HealthierU Webinar; Food Allergies with Ellyn McCarter
Annalisa Davenport
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01/24/2025
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Check out this HealthierU Webinar on the topic of food allergies!
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- [00:00:00.000]Thank you.
- [00:00:29.980]Thank you.
- [00:00:59.960]Okay, can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Awesome.
- [00:01:16.500]Okay. So we are still just a few minutes early. But I am very, very, very excited. Very excited for this whole, this whole series, this whole thing.
- [00:01:29.700]So not only is the great thing about this being our first webinar episode, it hits right into our theme. I also think it's a topic that maybe doesn't always come to mind when we talk about nutrition, but for some individuals, it is, it is everything.
- [00:01:46.380]And I think if you're someone who doesn't necessarily have to deal with food allergies for yourself, but then it comes to something you have to deal with later in life with a spouse or a child, or even just someone you're sharing an office space with.
- [00:01:59.680]Or, you know, you are with them often, or someone you just are at work with, and you hear about this, it's just something interesting to know.
- [00:02:07.740]Just because I've also found out that with all the time that I've spent in the health and wellness world that with everything that there's some misconceptions, so I think it'll be nice to get some good insights for it.
- [00:02:20.840]So we do got about another minute, and I'm someone who I try my best not to go too early, even if I want to, just because, you know, if I say too.
- [00:02:30.460]Two is two.
- [00:02:31.220]But we'll let people stroll in it.
- [00:02:34.760]But just so you know, this is going to be recorded, and I will be putting closed captions on the recording.
- [00:02:40.920]And then if you want to share the recording, it'll be a part of my Media Hub, and the link will be nice and easy to share out.
- [00:02:48.160]So you can always share it out with basically anyone you want to see with it, if there's people who have questions.
- [00:02:52.940]And the other big thing, too, is that even though it is employee wellness, if you feel like there's student groups or students that could
- [00:02:59.460]benefit from our conversation, you can always share that out as well. Even though this is targeting employees,
- [00:03:04.320]it's not to say that the information can't be helpful to everyone.
- [00:03:08.140]Absolutely. It's applicable to everybody.
- [00:03:10.940]So that will be the good piece. But I also do want to get my questions up and ready or else I will babble.
- [00:03:17.940]Because that is what I'm good with. That's the I made the joke to my husband.
- [00:03:23.940]I was like, oh, we're doing a webinar series. And he asked me to explain it. And he's like, oh, so you specifically,
- [00:03:29.280]put time in your schedule to chat. And I was like, he goes, yeah, you plan that one real well.
- [00:03:34.080]I was like. I know I was telling people about the webinar and they were like,
- [00:03:39.200]oh, OK, you're really good at talking. I think it'll be great for you.
- [00:03:42.380]Well, I wanted it in a relaxed enough setting so that people felt like it was that they were kind of just chiming into a conversation
- [00:03:49.280]versus being something where it's like an awkward interview.
- [00:03:54.300]But we are at two o'clock and so we're going to
- [00:03:59.100]get going. So I'll just do my quick little intro and then you can do your intro.
- [00:04:02.940]So thank you everyone for joining us on our first webinar series, our first webinar episode of the series.
- [00:04:09.760]I am Annalisa Davenport. I am the assistant director of employee wellness.
- [00:04:15.780]And so really the whole point of our webinar series here is to have relaxing but fun conversations on different topics of health and well-being.
- [00:04:24.940]Today's episode is going to be on food allergies.
- [00:04:28.920]With our beloved registered dietitian, Ellen, that works in dining and housing services.
- [00:04:35.180]So Ellen, why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of what got you interested in being a registered dietitian.
- [00:04:41.420]Absolutely. So my name is Ellen McArthur. I'm the registered dietitian for University Housing and Dining Services.
- [00:04:50.040]I've been in this role for almost three years. I'm working on my third year.
- [00:04:56.400]And I've been a dietitian for...
- [00:04:58.400]For four years. So it's been a very interesting road, but I always loved working in food service.
- [00:05:07.420]And I knew that that was where my heart was. And so going into dietetics just seemed like a natural extension of that.
- [00:05:16.820]I started out as a business major thinking that that's what I loved about food service is the business aspect.
- [00:05:23.600]And I was at SCC. I was a transfer student.
- [00:05:26.800]So...
- [00:05:28.080]And then...
- [00:05:28.380]And then I had to take a science course for a science credit and I took nutrition and I fell in love with nutrition.
- [00:05:36.940]I learned so much through that course and all of this misinformation that's out there about nutrition and about food was just so impactful to me.
- [00:05:48.260]And this professor, her name was Vicky, she really just kind of was like, you guys, it is so much more complex than what you think.
- [00:05:57.520]And it's not...
- [00:05:58.360]It's not like low carb and bad food.
- [00:06:01.200]It's like food is so much more than that.
- [00:06:03.600]It is cultural.
- [00:06:04.740]It is important to everything that we do.
- [00:06:07.400]It's every moment we think about.
- [00:06:11.120]Like all of our big gatherings or anytime we're having a celebration, food is always a part of that.
- [00:06:18.800]And so she really just opened my eyes to the world of nutrition and really changed the way I think about food.
- [00:06:26.300]And after that...
- [00:06:28.580]I was hooked and I was full in on dietetics.
- [00:06:31.880]So she had a big impact on me.
- [00:06:34.380]And then I worked...
- [00:06:36.620]So I did my undergrad here at UNL and my internship as well here in my master's program.
- [00:06:43.300]So I worked at Bryan Hospital for a while and then this position opened up here at UNL and I applied and they liked me enough.
- [00:06:53.840]And they helped me grow so much as a dietitian.
- [00:06:58.240]Dietitian as well.
- [00:06:59.280]All right, perfect. Thank you very much for that.
- [00:07:03.300]So we're going to jump right in. So as the title of the episode alludes to, we are talking about food allergies.
- [00:07:11.500]So why don't you go ahead and kind of give us just like basic introduction of like even like what is a food allergen and, you know, how does it really go about like affecting the body?
- [00:07:23.560]Is there differences? Is there different types of food allergens?
- [00:07:26.360]Kind of just a very basic.
- [00:07:27.620]Concept there.
- [00:07:28.980]Yeah.
- [00:07:29.800]So food allergy is when your body has a immune response to a protein in foods and this body, your body starts to create too much histamine and causes an allergic reaction in your, in your body.
- [00:07:46.300]So it's an immune response.
- [00:07:49.180]And I think that's important to understand is that it is something that can be life threatening.
- [00:07:55.980]It is a very important distinction.
- [00:07:58.460]It's IgE mediated.
- [00:08:00.600]So there's different like food panel testing that you can do, but those are not food allergies.
- [00:08:08.220]Those are more food sensitivities.
- [00:08:10.000]And that's a big distinction.
- [00:08:12.780]So a food allergy is something that can be life threatening and a food sensitivity or a food intolerance is something that is disruptive in our digestive system and causes more discomfort, but it is not a life
- [00:08:25.760]threatening situation.
- [00:08:26.920]I think that's a big, important distinction.
- [00:08:29.520]You know, if someone comes up to you and they say they have a milk allergy, that's way more complex in helping that person eat safely than someone with a milk intolerance.
- [00:08:41.500]So milk allergy, we have to think about the surface that we're cooking on.
- [00:08:46.020]We have to think about the air around the food that we're cooking in.
- [00:08:49.480]We have to think about the serving utensils.
- [00:08:52.520]We have to think about how dirty our hands are.
- [00:08:54.640]If we've touched a different product, like a slice of cheese or anything, and it becomes
- [00:09:00.720]way more complex when you're dealing with food allergy.
- [00:09:03.140]So making that distinction is very important.
- [00:09:06.740]Is it a food allergy or a food intolerance?
- [00:09:09.600]But so food allergies, they can lead to anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening allergic
- [00:09:16.860]reaction.
- [00:09:17.520]And this is where different systems in your body are overreacting and they're harming
- [00:09:23.260]you.
- [00:09:23.760]So you could have changes in your blood pressure during an allergic reaction.
- [00:09:27.980]You could have hives and swelling throughout your body.
- [00:09:32.860]There's this big sign of an allergic reaction or specifically anaphylaxis is this impending
- [00:09:43.980]sense of doom.
- [00:09:44.840]And that is a psychological symptom.
- [00:09:46.800]So it's you suddenly have this panic that's just rolling in you.
- [00:09:52.880]It's a wave of panic that comes over you.
- [00:09:55.100]And it can be very, very scary.
- [00:09:57.080]And my partner actually has an allergy and he's not sure exactly what it is to yet.
- [00:10:04.680]But we were recently in an Uber coming home after eating, eating out that day.
- [00:10:10.940]And he just like grabs my arm and he's like, something is wrong.
- [00:10:16.320]And I'm like, what?
- [00:10:19.060]We're at a red light where we were in Orlando.
- [00:10:22.400]We were just at a red light in an Uber.
- [00:10:24.400]The guy was driving like five under the speed limit.
- [00:10:27.280]Everything was totally chill.
- [00:10:28.940]And I'm like, what's wrong?
- [00:10:31.760]You know, I'm like looking around and he's like, no, something, something's wrong.
- [00:10:36.380]And I look over at him and he had some hives on his face.
- [00:10:40.200]And there is some different signs there that, oh, he's having an allergic reaction right now.
- [00:10:45.300]But it was really that big sense of impending doom that overtook him.
- [00:10:50.300]That really was our first sign that.
- [00:10:52.160]He's having an allergic reaction.
- [00:10:53.360]So there's lots of different symptoms that can happen during an allergic reaction.
- [00:10:58.580]But it's important to note that it is a life-threatening event.
- [00:11:03.240]And so you need to take it very seriously.
- [00:11:06.440]Oh, see, I had no idea about the psychological piece of it.
- [00:11:11.740]That is extremely helpful to know about.
- [00:11:13.800]I also think it is important that I feel like those words get flipped around the idea of
- [00:11:18.980]an intolerance versus an allergy.
- [00:11:20.560]But it is helpful to also.
- [00:11:22.040]When it comes to an allergy, you're looking at a life-threatening event versus, well,
- [00:11:26.660]very uncomfortable and unpleasant.
- [00:11:28.540]And intolerance is just that.
- [00:11:30.300]It's not necessarily that life-threatening element.
- [00:11:33.340]So learn more every day.
- [00:11:35.120]So thank you about that.
- [00:11:35.920]So now something else that I hear a lot is something about like a top allergen or a food
- [00:11:41.960]that tends to be on a lot of lists where it's something that whether a food label or anything
- [00:11:49.840]where something's put together has to be labeled.
- [00:11:51.880]So can you kind of explain a little bit maybe why we see like the egg, the soy, the wheat
- [00:11:56.020]as like a top allergen?
- [00:11:57.600]What does that mean?
- [00:11:58.380]Yes.
- [00:11:59.380]So in the United States, we have nine top allergens.
- [00:12:02.460]So these are the foods that have the most people allergic to them in the most severe
- [00:12:09.080]way.
- [00:12:09.440]So these are the ones that trigger anaphylaxis most often.
- [00:12:13.160]They're our top allergens.
- [00:12:16.520]Now, other countries and other regions might have different top allergens due to just
- [00:12:21.720]the different foods that they serve most often and different reasons.
- [00:12:27.180]We're not necessarily 100% positive on why you might be allergic to legumes, which maybe
- [00:12:34.160]you have a peanut allergy, but you're not allergic to chickpeas, which is also a legume.
- [00:12:38.780]So we're not exactly sure why that's happening.
- [00:12:42.200]But the top allergens in the United States are required to be labeled on food packaging.
- [00:12:49.820]So those are...
- [00:12:51.560]Let's see if I can name them all.
- [00:12:52.980]So milk, egg, peanut, tree nut.
- [00:12:54.840]We've got soy, wheat, and did I say peanut, tree nut?
- [00:13:01.380]Oh, fish, shellfish, and sesame.
- [00:13:03.000]And those are our top allergens.
- [00:13:06.560]So when you're looking at a package label,
- [00:13:08.380]it's going to indicate if it has any of the top nine allergens in there.
- [00:13:13.000]And you might notice something else on there.
- [00:13:15.340]It's called a precautionary label or a voluntary labeling.
- [00:13:19.460]And that's where you see things like,
- [00:13:21.400]made in the same facility as, or on shared lines.
- [00:13:25.820]And those are not required by law.
- [00:13:28.500]Those are just the manufacturer's way of letting people know that if they have a food allergy,
- [00:13:34.320]that it's their way of telling them that it's in this facility.
- [00:13:37.740]And we know through different testing that those trace amounts can be found in those
- [00:13:44.060]products when they do have those precautionary labels.
- [00:13:46.500]So it's something that people with food allergies need to be aware of and look out for.
- [00:13:50.660]But also,
- [00:13:51.340]recognize that it's not required.
- [00:13:53.860]There's no law forcing manufacturers to do this.
- [00:13:58.040]And there's no amount that would trigger the labeling.
- [00:14:04.380]So it could be that it's on the complete other side of the facility.
- [00:14:09.200]And really, there's probably not a very high chance of cross-contact at all.
- [00:14:14.240]But the manufacturer still chooses to have it on the label,
- [00:14:18.300]which can limit people with food allergies.
- [00:14:20.560]As well.
- [00:14:21.780]So it's a balance.
- [00:14:24.560]But it's good that we have something so that the manufacturers can tell consumers.
- [00:14:29.320]But at the same time, there's no regulation for it.
- [00:14:33.160]Yeah.
- [00:14:36.580]I definitely, like, I recently had to stop eating dairy and soy for my little one,
- [00:14:42.880]who is four and a half months old.
- [00:14:45.800]And so I've become very aware of those labels.
- [00:14:48.620]And the same thing with the way that I have,
- [00:14:50.540]I have to handle it.
- [00:14:51.100]I'm not as cautious around the may contain,
- [00:14:54.140]just because I don't have to be that heightened.
- [00:14:55.940]Whereas I'm looking for the direct, like, this has dairy, this has soy.
- [00:14:59.940]And I didn't know about the top nine allergy piece.
- [00:15:03.200]But what was nice to learn is that because it is a top nine allergen,
- [00:15:06.740]if it is in the label somewhere, even if it doesn't say milk,
- [00:15:10.440]it has some type of a milk protein in it or a soy, you know, byproduct,
- [00:15:14.000]it has to label that.
- [00:15:15.740]And so that kind of opened my world a bit of that.
- [00:15:18.280]Like, you know, that's why we kind of,
- [00:15:19.620]we'll see those in,
- [00:15:20.520]bold lettering, very obvious.
- [00:15:22.040]And it's not meant to be hidden in there
- [00:15:23.680]where we might see some other ingredients,
- [00:15:26.100]like different types of sugars and whatnot
- [00:15:27.700]with the various different types of names
- [00:15:30.220]that it likes to get hidden by.
- [00:15:31.360]So kind of interesting to know.
- [00:15:33.200]So yeah, somebody that has an allergy
- [00:15:35.460]outside of the top nine
- [00:15:36.880]might have issues finding that in the nutrition label.
- [00:15:39.920]Like if you're allergic to mustard
- [00:15:41.540]and you're reading a nutrition label
- [00:15:43.620]and it has spices or spice mix on that,
- [00:15:46.320]mustard could very well be in there
- [00:15:48.660]and you would have no idea.
- [00:15:49.940]Yeah, you'll learn.
- [00:15:52.940]So one of the things that I've read on
- [00:15:55.800]or kind of noted through some of the different research
- [00:15:57.960]that I've done with my job as employee wellness is,
- [00:16:00.060]you know, we see different health factors
- [00:16:02.100]that have become more prevalent
- [00:16:03.400]over the past 10 to 15 years
- [00:16:05.340]and food allergies or food intolerances,
- [00:16:07.700]those two characteristics seem to be something
- [00:16:10.100]that we talk a lot more about
- [00:16:11.720]or that we seem to see more often than we have previously.
- [00:16:15.420]Why do you think that that might be the case?
- [00:16:17.540]Yeah, it's...
- [00:16:19.140]It's...
- [00:16:19.860]So when we...
- [00:16:24.240]We know right now through data
- [00:16:26.600]that 1 in 13 children have food allergies
- [00:16:30.280]and 1 in 10 adults have food allergies.
- [00:16:33.360]So food allergies are extremely prevalent right now.
- [00:16:37.500]And we've seen, I think it was a 50% increase
- [00:16:41.240]from children born in 1997 through 2011
- [00:16:44.740]in the occurrence of food allergies.
- [00:16:47.380]So it's...
- [00:16:48.900]It's definitely increasing.
- [00:16:50.860]And there's a bunch of theories out there
- [00:16:52.840]on why this may be.
- [00:16:54.020]One prevalent theory is this.
- [00:16:57.840]It's called dual exposure.
- [00:16:59.920]So if a child gets that allergen on their skin first,
- [00:17:05.480]they might develop an allergy to that food.
- [00:17:08.180]But if they eat that food first,
- [00:17:11.600]they might develop a tolerance
- [00:17:12.960]to that allergen-containing food.
- [00:17:15.160]So that's one theory.
- [00:17:17.240]There's other theories,
- [00:17:18.400]like the hygiene theory or about being clean.
- [00:17:20.920]Maybe we use too much hand sanitizer.
- [00:17:23.400]That's one theory.
- [00:17:26.680]And I believe that it's probably a multi-factor situation.
- [00:17:32.060]There's probably a lot of reasons
- [00:17:33.940]why we're seeing an increase.
- [00:17:35.500]There's theories like C-section versus a vaginal birth
- [00:17:40.220]can change your exposure to different microorganisms.
- [00:17:46.920]And there's things like,
- [00:17:48.300]our microbiota in general,
- [00:17:50.040]like what is the bacteria in our body
- [00:17:53.480]and how does that interact with food?
- [00:17:55.560]So there's lots of different theories.
- [00:17:59.120]And my guess is that it's probably
- [00:18:01.920]a mixture of a lot of them.
- [00:18:04.240]And kind of going off of that,
- [00:18:08.540]something else that we've seen
- [00:18:10.060]is that individuals who in their adult years
- [00:18:13.100]are learning about a food intolerance
- [00:18:15.100]or a food allergy.
- [00:18:16.160]Now, obviously with an allergy,
- [00:18:18.180]with it being life-threatening,
- [00:18:19.320]it's maybe a little bit different than an intolerance,
- [00:18:21.480]but someone who, let's just say,
- [00:18:23.960]in their younger years could have dairy
- [00:18:25.440]and they had seemed to have no problems.
- [00:18:27.200]And as they got older,
- [00:18:28.140]they start to have some issues with it.
- [00:18:29.560]What might be some of the science behind that?
- [00:18:31.580]Yeah, so we, specifically with like milk, right?
- [00:18:36.540]Like that's probably the one we see most often
- [00:18:38.900]is that we know that our body becomes less good
- [00:18:43.640]at making lactase,
- [00:18:45.320]which is what is the enzyme
- [00:18:47.080]that breaks down lactose,
- [00:18:49.400]which is the sugar in milk.
- [00:18:50.600]And our bodies are just worse at it over time.
- [00:18:54.240]And it might've been something
- [00:18:55.460]that we just ignored in the past.
- [00:18:57.440]Something, you know,
- [00:18:59.640]cause it is, it's uncomfortable,
- [00:19:01.380]but you just kind of still dealt with it.
- [00:19:05.740]But again, we're not completely sure
- [00:19:09.700]about why it could again be the hygiene theory.
- [00:19:12.600]and just changes in our microbiome um but yeah it's kind of it is definitely a very interesting
- [00:19:20.920]area of research though but yeah we're not we're not completely sure yeah so now if whether you
- [00:19:28.820]yourself or maybe you know you're caring for someone and you you know things start happening
- [00:19:32.440]like for example your partner and all of a sudden you're starting to see a reaction you go to the
- [00:19:37.600]doctors and you know they get diagnosed with a certain food allergy um what are some maybe some
- [00:19:43.420]of the first steps some of the resources that you would suggest for someone to kind of look into
- [00:19:48.000]to better prepare themselves or better educate themselves on you know handling a food allergy
- [00:19:53.640]yes okay well um i do want to mention there was a study it's called the leap study and it was
- [00:20:02.140]done in in europe and um this study found that
- [00:20:07.580]babies with it was specifically about peanut allergies um they found that babies that did not
- [00:20:16.160]were not exposed to peanuts at all in the first year of life were more likely to develop peanut
- [00:20:23.600]allergies whereas when we did feed peanut containing products to babies they found that
- [00:20:31.780]oh these babies aren't getting as much they're not developing allergies as
- [00:20:37.560]much as they should be they're not developing allergies as much
- [00:20:37.560]so they found that babies with it were more likely to develop peanut allergies
- [00:20:37.560]whereas when we did feed peanut containing products to babies they found that oh these babies
- [00:20:37.560]much to peanuts so something we found and this was a big change in recommendations for pediatricians
- [00:20:45.000]but they now recommend that you feed allergens specifically peanuts to babies um in that first
- [00:20:52.480]um in in their first uh like feedings when they can have solid food so at six months in the first
- [00:21:01.600]couple foods that you're introducing in those first few foods you do want to introduce peanut
- [00:21:06.580]if you can.
- [00:21:07.540]And so I think that's kind of where our trend is going is that we want to introduce
- [00:21:12.120]allergen containing foods as early as possible um in the diets and just to encourage a
- [00:21:19.540]well-rounded diet with lots of different variety um but if somebody does develop a food allergy
- [00:21:28.000]that can be very very scary because suddenly every meal you have you now have to consider
- [00:21:34.400]if that food could harm you.
- [00:21:37.520]And that is very scary for a caregiver it's very scary for uh for someone that's just sitting in
- [00:21:45.700]an uber next to someone um and uh my recommendation on resources would be FAIR which is the Food
- [00:21:54.380]Allergy Research and Education Organization. They have some amazing resources on how to handle food
- [00:22:01.300]allergies and someone newly diagnosed with a food allergy may want to check out this resource.
- [00:22:07.500]They have if you have a non-top nine allergen if you have a top nine allergen and they have
- [00:22:13.760]great information on how to avoid allergens how to read a nutrition label and it's um they have
- [00:22:23.480]webinars and support groups and all sorts of information but I think it's important to
- [00:22:29.380]understand and recognize an allergic reaction and learning what the signs and symptoms of an
- [00:22:38.160]if if that person is prescribed epinephrine learning how to use that and any caregiver
- [00:22:45.460]that is around that person training them on how to use that and how to recognize and respond to
- [00:22:51.100]an allergic reaction as well but mostly it's epinephrine first as soon as possible and then
- [00:22:59.760]you call 9-1-1 because epinephrine is what it's a safe drug it's what's going to get you to the
- [00:23:07.460]further evaluation but yeah so definitely recommend fair they have some great resources
- [00:23:15.240]okay and then it goes to kind of like the different ages as well so whether you're
- [00:23:20.120]dealing with it with a child or an adult um it kind of has that safe that's very good they have
- [00:23:25.680]everything yeah they have information for consumers of all ages and it's the same thing
- [00:23:31.700]if you're a child or you're dealing with pediatric food allergies or if you're an adult
- [00:23:37.440]and you just suddenly develop a food allergy to shellfish um it's they're going to have resources
- [00:23:43.040]for you on how to avoid that how to read an ingredients label what it means to have a food
- [00:23:47.600]allergy all of that now and i'm sure you handle this when you deal with students who come either
- [00:23:55.520]from maybe like an international setting or when you have students that maybe are traveling overseas
- [00:24:00.560]um do you have any like tips or suggestions for people who are traveling and maybe they're not
- [00:24:05.540]necessarily on u.s
- [00:24:07.420]grounds anymore they don't have to deal with the the same top nine uh allergies like what
- [00:24:11.840]maybe recommendations you'd have for them yeah you can get um translation cards that say i have
- [00:24:18.200]a food allergy i am allergic to whatever it is and that's something you can give to your waiter
- [00:24:24.480]and waitresses let them know um and it can kind of start that conversation it's not foolproof
- [00:24:30.920]you're going to want to do research ahead of time and figure out what areas might be safe kind of
- [00:24:37.400]what those options are and of course you're going to want to continue to carry your epi pen with you
- [00:24:42.680]no matter what just in case of slip-ups or any issues but i think travel is absolutely
- [00:24:49.300]an option and it can be safe you just have to do your research and make sure that you're
- [00:24:54.680]able to communicate your needs to the staff of wherever you're eating
- [00:24:58.960]um so one of the the big things again i always make the comment that this is where
- [00:25:07.380]my field of expertise comes in often where i don't specialize in one area like you do with
- [00:25:13.200]as a retro dietitian but in health and wellness in general while i love that there's a big
- [00:25:18.740]community of conversation we tend to find some misconceptions um and so in your opinion what
- [00:25:24.280]are some of the bigger misconceptions around food allergies yeah i think the big misconception is
- [00:25:31.340]that you can stop a food allergy an allergic reaction with antihistamines if you're an
- [00:25:37.360]anaphylaxis you really need your epipen and you really need to go to the hospital because you're
- [00:25:42.320]having that allergic reaction um i think that's a big that can be a big misconception that you
- [00:25:47.960]really do you need you might need more than just the um antihistamine i think um another big
- [00:25:56.760]conception is well uh we also have research on bullying for individuals with food allergies and
- [00:26:04.880]we've found one-third of people with
- [00:26:07.340]food allergies have experienced bullying because of their food allergy so that can lead to a lot of
- [00:26:15.520]um bias maybe towards this if you have experienced bullying from a food allergy you know that there
- [00:26:24.360]are people out there that may treat you differently um i think that is really difficult
- [00:26:32.360]and we need to work on bullying in general of course but specifically for some
- [00:26:37.320]that is a life-threatening medical condition um and i think a big misconception again is
- [00:26:45.600]um there that distinction between an intolerance and an allergy because if somebody goes up to a
- [00:26:54.500]waiter and they tell them they have a food allergy and that waiter has dealt with a lot of people
- [00:27:01.060]that do not actually have a food allergy and they're like oh it's fine i'm not actually that
- [00:27:07.300]whatever it's it's not it's not um a mild and severe cases with food allergies if you have a
- [00:27:14.940]food allergy we we don't really like to classify it as mild or severe because you could have a
- [00:27:21.400]severe reaction at any time and i think that can be a misconception is that oh i have a mild food
- [00:27:28.260]allergy to shellfish i've only ever gotten like hives and um just like small symptoms but you
- [00:27:37.280]never know the next time you're exposed to that allergen could be anaphylaxis and a very big
- [00:27:42.620]severe reaction so again that i would say that there isn't real that's a misconception right
- [00:27:49.360]there is that there isn't really a mild or severe food allergy we just like to say it's
- [00:27:54.540]a food allergy and you should treat them all as severe um yeah i think just uh you have to put
- [00:28:02.300]yourself into that person's shoes that person with food allergies and understand that
- [00:28:07.260]this is something that has affected them potentially their whole lives it's something
- [00:28:13.320]that they have to think about every time they eat and it's something especially if somebody else is
- [00:28:19.540]preparing the food for them they go to a wedding if they go to a christmas meal or any thanksgiving
- [00:28:28.960]any sort of holiday meal um it's something that they have to think about and that's that's uh
- [00:28:35.560]something that i think
- [00:28:37.240]people without food allergies don't think about as often and it's like
- [00:28:41.200]this is very severe you have to really consider this yeah i two points with that one i having uh
- [00:28:50.120]my family owns a restaurant back home in massachusetts and my dad who is the owner and
- [00:28:54.940]head chef is always very particular if someone brings up the fact that they they can't have
- [00:28:59.920]something he makes it he wants to know if it's very clear like can you not have it because
- [00:29:04.640]of a food allergy is there a medication issue
- [00:29:07.220]because that changes how he prepares and has to prepare the food and he himself as a chef
- [00:29:12.420]with no like nutrition background really has educated himself over the past couple years
- [00:29:19.120]I mean I remember the first time we had gluten-free pizza crust at the restaurant and that was
- [00:29:24.200]life-changing for people when they found out that we had that and we did it because it
- [00:29:29.960]was something originally one of the sales people told us about that hey this is something
- [00:29:34.420]you may want to consider we never knew it was going to make such a positive impact on
- [00:29:37.200]the community for offering these things so that was one key element and then as I alluded
- [00:29:43.440]to earlier having a child now where because I am feeding that child with my body and right
- [00:29:50.260]now the pediatrician believed that they had a bit of a intolerance with milk and soy I
- [00:29:56.280]had to cut that out of my diet and that has been an absolute whirlwind where it's beyond
- [00:30:03.340]just oh avoid milk and cheese every label I read
- [00:30:07.180]and there's been things that have caught me off guard drastically like gravies and chicken stock
- [00:30:13.580]having to always think about like chicken tenders was it breaded with a buttermilk base you know
- [00:30:20.460]and then something else I've learned too where with certain foods that even if you've checked
- [00:30:25.360]the ingredients label a hundred times like always triple checking because you don't know if they
- [00:30:29.480]change something or they've altered something in their recipe and learning online like what
- [00:30:34.140]fast food restaurants have a full nutrition label and a lot of them now
- [00:30:37.160]do it's just taking those extra steps that um you know can help you in that long run to be a little
- [00:30:44.180]bit more prepared but yeah i mean i always say like this is a temporary thing for me but it has
- [00:30:49.300]altered how i see food for the long run because if this is something that something has that
- [00:30:55.320]somebody has to deal with their entire life it's exhausting and it's terrifying um especially when
- [00:31:01.780]you know you're hungry and you're like i just want a quick snack but you have to sit there and like i
- [00:31:07.140]like oh i have a vending machine outside of my office but i can't see the ingredients labels
- [00:31:12.380]on those pieces of food so i had to take my phone try to make sure i match up what's in the vending
- [00:31:18.600]machine to what's on my phone and hope and at that point i'm like i'll just bring food from
- [00:31:23.320]home because it's safer um but yeah from like a social and like a psychological like standpoint
- [00:31:28.640]there there's a lot that goes into food allergies so is there anything else in regards to food
- [00:31:33.220]allergies that you'd like to share with us yeah so i mean i
- [00:31:37.120]can talk about how we handle food allergies here at unl yeah absolutely yeah okay so like you said
- [00:31:44.920]food allergies are so prevalent and how we've talked about this so we have um developed a couple
- [00:31:52.260]systems here so we have our top nine free allergen line at our harper dining center and we like this
- [00:31:59.880]line because it's still an all you keep all you care to eat facility so students can walk in and
- [00:32:07.100]grab as much as they would like from that allergy free line which is served by a harper staff member
- [00:32:12.800]onto a clean plate and then handed to the students and that provides them with the same experience as
- [00:32:20.740]other students that are eating in that dining center as well so anybody can eat at the a plus
- [00:32:27.000]line it's just a little different because it's served by a harper staff member onto that clean
- [00:32:32.300]plate just to prevent that cross contact with allergens but students can still
- [00:32:37.080]then go eat with their friends and have that normal social experience and we are able to
- [00:32:45.320]prepare that food separately we have separate ovens and a separate area to prepare that food
- [00:32:50.340]we're able to we and then with that our staff has to be so vigilant right because like you said
- [00:32:59.160]manufacturers can change the ingredients at any point so our staff knows to check ingredient labels
- [00:33:05.520]every time they
- [00:33:07.060]open a product they'll read the ingredients labels just to make sure that nothing's really changed
- [00:33:12.960]and then we have our moxie's gluten-free cafe in the selic dining center that is mobile ordering
- [00:33:19.940]and it is entirely gluten-free and again it's a space where students can feel like anybody else
- [00:33:27.600]if they require gluten-free foods they can just order their gluten-free pizza and still have the
- [00:33:34.620]same conversations and
- [00:33:37.040]be able to go sit with their friends if they'd like and um and with that we have like air curtains
- [00:33:44.040]and we have um specialized like um so we have air curtains so that we can maintain a positive
- [00:33:51.660]air pressure there and an hvac system that helps us maintain that positive air pressure uh we have
- [00:33:59.060]um like special coats just for our moxie's employees and um anybody else
- [00:34:07.020]that walks into that area they if they're like a student worker if they're coming in
- [00:34:12.000]to work they'll wear a lab coat over their clothes to prevent any cross contact from any
- [00:34:18.680]foods or anything that they may have come into contact with throughout the day
- [00:34:22.680]um so it's it's very and again it's all about reading ingredient labels and double checking
- [00:34:29.920]and um it's just a really interesting experience there so we have a couple different
- [00:34:37.000]spaces that we have designated as um spaces that are gluten-free and allergen-free
- [00:34:43.440]um and then we also have our online menu which students staff guests can go on and see what
- [00:34:50.620]we're serving in the dining centers and look at the detailed ingredients list and our staff
- [00:34:56.040]is educated on food allergies so if you go up and talk to a full-time staff member they're
- [00:35:01.760]going to have a knowledge about food allergies and be able to assist you as well
- [00:35:06.980]and so with like the the moxie gluten-free area and the the allergen area that's also
- [00:35:12.260]open for faculty and staff wednesday okay so uh and you said the moxie that one's mobile order so
- [00:35:18.280]using the the unl eats um app they can order transact mobile ordering is yep they'll just
- [00:35:26.660]okay log on to that log in with your unl credentials and then you can load a credit
- [00:35:32.440]or debit card onto the onto the app and then at harper you can pay at the door
- [00:35:36.960]it's an all you care to eat style facility okay and so anything else in regards to faculty and
- [00:35:45.380]staff that you want them to know regarding our dining services whether it's the full dining halls
- [00:35:50.460]or some of the markets yeah um i think that pretty much covered it but if they have a student or if
- [00:35:59.300]they are they have a family member that they want to bring to campus and show them the areas they
- [00:36:05.220]absolutely can i think that's a great idea
- [00:36:06.940]i think um if they ever have questions they can absolutely reach out to me
- [00:36:10.980]and i would be happy to help it's what i'm here for and yeah i think um i think that pretty much
- [00:36:18.600]covers it there's lots and lots of variety and i think uh you'll be able to find foods
- [00:36:24.120]that are okay for you and um have a delicious meal all right and now again we're about to wrap
- [00:36:32.320]everything up here so is there anything else just in dining and housing overall that you want to
- [00:36:36.400]share out to the audience
- [00:36:36.920]with our uh with our community today yeah um i think it's important to note that dining services
- [00:36:46.200]is all over campus and it is open to staff and faculty if they are interested in using that
- [00:36:54.440]and then we have different events going on throughout the school year like january 28th
- [00:37:01.340]we'll have our lunar new year celebration at the catholic dining center and it's going to be
- [00:37:06.900]huge and fun and we'll have programming going on we'll have like a there's going to be a lion dance
- [00:37:13.880]and all sorts of stuff so definitely come and check it out and yeah there's always things going
- [00:37:20.160]on in dining all right well thank you so much for your time i've learned a lot today so i hope our
- [00:37:25.260]community has as well um but again thank you all for joining us if you have co-workers um or
- [00:37:31.800]individuals were not able to watch this episode live we are recording it it will be uploaded with
- [00:37:36.880]captioning um to our healthier you media page over the next couple days just give me a day or
- [00:37:42.240]two to troubleshoot me and technology don't always like to play play nice with one another
- [00:37:46.860]uh but be on the lookout for that recording very soon and then next week i believe it is
- [00:37:54.460]oh that's on the top of my head i want to say the 28th it is a 28th um at uh 10 30 a.m we will have
- [00:38:01.580]our next episode and that one will be on food logging but the rest of the next two months
- [00:38:06.860]so january 3rd march will all be on different nutrition topics or something relative to
- [00:38:12.640]nutrition um so just stay tuned and we're excited to have you all here but ellen again thank you so
- [00:38:18.960]much i really appreciate it and i hope you have a great rest of your day thank you
- [00:38:23.140]you
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