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Food Sensitivities: Part III

How might you know that you are sensitive to certain foods? Quite simply, you will probably feel bad after you eat them. Or, at the very least, you might intuit a "not-quite-rightness". For example, coffee, cocoa and chocolate all contain caffeine and will often bring on a bad headache or migraine. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, white onions, potatoes, paprika, zucchini and squash seem to be tied to a variety of arthritic and joint symptoms. Cow dairy foods such as milk, butter, yogurt and all kinds of cheese can cause asthma, chronic sinusitis, ear infections and GI problems like cramps, gas, bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation. Common citrus fruits like orange, lemon, lime, tangerine and grapefruit can cause hives, wheezing and headaches.

So, what can you do to prevent food sensitivities? If you are an adult you are probably past the prevention stage and already have some food issues; you simply need to eliminate certain foods. So let's start with children with their innocent, clean and pure guts. How can we do the best we can for them? Breast feed as long as possible. A year is good. The purpose of breast feeding is not just for the wonderful immunoglobulins imparted by mother's milk and for crucial bonding between Mom and Baby, but it's also for building up tolerance to foods that are introduced later. If you can't breast feed, then there are infant probiotics that are good to use on a daily basis.

Research has shown that feeding babies adult-style table foods in the first six months of life - especially wheat, dairy and eggs - is associated with a high incidence of sensitivities to these foods later on. Please click on the Handouts section then on Infants and Children for more information on when to start what foods.

Adult-style table foods also contain additives which have been blamed for many health problems including headaches, impaired brain function, digestive problems, joint pains and behavioral problems. Did you know that there are over 3,000 flavors and dyes being used in the foods you buy? If you can, make your baby's foods from scratch. It's really not all that hard. You make yourself an organic yam for dinner? Smash some up for baby. Ditto for carrots, string beans, squash etc. Don't give your child anything with a high level of glutamate in it. This harmful additive is disguised as MSG, caseinate, hydrolyzed proteins and soy proteins. This can cause abnormal development of the brain while MSG exposure early in life can lead to obesity in childhood.

Now for adults: Let's first diagnose the problem. I can help you with that. Once you know what you are sensitive to, you must eliminate those foods. I know it's hard. I have been sensitive to gluten for years, and I struggle everyday with it. It gets easier as you go along, but in this wheat-crazed society, it's not fun. You have to read labels, too. Eliminate the gluten, the dairy, MSG or whatever additive you are found to be sensitive to. Learn to rotate your menu. We all like to eat the same foods every day, but this is what can create intolerances. For example, I find that many new patients test sensitive for chicken, and then I find out later that they eat some form of chicken many times a week.

To lower your risk for food intolerances, you should rotate your menu. This goes for kids, too. Here's an example for you: Instead of relying on your tried and true chicken recipes three times a week, try substituting beans or fish or go vegetarian on two of the nights you would ordinarily eat the chicken. Eat eggs once or twice a week only. If you are at a loss for a protein breakfast, steel cut oats with whey protein (24g. of protein per scoop) stirred in makes a great stick-to-your-ribs breakfast. If you don't think that you are sensitive to wheat and cow dairy and are eating it on a regular basis, eat it only three or four times a week. Not every day. Try rice or goat milk, 100% rye, sprouted grain or gluten-free instead.

But, what if you are found to be gluten intolerant or allergic to dairy? Well, I hate to be the screeching harpy, but you will probably always be intolerant. There are several major food intolerances, and they include gluten, cow dairy, eggs, tomatoes, citrus, soy, shell fish and peanuts. Once you are sensitive, you will probably always be sensitive. I know that some people out there say that they can "desensitize" you to various foods with certain tapping or acupuncture techniques, but I have never seen this technique work for the long term. So, if, for example, wheat products make you feel bad, just suck it up and just decide you want health more than that croissant.

Furthermore, if you have experienced years of having a food intolerance, then you probably have a leaky gut. We have to fix that, too, because that means you are not absorbing foods properly and won't until we fix it. L-glutamine in very large doses often helps as do natural anti-inflammatories such as the flavonoids, hesperidin, curcumin and quercetin which will reduce inflammation in the gut wall and speed up the healing.

Please try to avoid gut-damaging pharmaceuticals and any drug that inhibits acid as those Nexium- type products are hell to get off of due to rebound GERD. It can be done, but it's a rocky road and sometimes uncomfortable. Instead, honor your food sensitivities, eat a healthy diet, take your targeted supplements and especially for us older folk, take digestive enzymes with every meal.

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