Two of my nephews have wicked peanut allergies.

When they were babies, the ugly allergy reared its head in what quickly turned into a real emergency situation. Since then, they've had numerous close calls, and they don't go anywhere without their 'epi-pens', an epinephrine injector, that, should they accidentally ingest the wrong thing, can give their body the boost it needs so their throat doesn't close and kill them.

Since hanging out with them this summer, a question has nagged me. How could these strong, burly young men who look like the picture of health be allergic to nuts? Look at that kid (Brendan, pictured above). In this shot, he's 14 years old, and can hang with me(almost) in strength and stamina. Plus, nuts are a staple. Humans have been eating nuts forever.

Why can't they? And why can't so many of their generation eat nuts?

My sister, Wendy, recounts some of the instances where they had to go to the emergency room, and what it is like to have kids with these conditions.

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Also, growing up, I didn't know anyone who was allergic to nuts. Not one person. Did you? I just kept wondering about it, because it's not just them. I've been hearing about many other kids who have similar issues.

Is it just me, or are these allergies a new thing? Turns out, it is a new phenomena. There are plenty of numbers available to show that.

  • According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.

As an expecting father, I kept wondering...why? Will my kids be born allergic to some of the wonderful food that the Earth provides?

Then I found this video.

I'm really not one for raging against the machine. I don't blame the powers that be for much, because I believe my happiness, health, and overall life condition are my responsibility.

However, this is one area where I do actually become angry. It's one thing to peddle crap that makes us the fattest, most cancerous, most unhealthy nation imaginable. But we have to buy that crappy food. We have to decide to eat it. It should be pretty obvious that Ding Dongs, Ho-Ho's, Taco Bell and McDonald's aren't healthy choices. You'd really have to have your eyes closed to not realize that. So, if you decide to eat it all the time, then wonder why diabetes or other diseases have struck, I don't have a ton of sympathy.

When they put it in the food without us knowing about it, that's when I get upset. If you watch the video, you learn that corn is now considered a pesticide, not a food. Milk during the 90's was coming from cows that were being pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. Synthetic proteins were being added to our food.

Big food corporations have been poisoning us, and we didn't know it, so if we didn't want to be a part of it, we didn't know that we needed to opt out. Plus, our government subsidizes the ones that are poisoning us, and puts burdens of special labeling on companies that attempt to grow things organically.

So, put fake proteins in the food, cause an epidemic of allergies, turn corn from a food to a pesticide, and the government will give you extra money. Grow things organically, and it will cost you. Frustrating.

However, we can move forward. The only way to make a difference is to stop buying the bad food. Did you notice how there are now organic, hormone free, antibiotic-free alternatives in the regular grocery store? That's because if we will pay for it, they will give it to us. But only if we speak with our wallets, and let them know that we know what is going on.

That's the power these kind of speeches can have. It elucidates what is happening, and can change the way we shop. As soon as we express what we want by buying it, more safe, healthy alternatives will become available. And maybe this generation, though they can't eat peanuts, will be the one that gets us closer to going back to good old natural food.

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