Day 22
Cleanse Day 13
Today we take a look at food allergies and sensitivities and how you can “listen” to your body’s reactions as you begin to think about reintroducing some of the “nutritional bandits” into your diet when this program is over.
Today's Topic: Food Allergies & Sensitivites
As you begin to think about ending your cleanse, you may want to consider testing for food sensitivities.
Food allergies or sensitivities are an anti-body response to a certain food. It’s speculated that 90% of the population have food sensitivities that are genetic. Most of these lie hidden or dormant until other stress burdens trigger a response.
A food “allergy” response can cause sweating, flushing, increased mucus production, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting – so it’s clear in a short period of time that it doesn’t agree with you.
Food “sensitivities” or “intolerance” can be triggered on a much less severe scale by foods that you’ve become sensitized to over the years (this often happens when you eat the same foods over and over). A food sensitivity is an enzyme deficiency to digest a certain food or additive. This type of sensitivity is unfortunately the fastest growing allergy group as people are more and longer exposed to chemically altered, genetically modified, enzyme depleted, processed foods that the human body is not equipped to handle. When the body consumes these foods, a series of events occur that eventually creates a auto-immune response causing inflammation & bloating, and ultimately weakening the immune system.
The 8 most common food allergies/sensitivities are to DAIRY, GLUTEN, EGGS, SOY, PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, FISH & SHELLFISH. Also common are SUGAR, YEAST, MUSHROOMS, COFFEE, & CORN.
There is a simple saliva lab test that can determine if you are “intolerant” to dairy, gluten, eggs or soy or more expansive tests to look at more foods and other substances as well.
You can also do a “challenge” test on your own. After COMPLETELY avoiding a food for 2 weeks (which hopefully you have done as part of the cleanse program), eat a meal of that food and nothing else. Take your pulse before eating it and then every half hour for a couple of hours afterward. If your pulse changes more than 10 beats, you probably have an “intolerance” to that food.
I highly recommend paying attention as you begin to SLOWLY reintroduce any foods you have been avoiding ONE AT A TIME to see how your body responds. Please note that it can take a couple of days for symptoms to show up, so try to introduce only 1 food every few days to get a clear picture of what you might be reacting to.
Your signal system is MUCH clearer now and you should be able to “hear” its messages loud and clear. For example, I do okay with small amounts of milk or goat cheese, but cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese, etc. all give me a lot of mucous and stuffy nose (even though I don't test as having an intolerance). Gluten and sugar both make me tired, inflamed, and constipated if I eat too much. (Again, this is NOT due to an intolerance - it's what those "foods" do to everyone, but I've just become so aware of it from doing the cleanse program so many times.) Coffee, although I LOVE it, makes me feel terribly acidic and tends to be my "gateway drug" to craving more acid forming foods. And WHENEVER I eat chocolate I get heartburn! So pay attention to what your body tells you going forward.
HERE’S A LINK TO ASSIST YOU WITH THIS:
Check-in: How are you doing?
Today I want to share this link to an article written about The 5 Levels of Eating developed by my dear friend and nutrition mentor, Dr. Ed Bauman, who is the founder and director of my alma mater, Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition, and creator of Eating for Health which this Nutritional Cleanse Program is largely based upon. I invite you to look for the level you were at before the program started, the level where you are now, and the level you want to choose as you go forward:
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I AM RADIANT WITH LIFE, FILLED WITH ENERGY TO ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT I DESIRE TO DO AND BE!
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at what comes next as you make a conscious decision about letting any of the “nutritional bandits” back into your diet.
Feel free to email me or post a comment below to ask questions or share your thoughts and experiences ~ I’d love to hear from you!
Blessings, JoAnn