Are you allowing your food allergies to dictate your mental health? It’s a given that food allergies will affect our physical life, but it shouldn’t run your entire life.
Nourishment is important. Through our daily lives, we need nutrition to fuel us as we accomplish each responsibility. Allergies often restrict our diet, causing it hard to get the nutrients we need to keep going. When we don’t eat correctly, it becomes easier for our food allergies to control our lives.
Most people only talk about the physical effects of food allergies. However, physical needs go hand in hand with your spiritual and mental requirements. Food affects our mental health more than we think. Our physical, mental, and spiritual needs are intertwined. When dealing with allergies, we must be sure they don’t take control of every aspect of our life.
How do you stop food allergies from running your life? Discover four ways food allergies control your mental health.
1. Fear
Often, you can be afraid of eating something you are allergic to. Especially at church potlucks or at restaurants. It is hard to know the ingredients in dishes you do not make for yourself. You want to enjoy these events, but then fear kicks in causing you to second guess what you had eaten and imagine your allergies causing a scene. You have spent the whole evening lost in your thoughts instead of enjoying connecting with people around you.
In these situations, you can either let your allergies win and hyperventilate at every social event or give it to God through prayer.
When I was in middle school, I developed an allergy to an additive in nonorganic milk. Unfortunately, most restaurants do not use organic milk. It was tricky to figure out what I could or could not eat. Of course, once my parents and I figured out my allergy, I avoided diary. I convinced myself that I would get sick and feared that anything might trigger it. As a missionary kid on furlough, we went out with pastors and their families quite often. During those situations I could not focus on anything, but how am I going to survive this night? Formulating a safe space helped me.
If you are ever in a situation when you accidentally ingest an allergen, it is smart to have a plan ready. If you are unsure or nervous about a situation, formulate a plan to get yourself the help that you need..
Having a clear plan helps free your mind from worrying, allowing you to spend more time focusing on the people at events and not whether or not you accidentally ate something which could lead to a catastrophic scene. Having a plan in place will keep you safe and calm.
2. Pity
It is easy to feel sorry for ourselves by saying things like “it is not fair that all my friends can eat ice cream, and I can’t.” We can get bogged down by throwing a pity party every time we feel excluded by an event because we cannot eat the food. What matters in those situations is keeping yourself safe. In the long run, peanut butter is not worth a trip to the ER. Instead, focus on keeping yourself healthy.
You might think there is nothing you can eat but you just need to find what you can eat. Here are some ideas.
- Do your research: know exactly what triggers your allergy, including specific names or how much exposure is too much. Doing in depth research ahead of time will help you know what you need to avoid. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the necessity of researching everything. Remember that this is for your well-being, so even though it takes time, it is worth it.
- Read labels: the best way to know what ingredients are in foods is to read the back of the box. But sometimes reading every single box all the time takes time away from doing the things you want to do. It is more efficient to know what brands or types of food contain that specific ingredient. So you know for sure that if you don’t eat that specific food or brand, you should be okay. If you are hesitant, read the label.
- Find substitutes for your old favorites: if you are lactose intolerant perhaps find diary-free ice cream. If you can’t eat soy but love chocolate, look for chocolates that contain sunflower lecithin versus soy lecithin. Most of the time there are alternatives you just have to hunt for them. Sure, you can’t eat your old favorite, but maybe you can find a new one. Maybe you’ll find that you like your new treat better.
It can be tempting to only see what you have lost after developing an allergy. But food is not everything. As humans, we need food to live, but not every food should be our fuel. With allergies, we can only eat what will not harm us.
When you view life as if you are the only one affected by allergies, you focus on your loss. There are more people in the world who struggle with the same thing. You are not alone. Just remember that God is with you, and he will help you with all your challenges.
3. Guilt
Sometimes we feel guilty for having an allergy. For example, if someone makes us a meal we cannot eat, it can be tempting to just eat it and ignore the consequences because you do not want to appear as being complaining or ungrateful.
Most of our guilt comes from not wanting to be different. We prefer not to draw attention to our allergies or feel like they burden others to do more for us. Sometimes it seems easier to not say anything and just eat what is being offered in order to keep preserve your reputation.
This guilt comes from leaning on yourself and caring more about how others perceive you. Your character before God is ultimately what matters. So be honest with people, most will understand. It’s better to be truthful than dishonest and get sick. The people who care about your allergies are better friends than the ones who accuse you of complaining about their cooking.
Guilt eats us alive. It’s best to lean on God in times of distress and trust that he knows what’s best. Not physically being able to eat something is not worth being guilty or ashamed about. Take back your life through prayer and knowledge of what you can tell people you can eat.
4. Spiritually Drained
As Christians, we should combat any issue through reading God’s Word. Especially when we are feeling down about not being able to eat certain foods, it is vital to continue growing spiritually. Here are some ideas:
To reclaim our lives from the control of food allergies, we must continually overcome the fear, pity, and guilt they bring and prioritize our spiritual growth. It is important to be spiritually refreshed to face such struggles.
- Dive into God’s Word: Staying grounded in the Bible will help prevent your allergies from trying to run your life. Overcoming the fear of a negative food reaction, self pity, and guilt for your needs can only be achieved through the guidance found in scripture. To withstand anything life throws at you, you need to be in God’s Word daily. Why should food allergies be any different?
- Pray: Take time every day praying that you can overcome this. When we focus on God rather than our physical challenges , food allergies lose their control over our lives, which improves our mental well-being. Prayer gets us through the day. It doesn’t have to be a long prayer, just a simple Lord, help me find something I can eat for lunch. It may sound childish, but God is listening. As God cares for the sparrows, he also cares for you.
- Understand that God made you special: God made you uniquely you. Yes, you are not like everyone around you because God made everyone different, and he deeply loves each of us. We are made in the image of God. Which makes each one of us special. God knows the very number of hairs on your head. He knew you before you were even born. When life gets tough, remember that God cares about you.
Don’t allow food allergies to keep you in a constant state of being spiritually drained. To prevent, this read your Bible, pray every day and remember your Creator. God knows what you are going through and he will help you if you ask. Instead of dwelling on how your life stinks because you can’t eat what you want, focus on asking God to help you through your struggles.
Allergies cannot control your life when you focus your thoughts and feelings towards God instead of your own struggles. Our spiritual and mental well-being is often affected by physical needs, but we must not let allergies control all aspects of our lives. Stay focused on God’s Word and not on how we are different.
Take your life back from your food allergies and enjoy simply living.
Author Bio:
Emily Dean grew up as a missionary kid in Siberia, Russia, an experience that deeply influences the spiritual themes in her writing. Currently, a college senior studying professional writing, Emily has loved words since she learned how to read. When she’s not writing or working on homework, she enjoys curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.