I have food sensitivities. So do you. An example of a food sensitivity is like someone who stops drinking beer because it bloats them enough to feel uncomfortable. Another common food sensitivity is to wheat which can cause achey joints or even mimic a pollen allergy--but these effects go away in a few days after they stop eating wheat products. But not everyone has a sensitivity to yeast or even wheat. Take me for example, I am sensitive to black pepper, broccoli, spinach, sesame, brewers yeast, bakers yeast, sugar, soy, egg whites, almonds, cashews, peanuts, salmon and vinegar. It sounds like a great healthy salad doesn't it!! Eating healthy almost killed me.
According to my nutritionist, everyone has “food sensitivities.” The degree of which and the reaction to vary from person to person. Food sensitivities include food, food chemicals, food preservatives and food coloring.
A food sensitivity is different from a food allergy--allergies happen quickly and are severe. Sensitivites typically go undetected because their effects are subtle and can happen 3 days or more after eating the offending foods. Food sensitivities are often misdiagnosed by doctors because their effects are wide and varied--IBS, arthritis, air pollen, and many many more.
*** MY Sensitive Foods and Their Effects *** BLACK PEPPER bloats my stomach, and causes gas. (I thought this was becuase I was getting older.)
SPINACH, BROCCOLI, GREEN BEANS and PEAS make me spacey and can seriously hamper my ability to concentrate. (I thought these effects were from air pollen allergies)
YEAST BREADS cause running nose, sneezing, and lots of sinus drainage. (Again, I thought air allergies)
BREWERS and BAKERS YEASTS combo means I should avoid all fermented foods-- alcohol, vinegar, honey, cheese, etc. (I stopped drinking beer in my twenties. And wine had started affecting me over the past four years. Basic alcohol in general was even making me feel bad. By the time I got my sensitivties test I had drank 4 drinks in a row. I hugged the toilet every hour for 12 hours 5 hours after my last drink. That had never happened to me before. I was very puffy the next day too.)
CASHEWS and ALMONDS makes me dizzy, spacey. (Again I thought air pollen allergies.)
PEANUTS cause IBS symptoms--cramping, pain and diarrehea. (I thought I had IBS becuae I was getting older.)
SUGAR races my heart, hot flashes and slight ring in ears.
(I thought I was premenopausal and again, I thought I had air allergies)
COW MILK products cause dull headaches 2 1/2 days after I eat them! (I've suffered from headaches since my 20's. Chiropractic adjustments cured my migraines but over the last three years I was getting less severe but still disabling "stress headaches" a lot! I could hardly do anything becuase everything was more stressful to do--grocery shopping, travelling, communting, everything.)
SOY & SESAME I recently got a teeth guard to prevent teeth clinching during day and night. Soy and sesame make me noticably irritable, tense, and stressed. My muscles aren't always tight when I am reacting from soy and sesame but the feeling is the same carrying from mid back to neck and wraps around my head. Soy flour or Soybean Oil is used in practically every premade food in the grocery store and at restaurants--even supplements!
Since I got my health back I have become an evangelical for food sensitivty education and testing. From just my sphere of friends and family I have found these other stories of food sensitivity--
1. A friend gets visibly bloated after eating pasta--her belly bloats out and boyfriend teases her that she's the Pillsbury Dough Girl!
2. A childhood friend gets headaches after eating MSG.
3. A friend's ex-girlfriend was suicidal throughout her youth until she found out she was allergic to caffeine and stopped drinking it at age 19.
4. An in-law will stay awake with hyperactivity for 24 hours after eating red food dye.
If my friends kept eating pasta, MSG, red food dye, or caffeine every day or even every other day, they would all eventually be very sick. Their immune system would eventually wear down over months or even years. I was lucky. My immune system was bombarded for years then nose dived within five months--and caused me to be on antibiotics and steroids throughout the month of March 2007. Why was I lucky? Because the effects of my broken immune system were visible--running sinus, scratchy throat, sore throat, sneezing, racing heart, sinus headaches, stress headaches, low strength, no energy.
Okay so food sensitivity testing may be hard to find--but they are out there--keep looking! your best bet is with a nutritionist, ear-nose-throat(ENT) or a alternative health center. I got mine from a Chiropractor in Houston who only charges his cost--$100. So I got a basic food allery test that tests only for food sensitivities. Joe's sensitivity test also tested for sensitivities to food chemicals and household chemicals. His test was $500.
Here's a helpful blog entry by my sweetie. He lists the three types of tests-- http://blog.mrfire.com/health/food-sensitivities/
I've been avoiding the above foods (as mush as possible) for three months now. Because of that I am less sensitive to some of them now. I will always be sensitive to these foods but as long as I dont indulge and eat a lot of them day after day I wont ever get sick from them again.
I've dropped a few pounds too-- but mostly I've dropped my bloated inflammed self. I tightened my belt three more notches after the first month alone. And I 've eaten things I ve avoided for years-- potatoes, rice, oil, chips, corn chips, avocados and lots of pastas!
I never noticed I had immediate effects from foods becuase I always had numerous effects going on at once. Last October I started eating more meat (black pepper), spinach, broccoli, eggs and nuts because I GP doctor switched my diet to heavy proteins with more vegetables and fruits. That's when my generally bad food sensitivities went to full throttle making me very ill throughout March.
Thank God for my friend in Houston who wanted me to take the food sensitivity test. I believe I had all the signs of a severe reaction in early March. The webs Ive read indicate that my multitude of symptoms are the precursor for a cardiac arrest. If that had happened then I would have been fed foods Im sensitive to in the hospital if I had survived an allergic reaction that no doctor would have guessed I had anyway.
I found this website that lists all the symptoms that food sensitivties can make--
http://www.amsterdamkliniek.com/treatments/allergy/Allergies_and_Other_Sensitivities.html
So YES I encourage you and everyone who is not feeling as good as they should energy wise, allergy wise and headache wise to get a basic food allergy test. Avoid the foods your sensitive to and stop eating those foods for three months (or more in my case) so that your body can reset itself.
The amount of foods I was eating really affected my nervous system. I was irritable, nervous, stressed, headachey, depressed and really really bloated and gassey for no apparent reason. And this was something that had been with me for yers but came to ahead when I started eating "better".
