What To Do If Youre Concerned About Food Sensitivities
CONSIDER AN ELIMINATION DIET
Experts agree that for getting to the bottom of food sensitivities, an expert-guided elimination diet is your best bet. A comprehensive elimination diet where certain foods are removed, then reintroduced individually can identify offending foods, explains Tina Marinaccio, RD, CPT.
Elimination diets can be tricky to implement on your own, which is why experts recommend seeking help from a dietitian or another qualified provider if you want to go down this route.
SKIP FOOD SENSITIVITY TESTING
At the moment, there are no food sensitivity testing methods that are widely accepted. Food sensitivity tests typically look for the presence of IgG, not IgE, which is used in allergy testing, Cureton says. This type of testing can be expensive and hasnt been shown to reliably identify sensitivities, which is why nutrition and allergy pros generally opt to go the elimination diet route instead.
GET HELP FROM AN EXPERT
Before self-diagnosing and treating a suspected food sensitivity, the advice of a medical professional is essential, Cureton says. Bloating, abdominal pain and weight gain can be caused by a number of medical issues, she points out, and your diet might not be the culprit.
Unlock an experience thats like having a dietitian, trainer and coach right at your fingertips.Go Premium for expert guidance and exclusive tools that will help you reach your personal health goals.
Sugar : Gwyneth Paltrow
Life just isn’t so sweet for Gwyneth Paltrow. In 2010 the Country Strong actress declared war on sugar and how the entire country should kick our addiction to it, saying “our bodies cannot cope with such an enormous load. gives you an initial high, then you crash, then you crave more, so you consume more sugar. It’s this series of highs and lows that provoke unnecessary stress on your adrenals.”
She also wrote on her GOOP blog that she took an “in-depth” food sensitivity test, only to learn she also couldn’t tolerate dairy, gluten, wheat, corn, or oats. Wonder what Paltrow does eat?
Take Supplements To Build The Digestive System:
Read Also: Is Clarinex An Antihistamine
Getting Rid Of Leaky Gut Syndrome
Bad bacteria in the gut isnt just bad for inflammation. You get leaky gut syndrome, which means toxins pass around your body and you end up with more health issues. These are separate from your allergy symptoms but are caused by some of the allergy symptoms.
The toxins latch onto the immune system response. You end up with more inflammation around your body, reducing your energy levels and making you feel more in pain and depressed about your weight.
These toxins go as far as blocking your metabolism from being able to work. You end up with a far higher insulin resistance, putting you further at risk of developing Type II diabetes.
All these issues link to obesity. Youre at a higher risk of gaining weight, whether hoarding calories or retaining water.
Only getting rid of the food youre allergic to will help to reduce the bad bacteria in the gut. Then you can work on reversing leaky gut syndrome to keep the release of toxins to a minimum. That way you can reduce all the side effects that come from this.
How To Identify Allergies
Easy
Get a blood test. Work with a Dr or Nutritionist who specialises in food allergies and speak with them about your results.
Easy But Requires A Little More Input By You
Figure out which foods or drinks you may be reacting to and stop eating them.
The best way to identify your food/drink triggers is to eliminate them.
All traces of them, for three full weeks and monitor your symptoms.
Recommended Reading: Rubber Accelerators Allergy
Can Food Sensitivities Cause Weight Gain
Theres been plenty of hype about food allergies over the last few years. People are going gluten-free, dairy-free, and looking for other things in their diet that might be hurting their health or even hindering their fitness goals. If youve wondered if the foods you eat could be affecting your health and fitness, here is some gathered insight from the medical community.
Why Is It That Some People Lose Weight When Initially Stressed And Others Gain Weight When Chronically Stressed
Initially, cortisol can cause weight loss as it signals for the breakdown of muscle and fat tissue to raise blood glucose. BUT when cortisol levels remain high, it causes insulin to be elevated above normal.
When insulin levels are too high, it is difficult to lose weight due to insulin always being present and telling the body to store fat instead of burning fat. This can leave a person feeling fatigued and struggling to lose weight.
As you can see, everything is connected in the body. These common food sensitivities cause inflammation and weight gain as a result of cortisol consistently stimulating elevated insulin levels that keep the body in fat storage mode.
This is how food intolerance and weight gain are connected, but by removing the food sensitivities that are causing inflammation, weight loss becomes easy.
To find out if food sensitivities are causing weight gain and are problematic for you, I recommend avoiding gluten, dairy, sugar, and soy 100% for three weeks. After three weeks, challenge each food separately three days apart while tracking and taking note of any abnormal symptoms.
Common food sensitivity symptoms include headaches, bloating, skin rashes, runny nose, cough, stomach ache, irritable bowel, puffiness, and an inability to lose weight.
For more information on how these common food sensitivities cause weight gain, I recommend reading The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin.
Additional weight loss resources
Read Also: Children’s Claritin Reviews
Food Sensitivities And Inflammation
When we eat foods that interfere with our bodys chemistry, we become inflamed. Our tissues swell, our bellies become bloated, and our face looks puffy. Sometimes this swelling alone makes us look 10-15 lbs heavier than we actually are.
We hear a lot about dairy, wheat , corn, sugar, soy, eggs, and peanuts . But, virtually any foodeven healthy foods like oranges and flax seedscan cause these reactions in certain individuals. If a person with food sensitivities eats the foods she is sensitive to on a daily basis, she could experience a near-constant state of bloating, fluid retention, and further weight gain.
This is due to the inflammation caused by a food sensitivity. When we eat reactive foods, they are not completely digested as they move through our body. This causes indigestion and gas, but it can also produce an inflammatory response in the body. Our immune system goes on the defense to protect us from these foods that present themselves as enemies in our body. When this happens, all sorts of substances are released. Inflammatory cytokines, chemicals like adrenaline and histamine, and even endorphins. Oddly enough, this fluctuation in endorphins can actually cause your body to crave the foods to which we are sensitive.
The Citric Acid Cycle Mitochondria And Weight Loss
The success rate of low-calorie diets may depend upon genes regulating the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, the mitochondrial pathway that produces ATP. A low-calorie diet was more successful at reducing insulin secretion after an oral-glucose-tolerance test in a group of people who were able to maintain weight loss. In people who tended to regain weight after the low calorie diet, insulin secretion was not reduced. Genes regulating fatty acid metabolism, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation were regulated differently in people who maintained their weight loss and people who gained the weight back.1
In another study, obese people who gained weight easily experienced a downregulation of weight-loss-related pathways operating in the mitochondria including the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain compared to lean people who were resistant to weight gain.2
Also Check: Zyrtec Allergy 24 Hour 10mg Tablets
Symptoms Of Food Sensitivity
Food plays such an important role in our bodies. Unfortunately, food that is completely safe to some, might be a root of a serious problem such as migraines, fatigue, arthritis, and weight gain, in others.
Symptoms of food sensitivity can include:
- headache
- chronic respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, sinus congestion or bronchitis
- chronic bowel problems such as diarrhea or constipation
If you think an unknown food allergy might be causing one or more of these symptoms in you, . During the consultation, you’ll discuss the benefits of getting testing done to determine if a food allergy is the root of your pain or problem.
Health testing can get you back on track to living your best life, living pain and symptom-free. If you have lived with one or more of these issues for years, this might be the answer you’ve been searching for.
What Is A Food Sensitivity
While food sensitivities, intolerances and allergies are often used interchangeably, they dont mean the same thing and there are key differences between them, says Pam Cureton, RD, who specializes in the treatment of celiac disease.
Food allergies are an immune system reaction. Specifically, when youre allergic to a food, your immune system creates immunoglobulin E antibodies in response to consuming it, according to the American Academy of Asthma and Immunology. Though the symptoms of food allergy vary, they can range from anaphylaxis to itching, burning, hives or swelling of the skin. The symptoms can be widespread, but often involve the mouth, throat, tongue or lips, adds Anna Binder-McAsey, RD, owner of Rethink Nutrition.
Food intolerances, on the other hand, are usually GI-related. They happen when the body has a hard time digesting a certain food. The most common example is a lactose intolerance, which happens when someone lacks enough of the digestive enzyme lactase to digest lactose, a sugar found in cows milk, McAsey explains. These reactions happen almost exclusively in the GI tract, meaning they primarily cause digestive symptoms, and dont cause the widespread immune response seen with allergies.
Also Check: Clairitan
Are Food Allergies Making Me Gain Weight
Eating foods you’re sensitive to can cause bloating and discomfort
Those may make you less likely to exercise
Keeping a food log can help you track food intolerances
Editors Note: upwave is Turner Broadcastings new lifestyle brand designed to entertain the health into you! Visit upwave.com for more information and follow upwave on , , , and Instagram .
The rumor: Food allergies can cause weight gain
Your boss, who says hes allergic to gluten, has been losing weight since going gluten-free. Your friend just found out shes lactose-intolerant , and shes been shedding pounds after kicking dairy out of her diet.
And wasnt that rail-thin guy you dated in high school allergic to peanuts?
So: Is there a connection between food allergies/intolerances and weight gain? Can being unknowingly allergic to a certain kind of food cause you to pack on the pounds? Dee Sandquist, former spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, gave us the skinny.
The verdict: Food allergies dont cause weight gain
Im not aware specific foods cause weight gain if youre allergic to them, says Sandquist. However, if youre eating food that youre sensitive to, it could lead to bloating and stomach discomfort and youre less likely to exercise if youre not feeling well.
According to Sandquist, a true food allergy is an adverse immune response to food, and tends to happen fairly quickly after you eat something .
Food Allergies Versus Food Intolerances
First, lets look at what a true food allergy is. Many people confuse food allergies with food intolerances. The two entities are quite different. Only about 4% of adults have true food allergies but almost one-third have one or more food intolerances.
True food allergies involve an overreaction of the immune system. Specifically, your immune system has preformed antibodies, specifically IgE antibodies, against a particular food. When you eat that food, your immune system is activated and cells release chemicals like histamine that cause a host of unpleasant symptoms like an itchy rash, swelling in the hands or feet, sensation of throat tightness, and anxiety. In severe cases, you might have a drop in blood pressure, problems breathing or even death when you eat a food youre allergic too.
With a true food allergy, the reaction usually comes on quickly after eating certain foods, often within minutes. The most common foods responsible for food allergies are shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, egg, and milk.
Some people appear to be sensitive to certain food additives in processed foods, especially sulfites, nitrates, and monosodium glutamate, or MSG. As youre probably aware, a significant number of people are sensitive to gluten yet dont have celiac disease, but they develop digestive issues when they eat gluten-containing foods.
Recommended Reading: Peanut Allergy Kit Kat
How Do Food Allergies Cause Weightgain
Just because you have a food allergy or food intolerance does not mean you will gain weight, but people have noticed a correlation between weight and allergens.
When you experience unpleasant side effects from either issue, youre less likely to feel motivated to exercise, which can indirectly lead to weight gain.
Eating a healthy diet that works with your body is essential to avoid dangerous side effects as well as maintain your overall health. Some of your bodys reactions to allergens can be linked more directly to weight gain.
How To Reduce Your Sensitivity
When you suffer from an intolerance your system goes into a state of inflammation. In fact, its only when you tip over a certain level of inflammation that symptoms such as bloating, stuffy nose, headaches, itchy skin, aching joints and so on appear. You can reduce your overall sensitivity with certain anti-inflammatory nutrients. My favourite are vitamin CWhat it does: Strengthens immune system fights infections. Makes collagen, keeping bones, skin and joints firm and strong. Antioxidant, detoxifying pollutants and protecting against, MSM , quercitin , bromelain and glutamine, which helps to heal the gut thus protecting allergens from crossing into the blood stream. Omega-3s from oily fish and chia seeds also help. Taking a combination supplement containing all these is a great way to put more money into your health deposit account so you dont go overdrawn, so to speak, at the slightest exposure to one of your intolerant foods.
Recommended Reading: Zyrtec Cetirizine Hcl Antihistamine 10mg
The Connection Between Cortisol Inflammation And Weight Gain
Another role of cortisol is to breakdown muscle and fat tissue to raise blood glucose in an emergency when blood glucose drops too low.
But when cortisol levels are elevated to offset the inflammation created by the immune system and offending food sensitivities, blood glucose levels are also raised. When blood sugar levels are constantly raised this can lead to insulin resistance due to excess glucose always being in the bloodstream.
Cortisol causes insulin resistance and contributes to weight gain by consistently raising blood glucose levels in the bloodstream, which then leads to consistently elevated levels of insulin. High levels of insulin keep the body in fat storage mode.
Insulin is the primary hormone responsible for weight gain. The higher the insulin levels, the harder it is to lose weight as insulin tells your body to store fat.
Cortisol is the stress hormone responsible for belly fat, but it is the food that stimulates chronic cortisol production.
Food allergies cause weight gain by stimulating the immune system, which creates inflammation. Cortisol is produced to combat inflammation, but cortisol also raises blood sugar, which leads to insulin resistance and the body in fat storage mode.
The cause of the inflammation needs to be removed to stop this vicious cycle. In this case, the cause of inflammation is a food allergy or food sensitivity.
Make Any Lifestyle Changes Necessary To Prevent Future Problems:
You May Like: 24 Hour Allergy Medication
Sugar And Artificial Sweeteners
In the Sugar Impact Diet, I declare sugar Public Enemy #1! Eating too much sugar undermines your health and weight loss efforts in a number of ways, including:
- Sending your blood sugar on a roller coaster ride
- Disrupting your insulin metabolism
- Raising your stress hormones, causing your body to hold on to fat
- Providing fuel for yeast, contributing to SIBO/SIFO
- Creating more sugar cravings
- Feeding the bad bacteria in your gut, causing your body to extract more calories from the food you eat and store them as fat
And dont think that artificial sweeteners are any better! In addition to harming your health, artificial sweeteners can also trigger cravings and cause weight gain. They actually work against your weight loss goals, not for them!
I take a deep dive into how artificial sweeteners can make you gain weight in this article.
Ready to stop your symptoms of food intolerance and kickstart weight loss again? Try the Breakthrough Food Intolerance Online Program! We’ve included everything you need to be the best fat burner, support your immune system, look and feel better, and exceed your goals. You’ll receive:
- Complete meal plans, shopping lists, and recipes
- 30 step-by-step videos to guide you through all 3 cycles of the Virgin Diet
- Quizzes and symptom trackers to help reveal your food intolerances
- Journals & checklists to monitor your progress
- Specialty guides with real-world tips to ensure your success
- Coaching & community support in our private online forum
References
