How Healthy Food Can Make You Sick and Crazy

Greetings everyone!

Today I’d like to chat with you for a bit on an extremely important topic. The topic of food and how it can, even when fresh, healthy, local and organic make you sick and literally feeling like you are falling apart at the seams and going crazy.

When you hear the term food allergy what comes to mind?

For most, the image of someone eating a piece of shellfish, pineapple or especially peanuts and then swelling up like a balloon, breaking out in a rash, being rushed to the emergency room or even death comes to mind.

I’m sure many of you remember the story of the girl in Canada with the peanut allergy who died after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich hours earlier. Intense stuff to be sure!

If that is what you thought then you are pretty much on the money but that is only part of the story.

Food allergy

Food allergies happen very quickly and occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks a food protein. Ingestion of the offending food may trigger the sudden release of chemicals, including histamine, resulting in symptoms of an allergic reaction.

The symptoms may be mild (rashes, hives, itching, swelling, etc.) or severe (trouble breathing, wheezing, loss of consciousness, etc.). A food allergy can be potentially fatal.

Most people make a big mistake when they think that because they do not have a sudden or overt allergic reaction that they do not have a problem with food. According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network only 4% of the population actually have true food allergies.

However, over 80% of us have food sensitivities or intolerances…

Food Sensitivities and Intolerances

Many years ago Lucretius made the statement, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.”

I know from personal experience the truth of that statement. Before I found out I was gluten intolerant and had various food sensitivities, I was in pretty rough shape.

I went from being trained and ready to do my first triathlon to having seizures, severe fatigue and serious cognitive problems.

I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, ADD, depression and peripheral neuropathy.

I was falling apart and it was very confusing because I was in great shape, cycling, swimming, going to the gym, doing yoga, meditating every day, eating an organic, largely raw, mostly vegetarian diet and taking great supplements.

What I didn’t know was that I had issues with food!

Like Lucretius said…

It doesn’t matter how pure, healthy and organic a food is if you are sensitive, allergic or have an intolerance and your body is unable to digest it safely or even at all!

It took a while to sort it all out, but when I did and removed the offending foods I quickly felt much better and slowly healed from the damage. On top of that, all of those diagnoses were lifted.

Turns out a more accurate thing to call them was diagnonsense!

I have also seen this happen over and over again with my clients and the clients of my associates.

My most recent case was a lovely woman who came to me with rheumatoid arthritis that was beginning to cripple her hands and feet. She was having a lot of pain and trouble walking and standing because of it.

We went over her diet, had her blood tested for food sensitivities and found through some other investigation that she had a yeast overgrowth. We modified her diet and started treating her for the yeast issue while we waited for her test results.

We also did two Integrative Trauma Release sessions to release her from some traumas that she believed played a major role in the onset of her symptoms.

Releasing past trauma is one of the most important, foundational things one can do to heal, if not THE most important.

It frees the body from the past, thereby allowing one to feel safe, connected and at peace in the present moment. Doing so makes it much easier to do all the little things that are so important for healing and feeling good without going back into old destructive patterns and self-sabotaging behaviors.

Our body is like a history book. It stores our past and no matter how much we put the past behind us mentally, the body always remembers.

Even when past dangers are gone, if they are not completed and resolved in the nervous system, they still exist in the body and surface as symptoms that can affect us in many ways – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually – and significantly influence the way we perceive the world, act in our relationships and create our lives.

When the body lets’s it go, a level of health and happiness that one previously had no access to becomes available.

But I digress!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

When her results came back from the lab she was shocked!

It turns out that she was sensitive to many extremely healthy foods such as: spinach, blueberries, pumpkin, pecans, tuna, and about 20 more!

We immediately tweaked her diet before she went on a month long family trip.

By the time she came back, all of her pain was gone and except for a little stiffness in one of her knuckles she was totally symptom free.

On her birthday she thanked me for givng her the best present ever… her feet back!

How can this be? How can changing a person’s diet clear up “incurable” diseases and complicated symptoms?

The immune system is a double-edged sword. It should react appropriately and protect against infection when confronted with harmful invaders or “infectious agents” like viruses or bacteria. (The nervous system is as well with danger and safety. Hence the trauma release work)

Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals and molds may trigger chronic activation of the immune system. (Again, same goes for the nervous system with normal, safe situations and interactions).

White blood cells release harmful chemicals and generate damaging free radicals when they encounter incompatible foods just as they do when fighting the bad guys… and that means inflammation.

A wide variety of conditions have been linked to chronic activation of the immune system. Among these are:

Digestive Disorders
Migraines
Obesity/weight problems
Chronic Fatigue
Aching Joints
Skin Disorders
ADD/ADHD
Depression
Anxiety
Autism
And many more…

The tricky part is that symptoms can arise from several hours to a few days after the offending food has been ingested. From my experience, both with my own situation and through working with clients and talking to various health care professionals this is the biggest challenge…

Say today you ate some almonds and within a half hour or or so, you got a splitting headache and realized that the last time two times you ate almonds the same thing happened. It wouldn’t be difficult to figure out that your body reacts negatively when you consume almonds! You might try one more time to be sure but the pattern and message are pretty clear. Don’t eat almonds!

But what if the headache or symptom was delayed and occurred three days later? It would be pretty tricky, even while keeping a food journal, to figure out that it was the almonds!

That is why, whenever possible, I use the ALCAT test.

Why?

If you’ve previously suspected you may have food-related issues, then maybe you’ve already undergone testing such as the IgG or RAST. Although these tests can be somewhat helpful in identifying true food allergies, they are not helpful for identifying delayed type reactions.

This is because they measure only a single mechanism, such as the effect of mast cell release of histamine or the presence of allergen specific IgE molecules.

Remember that typical, textbook allergic (IgE) reactions occur rather rapidly so those tests don’t help us when we are trying to pinpoint the delayed ones.

In addition, IgG tests look at just one immune pathway and can give you a false positive, since it can indicate exposure, not necessarily intolerance.

The Alcat Test has been used for over 20 years and is clinically proven to accurately and reproducibly measure leukocyte cellular reactivity in the whole blood. Meaning it measures the final common pathway of all pathogenic mechanisms, whether immune, non-immune or toxic (IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, complement, pharmacologic, toxic, lectin, etc.).

It is the only test shown to correlate with clinical symptoms by double blind oral challenge, the gold standard. Not only is the ALCAT Test the most accurate; it is the only test that can detect intolerances to both foods and other substances.

The Alcat can help us…

• Identify normally “healthy” foods that are not good for you
• Improve your metabolic function
• Decrease chronic inflammation, a major cause of premature aging, autoimmune issues and many other conditions
• Reach your goal weight
• Achieve optimal wellness through customized nutrition

About the Technology

Cell Science Systems, Ltd. Corp., developed The ALCAT Test to measure personalized nutrition at the cellular level. The core technology is a blood test that measures the body’s cellular response to challenges from a wide array of substances including various foods, additives, colorings and chemicals.

The individual’s cellular reactivity after exposure of the blood to the various test agents, versus the person’s own baseline control, tells me which substances may be causing a sensitivity-related response in the body.

The ALCAT Test has been validated by demonstrating a high correlation with double-blind oral challenges with both foods and food additives. In addition, a controlled study from Baylor Medical College reported 98% success for weight loss and/or improvement in body composition from patients that followed the recommended ALCAT Rotational Diet, an unparalleled achievement.

Test Results

The ALCAT Test results are presented in an easy to understand, color-coded format. They highlight each clients incompatible foods and the level of each reaction (severe, moderate or mild). The ALCAT Test results also clearly identify the foods which are non-reactive or “safe” foods by putting them in the green section of the results and organizing them by food groups.

Rotational Diet

History has shown that variety in the human diet is very important to health and wellbeing. Research in physical anthropology and nutritional science has shown that the human digestive system is more suited to coping with a seasonal diet as opposed to the traditional Westernized diet.

By eating foods in a particular family one day and then omitting them for at least the next three days, a cumulative sensitizing effect is avoided. This time allows the food molecules to “clear” the system, avoiding overload.

After the Test

When we get your results, we combine that powerful knowledge with our other findings and/or those of your other healthcare providers to create the perfect eating and lifestyle plan for you and your unique biology.

Eating healthy, local and organic is good but in many cases it is not enough. There are many other factors that must be considered when medical issues are involved. Some foods affect your hormones, others certain organs, etc.

Because of this, it is of the utmost importance that we know as much as we can to create a very specific diet and plan of action that considers all of your needs and works for YOU.

Using the ALCAT test as an adjunct to the other work I do is a big reason why my clients improve so quickly and dramatically. It is so much easier to make progress and move to the next level of health when we find out what is aggravating your system and remove it.

Trauma and stress are huge ones, but whether you know it or not, so is food!

I believe Hippocrates was right over 2,500 years ago when he said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”

I went through hell before I knew about my body’s unique biological relationship with food!

That being said, I want this test to be available and affordable to as many people as possible.

So for those who are interested in and serious about healing and experiencing radiant health, I have decided to forgo a significant amount of profit and worked out a special arrangement with Cell Science Systems, Ltd. (developers of The ALCAT test) and Associated Clinical Laboratories and various labs throughout the country and am now offering this valuable testing at a discounted rate.

Change is difficult! So in addition, I will give you access to me (via text, Skype, phone, email) to help you understand the results and more importantly, support you in the process of making them work in your life.

Also, just to be clear, you don’t have to live in my area to do the testing or to work with me. I have worked with clients as far away as England, Costa Rica and Australia.

I will take care of all the paperwork, hook you up with a lab in your area for a blood draw, or if you’d prefer, I can even arrange for a licensed nurse or phlebotomist to come to your home and do it.

After we get your results we will create a plan of action that is tailored to and considers your current needs, other health issues, your budget, life situation and most importantly your specific biology.

For more information on testing and pricing click here or call me at 814-882-6678 for specifics…

I welcome any feedback, anecdotes or questions so please feel free to leave a comment below!

Until next time…

A