Black Families and Food Allergies with Renia Butler, Black Allergy Mama

In this episode, I’m joined by Renia Butler, founder of Black Allergy Mama, for an honest and powerful conversation about race, food allergy advocacy, and mental health.

Renia shares her personal journey navigating food allergies as a Black mother, the systemic gaps she witnessed firsthand, and how those experiences fueled her advocacy work. We explore the emotional labor families carry, the importance of representation and trust in medical care, and how food allergy spaces can—and must—become more inclusive and trauma-informed.

This episode is essential listening for parents, clinicians, advocates, and anyone who wants to better understand the full human experience behind food allergy care.

https://blackallergymama.com/
@blackallergymama

Also mentioned in this episode:
Elijah Alavi Foundation: https://www.elijahalavifoundation.org/
Food Equality Initiative: https://www.foodequalityinitiative.org/

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

Transcript

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 0:00

They're big conversations. These are big, heavily weighted conversations, just like you say that folks tend not, not to know how to have, and when you don't know how to do something, you tend to avoid it. My goal is to communicate to those allies and those advocates small to medium sized things that can be done or understood so that you can also be just as powerful as food allergy caregivers in that space.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 0:25

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.. Today I am joined by Renia Butler, widely known as Black Allergy Mama. She's an advocate and a powerful voice in the food allergy community who is supporting others and shining a light on the lived experiences of black families navigating food allergies. Renia is an advanced food allergy and intolerances nutritional advisor(AFAINA), and her work is based on her experiences as a mom of two daughters, one of which has food allergies and eczema. In this conversation, we talk about the intersections of race advocacy, medical care, and mental health, and things that often go unseen or unspoken in mainstream allergy spaces. Renia shares her personal journey, the gaps she's worked to fill through her advocacy and the emotional labor that many families manage. This is a conversation about representation, grief, resilience, and what it truly means to support families. I'm so grateful for Renia's honesty, clarity, insights, wisdom, and her generosity in sharing her story with us today. Renia, thank you so much for joining me today. This is such an important conversation. I love how your brain works and the way that you communicate, and I'm so excited that you're here to share that with me and my audience.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 1:53

Thank you so much for having me and opening this space up to topics and a voice like mine. I think there are a lot of folks in the food allergy space, caregivers, allies, advocates, and those who are managing food allergies that really need to feel valued. I'm hoping that I've done my due diligence and, and dotted all of my I's and crossed all my T's to sort of ensure that folks can walk away empowered and encouraged.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 2:22

Why don't you give everybody a little bit of background about you and what your expertise and passions are.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 2:27

Sure. So, I obviously am a food allergy mom. First and foremost, I'm a food allergy mom. I'm a mom to two sweet little girls. And in my professional life, I work very closely with social work the sphere of injustice. I work with graduate level students to ensure that they can go out into the world and assist in leveling the playing field. Working to balance the scales of injustice and food allergies just happens to be my passion point, given that it is a, a major part of my life and, and current lived experience.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 3:00

These topics that we want to talk about, inequities and underserved populations really affect all things. So it's one little bite of this gigantic conversation, but here in our little food allergy community I think we do have a really positive and connected community of people that I hope want to understand and find a spot where they can take action about this issue.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 3:20

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And I think it starts with listening. And so I am so grateful for spaces like this because I find when we listen more than we talk, we walk away better than we arrived. And I just love that just listen, soak it all in, and work collaboratively to sort of restore that missing piece.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 3:42

Best advice that I think you could give. For me as a psychologist, I think that's the key to a lot of the issues that we face. It's hard to do. This can be a heated topic. People naturally get defensive and they don't listen. They want to defend and explain. So I would like to listen and I hope you could start by giving us a picture of what we're facing with this in terms of the food allergy world specifically.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 4:03

Sure. So one thing that I have found along my gosh, almost eight year journey of being a food allergy parent is that when we first arrived at this food allergy I could not look comfortably to my left or my right and see someone who looked like my family to get the assistance, the guidance, the protection that myself and my family needed at that time. So that's sort of what got Black Allergy Mama my platform going was just that lack of assistance from the black and brown community. And I have to be honest with you that the initial start of our journey, that hurt me, that made me sad, that made me angry because I saw all of these other families and communities relying upon each other, sharing resources and access and tools and tips and it was just lacking in, in my area. So I decided to be the change that I wanted to see. And I started my platform to sort of just really elevate my journey and, and, and talk about what was going on with my daughter and, and me as a, a mom, a black mom how, you know, that sort of affected our everyday lives. And so as I, you know, continued down the path of living as a food allergy caregiver, I decided that it was best for me to stop looking and to be, and I just started sharing tips and being more conscious about the things that I was saying and being more conscious about the way that I was interacting with my healthcare providers, with my daughter's, healthcare providers, or allergists, dermatologists, pediatricians, because I realized that the information that they were giving me as someone who I, I am very transparent about the privilege that I speak from. I have insurance. I have a, a partner who also makes a living wage and we have grandparents and cousins and aunts who protect and support and look out for not only our food allergic child. our other daughter as well. I understand that there are families out there that look like mine that definitely don't have that support. So when I am engaging with these healthcare practitioners, not only am I getting information from my daughter, but I'm getting information that I can bring back and, share on my platform so that people can come to me who are missing that in, in their healthcare offices and spaces to sort of just not be a doctor because I'm so far from that, just to be a servant, and a and a vessel if you will, to sort of share that information with the masses who may be missing it.

6:40

Thank you for being so open about what you're navigating food allergy wise and just the realities of being a black family in medical spaces. So many people are benefiting from you taking the time and making yourself vulnerable to do that. Research consistently shows that chronic stress, bias and historical trauma shape the impact of healthcare experiences. Can you talk about how those layers show up for you?

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 7:04

sometimes I almost have to take a step back and I have to check myself and I have to say to myself, do I feel as though we are being treated differently because of the way that we look? Am I behaving differently in this space because of historical experiences that black and brown folks have experienced in this country? Am I walking into this space behaving differently because I am hoping for a different outcome? And that shouldn't be the case. Everybody should be able to walk into their healthcare practitioner's office, their allergist office, and feel as though they are going to receive the same care as the folks who came before them. I have to sometimes decide whether or not the way that I feel in the doctor's office is rooted in historical trauma. There are a lot of studies that you can read just about the cruel mistreatment of black bodies in this country. And so, you know, we carry as, as black people in this country, we carry around. I, I think a different set of worries, anxieties. And I know that visiting the doctor's office is probably one of those I shouldn't even say probably. I know that it is. Statistically speaking, when we talk about outside of food allergies, when we talk about the connection to other disparities in healthcare, one thing that pops in my mind is black maternal health. Black women are approximately three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women, or 80% of maternal deaths in the US are considered preventable. That's just major to me because maternal health is where all of this starts. And so when you start with maternal health and you already have those anxieties, when you start getting to food allergies and asthma and all of these other things it can't help but to continue to layer and layer on top of it until eventually you're just not going to the doctor as often as you should. You're not seeing your pediatrician as often as you should. You're not getting those regular checkups that food allergy children need because of all of this fear, all of these disparities When you look just over the, the grand scheme of healthcare in the United States, I can't necessarily speak to outside of the United States, but in this country, this is where most of the statistics I found are, are rooted in the clinical work, clinical research.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 9:29

Specifically with food allergy, there's this layer of something physical and medical that is actually contributing to higher rates of allergic diseases in underserved communities.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 9:39

One thing that I think when I first started on this food allergy journey that I found of interest to me is the statistics is that more black and Hispanic children actually have food allergies, but due to the increased lack of diagnosis, misdiagnosis, inability to find a healthcare practitioner because maybe they're in a rural area where there aren't a lot of options for them, they're not going into the office, so they're not getting diagnosed. But in actuality black and brown children top the list for food allergy to specific allergens. It has a lot to do with red lining of black and brown neighborhoods within the United States. And most of those black and specifically black and Hispanic neighborhoods, the redlining has pushed these folks into neighborhoods that are heavily polluted and limited access to resources like safe foods and medical care. So that's the biggest thing that tops the list as far as why black and brown children may be more susceptible to food allergies, it's really based off of their environment. Approximately 7% of of black children that have food allergies are in these areas where they have these limited resources, limited access to assistance, misdiagnosed. I have found very few families of color who just have food allergies alone. It is usually coupled with atopic dermatitis, better known as eczema or asthma, and sometimes they get the trio. For our daughter, we found that once she was diagnosed with food allergies, we were quickly informed that these little ba baby acne is what the doctor said for the longest. Once we found out that that was atopic dermatitis, we were just like, oh, wow, something else that we have to like really learn about. And that was also a chore because when you go and you're searching on Google and you're typing in eczema, it's really different on lighter skin. It presents itself in so many different ways on both lighter and darker skin. So being able just to find that resource where I was able to say, okay, this is what I'm seeing on my black child's skin. This is what this is. Let's put these two together. was really hard for us to do to where eventually we just started taking our own photos. And when our community members would reach out to us and say,"Hey, what does this look like?" We'd send a picture back of our own child and we'd say,"This is what it looks like on black skin." And we found that to just be a very helpful tool in starting the conversation. So it's just really interesting we've become these folks who, anytime someone talks about food allergies, where we're like,"Well, hey, if you need someone to talk to or you need to sit on our couch, or you just need a, a time to breathe, we are here for you because we understand what it looks like." I think that is another layer of why I have made work a priority as it pertains to food allergies communities of color. My mother is an educator. My stepfather is a social worker. I understand insurance and I understand that healthcare providers are driven by the clock, which means you might get 30 minutes if that with your doctor. So one thing that I encourage people that are going to their first allergist appointment, if you have questions, allow me to give you the language that you can share that can get your message across in 15 minutes or less so that the doctor knows you have understanding, they know that you are coming in with a goal and that you both can collaborate to work toward that goal to ensure that you, if it's the adult with food allergies, that you are safe. Being able to provide quick language, phrases, words that resonate with f, food allergy practitioners, healthcare practitioners, pdi, pediatricians, dermatologists, just to get you over the hump so that can get the answers that you need or ask the questions that you need and create that space.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 13:51

Yes, that's so helpful because when we go to these appointments, there's so many layers of scary news and testing and language that's not familiar all being squished into this little time period. The same thing happens in schools, right? But it's a whole different set of language and expectations and procedures that are also unfamiliar to people. So let's talk about schools too. From a mental health standpoint, they are not just logistical, they're emotional ecosystems. What role do you see schools and community networks playing?

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 14:18

I think it's important that we talk about them in a way that they are elevated as resources and not necessarily just these places where you have to go and have these sometimes uncomfortable forward conversations with people, not to be scary, but life and death for some folks as it pertains to the, the foods or the things that they can come in contact with that can hurt them. When we talk about EpiPens and when we talk about resources that are out there, I think that's why pushing for ensuring that EpiPens are in schools should be a top priority. Because some folks not only rely on their schools for those types of medication, but for safe foods. There are a lot of families and underserved communities that rely on the school food programs to feed their children. So once we can communicate and sort of break down those barriers in those, in those walls, in these places within our communities that support us and vice versa, I think we have the ability to start moving in the right direction. Once systems are slowly starting to be broken down or institutionalized, you realize that good care for one is good care for all. And I think that is where a lot of people get, you know, sort of mired in the muck a little bit. Um, but. someone does not take away from you. Helping someone allows you to get the benefit of assistance as well.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 15:46

Absolutely. When we are well as a society, then each individual within the society has the opportunity to be well too. And I think we could have hours and hours of conversation about that, especially in the time that we're recording this, but there's so much dysregulation at the societal level, just unhealthy processes that are part of it that are dysregulating us as individuals. But when there are solid leadership organizations within the community who are grassroots, understanding the issues, advocating and passing that to the community. I think that that combination of lived experience and leadership is one really important piece of it.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 16:25

love that. Everything starts with the conversation. Everything starts with communication, and particularly in the black community, I find that it's rooted sort of in, just the way that we come together as community. Food is major in the black and brown community. It is a symbol of community. It is a symbol of unity. So my child, we've had to teach her how to advocate for herself. We've had to teach her how to communicate to adults and how to say, you know, politely, kindly, you know, these are things I can't have. These things are unsafe for me. Did my parents say I can have this? So I really think it comes down to, to how we are communicating, how we are, empowering our small children to sort of stick up for themselves in the world. And I think that kind of goes into when we talk about community leadership, there are organizations out there that are attempting to do the best that they can to ensure that underserved populations don't go overlooked. I think of FEI, the Food Equality Initiative in Kansas City. They have a food pantry that is I believe it is top eight free and they service the community. People can come and get bags of safe foods. Especially when you talk about food barren neighborhoods. I'm in Houston. We have a very high rate of food deserts in the city here. And so there are a lot of urban farms that have sprouted up, that are providing these areas with fresh fruits and vegetables, which I have seen and heard great things. It's moving the needle. It's helping people only embrace their food allergy diagnosis, but lean into health and wellness in a different way. And that was profound to me. When I think of legal terms and laws. I think of the Elijah Alavi Foundation. They are doing the work all over the country amplifying the importance of food allergy safety training in K through 12 schools, making it mandatory for, you know, the administrators, the principals, those who are coming into contact with our food allergy children that they're trained to save lives.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 18:37

Whenever I think about the work that they're doing and their story, for those of you who don't know, Thomas and Dina's son Elijah-Alavi passed away at his daycare. This tiny little baby who had a dairy allergy was fed a grilled cheese sandwich. And so when I think of trauma, I think of like everyone in a community, hearing a story like that, taking their child and entrusting them at this childcare center and the, and the power of that trust. Their work in building that education in those centers is so powerful in starting to establish some higher level of trust in that care. It's just such an important piece of the puzzle.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 19:15

It is such an important piece of the puzzle and it's also maddening, you know? I can't necessarily put my finger on how these tragedies that we hear about in the media, how they just are, they seem to be so easily avoidable. It always just leaves me in a, a place of sadness, you know, despair, but it energizes me to continue to share the knowledge, the tools, and share those tips that may help someone not necessarily have to suffer that trauma and those painful, painful experiences.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 19:59

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And their work is so, impactful, taking that community aspect in this community grassroots organization and implementing change in the schools to kind of create that tie between them.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 20:12

Absolutely, school protocols are important. Given the, the current political and cultural climate, during the time that this is being recorded, it is even more important for us to rely on our community infrastructure to sort of support and get us by. So whenever there are these opportunities for my voice to be heard in spaces like this, I jump at it and I just hope it carries and I hope it resonates and I hope people walk away feeling as though they can help someone or help themselves.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 20:45

Yeah. And you mentioned school protocols, one huge part of that where there's room to dismantle a barrier.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 20:50

I think it even goes down to just folks being well versed in their rights as, as it pertains to documents, like 504 plans. I had never heard of that in regards to food allergies. As I mentioned, my mother is an educator and she worked specifically with the special education population. So she was very familiar with the IEPs and

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 21:11

Yep.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 21:11

oh fours.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 21:12

Right.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 21:13

when, when we had a food allergic daughter, we had to go and look at all those documents to see how could we help her when we weren't with her. And so we've taken those documents very seriously and every year around this time, I start seeing food allergy parents who aren't privy to the document and privy to what they can do. They ask those questions and, and they say,"Well, what, what can we do?" And so that's another way, an area of advocacy is really helping someone iron out exactly what they want, the administrators at their student's school to know how to take care of them and how to treat them while they are on campus. And been such a game changer for us in so many, many ways, so many ways.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 21:52

Right. They should all be walking into school just able to learn with their needs met that will allow them to learn.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 21:58

Schools are the first line of defense or first line of response for most families. Circling back around to folks relying on the food plans. But I also think if you have the space and, and the time, being a part of your school's PTA not only helps you. Well, I was gonna say be nosy like me. That's why I'm on the PTA. I need to know everything that's happening. But it, it also allows you to sort of stake your claim in, in amplifying the importance of food allergy awareness. And you even have the ability to create programs or create moments or spaces where food allergy can become food allergies can be a part of small conversations that are being held with parents. I think that's a great way to go. I found before joining my daughter's PTA, that every opportunity I got, I was telling somebody that my child had food allergies. And it kind of goes back to a post that you had done, that was like saying, don't necessarily do that all the time. And you were saying it from a, from a, a space of kindness. You weren't saying, you weren't wagging your finger at anyone saying, don't do that. You were more just saying like, you know, as it pertains to our children, they digest it differently than the parents do, and I have to be mindful of that now that my daughter is almost eight years old, that she does not want mommy walking around telling everybody, her business is what she says."Don't tell everybody my business mom." So I have had to find ways when she's not around to sort of inform, enlighten, and encourage other parents to sort of have the conversation about food safety in the classroom and small things that they can do to be advocates and allies in that space. So it's really just a great way to have those tricky conversations with strangers.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 23:40

Let me ask you this, and I'm sure it's not an easy answer, but what are the barriers that keep people from. Having those conversations productively with their schools?

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 23:50

This is going to be very cliche, but they are feeding the fears. You don't know what you don't know.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 23:59

Mm-hmm.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 24:00

I think we live in a day and age where there's so much misinformation out there. There's so much disinformation out there that people don't know what is real. They don't know what is right. They don't know what to say. Um. I don't wanna say it's pride. I don't wanna say that sometimes there is this pridefulness that I don't want to come off as if I am not all knowing. But if I can assist anyone in navigating their fears, it is to face them head on. Because food allergies is not just something that you can sweep under the rug and it'll go away. I think even in speaking about food allergies in a way that,"Oh, they, they might outgrow it or they will outgrow it, or there is a percentage of folks who outgrow certain allergens." I don't think that's way, the way that life should be lived. I think that quality of life is very important, especially when we are taking care of children with food allergies. Fear forces us sometimes to overlook certain things. It forces us sometimes to not wanna necessarily address certain things, but that can't happen with, with food allergies. The child, as well as everyone who comes in contact with that child, has to be privy to can hurt them, what can harm them. And it has to be as serious as that because we've seen when it is not taken as seriously what can happen when these mislabeling of products are happening, when people are taking flights and they're becoming sick mid air when students are having food allergic reactions at school. 25% of first time food allergy reactions occur in the classroom.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 25:48

Right, not when mom and dad are there. Not when someone who knows that child inside and out are observing them.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 25:54

that is why it is so important that even if you are afraid of having these conversations, feel as though the knowledge is skewed. I would encourage you to say those words, to get that level of understanding. And there are people like myself who are out there, ready and willing to assist you in navigating those thoughts, grounding those thoughts in a simplistic manner that are easily digestible for anyone you talk to.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 26:25

Yeah. Our hope is that this conversation is helping some people find one of those that they couldn't find earlier. Here's someone who's willing to help you with this conversation. Here's someone working on that aspect of things.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 26:35

I find a lot of comfort in knowing that food allergy families, and advocates and allies are already doing the work. They're already attempting to move the needle. They just need platforms and partnerships and support. So when we have podcasts like yours, and when we have doctors like you and we have parents like me and caregivers like me, it really allows for the veils to come down, if you will, the unknown, to be known, those feelings to be unearthed, those conversations to be unearthed safely and, and maybe not comfortably, but the ability to have those conversations.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 27:19

Right. Not comfortably, but that's the point, right? Instead of avoiding, have uncomfortable conversations, talk about things that are difficult to face, but that it's worthwhile to do that and to put the time and the effort and investment and, and connect instead of perpetuating disconnect.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 27:34

on. Spot on.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 27:36

A lot of the terms that we use to discuss these topics are terms that are a little bit difficult for people to grasp, and I think it would be helpful if we can break those down in more practical terms. But, you know, things like systemic barriers, structural racism, structural bias. Let's talk about what those actually mean and how they contribute to the problems that we're talking about. Misdiagnosis, underdiagnosis, lack of access.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 27:57

I like to present it in a framework of the perpetuation of inequalities, oppressing certain groups. Food allergy children in rural areas have an increased rate of because there no allergists in their areas. And so those are just some of the systemic structures, if you think about barriers to healthcare, to access for certain families, they can drive right up the street and they have access to several different doctors, but in certain areas, certain underserved or rural socioeconomic areas, they have limited access to that. So they have to immediately go to the emergency room. And so when we think as food allergy caregivers, what an emergency room visit looks like, some families have had to do that more often than not. I specifically have had to go to the emergency room maybe two times with my daughter. Not only is it time consuming, there is a hefty price tag associated with ER visits. And if you do not have insurance, that is definitely something you consider when you think about taking the trip to the emergency room, sadly. I was speaking with one of my associates about food allergies specifically, and they were sharing with me that they had heard a podcast where there was a mom, she had three children, all of them had food allergies, but she could only afford one EpiPen. And so when you think about those types of food allergy emergencies, I don't, I don't know how those types of barriers are circumvented. Like how do you go around that? What, what tough decisions are parents having to make who don't have access to that level of care?

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 29:52

Right, and I just can't think of as an allergy mom, anything more heartbreaking than having to make that decision or having to make that choice or prioritize who that's with and when, knowing the importance of that epinephrine.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 30:04

Absolutely. So we talk about where people live. I think it sort of goes back to how historically black and brown communities were created. and I will not give you a history lesson today, but it is definitely something that is still happening. As I mentioned, I live in Houston and there was this huge debacle where our democratic leadership were opposed to the way that redistricting is happening in our city right now and what this looks like and how this can affect these populations and getting the access to care that they need. They're not making it easier. It's actually redrawing lines, changing maps, which unfortunately pushes in, structural racism, structural barriers. All of these things are being amplified because these maps are being redrawn. That is the way that a lot of black and brown communities have come to be today. And so in these areas that are predominantly communities of color, you will find less access to healthy food. You will find less, less access to specialty care, allergists, pediatricians, dermatologists, et cetera. So it's multi-layered. There are so many things that you have to consider and assess when you are working in the world of advocacy, that leads to burnout, overwhelm, and fear.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 31:42

Absolutely. When you're describing that to me, of course my psychologist brain is thinking, how can people hear that and not be outraged? We have so many biases, just these inherent biases that we have as humans, and one that I think that plays into this is that invisibility. Like if someone's redrawing a district in a state that I don't live in and I don't vote there, and I don't know how it's affecting anything, how do I grasp, how do I even see that as a problem if it's invisible to me. It just doesn't even appear real. Personally I don't feel this way, but we have to work to overcome these biases, is my point, by having these conversations, and as you said at the beginning, listening, listening to other people's experiences that are very real, even if they haven't happened to us.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 32:20

Absolutely, and I think that's why a lot of food allergy folks, be it advocates, allies, caregivers themselves, are huge proponents of sharing the data. When you talk about 32 million Americans having one or more life-threatening food allergies, that's, a big number. That's a big number. There are certain people who are very siloed, but what I've realized about silos is that it's a defense mechanism. It is a form of self-protection and preservation. And I understand that. I understand wanting to doll out all of the noise, to just live and breathe. I think it's understanding that there are two types of people in this world, but not to judge either. I think it's important that you understand that there are, are folks out there who have no interest in being allies or advocates for something. As you say, that seems to be on another planet, not necessarily in their face, not something that is happening, occurring right in, in, in their living room or around their dinner table. But I am so thankful for the evolution of food allergy science, the science of food allergy, because the evolution has allowed food allergies to now be a dinner table conversation. And I think that also is something that is assisting in, in moving the needle just a bit as we talk about food allergy care management and advocacy.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 33:49

Absolutely. So well said. Thank you for sharing all of this and trying to take these giant thoughts and package them up in a way that we can grasp and we can feel like we can take some action. So you and I have worked together. We're gonna post at the end and put links in the notes for everybody, some action steps that you can take. We don't want you to feel overwhelmed. We want you to feel like, okay, I can take a bite out of this. Here's a piece that I can contribute to this. My takeaway from you is what you said in the beginning, which is the biggest part of this is, is having to listen. We have to continue listening. What do you wanna leave as your final thought? From the conversation.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 34:24

Community is powerful. Even if it's a family community, a work community, community within food allergy care, just a sounding board to allow you to hear your thoughts resonate back to you so that you have the ability to determine what's most important and what action steps are best for your family. Food allergies are not a monolith. Food allergy folks are not a monolith. We all carry our baggage in different ways. We all give care in different ways. People manage multiple allergies, in different ways. So I think if we can all just understand that. Giving grace is probably my number one takeaway from this. Giving grace because these big thoughts lead to overwhelm and so when we can assist in mitigating that overwhelm, we have the ability to not only feel empowered, but to assist others in feeling and being empowered.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 35:30

So well said. Thank you so much. I feel like I just wanna keep talking and talking with you. I think that the audience is really gonna feel the same way in terms of hearing your perspective on all of this. You have such a great style. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 35:41

you so much for creating this space for us to be able to host this type of conversation.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 35:47

We'll do it again sometime.

Renia Butler, AFAINA: 35:48

thank you so much.

35:50

As we wrap up, I want to thank Renia again for this deeply meaningful conversation. Episodes like this remind us that food allergy care doesn't exist in a vacuum. It lives within families, communities, systems, and histories. So as we wrap up, here are three action steps you can take. Number one, pause and reflect. Notice what came up for you emotionally during this conversation. Was it curiosity, discomfort, validation, grief, motivation, all of it belongs. And awareness is a powerful starting point. That's why we wanted to record this conversation for you. Number two. Follow the voices who are speaking about this. Again, you can find Renia on social media at Black Allergy Mama or her website, black allergy mama.com. And some of the other organizations that we love that she mentioned during this episode are the Food Equality Initiative, which you can find@foodequalityinitiative.org. And of course, the wonderful Elijah Alavi Foundation, which is@elijahavifoundation.org. I will put the links for those in the show notes for you. And finally, please share this episode with intention. If it resonated, consider who else might need to hear it or benefit from listening, and continue the important conversation. Thank you for being here, for listening, and helping to create a more inclusive, compassionate allergy community.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD: 37:10

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.