SE3: EP 018 - Food Allergy Journey and Care for the Caregiver with Hillary Tolle Carter

My Kind of Life

In this episode of Whole-Body Health©, I chat with the ever-delightful Hillary Tolle Carter, a mama of two beautiful boys, a food allergy advocate, and a Board of Governors member for FARE. Hillary and I have a conversation about raising children with food allergies and how challenging it can be for the caregiver, not just the child. We share our personal experiences on coping with this lifestyle and how it affects everyone involved. We give tips on how to manage and shift to a positive mindset to better navigate this journey.

In this episode...

(2:15) - Hillary tells her origin story of when she found out both of her sons had food allergies and shares her experiences. Emily and Hillary begin to get honest about their struggles with raising children with severe food allergies.

(5:25) - Hillary discusses the importance of grieving the life you thought you and your child would live before being diagnosed with food allergies or chronic illnesses. Emily and Hillary share their personal grief stories at the beginning of their diagnoses and how the diagnosis affected them as well.

(14:45) - Hillary shares more about what she does in her work around food allergy advocacy and how that helps her in her healing process.

(15:20) - Hillary and Emily discuss taking a career pause and the shift that comes with a food allergy diagnosis for their children. They share about pausing all things with the focus being on your family and child with allergies. Emily and Hillary talk about how to reframe this pause from a negative to a positive by researching and restoring their purpose/identity as advocates.

(21:40) - Emily shares her experiences building her food allergy course and how difficult it was to do this on top of all her responsibilities as a mother.

(24:40) - Hillary and Emily get vulnerable about how their marriages and relationships were impacted by their children's food allergy diagnosis. They share the importance of finding someone who supports you and how alone you can feel during this journey.

(29:05) - Hillary shares some ideas to begin caring for yourself as a mother raising a child with severe food allergies. She motivates parents to prioritize their own physical and mental health, relationships, setting boundaries, etc.

(33:45) - Emily asks Hillary some fun rapid-fire questions.

Resources:

Pediatric Food Allergy Essentials
Hillary Tolle Carter

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