The Food Allergy Brain Episode 9: Thomas Silvera

The Food Allergy Brain Episode 14: Dr. Robyn Liu, MD

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2572011/fan_mail/new] This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Dr. Robyn Liu, a family medicine physician in Portland, Oregon, a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and, as Mia learns during their conversation, a food allergy mom herself. Dr. Liu sees the family doctor as the "quarterback" of a patient's whole health team: someone who knows not just your labs but your story. In this conversation she walks Mia through what it looks like to support a food allergy family from the very first appointment, starting not with a prescription but with a question: What do you already know about this, and how did it feel to get this diagnosis? The two also go deep on the parts of allergy life that rarely make it into medical training. Dr. Liu opens up about her own years as an allergy parent, including the moment her grown daughter told her that what stuck with her most wasn't the vigilance, but being unable to share in the fish dishes at family meals and feeling separated from her Chinese American heritage. They talk about the misinformation patients bring in from social media, and why Dr. Liu meets every patient with curiosity instead of correction. Mia shares her own lifelong food allergy anxiety along the way. This is a warm, grounding conversation about treating the whole person and building real community around food allergy families, including the one piece of the support system most of us overlook: a debrief plan for after a reaction, so fear and isolation don't get to take root. If you've ever felt alone in managing allergies, this episode is a reminder that good care and real community can meet you wherever you live. Find Dr. Robyn Liu: Dr. Liu doesn't keep a large public social media presence, but you can explore her work through the American Academy of Family Physicians and the patient resources at familydoctor.org [http://familydoctor.org]. Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia):  Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia  Website: allergieswithmia.com [http://allergieswithmia.com/]

The Food Allergy Brain Episode 13: Dr. Douglas Jones, MD

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2572011/fan_mail/new] This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Dr. Douglas Jones, a board-certified allergist, co-founder of the Food Allergy Support Team, and one of the first physicians in the country to bring oral immunotherapy (OIT) into private practice. Dr. Jones has spent nearly two decades reshaping what food allergy treatment can look like, and he traces it all back to one pivotal moment: a mother sitting in his office, newly handed a long list of her daughter's allergies, who looked at him and asked, "What do I feed her?" He didn't have a good answer that day, and it changed the entire course of his career. In this conversation he walks Mia through the "food allergy treatment menu", why there's no one-size-fits-all approach, and how he matches each patient to their own goals and stage of life instead of forcing them into a box. The two also go deep on the mental health side of living with food allergies, why the nervous system often takes longer to heal than the immune system, the guilt so many parents (especially moms) carry, and the misinformation he gently debunks every day, from numbers equaling severity to unvalidated tests preying on vulnerable families. Dr. Jones shares one of the most moving descriptions you'll hear of watching a patient's true personality re-emerge as the weight of fear finally lifts. Mia opens up about her own lifelong food allergy anxiety too. This is a hopeful, grounding conversation about treating the whole person, not just the immune system, and if you've ever felt buried under the burden of managing allergies, this episode is a reminder that better answers, and real hope, exist. Find Dr. Douglas Jones: Instagram, Facebook & TikTok: @drdougjones Podcast: The Immune Edit (YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify) Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia):  Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia  Website: allergieswithmia.com [http://allergieswithmia.com/]

The Food Allergy Brain Episode 12: Dr. Kaitlin Proctor, PhD

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2572011/fan_mail/new] This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Dr. Kaitlin Proctor, a licensed pediatric psychologist, program manager at the Multidisciplinary Feeding Program at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Proctor works at the intersection of food allergies and ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder), and she co-launched a pediatric psychology allergy program to bring mental health support directly into the allergy space. Dr. Proctor breaks down what makes allergy management so emotionally heavy, the tightrope parents and kids walk between safety and freedom, and why a parent's anxiety (and their resilience) can both pass to a child. She also gives one of the clearest explanations you'll hear of what ARFID actually is, why having a food allergy can raise the risk of developing it, and the signs clinicians and parents so often miss. Mia opens up about her own lifelong food allergy anxiety, and the two get honest about the mental health crisis in the allergy community and where to find real support when it feels out of reach. Find Dr. Kaitlin Proctor, PhD: Google Scholar & LinkedIn (Search up "Dr. Kaitlin Proctor, PhD" Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia):  Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia  Website: allergieswithmia.com [http://allergieswithmia.com/]

The Food Allergy Brain Episode 11: Lex Decker

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2572011/fan_mail/new] Content warning: this episode contains discussion of eating disorders.  This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Lex Decker, the creator behind NYC But Gluten Free, one of the most vibrant and trusted gluten-free communities on the internet. Lex has been living with celiac disease for 17 years, diagnosed at just 10 years old, and she does not hold back in this one. She opens up about what it was really like growing up with celiac before gluten-free options existed, the social isolation of always being the one who couldn't eat what everyone else was eating, and why she actually kept eating gluten in high school and college just to feel normal. She also gets into the very real fear that comes with dining out when your health is on the line, how she handles restaurants that get it wrong, and the accountability she holds herself to as a creator with a platform. Lex opens up about her eating disorder journey and how celiac disease played a role in it. This is one of the most honest conversations The Food Allergy Brain has ever had, and Mia shares something personal too. If you have ever felt like you were doing this alone, this episode is going to remind you that you are not. Lex Decker's handle:  Instagram & TikTok: @nycbutglutenfree Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia):  Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia  Website: allergieswithmia.com [http://allergieswithmia.com/]

The Food Allergy Brain Episode 10: Dr. Manisha Relan, MD

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2572011/fan_mail/new] This week on The Food Allergy Brain, Mia sits down with Dr. Manisha Relan, a pediatric allergist and immunologist who sees patients of all ages and has been one of the OG allergy voices on social media since 2019. Dr. Relan shares how she approaches the emotional weight of food allergies with her patients every day, the proximity challenges she uses to help kids build real confidence, and what her dream care team for allergy families actually looks like (including support for the sibling, which often gets overlooked). She also breaks down the latest on early allergen introduction, OIT, SLIT, and Xolair, and gets candid about fighting misinformation online and knowing when to step away. Dr. Manisha Relan's handle:  Instagram: @pedsallergymd Find Mia Silverman (Allergies with Mia):  Instagram & TikTok: @allergieswithmia  Website: allergieswithmia.com [http://allergieswithmia.com/]