Food Allergies: 5 Tips to Navigate the Holidays and Celebrations

The holiday season is officially in full swing! This means many celebrations, time spent with loved ones, and good food. 
However, food around the holidays can also be stressful for people with specific dietary preferences. This includes food allergies, intolerances, medical conditions, and more. 

Do you have a food allergy and find that you struggle around the holidays? Are you unsure how to keep yourself safe?

If so, don’t worry. There are plenty of tips and tricks you can use to protect yourself or one of your loved ones with food allergies. 

As a registered dietitian, I frequently work with clients who have food allergies or dietary preferences. We work together to come up with a plan and strategy so that they feel safe and confident when eating meals with families and friends.

In today’s article, I will be sharing my best advice for you to follow as Christmas and the New Year comes just around the corner. This advice also applies to birthday parties, get-togethers, and other celebrations that revolve around food. So keep reading to learn more!

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my services page for more information on my 1:1 coaching offers. Set yourself up for success this New Year!

Navigating the Holidays/Celebrations

Meals around the holidays can be a time of cultural expression, different flavors, comfort foods, and past traditions. But when you have a food allergy, you have to take proper precautions to keep yourself safe and healthy. 

Even just a small particle or crumb of an allergen can be enough to cause an allergic reaction. One main way this can happen is through cross-contact. 

Cross-contact is when an allergen from one food comes in contact with another food. This can happen in a variety of ways when cooking meals for holidays or celebrations. 

Here are a few major sources of cross-contact:

• Cutting boards/prep surfaces

• Utensils

• Ovens/microwaves

• Countertops

• Hands/fingers

How Can You Prevent Cross-Contact?

Learning how to prevent cross-contact is one of the top ways to manage food allergies. This is especially true during celebrations and holiday gatherings.

It can be really easy for family members or friends to make food that accidentally comes in cross-contact with an allergen. However, there are proper precautions that you and everyone else can take to make sure that this doesn’t happen! 

For example, having separate food prep areas and equipment for allergen vs. allergen-free food. Another way to prevent cross-contact is by making sure everyone is washing their hands after coming in contact with allergen foods.

Keep reading to learn five other tips that you can use to help you prevent an allergic reaction during holiday meals and celebrations!

5 Tips to Navigate Holidays/Celebrations with food allergies

1. Serve Yourself First

Anyone with a food allergy or dietary preference should serve themselves first before everyone else. This will help to ensure that there is no cross-contact of allergen foods on utensils. 

2. Offer to Host/Help Host

It is a great idea to offer to host the gathering! When you host or help host, you are able to control more of the food preparation. You can feel confident that you are following the necessary guidelines so your food does not have any allergens in it. If you aren’t hosting, offer to bring your own allergen-free serving utensils and containers.

3. Educate Others

One of the best things you can do is educate the people you are going to be around about food allergies. Let them know that the dishes you are going to eat need to be free of allergens. This includes the preparation and cooking process.

If it would be supportive, create an email or google doc with allergy procedures and send it out to whoever is hosting or making dishes. 

4. Create Food Labels

While some families may have the luxury of having a completely allergen-free meal, this is not always the scenario. It is quite possible that there is going to be a mix of foods that do or do not contain allergens. 

One helpful way to distinguish between foods can be to create labels. For example, if there is a food that contains an allergen, it could have a red label. This is especially helpful for large gatherings and celebrations where multiple food allergies are present. 

5. Skip It if Necessary

When it comes down to it, I tell my clients this: if you have any doubt in your mind that the food is safe, then just skip it! It is better to not take the chance of an allergic reaction. 

Food Allergies: The Takeaway

As you can see, having a food allergy doesn’t mean you need to sit out from meals or stay home entirely! You can still have a great time with the people you love and eat delicious food.

It just takes a bit of time, preparation, and care. But you can absolutely navigate holidays and celebrations while having a food allergy. 

I hope you found this article helpful! I encourage you to go into any holiday or celebration with confidence and knowledge of how to safely manage your food allergy.

Do you have any questions? Comment them down below or contact me through my contact page. I’d love to hear from you!