Proper diet is the key to optimum heath, but what if the foods that you believe are good for you might actually be causing you harm? One reason for this is due to our genetics and the environment that we live in. These factors may in turn lead to intolerance, actually something called “leaky gut syndrome”. A “leaky gut” creates openings in the intestines. These openings can allow food to travel through the walls of the intestines and into the rest of the body. The body recognized the food as foreign invaders and mounts an immune system response. Sometimes these food particles are very similar in structure to various tissues in the body. The immune system can mistake the tissue for the food, which leads to inflammation in that area.
Food reactivities (the rate at which a chemical substane, in this case food, tends to undergo a chemical reaction) can be immediate or take several days. Proteins in gluten have been shown to affect the body for months!
Gluten– gluten is found in barley, rye, semolina, spelt, and wheat. Gluten may be replaced with rice, almonds, potato, soy, coconut, amaranth, teff, quinoa, buckwheat, sesame, millet or oats.
Other common allergenic foods include:
-cow dairy
-cashews
-eggplant
-green and red peppers
-potato
-tomatoes
-banana
-papaya
-mango
-Peanuts
-artificial sweeteners and food additives
and
-soy
There are several ways to determine food intolerances. Blood tests can be a great starting point but are not always 100% accurate!! An elimination diet can be done by removing suspected foods for a period of 4-6 weeks, after which foods are reintroduced back into the diet one at a time to determine any bad reaction you may have. The suspected food may be need to be consumed for several days to see if there is a reaction. A waiting period of about 4 days between testing each food is required!
It is important to note though foods that you should eliminate from your diet, such as gluten and dairy. Just like anything, it takes time to learn these sensitivities but it can be done and when you find those foods that you may have an intolerace to, it makes a huge difference in how your body metabolizes foods and also in your energy and how you feel!
There are several
