People are always curious about food sensitivities. Digestion and the relationship between food is a large part of my practice. Learning the relationship between food and how it makes us feel is a very interesting journey for many people. Many people when they start off have no idea that food can make us feel so unwell.
When someone has food sensitivities, it is not a true “allergy”. When you have an allergy to food, the antibody related to this is an IgE reaction. These types of allergies are potentially life threatening and typically can affect your breathing and circulation. Very commonly, I will have patients see their allergist and report that nothing came up upon testing. This is because they do not have the IgE reaction to food (which is a good thing!)
More commonly people have something called a food sensitivity. When an individual has this, we are testing for a reaction to food via an IgG reaction. The production of this anti-body is a delayed reaction. This means that you may eat a food that causes discomfort for a few days (three days to be exact). In addition, if you eat the same foods over and over again, you can commonly develop a sensitivity to that food.
Symptoms of food sensitivities include:
- Migraines
- Irritable bowel syndromes
- Bloating and indigestion
- Eczema
- Weight gain
- Fatigue
- Low energy
- Malabsorption of nutrients including chronically low iron or B12
- Depression/anxiety
- Itchy skin
Very commonly people will react to the most common allergenic/inflammatory foods. These foods include dairy/eggs, wheat, grains, potatoes and nuts and seeds.
Testing for sensitivities is a great way to see what your body may be reactive to and also help you narrow down what to eliminate. I can help you navigate what to eat and other alternatives along the way. The great thing is that after you do an elimination, may symptoms can slowly clear away. I have seen this time and time again in my practice!
