Food Sensitivities are something that I see all the time in my practice.
They’re different from allergies in that they can’t kill you, but they can sure make you feel terrible.
Do you have any of these?
- Weight Gain
- Migraine headaches (even Chinook migraines can be caused by them!)
- Stomach cramping
- Bloating (ever feel like you’re pregnant?!)
- Gas
- Fatigue (especially 1-2 hours after a meal!)
- Heartburn or GERD
- Hemorrhoids
- Acne
- Eczema
- Diarrhea OR constipation (Hint: if you aren’t having a bowel movement 2-3x/day then you’re constipated)
- Joint pain
- Undigested food in your stool
If you have ANY or a combination of the above symptoms, there’s a good chance you too may have food sensitivities. There are absolutely other things to consider in addition or other root causes, but this may be something you want to investigate.
Figuring Out Sensitivities
There are a couple different ways to figure out what your food sensitivities are (or might be). One of them is to do an elimination diet where we pull out the most common foods people are sensitive to. The hard part too about an elimination diet is that we’re guessing and have to guess for 4-6 weeks before we try to reintroduce the foods. It also means that generally we’re only taking out the most common troublesome foods, and sometimes it’s really random things that you may be reacting to.
We can also do testing to figure out which foods your immune system may be reacting to. I find tests like this very clinically helpful for patients to be a bit more specific about what needs to be avoided for a while.
Is it forever?
Often people don’t end up staying sensitive to their food sensitivities for life, and with avoidance, a little gut healing and support many of the foods can be easily added back in after a break from the troublemaker foods. Sometimes there are foods that will continue to be bothersome but as an adult you get to make the decision as to whether or not you’ll indulge and feel crappy every once in a while.
Curious about what your food sensitivities might be?
Come and see me for testing or we can talk about how to do an elimination diet! If you’re a new patient we can do it during the same visit as your initial consultation, and if you’ve seen me as a patient before, let me know and we can get it all sorted out asap!