The Importance of recognizing food sensitivities - introducing IgG testing

I’m excited to announce that I now offer blood testing to determine food sensitivities. Why, do you ask, would this be important? Before I answer that question, I want to make sure to distinguish between food ALLERGIES and food SENSITIVITY.

When someone has a food allergy it means their body goes into a full-blown immune response when they come in contact with even a small amount of the food they are allergic to. This is usually an immediate reaction and can be a life-threatening event, requiring immediate medical intervention.

When it comes to food sensitivity on the other hand, the symptoms are not life-threatening and often go unnoticed for a long time. Exposure to foods we are sensitive to, triggers low-grade inflammation both in the digestive system or more wide-spread throughout arteries, joints and other tissues. This can lead to symptoms such as acid reflux, bloating, gas, fatigue, ‘brain-fog’, chronic sinus problems, skin problems, joint pain, indigestion, and other irritable bowel syndromes.

So, simply put, the answer to the question, “why is it important to know whether I have any food sensitivities?” is that ingesting these foods contributes to systemic inflammation, and this is a problem for several reasons:

1.      The functioning of the digestive system suffers and as a result foods aren’t digested or absorbed as efficiently. Fewer nutrients available to the body, hampers healing and repair, and affects energy levels and concentration.

2.      Whenever there is inflammation in the body, the adrenal glands produce cortisol to help deal with the inflammation. When there is a constant demand for cortisol, the adrenal glands get overworked, which eventually can lead to adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue.

3.      When the digestive tract is inflamed, some partially digested food particles can cross the intestinal wall and enter our circulation. These food particles are then considered ‘foreign invaders’ and our immune system begins attacking these ‘foreign invaders’. Constant exposure to the offending food overworks the immune system and could eventually lead to autoimmune conditions where the body cannot distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘foreign’ and begins attacking its own tissues. This leads to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.

4.      Inflammation damages the inside of our arteries which cause cholesterol to become trapped, thereby leading first to atherosclerosis and eventually heart disease, including heart attack. (If you want to read more on this, I highly recommend the article “Heart surgeon speaks out on what really causes heart disease”)

While acute inflammation is an essential part of our body’s ability to heal and protect against foreign invaders, chronic low-grade inflammation that is a result of the foods we put into our bodies on a daily basis, is a serious problem that can lead to many health problems. Finding out which foods specifically we are sensitive to can be one of the best steps we take in protecting our health and preventing disease.

That’s why I now offer an IgG blood test, which checks for sensitivity to 96 different foods (listed below). After obtaining a small blood sample (pin prick to ring or middle finger), I mail the test strips to Great Plains Laboratory, and the results, including a personalized rotation diet plan, are sent back within a week. Your investment is $219.

Identifying and eliminating foods you are sensitive to can be the first step in making significant changes to your health and well-being!

Here is a list of the foods that are checked for:

• Dairy Sections (8 Antigens): Casein, Cheddar Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Cow's Milk, Goat's Milk, Mozzarella, Cheese, Whey, Yogurt

• Meat/Fowl Section* (8 Antigens): Beef, Chicken, Egg White, Egg Yolk, Lamb, Pork, Turkey, Duck

• Sea Food Section* (11 Antigens): Clam, Cod, Crab, Halibut, Lobster, Oyster, Salmon, Scallop, Shrimp, Sole, Yellowfin Tuna

• Vegetable Section (21 Antigens): Asparagus, Avocado, Beet, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Garlic, Green Pepper, Lettuce, Mushroom, Olive, Onion, Potato, Pumpkin, Radish, Spinach, Tomato, Zucchini Squash

• Fruit Section (16 Antigens): Apple, Apricot, Banana, Blueberry, Cranberry, Grape, Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry

• Nut/Grain Section (26 Antigens): Almond, Amaranth Flour, Barley, Bean (Kidney), Bean (Lima), Bean (Pinto), Bean (Soy), Bean (String), Buckwheat, Coconut, Corn, Filbert, Green Pea, Lentil, Millet, Oat, Peanut, Pecan, Rice, Rye, Sesame, Spelt, Sunflower, Walnut, Wheat (Gluten), Whole Wheat

• Miscellaneous Section (6 Antigens): Cocoa Bean, Coffee Bean, Honey, Sugar Cane, Yeast (Baker), Yeast (Brewer)