The Food Allergy Brain Episode 7: Jenna Gestetner

This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Jenna Gestetner, known online as Jenna X Health, a 23-year-old content creator and patient advocate living with MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) and several other chronic conditions. What makes Jenna's story so striking is that she currently eats just eight foods yet maintains such a positive outlook on life.

Jenna breaks down what MCAS actually is and why it's so often misunderstood, including the common misconception that if a reaction isn't anaphylactic, it must just be an intolerance. She shares her diagnostic journey, the grief that comes with losing safe foods, and why finding a specialist who truly validates you changes everything. The conversation also covers the anxiety and OCD she's found to be directly tied to her MCAS symptoms, her manifestation practice using a shelf of foods she hopes to one day eat, nervous system regulation, and her experience with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) as a tool for rewiring fear responses.

The episode closes with Jenna's vision for an ideal support system, one where healthcare is woven into daily life rather than something patients have to step outside of their lives to access.

Jenna Gestetner's handles: 

Instagram, TikTok & YouTube: @jennaxhealth

Website: jennaxhealth.com

Jenna's Coloring Book: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Food-Allergies-allergy-coloring/dp/B0G6772H6P

Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia): 

Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia 

Website: allergieswithmia.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Food Allergy Brain. I'm your host, Mia Silverman, Food Allergy Advocate, Content Creator, and Master's student in clinical psychology. This podcast explores the mental and emotional side of living with food allergies through conversations with experts and people doing important work in this space. Before we begin, please remember that everything discussed on this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice. For questions about your own health, food allergies, or treatment, always consult with a qualified doctor or medical professional. On today's episode of the Food Allergy Brain, I'm joined by Jenna Gestetner, a content creator, chronic illness advocate, and the voice behind Jenna X Health. Jenna lives with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, or MCAS, and currently navigates life eating just eight foods. In this episode, we talk about what MCAS really is, how it affects daily life beyond just food, and the unique challenges that come with such a limited diet. We dive into the mental and emotional side of living with chronic illnesses. From managing the social isolation to finding joy and creativity in the midst of restriction, Jenna shares how she's built a positive, empowering online presence in a space that can often feel heavy and what it really means to live fully, even when your health dictates so much of your day-to-day. Without further ado, let's get into today's episode. Jenna Gestetner, welcome to the podcast. It's such an honor to have you on today. Obviously, we're friends, but you're such an important voice in the allergy and chronic illness space. So I'm just so happy you're here today. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. So for those that don't know who you are, could you just share a bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So, as we have said, I'm Jenna Gestetner. I am 23. I just graduated from college. And you may know me on social media as Jenna X Health. I post really all about my life. Um, I truly just see my life as my life, and like this is just my life how it is. But yes, I do have MCAST moss cell activation syndrome as well as a few other chronic conditions. So I do post a lot about that and content that is very relatable and really encompasses what the experience is like, an experience that can often be quite uh invisible and can feel lonely at times.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Amazing. And I actually want to ask about MCAST, because for those that don't know what mast cell activation syndrome is, could you kind of go explain a bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yes, so MCAS is mast cell activation syndrome, and mast cells are a part of your immune system. They're sort of a type of white blood cell. And, you know, in a typical functioning immune system, they fight off all the intruders. But when you have MCAS, it's similar to allergies, um, in which, you know, there's like a molecule that is binding to the cell and it's causing it to release mediators, one of which being histamine, probably the one most people know. And then that histamine runs throughout the body and causes different symptoms. But there are hundreds of those different mediators. And when you have MCAS, it's not as simple as one specific food or one specific trigger triggers the mast cells. The mast cells are overall overreactive and they're releasing all these mediators in response to everyday things. So for me, mostly it is foods, and it mostly does affect my GI system when it comes to those foods, but I also react to things like linen material. Um, I react to temperature changes, I even react to pressure change like going on in an airplane when they adjust the cabin pressure. I'm having what would typically look people would see as an allergic reaction and all of those symptoms that are coming from my immune system in response to these things that you might not typically see as something somebody could be allergic to.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Wow. And so take me back, when did you first get diagnosed with M-Cast or when did you start seeing symptoms happening?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

So I really started seeing symptoms the day I was born, but my whole childhood, my parents just saw it as these seemingly random disconnected health issues. I was always called sensitive. I had a sensitive stomach, I had sensitive skin, all these different things. And it wasn't until I was 13 when these things started getting worse because I used to be able to eat every food. I didn't have any problems, and then I started reacting to foods, and at first it was a few symptoms, then the symptoms increased and it became a a bigger issue. And it started to get to the point where there was a very limited amount of foods that I could eat. And that's when we started to try and figure out what's wrong here. And what led me ultimately to getting a diagnosis for MCAS was that I noticed all these different seemingly random issues all connected under the umbrella of inflammation, and that led us to realizing, okay, it's probably something with the immune system. I did get diagnosed with a couple of autoimmune diseases. At first, it was a as a way for them to explain everything and be like, well, it's probably just something autoimmune. Um, when in reality it was so much more than that. But I do also have a couple of autoimmune conditions. And ultimately, I I when I was 18, my senior year of high school, I got diagnosed with MCAS.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Wow. And so because you mentioned that you have like to have like a limited diet with the foods you can eat, what are the foods you can eat right now? I think it's eight foods. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So there are eight foods I can eat right now. Um I can have two proteins. I can have turkey and white fish, then I can have green beans, zucchini, cucumber, chia seeds, olive oil, and seaweed. And then I can have salt. And because there are no carbs in my diet, that was a big issue when I first got down to the eight foods. I've been able to supplement with glucose powder, so it's pure glucose. And that's really the only way I'm able to get any sort of sugars into my diet.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And how does it feel being able to only eat eight foods? Like, do you get sick of eating the same things? Like, how do you navigate that on a day-to-day basis?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

I really enjoy my foods. At a baseline, I enjoy my foods. I look forward to my meals. When I'm eating it, I love I love it. It tastes good. I enjoy eating my food. The difficulties for me come with everything that comes with what food means in society. Food is a very social thing. So it's it's very difficult for me to go out to a restaurant with people. And even just going out and leaving the house, I have to be very careful about how long am I leaving the house. You know, I can't really bring bring food with me, package it and bring it with. So travel can be challenging. And the stress and the mental load that that takes also then takes me away from other things. Like travel isn't just difficult logistically because of the food, but it's also difficult because I feel a lot of the times that I'm not able to fully be present and enjoying the experience because I'm thinking so much about what I have to do with foods. Uh, and there have been times where I get a little bit sick of what I'm eating, but I also think there's so much you can do, even with such a few amount of foods, that if I get sick of it, I can just switch it up.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Exactly. And I mean, the content that you post, you're so creative of the different types of recipes you've made. What is like your proudest recipe you made or one that you really like are loving this like at the current moment?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

I think my best recipe has to have been the birthday cakes I've made. I've made a few different birthday cakes. This year's was definitely the best. I figured out how to really use water lily seeds were the MVP. Yeah. Water lily seeds were the MVP. And I really figured out how to use them. And I made a birthday cake, definitely my most delicious birthday cake, but I also, with the same methodologies, I made a pear tart, which that was incredible. Tell me why it tasted like there was cinnamon in it. Wow. I don't like it had so much depth of flavor and a cake pop.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Amazing. It was great. Amazing. I think it's, you know, when you have a lot of because I think I would consider these like allergies, and you have to be very creative. So I really admire how you've been able to kind of like take this and turn it into something that's really like empowering for yourself and super creative with your content and trying different recipes out, even if they like suck, but you still try them out anyway. And that's the whole like fun of watching your content. I guess I'd love to get back to more about MCAS because I feel like this diagnosis or this health condition is somewhat not like new, but I feel it's becoming more and more common. I'm starting to see that there's a lot of misconceptions out there. Like, what are some common misconceptions you've seen people like leaving your comments or that you've even talked to doctors about? Because lots of doctors can kind of gaslight you and think that symptoms you're happy are not real, or you have to do certain things to help treat them. Like, what are some common misconceptions you've experienced so far in your health journey?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I'll sort of go chronologically at first, and remember this was also the time, this was in what the like 2020. So not only was there COVID, but there was also just this big craze of gut health. And obviously that's still a very important thing. But at first, because of the symptoms I was having, it was labeled as a sensitivity, likely because of my gut microbiome. So that was a misconception that I wasn't having allergy symptoms or symptoms from my immune system, but I was having uh intolerance symptoms. So that is also another misconception is well, no, if you're not having anaphylaxis, these are actually just intolerances. But as far as my understanding goes, uh the difference is that an intolerance is the digestive system, it's your body saying, I can't process this properly. And an allergy is your immune system reacting and truly believing that this food is a threat. And so even though, you know, the foods that I was reacting to, I wasn't having anaphylaxis, I was having these very scary reactions, and it is still an allergy-driven reaction, and that's another misconception I get, or something that people say a lot is well, if you if it's not life-threatening, why don't you just eat it and bear the symptoms? First of all, don't really want to do that. No, I'm very happy with the sacrifice of eating less foods, being that I get to live my life symptom, you know, fairly symptom-free in comparison to eating those. But also I've had, you know, I used to be able to eat peanuts and now I can't even be in the same room as a peanut without having difficulty breathing. So these reactions can change and it is very unpredictable. And I think that's one of the biggest fears that comes with having MCAS for me is that fear of the unknown of, well, I could eat it yesterday. Can I truly eat it today? Because I have had times where you start reacting. And for me, the pattern has typically been that the reactions get worse once I start reacting to something. So I don't want to eat something just because I I I'm not going to eat it and sacrifice it just to taste the food.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Right. And, you know, you brought something kind of interesting up about how the reactions are not always predictable, that they can change. And I know like last year you were able to eat more foods, and I can only eat eight. And so how did it feel when you like started reacting to certain things? I know you were able to have dates at one point, now you can't. Like, how did that feel? And how did you kind of navigate that kind of grief if you experience grief after not being able to eat that same food?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

There's two parts to all of the different things that come with having MCAS, and that relates to what I just said as well, because you know, there's the part of am I eating the food or not eating the food? And then there's the mental aspect to it. It's like if I'm constantly eating foods that I know are going to harm me, I'm essentially going into the situation being like, it's it's a form of self-harm. It's a form of self-harm to sacrifice to feel something, to taste this food. And so when I started reacting to new foods, there were those two aspects. There was the logistical aspect of, okay, uh, because for anyone who doesn't know, the five foods, I was up to 14, went down to nine, um, then to eight. But originally the five uh foods were all fruits. And so logistically, that was very different. It's how do I manage my carb intake now? How do I make sure I'm eating enough, eating the right balance? Um, I now don't have something sweet in my diet. I I'm someone with a big sweet tooth. And then there was the aspect of how it felt. It definitely at first was very disorienting. I would go throughout my day thinking, oh, like I'm really excited to eat dates, and then I wouldn't be able to have them. And there was definitely that grief of it's a different type of life that I'm living, and I'm not able to get, you know, no matter how many foods you can eat, you sort of do start to outsource some of your joy to those foods. And I would get a little bit of dopamine every time I would eat those foods, especially because they were foods I enjoyed so much. So I lost that. I suddenly lost that. And that was putting aside the rest of it, which was like, why am I reacting to these foods suddenly? Am I getting worse? I thought I was getting better and now I'm getting worse, which I was able to figure out the reason why I started to react, reacting to those, and that definitely did give me a lot of mental peace. But it is just a process in which you you learn to get used to those kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Wow. I mean, that's really hard. And it's like probably to when you go to tell your doctor about you becoming allergic to these foods, like how do they respond to that? Like, are they even helpful?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Like, it's challenging because I'm already sort of gaslighting myself because I don't really understand what's happening, and it seems so unbelievable that I find that sometimes they do too. And I've definitely had a lot of doctors that don't really believe it, or maybe they they're like, okay, I believe that you're reacting to the foods, but I don't believe your theory at all of why. But I am very grateful that I do have a masked self-specialist who truly just I don't know what his philosophy is that's so different for everybody else, and if it's that our philosophies on it just align so well, but I think he just truly does understand the complex nature and how it is so different for everybody. And just because you had one patient that had XYZ doesn't mean I do too. And that is definitely the most validating thing.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

I think that's so important to have a doctor that like validates your experience. I feel like we discussed this earlier, like outside of the podcast, about how doctors like will put you in a box. I feel like everyone's health is so unique and different. So I'm glad that you're able to find a physician who sees like the different nuances and like wants to help you and actually like validates you, like that is so important because then you feel like you're not going crazy, it's not just me like the doctor actually says, like, no, like this is legit. I want to kind of transition a bit more to like the mental health impacts of having MCAS. So, just generally speaking, how has having MCAST impacted your mental health over the years?

SPEAKER_01 14:33

I think it's impacted it in a lot of ways, and it's truly made me understand the power of my mind because ultimately our life is defined by our perception and how we feel. And even with the example we were just talking about with the doctor, you know, we we do ultimately go to the doctor to hopefully find a solution to a problem that we have. But sometimes we don't have control over that. And sometimes the doctor doesn't even have control over it. They don't know what medication is going to work for you, they don't know if this test is going to come back with the result that we want. Um, they're just doing their best based off of the expertise and information they have. And so even just validating somebody and giving them that peace of mind that they need truly does help. And I think is a huge part of the experience of healthcare and of receiving the treatments and the medicine, which I think is has been one of the biggest parts of my journey, is understanding that I don't only need doctors who have certain tools or knowledge, but I also need a doctor who truly just does validate me because that is going to give me the fuel that I need to keep going if I'm not able to find a solution immediately.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Absolutely. I think that's so important. And what you just said, that was so beautifully said. And I think that pairing that to like obviously you want to have a doctor that validates you, but also have to find ways to validate yourself and find ways to kind of cope with having MCAS because at this current moment, there's not like a one set treatment that works for everyone. So you kind of have this for life until the treatment treatment that's going to like get rid of it. And I know on your page you're starting to post more about manifesting. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah. So to give a little bit of a baseline of where my mindset has always been, I have always been a very positive person. I do see the world in a glass half full type of way, but that hasn't come that but I also do have struggles. I have always had anxiety and OCD, and I actually do notice they're directly tied to my MCAS symptoms. So I don't know if it's like a what came first, the chicken or the egg type of thing, but I do feel that when my MCAS symptoms are worse, it for whatever reason probably chemically is producing more of those chemicals that feed my anxiety and my OCD. So first of all, acknowledging that, and despite how positive I am, that is always there. Like whatever I say, I just want people to know that that is a part of where my brain is at, always, no matter how positive I'm thinking. Um, and with that, being able to acknowledge, okay, when I'm having those thoughts, sometimes I can truly just be like, that's just my brain wanting to create doubt. That's just my brain trying to find something to grasp onto because I've had these experiences where it can be great and then not so great. So it wants to prepare me and protect me. And understanding that those parts of me are are they have a purpose. Like they're trying to protect me, even if I don't want that to be the case. And then going into the other side of it is okay, what do I have the power over? I don't always have the power over what is happening in my life, but I always have the power over how I see it and what I choose to do and what I choose to create in my life. And we can always create joy, we can always create positivity. And I believe in the power, for me, manifestation is believing in the power of possibility. The world has infinite possibilities and you never know what can come next. And I think by deciding that, oh, this is just how my life's gonna be the rest of my life, I can't do this, I can't do that definitive statements. I think collapse all of those possibilities. And it's not that I believe that thinking differently is going to man magically manifest myself to be able to eat more foods and magically manifest my life to change, but I do believe that by thinking differently and putting my sights set on what I want, it opens up the possibilities to truly surrendering to whatever's going to take me there.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I love that. And I think the way you are manifesting, at least on your social media, where you have like this shelf with all of these potential foods you were hoping to eat. Like, tell me more about that and what your thought process was with that and how how it's going, how you're feeling about this manifestation journey you're on.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

So that's a little bit more of a tangible thing. I was getting a lot more into the mindset side of things and brain retraining and nervous system regulation, and I truly realized how dysregulated my nervous system had been for so long and how much that was actually affecting my physical health. And I think there are a lot of narratives in there that that are like, oh, well, if you're reacting to a food, it's purely because your nervous system can't handle it. Like you're basically tricking your body into thinking that it's reacting to it. And and I don't believe that. I believe there's a huge aspect of our nervous system, but I see it more as a gateway. It's like the gate code to enter, and then whatever's happening in inside is sort of separate. But I thought, if you can't even enter the gate, how are we ever supposed to like deal with what's happening inside? So I would notice that as much as I would think about different foods I would want to eat, when I would see them in my life, I would instantly have this like physiological response, like this fear response. And there's science that shows that our emotional brains respond and react before our logical brains can. So, say I'm on a new treatment in the future and I believe that I might be able to try new foods, that logical side of, you know, maybe this is a food I don't react to anymore, probably won't respond until after the emotional side of like all these past experiences I've had of reacting to these things, all these fears, have a chance to. And so for me, that was a way of showing myself not only every single day I'm going to look at those foods and think that's what I'm working towards, that's my future. But even just looking at them. And every time I look at them, I sort of like envision myself eating it and envision myself being happy eating it. And at first it was scary. I would look at those foods, especially some of the ones that have some of my more severe reactions, like nuts or I don't even think I have anything with oats in there, but yeah, those kinds of things. And I would feel that physiological response, and now I don't anymore. It becomes more normalized in my life because we're comfortable with what's familiar. Yeah. And as humans, we don't like anything that's uncomfortable. But I want to get myself comfortable with what's uncomfortable because I actually want the things that are uncomfortable. Those are the things that are not in my life right now.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I mean, as I always say, like, you cannot grow when you're comfortable. You have to be super uncomfortable to grow. So I think that is such a healthy way to cope and very unconventional. I always like to ask like my guests, like, as I've had psychologists on here, you're my first patient advocate on here, which is so awesome. But usually I like to ask, like, what are some unconventional ways to cope? And this is very unconventional. How have you like received, like, like what was the feedback like when you posted about this online? Have you received positive feedback from it? Kind of mixed like opinions.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

I think I have received mostly positive feedback because I'm very careful about the way that I share about these topics because I know they're so nuanced and I know the the narratives can be quite polarizing. And I never want anybody to think that I'm saying don't see doctors, don't take medications. I am I believe that you should be doing that. I believe you need to do that. There's a reason why. Healthcare exists, but healthcare is something that we often unfortunately don't have much control over, whether it's because you have to go through systems with insurance and get things covered, or you have to wait weeks or months to see a certain specialist that you need to see, or even just based off of the fact that, for example, with MCAS, there are hundreds of different medications and you never know what's going to work, you never know what dosage. It's a long process. But something that we do have control over is, like I said before, how we see our lives. And so I'm not saying that it is a replacement for medicine. I'm saying it is a part of health, which is a part of life. And it is something that I choose to do. It's like a habit that you build every single day. Just like people don't, unless you have obviously a reason why, but people don't wait to go for a walk or wait to meditate or wait to start going to the gym in order to before they get a prescription. Like that's not that's part of life. That's part of health. Um, and there may be parts of your health care and or your medical treatment that mean you have to adjust those kinds of things, but otherwise, this is your life and you have free will. Like you you are in charge of all your life. And I believe the best way to be happy is to do all of the things that are in your control and take full advantage of them.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I think that's so true. And I also think that you've emphasized in your content about the importance of discipline as well as being part of like kind of taking care of yourself and taking control of your life. And you mentioned, you know, we've as friends, but also but on this podcast episode about your nervous system. And I feel like, you know, as I've seen you, you have a very um like a really like consistent morning routine that kind of seems to really help your nervous system and even just things you things you do throughout the week, you go to like the infrared sauna. Like, tell me about like what are some ways that you've had to like gain discipline to kind of regulate regulate your nervous system more and keep you kind of like emotionally like intact.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah, I know that my nervous system is very dysregulated and I've been able to understand what some of the triggers are for that and some of the things that help, and building that into my routine. I'm a very routined person, but the biggest skill I've learned is discipline, and I believe discipline is a skill anyone can build. But when you have a chronic illness, discipline looks a little bit different. It's not as simple as, you know, I'm going to decide to go to the gym five days a week, because that can actually make things worse. That can make you more stressed, especially when you might tell yourself, I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow, and you wake up tomorrow and you have all these symptoms. It's way more likely than somebody who doesn't have a chronic illness that your energy levels and your function level will differ day to day and that you can't really predict that. And so if you start stressing about whether or not you can predict it, that only perpetuates that stress and that dysregulation. And I started to notice that, you know, I used to go and do 6 a.m. high-intensity interval training workouts every single day. And I saw that as discipline. It was I'm waking up at 5 a.m. every day and I'm going to this hour-long workout class. And I didn't realize that I, and I thought it made me feel really good, but I didn't realize I was I was running on adrenaline. I was feeling good because I was running on adrenaline. And I started to realize how much how much that was affecting me negatively. And I stopped doing it at first. I was like, I feel so tired. I want to feel energy. I felt more energy. This is horrible. I shouldn't do this. And then I started to realize I actually think my feeling tired was just feeling calm. And I just literally did not know what it was like to feel calm. I did not know what it was like to feel at ease and not stressed and hyper just hyperactive all the time. And it was just because I was perpetuating that cycle of running on adrenaline every day. And so now to me, discipline isn't I'm going to do this thing every single day. It's understanding myself enough to know, say I wake up in the morning and I told myself I was going to go to the gym and I'm not feeling great. It's understanding myself enough to know do I have this resistance against going to the gym, for example? Do I have this resistance because I'm being lazy? Because I don't want to, because I'm just like, eh, I can do something else. Or is it truly because I believe the best thing for me to do in this moment is to rest? And at first it was more challenging, but now discipline is truly just doing what is best for my body in the present moment and trusting myself enough to know that if I don't do something, it's because I truly believe it's the best thing for me and not because I'm just being lazy or don't feel like it. And that if I decided that the best thing for me to do was say not to go to the gym, that I trust myself that, okay, well, I'm going to do it tomorrow then. Well, the next time I feel good, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

I think that's I think it's just a really important like topic, just generally speaking. I feel like on social media, at least people really want to like promote this like getting up at 5 a.m., like workout class, like being super disciplined and being productive. And if you rest, that is seen as like you being lazy. I think that if you can reframe your thoughts as like resting isn't acting it can actually be seen as productive, that probably is really helpful. And so what kind of made you shift from having this like super intense routine where you're going to the gym like early in the morning to now like kind of, you know, still like taking care of your body, but in a way that is best suited for you? Like how how did that shift happen?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

I mean, it happened because of what I said. I I realized that I was running on adrenaline. I realized that the thing that I thought was making me feel good was making me feel good, but the feel good wasn't actually good for me. Yeah. And I've had that experience even with medications I've tried recently where I go on them and I think, oh my God, I feel so good. And then after a week, I start to notice I'm not sleeping as well. I'm very shaky. And I realize that feeling good is actually my nervous system being so wired and that my body is just overproducing adrenaline. And it's sort of like a band-aid effect. It makes you feel like you feel good. I think it's sort of similar to like caffeine or any other kind of substance that you can use to feel a certain way. Um, but I also think that it's all a process. Life is, like I said, life is about perception. Like life is controlled by our minds. And I think that if you would have told me a few years ago, you should think this way, like any way that I think now, you should think this way. I probably would have been like, stop talking to me. Why are you telling me to do that? I think you have to go on your own journey with this and you have to be intrinsically motivated. And we were talking about this just with each other the other day. But life is really just about learning your own mind and playing games with it. Yes, like that's just so true. You just have to trick your mind. You have to learn how to trick your own mind and trick your mind into doing whatever you want it to do.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Literally could not agree more. Um, and you've mentioned, you know, personally about this therapy you're doing this like some sort of tapping therapy. Can you tell me more about that? Because that was super intriguing.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Yeah, so it's called EFT Emotional Freedom Technique. And over the past year and a half, I told myself that I would be open to just trying any of those kinds of things because they're typically very low risk. Like there's not really any risk in basically talking with somebody and tapping on different areas of your body or like doing Reiki, going to lie on a table while someone stands there. Either it'll help you or it won't. And it's not like I'm giving up any of my medical treatments to do that. I'm just sort of seeing what can happen from it and whether or not it's a placebo effect, you know. But honestly, don't really care. If it works, it works. And EFT, the idea is called emotional freedom technique. The idea around it is that emotions are sort of stored as tension in your body and that there are different areas that are meridians. It has something I don't know the exact explanation, energy meridians. You tap on them, and I think the tapping is a sort of bilateral stimulation, which helps ease your nervous system and helps you process some of those things. But also, what I've come to learn about all of these different things is they're actually all the kind of the same thing. I know some of the big things that we talk about when it comes to mindset, manifestation, health, all of that is, you know, like Joe Dispenser meditations, the limbic system retraining and brain retraining, EFT, even EMDR, which has like real clinical-backed research. It's all kind of the same philosophies. It's around neuroplasticity and bilateral stimulation or some other type of nervous system regulation. It's like, let's let's use neuroplasticity and the idea that you can rewire your brain and train your brain into doing something else, just like building any kind of habit. The more you do it, the stronger it gets, the easier it gets, the more default it becomes. But for some people who are already on high alert and have their walls up, we first need to bring their walls down a bit. And we can do that through bilateral stimulation or nervous system regulation, whether that's breathing, meditating, tapping, an EMDR, like the, you know, when you move your eyes, or even just I've seen people do EMDR with just bilateral tapping. So it truly is all these methodologies. And I also think that's another thing that's been instrumental in my journey is not only learning these individual practices, because sometimes I think when you learn an individual practice, it can be easy to fall into the narrative around it. And I personally don't always buy into those narratives, like with the brain retraining limbic system retraining program. The narrative was like, this heals your chronic illness, this cures it. And I don't buy that. So instead of buying into that, I just learn and seek to understand why these things work. And now I have my own toolbox of not just individual tools and practices, but actual methodologies and reasons why these things work.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

That's so cool. So could you like walk me through how a session would work? Like, would you come in? Like how like how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 31:46

For EFT, um, so you go in the way that I do it, and I'm sure it's different for different people, but the person I do it with, how it works, is so I go into the session and we start talking about whatever it is that's on my mind, and we tap on different the different areas, and you can Google like what the the different areas are. And so you tap and you tap while you're talking, and then the way that the person I do it with, he says statements and you repeat them back. And sometimes, for example, he'll say something and I'll go to say it back, and it's like I just I heard exactly what he said, but I've now forgot. And that's sort of an indication that maybe your brain doesn't want to hear it, and it sometimes can be very insightful.

unknown 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

But ultimately, you are you are rewiring your brain, you're accepting maybe this negative belief pattern that you have, and you're truly accepting yourself for it. You're not trying to say, like, I'm getting rid of that because I don't want it. No, like I'm accepting there's a reason I feel this way, and it's okay to feel that way. Um, but like here, what about try like let's try on this belief system? Like, what if we could believe something else? Um, like, for example, you know, believing that you're never going to get better and your life's never going to change. Like, it's okay to believe that, and there's a reason why you you might believe that, but what if what if we could think differently? And what if we could try something different? And you don't have to do EFT with a practitioner, you can do it on your own, but just by tapping. And there are even YouTube videos where you just repeat whatever they're saying in the video and it's around a certain topic.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

That's so cool, and it's probably has over like helped like your just your health journey. You're a very positive person anyway. And I wanted to ask, you know, what is what are a few positive things that MCAS has brought into your life?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

It has made me even more of a problem solver. I think I've always been somebody who can spot patterns really easily and solve problems, but it's given me another outlet to sort of practice that and to use that in my life. I also think honestly, being on social media and posting online and sharing more about my life online has brought so many positives into my life. I've been able to connect with this incredible community of other people who are going through similar experiences, and even if it doesn't look the exact same, we can all relate. And, you know, I I always try to emphasize that it is not a competition. I'll sometimes get comments of people saying, like, oh well, I could never imagine like yours is much worse, but I only have one allergy, and yours is much worse, though. I'm like, but it's not because you know what you know in the context of your life, and that is just as valid as my experiences. And being able to connect with people has been amazing. And I actually also think that people in my life, because it can be very hard and vulnerable to share to people in your everyday life, especially people who maybe in the past didn't understand, it's given them more insight into my experience and more language and more understanding to connect with me on.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

That's I love that so much, Jenna. And actually want to discuss my very social media journey because I'm super curious, and I think the listeners are also very curious about that. So tell me like what when like take me back to when you started posting on social media, like what got you interested in posting online about your like health journey? Like what like how did that come to be?

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah, I've always been a very creative person and enjoyed creating anything, and I honestly thought that I would never post anything publicly about my life online ever. And after something somebody said, it just got into my mind of maybe I could post something online, maybe people would find it interesting. But I I never really thought that I would find other people that were experiencing the same thing. And very quickly after I started posting, I realized there were so many other people that, you know, had a similar experience. And I'd never met anybody else in my everyday life that had had MCAS. And suddenly I had thousands of people that had it or thought they had it, or just related to an experience relating to the lived experience of MCAS. And ever since then, I've just really enjoyed the creation process, creating the content, getting to be creative in what I'm putting out there, and then getting to connect with people on that and building this amazing community.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

That is that's so amazing. And I'm just so like proud of you and how much your account has grown. Like the content you post is so like high quality, so like well thought out, and just so creative. And you know, being a content creator and with the big platform that you have, because you're you have like what over 240,000 people across social platforms, like probably get lots of hate comments. And as most people with a big platform do, when you get these hate comments, how do you deal with that? How do you navigate that?

SPEAKER_01 36:41

I honestly try not to pay attention to it because everybody is going to have something to say. I don't think as humans we were really like built to have this many people's eyes on us.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

And ultimately, people don't know me in that in the way that my everyday life is. That is one part of my life, and it is one sliver of my day and my experience. And yes, sometimes it does feel uncomfortable to feel like, well, I I could explain it. I could explain, you know, that it's a misunderstanding, but I think people who comment hateful messages are doing it in order to try and get a reaction or in order to try and do something, they they want something out of that. And if it's purely for them to like express their negativity that they have inside, yes, sure, it's unfortunate that that they're doing it towards me, but it actually has nothing to do with me. So I'm just gonna leave it there.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

It's a very mature way to look at it and very healthy. And you know, with you being like a social media like influencer influencer, like that word is obviously has like its pros and cons, but you're a content creator, you do social media. How do you kind of balance like wanting to be present in the moment and live your life, but then also want to like showcase parts of your life as well? Like, how are we able to find a balance in that?

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Well, first of all, I am an influencer because I'm influencing people to live their life in a more positive and just enjoy their life and be more present in their life and live their life in that way.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

So, yes, we are influenced, we are influencers. Yes, we are influencers. We're just such a like negative association. Yeah, we are. You're so influencers. Own it, we gotta own it. We are. But sorry, you're good. I was just asking, like, how do you find a balance and like wanting to be present in the moment, but then also wanting to like display and showcase parts of your life? Because it can be so easy to fall into wanting to post about everything you're doing in your life and like being super vulnerable. So, how do you find like a balance in that?

SPEAKER_01 38:35

You know, I'm an entrepreneur and I do lots of different things, but ultimately being an influencer, content creator is a business for me. It is a brand that I am building and creating this community. And I really want to make people feel seen and feel less alone and feel more empowered and give them tools to live their best life through their health. Um, but I think really acknowledging that it is a business and a thing that I'm creating outside of myself has really helped because I've been able to adjust based on what I find. I want to live my life and make decisions, especially when it comes to something as sensitive as my health. I want to make those away from whatever's happening online and structuring the way that I work and the way that I create uh and the way that I leverage how I how I define success um has really helped me create that separation.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

That's great. That's really healthy. I think it's because people can get lost in like wanting to just like showcase everything. So I think finding, like knowing that this is like a boundary, this is your business, not your like your whole life is so important. And just generally speaking, like how has posting on social media about your health kind of changed your perspective on your health journey in general?

SPEAKER_01 39:52

I think it's opened me up to a lot of different ways of thinking. Even a year ago, I said I did not like the word, the term chronic illness at all. And I still don't identify with it personally, but I use it more now because I've come to understand that it can be a really valuable way to connect with a community. And it's things like that. I'm I'm always open to learning and changing my perspectives, and I think that's part of life, and that's just that is life, and it's opened me up to that and to meeting new people, seeing different people's perspectives, but it's also made me realize how a lot of the chronic illness community is very negative, and there's so much validity in having negative feelings, and I never want anybody to think that they shouldn't have any negative feelings about their life. And I I do all the time, but it's one thing to center your identity on negative feelings, I think that only pulls you backwards, but it's another to acknowledge that you have negative feelings, but choose to live your life from positivity.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

You have I mean, I feel like you're just you're such a light in this space, and I feel like oftentimes like I when I've seen like chronic health concretors posting, it's oftentimes very like negative, um, which is again like that's fine, but to see like your patients seeing how positive you are and how you're really creative, it's very empowering. It's it's very refreshing too. So I feel like you're doing such important work in this space, and we're all so grateful for you, Jenna. So, my last question that I ask every guest of mine is if you could design the ideal emotional and medical support system for people with food allergies and now like chronic illnesses for families and patients, what would that look like to you?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

I think it would be something that integrates our experience of life much more. I think as it is now, healthcare services feel like for a lot of people something that they're going out of their life for. Like I have to take time out of my life, I have to go away from my life, and it's like then when you leave the doctor's office, I have to go back to my life, I have to go back to these struggles. And it would be something that understands the way that our health is truly interconnected and is one with our life and provides services that don't just treat the biology of what's happening, but also help us live our lives more.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Wow, that's a that's a great answer. Every time I ask this question, the answer is always different. This was like that is I think that's so true. I think that you know, oftentimes you go to the doctors, whatever, but then you need to go back to reality and you're kind of stuck with this like health condition. So to I think your perspective, what you're what you're envisioning is ideal, that is the dream, and I love that. So for those that want to follow you and support what you do, what what are your social media handles? Where can they find you? And I'll link in the description below.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Jenna X Health. And for anybody who is interested as well, I actually have a coloring book that I published a few months ago. It's a food allergy and moss cell coloring book. It's got little poems in it. I worked with an incredible designer to make all of the designs that really illustrate life with food allergies, and that's linked in my website that's linked in my bio everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

I mean, the color I have the coloring book. It's great. I love it. So definitely recommend that. Um, but Jenna, thank you so much for being here today. This is such a great conversation, and you're just, again, such a light and a positive um like place of hope. And so just thank you for all the work you do for the food allergy community and also the chronic illness community and kind of bridging that gap together. You're a very outstanding person. I just can't wait to just see how like what you keep doing with your future. You're gonna do amazing things. So thank you for being here today, Jenna.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Thank you, Mia. I'm so appreciative of you creating this podcast and creating this space and having me and having this conversation.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Thank you all for listening to today's episode. I hope you all I hope you all have a great day, night, or afternoon, wherever you're from. And I will see you next time. Bye.