Food Allergies

I had some food allergies when I was a child, but, thankfully, I outgrew them. Having food allergies as a teen, or an adult for that matter, make you different than those around you and draws (what is perceived as) negative attention to you.
Not surprisingly, most of the teens in a recent survey did not tell their friends about their food allergies and would knowingly eat something containing an allergen just to fit in. They did wish that their friends were made aware of the allergies and how to treat them (i.e., epi pen), but by someone other than them. For a teenager, struggling to fit in and make the right decisions, a food allergy could be life-threatening yet embarrassing.
For an adult, it also calls attention to you. It means stringent label-reading and asking questions before ordering or purchasing take-out foods -- many times people are not understanding when you have to ask what the soup stock is made of? I can only imagine a teen asking for their order made with something different. Eating an allergen to fit in is scary, but no less so than drinking alcohol or taking drugs to fit in?
Peer pressure is huge, but getting through your teen years is a challenge to both kids and their parents.



The full story is available at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060313/hl_nm/food_allergic_dc