2 Ways to Detect Hidden Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities can be annoying and very tricky to pin-point, but it can be done! Today, I’m sharing the two main ways I test for food sensitivities or intolerances when working with my clients, but first let’s talk about how we develop food sensitivities in the first place.

How Leaky Gut Causes Food Sensitivities

Your gut lining is one single cell layer thick. It’s the barrier between you and the outside world and it can easily become damaged. When it does, this allows for undigested foods, toxins, bad bacteria and other pathogens to enter into blood circulation.

When this happens, we can develop sensitivities to all kinds of different foods, chemicals like those found in make-up or air fresheners, and more. This is due to the immune system reacting inappropriately to these substances that should otherwise deem as harmless, particularly whole foods. (Synthetic chemicals are anything but harmless!)

I already touched on common symptoms of food sensitivities in this article here, so be sure to go read it.

How Do We Develop Leaky Gut?

It doesn’t happen overnight and there are a lot of contributing factors. I’ll touch on a few here.

Medications

Certain medications can cause inflammation, damage the gut lining or create imbalances in the microbiome, all which contribute to intestinal permeability (leaky gut). These can include: antibiotics of all kinds, birth control pills, frequent use of NSAIDs and PPIs (acid blocking meds like tums or prescription meds) commonly used for heartburn or reflux.

A Poor Diet

A few of the main culprits in leaky gut come from the diet, such as alcohol, refined sugars, refined flours, gluten, chemicals in processed foods and glyphosate sprayed on crops. These foods and drinks all create an inflammatory environment that allows for gut damage and imbalances in gut bacteria. If we’re feeding our gut the wrong foods, this causes bad bacteria and yeast to overgrow, turning pathogenic (disease-causing), which also pokes holes in the gut lining, resulting in leaky gut.

Low Stomach Acid

The common “treatment” for heartburn or acid reflux is to take acid blocking medications. Not only does this not help the symptoms long-term, but it actually makes the underlying problem worse. Most often, these symptoms are not caused by excess stomach acid, but by having too LITTLE stomach acid. When we have an underactive stomach, this leads to a lot of issues, including poor digestion of proteins and fermentation, which can cause a build of of bacteria. This excess bacteria creates inflammation and can affect the rest of the GI tract, contributing to the problem of leaky gut. There are other reasons one might have low stomach acid also and having this issue can lead to numerous other health issues, such as low thyroid function and fatigue.

Stress

Stress is another major factor in leaky gut. When we are stressed, this shuts down the digestive process, making it very difficult to properly digest and absorb our food. The combination of chronic stress, poor diet, alcohol, meds and other factors creates the perfect storm for the development of leaky gut.

How to Detect Hidden Food Sensitivities:

There are 2 main options to detect food sensitivities:

#1: Elimination Diets (more involved, but cheaper)

This first option is the cheapest option, but definitely requires a lot more time, effort and determination. When I do elimination diets with may clients, we remove all of the top commonly allergenic foods completely from the diet for at least 30 days. Common allergens must be removed for 30 days to ensure that any antibodies formed against those foods are eliminated from the body. It’s more work, but my clients often experience phenomenal improvements in their symptoms often within just a couple weeks!

#2: Food Intolerance Testing (the easiest option, but more expensive)

The second option is extremely simple, all you need to do it a non-invasive blood test that I provide you! It’s a more expensive option, but if you’re wanting quick, easy and more tangible answers, this is a fantastic option! The test I provide checks for 95 different foods and results are available within just 2 weeks. Included in this test is Candida testing as well, which is a common root-cause factor in the development of food sensitivities.

If you’re interested in figuring out the foods you’re sensitive to, email me at [email protected] for details!

Asher Kleiber

flourishnaturalwellness.com