Food Allergy

• Very specific immune response that is measurable by a conventional allergy doctor

• Elevated IgE levels

• Histamine release from mast cells

• Obvious symptoms immediately after eating the food:  sniffles, tongue swelling, hives, anaphylaxis

​

Food Sensitivity

• You feel better when you don't eat the food, and feel worse when you do.

• Can be any symptom:

  • Gut:  gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea​

  • Systemic inflammation:  feeling puffy, brain fog and fatigue; Skin rashes or headaches

  • Arthritis or muscle pain

​

How do you develop a Food Sensitivity?

Let's start with the food.....

• All food has protein, even vegetables.

• Protein has amino acid sequences.

• Immune cells recognize self vs not self by reading the amino acid sequences on the surface of every cell, microbe or compound.

• I call these "name tags"

​

Name Tags on Food

• All the cells in your body have name tags ("self") that your immune cells recognize.

• This is good so you don't attack yourself.

• Any foreign name tag will cause an immune reaction.

• Every food has a name tag, too

• Your digestive system is designed to destroy the name tag on the food and prevent it from entering your body.

​

Health Gut Scenario

• Food is completely digested in the stomach

• All of the "name tags" that make the food recognizable by the immune system are destroyed by enzymes and acid

• Healthy intestinal lining and barrier:

  • The immune cells inside your body are not exposed to the "name tags" from the food​

• Low risk of developing food sensitivity​

​

Problem:  Weak Intestinal Lining

• The cells that line the intestines are supposed to be connected tightly together

• Instead the "glue" is destroyed and spaces open up between the cells

• Large pieces of food, microbes and toxins can get into the body

• Called Leaky Gut Syndrome or Increased Intestinal Permeability

​

Leaky Gut Syndrome Scenario

• You have poor digestion

• You have a leaky gut

• Large pieces of food, with name tags intact, leak through the intestinal wall into your body

• Immune cells react to these name tags

• Symptoms typical of a food sensitivity

​

Treating Food Sensitivities

• When someone has multiple food sensitivities, assume they have Leaky Gut syndrome

  • Restore healthy intestinal flora​

  • Support digestion of the "name tags"

  • Remove problem foods for at least 6 months, usually longer because immune cells have memory

​

Food to Heal the Intestinal Lining

• Cultured foods:  yogurt, kefir

  • With live active cultures of lactobacillus, bifidobacteria and saccharomyces boulardii​

• Fermented foods:  kimchi and sauerkraut

• Prebiotics:  vegetables and fiber

  • Fructo-oligo-sacharides (FOS), which are compounds found in onions, garlic, leeks, rye, chicory, blueberries, and bananas.​

  • Inulins, which are found in chicory and artichokes

  • Ghee and Coconut oil

  • Glutamine:

    • Can be found in all animal protein, such as chicken, beef, and dairy​

    • Also in beans, cabbage, beets, spinach, and parsley, so don't focus only on animal sources.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​