Learn how everyday foods, even the foods you consider to be very healthy food choices could be harming you and causing your symptoms if you have developed a sensitivity to that food because your immune system is reacting to it. Here are a few interesting videos to help you understand this better.
Comprehensive Food Sensitivity Testing and Avoiding the Foods that are Harming You!
Food sensitivities can cause just about any symptom you can think of, and a person can have a reaction to any food. In a true food allergy or sensitivity, what a person is actually reacting to is the protein structure of that food. Even foods that we don’t think of as a protein source - like fruits and vegetables - still have a protein structure that the immune system can react to.
The food sensitivity testing we do at Healing Choices® is different than the standard medical way of testing for food allergies. Most medical doctors will do the “skin poke” testing to see if a reaction develops to the substance being introduced to the skin. In this form of testing they are looking for what is called the “immediate-onset” reactions to foods - more technically referred to as an IgE reaction of the immune system. These are the severe reactions to foods where someone eats strawberries, shellfish or peanuts and sometimes can react within minutes to the food, and it can even be severe enough to require a trip to the emergency room. Although these immediate-onset food allergies can be severe (possibly life-threatening), they do represent only a small percentage of the total food reactions people suffer with.
The much larger percentage of food issues that people suffer with, and have their various symptoms caused by, are called a “delayed-onset” reaction to foods - more technically referred to as an IgG reaction of the immune system. In the delayed-onset reactions it can take a few hours, a few days, or even longer before some type of symptom shows up from eating the food a person is reacting to. This makes it extremely difficult for the average person to identify the problem food since many people don’t make the connection that the food they ate several days ago is causing their symptoms today.
To make it even more difficult, it may be that you only had a small amount of a food you are sensitive to on Day 1, and a small amount on Day 2 and Day 3, but it wasn’t until Day 4 you developed symptoms from eating that food. This is what they call a “dose-dependent” reaction. The small amounts of food over several days gradually build up in the system, and eventually enough of the food is present in the body where a threshold is crossed and the body begins to react and symptoms are created. This situation is also quite common and makes it very frustrating for the average person to identify on their own the foods that are causing their symptoms. After all, you had the same food for the first 3 days, why would it bother you on Day 4? The answer is simply that your body and immune system needed enough of the food consumed over time before a reaction developed, and that threshold was reached on Day 4.
At Healing Choices® we offer the delayed-onset (IgG) food sensitivity testing, because we find that most people already know about their immediate-onset (IgE) food allergies due to previous reactions or previous medical testing. Most people have not been tested for any delayed-onset (IgG) reactions to foods and other substances and remember the delayed-onset food sensitivities make up a much greater percentage of the food reactions people suffer with. The delayed-onset sensitivity testing is done using a sample of your blood, and then this blood is sent overnight to the lab that specializes in this type of food testing. The results come back in about 10 - 14 days.
When doing consultations with patients we find this type of delayed-onset food sensitivity testing to be most important for those who suffer with:
Digestive Issues
Migraines
Fibromyalgia / Chronic Fatigue
Any type of auto-immune condition
Chronic Respiratory Problems - sinus or lungs (asthma)
Weakened Immune Systems - long term
With these conditions you are nearly guaranteed that a food sensitivity is part of the cause of the symptoms you are experiencing, and it may be a major cause.
Food sensitivity testing can be beneficial for anyone, even those who are fairly healthy and feeling good and are looking to stay that way. If you’ve been suffering with various symptoms or problems and have not been finding the answers as to what may be causing your symptoms, then it’s worth your time to look into the answers that food sensitivity testing might provide for you. Feel free to contact our Elk River clinic anytime at 763-241-5436 to get more information on food allergy sensitivity, or to schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Larson or Dr. Dahlseid to discuss your health concerns and get their recommendations on what would be the best way to approach these concerns using the resources of natural healthcare.
Call today to schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Larson or Dr. Dahlseid at 763-241-5436.
