Worry Free Dinners in the news!

I have been to a couple of Sloane Miller's Worry Free Dinners and it has been a really wonderful experience to be able to finally eat out without the anxiety and potential danger of allergic reaction looming in every bite. The Wall Street Journal online site yesterday posted a great video featuring Sloane and her group talking about eating out with food allergies.

Last Medic Alert Jewelry Post

Alright this is officially the last post about Medic Alert jewelry for the day. This necklace is from another designer I found on Etsy calledBecomeinspired. They will create a custom Medic Alert piece for you as a pendant (shown) or as a bracelet. You can get it with or without inset stones, and they have a whole bunch of other choices too. I liked the sort of rustic look of this piece, but it still has all the pertinent information, and the Medic Alert insignia on the little charm attached too. Now how the heck am I supposed to choose which piece I am going to get??? I love all of these!

More Etsy Medic Alert Enjoyment

I promise I am going to stop researching these darned bracelets...seriously I am making myself crazy! I like the look of this one though, and the fact that it has that medical snakey thing makes it a little more official looking. What do you think?
Available from Sudlow's Etsy page.

More Medic Alert Goodies

This is a nice simple design for an alternatively styled Medic Alert bracelet. What a bargain at $22 too! Available from Amy Cornwell's Etsy site.

Another Neat Medic Alert Bracelet Idea

Here's another really good idea for all those ladies out there like me that don't want to wear a dumb old plain Medic Alert bracelet. You could buy one of these lovely beaded numbers from www.rosemarybeads.com and if you were crafty enough you could make a whole bunch of different beaded bands to interchange. What a cool idea! I could conceivably have a different bracelet for every day of the week!

Medic Alert Jewelry Awesomeness

Oh if only I wasn't so in debt...I would wear one of these super cool medic alert bracelet charms from Jewelsetjim.com. Love the tiger's eye.

Nut Free Goodies!

I am currently chowing down on Enjoy Life nut free trail mix in the Beach Bash flavor, and loving every bite! I am not even sure if I am hungry, and I am definitely not hiking, but it is nut free and I seriously am enjoying myself. How great that there are a few companies out there taking this no nut thing so seriously. I plan on buying a whole bunch of this stuff to support the cause.
Check out their website to find out where to buy it near you: Enjoy Life

A Couple of Airlines I Missed

Continental policy:

Continental does not remove peanuts from our aircraft for any flight. Our primary concern is the safety of our customers. Given the widespread use of peanut products in the food service industry, we cannot guarantee that our aircraft and food products will be 100% free of peanuts, peanut oils and/or peanut by-products. Consequently, we cannot provide a "peanut free" flight. If you have health considerations, we encourage you to bring your own peanut-free foods onboard your flight.

Alaska Air policy:

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air acknowledge customer concerns regarding peanut allergies. For this reason, we do not want to create false expectations with regard to the aircraft environment.

* We are unable to guarantee a peanut or allergen-free flight, nor can we prevent other customers from bringing peanuts or products containing peanuts onboard our flights.
* We will make every effort to not serve peanuts in the entire row where an affected traveler is seated, as well as the seats one row directly in front of and behind, creating a "peanut buffer zone."

In order to receive this service, we need the following assistance from a traveler:
o Once a reservation is confirmed, contact Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Reservations and notify the representative that you are requesting a "peanut buffer zone" for a traveler with a peanut allergy.
o At the departure gate for each flight, please advise the Customer Service Agent that you have requested a "peanut buffer zone."
o As you board the aircraft, please advise the Flight Attendant that you have requested a "peanut buffer zone."

If, for any reason, we are unable to provide a "peanut buffer zone" for a specific flight, Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air will allow the affected traveler and his or her party to change or refund their ticket(s) without a change fee.

NY Magazine Covers the Allergy Beat

NY Magazine had a full page article about dining out here in NYC with food allergies this week, and it is now up on the web for those of you who don't get the mag. I find the writers' experience to be pretty familiar, although they got pretty lucky with the restaurants they visited. I have definitely run into greater resistance from a restaurant's management than a check dropped too early...like the guy that suggested that I might as well eat at McDonalds since I couldn't eat the mole that he served me after I specifically said NO NUTS, NO PEANUTS. UGH!

Not Your Usual Medic Alert Ugliness

In my search for a more groovy Medic Alert bracelet or necklace...you know like one that I might actually wear...I came across these blinged out Medic ID necklaces from Medicid.com it appears that you can even get them super blingy by adding rubies or diamonds.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a long flight down to Aruba, and I was really shocked to find that Delta is still serving peanuts on their flights. As soon as I entered the plane my lips started tingling, and sure enough at snack time out come the peanuts! This just strikes me as pretty reckless in the age of so many children being diagnosed with severe peanut allergies. Without ever having eaten peanuts may I ask a stupid question...are they that good that you would risk someone else's life to enjoy them on your flight?
With this in my mind I thought I'd look up the official stance on Peanuts from a few of the top airlines...so here they are. I added the bold to emphasize parts I found laughable...

From the American Airlines website:

American recognizes that some passengers are allergic to peanuts. Although we do not serve peanuts, we do serve other nut products and there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients, including peanut oils, in meal and snacks. We make no provisions to be peanut-free. Additionally, other customers may bring peanuts on board. Therefore, we cannot guarantee customers will not be exposed to peanuts during flight and strongly encourage customers to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure.

While this is the official stance from Delta's website:

When you notify us that you have a peanut allergy, we'll create a buffer zone of three rows in front of and three rows behind your seat. We'll also advise cabin service to board extra pretzels, which will allow our flight attendants to serve only pretzels within this area.

Gate agents will be notified in case you'd like to pre-board and cleanse the immediate seating area. We'll do everything we can, but unfortunately we still can't guarantee that the flight will be completely peanut-free.

United's stance:

Peanut information
United does not serve peanuts as snacks or use peanuts or peanut oils in foods served on our flights. However, we do serve vendor products manufactured in facilities that also produce items containing peanuts or peanut oils, and we do have snack mixes that contain other tree nuts, such as almonds and pistachios. Since we cannot prevent customers from bringing onboard their own peanuts or food items containing peanut products, we cannot guarantee a nut-free environment.

And finally Jet Blue:

JetBlue does not serve peanuts and has no immediate plans to serve peanuts; however, we cannot guarantee that our aircraft or snacks will be 100% free of peanuts, peanut material or peanut products.
"Tree nuts" such as almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, etc. may be served on JetBlue flights.
There is a possibility that some food items served come from facilities that also manufacture products that may contain peanuts, peanut material or peanut products.
We cannot prevent other customers from bringing their own peanuts or peanut products onboard and consuming these items inflight. However, we ask that you inform the head Inflight crewmember upon boarding the aircraft of your severe nut allergy. Upon request, an Inflight crewmember will make an announcement asking all customers to refrain from eating or opening nut products.
JetBlue will offer a full refund to customers for whom these conditions make it
impossible to travel.

Welcome to Nixed Nuts!

Hello there, my name is Riian and I am a 31 year old New Yorker that has a very serious peanut and tree nut allergy. I hope to use this site both as a personal journal about my thoughts on my allergy, and as a place to share research and resources that I have found helpful. Please enjoy reading, feel free to comment, and visit the links that I have featured under "resources".