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The following information was researched from many resources and should serve as a guide. It is not meant to be comprehensive. These symptoms are often seen with patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Fibromyalgia.
Symptoms of Food Allergies
Acne, Arthritis, Asthma & Respiratory Problems, Colitis & Diarrhea, Headaches/Migraines, Mental Confusion, Insomnia, Intestinal Problems, Overweight, Sinus Problems, Candidiasis, Ulcers, Eczema, Hives/Puffing, Postnasal Drip.
Common Food Sensitivities
Wheat, Dairy, Corn and Corn Derivatives, Soy, Refined Sugar, Eggs, Coffee/Caffeine, Kola: Chocolate & Cola, Beef, Fish, Shellfish, Artificial Additives, Preservatives & Colorings, Citrus, Yeast, Nightshade Vegetables (Potatoes, Tomatoes & Eggplant), Aspartame & Saccharine, Alcohol.
What are Food Allergies & Sensitivities?
Most people are familiar with the kind of food allergies that make you swell up or break out. These obvious "violent reaction" allergies are caused by a single food like Shellfish or Peanuts. However, it's estimated that up to 50% of Americans suffer from more subtle food allergies, or sensitivities. More difficult to pinpoint, these allergies don't immediately make you puff up like a blowfish or break out in horrible hives. Hidden food allergies affedt 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. Some symptoms do not appear until 3 days after eating an allergic food.
What Causes Hidden Food Allergies?
Essentially, a body out of balance: any single food can upset your body's delicate mineral balance, and then start a chain reaction that impairs your digestion and immune ystem. One of the biggest culprits may be the Standard American Diet (SAD). Refined flour, white sugar, and processed foods are new inventions that don't come with the minerals we need to spark digestion. SAD also centers on only a few foods like 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 allergic foods to recover.
How Can I Be Allergic To Food?
When you have a food allergy, your immune system is responding improperly to a substance that is not usually harmful. Of course, wholesome food is not innately bad. Yet, even good foods can turn bad in a body out of balance. Other theories note that allergies my be evolutionary in nature, based on your ancestry and bllod type. We may be genetically more adapted to foods that grew in the lands of our ancestors. And our blood type (whether O, A, B, or AB) 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." Type O's are often sensitive to newer foods like grain and flour products, as well as dairy foods.
How Is My Immune System Involved?
Your immune system is the guardian of your bloodstream. Unfortunately, it can't differentiate between an undigested food protein and a harmful protein like a virus. In either case, it's top priority is to protect you. When your immune system spots a strange protein, whether virus or run-away food particle, it immediately releases toxic chemicals like histamine to conquer the invader. Ironically, this response also inflames your your own tissues. Your immune system may be overloaded because of toxic diet, environmental toxins, pesticides, additives, or stress.
What Happens If I Ignore My Symptoms?
If you don't take steps to face your food allergies now, you may end up with chronic or degenerative disease. The constant stress on your immune system can weaken it to the point that your body begins to attack and destroy it's own tissues. Scientists estimate that in over 75% of allergic reactions, the cells in tissues under atttack are actually destroyed. Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis are examples of 2 autoimmune diseases that may start as simple allergies.
Clinical Testing
1. Cytotoxic Testing/ALCAT - This blood test determines whether a suspected antigen will damage or destroy sample blood cells.
2. ELISA-ACT - Considered 1 of the best clinical tests. Whole plasma is used to observe all of the immune system components, not just serum or cells. This test may also reveal sensitivities to food additives, heavy metals, and environmental toxins.
3. Electronic Screening - Observations are made from within the body by using a non-invasive electromagnetic instrument at different accupuncture points.
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