This is my awesome little nephew.
He is awesome.
He is my nephew.
I purposely put it in that order.
He is pretty awesome in spite of being related to me rather than because of it. He has some food restrictions and was pretty inspiring to me.
He is awesome.
He is my nephew.
I purposely put it in that order.
He is pretty awesome in spite of being related to me rather than because of it. He has some food restrictions and was pretty inspiring to me.
He is a teenager. He is smart. He is creative. He has an AMAZING voice (which I learned when he was singing in the shower) and apparently didn't know how loud he was singing.
He is a pretty impressive writer. Really! This one time, he emailed me a story.
I was reading this entire story thinking that he sent me an excerpt of book he was reading on his kindle.
We both have kindles, and sometimes he would give me suggestions for what to read next. Since I like to know what all these young, hip folks read I always take his suggestions quite seriously.
So, I"m reading this excerpt.
And I'm reading.
And reading.
I'm getting pretty involved in this little story and eager to know what happens next as I scroll through the screens of text.
And then it ends.
Just. Stops.
Done.
And he writes, "I'm not done with the story yet, but I'll send you the next parts when they are finished."
And I feel like I've been tricked!
All this time I thought I was reading a real, live, professional story but the truth was that it was something an eleven year old just pulled out of his head!
I was impressed to say the least !
What does this have to do with food issues you say?
Well - here's the thing.
His mom is my sister. She and I shared a room for most of our lives.
This means that she probably knew me better than anyone else knew me for the first 16 years of my life. As a result, when I figured out what food allergies I had, and started to get healthy when I was 26, she understood better than anyone what a major change had taken place.
To put it simply (really, really simply), mentally and physically I was kinda messed up. I stopped eating gluten (and dairy and soy) and my body and mind were able to get healthy again.
I'm NOT here to say everyone needs to do what I did. I very, very firmly believe all of us have different needs. And, this is the case with my nephew.
Simply put (really, really, simply) from when he was born until about when he was probably 7 or 8, he was also pretty mentally and physically ill. But, instead of having to wait until he was 26 to figure out what was making him sick, my sister wisely started looking into food issues to learn how to help him. She got him to the right specialists, figured out what he needed to be healthy and ...
Here he is.
All teenager-ey and HEALTHY and SMART and FANTASTIC.
I look at him and I'm so glad that my sister knew to question things, so she could figure out how to help him and he is the amazing person he is today.
And he's what got me thinking about getting into food allergy services.
My sis told me how sometimes he'd have challenges staying at a friend's house when they wanted to go to dinner in a restaurant. She told me how parents (trying to be kind and caring and conscientious ) would take him someplace to eat and say, "...but it said 'natural / organic / preservative free' so I thought it was okay."
And he was maybe 5 years old at the time. And he couldn't read or advocate for himself.
So I began wondering if there was a simple way to communicate to care-givers, kids, friends and friend's parents what really IS safe to eat.
First, I made restaurant menus manually.
Then I talked to software people and took a few classes.
Finally, I found some people who thought like I did and made this amazing app called Gipsee and this software called Allerschool.
I want to do all I can to get as many restaurants signed up. I really believe in their products.
This isn't just about food allergies to me. This is about having access to whatever makes a person be the best that they can be. If they need to be vegetarian, great. If they need to avoid peanuts, great. If they need to avoid paprika, I'm in full support of that as well.
It isn't for me, or anyone to judge the healthy food choices someone needs to make for themselves. It's just for us to support others on their way to optimal health and happiness.
It's my hope that this technology will help little kids like my nephew navigate through the world in a inclusive and healthy manner.
He is a pretty impressive writer. Really! This one time, he emailed me a story.
I was reading this entire story thinking that he sent me an excerpt of book he was reading on his kindle.
We both have kindles, and sometimes he would give me suggestions for what to read next. Since I like to know what all these young, hip folks read I always take his suggestions quite seriously.
So, I"m reading this excerpt.
And I'm reading.
And reading.
I'm getting pretty involved in this little story and eager to know what happens next as I scroll through the screens of text.
And then it ends.
Just. Stops.
Done.
And he writes, "I'm not done with the story yet, but I'll send you the next parts when they are finished."
And I feel like I've been tricked!
All this time I thought I was reading a real, live, professional story but the truth was that it was something an eleven year old just pulled out of his head!
I was impressed to say the least !
What does this have to do with food issues you say?
Well - here's the thing.
His mom is my sister. She and I shared a room for most of our lives.
This means that she probably knew me better than anyone else knew me for the first 16 years of my life. As a result, when I figured out what food allergies I had, and started to get healthy when I was 26, she understood better than anyone what a major change had taken place.
To put it simply (really, really simply), mentally and physically I was kinda messed up. I stopped eating gluten (and dairy and soy) and my body and mind were able to get healthy again.
I'm NOT here to say everyone needs to do what I did. I very, very firmly believe all of us have different needs. And, this is the case with my nephew.
Simply put (really, really, simply) from when he was born until about when he was probably 7 or 8, he was also pretty mentally and physically ill. But, instead of having to wait until he was 26 to figure out what was making him sick, my sister wisely started looking into food issues to learn how to help him. She got him to the right specialists, figured out what he needed to be healthy and ...
Here he is.
All teenager-ey and HEALTHY and SMART and FANTASTIC.
I look at him and I'm so glad that my sister knew to question things, so she could figure out how to help him and he is the amazing person he is today.
And he's what got me thinking about getting into food allergy services.
My sis told me how sometimes he'd have challenges staying at a friend's house when they wanted to go to dinner in a restaurant. She told me how parents (trying to be kind and caring and conscientious ) would take him someplace to eat and say, "...but it said 'natural / organic / preservative free' so I thought it was okay."
And he was maybe 5 years old at the time. And he couldn't read or advocate for himself.
So I began wondering if there was a simple way to communicate to care-givers, kids, friends and friend's parents what really IS safe to eat.
First, I made restaurant menus manually.
Then I talked to software people and took a few classes.
Finally, I found some people who thought like I did and made this amazing app called Gipsee and this software called Allerschool.
I want to do all I can to get as many restaurants signed up. I really believe in their products.
This isn't just about food allergies to me. This is about having access to whatever makes a person be the best that they can be. If they need to be vegetarian, great. If they need to avoid peanuts, great. If they need to avoid paprika, I'm in full support of that as well.
It isn't for me, or anyone to judge the healthy food choices someone needs to make for themselves. It's just for us to support others on their way to optimal health and happiness.
It's my hope that this technology will help little kids like my nephew navigate through the world in a inclusive and healthy manner.
RSS Feed