The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc.

FYI for those living in or practicing in FL!

Adulting is hard. Dating is hard, too. Add food allergies into the mix, and it can feel even harder. But it doesn’t have to! In honor of Valentine’s Day today, let’s talk about dating with food allergies. Teens and young adults often worry whether they’ll be able to safely date with food allergies, and if they’ll find a partner who will understand food allergies. Here’s the good news: Yes, you can! Many of the same qualities you’d look for in a partner if you were dating without managing food allergies are the same qualities you’ll want to look for when managing food allergies. When you begin to date someone, ask yourself: ?? Are they kind (to you, to others, to themselves)? Or does their actions or words make you feel ashamed about having food allergies (because it shouldn’t!)? ?? Are they supportive and willing to learn how to help keep you safe? Will they respect your food allergy management guidelines? ?? Are they communicative, and can you communicate with each other well? Do you feel heard, validated, and understood? ?? Is there laughter, joy, and fun in your relationship, too? Remember, your food allergy is just one part of you - there are MANY other amazing parts of you! Whomever you choose to date should be able to appreciate ALL of you, so if you feel as if you have to hide or downplay your food allergies in order for someone to like you, then they’re not your person - and someone else will be! ??? What tips would you share about dating with food allergies? Visit The FAC website for more food allergy mental health, anxiety, mindset, parenting, and life content! https://lnkd.in/gfhKDkGn . . #FoodAllergies #FoodAllergy #Dating #DatingWithFoodAllergies #Teens #FoodAllergyTeen #FoodAllergyParent #FoodAllergyAdult #Relationships #DatingGoals #FoodAllergyCounselor #ValentinesDay

The term “anxiety” is often misunderstood. Anxiety itself is a normal human emotion that we all experience, just like joy and sadness. When you feel anxious or have anxious thoughts, it just means you’re experiencing an emotion. However, if you feel anxious or have anxious thoughts regularly, which impacts your daily functioning, your actions, and how you navigate life with food allergies, you may be experiencing more than just the emotion - you may meet criteria for an anxiety disorder. It’s useful to know the difference so you can work towards accepting that some anxiety can be expected when managing food allergies and approach your anxious thoughts differently. This will also help you determine if and when your anxious thoughts are calling the shots, and it may be time to seek the support of a food allergy-informed therapist. Visit The Food Allergy Counselor website for more resources on food allergy anxiety: https://lnkd.in/gg4Usar And visit the Academy of Food Allergy Counseling’s therapist directory to locate a therapist in your state: https://lnkd.in/giD9hB-Z ?? How do navigate your food allergy-related anxious thoughts? What strategies are helpful? . . #foodallergy #foodallergyanxiety #foodallergies #therapist #foodallergycounselor #foodallergycounseling #anxiety #anxietymanagement

Managing food allergies isn't just about avoidance and allergen safety; it also includes learning how to become empowered. Discover how daily affirmations can transform your mindset and help you navigate life with food allergies differently! ??? ??? Do you have any food allergy affirmations that help you feel more empowered? Read this article: https://lnkd.in/gj8r8xpm #FoodAllergies #FoodAllergy #DailyAffirmations #Empowerment #PositiveThinking #FoodAllergyAwareness #GrowthMindset #FoodAllergyCounselor

Holiday gatherings and figuring out how to safely navigate holiday meals can be major stressors for those managing food allergies. But there are ways to balance challenges and enjoyment during the holiday season! While staying safe is the main focus, it’s important to also focus on other important aspects of holiday gatherings, such as skill-building, connection, and fun. ??? Skill-building: Holiday gatherings can offer great opportunities for yourself and/or your child to practice important allergy management skills such as speaking up, asking about ingredients, self-advocating, and navigating disappointment. The best part is that from this practice comes allergy management competence and confidence! ?? Connection: It’s easy to *only* focus on safety and forget that other things are important to focus on, too - like connecting with loved ones and friends. As you plan and prepare, consider strategies that will allow you to connect while also staying safe, even if it means bringing your own food or eating beforehand. ???? Fun: It *is* possible to stay safe AND have fun. Once you’ve prepared and planned, try to be present in the moment while at holiday gatherings so that you can enjoy yourself, laugh, and make lasting memories, too! Here’s to finding balance during the upcoming holiday season! ?? ?? How do you balance allergy safety and enjoying the holidays? . ?? Visit The Food Allergy Counselor website for more evidence-based and practical food allergy anxiety, mindset, life, and parenting tips: https://lnkd.in/ehmKFuT . . #Foodallergy #foodallergies #foodallergyawareness #foodallergycounselor #foodallergycounseling #foodallergylife #foodallergyparent #holiday #holidayseason #foodallergyanxiety

I was honored to be invited by Free2b Foods to write an article about navigating the emotional aspects of food allergies for the resource section of their website. Every little bit helps to raise awareness about the emotional impacts of living with food allergies and of course, share evidence-based insights! In this article, I cover: ???? common food allergy-related psychosocial stressors by age and stage ???? food allergy-related anxiety basics, and why anxiety and anxiety disorders aren’t the same things ???? tips and resources for managing food allergy-related anxiety and stress I hope you’ll check it out, let me know your thoughts, and share with others if you think they’ll find it helpful! You can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gcfci4AQ . . #FoodAllergy #FoodAllergies #FoodAllergyCounselor #FoodAllergyCounseling #Free2bFoods #Writer #PatientEducation #FoodAllergyAnxiety #Anxiety

It feels like the right time to reshare this article I wrote called “Coping with Food Allergy Tragedies”. By reading it, you’ll learn 3 practical tips to help empower yourself (or your patients) during the moments of raw emotion when we hear about a death within the food allergy community. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gcu8QB_g Please ?? and share if you think this article will help others. Thank you! . . #FoodAllergy #FoodAllergies #FoodAllergyCounselor #FoodAllergyCounseling #FoodAllergyAwareness

What a lovely recommendation post from friend of The FAC, The Meg Foundation for Pain - thank you! Be sure to check out their incredible resources to help kids, teens, and tweens navigate #pain, including needle phobia and pain from "pokes", which are a common part of annual #foodallergy and #allergicdisease appointments. https://lnkd.in/dn9_CjX

You may have heard about the US Surgeon General’s recent advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers. Or maybe you didn’t. Either way, if you’re a parent or know parents (and who doesn’t), the advisory shares enlightening information about the stressors associated with parenting these days - information I think everyone will find interesting. Yet, like many research and data-based papers, they can be long and take a large chunk of time to read. Therefore, I’m happy to share that I read through this advisory so I could share the main highlights with you! My latest article on The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc. website shares the key data and main takeaways from this recent advisory, as well as tips and resources to help parents nurture their mental health and well-being even in the face of today’s stressors. Before you read this article (link below), please know: 1). This article isn’t specific to parents of children with food allergies and allergic conditions, so please feel free to share with ALL parents! 2). This article is not politically-focused. As a marriage and family therapist whose private practice specializes in women and parents, the health and well-being of families is important to me, which is why I wanted to highlight the topic and share this important information. Here’s to parents recommitting to taking care of their own mental health and well-being! Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gmnGx-Ni . . #Parenting #ParentingTips #ParentalMentalHealth #ParentalWellbeing #SurgeonGeneralAdvisory #parentlife #therapistsconnect #therapistsofinstagram #FoodAllergyParent #FoodAllergyParenting #AllergyParent #FoodAllergyCounselor #MentalHealth #TamaraHubbard

When you're feeling anxious, scared, and overwhelmed about living with or parenting a child with food allergies, it's easy to focus on wanting to control everything around you. Your mind tries to convince you that if you can just control everything, you won't feel anxious, scared, and overwhelmed -- and even more important, you'll stay safe. ?? But here's the truth: It's impossible to control everything (and everyone) around you. As such, if your goal is to seek ultimate control to stay safe/not feel anxious/not feel overwhelmed, then you'll often feel as if you're failing at that goal. So rather than chase urges (to control, to avoid, to seek perfection), let me offer you an alternative mindset: ?? Focus on how you can impact safety, outcomes, anxiety, fear, and overwhelm How do you go from wanting to control everything to focusing on how you can impact things? ? Start by acknowledging what's within your control and what's not ? Next, focus your time and energy on the things within your control ? Then, create strategies and plans for how you'll impact safety, outcomes, etc ? Finally, accept that this new approach may feel uncomfortable (but discomfort doesn't always mean something isn't safe) Adjusting your mindset from "seeking control" to "focusing on influence" can truly be life-changing, so give it a try! (To help you work on this, you can find the 'Urge to Control' worksheet in The Food Allergy Counselor's shop at: https://buff.ly/3UDN3xm ??? Have you shifted your mindset? How has that helped you navigate life with food allergies? ?? Want more food allergy anxiety, mindset, stress management, and parenting tips? Visit The Food Allergy Counselor website! https://buff.ly/2AyS19h . . #FoodAllergy #FoodAllergies #FoodAllergyCounselor #FoodAllergyCounseling #FoodAllergyAnxiety #FoodAllergyLife #FoodAllergyParent #FoodAllergyMom #FoodAllergyDad #AnxietyManagement #UrgeToControl #MentalHealth #PatientEducation