Are you troubled by symptoms that
don't seem to come from any particular illness or condition?It may be that you are "intolerant" or "sensitive" to something you're eating. These reactions are milder than allergies
and harder to pinpoint.
Unlike plants, we humans get energy
for every bodily function from what we put in our mouths, which then travels
the length of our digestive systems giving off vitamins and minerals and
enzymes and fatty acids, etc., all along the route.Problems can arise when some of what we eat
disagrees with us in some way.
How can this be detected? Blood
tests, like the ELISA, reveal which antibodies (or immunoglobulins) are
present, a clue to what your body is trying to defend against.Dr. Mitch Kennedy, a naturopathic doctor
practicing in Connecticut,
finds that his patients have IgE (Immunoglobulin-E) reactions when allergic,
IgG reactions when intolerant, and IgA reactions when merely sensitive to a
given kind of food. Western allopathic medicine is very expert at identifying
allergies and de-escalating reactions.But intolerance and sensitivities are more elusive.How can we know we if have them?
The Food Intolerance Bible,
by Haynes and Savill, offers useful checklists of symptoms which can indicate
intolerance or sensitivity. www.foodintolerancebible.com/
The reactions can be anywhere, not necessarily in or near the digestive tract,
though bloating is a very common one. According to Dr. Arden Anderson, author of Real Medicine, Real Health, the "daily inflammatory stimulus may manifest as sinus congestion, joint achiness,
headaches, skin rashes, indigestion, behavioral alterations, heart palpitations
and serum cholesterol/triglyceride elevation.Not only does this inflammation cause a variety of symptoms, it daily
irritates the immune system and consumes valuable nutrients, enzymes, immune
products, and energy."(pp.79-80)
What exactly happens during a
reaction? A molecule of food binds to one of your antibodies and that triggers
an inflammatory substance, such as histamine or leukotrienes or else protein
groups like tyramine, which affects blood vessel dilation. For instance, the
tyramine in cheese sets off migraines in some people.
Suppose you have a hunch that you
are suffering from a food intolerance -- what should you do?The easiest and often the surest test is to
eliminate that food for at least a week and then reintroduce it for three or four
meals in a row and notice what happens.For some people this works very well.But often the situation is less straightforward. Perhaps the problem
arises from the interaction of two kinds of food.Or perhaps you are sensitive to gluten and
have built up a systemic reaction that will take your body a while to unwind
from.This seems to be the case for
people with celiac disease, who have a full-blown allergy to gluten, one of the
proteins in wheat, spelt, barley, and rye.
After
trying elimination, you might try the pulse test, which is clearly described in
The
Food Intolerance Bible (Appendix 1).What you will be testing is the variation in heart beats per minute
during the day and after eating.If the
variation is big, then something is wrong.A great advantage to this test is that it's free and convenient.An expensive but much recommended test is the
ELISA IgG, especially for irritable bowel symptoms (bloating, diarrhea,
constipation, flatulence, cramps, etc.).This involves drawing blood and a visit to the doctor's office.
Be sure through all this that you
are chewing your food, especially the carbohydrates (grains, fruit, vegetables)
very thoroughly so that digestion gets a jump start thanks to the saliva in
your mouth.Next, be sure that the
hydrochloric acid (HCL) levels in your stomach are high enough to handle the
protein you eat to insure proper digestion of that part of the menu.HCL often declines with age, symptoms of
which are confusingly similar to too much HCL, i.e., acid indigestion.But if problems persist, it's time to check
out possible intolerance.
Which are the primary
suspects?We have mentioned gluten
(wheat, rye, barley, spelt).Dr.
Anderson's list offers dairy, eggs, sugar, corn, canola oil, and citrus, as
well. Soy is another suspect because it,
also, turns up in a lot of processed food. It's probably no surprise that
frequency coincides with intolerance, especially as some food clearly has
addictive attraction.Carbohydrates in
general and refined grains in particular raise serotonin levels and release
endorphins.The resulting feel good
response is tempting to repeat
Haynes and Savill explain the
importance of SigA -- secretory immunoglobulin A, a non-inflammatory immune
protein which "coats the mucosal surfaces in...your intestinal lining.It is designed to protect us from the
inside.However, low levels can increase
the risk of inflammatory immune reactions to proteins and undigested food
molecules.Low levels increase the risk
of leaky gut syndrome and of the adherence and growth of unfriendly microbes in
the intestinal lining." (p.83) Why might
you have a low level of SigA?Stress,
too much exercise, yeast overgrowth, and steroid medicines (e.g., Prednisone)
can have this effect.
Stress has a bad name where
digestion is concerned.When our
ancestors had to run from sudden danger, their blood gave priority to legs for
running, arms for fighting, head for quick thinking. That deprives digestion of
the energy it requires.Have you ever
felt sleepy after a big meal?Your
digestion is hogging the energy, quite appropriately.
Let us say that you have discovered
an intolerance for something. Now, how to avoid it?Read package labels carefully, interrogate
waiters, and select the right recipes.The
Food Intolerance Bible offers a big section on recipes annotated with
symbols to indicate which are wheat-free, egg-free, dairy-free, etc.There are also specialized cookbooks, like Gluten-Free Baking, by Rebecca Reilly
(Simon & Schuster, 2002). Cambridge Naturals and its neighbor, Porter Square
Books, both carry such cookbooks.
Sources for this article:
"The Doctor Is In," Mitch Kennedy, naturopathic physician, Northeast
Organic Farm AssociationSummer Conference
presentation, August 10, 2008