 Do you believe you're capable of managing your food allergies or allergic conditions well? How about managing an allergic reaction? How does your child feel about managing their allergies? These questions relate to your mindset, or whether you believe the qualities you possess make you capable of handling situations. People can have a fixed or growth mindset, terms coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, PhD. Think of these as the type of glasses you're wearing - the lenses with which you see things. When wearing fixed mindset glasses, you're more likely to believe that you're not able to deal with whatever you're being faced with. If you feel incapable, then you must BE incapable. With growth mindset glasses on, you're better able to envision yourself getting through roadblocks that are standing in your way in various situations. You believe that you can develop skills and learn how to deal with challenges rather than assuming that feeling incapable means that you ARE incapable of dealing with them. Many don't typically even stop to consider their automatic beliefs and how their mindset impacts feelings and actions. But it's important to do so. And it's also important to note that our mindset may change depending on situations we're in or experiences we've previously had. You may feel confident navigating some parts of life with allergies, while feeling incapable of managing the aspects that you're most fearful of. But by subscribing to a growth mindset, you're allowing yourself the ability to learn how to grow confidence, manage anxiety, and essentially handle even the hardest of situations when living with allergies. Here are 3 tips to help you develop a growth mindset:
Here's a general mindset video for teens/adults, a brief video for kids explaining mindset, and a great mindset video for parents/caregivers.  The image above serves as an example to help you explore yours or your child's food allergy-related mindset. Use it as a starting point in creating your own Mindset Matters list. [To help practice this concept, you can find the "Food Allergy Mindset Matters" worksheet in the Worksheets section]. This activity will require you to truly be honest with yourself; but by doing so, you'll be better able to build a bridge to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. It's useful for tweens, teens, and adults, and can even be adapted to use with older elementary kids (with a parent's help). It can be used for personal benefit, distributed at food allergy support group meetings, or even used during therapy sessions to process with your own therapist! Extra Weekly Challenge: Pick one allergy-related thought to try and reframe into a growth mindset-focused thought. If you're a parent, help your child use growth-mindset language - "I'm not comfortable with this, YET!" or "I'm still learning by practicing with my epi!" Want more content related to mindset? To read more about growth mindset, explore psychologist Carol Dweck's books. want more empowering allergy life tips like this emailed directly to you? subscribe to receive "food allergy counselor corner" emails!And don't forget about ALL of the FAC resources there to support you!
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With research now showing that delaying the introduction of allergens to infants may increase the risk of developing allergies, there's been a purposeful focus on "letting the babies eat" - which is a catchy phrase to help remind parents of this important data (links to useful data at the end of this article). But what happens when fear enters the equation (which it likely will, because fear is a normal emotional response to a perceived and/or actual threat, such as an allergic reaction). When fear gets in the way of introducing new foods?  Maybe you're the parent/caregiver of an infant and want to introduce allergens, but are scared to. Or perhaps you have a toddler and while you haven't been diligent about introducing new foods along the way, you now want to, but find that your nerves are getting in the way of actually following through. While it's outside of The FAC's professional scope to provide any medical guidance, it's within its scope to offer tips to help navigate the fear and anxiety impacting your ability to follow through with introducing new foods. With that said, this important disclaimer needs to be made before moving on to helpful tips: Guidance given here is for educational purposes; please consult with your own allergist and/or physician for guidance specific to your situation, including determining which foods are safe to introduce and when. Now, let's get to 3 practical tips to help you introduce foods even with fear present! Tip #1: Make "Bite-Sized" Goals: Especially if you're feeling that you're "behind" on the goal of introducing new foods, you may set such high expectations that you'll get derailed before you even start. Maybe you're pressuring yourself to introduce as many foods as possible, as quickly as possible! But if you find that approach only leads to more avoidance of food introductions, then it's not a workable approach for you. Here's what may help if this is how you're feeling, whether you're working on infant food introduction or introductions with an older child:
We tend to be judgmental of ourselves when we are unable to follow through with tasks we feel we should be doing. This may lead to thoughts of "Why aren't I brave enough?" and "I'm not being a good enough allergy parent!" And once we jump down that judgmental rabbit hole, it may actually feel harder to introduce foods since we're now dealing with fear AND judgement! Here's what helps if you find yourself experiencing self-judgement:
Yes, one big WHY for introducing allergens early and often are to help with allergy prevention, but there are likely other reasons why you're wanting to do food introductions. These WHYs become important reminders that help us push through the times when we're anxious, and help us stay on track when it feels hard to do so. To determine your additional WHYs for food introduction, ask yourself these questions:
BONUS Tip for Toddler Food Introduction: Start off super simple - by making food feel like a fun topic to explore! With foods approved for introduction, focus on helping your child learn about them. Start by finding books that include the foods and spotting them in stories, pointing them out at grocery stories, and if approved by your allergist/physician, touching them* - basically anything that helps them become open to trying the food. Then build from there! This sets a fun tone for food introduction, and is one way to get your foot on the first rung of that introduction ladder. *[Discuss with your allergist/healthcare provider whether touching allergens prior to introducing/ingesting it is recommended or not, especially if your child is at higher risk for developing food allergy, or is managing eczema and other allergic conditions]. So here are this week's takeaways:
To read more on the topic of food introduction, check out these resources:
want more empowering allergy life tips like this emailed directly to you? subscribe to receive "food allergy counselor corner" emails!And don't forget about ALL of the FAC resources there to support you!
 It's so easy to find a resource website, such as this one, yet not really take the time to explore all it has to offer. After all, life is busy and many are trying to limit how much time is spent online anyhow. Hopefully this post helps simplify that exploration process for you by highlighting a few key resources available here at The Food Allergy Counselor (The FAC) beyond the FAC Directory! And, make sure to read this whole post so you get to the exciting announcement! First, What Makes The FAC Unique?The FAC is an allergy behavioral health and psychosocial resource hub offering evidence-based content developed and curated by licensed clinical professional counselor and founder, Tamara Hubbard. As an allied health member of both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Tamara is a well-recognized and respected behavioral healthcare clinician in this field. Why is this important to mention? Because when looking online for reputable allergy resources, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the number of websites available covering allergies. However, you can be assured that the content and resources offered here at The FAC are based on clinical behavioral healthcare and allergy/immunology best practices, and are aimed at helping you find your "just right" balance between the overwhelm and the quality of life you want, even with allergic diseases!
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