All eyes are on General Mills this week with the launch of their newest offspring, Peanut Butter Cheerios®. To refresh my memory of the various flavors, I took a gander at the Cheerios® website. While perusing the products section, I recalled the memorable Bubba Blue’s line from the Forrest Gump movie, “Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.”

Well, Cheerios’ currently has 13 different varieties. Dey’s uh, Cheerios® Regular, Cheerios® Honey Nut, Cheerios® Multi Grain. Cheerios® Apple Cinnamon, Cheerios® Banana Nut, Cheerios® Chocolate, Cheerios® Cinnamon Burst, Cheerios® Frosted, Cheerios® Fruity, Cheerios® Oat Cluster Crunch, Cheerios® Yogurt Burst, Cheerios® Dulce de Leche, Cheerios® Peanut Butter. That- that’s about it.

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After a holiday, gingerbread project in my son’s kindergarten class, my husband and I decided we want to switch from an Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP or IHCP) to a 504 Plan for our multiple food allergic son. My one-on-one meeting with the school’s 504 coordinator was scheduled for this past Thursday. Coincidentally, my meeting was in the very same week that Ammaria Johnson, a 7-year-old girl from Chesterfield County, Virginia, died from an allergic reaction to peanuts. Needless to say, it was a very stressful and emotional week.

Quite simply, my heart aches for Ammaria’s mother, family, the innocent student that gave her the peanut, the school representatives involved, etc. Ammaria’s death means something…it should cause us all to reflect…it should tell us that no one is immune, me, you, the school, even the parents of non-allergic children, etc. We all fail in some way at keeping our allergic children safe.

Before moving forward, I should step back and explain my son’s gingerbread project. Every year, the kindergarten class makes a gingerbread house before holiday break. As you can imagine, it consists of a vast array of allergy-ridden products i.e., a small ‘washed’ milk carton is used as the frame for the house, graham crackers are hot glued to the carton, a homemade, egg white frosting plus all the decorations of candy, chocolate chips, pretzels, etc. top the “fun” activity ~ “because this is what we have done every year.”

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Visit Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery to read Kristin Beltaos’ guest blog entry on how to have a more fulfilling holiday season. If you like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie, you will surely enjoy the read.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

I hope everyone is well!

~Kristin

When
Saturday, November 12, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. CT

Where
National Telephone Workshop

Special Holiday Pricing
$30 until October 31st
$35 beginning November 1st

REGISTER TODAY!!

FACEBOOK GIVEAWAYS!!
A Gift of Miles
Smart Allergy Friendly Education

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I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Line Brunet, of Family Focus Radio, regarding how to deal with food allergies.

I hope you enjoy listening.

Finding Your Way with Food Allergies