Monday Review: "Flourishing With Food Allergies", by A. Anderson

This Monday Review is brought to you by Papoose Publishing, publisher of A. Anderson's book, "Flourishing With Food Allergies".

When my son was diagnosed with food allergies in 2001, I was fortunate enough to pick up a copy of Marianne Barber's book, "The Parent's Guide to Food Allergies". My copy has yellow sticky notes protruding from three sides and white papers covered in notes written by me and my husband. It was our guidebook as we struggled to understand and deal with this stunning diagnosis. The book was copyrighted in 2001, making it timely for us. I haven't come across a book like it, so this has been the one I've continued to recommend to parents shocked by a food allergy diagnosis...until now...

The new guidebook has arrived.

A. Anderson managed to capture the sensitivity and need for practical information that parents must have. By incorporating her own story, and giving a glimpse into the lives of 14 other families from around the world who deal with food allergy, readers quickly realize, "I am not alone". Ms. Anderson devotes the second half of the book to "Solutions". She includes perspectives from top allergy docs, school teachers and a psychologist. The book progresses to practical solutions for dealing with social situations, school and travel. The conclusion of the book is devoted to a plea that we come together and ask government officials to devote more funds for studies to test, treat and eventually cure food allergies. This is a topic near and dear to my heart.

I did find the resource section of "Flourishing With Food Allergies" to be rather light. In the aforementioned "The Parent's Guide to Food Allergies", I found it helpful to have names and contact information for food manufacturers and restaurants. That said, it is a sign of the times that much of this information can now be found on the internet through blogs and websites and inclusion in a book such as this one, may make the book outdated more quickly.

"Flourishing With Food Allergies" has the most up to date information for parents and would also be a great gift for your child's teacher or school nurse.

To order, go to Flourishing With Food Allergies.com

For other food allergy information, visit the Food Allergy Assistant.