Our
incredibly-designed
bodies have evolved over thousands of years on a diet of
whole foods, provided by nature with foods that come naturally with enzymes
and minerals especially designed for digesting them. Over the last 50-75
years, our eating habits have changed dramatically. Processed foods and
chemical additives have upset our entire chemistry resulting in food allergies,
sensitivities, even chronic disease.
What are Food Allergies &
Sensitivities?
Most people are familiar with the kind that
when you eat something you "break-out". It's estimated that up to 50% of
Americans suffer from more subtle food allergies. More difficult to pinpoint,
these allergies don't immediately make you puff up like a blowfish or break
out in hives or a rash. Hidden food allergies affect your quality of life
in more insidious ways; physically, emotionally and mentally. Symptoms
are highly individualized, including a "muddled" brain, mysterious diarrhea
or multiple ailments. Symptoms from some foods may not appear for sometime.
| SYMPTOMS OF FOOD
ALLERGIES |
Acne, Arthritis, Asthma & Respiratory Problems,
Colitis & Diarrhea, Depression, Fatigue, Headaches/Migraines, Mental
confusion, Insomnia, Intestinal Problems, Overweight, Sinus Problems, Candidasis,
Ulcers, Eczema, Hives/Puffing and Postnasal Drip |
| COMMON FOOD SENSITIVITIES |
Wheat, Dairy, Corn and Corn Derivatives, Soy, Refined
Sugar, Eggs, Coffee/Caffeine, Kola (Chocolate and colas), Beef, Fish, Shellfish,
Artificial Additives, Preservatives & colorings, Citrus, yeast, Night side
Vegetables, Aspartame & Saccharine, Alcohol. |
What Causes Hidden Food Allergies?
Essentially, a body out of balance; any single food can upset your body's
delicate mineral balance and start a chain reaction that impairs your digestion
and immune system. One of the biggest culprits may be the so-called SAD
(Standard American Diet). This diet is rich in refined flours, white sugar,
and processed food that do not come with minerals we need for digestion.
SAD also centers on only a few foods such as beef, eggs, dairy products,
wheat, corn, and sugar.
We unwittingly eat these foods every day - yet many of us are allergic
or sensitive to them. These foods damage our tissues and our bodies need
3 to 4 days between eating allergenic foods to recover. Other common allergens
that upset our harmonious body chemistry are external: harsh chemicals,
environmental pollution, pesticides, and even fumes from our carpets and
cars. Our overloaded immune systems never get a break.
How can I be Allergic to Foods?
When you have a food allergy, your immune system is responding improperly
to a substance this is usually not harmful. Yet, even good foods can turn
bad in a body out of balance. Allergies may be evolutionary in nature,
based upon ancestry and blood type. And our blood type appeared in different
times in evolution and is sensitive to foods that developed after it. For
example, type O is the oldest, the "original hunter gather" type,
often sensitive to newer foods like grain and flour products as well as
dairy foods.
How does "Leaky Gut" Syndrome
Contribute to Food Allergies? Any number of factors can weaken
digestion and immunity. This problem to digest refined foods can lead to
"leaky gut syndrome", occurring when small spaces in the mucous
membranes of the intestinal tract expand, allowing incompletely digested
food particles to escape into the bloodstream which sets up an immune system
response.
How is my Immune System Involved?
The immune system guards the bloodstream. Unfortunately it can't distinguish
between an undigested food protein and a harmful protein like a virus.
It's job is to protect the body system.
How is a Food Sensitivity Different
from an Allergy? Allergies and sensitivities differ subtly.
Both trigger an immune system response - just at different times and places
in the body. Allergies provoke immediate antibody reactions in the bloodstream,
while sensitivities trigger slower, immune system responses within cells.
The bottom line is: both types of reaction cause inflammation as the body
attempts to destroy irritants. Food sensitivity symptoms, however, include
a few more unpleasant possibilities: migraine headaches, dizziness and
fatigue. Note - in this information, the terms allergies and sensitivities
are used interchangeably.
Why do I have so many different
symptoms? The one symptom common to all allergies is inflammation.
If it occurs in your brain cells you end up with mental or emotional symptoms.
These can include dizziness, poor memory, foggy thinking, learning disorders,
seizures, and paranoia. Inflammation manifests in joints as arthritis.
What makes an allergy choose one part of the body over another? Most allergic
people have a toxic bowel, preventing the body from eliminating irritants
the natural way. This burdens other channels of elimination, especially
skin and lungs - which explains mysterious eczema or awful asthma.
What happpens if I ignore my symptoms?
If you don't take steps to face food allergies now, you may end
up with a chronic or degenerative disease. Constant stress on the immune
system can weaken it to the point that the body begins to attack and destroy
its own tissues. Scientists estimate in over 75% of allergic reactions,
cells in tissues under attack are actually destroyed. Lupus and rheumatoid
arthritis are examples of 2 autoimmune diseases that may start as simple
allergies.
Strange cravings - How allergies
and cravings are related: Do you crave certain foods, then
feel stimulated, even euphoric when you eat them? Welcome to the adaptation
stage of food allergies! Our well-designed bodies create cravings to avoid
withdrawal symptoms from allergic foods. Satisfying a craving provides
a high as the body rewards it with "feel good" chemicals like endorphins.
Ideally, one should feel no better or worse after eating a specific food.
If you do, then suspect a food sensitivity.
You may think you've outgrown an allergy when it's really only masked.
The body can adapt to a food allergy for years. When the body enters the
maladaption stage, however, withdrawal symptoms set in, and eating the
allergic food intensifies those symptoms. You now have a full-blown food
allergy with its full array of physical and psychological symptoms.
As an example, people with milk allergies are common players in that
adaptation/maladaption cycle. After a milk-sensitive infancy, they may
crave and enjoy a diet rich in cheese, milk and ice cream for years. The
maladaptation stage may wait 20 years, even 30, before setting in. Then
come headaches, depression, cramps, and diarrhea. The milk allergy never
really left!
Go here for more on Allergies!
SOURCES: Allergy-Free Cooking by Eileen
R. Yoder, PhD; The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health & Rebuilding
Your Immunity by Donna Gates; Don't Drink Your Milk by Frank Oski, M.D.;
Delicious Magazine; The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability
by Paul Hewken; The Encylopedia of Natural Remedies, Food. Your Miracle
Medicine by Jean Carper; Good Health in a Toxic World by Sara Shannon;
Optimal Wellness, Ralph Golan, M.D.; Prescription for Nutritional Healing
by James and Phyllis Balch; Secrets of Natural Food Healing with Food by
Nancy Appleton; Your Body Knows Best by Anne Louise Gittleman; Your Health
and Your Home by Nina Anderson and Albert Benoist. |