Having a solid understanding of the way your body reacts to certain foods is essential in developing a diet or nutritional program that works for you. Sometimes certain sensitivities to foods can cause pretty serious levels of discomfort – from digestive issues to lowered metabolic rates and even stress and anxiety. Determining if you have food sensitivity can be done through testing that often includes electrodermal biofeedback and muscle testing to find out which foods give the body a stress response. You can also try simply eliminating those foods over a period of time to determine what is causing the sensitivity.
Food Allergies vs. Food Sensitivity
While it’s often misunderstood, food allergies are not the same as food sensitivity. A food allergy is reproducible time and time again, also eliciting the same reaction each time. The same immune system response will always be triggered with a true food allergy.
Food sensitivity often feels like an unpleasant reaction to certain foods, sometimes displayed as an upset stomach, acid reflux or even nausea – and it can happen at unexpected times, with unexpected foods. Unlike a true allergy, these aren’t immune system responses but rather sensitivity-based reactions.
Unlike immune system-based reactions from true food allergies, food sensitivities can surface in a variety of ways including depression, anxiety, acne, bad breath, exhaustion, hyperactivity, puffiness, weight gain and even weight loss. Determining which foods create these unpleasant side effects can be easily figured out through an elimination diet. By removing a certain type of food from your daily intake (like dairy for example) over a period of time (at least 2 weeks) – your side effects may or may not subside. Perhaps your skin looks better or your stomach feels at ease – you’ll know removing that particular food from your diet is the way to go.
If you have tried eliminating the suspected foods from your diet, but still have not been able to determine the cause of these sensitivities, your doctor can guide you in what type of food sensitivity testing would be best. From blood tests to hair testing, muscle tests and even electrodermal biofeedback, there are all sorts of solutions for determining the root of food sensitivities.
Have you experienced sensitivity to certain food? How have you dealt with narrowing down the root of the problem?
