Monday, April 14, 2008

so i was trying to do my family a favor...

by asking my mom to buy whole wheat noodles. i had been learning about making half our grains we eat each day whole grain in Foods class, and figured a great way to get started with that would be to see if Mom could start getting some whole grain noodles. we could always use whole grain noodles in the pasta dishes we make, such as tube noodle stuff, or goolash.(both are basically noodles, meat, tomatoes, herbs, and cheese)


so she got some boxes of whole wheat noodles, and made tube noodle stuff. but the two times i ate the tube noodle stuff (once at dinner, and then for leftovers), i had a slight allergic reaction.(which just involved my lip swelling a little bit, nothing too serious.) i wasn't exactly sure what it was. the only things different were the kind of tomatoes my mom used, and the noodles. so we held off on making stuff with whole wheat noodles, and mom went back to her original brand of tomatoes. then i went back to making my concoctions with some of the noodles that are basically the equivalent to egg noodles, but whole wheat. i didn't get any reactions with those.

so tonight i had some whole wheat noodles that i had boiled on saturday, but didn't get a chance to eat. my mom had called and told us to meet her at a local pizza place for lunch. so i made a cheese sauce for them, and had supper. but as soon as i finished what was on my plate, and went up for some more, i noticed my mouth feeling ichy. so i decided that i didn't want seconds. then i swallowed, because that's how i know if i'm having an allergic reaction or not. i was definitely having one. i quickly got a glass of water, and then i made a bee-line to my purse, where i dumped out all of its contents until i came across the Benadryl.(oh, that reminds me, i still need to go clean that up...) so back to the kitchen i go to take this thing. so i did, and my parents and i decided it's that brand of noodles. that's what caused it. everything in the sauce is stuff i have on a regular basis. so i'm wondering what's in this stuff that made my mouth panic, and i feel bad for asking my mom to get it in the first place.

so i guess after my mouth quits feeling numb, i will go back and eat something else, something i know i'm not allergic to. if you don't have allergies, be very thankful. but also, be open and prepared to interact with people who have allergies. there might be precautions you have to take that you think are dumb, but the truth is, you're making sure the lives around you aren't in danger. i'm even still learning how to take those precautions. i never really knew about my allergies until a year and a half ago. so my family has been slowly adjusting. it's nice though because on my mom's side of the family they're trying to learn with us.

like at Christmas, some of the Christmas cookies have nuts in them, because that's what some people like. so one plate had the cookies without nuts, and another plate had all the cookies with nuts. each had plastic over it. so they took the plastic off and set it aside so we could have our cookies after lunch. there's only one problem, they forgot which piece of plastic went with the nuts. so we know for next year that we need to mark one of them so we don't get them mixed up. it was no biggie though, they just got new sheets of plastic wrap for both of them.

it's interesting how that side of the family is very aware of my allergies, and makes sure that i'm not "left out" because of people getting candy with nuts.(on the sunday after Valentines day everyone at Grandma's house got Reese's peanutbutter cups, and i got a milkyway!) but on the other side i'm pretty sure they don't remember at all. last Christmas some people gave candy as gifts, and that candy had nuts in it. actually, one of them had almonds, which i consider my worst food allergy. no worries. my brother liked the extra candy, and my mom got me a dark chocolate bar, and someone else in my family had the extra candy bar with nuts. i figure while it's good for people to be aware, they probably have bigger things to worry about, so it's no use getting upset over.

having food allergies is nice when it comes to ice cream. whenever there's ice cream with nuts(as well as kinds that i can have) i get the first choice so we know the spoon is clean and not contaminated. it's also been interesting to see what exactly is in my food. i have become much more aware of all of that now. while i could just look for the bold print that says: this product contains nuts, there are some foods i'm allergic to that i really have to read into the label. like sesame seeds.

well, i've rambled on enough. my allergic reaction has been resolved now, and the taste of the vanilla mint is slowly making its exit. maybe i should've just had a ham sandwich. i wonder what i should do with all those extra whole wheat noodles....

No comments: