Finding Snacks for Kids with Allergies
More than 12 million Americans are allergic to certain kinds of food, like peanuts and wheat, according to non-porfit Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. Out of that population, 2.2 million are school-age children - and 1 in 17 kids under age 3 has food allergies. Not surprisingly, a growing number of companies have srouted up to help, offering everything from egg-free waffles to wheat-free pasta. While parents can increasingly find such offerings at gourmet grocery stores like Whole Foods, they can find an even wider range of products online.
Here Are Some of The Few Better WebsitesCherrybrook Kitchenwww.cherrybrookkitchen.com: --Premade mixes for cakes, brownies and pancakes. Free of wheat, gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and eggs.--The mixes are easy to prepare and bake up tasty treats.Divvieswww.divvies.com--Focuses on sweets like popcorn, cupcakes, cookies and candy. Free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy.--The responsive customer service and yummy cookies makes this a worthwhile trip.Gak's Snackswww.gakssnacks.com--A small menu of cookies, coffee, cakes and baking ingredients. Free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy. Some products are free of wheat and gluten.--The coffee cake was delectable, but was pretty expensive ($27.95 not including shipping)Ener-Gwww.ener-g.com--A wide selection of sweet and savory items, including brown rice flour and crisp wafer cookies filled with dairy-free chocolate filling. Depending on the product, free of wheat gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts and corn.--A wonderful find with products that are affordable.
Allergy Grocerwww.allergygrocer.com--A huge selection of fresh and dried goods, from breads to condiments. Free of everything from wheat and gluten to corn and potato, depending on the product.--The comprehensive selection makes it a good first stop for food-allergy sufferers.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
21 Things You Did Not Know You Can Recycle
1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN, www.recycle-steel.org.
2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, www.batteryrecycling.com.
3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local Freecycle.org listserv or on Craigslist.org. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale.
4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they'll work like new: 888/454-3223, www.auraltech.com.
5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women's business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, www.dressforsuccess.org. Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes – then donate the rest.
6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: www.ikea.com.
7. Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won't be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at www.findacomposter.com.
8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html
9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at www.videofitness.com.
10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion's Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need.
11. Foam Packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, www.epspackaging.org/info.html
12. Ink/toner cartridges: Recycleplace.com pays $1/each.
13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org listserv, or try giving them away at Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at iReuse.com. iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle.
14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, www.recycleoil.org.
15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, www.collectivegood.com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: www.donateaphone.com. Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, www.reclamere.com.
16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, www.playitagainsports.com.
17. “Technotrash”: Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk's Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, www.greendisk.com.
18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. www.oneworldrunning.com.
19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms' yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, www.recycline.com.
20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK.
21. Stuff you just can't recycle: When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.
2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, www.batteryrecycling.com.
3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local Freecycle.org listserv or on Craigslist.org. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale.
4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they'll work like new: 888/454-3223, www.auraltech.com.
5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women's business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, www.dressforsuccess.org. Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes – then donate the rest.
6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: www.ikea.com.
7. Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won't be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at www.findacomposter.com.
8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html
9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at www.videofitness.com.
10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion's Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need.
11. Foam Packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, www.epspackaging.org/info.html
12. Ink/toner cartridges: Recycleplace.com pays $1/each.
13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org listserv, or try giving them away at Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at iReuse.com. iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle.
14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, www.recycleoil.org.
15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, www.collectivegood.com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: www.donateaphone.com. Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, www.reclamere.com.
16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, www.playitagainsports.com.
17. “Technotrash”: Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk's Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, www.greendisk.com.
18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. www.oneworldrunning.com.
19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms' yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, www.recycline.com.
20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK.
21. Stuff you just can't recycle: When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
FDA Probes Popcorn Flavor’s Cancer Link
Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2007
FDA Probes Popcorn Flavor’s Cancer Link
WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating whether consumers, like workers in popcorn plants, can develop lung disease from inhaling a chemical additive used for butter flavoring in microwave popcorn.
A Denver physician said in a letter to agency in July that a patient who had eaten several bags of extra butter flavored popcorn each day for several years had developed symptoms similar to those of some microwave popcorn-plant workers.
The one case “does not present evidence” that consumer exposure to vapors of the chemicals diacetyle, generated by microwaving popcorn, causes lung disease, said FDA spokesman Michael Herndon. He said the agency is studying the situation, and “carefully considering the safety and regulatory issues it raises.”
ConAgra Foods Inc., the nation’s largest maker if microwave popcorn including the Orville Redenbacher’s and Act II brands, said it is eliminating “within a year” diacetyl from its microwave popcorn.
“While we are fully confident that microwave popcorn is safe for consumers to prepare and consume, we plan to eliminate the use of added diacetyl I products in order to eliminate even the perception of risks for consumers and to provide our employees who handle large quantities of diacetyl regularly with the safest possible work environment,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Childs.
The industry in 2004 sold more than three billion bags, with sales totaling more than $1 billion, ConAgra said.
In 2000, a physician reported to the Missouri health department that eight workers from a microwave popcorn factory developed lung disease. Studies conducted by the national Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that cumulative exposure to diacetyl vapor overtime has the potential to cause serious lung damage and a condition known as bronchiolitis obliterans.
In April the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said workers at factories that make food flavorings as well as popcorn factories are at risk of contracting the hard-to-treat condition.
NIOSH has recommended hat manufacturers substitute the chemical with less-dangerous ones, and that workers don masks and other protective gear. Link between the chemical and lung disease have been less clear in consumers, and the agency has labeled the chemical “generally considered safe.” Last year, David Michaels, a professor at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, petitioned the FDA to drop the designation.
Thomas’s Comments:
I sound like a broken record in my mind. I write weekly on the hazards of the junk sold in our supermarkets as food.
One has to wonder why autism, infant heart disease, obesity, diabetes is at epidemic proportions across all races and financial classes.
IT IS OUR FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT!!!
At www.infinitehealthresources.com we offer advice on healthy living and sell natural and organic products. Why? Because it increases your chances of living a drug free healthy life.
If what we put into our bodies is making us sick, then you can only imagine what happens when you apply thousands of skin care products to your body. Try reading the ingredients. I bet you will not be able to pronounce half of what you read. I cannot.
We live in a toxic world. Made worse by the constant bombardment of environmental spraying of chem-trails in the sky and pollution.
The only chance we have to live healthy is to eat right and apply non-toxic creams, shampoos, etc., to our bodies.
Now, there are many sources of information on healthy living.
At www.infinitehealthresources.com we do not sway from the natural and organic lifestyle one bit. The Resource Center at www.infinitehealthresource.com is loaded with information from top organizations like Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine, The Cancer Project and the Organic Consumer’s Association to name a few.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Young and Old. Wake up! Eighty percent of the products sold as food in our supermarkets are toxic.
Read food labels. Cook fresh food. Start slowly. Feel the difference in a few short weeks and pick up the pace as you go. Watch the pounds shed naturally.
There is no such thing as a diet. There is only a lifestyle. No tricks, no gimmicks. It’s Free!
Thomas Affatato
FDA Probes Popcorn Flavor’s Cancer Link
WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating whether consumers, like workers in popcorn plants, can develop lung disease from inhaling a chemical additive used for butter flavoring in microwave popcorn.
A Denver physician said in a letter to agency in July that a patient who had eaten several bags of extra butter flavored popcorn each day for several years had developed symptoms similar to those of some microwave popcorn-plant workers.
The one case “does not present evidence” that consumer exposure to vapors of the chemicals diacetyle, generated by microwaving popcorn, causes lung disease, said FDA spokesman Michael Herndon. He said the agency is studying the situation, and “carefully considering the safety and regulatory issues it raises.”
ConAgra Foods Inc., the nation’s largest maker if microwave popcorn including the Orville Redenbacher’s and Act II brands, said it is eliminating “within a year” diacetyl from its microwave popcorn.
“While we are fully confident that microwave popcorn is safe for consumers to prepare and consume, we plan to eliminate the use of added diacetyl I products in order to eliminate even the perception of risks for consumers and to provide our employees who handle large quantities of diacetyl regularly with the safest possible work environment,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Childs.
The industry in 2004 sold more than three billion bags, with sales totaling more than $1 billion, ConAgra said.
In 2000, a physician reported to the Missouri health department that eight workers from a microwave popcorn factory developed lung disease. Studies conducted by the national Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that cumulative exposure to diacetyl vapor overtime has the potential to cause serious lung damage and a condition known as bronchiolitis obliterans.
In April the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said workers at factories that make food flavorings as well as popcorn factories are at risk of contracting the hard-to-treat condition.
NIOSH has recommended hat manufacturers substitute the chemical with less-dangerous ones, and that workers don masks and other protective gear. Link between the chemical and lung disease have been less clear in consumers, and the agency has labeled the chemical “generally considered safe.” Last year, David Michaels, a professor at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, petitioned the FDA to drop the designation.
Thomas’s Comments:
I sound like a broken record in my mind. I write weekly on the hazards of the junk sold in our supermarkets as food.
One has to wonder why autism, infant heart disease, obesity, diabetes is at epidemic proportions across all races and financial classes.
IT IS OUR FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT!!!
At www.infinitehealthresources.com we offer advice on healthy living and sell natural and organic products. Why? Because it increases your chances of living a drug free healthy life.
If what we put into our bodies is making us sick, then you can only imagine what happens when you apply thousands of skin care products to your body. Try reading the ingredients. I bet you will not be able to pronounce half of what you read. I cannot.
We live in a toxic world. Made worse by the constant bombardment of environmental spraying of chem-trails in the sky and pollution.
The only chance we have to live healthy is to eat right and apply non-toxic creams, shampoos, etc., to our bodies.
Now, there are many sources of information on healthy living.
At www.infinitehealthresources.com we do not sway from the natural and organic lifestyle one bit. The Resource Center at www.infinitehealthresource.com is loaded with information from top organizations like Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine, The Cancer Project and the Organic Consumer’s Association to name a few.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Young and Old. Wake up! Eighty percent of the products sold as food in our supermarkets are toxic.
Read food labels. Cook fresh food. Start slowly. Feel the difference in a few short weeks and pick up the pace as you go. Watch the pounds shed naturally.
There is no such thing as a diet. There is only a lifestyle. No tricks, no gimmicks. It’s Free!
Thomas Affatato
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