A news report published today warns U.S. consumers about a possible salmonella outbreak affecting pistachios.
We avoid these tree nuts anyway--they're one of my daughter's "top 5" foods to avoid. But come on--what is going on? How can any of us feel safe to eat anything anymore, much less those of us with food allergies who rely so heavily on accurate labels and safe food practices.
The only silver lining is that this type of outbreak makes the non-allergic take time to think that foods can cause severe, immediate illness and even death. For some reason, that is not something people readily accept with regard to food allergies. But with salmonella? Many more people will be sitting up and taking notice.
Also, the fact that these outbreaks are being found in nuts? So ironic to me. Especially when I think of some of the more lame arguments we read/hear about that say we are making FA up in our heads. For ex., how many times have you all heard this one: "Allergies to nuts can't be real or at least so common. We didn't have nut allergies when I was in school."
Now apply the same "logic" to the recent salmonella outbreaks. Doesn't sound very good, does it? Just because something didn't occur in the past with foods doesn't mean it can't happen now.
The lesson is to eat minimally processed, whole foods as much as you can. Obviously, FDA practices need a major overhaul. And, ironically, it might be salmonella outbreaks in nuts that finally get some positive changes made.
I was all set to do my "kids are back at school" happy dance this afternoon after the youngest is back at afternoon kindergarten later today, but it looks like that will have to wait for another day or even two.
Yes, it's that time of year again. The trees are budding like crazy, the green shoots are coming up and is that a flower peeking out of the recent Chicago snowstorm? Lots of pollen in the air combined with crazy cold temps and snow has created chaos in my household. Three of us, my food-allergic daughter included, are suffering allergy symptoms and are on allergy meds for the past few weeks now. In my case, I'm fine after the trees finish "budding." The other two have ongoing symptoms all season. Seasonal allergies and asthma often coincide with food allergies, so many of you will have the same problem I'm about to describe.
My daughter appears to be either suffering really bad allergy symptoms or has caught the head cold that's going around. It's now time to experience my yearly dilemma: is it allergies or a "real" cold? Symptoms like stuffiness, sneezing, fatigue are pretty much the same for either a cold or seasonal allergies. Then we've got the whole "Is your throat itchy or scratchy? (A fine distinction, trust me.) "Do you have a fever?" And the dreaded "How do you feel today?"
My daughter is sick of answering these questions as well as experiencing these symptoms. She recently switched to Allegra (the other stuff was making her too sleepy in the a.m.) and seemed fine. But then she was up all last night sneezing with "an itchy throat." Is it a cold or allergies? Up until about an hour ago, I truly had no clue.
I'm right about 50/50 on this question, which means sometimes she is home from school with allergies and sometimes she is sent to school with a cold (which, believing in "health karma" I try very hard not to do. You know, if I don't send my sick kid to school, you won't either. I know it doesn't really work like that but it makes me feel better to think about it that way.)
Today, it looks like I was right about the cold. My daughter is upstairs passed out which would definitely not happen if she were not truly ill. She just doesn't sleep during the day--during the daytime hours, in fact, she resembles Tigger. Extremely bouncy, literally and figuratively.
The "allergy vs. cold" dance is just beginning as allergy season is just now moving into its heyday according to our allergist. And since I'm in Chicago, head cold season lasts pretty much all year long.
It's a game of odds...today it looks like guessed correctly that my daughter has a true illness. Or it could be that Allegra doesn't work for her? Or it doesn't work for her AND she has a cold? Or the pollen count is just really, really obnoxious today? I better polish my mother's intuition skills because I'm really going to need them now!
By now many of you have heard of the THRIVE Allergy Expo coming to Chicago April 18 and 19th at McCormick Place. This is the only allergy expo in North America!
The Expo will have a variety of presentations and info about doctors, treatments and allergy-friendly products. There will also be much time devoted to celiac disease and gluten-free living, as well as resources for dealing with environmental allergies.
As a special incentive to Nut-Free Mom Blog readers, you can receive a discount on tickets when you use code: nutfreemom (all one word) when ordering.
Click here to get the full schedule: http://www.thriveallergyexpo.com/
Plus, on April 18 in Chicago, FAAN will be presenting it's the annual FAAN conference: "Take Action to Prevent Reactions." It's a full day of info, networking and bonding with other food-allergic individuals and their families. This is the first year I will attend and I'm looking forward to it. I hope to see some of you there! FAAN members pay $85 per ticket--that includes all sessions plus lunch. You can get meals to fit a special diet if you give them 2 weeks notice. No kids under 11 allowed, though, so you'll have to find someone to watch the little ones, but I think it's worth it.
Apparently, Chicago is the place to be in April if you're interested in food allergies. FAAN is also hosting a conference in Tarrytown, NY on May 9th, so head there if you're an East Coast allergy parent.
In Yash Raj’s latest production Hadippa, Rani Mukherji is playing the role of a man, more precisely a Sardarji. And guess who is wooing her? Rakhi Sawant. Rakhi has a comical item song in the film where she’s trying to get Rani to fall in love with her, not knowing she is actually a woman!
Well, if ever I needed proof that nut allergies are on the rise and that nut-allergic consumers are on companies' radar screens, this is it. I just received a One Step Ahead catalog that contains "Safety Tattoos with a Purpose" for young children. In addition to tattoos that can be personalized to include kids phone numbers, they also sell tattoos that say "No Nuts, Please!" The tattoo has a peanut in a red circle with a line through it--the universal symbol for "not allowed."
What a great product for those of us with very young children who can't always communicate their allergy needs when out and about. I can envision using these on field trips or special outings with preschoolers or toddlers. The temporary tattoos then wipe off when they're no longer needed.
No one wants to single their kids out in a negative way, but products like this seem almost as fun for kids to use as they are useful. I don't know about you but my kids have always loved temporary tattoos.
Just a note: I tried to find these online but was unable to. However, when I called the customer service number they assured me that the tattoos are in stock as of today! The item number is 15164 for "Tattoos with a Purpose": specify the nut-free tattoos. The customer service number is: 1-800-279-8440. They are a busy company, so you may need to call a few times before you reach a live person! :)
I was thrilled to read this news story about how food allergy legislation recently passed in the Illinois House of Representatives. Now the bill goes onto the state senate.
The bill will advocate that all schools need a food allergy action to follow for food allergy emergencies. Even though parents still would have a hand in their child's own food allergy action plan, there would be no need, if this bill passes the Senate, for Illinois parents to be trailblazers on policy simply because they want to send their food-allergic child to school.
I've had to be a "trailblazer" at school and luckily I've had good results for my efforts, but how wonderful if other parents would know that food allergies and action plans were already on the school's radar screen as a matter of course. That's a whole lot more than many of us have had up until now.
For info about who your state reps are, click this link and scroll down. You'll be able to find your district and reps.
Sample letters to send to reps and state senators can be found at FAAN's
"Advocacy" portion of their web site.
And if you're not an Illinois resident, how about proposing a plan like this to your reps?
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The beauty of indian cinema, the hot and very sexy and famous model of all times with hot and cute poses none another than Katrina Kaif in cute and sexy white saree
The famous actress and a well known Bikini queen and swimsuit calender model Deepika Paduckone exclusive never seen bikini photo of the time before she even got into the film industry and was a struggling model in liquor King's Kingfisher Calender girl
For Gossips And Mirch Masala Log On To Bollywood Paradize
Beauty with brains blends together beautifully to present a complete woman who is competent in all walks of life and Indian Women born and brought up with the moral values and power to face all situations in life is surely entitled to be celebrated for their contribution to this world. Thus such beauty pageants are fashioned for this cause.
The Gladrags Mrs. India concluding episode took place on Saturday March 14th launching a select assemblage of sizzling married women below the age of fifty. These women personify the distinctiveness of beauty blended with brains and aptitude.
The Gladrags Mrs. India pageant is specifically designed for married Indian women who go through various parameters before bagging the title. The Gladrags Mrs. India 2009 celeb judges were Neetu Chandra, Mahima Chaudhry, Sonu Sood and Maureen Wadia, who is the president of Gladrags Beauty Pageants. The show was also graced by a rocking performance of Sandhya Mridul.
Sophia Handa a twenty-six year hottie took home the crown for 2009 although the sensational event had a lot of expectants. Presently a housewife appeared stunning in her dark red lengha with elaborate gold embroidery on it.
Here are some hot pictures of the contestants. Go nuts!
This March we await the release of perhaps the most anticipated and most expensive film of the year with top class cast and crew- ‘Blue’. Based on deep sea diving, the movie stars Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif as the principal cast who are out to find the deepest and darkest secrets hidden 250 feet below the ocean.
The film has been directed by debutant director Anthony D’Souza and produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd. The film, which is India’s first ever underwater film has been shot in the most exotic locales of Bahamas.
Blue has music by double Oscar winner A.R.Rahman and also has Australian pop sensation Kylie Minogue rendering two tracks in her voice.
Among the international crew, are Pete Zuccarini, action director James Bomalick, George Peters, and Resul Pookutty.
Actress Sonal Chauhan will come up with an all new website of her own after winning the case she had filed against the person who was running a website illegally by the name of sonalchauhanworld.com.
“The person used to run the website illegally on my name. He would sell my pictures on the net without my permission. I took legal recourse and filed a case against him. He was completely shocked when he got our notice and immediately requested an out – of – court settlement. The fake website was removed,” said Sonal Chauhan giving an explanation.
“I was furious and angry when I came to know about this from my friends. I took the help of cyber police for solving this case. Now I am finally ready to come up with my own official website very soon” says Sonal.
This is not the first time that Sonal has had trouble in the web world. There were reports of her fake ID being used on a famous social networking.
‘Kambakht Ishq’ in trouble for use of foul language
Promos of Sajid Nadiadwala’s ‘Kambakht Ishq’ starring Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Carmen Electra, Sylvester Stallone and some other Hollywood stars have landed in trouble for the use of foul language where both the lead stars call each other canine names. Its shows Kareena calling Akki a dog and in turn he calls her a bitch. Apart from this scene, there is also a line indicating that women are only meant for making love.
The people in the Censor Board were obviously not very happy with this and as a result they have given it an A Certificate. Consequently, the film’s promo cannot be shown on TV. Sajid Nadiadwala, who is currently abroad, is gearing up to confront the board when he return to India.
Says, Vinayak Azad, Regional Officer, Censor Board, “Yes, we have given the promos an A Certificate because I found it very inappropriate.”
“Kareena calls Akshay a dog and in turn he calls her a bitch. Apart from this scene, there is also a line indicating that women are only meant for making love. I found that very inappropriate, because in a promo you can’t understand the context of the scene as we have not yet seen the film,” he added.
Gorgeous Neetu Chandra set the ramp afire as she walked for designer Archana Kochar at the Fosters showcase in Mumbai recently. Dressed in a brilliant blue, the actress stole the show which also had top models showing off the latest in lingerie and more.
Neetu Chandra is on a high these days. She is hitting the news frequently in recent past. She recently launched her website www.MyNeetuChandra.com. She is also enjoying a success of her latest flick 13 B starring opposite R Madhavan which is been released in both Hindi and Tamil language versions.
The funny, witty and the chat show with a uniqueness, “Oye! Its Friday” has come to an end after 15 weeks of entertaining episodes and what better way to end the show than to have the gorgeous lady Shilpa Shetty as the celebrity guest for the last episode.
The episode had Shilpa sharing her experiences with Farhan on meeting Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after she shot to fame on winning the UK based reality show ‘Big Brother’. She also got candid about her relationship with beau Raj Kundra, the Richard Gere controversy, her team ‘Rajasthan Royals’ and her height being an issue in Bollywood. Farhan also learnt Shilpa’s famous U.P. ‘Thumkas’ at the show.
The episode also had Sukhwinder Singh perform of the Oscar winning number ‘Jai Ho’ and also ‘Haule-Haule’, and ‘Marjaani’. There was also the the breathtaking act of UK’s Delia Du Sol popularly known as Ms Flexible where she left everyone gaping as she squeezed herself into a 21″x 17″x 17″ cube.
‘Kaminey’ is by far the most awaited and talked about films of 2009. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra along with Amole Gupte and is directed by the ace director Vishal Bhardwaj. Amole Gupte, who wrote the story and screenplay of Taare Zameen Par makes his acting debut with this film as a comical Don, Bhope Bhau. The movie is being produced by UTV Motion Pictures.
The film has Shahid Kapoor in a double role for the first time in his career- Guddu and Charlie. While Charlie has a lisp, Guddu would be seen stammering. Shahid sports a bronzed and rugged look in the film and has also developed a chiseled physique for his character.
Priyanka Chopra, who looked her glamorous best in her last two flicks, ‘Dostana’ and ‘Fashion’, will be seen playing Sweety, a simple Maharashtrian girl and hence would be seen dressed in simple Indian dresses like salwar kameez and even the traditional Maharashtrian saree. The actress has even spoken quite a lot of Marathi in the film.
CavinKare, the pioneer FMCG Company, has launched the all New Fairever Fruit Fairness crème, an extension of the popular and one of the largest selling fairness cream Fairever. The All New Fairever Fruit Fairness Crème claims to have the natural goodness of Apple, Papaya and Strawberry extracts that not only enhances your natural fairness, but also give a healthy glow to your face in just 4 weeks. The product was launched by Brand Ambassador Asin at a special unveiling in Mumbai. Asin has been associated with the brand for the past four years.
Speaking at the launch, Asin said, “The new Fairever Fruit Fairness Crème is the best choice for today’s young and contemporary woman who needs not just fairness but a healthy glowing skin.”
After the debacle of his last flick ‘Chandni Chowk To China’, Akshay Kumar will next be seen in a supernatural thriller ‘8 X 10 Tasveer’ directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and produced by Bhushan Kumar. The other cast members include Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Javed Jaffrey, Anant Mahadevan and Piah Shah. The musical notes have been given by none other than the Oscar winner A.R Rahman.
The film is a story about young man named Jai Puri played by Akshay is gifted with special sense, i.e. he can go inside the 8X10 Photograph and enter in the past. While his body remains at nausea state, his soul is busy re-discovering the past, when he is out of his nausea he always has a secret related to someone’s past. His father was murdered, and one day he will witness the same scene from an 8X10 photograph.
Akshay had reportedly gone through some dark writings of Edgar Allan Poe and the 19th century French writer Guy de Maupassant to get into the skin of his role for the film.
Since Akshay wanted to understand the world of mystery and science fiction, he chose to make himself aware of supernatural and mystery thrillers which could help him pull off the role better.
So, you thought that those television actresses were all about Benarasi sarees and shedding tears. Tis high time you change your views else you will be forced to do so after having a look at the latest issue of Showtime magazine for the month of March 2009 which features some of the sexiest women on TV.
The cover page of the magazine features Shweta Tiwari, better known as Prerna of ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay’, in her hottest avatar wearing a typical two piece Indian Bikini. Shweta has done several commercial advertisements, dance shows, plays and cameos in other Indian soaps. She is now also growing as a bhojpuri film actress.
Family of a man employed with Bollywood actor Asin has alleged that he has gone 'missing' because of abuse by the actor. Asin has denied the charge.
After endorsing brands like Fiama Di Wills, Pepsi, Kingfisher Airlines and Tissot, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has now signed up as the brand ambassador of Wrigley's sugar-free chewing gum Orbit.
After a slew of out and out comedies like Namastey London, Partner and Singh Is Kinng, Katrina Kaif is now working on two "difficult" films - Prakash Jha's political drama Rajneeti and Rajkumar Santoshi's romantic comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. So the actress wants to devote extra time and thought to the projects.
Talking about her relationship with Abhishek Bachchan, which spiralled into nothing after his engagement with sis Karishma ended, Kareena said, “It’s sad that it had to reach this point but in my life there’s still room for Abhishek, I would say that quite openly. I just wish this little bit of room was still left in his heart for me.”Of painting the town red, lovely looking ladies and few good looking men.
After a slew of out and out comedies like "Namastey London", "Partner" and "Singh Is Kinng", Katrina Kaif is now working on two "difficult" films - Prakash Jha's political drama "Rajneeti" and Rajkumar Santoshi's romantic comedy "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani"- and the actress wants to devote extra time and thought to the projects.
"For films like his, one has to research clothes. I can't decide on my own what I want to wear or what I would prefer. I have to follow the character I am playing. 'Rajneeti' is a very grounded, a very rooted film, and so I am going to be dedicating a little more time as the project requires it, " she said.
Katrina Kaif is enjoying a good phase in her career and can afford to spend as much as she can. On herself of course.
Music Director: Salim-Sulaiman and Bohemia; Lyrics: Irfan Siddique, Sameer and Bohemia
"Haafiz khuda" too has a remixed version, but the original is more appealing.
The number is soaked in the flavour of rock music. The predominance of the electric guitar, especially in the middle of the song, makes it a sure shot hit with music buffs.