spewdfree.com

Allergic to…

heather — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:21:21 +0000

Nothing? Everything? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is this:
Yesterday I fed Little J a turkey sandwich and chips before we left our hotel room to get on a plane to go home. About an hour later, as I took him for a potty stop before getting in the car, I noticed a hive on his chest. I took off his shirt and there were two more on his back. Then more on his chest! I grabbed a benadryl fastmelt and gave it to him.
And I watches him on the way to the airport, I kept thinking, I hope it stops, I hope it stops….
And it did. About halfway to the airpor he fell into a benedryl induced coma and didn’t wake up until we were at the gate. He was an angel on the flight, and we made it home safe and sound.

In Arizona, Eating With Food Allergies

heather — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:13:29 +0000

We made it to Arizona! Little J was an angel on the plane ( he loves flying). But by the time we got here and checked into our hotel we were hungry and honestly, I had forgotten how hard it is to travel with food allergies. At lunch, we went to a tropical themed resturaunt where they looked at us as if we were crazy when I told them that Little J was allergic to peanuts and eggs and I wanted to know what was in their kids cheeseburger and fries. Then, they almost didn’t take me seriously. Honestly…it’s been a while since I have had to deal with stuff like this. Then at dinner we called five resturaunts before we found a place to eat. WOW! I love it here but I am starting to think that no one has food allergies! LOL

SPEWD Free Food in the Airport

heather — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:42:11 +0000

It’s a long weekend for Little J because his school has added two furlough days to the holiday. So we have a five day weekend. We decided it was time for a quick family vacation but didn’t want to go too far so we are off to Arizona!
The three of us are sitting in the airport, Little J is watching the planes go by, my husband had some McD’s for breakfast and is checking his email and I go off in search of something healthy. I looked around at all the little pastry shops, the starbucks….nothing. So I went into the magazine shop hoping to find something more than a vitamin water zero. And while looking at the granola bars, I did! I found Skout Trailbars! They contain almonds but no peanuts, eggs, wheat or dairy. They are really good ( and filling enough for breakfast) and have very simple ingrediants. I am so thankful that they were in the airport and am going to try to find them again when we get back.

New SPEWD Free Product: True Lemonade and True Raspberry Lemonade

heather — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:36:27 +0000

Summer is coming and nothing is better than a tall glass of lemonade. But I have to admit that most of the time I am way to lazy to make it from lemons. And with Little J’s food allergies I am a bit careful of what I will let him eat or drink. No chemical sweeteners (yes, I prefer good old sugar to chemicals) in fact I try to keep him away from chemicals as much as possible. So lemonade has been a rare thing in our household. Until now. I found True Lemonade and True Raspberry Lemonade. It’s really good and all natural. And there is a 100% guarantee that you will like it….what’s better than that? How about the fact that it is SPEWD Free? Seriously good stuff. Little J likes it and so do I. If you are interested in finding some near you click here True Lemon

Raise Awareness About Food Allergies

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:24:31 +0000

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

The Food Allergy Initiative Contacted me yesterday and asked me to share it with all of you. The statistics are staggering and if you are reading this blog then chances are, you or someone you know is affected by food allergies. Raise awareness of the severity of food allergies by passing this video along. The link to it is here: #mce_temp_url#

Baja Fresh, Part 2

heather — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:15:44 +0000

Yesterday morning I made my second phone call to Baja Fresh Corporate. I asked them why it was so hard to get allergen information on their food. They would not give me any generals, only specifics. So here is what I got out of them for the second time. They claim that the only products containing eggs are the breaded fish and shrimp and the creamy sauces. But when it comes to peanuts, they are extremely vague. The answer they give is this: none of their products contain peanuts to their knowledge. HOWEVER, any or all of their products may be produced in a factory that contains peanuts so their products may contain peanuts. WOW!

I asked to speak to someone in upper management and was shot down (no surprise there). The customer service representative did tell me that several people have called recently and that upper management is considering doing “something” about the allergy situation. So here is what I suggest. If you are as disturbed as I am then call Baja Fresh and ask them to post the allergen info for their food. Here is their toll free customer service number: 1-877-225-2373 ext.1

Just so you know. We are not going back to Baja Fresh. Not until they post the allergen information.

Baja Fresh

heather — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:03:29 +0000

About a month ago my husband and I decided to go to Baja Fresh for dinner. We were wondering if Little J could eat anything there, so I decided to check out the website. After searching for about 15 minutes for any kind of nutritional info (and finding absolutely nothing) I decided to use my old standby and and click on the “contact us” button. That led me here : http://www.bajafresh.com/contact.php

I clicked on the “FAQ” link, on the off chance that there might me some allergen information there. What I saw was interesting….

I have severe allergies, whom may I contact for specific nutritional information?
Our nutritional page will provide basic nutritional breakdown of our menu items. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact us and we will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability.

So I clicked contact us and dialed the number. It was Sunday and the offices were closed. Figures. So my husband and I pack Little J a plan B meal and headed out with the plan of speaking to a manager.

When we got to the Baja Fresh, I asked to speak to the manager, and he came out in a timely manner. I told him about Little J’s allergies to peanuts and eggs and asked if anything on the menu was safe. The manager looked behind the counter, pulled out some nutrition facts, looked me in the eyes and said, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know? How does a manager not know what they are serving in their own restaurant? Does Baja Fresh just not care? Are their “fresh” ingredients really that bad?

On Monday I called the Baja Fresh corporate offices to explain what had happened. The women on the phone apologized and proceeded to tell me that they weren’t sure about the factories that the ingredients were produced in and that any of the ingredients “may be produced in a factory with peanuts or other nuts or eggs”. The only foods that CONTAINED peanuts or eggs to her knowledge were the mayonnaise containing sauces. I was told that my concerns about the fact that no one knew about any allergens in the food would be forwarded to upper management and that someone would be contacting me. To this date no one has. I will be calling again.

I will keep all of you posted if I make any progress with Baja Fresh. Until I do,I won’t be letting Little J eat here.

It’s Been A While….And answers to some of your questions.

heather — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:43:13 +0000

I know it’s been a while since my last post. I have been really busy dealing with my son. Anyone else out there got a kid who doesn’t poop? (I know one day he will absolutely die when he finds out I have blogged about this issue) Well with Little J, it has gotten so bad that it has caused acid reflux (yes his esophagus is eroding at age three) which has caused a sinus infection that even six months worth of antibiotics can’t fix. Little J is supposed to go to Special Education preschool five days a week and he spends about a third of the time at home sick. It is a never ending battle. I am kinda beside myself. But we are working on it. And he is still my sweet little angel. I am so sorry that I have neglected SPEWD Free..

One of the questions/comments I have been getting lately is about how I can call my website SPEWD Free and then talk about soy butter or write a recipe that contains dairy. Well here is the thing. I have always wanted SPEWD Free to be a little fluid. My life is ever changing and so is the website. Don’t get me wrong. I try to remember to put all the substitutions in my recipes (please fell free to email me if you notice that I have missed one). But sometimes I want to be able to blog about soy butter instead of sun butter or veganaisse (there really isn’t another sub for mayo). We all have different allergies and I want everyone to be comfortable here. Food allergies are not just limited to Soy, Peanuts, Eggs, Wheat and Dairy (or any combo of those) . So lets talk about all kinds of substitutes, and I will try not to offend anyone. And don’t worry…. I won’t be bringing in the dreaded peanuts anytime soon.

A Fact You Might Not Know About Drew Brees

heather — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:01:48 +0000

The Saints won the Super Bowl! And while I don’t know too much about Super Bowl winning, MVP Drew Brees, I know he has food allergies. According to Sports Illustrated, his allergies include : Dairy, Wheat, Gluten, Eggs and Nuts. Wow! It may be challenging to keep a three year old with food allergies healthy, being an athlete with food allergies is a whole different story. I would love to know what Drew Brees eats everyday, how he avoids the foods he is allergic to, and what his favorite substitutes are.

Congratulations to the Saints and Drew Brees!!

I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter and Preschool

heather — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:01:50 +0000

As I have mentioned before, Little J loves SoyNut Butter sandwiches. So I have sent him to school with them frequently. One of Little J’s teachers mentioned the other day that some of the parents have been looking for new peanut free alternatives to send their children to school with now that the classrooms are peanut free.

So yesterday I emailed The SoyNut Butter company to see if they could send some samples to me so that I could share them with Little J’s classes. There are about 30 children between the two classes, so I wasn’t sure what they would say. To my surprise, I opened my email this morning to find a response. I am so excited to report that they are sending samples!!

Stay tuned for more of this story. I will let yo all know when I receive the samples…..and what happens when they go to preschool!

If you want to check out the I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter click here: SoyNut Butter