Health Expert Gina Clowes shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/48542/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/48542/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/48542/index http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/117944/allergy-peanut Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:39:00 -0400 Gina Clowes “…I realize that the more I understand of other people’s difficulties, the less funny they are.” --Joel SteinMany of you will recall that Joel Stein wrote a piece for the LA Times titled “Nut Allergies-A Yuppie Invention” last year questioning the increases in food allergies and attributing this to parents who need to feel special!  The mixture of humor sprinkled with a few out of context facts and... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/117944/allergy-peanut http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/116329/care-allergy-moms Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:40:00 -0400 Gina Clowes As some of you know, I have had the pleasure of training to become a life coach with Martha Beck over the last five months. After nine years of informally coaching parents and six months of coaching practice as part of my training, this month I officially started coaching parents who volunteered from my website. What an awakening!  There is a tremendous amount of fear and pain.  It was very rewarding to work with these women and help... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/116329/care-allergy-moms http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/114233/allergic-thinking Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:33:00 -0400 Gina Clowes Families of children with food allergies can tell you that, at times, it seems their whole day to day life revolves around accommodating these special needs. More time, money, attention and medical care is spent on these children, yet in many cases, there are other children in the very same home, watching from the sidelines. I will never forget telling my older son that he was to go to the neighbors when the ambulance came to whisk our younger... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/114233/allergic-thinking http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/112380/controversy-food Mon, 24 May 2010 11:31:00 -0400 Gina Clowes A recent review commissioned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) entitled Diagnosing and Managing Common Food Allergies  published this May in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds that there is much ambiguity in the food allergy world. In response to this review, we’ve seen a flurry of articles in the media regarding the prevalence of food allergies, and the potential for... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/112380/controversy-food http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/111832/grandparents-food Mon, 17 May 2010 10:39:00 -0400 Gina Clowes We’ve been told that “It takes a village” to raise a child and that certainly is the case for a child with food allergies.  As a grandparent, you naturally want the best for your grandchildren, yet the notion of a life-threatening allergy to an innocent food can be hard to grasp. If your grandchild has been diagnosed with food allergies, you must take this medical diagnosis very seriously. Even if he or she is one of the... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/111832/grandparents-food http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/109818/child-allergies Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:18:00 -0400 Gina Clowes A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water - Eleanor Roosevelt   Some events in life have such a tremendous impact that you view your life as “before” and “after” this life-changing occurrence.  For some of us, that event was our child’s diagnosis of life-threatening food allergies or anaphylaxis. Many of our kids were diagnosed after months or years of... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/109818/child-allergies http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/106050/allergy-support Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:51:00 -0400 Gina Clowes When my oldest son was born 13 years ago, it was heaven to be home with him for the first few months before I returned to work.  But while I felt competent at my paid job, I had no idea what to do with this uncooperative little fellow who refused to nap. I quickly made friends with a few other newbie moms and we shared advice daily.  To this day, these women are some of my dearest friends. When my second son was diagnosed with... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/106050/allergy-support http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/103188/things-classroom Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:43:00 -0500 Gina Clowes "We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes." — Fred Rogers For children across North America, Valentine’s Day means classroom parties with boxes and buckets filled with candy-laced valentines.  But for children with food... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/103188/things-classroom http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/101241/10-allergy-myths Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:44:00 -0500 Gina Clowes A recent study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology concluded that “Increased food allergy knowledge among the general public is needed.”  This is no surprise to those of us who have food allergies or food allergic family members. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the more common myths and misconceptions and set the record straight.     Myth: My child only has a certain kind of... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/101241/10-allergy-myths http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/97566/christmas Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:30:00 -0500 Gina Clowes I’m a glass half-full kind of girl most of the time.  But every once in a while, especially around the holidays, this food-filled world of ours gets on my very last nerve, and I want to scream from my roof top: Stop with the cupcakes!   So just for today, I will indulge in my fantasy of a world where allergies are always easily accommodated. Here’s my wish list.   I wish that every allergy-friendly product was... http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/48542/97566/christmas