July 9, 2026 • 30 mins
Over 30 million Americans live with food allergies. More than a quarter say they have intolerances. Throw in “sensitivities”? It starts to feel like everyone has some kind of dietary restriction. But what do these labels really mean?
In the premiere of Eating Interrupted, host Cynthia McFadden sits down with gastroenterologist Dr. Mark Pimentel to break down the differences between allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities, what’s happening in the body, and what trends we are seeing in the allergy world. We also meet Mia, a creator and advocate living with more than 50 food allergies, who shares what it’s like to navigate dating, dining out, and the constant risk of anaphylaxis, while using her platform to challenge misinformation and help others feel less alone.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Rube.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A lot of people think that what I have is
inconvenience to them, and I'm sorry if it's in convenience
to you, how you get feels to the one that's
living with this every single day.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is Eating Interrupted, where we dig into the real
stories and science behind how food can interrupt everyday life,
from the very first bite to the complex journey that follows.
I'm your host, Cynthia McFadden. Hi everybody, and welcome to
(00:36):
Eating Interrupted. My name's Cynthia McFadden. In my past life,
before leaving NBC News a couple of years ago, I
had spent thirty years working in network news, traveling to
the world's hotspots and reporting on a wide variety of topics.
Along the way, I was honored to spend a decade
as the anchor of ABC's legendary program Nightline. So if
(00:59):
this one thing I love, it's asking questions, hearing people's stories,
and trying to make complicated things make a little more sense.
And when it comes to digestion, complicate it could be
an understatement for millions of people, eating something we do
every day isn't simple. A single bite of the wrong
(01:20):
thing can set off a cascade of reactions in the body.
And that's because gastrointestinal health is incredibly nuanced, complicated, and
something we're still learning more about all the time. But
one thing is clear. When food and the body stop
working well together, the impact on daily life can be profound.
(01:43):
And for me this is personal. Back in college, I
was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. As a freshman, I was
having terrible pains in my belly, pain so acute it
dominated everything in my life. Some days I could barely walk, study,
or even get out of bed. I felt as if
(02:04):
someone had a knife inside of me and they were
trying to dig their way out. So when it comes
to having a let's say, tricky relationship with food and digestion,
I have been there, which is why I think this
podcast is so important. Eating Interrupted is for anyone who
has ever felt confused by how their body reacts to food,
(02:26):
and for those who want to better understand what's actually
going on beneath the surface, real stories and the science
behind them. So with that, let's get to our first episode. Okay,
so today we're diving into the world of food allergies, intolerances,
(02:48):
and sensitivities. Terms we peer all the time, but what
do they actually mean? Are numbers going up? And if so, why,
and what's it really like to have to live every
day no knowing that a simple bite of the wrong
thing could be life threatening. To help us better understand
all of it, I'm joined bar our go to expert
(03:08):
for this series, Doctor Mark Pimentel. Hey, doctor primant Tell,
it's so great to welcome you to the show.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's great to be with you today, Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, before we dive in, we're going to be spending
a lot of time together. Tell me a little bit
about yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, I'm so excited to be on this show with you.
First of all, I'm a gastrionurologist here at Cedar Sinai
in Los Angeles. I grew up in Canada, but I've
been in Los Angeles for thirty years, so I've got
accustomed to LA life. But my research focuses on the
microbiome in the digestive system and irritable Belle syndrome and
(03:47):
other disorders of the gut. And so that's what I
do research on and see patients on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Why gastro entrology with all the possible specialties to choose from.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know, people ask me that all the and I
want to say, my favorite color is brown, But that's
not the truth. It's the fact that I think the
digestive system is extremely complex. It's been around longer than
the heart, longer than so many other organs. Because even
a worm has a digestive tract. I thought it was fascinating.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
So today we're going to talk about food allergies and
how they differ from things like intolerances or sensitivities. So
let's start with allergy. What is a food allergy?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So food allergies are essentially you've eaten a food and
your immune system does not like the food you've eaten.
So it's an activation of your immune system in response
to something that you've been sensitized to or you're sensitive to.
And so food allergy means you take a food or
you ingest a food, and you literally have a reaction.
Sometimes you need hospitalization it's so bad. Intolerances are different.
(04:52):
In the case of intolerances, it's basically food that goes
into your gas forro intestinal tract and you feel uncomfortable
from a digestive point of view, so you might have diarrhea,
you might have bloating or gas, and those are the
symptoms you might more experience from intolerance. There are gray zones,
but those are the primary differences.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So talk about the diagnostic process. What does it look
like for food allergies and for intolerances. Let's start with allergies.
What's the process for figuring out, apart from going into
anaphylactic shock, whether or not you have one of these
food allergies.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So food allergies is a little bit complicated to diagnose.
For example, you probably heard of skin prick testing where
they're putting little bits of pollen and little bits of
things into your skin and then seeing if you react.
So the problem with that testing is that you don't
put pollen in your skin normally, and you don't put
salmon in your skin normally, and so you might have
(05:49):
a slight reaction and this gives you what we call
a high false positive rate. But if you have anaphyl axis,
if you put a little bit of salmon under the skin,
it's not going to be equivocal, it's not going to
be confusing, it's going to be a massive eruption. So
in the case of severe allergies, skin testing is profoundly positive.
You can also do blood tests. There are blood tests
(06:10):
to look for antibodies in the bloodstream against all these things.
The challenge there is I've had people who say the
allergy blood tests says they're allergic to chicken, but that's
the only thing they can eat, and so the two
things don't add up right, And then of course you
can do the extreme, which is a challenge test. A
challenge test means you have to be in the hospital
(06:30):
under medical supervision by somebody who knows what they're doing,
and then eat or ingest the foods that you think
are causing the problem to figure it out. But of
course you have to be ready if in case it's
a severe situation.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So who should get these kinds of allergy tests? Should
everybody be tested? Or when do you know you should
be tested?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well? So, one of the things about anaphylaxis is the
first time you ever have a reaction, and this goes
to the path of physiology or of the cause and
effect of how this works. The first time you get
exposed to the shrimp that's going to cause you trouble
in the future, you have a mini reaction. It's called
a sort of a priming reaction. So you get the iges,
(07:12):
the immuno globulins that are allergic and they are now waiting.
It's the second time where it's dangerous because that's the
time all the cells are engaged ready. They heard it,
they saw it before, and now they're ready to pounce.
And that second one is the dangerous one. So if
you have a reaction to something that's typical shrimp, eggs, milk,
(07:32):
and nuts, those are the ones that tend to give
out of full access more commonly, and you have that
herald reaction where you're like, WHOA, I really didn't feel well,
but wasn't life threatening. You see an.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Allergist, so how about intolerance. Is it the same kind
of testing?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Well, it's again a doctor or a gasprourologist should be
able to sort this out. They go through a list
of questions about different food items that bother the person most,
and sometimes it's a problem with the bacteria of the gut.
There's too much bacteria in the guy. And then somebody,
you know, normal people can eat beans, but a person
with too much bacteria in the gut, they can't eat
beans because the bacteria are fermenting those faster than you
(08:09):
can imagine, and you get a lot of gas and bloating,
and you avoid those. But one of the things that
really confuses patients and even doctors sometimes is that they'll
start avoiding foods. So let's say we have I have
diarrhea at nine pm tonight. I always think it's the
dinner I had three hours ago that did it, but
(08:31):
it could have been the dinner I had three days
ago that had the beans in it that made the
bacteria go up. Now having pasta, which normally doesn't bother me,
but tonight it's bothering me because the bacteria are so
high from the beans three days ago. But now I'm
going to avoid pasta for the next year. And so
you get into this cycle where you start avoiding and
avoiding and avoiding until you're only on chicken and rice.
(08:53):
And then this it becomes not an eating disorder but
in derangement of eating. And that's also very difficult for
these patients because they're trying to figure it out and
they can't. So it's sometimes important to see a healthcare provider.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You have to sort of be a Sherlock Holms of
the digestive tracks here to figure some of these things out.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, it's true. You know. The good news is that
restaurants have adapted. They have gluten free on the menu,
dairy free on the menu, and it's getting easier and
easier for people to make the right choice without having
to ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Give us some statistics. Are there number of people with
food allergies increasing?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So it's interesting because food allergies are increasing, even the
extreme forms of food allergies, and scientists are trying to
unravel this. It's not very clear why some of the
explanations might be. You know, our food is different. There's
many additives to food. Things are not what they once were.
For example, some of the things we eat boxed food
(09:50):
now contain twenty ingredients. The same boxed food twenty years
ago contained five. So is it that or is it
that we're doing things differently in infancy Because that's often
where food allergies begin, is in infancy. And so some
of the formulas or things that we give our very
young children early on, or avoid giving them because we're
(10:11):
told not to give them nuts early, maybe they don't
tolerze to them, and then when they finally get nuts
they have this allergic reaction, and so a lot of
things are evolving in terms of understanding that.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You know, I think there's a whole range of reactions
that other people have to people who say they're allergic, right,
I mean, from the eye roll to you know, disbelieving them.
Do you see in your practice people who suffer from
that kind of stigma.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, you know, I deal with this every day with
all of our patients because a lot of the digestive
issues we see patients try to handle with manipulating their diet.
So imagine just the fundamental, simple a task of being social.
You go to a restaurant and you're the annoying person
at the table that asks twenty questions? How embarrassing is
(11:02):
that for you? And then others in their mind are
rolling their eyes or thinking, oh, we have to put
up with this again. You know, it's very unfair for
the person. It's not their fault they have to ask
these questions.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, so that's the science of it. But let's take
a peek what it actually is like to live with
severe allergies every day.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So I'm allergic to all nuts except for macadamia nuts
and almonds. I'm allergic to basically all seeds, all seafood
except for tuna or cod if it's cooked for a
long time.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm allergic to.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Eggplant, zucchini, some really random spices like smoked paprika, terragon, sumac,
and then lots of random fruits like peaches, pears, and
all this goes on, and then I have I'm allergic
to dairy eggs. But it's a bit complicated.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's me as Silverman. As you just heard, she has
a lot of allergies. She's also a food allergy advocate,
a content creator, and a clinical psychology graduate student. Well, Mia,
welcome to the podcast. It's so great to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, thank you for having me, Cynthia. I'm so honored
and excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, Mia, word has it you have more than one
food allergy or two? How many?
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I have over fifty food allergies?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
What can you eat?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
What do you eat? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
People are really shock. It's like one of the most
common questions I get is what can you eat? And
surprisingly a lot of things. I can have all meat,
I can have wheat or gluten, thank goodness, Like I
do kind of avoid glutens that does cause other symptoms.
I can have rice, I can have potatoes, I can
have most vegetables, and I can have certain fruits. So
I can eat just very very basic and pretty clean food.
(12:54):
I'd say it's kind of like my overall diet.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Now, when you say you're allergic, are they all allergies
or some intolerances?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so mine are actually all allergies. The only intolerance
I have is to glutent with my gluten intolerance, Like
I just have like some stomach aches a little bit,
like just gi issues, but it's not anything life threatening.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So all right for people who never have had to
think this way, take us through a normal day.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I think the first thing is that, like when it
comes to just getting groceries, people might order via like instacar,
but I can't do that because what if they get
me the wrong food, I can't eat it. Like I
have to go to the grocery store. I have to
make sure that every ingredient is safe because ingredients can
always change. And there is this app and you can
scan barcodes and tells you whether something is safe for
you're not based on your specific allergies, which is so helpful.
(13:43):
So instead of spending hours greading ingredients. I just scan
the barcode see the ingredients have changed, because that does happen.
But when it comes to like going to grad school
and going to class, running errands, I always have to
be sure. I bring my epinephorm with me, my zero
tech which is anti histamine, minehaler, my ap llergy list,
my health insurance card, and then you know, when it
(14:04):
comes to going to restaurants, I would call the restaurant
ahead of time, talk to the manager or the chef
and say, hey, you know I have these allergies. I
looked at your menu and this item looks promising, like
how do you make this dish? Like?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
How do you prepare it?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Is there any way you can make it where you
prevent the risk of these allergies coming in contact with it.
If they say no, I'm like, okay, then I'll find
somewhere else. If they say yes, I will go there.
Basically by day, like a normal day for me is
just doing extra steps and extra things that keep myself safe. Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
This is like a full time job on top of
your full time job of being a student.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, And the thing is like, this is what's normal
for me, So I'm not really phased by. I'm like, oh, yeah,
I just have to wipe down the surface or I
have to go call the manager, the usual. But somebod
else is like, oh my gosh, and it is really
what I think about when you're when you say it
is a full time job, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So when did you first realize something was wrong?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
So I was around I believe, almost the age of two,
so before I feel like I was even conscious, to
be honest, this was like my parents discovery.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I was a very colicky baby.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I had difficult time, like tolerating dairy, different kinds of
like just milk in general. And it wasn't until I
was two years older. My dad came home from work
one day and brought these cookies from work that had
pistachios in them, and I went into a full blown
anaphloctic reaction, the first one I've ever had throughout closed up.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I was not able to breathe. I was like barely
able to.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Talk, covered in hives, like my whole body vomiting profusely.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
And my parents were like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So they called nine one one ambulance took me and
my dad wa liked and my mom just gave birth
to my brother, so she couldn't go, and they referred
us to a doctor did all these different skin and
blood testing, all these allergies came up, and it's kind
of how it all started, so from a very young age.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So how many times have you actually gone into anaphylaxis?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I think it's around ten ten times.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And can you tell us a little more specifically about
what anaphylaxis really feel? I mean, do you have a
more recent story you can tell us.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I have a list of all my safe restaurants in
New York City because I live in New York And
so I was like, I'm gonna go to this restaurant
with my friend tonight. I've gone there so many times before.
They know me, like by heart, I break my allergy
car like, oh me, it's here. They know what to do,
and even if it's a safe restaurant, I'll always take
zero type. It can be used to help prevent allergic
reactions that are not like life threatening like anaphylaxis, but
(16:24):
more minor ones like breaking out in hives, it you
throw itchy lips. But this is a safe restaurant, so
what can go wrong?
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And so I ordered my usual dish, which was an
or Kenny pasta dish with sausage and broccoli and facaccia bread.
And again I talked to the waitress and she talked
to the managers and I have these allergies. Can you
make sure it's made safely doing xyz and like, yes,
we know who you are, we remember you, we got
(16:51):
you all as well. I'm like, okay, great, and so
I eat the food and everything's going great, and all
of a sudden, I start to feel this throbbing pain
in my throat.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Eating interrupted will be right back after this.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I started to feel this throbbing pain in my throat.
And that's something that I've been developing recently, is a
new symptom is having this throbbing pain. And usually I'm like, okay,
like let's take to their zero tech. Let's kind of
just sit for a second. Is maybe I'm having anxiety
because sometimes there's instances where I'm like, is this an
anxiety attack or is this actually anaphylax?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It's like what is happening here?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I'm like, Wow, the pain is getting worse, and it's
getting worse, and I'm starting to break out in hives,
like on my stomach and I feel like I'm going
to throw up.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And so I go to the bathroom. I just start
throwing up. After I threw up, I.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Could not breathe out of my nose or my throat,
so I was like basically suffocating, and I was like,
oh my god, I have to think really fast. I
got my epiinephrin, did the epinephrine, and my friend called
an ambulance. They took me away, and the next day
the restaurant I talk and I'm like, what happened, Like
this is my safe dish, and They're like, we have
(18:07):
no idea. My friend ordered a dish that had pine nuts,
and I'm wondering, did something happen when it came in contact.
They said no, but there was a risk of probably
cross intimidation, and so even like minor exposure can put
me in my thirtning situation like what happened that night,
and that was so traumatizing.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
That was the probably one of the worst reactions I've
ever had.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I'm allergic to bees. I'm not allergic to food, but
I've had an anaphylaction reaction a couple times. And I mean,
when you start to feel your throat closing. It's terrifying,
it's just impending doom.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's just like you know what's going to happen, you
know what you have to do, and it's the most dreadful,
honestly traumatizing experience. I mean, you've gone through it too,
so you probably understand when your body is out of
control and you can't really stop it without using epinephrin.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So what is actually physically going on when someone experiences anaphylaxis?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So when somebody actually has anaphylaxis, the first thing they
will experience is fear because they will realize in a
moment that this is going to happen, and so that
first moment is quite striking. The second is they may
start to feel bronchospasm, which means there's a closing of
(19:24):
the airways, and they might feel wheezing like an asthma
attack really, and then they can start to feel lightheaded
as the blood pressure starts to drop. When the blood
pressure starts to drop, that's because the blood vessels are
opening up and reacting, and that opening allows fluid to
shift into the face, the neck and into the lungs area,
so increasing your difficulty breathing. So those are the primary things,
(19:49):
and then later you might have diarrhea or vomiting on
top of all of that. If you have a bad reaction,
you have moments to let somebody know this is happening,
because once you're not able to speak, becomes problematic. But
then you need to have an intervention. And whether it's
the EpiPen in your purse or in your pocket, you
have to get that as soon as possible because that
(20:11):
will arrest the progression of the anaphylaxis.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So epinephrine is the treatment of choice, It's the rescue.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's the fastest thing you can do in that moment,
and if you have it with you, and if you
know you have anaphlexis, should always be carrying it with
you just in case.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Mia, Do you dread sitting down to eat?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Surprisingly, no, I actually have a big foodie.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I love food, and I really feel blessed to have
been raised in a family where they really wanted me
to feel that allergies can stop me from eating good food.
Like my mom is an amazing allergy advocate and cheft
and she was super creative when it came to making
recipes for me. And so I've developed a love for
food because of her, so I actually do love to eat.
(21:01):
That being said, there are instances, especially when I do
eat out at restaurants, I do experience anxiety because you're
trusting random strangers to make your food. You know, even
though I will give a very in depth allergy spiel,
there's always at risk and that has happened many times
where it's gone wrong. But I'd say, just generally speaking,
I love food, and I view food as fuel and
(21:22):
it doesn't have to be the most exciting meal in
the world, but it gives me strength and it feels
my body and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's all kind of amazing. I mean, you're kind of amazing.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
You.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
You know, people can be unkind and I'm sure you've
gotten the eye rolls and the really and come on,
talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh my gosh, I could talk about this all day.
So whether that is just also me on the internet,
the amount of hate comments and dms I get on
the daily is obscene. I've had to learn how to
just mentally just ignore it because a lot of life.
Ignoring things is what my dad told me growing up,
and I think it's one of the truest things ever.
Having to just ignore these comments, but people will say
(22:07):
to me, you are God's typo natural selection. And so
I'll post videos of meat boarding airplanes, for example, and
how I asked the flight attendants to try to make
an announcement to prevent the passengers from eating nuts, and
all have comments saying, oh, I'm going to bring extra
nuts on my flight, like all these crazy things.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
But then on top of that, just.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
In my real life, you know, I have some relatives
that are very ignorant and think that what I have
is in my head. I have had to get restaurants
like staff just saying we cannot serve you. I remember,
almost two years ago, my family went on a trip
to Belgium, and usually like to kind of I like
(22:47):
to pre plan the restaurants, but for some reason, I
just had a restaurant in mind that we were gonna
go to, but I thought they were gonna be safe,
but they weren't. And we went to thirteen different restaurants
that night to file place that would serve me, and
every and the one said no, said they're like nope, nope, nope.
And then with friendships too, and dating especially like dating
is where I see it a lot a lot of
(23:08):
people think that what I have is inconvenience to them,
And I'm sorry, but if it's inconvenience to you, how
do you get feels to the one that's living with
this every single day?
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Where do you get the strength? I mean you obviously have.
I mean you have. You have a life threatening condition
which you're going to have to deal with in some
form or fashion for the rest of your life.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, I used to not think this way.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I feel like you know, when I growing up, I
was bullied a lot in school. I was very depressed,
even at points like contemplating my own existence because of
just how difficult it is to navigate this challenge, because
it's so horrible, like having allergies sucks, like I don't
want to have this. But you know, I started seeing
a food allergy specialized psychologist when I was in high
(23:53):
school because I was having all these anaphylotic reactions out
of nowhere and I was just very traumatized and felt
much much like a victim. It just felt like my
life is horrible and everything sucks. And seeing her, she
really changed my perspective and taught me how to one
advocate for myself better and kind of be more confident
in my allergies. But then really what really changed for
(24:15):
me was when I started posting on TikTok about my
allergies and seeing how there are so many people that
are just like me, and realizing that I'm not alone
in this and that, you know, if I can try
to meet more people in this space, all feel less
alone and feel more empowered. And as my online presence has,
you know, grown so much, which I'm so incredibly grateful
(24:36):
for them able to do this for my work, I've
gained a lot of self confidence.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Because of that.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I'm trying to spread positivity and just showcase that you
can do all these things if you have allergies. It
might be a bit more difficult, but it's totally possible.
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It seems to me that you're not just educating the
community of people who, like you, suffer from severe allergies,
but also the rest of us. I mean, people really
need to understand what it feels like to be Miya
and those millions of other people who have to live
life in a very specific way in order to stay healthy.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Absolutely, I think that there's a line of information which
is what really justifies the work that I do, not
only just from the hate comments, but people will also
common things like oh, you know, you're just picky, or
just have a little bit of the allergy and it's
not going to do anything to you, And even just
a lot of the content people are posting saying that
there's these different treatments, like you know, eating honey will
create your allergies, or vaccines cause allergies, or all these
(25:35):
different things.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
That are not actually true.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
There's clearly so much ignorance on this topic, and people
don't understand that yes, allergies can be airborne, or yes,
if you touch the allergen, you can still go into anaphaloxis,
like it is completely possible. So I think this is
why it's so important to advocate on social media, because
we live in a world that's not built for people
like myself, and I think that everyone deserves to feel
(25:57):
safe and included and scene. And I feel like this
does not just apply to me specifically for allergies, but
people that have seeliact disease, people to have IBS, people
that have chrome disease. We all deserve to feel safe.
And I'm really honored I've been able to have a
platform to amplify those voices and educate the public.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
So me, you're about to start a new treatment, tell
me about it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yes, So, for the past two months, I've been taking
these shots, and their purpose is to kind of just
help overall strengthen my immune system and helping prevent maybe
allergic reactions from happening due to cross contamination or cross
contact like accidental exposure. But these shots are kind of
an initial step towards what I'm going to be doing,
which is a treatment called oral immunotherapy or OIT for short.
(26:41):
And the best way is to describe OIT is you're
basically microdosing your allergens every single day with the long
term goal of becoming to census hize too and being
able to eat it freely or at the very least.
You know, if I order a dish and it maybe
has a singular scessity seed or a touched peanut butter,
I won't react to it. Long term goals to be
able to eat these foods freely. I'll be microdosing qu
(27:03):
unquote micro dosing peanuts, sustame, and cashews every single day
for the foreseeable future, and every two weeks I will
increase the dose. So my allergist has said that probably
by six to nine months, I'll be able to eat
a singular peanut every day. So that goal is hopefully
to help me again, like either help me completely be
(27:25):
able to eat these foods or there at.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Least have a strong tolerance to them.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
So you sound excited about it, but you also must
be a little bit nervous.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, I'm I'm trying to say as optimistic as possible,
but I'm human. I'm obviously also terrified of eating by
allergens every single day, but I claim to document the
experience for my viewers, so just kind of using this
as opportunity to educate people about this treatment. I have
like such long term goals of maybe going to travel
around Asia eating all types of Asian cuisinecause I can't
(27:55):
right now because I'm my allergies. So if I can
do anything to help achieve that goal and dream, I
will do it. Even if it causes a lot of anxiety.
It's worth it to me because I want to be
able to have an improve quality of life.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Mia. I have learned so much in this conversation with you.
Your strength and your passion is just I could. I
could feel it, and I think everybody else can too.
So thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Thank you so much for having me Cynthia, it's been
a great conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Before we end our discussion today, let's go back to
doctor Pim and tell one more time, if listeners remember
one thing from this episode, what would you like that
to be.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Everything I've done in my career has been about trying
to give patients a normal life. And a normal life
doesn't always mean that you have to talk to the patient.
You sometimes have to talk to the family and say, look,
you know understand this. This person is struggling, and please
just give them a break. Let them make decisions on
(28:56):
their own about what they can and can't eat because
they can't eat these things. And here's that's why. So
I think it's not just about educating the patient and
what they have, it's about educating their family as well
that come on, this is real. Let's allow them to
be themselves. Food is the convener of people, and when
anything interferes with food, it interferes with the social aspect
(29:20):
of humans. And I think that's where we have to
figure out how to be sympathetic.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I want to thank our guests again for coming on today,
gastro wentrologist doctor Mark Penmantel, an allergy advocate MIAs Silverman,
and thank you our listeners for tuning in. There's still
a lot more to come this season, from exploring the
gut brain connection to what it really means to train
your gut for endurance sports, how diet affects the immune system,
(29:50):
and the many ways digestion changes as we age. There's
plenty more to digest, and we're just getting started eating
Interrupted as a production of Ruby's Studio from iHeartMedia. Our
producer is Jenny Cunningham, project lead as Maria Saint Aubert,
(30:11):
and the sound engineer is Luke Battio. I'm Cynthia McFadden.
We'll see you next time.
Rube.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A lot of people think that what I have is
inconvenience to them, and I'm sorry if it's in convenience
to you, how you get feels to the one that's
living with this every single day.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is Eating Interrupted, where we dig into the real
stories and science behind how food can interrupt everyday life,
from the very first bite to the complex journey that follows.
I'm your host, Cynthia McFadden. Hi everybody, and welcome to
(00:36):
Eating Interrupted. My name's Cynthia McFadden. In my past life,
before leaving NBC News a couple of years ago, I
had spent thirty years working in network news, traveling to
the world's hotspots and reporting on a wide variety of topics.
Along the way, I was honored to spend a decade
as the anchor of ABC's legendary program Nightline. So if
(00:59):
this one thing I love, it's asking questions, hearing people's stories,
and trying to make complicated things make a little more sense.
And when it comes to digestion, complicate it could be
an understatement for millions of people, eating something we do
every day isn't simple. A single bite of the wrong
(01:20):
thing can set off a cascade of reactions in the body.
And that's because gastrointestinal health is incredibly nuanced, complicated, and
something we're still learning more about all the time. But
one thing is clear. When food and the body stop
working well together, the impact on daily life can be profound.
(01:43):
And for me this is personal. Back in college, I
was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. As a freshman, I was
having terrible pains in my belly, pain so acute it
dominated everything in my life. Some days I could barely walk, study,
or even get out of bed. I felt as if
(02:04):
someone had a knife inside of me and they were
trying to dig their way out. So when it comes
to having a let's say, tricky relationship with food and digestion,
I have been there, which is why I think this
podcast is so important. Eating Interrupted is for anyone who
has ever felt confused by how their body reacts to food,
(02:26):
and for those who want to better understand what's actually
going on beneath the surface, real stories and the science
behind them. So with that, let's get to our first episode. Okay,
so today we're diving into the world of food allergies, intolerances,
(02:48):
and sensitivities. Terms we peer all the time, but what
do they actually mean? Are numbers going up? And if so, why,
and what's it really like to have to live every
day no knowing that a simple bite of the wrong
thing could be life threatening. To help us better understand
all of it, I'm joined bar our go to expert
(03:08):
for this series, Doctor Mark Pimentel. Hey, doctor primant Tell,
it's so great to welcome you to the show.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's great to be with you today, Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, before we dive in, we're going to be spending
a lot of time together. Tell me a little bit
about yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, I'm so excited to be on this show with you.
First of all, I'm a gastrionurologist here at Cedar Sinai
in Los Angeles. I grew up in Canada, but I've
been in Los Angeles for thirty years, so I've got
accustomed to LA life. But my research focuses on the
microbiome in the digestive system and irritable Belle syndrome and
(03:47):
other disorders of the gut. And so that's what I
do research on and see patients on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Why gastro entrology with all the possible specialties to choose from.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know, people ask me that all the and I
want to say, my favorite color is brown, But that's
not the truth. It's the fact that I think the
digestive system is extremely complex. It's been around longer than
the heart, longer than so many other organs. Because even
a worm has a digestive tract. I thought it was fascinating.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
So today we're going to talk about food allergies and
how they differ from things like intolerances or sensitivities. So
let's start with allergy. What is a food allergy?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So food allergies are essentially you've eaten a food and
your immune system does not like the food you've eaten.
So it's an activation of your immune system in response
to something that you've been sensitized to or you're sensitive to.
And so food allergy means you take a food or
you ingest a food, and you literally have a reaction.
Sometimes you need hospitalization it's so bad. Intolerances are different.
(04:52):
In the case of intolerances, it's basically food that goes
into your gas forro intestinal tract and you feel uncomfortable
from a digestive point of view, so you might have diarrhea,
you might have bloating or gas, and those are the
symptoms you might more experience from intolerance. There are gray zones,
but those are the primary differences.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So talk about the diagnostic process. What does it look
like for food allergies and for intolerances. Let's start with allergies.
What's the process for figuring out, apart from going into
anaphylactic shock, whether or not you have one of these
food allergies.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So food allergies is a little bit complicated to diagnose.
For example, you probably heard of skin prick testing where
they're putting little bits of pollen and little bits of
things into your skin and then seeing if you react.
So the problem with that testing is that you don't
put pollen in your skin normally, and you don't put
salmon in your skin normally, and so you might have
(05:49):
a slight reaction and this gives you what we call
a high false positive rate. But if you have anaphyl axis,
if you put a little bit of salmon under the skin,
it's not going to be equivocal, it's not going to
be confusing, it's going to be a massive eruption. So
in the case of severe allergies, skin testing is profoundly positive.
You can also do blood tests. There are blood tests
(06:10):
to look for antibodies in the bloodstream against all these things.
The challenge there is I've had people who say the
allergy blood tests says they're allergic to chicken, but that's
the only thing they can eat, and so the two
things don't add up right, And then of course you
can do the extreme, which is a challenge test. A
challenge test means you have to be in the hospital
(06:30):
under medical supervision by somebody who knows what they're doing,
and then eat or ingest the foods that you think
are causing the problem to figure it out. But of
course you have to be ready if in case it's
a severe situation.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So who should get these kinds of allergy tests? Should
everybody be tested? Or when do you know you should
be tested?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well? So, one of the things about anaphylaxis is the
first time you ever have a reaction, and this goes
to the path of physiology or of the cause and
effect of how this works. The first time you get
exposed to the shrimp that's going to cause you trouble
in the future, you have a mini reaction. It's called
a sort of a priming reaction. So you get the iges,
(07:12):
the immuno globulins that are allergic and they are now waiting.
It's the second time where it's dangerous because that's the
time all the cells are engaged ready. They heard it,
they saw it before, and now they're ready to pounce.
And that second one is the dangerous one. So if
you have a reaction to something that's typical shrimp, eggs, milk,
(07:32):
and nuts, those are the ones that tend to give
out of full access more commonly, and you have that
herald reaction where you're like, WHOA, I really didn't feel well,
but wasn't life threatening. You see an.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Allergist, so how about intolerance. Is it the same kind
of testing?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Well, it's again a doctor or a gasprourologist should be
able to sort this out. They go through a list
of questions about different food items that bother the person most,
and sometimes it's a problem with the bacteria of the gut.
There's too much bacteria in the guy. And then somebody,
you know, normal people can eat beans, but a person
with too much bacteria in the gut, they can't eat
beans because the bacteria are fermenting those faster than you
(08:09):
can imagine, and you get a lot of gas and bloating,
and you avoid those. But one of the things that
really confuses patients and even doctors sometimes is that they'll
start avoiding foods. So let's say we have I have
diarrhea at nine pm tonight. I always think it's the
dinner I had three hours ago that did it, but
(08:31):
it could have been the dinner I had three days
ago that had the beans in it that made the
bacteria go up. Now having pasta, which normally doesn't bother me,
but tonight it's bothering me because the bacteria are so
high from the beans three days ago. But now I'm
going to avoid pasta for the next year. And so
you get into this cycle where you start avoiding and
avoiding and avoiding until you're only on chicken and rice.
(08:53):
And then this it becomes not an eating disorder but
in derangement of eating. And that's also very difficult for
these patients because they're trying to figure it out and
they can't. So it's sometimes important to see a healthcare provider.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You have to sort of be a Sherlock Holms of
the digestive tracks here to figure some of these things out.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, it's true. You know. The good news is that
restaurants have adapted. They have gluten free on the menu,
dairy free on the menu, and it's getting easier and
easier for people to make the right choice without having
to ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Give us some statistics. Are there number of people with
food allergies increasing?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So it's interesting because food allergies are increasing, even the
extreme forms of food allergies, and scientists are trying to
unravel this. It's not very clear why some of the
explanations might be. You know, our food is different. There's
many additives to food. Things are not what they once were.
For example, some of the things we eat boxed food
(09:50):
now contain twenty ingredients. The same boxed food twenty years
ago contained five. So is it that or is it
that we're doing things differently in infancy Because that's often
where food allergies begin, is in infancy. And so some
of the formulas or things that we give our very
young children early on, or avoid giving them because we're
(10:11):
told not to give them nuts early, maybe they don't
tolerze to them, and then when they finally get nuts
they have this allergic reaction, and so a lot of
things are evolving in terms of understanding that.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You know, I think there's a whole range of reactions
that other people have to people who say they're allergic, right,
I mean, from the eye roll to you know, disbelieving them.
Do you see in your practice people who suffer from
that kind of stigma.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, you know, I deal with this every day with
all of our patients because a lot of the digestive
issues we see patients try to handle with manipulating their diet.
So imagine just the fundamental, simple a task of being social.
You go to a restaurant and you're the annoying person
at the table that asks twenty questions? How embarrassing is
(11:02):
that for you? And then others in their mind are
rolling their eyes or thinking, oh, we have to put
up with this again. You know, it's very unfair for
the person. It's not their fault they have to ask
these questions.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, so that's the science of it. But let's take
a peek what it actually is like to live with
severe allergies every day.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So I'm allergic to all nuts except for macadamia nuts
and almonds. I'm allergic to basically all seeds, all seafood
except for tuna or cod if it's cooked for a
long time.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm allergic to.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Eggplant, zucchini, some really random spices like smoked paprika, terragon, sumac,
and then lots of random fruits like peaches, pears, and
all this goes on, and then I have I'm allergic
to dairy eggs. But it's a bit complicated.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's me as Silverman. As you just heard, she has
a lot of allergies. She's also a food allergy advocate,
a content creator, and a clinical psychology graduate student. Well, Mia,
welcome to the podcast. It's so great to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, thank you for having me, Cynthia. I'm so honored
and excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, Mia, word has it you have more than one
food allergy or two? How many?
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I have over fifty food allergies?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
What can you eat?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
What do you eat? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
People are really shock. It's like one of the most
common questions I get is what can you eat? And
surprisingly a lot of things. I can have all meat,
I can have wheat or gluten, thank goodness, Like I
do kind of avoid glutens that does cause other symptoms.
I can have rice, I can have potatoes, I can
have most vegetables, and I can have certain fruits. So
I can eat just very very basic and pretty clean food.
(12:54):
I'd say it's kind of like my overall diet.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Now, when you say you're allergic, are they all allergies
or some intolerances?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so mine are actually all allergies. The only intolerance
I have is to glutent with my gluten intolerance, Like
I just have like some stomach aches a little bit,
like just gi issues, but it's not anything life threatening.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So all right for people who never have had to
think this way, take us through a normal day.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I think the first thing is that, like when it
comes to just getting groceries, people might order via like instacar,
but I can't do that because what if they get
me the wrong food, I can't eat it. Like I
have to go to the grocery store. I have to
make sure that every ingredient is safe because ingredients can
always change. And there is this app and you can
scan barcodes and tells you whether something is safe for
you're not based on your specific allergies, which is so helpful.
(13:43):
So instead of spending hours greading ingredients. I just scan
the barcode see the ingredients have changed, because that does happen.
But when it comes to like going to grad school
and going to class, running errands, I always have to
be sure. I bring my epinephorm with me, my zero
tech which is anti histamine, minehaler, my ap llergy list,
my health insurance card, and then you know, when it
(14:04):
comes to going to restaurants, I would call the restaurant
ahead of time, talk to the manager or the chef
and say, hey, you know I have these allergies. I
looked at your menu and this item looks promising, like
how do you make this dish? Like?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
How do you prepare it?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Is there any way you can make it where you
prevent the risk of these allergies coming in contact with it.
If they say no, I'm like, okay, then I'll find
somewhere else. If they say yes, I will go there.
Basically by day, like a normal day for me is
just doing extra steps and extra things that keep myself safe. Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
This is like a full time job on top of
your full time job of being a student.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, And the thing is like, this is what's normal
for me, So I'm not really phased by. I'm like, oh, yeah,
I just have to wipe down the surface or I
have to go call the manager, the usual. But somebod
else is like, oh my gosh, and it is really
what I think about when you're when you say it
is a full time job, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So when did you first realize something was wrong?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
So I was around I believe, almost the age of two,
so before I feel like I was even conscious, to
be honest, this was like my parents discovery.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I was a very colicky baby.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I had difficult time, like tolerating dairy, different kinds of
like just milk in general. And it wasn't until I
was two years older. My dad came home from work
one day and brought these cookies from work that had
pistachios in them, and I went into a full blown
anaphloctic reaction, the first one I've ever had throughout closed up.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I was not able to breathe. I was like barely
able to.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Talk, covered in hives, like my whole body vomiting profusely.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
And my parents were like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So they called nine one one ambulance took me and
my dad wa liked and my mom just gave birth
to my brother, so she couldn't go, and they referred
us to a doctor did all these different skin and
blood testing, all these allergies came up, and it's kind
of how it all started, so from a very young age.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So how many times have you actually gone into anaphylaxis?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I think it's around ten ten times.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And can you tell us a little more specifically about
what anaphylaxis really feel? I mean, do you have a
more recent story you can tell us.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I have a list of all my safe restaurants in
New York City because I live in New York And
so I was like, I'm gonna go to this restaurant
with my friend tonight. I've gone there so many times before.
They know me, like by heart, I break my allergy
car like, oh me, it's here. They know what to do,
and even if it's a safe restaurant, I'll always take
zero type. It can be used to help prevent allergic
reactions that are not like life threatening like anaphylaxis, but
(16:24):
more minor ones like breaking out in hives, it you
throw itchy lips. But this is a safe restaurant, so
what can go wrong?
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And so I ordered my usual dish, which was an
or Kenny pasta dish with sausage and broccoli and facaccia bread.
And again I talked to the waitress and she talked
to the managers and I have these allergies. Can you
make sure it's made safely doing xyz and like, yes,
we know who you are, we remember you, we got
(16:51):
you all as well. I'm like, okay, great, and so
I eat the food and everything's going great, and all
of a sudden, I start to feel this throbbing pain
in my throat.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Eating interrupted will be right back after this.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I started to feel this throbbing pain in my throat.
And that's something that I've been developing recently, is a
new symptom is having this throbbing pain. And usually I'm like, okay,
like let's take to their zero tech. Let's kind of
just sit for a second. Is maybe I'm having anxiety
because sometimes there's instances where I'm like, is this an
anxiety attack or is this actually anaphylax?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It's like what is happening here?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I'm like, Wow, the pain is getting worse, and it's
getting worse, and I'm starting to break out in hives,
like on my stomach and I feel like I'm going
to throw up.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And so I go to the bathroom. I just start
throwing up. After I threw up, I.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Could not breathe out of my nose or my throat,
so I was like basically suffocating, and I was like,
oh my god, I have to think really fast. I
got my epiinephrin, did the epinephrine, and my friend called
an ambulance. They took me away, and the next day
the restaurant I talk and I'm like, what happened, Like
this is my safe dish, and They're like, we have
(18:07):
no idea. My friend ordered a dish that had pine nuts,
and I'm wondering, did something happen when it came in contact.
They said no, but there was a risk of probably
cross intimidation, and so even like minor exposure can put
me in my thirtning situation like what happened that night,
and that was so traumatizing.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
That was the probably one of the worst reactions I've
ever had.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I'm allergic to bees. I'm not allergic to food, but
I've had an anaphylaction reaction a couple times. And I mean,
when you start to feel your throat closing. It's terrifying,
it's just impending doom.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's just like you know what's going to happen, you
know what you have to do, and it's the most dreadful,
honestly traumatizing experience. I mean, you've gone through it too,
so you probably understand when your body is out of
control and you can't really stop it without using epinephrin.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So what is actually physically going on when someone experiences anaphylaxis?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So when somebody actually has anaphylaxis, the first thing they
will experience is fear because they will realize in a
moment that this is going to happen, and so that
first moment is quite striking. The second is they may
start to feel bronchospasm, which means there's a closing of
(19:24):
the airways, and they might feel wheezing like an asthma
attack really, and then they can start to feel lightheaded
as the blood pressure starts to drop. When the blood
pressure starts to drop, that's because the blood vessels are
opening up and reacting, and that opening allows fluid to
shift into the face, the neck and into the lungs area,
so increasing your difficulty breathing. So those are the primary things,
(19:49):
and then later you might have diarrhea or vomiting on
top of all of that. If you have a bad reaction,
you have moments to let somebody know this is happening,
because once you're not able to speak, becomes problematic. But
then you need to have an intervention. And whether it's
the EpiPen in your purse or in your pocket, you
have to get that as soon as possible because that
(20:11):
will arrest the progression of the anaphylaxis.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So epinephrine is the treatment of choice, It's the rescue.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's the fastest thing you can do in that moment,
and if you have it with you, and if you
know you have anaphlexis, should always be carrying it with
you just in case.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Mia, Do you dread sitting down to eat?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Surprisingly, no, I actually have a big foodie.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I love food, and I really feel blessed to have
been raised in a family where they really wanted me
to feel that allergies can stop me from eating good food.
Like my mom is an amazing allergy advocate and cheft
and she was super creative when it came to making
recipes for me. And so I've developed a love for
food because of her, so I actually do love to eat.
(21:01):
That being said, there are instances, especially when I do
eat out at restaurants, I do experience anxiety because you're
trusting random strangers to make your food. You know, even
though I will give a very in depth allergy spiel,
there's always at risk and that has happened many times
where it's gone wrong. But I'd say, just generally speaking,
I love food, and I view food as fuel and
(21:22):
it doesn't have to be the most exciting meal in
the world, but it gives me strength and it feels
my body and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's all kind of amazing. I mean, you're kind of amazing.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
You.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
You know, people can be unkind and I'm sure you've
gotten the eye rolls and the really and come on,
talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh my gosh, I could talk about this all day.
So whether that is just also me on the internet,
the amount of hate comments and dms I get on
the daily is obscene. I've had to learn how to
just mentally just ignore it because a lot of life.
Ignoring things is what my dad told me growing up,
and I think it's one of the truest things ever.
Having to just ignore these comments, but people will say
(22:07):
to me, you are God's typo natural selection. And so
I'll post videos of meat boarding airplanes, for example, and
how I asked the flight attendants to try to make
an announcement to prevent the passengers from eating nuts, and
all have comments saying, oh, I'm going to bring extra
nuts on my flight, like all these crazy things.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
But then on top of that, just.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
In my real life, you know, I have some relatives
that are very ignorant and think that what I have
is in my head. I have had to get restaurants
like staff just saying we cannot serve you. I remember,
almost two years ago, my family went on a trip
to Belgium, and usually like to kind of I like
(22:47):
to pre plan the restaurants, but for some reason, I
just had a restaurant in mind that we were gonna
go to, but I thought they were gonna be safe,
but they weren't. And we went to thirteen different restaurants
that night to file place that would serve me, and
every and the one said no, said they're like nope, nope, nope.
And then with friendships too, and dating especially like dating
is where I see it a lot a lot of
(23:08):
people think that what I have is inconvenience to them,
And I'm sorry, but if it's inconvenience to you, how
do you get feels to the one that's living with
this every single day?
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Where do you get the strength? I mean you obviously have.
I mean you have. You have a life threatening condition
which you're going to have to deal with in some
form or fashion for the rest of your life.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, I used to not think this way.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I feel like you know, when I growing up, I
was bullied a lot in school. I was very depressed,
even at points like contemplating my own existence because of
just how difficult it is to navigate this challenge, because
it's so horrible, like having allergies sucks, like I don't
want to have this. But you know, I started seeing
a food allergy specialized psychologist when I was in high
(23:53):
school because I was having all these anaphylotic reactions out
of nowhere and I was just very traumatized and felt
much much like a victim. It just felt like my
life is horrible and everything sucks. And seeing her, she
really changed my perspective and taught me how to one
advocate for myself better and kind of be more confident
in my allergies. But then really what really changed for
(24:15):
me was when I started posting on TikTok about my
allergies and seeing how there are so many people that
are just like me, and realizing that I'm not alone
in this and that, you know, if I can try
to meet more people in this space, all feel less
alone and feel more empowered. And as my online presence has,
you know, grown so much, which I'm so incredibly grateful
(24:36):
for them able to do this for my work, I've
gained a lot of self confidence.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Because of that.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I'm trying to spread positivity and just showcase that you
can do all these things if you have allergies. It
might be a bit more difficult, but it's totally possible.
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It seems to me that you're not just educating the
community of people who, like you, suffer from severe allergies,
but also the rest of us. I mean, people really
need to understand what it feels like to be Miya
and those millions of other people who have to live
life in a very specific way in order to stay healthy.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Absolutely, I think that there's a line of information which
is what really justifies the work that I do, not
only just from the hate comments, but people will also
common things like oh, you know, you're just picky, or
just have a little bit of the allergy and it's
not going to do anything to you, And even just
a lot of the content people are posting saying that
there's these different treatments, like you know, eating honey will
create your allergies, or vaccines cause allergies, or all these
(25:35):
different things.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
That are not actually true.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
There's clearly so much ignorance on this topic, and people
don't understand that yes, allergies can be airborne, or yes,
if you touch the allergen, you can still go into anaphaloxis,
like it is completely possible. So I think this is
why it's so important to advocate on social media, because
we live in a world that's not built for people
like myself, and I think that everyone deserves to feel
(25:57):
safe and included and scene. And I feel like this
does not just apply to me specifically for allergies, but
people that have seeliact disease, people to have IBS, people
that have chrome disease. We all deserve to feel safe.
And I'm really honored I've been able to have a
platform to amplify those voices and educate the public.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
So me, you're about to start a new treatment, tell
me about it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yes, So, for the past two months, I've been taking
these shots, and their purpose is to kind of just
help overall strengthen my immune system and helping prevent maybe
allergic reactions from happening due to cross contamination or cross
contact like accidental exposure. But these shots are kind of
an initial step towards what I'm going to be doing,
which is a treatment called oral immunotherapy or OIT for short.
(26:41):
And the best way is to describe OIT is you're
basically microdosing your allergens every single day with the long
term goal of becoming to census hize too and being
able to eat it freely or at the very least.
You know, if I order a dish and it maybe
has a singular scessity seed or a touched peanut butter,
I won't react to it. Long term goals to be
able to eat these foods freely. I'll be microdosing qu
(27:03):
unquote micro dosing peanuts, sustame, and cashews every single day
for the foreseeable future, and every two weeks I will
increase the dose. So my allergist has said that probably
by six to nine months, I'll be able to eat
a singular peanut every day. So that goal is hopefully
to help me again, like either help me completely be
(27:25):
able to eat these foods or there at.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Least have a strong tolerance to them.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
So you sound excited about it, but you also must
be a little bit nervous.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, I'm I'm trying to say as optimistic as possible,
but I'm human. I'm obviously also terrified of eating by
allergens every single day, but I claim to document the
experience for my viewers, so just kind of using this
as opportunity to educate people about this treatment. I have
like such long term goals of maybe going to travel
around Asia eating all types of Asian cuisinecause I can't
(27:55):
right now because I'm my allergies. So if I can
do anything to help achieve that goal and dream, I
will do it. Even if it causes a lot of anxiety.
It's worth it to me because I want to be
able to have an improve quality of life.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Mia. I have learned so much in this conversation with you.
Your strength and your passion is just I could. I
could feel it, and I think everybody else can too.
So thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Thank you so much for having me Cynthia, it's been
a great conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Before we end our discussion today, let's go back to
doctor Pim and tell one more time, if listeners remember
one thing from this episode, what would you like that
to be.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Everything I've done in my career has been about trying
to give patients a normal life. And a normal life
doesn't always mean that you have to talk to the patient.
You sometimes have to talk to the family and say, look,
you know understand this. This person is struggling, and please
just give them a break. Let them make decisions on
(28:56):
their own about what they can and can't eat because
they can't eat these things. And here's that's why. So
I think it's not just about educating the patient and
what they have, it's about educating their family as well
that come on, this is real. Let's allow them to
be themselves. Food is the convener of people, and when
anything interferes with food, it interferes with the social aspect
(29:20):
of humans. And I think that's where we have to
figure out how to be sympathetic.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I want to thank our guests again for coming on today,
gastro wentrologist doctor Mark Penmantel, an allergy advocate MIAs Silverman,
and thank you our listeners for tuning in. There's still
a lot more to come this season, from exploring the
gut brain connection to what it really means to train
your gut for endurance sports, how diet affects the immune system,
(29:50):
and the many ways digestion changes as we age. There's
plenty more to digest, and we're just getting started eating
Interrupted as a production of Ruby's Studio from iHeartMedia. Our
producer is Jenny Cunningham, project lead as Maria Saint Aubert,
(30:11):
and the sound engineer is Luke Battio. I'm Cynthia McFadden.
We'll see you next time.
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