Eczema Free Forever™ Eczema Free Forever™

Strong Eczema Response to JAK Inhibitor – MedPage Today

Strong Eczema Response to JAK Inhibitor
MedPage Today
SAN DIEGO — Patients with moderate or severe atopic dermatitis (AD) had as much as 74% improvement in disease status with the oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor upadacitinib, a randomized trial showed. After 16 weeks, patients randomized to one of

eczema – Google News

In response to Raymond Blanc on allergic diners

I’ve just read the recent article in the Daily Mail about Raymond’s Blanc’s issues with food allergic and intolerant diners.

Salted Beef salad with cabbage, gherkins and cournichons #freefreemTop14allergens
Salted Beef salad with cabbage, gherkins and cournichons from Brasserie Blanc

I have always loved Raymond, not least because his rather more affordable Braserie Blanc restaurant has an allergen menu which I can order from safely. You can read about Brasserie Blanc with allergies here.

So I was a little disappointed to read “We are a kitchen, not a hospital’: Raymond Blanc roasts customers who have ‘fashionable’ food allergies after 50 diners a night at his restaurant say they have an issue”

Here is my response to some of the statements…

  1. We are a kitchen, not a hospital – I am well aware of that. Thanks for pointing it out though
  2. From a gluten intolerance to a garlic or tomato allergy, more and more people are making a fuss about what they can and cannot eat – Well there’s sympathy for you. More and more people have food allergies and intolerances, the world is changing. Either you cater for us or you don’t. You are quite at liberty to tell us allergic diners that there is nothing suitable. We shall go elsewhere. Well I will anyway. And I NEVER make a fuss. I try to order the easiest, simplest dish possible to make as little fuss as possible. And what would you do if all those 50 diners a night started to go elsewhere because they didn’t feel welcome? I do get how frustrating it must be for a chef when you take extra care to make a dish dairy free only to have that guest order a dairy containing dessert. I get that. But surely not all guests are like that? It is a growing trend whether you like it or not but this doesn’t really help with educating people about the language we should be using to explain allergies and intolerances.
  3. The ‘fashionable’ obsession with having a food intolerance – I would give anything not to be like this. Anything in the world. I wouldn’t call it fashionable nor an obsession, more a curse. But thanks for the sympathy. I think you actually mean people who don’t have a food intolerance, because it can cause very real and painful symptoms for people who DO. Not everyone asking for freefrom meals is making it up or ‘choosing’ to avoid certain foods.
  4. 50 customers claim to have issues every night – I don’t ‘claim to have issues’ Raymond, I DO have issues. I take great issue with the confusing language in this article and the attitude that seems to lump allergies, intolerances and lifestyle choices into the same category of ‘diners with issues’ because we are NOT the same.
  5. We take each of them seriously – Thank you. I am glad to hear that. For a minute I was beginning to feel most unwelcome. What I can assure you is that most of us with very serious allergies don’t eat out often and when we do we choose something very simple like steak and chips. I would never expect any chef to go out of their way to create a culinary delight for me. I just want to be with my friends and order a safe meal. Sadly this is the only positive and encouraging statement in the whole article.
  6. If you don’t have an allergy, you’re nobody – I’m kind of speechless about this statement. Do you really think we’re enjoying this? Your comments may be aimed at people who choose to go vegan or eat gluten free as a lifestyle choice but some of us don’t have a choice. Some of us would LOVE to be nobody.
    I dream about being nobody.

But don’t worry Raymond, I can’t afford to eat at ‘Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons’ so I’ll leave you to cater for all those annoying fashionable somebodies with their obsessions with food intolerance and allergies. I wouldn’t want to tip the scales to 51 fussy diners!

Food intolerance, whilst less serious and not life threatening can be unpleasant and very painful to live with.

I am saddened to hear a very popular celebrity chef use their public privilege to contribute to an article like this.

I will finish by saying that I am well aware that the Daily FMail online is not known for being accurate and often goes for that sensational headline, taking any comments out of context. It would not come as a surprise to hear that some of the views expressed here were not Raymond’s own.

When Raymond uses the words allergy and intolerance in the same sentence I’m pretty sure he is very well aware of the differences but articles like this only serve to make life for those of us with real allergies; severe, life threatening conditions feel misunderstood, alienated and actually, pretty scared of eating out.

It’s no wonder people don’t understand the difference. It is heartening to see that they do actually explain the difference at the end of the article but reading this left me feeling very angry.

And I am aware that I’m jumping to conclusions about Raymond Blanc’s opinions so Raymond, if you’re reading this, do feel free to clarify any of the above.

You can read the article online here: “We are a kitchen, not a hospital’: Raymond Blanc roasts customers who have ‘fashionable’ food allergies after 50 diners a night at his restaurant say they have an issue”

talkhealth Blog

What is Stress – The Stress Response

We all experience stress on a daily basis, it is completely natural and that being the case, we can’t stop it, however, we can stop it in its tracks and reduce our stress triggers.

Firstly, lets look at what’s going on in the body.

When we are under pressure or stressed the brain will send a signal to your adrenal gland to produce adrenalin and cortisol.

Adrenalin makes your heart rate and lung capacity increases in order to send more blood and oxygen to your arms and legs so they can react faster in this, fight or flight response.

Cortisol is also released, which feeds your body with extra energy that is reserved for danger situations, which is of course what the stress response is designed for. Cortisol regulates the blood sugar levels and acts as the bodies’ natural anti-inflammatory.

This natural process is because the brain has a pre-set programme to survive and so it will do everything it can to keep you safe. The brain has no idea if you will be harmed or not, but as we are just animals by nature the only things to cause us harm, when we were living as cave people, would be a predator.

During this response the body produces extra energy that is stored away for such a time as fight or flight, you may feel like you’re full of energy, shaking or feeling a change of temperature?

What happens to our bodies when we are stressed?

If you experience stress multiple times a day then you may feel like you’re losing concentration, feeling tired, perhaps a loss of appetite – The body isn’t interested in the digestion of food during the stress response so digestion is decreased and this is why you may feel sick or want to go to the toilet, sometimes the body may want to evacuate what is in the stomach to make its job of surviving much easier.

Typically chronic stress would lead to weight loss while weight gain would be the result of minor stress.

The brain is not required to be intellectual in an uncomfortable situation so you may feel that you can’t think straight. If a starving lion was sat in front of you licking its lips because it hasn’t eaten in a week, why would you care about your works deadline, shopping, an exam?

What causes stress?

These days, it is the simple things in life that cause stress in a persons life; work targets, driving/traffic, your misbehaving teen, relationships, unexpected bill, exams etc. etc… your brain and central nervous system doesn’t know the difference between real physical harm or a mental or emotional threat to your self, and it’s how you as an individual cope with that response that is critical to understanding how to make improvements and changes.

So if we can experience these situations in the mind then we can change the experience by changing the way you think about things that would cause you stress by using some great techniques like NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and Hypnotherapy.

talkhealth Blog