Eating For Life — But Is What You’re Eating Hurting You?

You think you’re eating a healthy diet, filled with fruits, vegetables, that great new yogurt everyone is talking about — and yet you’re stomach continues to bother you and you have no idea why.

While your food is on the surface healthy — it might not be healthy for you. In fact, you may have a sensitivity to what you’re eating and that great food could be doing you more harm than good.

This can manifest itself as irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, joint pain, foggy brain, eczema and other such ailments. But what is a person to do?

Most allergists check something called your IgE (immunoglobulin E), with a scratch test, and while that’s helpful, if you want to know what foods you should avoid eating, a naturopath can help you get an IgG (immunoglobulin G).

What’s The Difference?

• IgE production begins right after you eat or inhale an allergen. The reaction can include sneezing, itching of the palate (or even ears), runny nose, etc. The allergic reaction usually occurs within two hours of exposure so it can be easy to make the connection.
• IgG production begins anywhere from several hours to several days after the initial exposure and therefore a connection between allergen and reaction can be harder to recognize. Reactions can include runny nose, headaches, fatigue, asthma, and many others.

How Is This Done?

With the Allergy Antibody Assessment, IgG levels are assessed using the ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay). This is a comprehensive blood antibody test of almost 100 different foods and uses an enzyme binding process to detect antibody levels.

Once taken, this report can give you a clearer picture of possible foods that your body has a sensitivity towards and you can begin to rebuild your gut health.

Now What?

Armed with that knowledge, you can avoid these foods. While this isn’t an easy thing to do, especially if it involves dairy or gluten, there have been great strides made in the food industry with substitutes that make the transition less burdensome.

Once off the foods for three to six months, it gives the body a chance to heal itself and you may be able to bring these foods back into your diet on a rotating basis.

One way to reintroduce the particular food is to try having it in its purest form (for dairy, a glass of milk) at breakfast, lunch and dinner and then write down if you have any changes over the next four days. This can include anything from headaches to sleep issues.

After four days are up, you can try doing that with the next offending food and repeat the drill. If what happens is something you don’t want to live with, you know you should eliminate that food from your diet.

This is just one way to try to regain your health by watching how your body reacts to certain foods. If you want to find out more about how you can regain your health, consider nutritional counseling in Chicago, IL to find out more ways to help you feel better.

Thank you to our friends and contributors at WholeHealth Chicago for their knowledge about nutrition.