Social Media Star reveals 'more food places need to do more for those with allergies'

Lydia Alty, has been campaigning for the majority of the year for both Anti Bullying and Awareness of Allergies and Intolerances.

Lydia is no stranger to campaigning, having ran a Anti Bullying Campaign called the 'Kindness Campaign ' quite successfully for over 3 years. The teen also runs royal channel 'Royal Reporter Lydia' a channel aimed at reporting on the latest of the Royal Family, especially The King and The Prince and Princess of Wales. The channel has boosted over 50 million views and over 130,000 subscribers since it's launch in 2018.

Lydia, who hails from Buckinghamshire, has supported the Coeliac UK charity publicly on many occasions for their 'education and awareness for those living with Coeliac Disease, like herself '. However she revealed she wrote to the government concerning rising prices of gluten, milk, nut and egg free products.

She said "I don't like talking about my health publicly, but I will to show people that they aren't alone in that the prices of food especially those with autoimmune conditions and allergies. When you get to my age, 18 years old, you start looking at prices of things and try and budget.

‘It's shocking why some supermarkets like to profit of many people's misery. No one chose to have their illnesses, they just develop and to go and buy a simple sandwich and to be ripped of as a consequence is heart-breaking. That's why I campaign because regardless of how much people try and ignore the fact, these prices are unfairly high especially when a cost of living crisis is happening, some people are no doubt going without food, which makes them susceptible to even more illnesses'

In September 2023, Lydia started a campaign called 'Free From Friendly '. The campaign apparently aims to not only lower the cost of food, which has a petition connected to it, but also involves making sure all restaurants and supermarkets have more variety for those with allergies, so they can have a more varied diet.

On her personal Social Media account @lydiaalty she explained all about the importance of Coeliac UK and how donations this Christmas could help fund research and help increase the awareness of this disease. She put on the post that she hopes ' to see more affordable items available for those with Coeliac ' , and how she 'wants more variety available '.

When we spoke to Lydia she said 'The variety at moment is expensive and although in some supermarkets they now have offers, like club card and nectar, on some of the gluten, milk, nut and egg free products, there still isn't that much variety. Bread of course is very expensive still even though it is a vital part of a human's diet.

“Advent Calendars have been so expensive this year with the average 'normal' advent calendar being around £2-£4, depending on the brand, and those without an allergen on have sometimes gone up to £7 or £10 depending on the brand which is completely unacceptable especially as many of these advent calendars are for children, who if they have siblings, would want to join in the advent fun and it would mean their parents spending a fortune on them".

Lydia has also mentioned she feels that a lot of the food her family buys she feels bad about. "You almost feel like your the reason the price is going up because of you, it's a horrible feeling, something that makes me more passionate about using my social media to spread awareness and campaign more. Although my family are so lovely about It and don't ever make me feel bad, I know that these prices could be lowered to make older people, who notice the price, not feel bad for making everything more expensive"

Lydia says she hopes that into the new year the prices will become more accessible so that everyone can enjoy their food, regardless of set backs like illness or conditions. She states she will keep campaigning until something is done. The YouTubers followers have also echoed her opinion on lots of he posts, praising her for speaking out about something that affects lots of people.