Peanut allergies, are you really allergic to the nut?

I have many friends who's children are allergic to peanuts. Some are highly allergic to the point of throat closing and in need of epi pen right away. To as little as watery eyes. So let's ask is it the peanut it's self we are allergic to, or something on the peanut?

Before I answer the question I want to give you a little info about peanuts. 

•peanuts grow in the ground. The peanut (seed) starts as a flower bud then when the flower fades the bud "dives" into the ground. 

 I did get this picture off google, I think it's really neat how God designed peanuts. In order to grow, it needs light, then matures into a nut.

But here is where I think we (some people tend to be allergic to peanuts): harvesting is a process after the peanuts are dug up from the ground, they have to dry out in the sun upto 4 days so, because these peanuts grow in the ground they are prone to mold. So in my opinion, we may just be having a reaction to the mold, instead of the peanut itself.

Thankfully no one living in our house has allergies. Frankly I  can't imagine if one of my kiddos had an allergy and I needed to keep an epi pen on me everywhere I went. So, that said, we still eat peanuts in our house, I  just always buy Valencia peanuts!

At our local costco store they sell a two pack of organic peanut butter my kiddos like.

But I recently switched to feeding them and eating almond butter instead.

Here is what we use:

 

I like how almond butter has omega 3s and not just omega 6's

However my kiddos found a new peanut butter on the shelf that has chocolate in it. It also has other nuts and seeds in it so there is omega 3's, they love it:

We also enjoy apple butter or strawberry jam on our sandwiches

All in all if I had the choice I would eat almond butter over peanut butter because almond butter has amino acids that can help boost your matabalism and help loose weight!  

Almond butter is a little more pricey but I find it worth it to eat a quick healthy snack I dip apples, Pretzels, crackers, or just spread on some toast. 

I hope this info was helpful!

-Dollie