Make Food Your Friend: Dr. Lee’s Wisdom About Food Allergies, Food Sensitivities, and the Elimination Diet

An excerpt from the book:
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause
by John R. Lee, M.D., Jesse Hanley, M.D., and Virginia Hopkins

Food allergy is not something the average physician knows anything about. In fact, most consider it hocus-pocus in spite of the fact that they are unable to cure the many illnesses caused by food allergies, such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, colitis, eczema, acne, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and depression. This attitude comes as no surprise, because most are taught virtually nothing about nutrition in medical school. Food allergies generally aren’t the kind that quickly make your nose run, or your eyes itch the way pollens do, or the kind where you break out in hives and swell up and have to be rushed to the emergency room. These immediate or acute allergic reactions are easy to spot and to connect to specific allergens, like pollens or dust mites or bee stings. Common foods that cause immediate allergic reactions are strawberries, seafood, peanuts, and dairy products. It’s not uncommon for children to have immediate allergies to foods, but they usually outgrow them.

The food allergies that [most people suffer] from are of the delayed variety. The response is slow and sustained and difficult to pinpoint without eliminating potentially problematic foods to see if symptoms improve. Symptoms tend to be diffuse and come on slowly, after many years of daily intake of the foods you’re sensitive to. Food allergy can affect digestion, muscles, joints, emotional well-being, energy levels, skin, lungs, and water balance, causing headache, rashes, muscle and joint aches, fatigue, hay fever, asthma, malabsorption of nutrients, and indigestion. It’s amazing how many people struggle through every day feeling generally ill and tired, thinking that’s just the way life is and that they have to get used to it.

The Elimination Diet

If you want to feel your absolute best, you need to identify and eliminate foods you are sensitive to. Doing so changes your body chemistry dramatically in ways you have to experience to believe. You can begin by keeping a detailed diet journal for two weeks, then make a list of all of the foods you eat every day or more than five times a week. These are probably foods you cannot imagine going a single day without, the foods that satisfy your most urgent cravings. A typical list of these foods might include wheat products, corn, citrus fruits, milk products, nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, red and green peppers, cayenne pepper, or eggplant), peanuts, coffee, eggs, or beef – the most commonly allergenic foods. If your most commonly eaten foods are processed, like cookies or candy, figure out the main ingredients. (Most contain wheat and dairy.) If you’ve had irritable bowel syndrome – alternating constipation and diarrhea with painful gas and bloating – you’re probably allergic to dairy products.

Celiac disease, often mistaken for Crohn’s disease, is an allergic reaction to gluten-containing grains. Gluten is a component of many grains including wheat, oats, rye, barley, quinoa, spelt, and amaranth. If you’re allergic to wheat there’s a good chance you’re also allergic to the other gluten-containing grains. You can replace them with rice, corn (some people may be allergic to this as well), buckwheat, millet, soy, potato flour, tapioca, or arrowroot products. You should find many alternatives at your health food store.

Preservatives and additives are very irritating to some people; look out for nitrates, sulfites, benzoates, red and yellow food dyes, MSG (monosodium glutamate), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), or anything else that sounds like something made in a chemical laboratory rather than by Mother Nature.

Be very careful to eliminate all potential sources of allergenic foods, which may be hidden in vitamins and processed foods. In fact, it’s best if you eliminate processed foods entirely during your elimination diet.

Once you’ve made your list of likely suspects, it’s time to eliminate those foods completely from your diet for at least two weeks. Of the foods you are eating, avoid eating any one food every day during the two weeks, or you may create a new sensitivity to that food. Continue to record everything you eat, and how you are feeling.

Keep careful track of your responses as you go. During the first three days of an elimination diet, you may feel terrible. Don’t be surprised if you have powerful withdrawal symptoms. When we have an allergic response to food the body releases mood- and energy-enhancing chemicals such as adrenaline to fight back, so we tend to become hooked on the foods we are most sensitive to. Also, as you eliminate allergenic foods your body will quickly seize the opportunity to detoxify itself, causing symptoms such as headaches and even skin rashes. If you are allergic to the foods you have eliminated, you’ll start to feel very good after a few days.

At the end of the two weeks, reintroduce the suspected foods one at a time. No more than one food should be reintroduced every 24 hours, and if you get a reaction, wait another 24 hours before reintroducing another new food. Continue to record all symptoms you experience. Troublesome foods may cause symptoms such as rapid or uneven heart rhythms, sleepiness or fatigue, mental lethargy, stomach cramps, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, headache, chills, sweats, flushing, and achiness.

When you have reintroduced all of your suspect foods and identified those that caused a reaction, eliminate them from your diet for at least two months. If your symptoms were severe, illuminate them for six months. Reintroduce them by eating them first thing in the morning and waiting at least an hour before eating anything else. If you still have a reaction, wait six months and try again. Eventually you will be able to eat the offending foods occasionally, but if you start eating them every day again you’ll probably become sensitive to them again. For people who tend to be sensitive to foods, it’s always a good idea to rotate the foods you eat and avoid eating any one food every day.

Thank you for reading this article by Dr. Lee! If you’re suffering from food allergies or sensitivities, consider taking one of the at-home hormone tests below. These tests can help you identify foods and other substances you are allergic or sensitive to. With Dr. Lee’s advice and our new tests, you can make food and lifestyle choices that will improve your digestion, reduce inflammation, and help you to feel your best! Click on the tests below to learn more and to order them, or go to our Allergies and Food Sensitivity test kit page for more information!