A True Food Allergy Is Very Serious and Different than a Food Sensitivity
An allergic reaction to food can be very severe or life-threatening such as anaphylaxis. This is what we think of when a child has a severe peanut allergy and if exposed could die. Most people know about their food allergy long before we saw them as patients which is why we deal mostly with food sensitivity and intolerances.
Swelling From A Food Allergy
What Does It Mean When I Find Out That I have a Food Sensitivity?
Food sensitivity and food allergy or intolerance are two different words for the same thing:
They both mean: your body is having trouble with this food.
- Typically what this means is your body is over reacting to a food and sending out the immune system to fight it.
- Common symptoms can be digestive upset, reflux/heartburn, fatigue, rashes or flushing of the skin, runny nose and headaches.
- Most of these are common ways the body gets rid of the food that is bothersome- through the gut, skin or sinuses.
Why Does My Body Have Food Sensitivities?
Typically what happens is the cells that make the lining of the digestive tract are sick for some reason (there are many reasons including foods) and the cells are not tightly packed next to each other. The space between these sick cells allows food to get through them into the bloodstream in larger chunks than what should be there. The body then mounts an attack on these bits of undigested food and we get an immune response and the symptoms of a food sensitivity.
Will I Ever Be Able To Eat That Food Again?
- Sometimes taking a 90 day break from the food can allow the cells of the gut to heal.
- With the right supplements and nutrition we can reduce the immune system overreaction and get the cells of the gut to be tight up against each other again.
- Sometimes people can go back to eating the offending food after the 90-day break is over and healing has occurred. Provided that they followed the Nutrition Response Testing protocol tailored to their individual needs.