Food Allergy Alternatives

We mentioned in our last post about the lab that performed the food intolerance/allergy test. I know there are some of you out there that are curious about which lab we used. I will say, we

are not affiliated with the lab in any way, and we have only used the one lab, so we have nothing to compare to.

The lab we used was Sage Medical Laboratory. Their website is http://www.foodallergytest.com/

The food intolerance test was a great starting point. It gave her a pretty good indication of which were the most likely problem foods that she needed to test for in the elimination diet. The intolerance test results revealed more than 23 different sensitivities. Three of the intolerances, which were not identified in the lab results as being very severe, were corn, wheat and soy. She was already suspect that there may be some negative reaction to wheat that was occurring in her body, so she decided to test for these less severe intolerances as well. It’s a good thing too. As it turned out, the most serious of the intolerances ended up being corn, wheat and soy. In talking with others that have food allergies, their experience was the same. That sometimes some of the lesser offending on the lab results ended up being the most problematic foods for them.

The lab recommended a 6-week elimination period for the diet (we later determined that 6 weeks was probably a bit on the excessive side. Our experience leads us to believe that the ‘elimination’ portion could really have been accomplished within 2 weeks with more or less the same effectiveness). For this ‘elimination’ phase, she carefully planned out her diet for the next 6 weeks by writing out a list of foods that did not contain any of the 23 ingredients that she was testing for. This is actually much more challenging that it sounds. For 6 weeks, she basically lived on some combination of rice, chicken, beans, salads, vegetables, and fruit. The lab recommended that she try some other grains such as quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and millet. Although they were not as tasty as what she was used to, she managed to get it down.

Once she had 6 continuous weeks of elimination of the foods she was testing for, it was time to start the ‘challenge’ phase of the diet. During this phase, the general idea is to eat 3 servings of the offending food on the first day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), and that’s it. On days 2 through 4 you don’t eat any of the offending food at all. You’re back to only eating the same foods you were eating in the ‘elimination’ portion of the diet (foods that are free from anything you are testing for). On days 2 through 4 you’re just watching for the delayed reactions to the food you ate on the 1st day. Another reason for days 2 through 4 is to allow enough time for the food you were testing to completely pass through your system so you will have a clean slate to start on the next food.

Keep a detailed notebook of all of the reactions you have so you can go back and review. The most important part of this test is to pay very close attention to (and document) how your body reacts to the food. Trust me, we thought we would remember, but it all gets a little fuzzy after about a week of testing. Some reactions will happen within minutes of eating certain foods, and other reactions could take up to 48 hours or more.

So on the first day of the testing phase, she very methodically reintroduced the suspect food in a controlled manner by eating 1 serving of the purest form of the food once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and one final serving in the evening. To give a few examples, in the case of wheat, she took a serving of pure wheat cereal (dry..no milk. Make sure you don’t accidentally introduce another food that you are testing for just because its common for the food to be prepared in that way). For corn, she ate…well, corn. For soy, she ate soy beans (not the tastiest food in the world), etc.

The test can take some time to get through depending on how many foods you are testing for. You have between 2 and 6 six weeks for the elimination phase, then 4 days for each food that you are testing for. So make sure you are committed before you start.

I think it would make the most sense to start off with a little background on how this all came about for us.

Years ago when we were younger, we would eat pretty much anything we felt like, and didn’t have any noticeable ‘reaction’ to anything—at least nothing we were aware of. As the years increased, so did the pounds, so Kim made a decision to eat healthier.

Just by cutting out many of the ‘junk food’ items, she managed to loose some weight. But this was short lived. After a while, no matter what she did to loose weight, nothing worked. She also was very irritable and felt anxious most of the time. She struggled with hypoglycemia. So much so that she would almost faint if she didn’t eat food on a very strict schedule. Her energy levels were always very up and down.

Eventually she went to visit with a doctor of Naturopathy. This doctor, after carefully evaluating Kim’s history and symptoms, suggested that she might have an intolerance to Gluten.

Skeptical of the doctor’s suggestion, Kim reluctantly decided to eliminate all gluten products from her diet to see how her body would react. After just a few short weeks, she noticed a significant improvement in how she felt, and also started to shed the pounds that she had put on.

Being very excited with the results, she decided to get a complete food intolerance test to see if there were any other foods that might be causing problems. The test results not only confirmed that she was in fact Gluten intolerant, but that she also had intolerances to corn, soy, and a few other items as well. The lab results suggested that she try a complete ‘elimination diet’ for six weeks to make sure her body was completely free from these foods, then gradually introduce these foods back into her system in a controlled manner and note how her body reacted (we will cover this elimination in much more detail in an upcoming post).

The results were very interesting to say they least. During the elimination period, she continued to loose weight and felt better than she had in years. The irritability and anxiousness seemed to melt away. When she added some of the foods back in for the testing period, the reaction was very familiar and obvious that there significant reactions that these foods were causing in her body. So many of the issues that she had struggled with for a large part of her adult life had all but disappeared.

The results were so significant, that Kim vowed to never return to the foods that were poisoning her. It was a complete life transformation for her.

We started this blog with the intention of creating a consolidated resource for people that have issues with food allergies and/or intolerances. My wife and I both have various food allergies and intolerances, and when we first discovered our problems, there were very limited resources available, which made dealing with the issues quite challenging. Our objective is to make this process less challenging for you and get you on your way to a healthier lifestyle.

We will discuss various food allergies and intolerances and their common effects on people, as well as alternative foods and suggestions for dealing with these issues. We will share every bit of information that we have gathered over years of investigation and countess hours of research. We also ask that you share your experiences with us as well for benefit of the readers. Your unique experience could be that critical piece of information someone needs to lead a more happy and healthy life.