Don't Feed the Fear: Food Allergy Anxiety & Trauma
Welcome to "Don't Feed the Fear," where licensed psychologist Dr. Amanda Whitehouse offers expert guidance on managing the social and emotional challenges of food allergies and related conditions. Tune in for compassionate advice, practical strategies, and inspiring stories to help you navigate anxiety and trauma with confidence and resilience.
For more info on resources from Dr. Whitehouse, go to www.thefoodallergypsychologist.com
Theme song: The Doghouse by Kyle Dine, www.kyledine.com
Used with permission from the artist
Don't Feed the Fear: Food Allergy Anxiety & Trauma
One Year of Don't Feed the Fear: Birthday Episode
In this special birthday episode of Don’t Feed the Fear, I’m pausing to reflect on a whirlwind year, both personally and professionally. I answer some of the questions I get most often, including what inspired the name of the podcast, what I’ve learned through a year of growth, grief, and gratitude, and how nervous system work continues to shape everything from allergy management to parenting to healing.
As we continue to discuss the choices that we do have in managing allergies well, I share how I use the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) with my own family and clients to help regulate the nervous system after chronic stress and trauma, and an invitation to join me for a group experience this fall. Plus, I open up about what’s next for the show, and why even the good things in life require rest, recalibration, and intentional nervous system care.
Thank you to all the amazing guests who joined me this year to get the podcast off to such a great start! I loved meeting each of you, learned so much from you, and look forward to staying in touch!
You can follow me on Instagram @thefoodallergypsychologist
For info about my upcoming groups or any other aspect of my work, check out my website www.thefoodallergypsychologist.com
and contact me/sign up for my email list here:
Connect — Amanda Whitehouse Phd
Special thanks to Kyle Dine for permission to use his song The Doghouse for the podcast theme!
www.kyledine.com
Find Dr. Whitehouse:
-thefoodallergypsychologist.com
-Instagram: @thefoodallergypsychologist
-Facebook: Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, Food Allergy Anxiety Psychologist
-welcome@dramandawhitehouse.com
Welcome to the Don't Feed the Fear podcast, where we dive into the complex world of food allergy anxiety. I'm your host, Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, food allergy anxiety psychologist and food allergy mom. Whether you're dealing with allergies yourself or supporting someone who is, join us for an empathetic and informative journey toward food allergy calm and confidence..
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:Welcome back to Don't Feed the Fear for a very special episode. It's our birthday, um, actually more than one birthday this summer. We have been celebrating my oldest son's birthday, which is my one who has food allergies, his dad's birthday, my birthday, and the month of July also marks one year since I launched the Don't Feed The Fear Podcast. So I wanted to record an episode to say thank you so much to everybody who has been helping me along the way.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:I knew that there were more people out there that I could reach through my private practice who were managing food allergy anxiety and needed some support. I'm so surprised at how eager so many of you were to listen at how generous people within the food allergy community were to share their time with me as guests. And their expertise and their stories. So thank you to everyone who has been helping the podcast grow faster and farther than I ever imagined it would. It's so cool. My kids have been watching with me, how each episode, we have listeners now in every state and on every continent, and it just blows me away. I love getting your messages, your emails, hearing your stories, hearing your questions, and knowing that my little corner of the food allergy world is resonating with so many of you.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:The most common question I've gotten about the show is why I named it Don't Feed the Fear. I use that phrase so much in my work, and with myself and my family that it was just automatic for me to choose it as the name of my podcast. To me, "don't feed the fear" is a reminder that fear and anxiety are normal, especially when you or your child is navigating life with food allergies. It's a given.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:Fear is a survival response and it's a sign that our bodies' protective mechanisms are operating as they should be when they show up in response to something that has caused harm in the past or is potentially dangerous. So while fear is unavoidable, what we do with it is a choice, and that's what we're talking about this summer, is the choices that we do have, even though we didn't choose this life managing allergies. So in my work as a psychologist and in my own life, I've seen how easy it is, especially for food allergy parents to pour enormous amounts of time, energy, and mental effort into our fear. We feed it, we track it, we tend to it. We over prepare and overthink, and it's almost as if we cling to it like it's protecting us. It's this illusion that we have, that the fear itself is keeping us safe. But what actually happens is that the more we feed the fear, the bigger and the louder it gets, and the more afraid we become.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:We believe we're only safe if we remain afraid, and we make ourselves more afraid in the process, so the name Don't Feed the Fear isn't about ignoring the fear or pretending everything is fine or even trying to push it away. It's a reminder to be intentional about what we are feeding. Is it fear or is it something else? Because when we stop feeding the fear and start nurturing and growing other things like our confidence, the information we have at hand, our knowledge base, our clarity, our courage, the community that we're building around ourselves, the boundaries that we need that actually keep us safe, connections with others, the ability to self-regulate, which if you've been listening, you know, for me, comes down to that nervous system piece.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:If we nurture all of that and grow those things, we don't just feel less anxious, we feel more powerful, more prepared, safer. We feel more like ourselves. So this podcast is about giving you the tools, the science, the resources, the information, the validation, and the support to help you stop feeding the fear and choose what you'd like to feed.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And I have to admit that starting the show entailed some fear for me as a working mom who is already way overstretched. And on top of that, it seems like every time our family experiences a big step in our food allergy freedom, or I get brave enough to take a big step out of my mom world and my comfort zone and do something that's a little more focused on my own work or myself. I seem to get thrown a curve ball, so.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:One of the first ones was after my son had just completed his OIT treatment. He was in maintenance. That was such a commitment that I managed most of, and I finally felt ready to take the big step of traveling solo for this professional conference that I really wanted to attend, and I thought, now's the time. He's ready. We can do this. And unfortunately while I was away at that conference, he had a middle of the night mystery reaction at home. I woke up to a 3:00 AM phone call as the ambulance was arriving at my house and the neighbor was coming over to stay with the other kids so my husband could go to the emergency room, I was up all night on speaker with the ER staff helping to figure out the problem and solve the mystery, and to help my son feel calmer and more secure. And of course, the rest of my conference was a bust because I was so stressed and just sleep deprived. But he made it through it okay.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And then last year things had calmed down. I thought I could take on this podcast finally, which I had been wanting to do for a long time. I announced the show, I recorded the first episode, and just before I published that very first episode, he had another one of those nighttime mystery reactions.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:So both times he was okay. We did eventually get to the bottom of what was going on, which I might share a little bit more about at some point down the road on the podcast. So things were feeling better again, we solved the mystery. Then last month, I took off to Chicago for the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, summit in Chicago. No reactions this time, thank goodness, but. While I was gone, our house may or may not have been struck by lightning. It might have been a power surge. Nobody knows for sure, apparently, and everyone is okay. Some very expensive electronics were destroyed. My sons lost their video game progress that had been saved on one of the video game consoles, which of course was tragic for them. But everyone is safe and healthy, so I am not complaining. I did my trip.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:Everything worked out okay and instead of taking it as a bad omen and a sign that I should not go anywhere and have a life of my own, I'm choosing very actively to take away some important reminders from this. Number one is the obvious that I can't control everything. There's no way to avoid being a little anxious when I leave my kids. And there's also no way to control everything, stop or anticipate or prevent everything bad that could ever happen. And so this is a reminder that literally the last thing that I would think would happen while I was gone, would happen. There's nothing that I can do about it.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:But number two is: my family can be okay without me. Even when that happens, they function just fine. I don't have to do everything and they'll still be okay. So as much as I feel like everything falls on my shoulders and I have to carry it all. And I know a lot of other parents managing allergies feel this way, like they're the one that everything falls onto. These were good reminders that everyone can handle their allergies. They know how to respond even in the emergencies, even in the completely unexpected events without me.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And last, this has been reminder after reminder for me that the good things and the hard things are never going to exist separately from each other. They will always coexist and both of them will make demands of our nervous systems. That push pull of stress and growth is how we expand our capacity. And that isn't something to be avoided. It's something to be accepted as the nature of life. So I always fall into this way of thinking where, where I'm tricking myself, into thinking, oh, we're in the clear now. Things should be good. We should, we should be calm for a while, as if I have achieved some plateau within my life where I can stave off any surprises or emergencies. It's never gonna happen. So I am working on being thankful for it all.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:I'm also working this summer on putting the time in to allow for that growth and that expansion from everything that has been going on to integrate that and to fill back up my reserves from t he energy that it has taken. So I've been refocusing on taking really good care of my nervous system, using all the tools that I know to keep myself healthy and keep up with the new demands and new responsibilities of my new projects and all the other surprises that pop up along the way. And I want to invite you to do that with me.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:So again, we're talking about options and choices. We don't always have control, but we do have a choice about how we respond and the skills and the coping skills that we use. I'll be sharing more of that on Instagram You can follow me there @thefoodallergypsychologist. Maybe I'll even get around to getting on TikTok, even though I'm a little bit avoidant of social media. And I'll continue to be teaching those things on the show, but many of you have reached out to me and my very full therapy practice doesn't have room for everybody. So I've created another group that I'm gonna be opening in the fall where we'll have a group experience. It's for food allergic individuals, it's for food allergy parents, where we as a group will walk through. understanding how food allergy life trains and sets up the nervous system to stay in high alert and how we can change that and we'll create this safe group and community among which we can do that. And it's usually a very nice experience because the validation and the support that we can offer one another while we're learning new information and trying to incorporate it.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:At the conclusion of that group, there will be an option to continue on together with the group, with one of my absolute favorite tools that I use personally and professionally to support nervous system healing and growth. And it's called the Safe and Sound Protocol, or the SSP. So the SSP is a research-backed sound therapy that stimulates the vagus nerve to improve emotional regulation, to decrease anxiety and stress symptoms. It has truly helped to shift the baseline in our household and with many of my clients, and the truth is that I sought this out for myself when I was having some health issues, and I discovered it. I wanted to try it, and I couldn't find a practitioner, so I just completed the certification program and purchased the program for myself to use at home. Then I used it with my family before I ever even incorporated it into my therapy practice. That's how excited I was to get started with it once I found out about it.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:The safe and sound protocol is a non-invasive. Evidence-based therapeutic intervention. It was developed by Steven Porges, who you might have heard of. He created polyvagal theory, and at its core, the SSP is designed to help to regulate the nervous system by gently stimulating the vagus nerve with sound and the vagus nerve plays a huge role in how we process our sense of safety and connection and threat. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body connecting the brain. Down into the abdomen to all the major organs like the heart, the lungs, the digestive system. So it plays the key role in regulating the nervous system, particularly turning on and off the body's shift between stress and calm states. It's the line of communication between the information that's coming into the body, through the senses, which is how it interprets whether there is a threat, and then sending the message to the body systems that respond depending on whether or not it interprets that we are safe or we're in danger. So it is what receives a signal through what we see, what we hear, what we feel around us. And then if it perceives danger, it triggers your rapid heartbeat, your shallow breathing, your tense muscles, heightened alertness, uh, the that surge of adrenaline and cortisol, which is preparing us to respond to an emergency situation.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:What the SSP actually looks like in practice is very simple. It just involves listening to especially filtered music that has been engineered to stimulate and tone the vagus nerve and calm the body's stress response. You listen using over the ear headphones for short periods of time. It's very gradual. You do a little bit each day, spread out over time with the support of a trained provider who understands the nervous system The sound waves of the music have been acoustically altered in a way that challenges the middle ear muscles and directly stimulates the vagus nerve. So this process helps to reset and regulate the autonomic nervous system, moving it out of fight, flight, or freeze, and into a more socially engaged, receptive, calm, and connected state.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:Why does this matter, especially in the context of food allergy life? Because when our nervous systems are. Constantly perceiving a threat, which if food is dangerous to you, that's almost all the time. The nervous systems can start to believe that they need to be in survival mode all the time. This can happen after traumatic reaction years of hyper vigilance, chronic stress. And it makes it really difficult to access the part of our brain that feels safe enough to problem solve, to rest, to connect with others, to be present in our experiences, or for some people even to eat and to feel that those things are safe to do. So the SSP helps to soften that constant internal alarm, desensitize the trigger, and help it to shift on and off more appropriately. It's not a cure all, and it's not a magic wand, but it does create a foundation of. Physiological safety in the body, which then allows us to access everything else a little bit easier. We have a moment of pause to utilize the coping skills or the language skills or the self-control that we possess, but can't access when the body is responding instantaneously.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:So if you are interested in working more closely with me, those are the opportunities to do so. The small group will be beginning this September of 2025. And if you're listening far after that date, check my website because I will repeat this at some time in the future. That group will include education, creating community and support, practicing skills, and then the option to transition into the group SSP experience to train the nervous system and to desensitize that chronic fight or flight response. If you wanna learn more about either one, check out the link in the show notes or go to the services link on my website, the food allergy psychologist.com. If either one of those sounds like a good fit for you, I would love to support you.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And moving forward with the show, I'm looking forward to continuing to supporting you too and providing resources for you. I've been thinking a lot about what the year ahead might look like and what would be fitting to share what not to share, a lot of the questions I get are about personal experiences or about my work experiences, and so I've been just very carefully considering how to balance what I share with personal stories, with professional insight in a way that feels appropriate and comfortable. You will be hearing more soon about our allergy journey in my home, including my son's experiences with. High sensitivity, multiple treatments, and um, getting to a point where we are in maintenance for all of those things now and in a much better spot. I've got a whole season of episodes that will be coming with experts about the different treatment options available, from the medical lens. And along with that, I will be providing support with you through our story and my professional perspective about how to juggle the mental health side of that, considering options. Choosing an option if it's right for you, and then how to navigate that. And I'm also working on a very exciting project that will be going along with that and should be ready soon if you want deeper support with navigating that topic. So if you don't wanna miss any of those things, make sure you subscribe to the show, wherever you listen to it, so you'll hear all about it. You can also subscribe to my email list. Through my website, the food allergy psychologist.com.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And in addition to sharing more about our personal journey, I've given a lot more consideration to what stories to share and how to share work experiences in a way that feels not just ethical, but considerate and respectful of all of my current and past clients. There's one thing with this that I wanna be very clear about. Whenever I share stories from my work, know that I would never, ever share a detail that could identify a specific client. The ethics of my field, say that I have to do that, but do say that it's okay to share. As long as the client isn't identifiable. To me, that's not going far enough. I would never want a client to listen to my show and know that I was talking about them specifically, even if nobody else would ever know it. So I will only ever share client experiences if they are things that multiple people have shared with me, have experienced, have felt, have said during sessions. So if you're a client listening and you think I'm talking about you, please know it's probably about you and at least a handful of other people, if not dozens of other people who have felt similarly. I take confidentiality very, very seriously. But I also think about that relational impact of me having a practice. But being here on the show, I would never want a current or a former client to hear something and know it was them, even if no one else knew. I would never want to harm our trust or make anybody uncomfortable who has put their trust in me as their provider.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:As much as I am a professional and have that perspective to share here, I want you as listeners to know that first and foremost, I'm a mom and I am one who is in the trenches with you. I don't have magic fixes and I certainly don't always get it right with myself or with my own kids, and I struggle sometimes too, but I really do believe in this work. I think it's so important to devote our time and energy to as much as it is to our medical treatments and our physical safety. And so I'm trying to live that alongside of you as I talk about it here on the show. I'm really grateful to do that with you together. You're giving me the motivation to stay focused on it and even to learn more, the way that I have with all of the great interviews that I've been doing and researching my guests and, and learning about the things that they're offering. So this has been so worthwhile for me too, and I've grown so much more in the past year than I anticipated doing.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:As we wrap up this birthday episode, here is what I am asking of you for your action steps.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:1. If you would like to send a birthday gift my way or a birthday gift the way of the show, please leave a rating or a review. A review for Don't feed the fear wherever you listen to it and
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:2. Share the show with somebody who might benefit from it, whether it's. Someone individually that you know personally if you're part of a group, if you have your own audience that you think would benefit from it. Any form of sharing or reviewing the show would mean so much to me to help me grow and reach more people who might benefit from listening.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:3. The last one is to please just stay in touch, message me, email me your thoughts, your reactions, your questions. I am planning to start doing some q and a episodes based on the comments and questions that are coming in, and for some shorter things, hopefully some more Instagram posts and time here. So the more that I hear from you, the better idea I'll have of the topics that more people would really like for me to talk more about.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:And I intend to be here for another year, continuing to share the reminders, the examples, the information, and all the great people that I'm meeting to help you heal and manage your own stress and anxiety through the episodes and my posts. And if it's right for you, I'd love to connect with you and my food allergy small group experience too, and or the safe and sound. Protocol group, the SSP, you can find information about all the things that I do on my website, the food allergy psychologist.com. You can contact me through there and you could reserve your spot for any of those groups if you wanted. I am really looking forward to connecting more closely with those of you who are resonating with this piece of what I've been sharing on the show in that format.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:Whatever way you're connecting with me, whether you're listening quietly and not responding at all, which a lot of you are doing, and if you are participating or interacting, I appreciate all of that. Whatever level of connection is right for you, I'm glad that I've been able to find a way to provide that. So I hope that whatever you're receiving from me is a reminder that you are not alone. You're not doing anything wrong. Your feelings are valid given all the experiences that you have had, and those of us here understand that you don't have to just accept the stress and the anxiety and the trauma. There are things that you can do to help. I will keep trying to share them with you as much as I can.
amanda-whitehouse--phd--she-her-_2_07-22-2025_224606:So again, thank you truly for spending time with me for the past year. Thank you to all the amazing guests who took so much time to join me and were patient with me as I was learning how to do these things. I'll be tagging all of you in my posts this week, and thank you to all of you for listening. I'll see you next time, and now you know in depth a little bit more. What I mean when I say to you, don't feed the fear
Speaker:the content of this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any questions about your own medical experience or mental health needs, please consult a professional. I'm Dr. Amanda Whitehouse. Thanks for joining me. And until we chat again, remember don't feed the fear.
