the card. Your child needs to know if they will have to pay a copay or not. Who is responsible for the bill? Is it Mom or Dad that holds the insurance? All of these details are vital when they go off to college.

5)  Decide who is going to ensure that medications that are taken get refills in a timely fashion (parents or student). Some insurance companies require that refills are obtained through mail order only. Which address do you want to use – home or college? Who is going to pay?

6)  Decide if your child will give you access to their medical records once they turn 18. With the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws, at the age of 18, your child has to either handle their medical situations themselves or to authorize you, as a parent, to have access to their medical records. Believe me, even trying to get a doctor to call your child back can be problematic if you aren’t signed on as an authorized party on the HIPAA paperwork!

Thankfully, Morgan knew what to do when he was sick, and he also knew when it was more than just a mild sickness and time to call home. We’re grateful that he learned what to do before he left home, and we’re especially grateful that he’s feeling almost back to normal now!

Our son, Morgan, started college at the University of Denver (DU) this week. What a step it is to let him go, to make his own decisions, to take care of himself in the dining room, and to teach whomever he wants to teach about administering his EpiPen! This is what we’ve worked toward since he was first diagnosed with food allergies. It’s likely that he will make decisions different than I would, or than his Dad would. That’s part of growing up and learning!

We had worked toward his first day of college with DU Administrators for a while. Morgan, my husband and I met with the Disability Services Office back in March when we toured the campus. We discussed what accommodations he would need – safe food, no allergens in his room (no peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish or shellfish), and an A/C unit in his dorm room to mitigate his asthma. They didn’t think any of these would be an issue, but required that we complete some paperwork to get the university to pay for his A/C unit. We were given contact names for the chefs at DU to personally speak with them, and it was up to Morgan to discuss his needs with his roommate. If there was an issue, he could then get ‘outside’ help.

We problem solved various scenarios with the Housing Office at DU what could work for Morgan to attend DU if he was unable to get dining services to provide safe meals, and/or unable to get the roommate situation worked out. One of the Housing Office’s student employees has food allergies, and she talked in detail with Morgan about how she was safely able to eat in the dorm, how she texted chefs about her meals, and never had any allergic reactions! That encouraged us, but we also wanted a back up plan. The Housing Office offered that he could live in a dorm that had a kitchen in between two rooms. He could then have an RA (Resident Advisor) living in the other room to lessen the need for education of his food allergies. (Normally 4 boys live in these rooms, 2 on each side). Morgan would then have to shop and cook for himself. His preference was to live in a ‘regular’ dorm room with the Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP) – a Living and Learning Community that he applied to participate with. His one roommate would be a boy within this program, and Morgan would therefore eat in a dining hall.

Morgan and I roll played a few scenarios: what would you do if a professor is eating one of your allergens? (His answer: probably nothing unless I had to shake a hand, and then I’d tell them.) Where is the nearest hospital? (He looked on a Google map to find one). What would you do if your roommate is eating one of your allergens? (His answer: Talk to him about it!) What would you do if you knowingly ate one of your allergens – accidentally – but didn’t have any symptoms? (His answer: give myself an EpiPen and then call 911).

Morgan had several conversations with the head chef at DU over the summer, and he felt confident that he could live in the PLP dorm and eat safely since the cafeteria already labeled all of the foods that they made, and all the chefs were trained on food allergy awareness. Morgan and I met with the chefs one week prior to the school year starting. I wrote about that in a blog post here.

Morgan received his roommate assignment in July and started Facebook conversations with the young man. They met for the first time a few weeks before school started in a coffee shop in our hometown when his roommate was visiting extended family. They talked for 3 1/2 hours, and Morgan came home and said he never mentioned food allergies! I almost wanted to step in and start a conversation about how important it is for his roommate to be aware of his food allergies! Instead, I decided that I needed to step back and let him manage it. Morgan did mention his food allergies in a text message (kids these days!!) a few days prior to showing up at DU. His roommates response was, “Darn, I was really planning on eating fish in the room!” Apparently, it was no big deal to him at all to keep Morgan’s allergens out of the room.

When we arrived at DU, carting wheelbarrows worth of clothes and accessories into Morgan’s dorm room, we found the newly purchased A/C unit in a box. After inspecting the unit, my husband determined that he hadn’t brought the proper tools to put it together. I called the Housing Office to ask if someone was able to put the unit together for us. Within 5 minutes, the director of Housing was in Morgan’s room introducing herself! She called maintenance who had the unit operating within the hour!! Amazingly quick work! Morgan has been sleeping in air conditioning ever since. His roommate’s mother was thrilled since hayfever was a common issue for her son. She was hoping his allergies get better too!

Morgan brought practice EpiPens with him to college, with plans to train his roommate and others in the PLP program. Several of the chefs we met are EpiPen trained. Morgan is also capable of administering the EpiPen to himself. This is something I have to let go of. Morgan has ALWAYS carried 2 EpiPens since he was in middle school. I trust him to properly care for himself by training others.

At lunch the first day, Morgan went and talked with his chef contact about what was safe to eat, and whether he needed anything specially made. My husband and I were at DU for three days of Parent Orientation, and also ate in the cafeteria with the students. I was thrilled that they had a microwave out in the dining area for me to heat up my special meals, and my husband was thrilled with the tasty food! Morgan has had no problems finding safe, healthy food at each meal. At the last lunch that we ate with Morgan before we departed, the chef came up to him and asked him, “Where were you at dinner last night?” Morgan told him that he ate at a different dorm cafeteria, to which the chef replied, “Here’s my cell number. Make sure to text me when you don’t eat here so that I know you’re okay!” How wonderful that was to hear!

This is just the start for us, but a very good start it was! It takes a good amount of planning to get your child with food allergies to college, but it can be done. It can be especially rewarding when the college is so well-informed and willing to provide excellent care!

We are down to counting the days until our son, Morgan, goes off to the University of Denver (DU) for college. Before he moves in, we wanted to meet with the chef at the dorm cafeteria to discuss food allergies and safely feeding Morgan. Morgan had spoken with the DU head chef when we visited DU back in March, before he had made a firm decision on where he was going to school. The chef had suggested contacting him via email a few weeks before the school year started to discuss menus. Morgan took the lead in this, and he arranged a meeting with the chef for today, before DU starts its Orientation Week over Labor Day weekend.

Instead of just meeting with the head chef, we also met with 4 other chefs responsible for the various dorm cafeterias across the campus! What a welcome sight that was to see so many individuals interested in food and in Morgan’s safety! DU uses Sodexho for their food service, but this is certainly a different type of Sodexho than I have run into in K-12 schools or camps.

At the chef meeting, we discussed what foods Morgan was allergic to – peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish – and found out that one of the chefs has similar allergies. Wow! How comforting that is as a parent to know that a chef not only knows what cross contact is, but also knows all about an EpiPen, and reading labels. In fairness, all of the other chefs also knew about these items too, and were more than willing to provide specific brands of bread, which is one of the biggest issues we have in finding safe bread without cross contact of sesame and nuts. This means they will specially order, or go to the grocery store, to purchase two specific brands of bread that are sesame and nut-free (Pepperidge Farm Pumpernickel and Roman Meal) for Morgan.

All of the foods/dishes in the cafeteria are labelled.  The chefs were more than willing to make a safe meal for Morgan should he feel that was more to his comfort level, especially when one of his allergens is on the menu. And he was asked to talk with them at the beginning of every meal to discuss options.

The chefs all have experience with multiple students with food allergies in the past, and are prepared for any type of food allergy. We discussed the onslaught of forthcoming students with food allergies, and their mantra over and over again was, “We just want to feed you what you want that’s safe.” How wonderful is that?!

Two of the cafeterias have similar layouts with a pizza bar, a salad bar, international dish, and grilled protein. One of the cafeterias is more of a Food Court style where students can take meals to go. Also, the library has a cafe with foods that students can purchase.   On the DU campus, there is a Subway – which is safe for Morgan – and is covered under his meal plan. He has many options, and certainly shouldn’t go hungry!

We are thrilled that we feel great about sending Morgan off to college knowing that so many chefs are interested in his well-being. And Morgan is excited for this next opportunity!

I’ve been asked recently to provide a checklist for preparing for college when you’re managing food allergies. We’ve had a lot of experience over the last 5 years preparing and getting both of our children (with different food issues) into college.

Our daughter, Michaela, has celiac disease (diagnosed in high school) and a mast cell disorder, which wasn’t diagnosed until college. She has a very limited diet with many intolerances and a wheat allergy too! Our son, Morgan, has life threatening food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish along with eczema, environmental allergies (pets and pollen) and mild asthma.

We’ve visited almost every college in Colorado, and a few outside of Colorado too. With all that experience, here’s a college checklist to assist your child with food allergies get prepared for college:

Take an accurate self-survey to determine how responsible you are with your food allergies and/or asthma:

Be honest – do you ALWAYS remember to carry your EpiPen/Auvi-Q?
Can you train someone on the administration of your epinephrine autoinjector?
Do you remember to take your other medications (antihistamine, inhaler, etc.) without your parent(s) reminding you?
Are you willing to talk with a cafeteria worker about the seriousness of your food allergies?
Do you feel comfortable talking with a dorm roommate about your need for a safe living space?
Can you cook for yourself and shop for groceries if you’re going to live in an apartment?

If you can answer in the affirmative, you’re probably responsible enough to go away to college and appropriately manage your food allergies. If there’s still a few questions you’re concerned about, I’d suggest working toward that level of responsibility to ensure that your freshman year in college isn’t fraught with a trip (or two or three) to the ER.

In addition to my own children, I’ve communicated with dozens of young adults who are in college managing food allergies. Each of them finds a way to manage their own unique living situation along with their food allergies, yet several of them have experienced anaphylaxis while away at college. Having an EpiPen or Auvi-Q within reach is vital. Accidents do happen, so be prepared!

Get an idea of what you want to pursue academically

Food allergies aren’t the only thing you’ll be managing in college! Having an idea of what you want to major in will narrow down some of your choices for schools. We’ve learned that it’s expensive to pay application fees to multiple colleges, so it’s best to delve into the college website to see what degrees they offer.

If you have no idea what you want to major in, check out a local community college. Our daughter, Michaela, went to Pikes Peak Community College for two years and loved it. It allowed her to decide what she wanted to major in, and then she transferred to a 4-year university after completing her Associates Degree.

Are you ready to leave the safety of home?

How do you feel about going FAR away from home? Will you need to get an allergist nearby to help manage your allergies and/or asthma? Or would you rather your college be closer to home yet enable you to live on campus? Or do you prefer to live at home?

There are a lot of kids without food allergies that don’t do well thousands of miles from home. Others seek that special Ivy League degree, and are more than ready to be a far distance from home. If you have asthma, you might need to live in a dorm with air conditioning, or filtered air.  Not all college dorms have air conditioning; therefore this issue may require discussions with the Disability Services Office (DSO) of the college and a letter from your allergist to get what you need from the Housing Office.

The 504 Plan from K-12 schools doesn’t follow you to college. Every college we’ve visited has stated that accommodations are available in college, however there is a whole new set of paperwork to complete, and documentation of the medical condition will be necessary for the DSO to authorize the accommodation. Many DSO’s aren’t yet up to date with their paperwork for food allergy accommodations. They generally deal with learning accommodations, so some patience and education may be necessary on your part.

At the age of 18, students are considered legal adults. Therefore, Mom & Dad won’t be negotiating accommodations – you will be! Know what you need to stay safe and healthy.

Visit the colleges/universities that interest you academically

These visits are vital we’ve found. Schools can look great or horrible if you only look at their website. Visiting in person gives you a whole different feel for the school. A visit also allows you to check out the dorm rooms and the cafeteria meal plans, meet the students and the professors, take a tour of the campus, check out the emergency procedures and ask LOTS of questions!

What is your ideal living situation in college? What is your ideal college academically? Can these two scenarios be found in one college?

We’ve found that it never hurts to ask for exactly what is wanted. If you want a chef to specially prepare your meals, ask if that can be done. Do you want to live in an apartment? Ask for that. First, you need to know what you’re comfortable with:

When visiting a college, here’s what we look for in relation to food allergies/asthma:

Are ingredients listed on all foods in the cafeteria?
Is there a chef on site to take special orders?
How many of your allergens are regularly served?
Can you speak with a Dining Manager about your needs during your visit?
How old are the dorms?
Has there been any water damage?
Are the dorms Air Conditioned?
If not, what documentation will be necessary to submit for a medical necessity to live in Air Conditioning?
Can the Resident Advisor be trained on the administration of an EpiPen/Auvi-Q?
Can roommates be selected to ensure no food allergens are in the dorm room?
Where is the nearest Emergency Room?
How is 911 handled on campus?
Is food allowed in the classrooms?
Is smoking allowed on campus?
What paperwork is necessary to complete for the Disability Services Office?
Can you obtain that package of paperwork?

There are probably a dozen more questions to ask, but you get the idea that we are VERY thorough. We’ve found that talking directly to the person in charge while visiting the campus is vital. Take the time to set up personal meetings with everyone when you visit and pick up business cards to be able to follow up later. We’ve found that coming to campus with a list of questions generated from Mom/Dad and from the potential student is helpful.

Make a decision!

The best thing to know is that just because you’ve made a decision to attend a specific school, this is rarely set in stone. If things don’t go as planned, you can chalk it up to a learning experience and move on from there.

Our daughter, Michaela, lived at home for the first year and a half while attending the local community college. She wasn’t ready to live in an apartment, shop and cook for herself while trying to adjust to college academics. After 18 months, she was ready to move in to a room in a house she shared with a housemate. She transferred to the local University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and graduated from there in May 2013. She has her own cooking utensils, cutting board, silverware and dishes. It has worked fairly well, although she has had to do a large amount of education and then remind her housemate when things are accidentally shared.

Our son, Morgan, has decided to attend the University of Denver (DU), where he is hoping to be able to get approval for a room air conditioning unit in his dorm room. The Disability Services Office will be reviewing his paperwork soon. He will eat in the cafeteria where the head dining manager has extensive experience preparing safe meals for students with food allergies. The students get assigned to one chef whom they can text message prior to each meal. Their meal is then prepared separate from everyone else’s. It’s a wonderful system that has worked well for other students managing food allergies! Should the air conditioned room not come through, Morgan will live in a dorm with A/C that also comes with a kitchen, which will be a nice backup. We feel very blessed that DU became a possibility for Morgan when he received a Boettcher Scholarship. It is a dream come true!

We hope that your dreams come true with the college of your choice that can keep you safe and healthy while enjoying a full college experience!

It’s hard to believe that our son, Morgan, is a senior in high school already! The topic of college is coming up frequently in our house. We continue to learn more and more about what information and laws are available for students with food allergies in college.

The Food Allergy Research Education (FARE) website has minimal information on sending your child with food allergy to college. They have two pages of info  here and here.

I can’t find anything about the Lesley University settlement and how it pertains to food allergic students from any of the major food allergy non-profit groups. The Lesley University settlement was initiated “around October 2009, <when> the United States Department of Justice (“United States”) received a complaint alleging that Lesley University (“Lesley” or the “University”) violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181-12189 (“ADA”) by failing to make necessary reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures to permit students with celiac disease and/or food allergies (collectively “food allergies”) to fully and equally enjoy the privileges, advantages, and accommodations of its food service and meal plan system.”

The University was requiring students to purchase a meal plan, yet the school had no way to safely feed the students. The Department of Justice determined that the University was in violation of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and mandated that they accommodate students on special diets. This settlement has implications for all colleges and universities, especially that celiac disease and food allergies can be considered a disability as defined by the ADA.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has a great 2013 College Student Toolkit that explains the impact of the Lesley University settlement on students with celiac disease.

We’ve learned a few things in an attempt to find the ‘right college’ for Morgan. First off, he wanted a specific Engineering degree (Computer Science), so that helped him to narrow his choices. Then, we started visiting a few schools.

We learned that it’s important to contact the University/College Disability Services Office (or whatever that office is called at a particular school) as a starting point. The timing of this contact may be best AFTER the student is admitted into the school. We have found that dealing directly with the Housing and/or Dining Services office might yield incorrect/unlawful suggestions.

In other words, the Housing Manager at a Colorado school that we visited told our family that it wouldn’t be possible for our son to have a dorm room free of his allergens as a requirement/accommodation. My contact at the Office of Civil Rights stated that this is incorrect. A ‘reasonable accommodation’ (which is the standard that colleges are held to, not FAPE-Free Appropriate Public Education) would be an allergen-free dorm room.

You can also find out general information from the Housing and Dining Offices that would be pertinent to your child attending college: if cafeterias routinely post ingredient lists, whether their cafeteria workers receive any training about food allergies, whether the kitchen can accommodate special requests, if the dorm rooms have air conditioning (for students with asthma), whether refrigerators, microwaves or air purifiers are allowed in dorm rooms, whether freshman are allowed to live in an apartment rather a dorm. The list goes on and on – we know that there are specific items that Morgan wants in order to maintain his health and safety, and we asked each school our questions about the specifics.

We found that specifying accommodations is best left to the drafting of a written document with the Disability Service Office. Sadly, though, some of these offices have never dealt with a student with food allergies. You, the parent, and your child may be training them about what to do with food allergies.

Lastly, most Universities/Colleges that I’ve asked will not allow their staff/employees to administer an epinephrine autoinjector. Their only step is to call 911. The student will be either “on their own” or will have to rely upon training their friends to respond during an anaphylaxis episode. This is an important question to ask when you visit a college, and then determine how comfortable you and your child are with their answer!

Morgan has yet to decide where he’s going to attend college. We’ll keep you updated on his choice!

I recently attended a presentation by a Senior Attorney for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in Denver, about protections of Section 504, Title II and Students with Disabilities in Public Schools from the American with Disabilities Act . This presentation was made to the MOSAIC support group in Denver, Colorado on  May 7, 2012 in regard to K-12 education and post secondary education.

This write up pertains only to students with food allergies in COLLEGE.

Sending a child with food allergies off to college is a daunting task and there are many ways to prepare for such; information in this blog post should not be used to argue a specific issue that you may have with a college, but is provided here for informational purposes only.

While it might work for some students with food allergies to deal directly with the college cafeteria staff or college housing office to secure accommodations, this may not be the best route to take in the long run. The college will provide information about the approved accommodations to the teachers and/or the cafeteria staff. The idea is to get a college to view our child’s food allergy as a Section 504/Title II issue and not just a dietary issue to be managed in the cafeteria.

For specific information about students with disabilities transitioning from high school to college, you may want to review:  http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transitionguide.html.  And for specific information about auxiliary aids and services at the post-secondary level, see:  http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/auxaids.html.

A student with food allergies heading to college should begin with the school’s Disability Services Office (or whatever the school calls this service) to find out what medical documentation and/or other documentation will be needed for the child and what accommodations are recommended. It is well to do this long before the freshman school year begins.

Most colleges receive some type of financial assistance through the Department of Education and therefore would be subject to Section 504 regulations (34 CFR part 104, subpart E). Schools that are public entities, for example state colleges and universities, are also subject to Title II of the American with Disabilities Act. (28 CFR part 35). Colleges and universities are not required to provide FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education), but they are required to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Not just academic accommodations, but also modifications and adjustments in the school’s programs when necessary to provide the student with an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits and services of the schools programs. Cafeteria accommodations can be included, such as ingredient listings of foods and staff training on cross contamination.

OCR expects colleges to engage in an interactive process with students to determine the most effective way for the student to have an equal opportunity of an education. And some colleges will be better at managing this process and helping students manage their disability. That’s why it’s important to start with the Disability Services Office. The approval of adjustments may be in writing. And it would certainly benefit your student to obtain any agreements with the Disabilities Service Office in writing.

The Title II regulation does not require a school that is a public entity to take any action that it can demonstrate would result in the fundamental alteration in a program it provides or in an undue financial or administrative burden. The school has the burden of proving  that compliance with the regulation would constitute such an alteration or adminstrative or financial burden. (Such as a business major student saying they have a disability with math and therefore shouldn’t be required to take any math classes to major in business).

OCR doesn’t express opinions about hypothetical cases, particularly where they do not have all the facts and have not been involved in the interactive process with the student and disability services office to consider all the information available and determine what academic adjustments, if any, would be appropriate.  Generally, OCR does not tell schools which accommodations they must or may provide; they examine the process followed to determine what accommodations are or are not provided and whether they satisfy the requirement to ensure an equal opportunity for the student.  There are some considerations to take into account.  First (assuming there is a qualified* student with a disability), the school would be required not to exclude the student from participation in the any of the school’s programs on the basis of the disability.  Then, the school may not provide services in a manner that limits or has the effect of limiting the participation of the student with the disability.  Of course, accommodations requested and provided must be reasonable.  So, depending on circumstances, it may be unreasonable to expect a school to publish all the ingredients of all foods made available through its food services program.  However, it might be reasonable to expect the school to make a number of foods available and identified as “peanut and tree nut free” or “dairy free” or “free of any seafood product” or something similar.  Again, it would depend very much of the facts of an individual case.

*Qualified individual with a disability means an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices . . . meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by the public entity.  28 C.F.R. § 35.104.

It was suggested, you may want to take a look at the Title II regulations (applicable to public schools and colleges—can be found on the internet):

28 C.F.R. Part 35, §§  35.130, 35.130(b)(1)(ii and iii), 35.130(d), 35.164.  See 34 CFR 104 subpart E. The principles applicable under the Section 504 regulations are fundamentally the same.

I have observed many students don’t start with the school’s Disability Services Office. They usually start with the dietitian and/or cafeteria staff and then if they have problems they just transfer out of the school.  ALWAYS start with the Disability Services Office.

Lastly, once your child is 18 years old, the school’s Disability Services Office might only speak with your child…not with the parent, to develop a plan of reasonable accommodations in order to comply with the laws ensuring the student’s confidentiality. This is one reason students need to learn to advocate for themselves early in their school career!

It’s difficult to know where to start when your child with food allergies gets to that age to begin the college search. The good news is that most high schools are well equipped with counselors to help with the college search itself; however it’s up to you and your child to pursue the discussion of food allergies with each individual college or university. We found that high school counselors weren’t educated enough about food allergies to know how to answer any of our questions about a college’s ability to feed our child in a dorm cafeteria.

A university website that states,” We can handle virtually any food allergy” was not sufficient for us to feel comfortable with our child living in the dorm and eating in the cafeteria. We wanted to visit the school, eat in the cafeteria, talk with the dietitian on staff, discuss ingredients being listed for all foods and determine the menu selections for each meal in addition to discussing academics. It takes more effort to find a school that meets your child’s desires for a major and for food allergies, but it’s well worth the time to ensure safety, enjoyment and a career destination.

Finding the “Right College”

Our daughter, Michaela, graduated from high school in 2009. She has celiac disease along with multiple other severe food intolerances (beef, pork and lemon to name a few). She didn’t really know what she wanted to major in, but she had a general idea of a Liberal Arts major, so that helped our search. I suggest looking for colleges with a major in mind, and not with food allergies as #1 on your list of priorities. If your child decides that they want to major in a field that’s not offered at a particular college (that you chose for its food allergy expertise), then you have to start the food allergy education process over with another school when your child transfers. Choose a major and then take a look at the cafeteria!

Michaela knew that she wasn’t interested in moving out of state. If your child does want to go to a school out of state, looking for a local allergist would likely be necessary prior to enrollment. The maturity of your child is a large factor in moving far away and making this a positive experience. Moving a long distance away from family is difficult for children who don’t have food allergies – managing food allergies on top of this big change may be more than what some kids can or want to handle. Asking your child, “What’s the ideal situation for you to go to college?” might yield some very interesting answers!

Visit Colleges and Universities

Michaela  had participated in numerous one week and two week music camps through her high school years at several universities in Colorado. This gave her first hand experience of how the cafeteria works and what living at the school for an entire semester could look like. Sadly, she found that only one school – the University of Denver – was able to cook for her safely. All of the other schools either weren’t able to provide three safe meals per day or weren’t willing to try. One school had a gluten free menu for lunch and dinner, but not for breakfast. Another said, “we can cook anything you need,” and then had a menu of only 3 items – all of which included wheat. She ended up bringing her food for the entire one week camp and keeping it in a refrigerator utilizing a microwave to heat it. This can work for one week, but for an entire semester this would be onerous!

A friend and her gluten-intolerant daughter visited a college campus and asked the cafeteria manager what they do for students with celiac disease. The manager said, “We keep all peanut butter on a separate table!” It can be frightening the lack of understanding about food allergies and celiac disease in a college cafeteria where your child will basically be “eating out” for three meals a day.

We also went on campus visit days to numerous universities across Colorado. In the cafeteria, we searched for ingredient listings, talked with the dietitian on staff, and determined the menu selections for each meal. What we found was that the more expensive the tuition, the more likely a college/university cafeteria was to work with us. A large, public university that feeds 5000 students a day is very unlikely to accommodate a student with food allergies. One such school told Michaela that she was welcome to live in an apartment her freshman year. She gave that some thought, but decided that adjusting to college classes plus having to grocery shop and cook for herself was more than what she wanted to take on at 18 years old.

Many school cafeterias have students on work/study working in the cafeteria and this can make training about food allergies and EpiPens more difficult. Ask about the cafeteria workers when you visit a campus; watch how meals are served (same spatula used for serving all dishes?) and how plates are washed. All of this will help you and your child know where problems could occur.

Food Allergy Aware Colleges

I am currently participating in a committee looking into best practices of food allergy aware colleges for the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI). The University of Michigan (see link here) has probably one of the best systems for food allergy students. This is truly a food allergy aware college!

A food allergy aware school personalizes the experience of dining in the cafeteria; they don’t require living in the dorm freshman year (they allow for apartment living if your child is up for this!); they provide ingredient listings for all foods in the cafeteria; they have an aware chef and they have nearby EMTs and a hospital.

Many Ways to go to College with Food Allergies

Michaela decided to stay home her first year of college and then moved out to rent a room in a house near her school, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. This allowed her to get a repertoire of menu items that she learned how to cook, and she adjusted to college slowly. This was the perfect solution for her.

I know of students who went to college and lived in a single dorm room so they at least didn’t have to deal with a roommate bringing in unsafe foods. Others I know brought a microwave and refrigerator and prepared all their meals in their dorm room. Still others worked out safe menu items with the school cafeteria.

In other words, there are many ways to go to college with food allergies!

As a parent, it’s easy to want your child to have the same experience you had with school – maybe join a sport or live in a sorority house. Our suggestion is to allow your child to create his/her own experience. It’s likely to be far different from yours, but that’s okay. And it might have been different even if your child didn’t have food allergies!

Ari, how old are you and what are your allergies?

I am a fair young maiden of twenty-one and a half. Just kidding, that’s super old. Anyways, I’m a legal adult, and I have allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, soy, fish, shellfish, mustard seed, sesame and nigella seed. Whew. I’ve also got a handful of intolerances and sensitivities, like gluten, poultry, eggs, eggplant and milk.

I think I remember reading that your allergies appeared “later” in life. Can you tell me about that?

Oh, geez. Yeah, it all started when I was nineteen. I LOVED nuts. Almond butter, chocolate-covered peanuts, anything amaretto-flavored. I used to eat fruit and nut bars every morning for breakfast. One day, I had a cherry raw bar while waiting for the train to get into Manhattan. By the time I had gone under the East River, I was bright red, covered with hives and couldn’t swallow. Needless to say, I hightailed it to the doctor that day.

From there came every couple of months, a new food allergy or intolerance. Since I’m such a food nerd, I remember each dish that began this discovery of my issues: it was a bagel when I discovered gluten; a shrimp summer roll with seafood; halvah with sesame; quiche for the eggs; Thanksgiving turkey for the poultry; a red curry with all the seeds, and pad Thai with soy. I’ve always been a milktard, though.

It’s kind of weird for me because I still crave these things. I haven’t had sesame chicken or bouillabaisse in three years. But, I don’t let it get me down….I find ways to get around my cravings for things like pasta alfredo and peanut butter fudge. And that’s when you see me doing crazy stuff with nutritional yeast and sunflower seed butter on Food for Dorks.

Have you ever experienced anaphylaxis? If so, what were the circumstances? If not, what type of allergic symptoms have you experienced?

Ahhh! Anaphylaxis is so scary. I’ve definitely gone through it a couple of times. One particular time sticks with me. I was eating lunch on my break at work. A shrimp roll from Dean & Deluca. I’d never ever had a problem with seafood before. About two minutes after eating the whole thing, I threw up all over my co-worker. In the break room. Yeah, I know. Apparently, I turned purple, and my manager had to stab me in the leg with my EpiPen. We have a special bond now. I think. Mostly, I remember fading in and out of sleep at the hospital and waking up with a deflated tongue. No longer was I crimson colored, now I was back to being pale & pasty.

I’ve had other non-anaphylactic reactions, too, though. Standard itchiness, nausea, dizziness, you know, the usual. Boring in comparison to your body throwing a riot over Vietnamese food. But, still annoying.

My son, Morgan, was very impressed that you went to a culinary arts school. Which one did you attend? How did they make accommodations for you?

Tell Morgan thanks for me, will ya? I attend the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, and graduate in October. The instructors were pretty accommodating, I guess. They don’t force me to do anything I don’t feel comfortable doing. One really cool thing is that the instructors let me use alternatives for allergens, like soy-free margarine, coconut aminos (a soy sauce alternative) and Daiya cheese. I definitely get made fun of whenever I wear my mask during lessons where we cook something I’m allergic to. But, whatever. I don’t let it get to me. At all. I’m there to learn– not only how to cook, but to master gourmet dishes and techniques so that I can provide y’all with tasty treats and recipes! Oh, and I would absolutely recommend that everyone should take a cooking class at least once. It will greatly improve your quality of life.

Please tell me about Food for Dorks. Where is your blog located? Are you on FB, Twitter, elsewhere, etc?

Food for Dorks is my lil’ blog baby. It’s a lot of fun for me. I’m honestly just sharing what I love doing with the rest of the world. Maybe it’s trite, but reinventing cuisine that is all-inclusive is a true art. Food for Dorks has allowed me to share my art.

But yeah, I love being able to share recipes, reviews, articles and general culinary insight to the rest of the glutard and peanutard world.  We’re definitely not hard to find. Pretty much everywhere on the internet. Like us on Facebook, tweet us at @foodfordorks, follow us on tumblr, visit the website.

Are you still in school or out in the work world? How do you manage working with food every day?

Still in school! I was kind of fed up with regular school, and I liked cooking. I’m also an angsty twenty-something. Add those up all together and you get a gap year of culinary school. It’s like a Julia Roberts movie, or something. I also have a job, but it’s in technology. Yep, I’m a full on nerd-dork hybrid. Food isn’t that scary to me; you just gotta know your strengths and your weakness, and most importantly, you have to know yourself. Only then can you proceed with confidence.

Many parents are concerned about their child with food allergies dating. Tell me about how you manage this.

I laugh a little when I think about my dating life. Not just because I’m single. There are issues that I think concern anyone affected by food allergies when dating, and that’s telling your date about them, and then the whole kissing thing. Here’s my advice to your offspring:

On the telling your date about food allergies thing, don’t make it a big, awkward deal. It’s not a big awkward, deal. It’s just who you are. You can’t eat shellfish, so Japanese food is out. Done. Have Tex-Mex instead, or do something without food. Parks, museums, bike riding, there’s a lot out there to do.

If you’re like me, with a bunch of allergies, just own it. If you do go out to eat, and your date orders something you’re allergic to, just remind them politely to wash their hands after. They’ll learn their lesson about eating your no-no food around you when you decline their kisses.

And on that note, the kissing thing.  Oh, my gosh. I had a boyfriend once that forgot to tell me he had a Snickers bar before seeing me. Of course we made out, and then, of course, I promptly broke out in hives.  Besides him being a bonafide idiot, he learned a lesson: be mindful! I made him do my laundry the next day. Don’t worry, I dumped him eventually.

Basically: don’t date dummies, and ask. Don’t ever be afraid to ask your date if they’ve eaten something you’re allergic to. If they can’t remember what they’ve had to eat within the past eight hours…don’t date them. Oh, and one last thing to remind your kid about dating, in general: if someone’s going to be a jerk to you about your food allergies, onto the next one. Seriously. Only date people that care about you. That includes your dietary restrictions.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

If your child is ever down about their food allergies, wants dating advice, or just wants someone to look up to that understands, please, by all means, don’t hesitate to contact me. I can definitely play pen pal if your kiddo needs a big sister. That’s [email protected].

Same goes for you too, Mom and Dad!

And, if you have any requests for cuisine, holla at yo’ girl. I’d be happy whip up something for ya.

Thanks Ari!