May 10-16th is the week of Food Allergy Awareness. So I figured it would be a good time for this post.
Many people have food allergies, but a lot more people have food sensitivities. So, what’s the difference? When you have a food allergy your body actually creates a response that attacks the protein from the food, and this can cause symptoms anywhere from a very uncomfortable reaction like your tongue going a little bit tingly and possibly breaking out in hives, all the way up to anaphylaxis. When food allergy symptoms happen, most often it happens within a few minutes to a few hours after the allergen is ingested.
If you suspect that you have a food allergy, it is always best to go see an allergist to have it tested. Having concrete information for something like this is very important. Even if you’re only experiencing some more mild symptoms, if you keep exposing yourself, each time the reaction can become more severe. Anaphylaxis is a severe, possibly life threatening reaction to an allergen. Symptoms of anaphylaxis are: skin rashes with itching and hives, swelling of the lips tongue or throat, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, dizziness and/or faintness and stomach pain, diarrhea or vomiting. If this occurs, you must seek medical attention immediately. If you have been tested and the allergist suspects a possibility for an anaphylactic reaction, you will be prescribed an EpiPen, which could save your life.
Food sensitivities on the other hand are a little bit more subtle. It’s a different way that the body responds to food sensitivities. So you usually don’t see as quick of a response like you do with food allergies, but your body will still tell you that it doesn’t like the food. Luckily, we are starting to understand better what food sensitivities look like and how we can identify them. It can take a little while to figure out which foods are the biggest offenders seeing as reactions can take up to 3 days to show themselves. Typically, people that have ongoing digestive issues will be sensitive to some of the top offenders such as gluten, dairy and eggs.
So how do you know if you have food sensitivities? Do you suffer from constant digestive upset, eczema, psoriasis, and constant congestion? These can be signs that the body is not responding well to the foods that we are eating. Food sensitivities can be an indication that you have a higher level of inflammation in the body, which affects your gut. Leaky gut is often the root of multiple food sensitives, because the cells in the lining of your gut allow problem food particles to slip into the blood stream, without being properly broken down.
If you think that you may have some food sensitivities and you’re not prepared to spend the money on testing, then doing an Elimination Diet is the best option. This means removing all the top food allergens (see list below of top 13 food allergens) that you eat on regular basis for at least six weeks. It’s always helpful to start a food and symptom diary to help you track what you’re eating and when you’re experiencing what symptoms. After 6 weeks of a more simple diet, then start introducing the foods back one at a time. When you reintroduce the food, you will do a loading day, which means you eat that food 2-3 times in one day. After your loading day, do not eat any more of that food for three days. Then pay attention to your symptoms to see what kind of reactions you may or may not experience. It is best to do a loading day with each food and track your results. After going through all of them, add the foods back that you didn’t track any symptoms with, and avoid the ones you did. It is best to keep going with food and symptom tracking after you add foods back in on a regular basis. Some food sensitivities are accumulative. So you may notice after, for example, adding dairy back in your diet, you start experiencing an increase in digestive symptoms again after 2 weeks. If you notice that trend, remove the dairy again to make sure that is the culprit and then experiment with rotating it in on a smaller scale. Some foods can be a lower grade sensitivity, so you may be able to tolerate small amounts of it less often.
Dairy for me is an ongoing sensitivity. I’m usually fine without using it, but I still looove my cheese. If I stick with my fermented cheese in small amounts and not every day, I’m fine. If I go on a cheese binge I will experience some extra gas and some chest congestion. So I’ll sound like I’m starting to get a cold cough, when really it’s just my body telling me I ate too much cheese.
Let me know if you’re struggling to figure out a food sensitivity, or if there is one you know of but your finding it difficult to remove from your diet. Top 13 Food Allergens Wheat (gluten) Dairy (casein) Eggs Peanuts Tree Nuts Sesame Shellfish Soy Sulfites Fish Mustard Crustaceans Lupin
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