Po's Peek at the Past: Coping with Allergies

Like so many of us, some of my favorite memories growing up involved the Christmas holidays. My mom always had an assortment of nuts set out for visitors, and my siblings and I were permitted to indulge in our share of the treats, too. I remember well, that all of those tree nuts still had the shells intact, and part of the joy was using the nutcracker to open the shell and relish the tasty nut inside.

Sadly, those delicious treats led to some undesirable consequences, time and time again. Usually within a half hour of my self-indulgence, I invariably became nauseous and ended up barfing. My p...