I thought I was hiding my anxiety so well 👀 A few weeks ago, I had an allergic reaction to sushi at a restaurant. I explained my allergies to the waiter, and they confirmed what I ordered was safe. After taking a bite, the waiter rushed over to ask if I had eaten the roll. The roll contained wheat, one of my allergies. Thankfully, I had only eaten one bite, and my reaction was mild. The symptoms subsided with Zyrtec. Fast-forward to this week when I was ordering sushi at a different restaurant. My anxiety was at an all-time high!! So here’s what I did… The waiter wasn’t answering my allergy questions thoroughly, so I spoke to the manager. He checked all of the ingredients in the sushi, down to the vinegar they use on the rice 🙌 If you have a wheat allergy, make sure they use a rice-based vinegar and not a wheat-based one. The manager said they would use a clean prep station with clean gloves, and he confirmed that the dish was safe when it came to the table. I asked more allergy questions than I did at the previous restaurant. The manager did an amazing job reassuring me that the food was safe, but I still felt anxious 🫶 The first thing I do in these situations is figure out if I’m anxious because of a real threat. In this situation, I was nervous because of the past reaction. If I had any hesitations about the food containing my allergens, I wouldn’t have eaten it. Since I felt confident that the food was free from my allergens, I focused on my anxiety-reducing tools: • Acknowledging the emotion and moving on, usually with distraction like talking about something else with the people at my table…and wow, my friends had tea • Reminding myself of the facts, like I told the restaurant about my allergies, they took my needs seriously, and they confirmed that my allergens aren’t in the dish • Breathing techniques. I have a few 2-5 min guided breathing meditations saved on my phone. I’ll go to the bathroom for a few minutes to listen to one 😌 • Eating something sour. I’ll ask the restaurant for a slice of lemon and I keep sour candy in my bag. & it’s reassuring to know I’m not alone, so I hope this helps! 🩵
#allergy #glutenfree #allergicreaction #glutenfreefood #foodallergies