I watched the Suzanne Show for the first time this past Wednesday and I enjoyed it. I recommend watching it on the Lifetime channel if you are at all concerned about health issues.
During one of her segments, she states that 50% are sensitive to gluten but don't know this is what is bothering them. I haven't been able to confirm this seemingly high statistic, but many sources are talking about how gluten allergies, food allergies and sensitivities and celiac disease are on the rise.
According to foodrenegade.com “Just a decade ago, gluten-intolerance levels were at 1 in 2500 worldwide. Today, it's at 1 in 133.”
Why are there so many more sensitivities today?
Possibly, part of the reason for more sensitivities being diagnosed is because the testing is getting better. We are going to talk more about testing later on in this post.
More likely, there are more sensitivities because there are way more preservatives, toxins, nitrates, poisons and industrial chemicals in food and in our environment then there used to be. The immune system is confused, hyperactive and aggressively attacking the food that we eat.
Food sensitivity to any number of foods, not just gluten, can cause chronic problems. Chronic illnesses are plaguing people and many are being ignored by their doctors and told the problem is all in their head or worse, given a prescription for some toxic prescription drug that only adds to the toxicity of the person's body. Most people don't know what food may be bothering them or even that food can be causing the problems they (or their children) are having.
Some common Food Sensitivity Symptoms:
- Feeling “blah”
- Muscle and Joint Aches
- Headaches
- Stomach Discomfort
- Insomnia
- Weight Gain
Food sensitivities can cause your immune system to over-react to what you eat. You can feel achy, get headaches, and feel almost like you have the flu from the immune response to foods that you have sensitivities to. If you are getting flu like symptoms quite often… you may want to check for food sensitivities.
When we first got out of our moldy home, one of our doctors suggested we get the book “Clean” by Alejandro Junger and follow this protocol as closely as possible. This book suggests you cut out a lot of foods and it gives the reasons why. I would only eat organic vegetables, organic chicken and some organic nuts. A very quick summary of the program is freshly juiced organic vegetables in the morning and evening and eat an organic small high protein, high vegetable lunch. The book suggests following this diet for 3 weeks. I did it for 7 weeks. For a more complete view of the program, the “Clean” book is available through amazon or you can visit the Clean program website.
After the juicing period, the book “Clean” says to add foods back into your diet, one at a time. In this way, one can determine which foods are causing health symptoms. I was sensitive to a ton of foods. Some would give me a headache, some would give me an achy feeling and other foods made me sick to my stomach. This was the method I used to “test” for food sensitivities.
Blood Testing
If I had known about blood testing when I was still very sick and very sensitive to many foods… I would have jumped on the idea, especially one that could be done without a doctor's order. The Food Safe™ Allergy Test can be done from home with something as simple as a prick of the finger.
According to their website:
The Food Safe™ Allergy Test measures your sensitivity to certain foods from an antibody-mediated immune response. The antibody measured in this test is IgG. This test does not measure the dangerous rapid-acting IgE food allergies.
When you get your results, some foods will be in red, yellow and green categories. Stop the red and yellow categories for 2 weeks. This will give the inflammation in the gut time to calm down. Introduce one food at a time back into the diet. If you get symptoms, take it back out of your diet and avoid that food.
Here is a sample of the Food Safe™ test results.
For a full size view, click on the image.
