I have met a few mothers who claim their child is “deathly allergic to peanuts.” In each case, I eventually concluded the mother was batshit crazy about a ***lot ***of stuff.
I am not saying peanut allergies are not real; certainly they are (albeit very rare). But crazy parents are also real. And I am of the opinion that the number of crazy parents ***far ***exceeds the number of children with peanut allergies.
I knew a kid who was allergic to everything - peanuts, Christmas trees, pets - and the school was restricted severely as to what they could do. He committed suicide when he was 20, it was so hard to handle. A HS kid died recently from allergy - it does happen. And there are people who tell them: take a little bit, it won’t hurt you. But it can. The allergic can get sick from candy made on a machine that once made candy with peanuts and has been cleaned.
That cuts both ways, though: there are folks who readily follow simple “don’t do this” instructions, giving you the benefit of the doubt and figuring there may well be a good reason – unless you clarify that reason, at which point they can say, hey, wait, that’s a stupid reason, and so I can disregard this.
That’s called hijacking a thread. The OP acknowledged the issue of nut allergies and made clear she was asking whether or not nuts were a healthy snack. 40 answers pointing out that nut allergies exist is off-topic.
No it isn’t - it’s called considering the bigger picture.
No, it’s not a hijack. The OP ended like this:
It’s not a different issue. And the fact that her kids have no problem with nuts is not the point.
And in any case, once the question is answered (as happened here early on - the straightforward answer is quite a simple one), why does it matter if people expand on the matters surrounding the question, and the possibly mistake premises underlying it?
I thought all parents had to write if their child were allergic to something or had meds of any kind, or need any kind of special treatment whatsoever.
When I went to school (I’m 26 so it really wasn’t that bad) we never had anything like this, except in Elementary we weren’t really allowed to have candy unless you ‘brought enough for everyone’ but then whenever we had snack it was our own snack I remember bringing anything from pretzel sticks to popcorn to raisins… I’ve never been a huge fan of peanuts so that wasn’t really a question for me but I don’t remember any warning.
The daycare’s my mom and I have worked at have had these warning: No nuts. Period. And the elementary school I volunteer at has a HUGE sign on the office door: "No nuts, severe nut allergy’
The only time I’ve ever heard of anything (very drastic anyways) was when I was in basic training, a rainbow came in -sorry slip, a rainbow is a new trainee coming into basic training, they’re called rainbows because their clothes are all different colors- anyways, a rainbow came in and was discharged on day one because she couldn’t eat the food. She was allergic to nut (I believe it was peanuts) and EVERYTHING was cooked in peanut oil.
Anyways, back to the original question about it being healthy, I think the answer is yes and no. But I do actually think this isn’t the case, I don’t think they’re talking about whether nuts or PB’s are healthy… I’m slightly curious why they signaled out Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches though… are Mayo sandwiches okay then (don’t knock it until you try it) or is it okay to have a marsh-mellow fluff sandwich? - I think it is actually they don’t want these products in the school and had a limited space and time and resource to write all this information.
A side question: Generally speaking, are people with peanut allergies also allergic to other (“real”) nuts like almonds and walnuts? And what about the converse? Do people with general nut allergies typically have trouble with peanuts?
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:49, topic:606994”]
A side question: Generally speaking, are people with peanut allergies also allergic to other (“real”) nuts like almonds and walnuts? And what about the converse? Do people with general nut allergies typically have trouble with peanuts?
[/QUOTE]
They are distinct allergies, sometimes distinguished by the term “tree nuts” because peanuts are not nuts at all; they are legumes. I’m pretty sure a person with peanut allergy is more likely to be allergic to soy sauce than almonds. (if you were guessing based solely on the presence of the peanut allergy). That said any person can have any combination of allergies.
Well, it wasn’t answered at all. Mangetout gave a one sentence reply which was (IMO) incorrect or at least way too vague. The allergy conversation sidetracked people from the question the OP actually asked, and when she tried to get people back on track…
… that just unleashed the personal attacks on her for ignoring the allergy issue.
The OP seems to have left. So y’all go ahead and continue talking about nut allergies.
Google would have been simpler then - if that’s really the permitted scope of the discussion. LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:49, topic:606994”]
A side question: Generally speaking, are people with peanut allergies also allergic to other (“real”) nuts like almonds and walnuts? And what about the converse? Do people with general nut allergies typically have trouble with peanuts?
[/QUOTE]
My old boss had a tree nut allergy (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc made her quickly unable to breathe) but she devoured peanuts and peanut butter.
Thankyou.
My basic point is that if they want to ban nuts and peanut butter that is fine by me in the context of nut allergies. But the paper I was given was all about suggested foods for the kid’s lunch from a health perspective. There was nothing in there about allergies at all. It is all about trying to encourage kids to eat more fruit vegatables and not to eat so much candy and chocolate and cakes etc.
Then the last line is “No lollies , no chocolate, no chips , no nuts, no peanut butter sandwiches.”
If that is a warning about nut allergies, it is not a good one, considering none of the 12 pages of info they gave me mentioned nut allergies at all.
I have sent them a letter suggesting they make a separate leaflet about the dangers of nut allergies and they advise parents to not let their kids brings nuts to school to eat. But I also suggested they say that nuts and peanut butter are not unhealthy foods. I have read a lot saying that nuts and peanut butter are healthy foods.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:18, topic:606994”]
[Moderator Warning]
Personal insults are not allowed outside of the Pit. This is an official warning. Do not do this again.
[/Moderator Warning]
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I apologise for not wording it better. The person was being deliberately obtuse and I have to use different language to point that out. If necessary I will bring it to the pit.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:49, topic:606994”]
A side question: Generally speaking, are people with peanut allergies also allergic to other (“real”) nuts like almonds and walnuts? And what about the converse? Do people with general nut allergies typically have trouble with peanuts?
[/QUOTE]
I know two people with “nut” allergies. One of them is deathly allergic to tree-nuts, but not to legumes, so technically peanuts should be ok. However, her allergy is so severe that she can only eat one brand of peanut butter, because it is the only kind that she can find regularly that isn’t processed in a facility that handles other types of tree nuts. She’s got lots of allergies, and really does live in a bubble. It is a very rare occasion for her to eat something that she or her husband hasn’t personally prepared from raw ingredients on up.
The other friend is mildly allergic to peanuts, and he eats everything from almonds to cashews with abandon. He even eats AlmondButter sandwitches! He got a rash one his face once when I kissed him after eating a PBandBanana. I felt really bad, but he took a Benadryl and laughed it off.
Big difference there in severity.
I don’t think anyone here has at any point disagreed with the thrust of this analysis. They’ve mixed the allergy admonition in with the healthy nutrition summary. I guess it’s up to you if you think that’s worth fighting.
Part of the reason for the question I asked above was clarification. Since peanut allergies are distinct from “real” nut allergies (which aren’t nearly as common or as serious), why does that list include all nuts?
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:58, topic:606994”]
Part of the reason for the question I asked above was clarification. Since peanut allergies are distinct from “real” nut allergies (which aren’t nearly as common or as serious), why does that list include all nuts?
[/QUOTE]
It may be because peanuts and tree nuts sre frequently processed together - therefore anything containing tree nuts is quite likelyk to be contain a little peanut contamination (or might ostensibly be a ‘hazel nut’ product, but contain peanuts as a minor ingredient declared in the fine print, if at all)
I think the handout gives tips and suggestions on how to pack a healthy lunch, and then spells out the items that are not permitted at all: Lollies, chocolate, chips, nuts and peanut butter. I would not have interpreted this as meaning they are not healthy, simply that they are not allowed. I think a handout on how to pack a healthy lunch IS an appropriate place to list foods that are banned, even if they are not banned for being unhealthy (for most).