What is the most challenging puzzle you've ever tried to figure out? Can you think of it? Maybe you haven't really met it yet?
If you're here because you're dealing with food sensitivities and food allergies, and you're looking for answers, I would actually tell you, yes, you have met the most challenging puzzle that you will ever attempt to figure out. And that would be the food allergies and food sensitivities puzzle. Especially the food sensitivity side. Food allergies, for better or for worse, tend to be more straightforward because there is a primary mechanism. In medicine, we can tell you how and why all of that happens.
With food sensitivities it's a lot more challenging. The puzzle has different layers. It's like the puzzle that is double-sided and is a picture of a bunch of Dalmatian puppies. Can you imagine? It just sounds too hard.
When we're dealing with food sensitivities, I think it can end up feeling very similar to that - that it's just too hard. And we just want somebody to make it go away.
So I want to challenge you - if you are here looking for answers and you're feeling like this is just getting too big and too wild and crazy - don't stop. Okay? Don't quit. I promise there will be a solution that works for you. It's just a matter of learning your puzzle and how your puzzle is going to come together.
The challenge with food sensitivities is it's a multi-level puzzle. There are so many different variables that play a role. And there are so many, truly, so many different causes of food sensitivities. It isn't just simply, I've got too much histamine in my body.
Why do you have too much histamine in your body? Your body has multiple different methods of clearing and getting rid of histamine. That's just part of the equilibrium that it was built to maintain. So why are you having a hard time clearing histamine from your body?
Even when we come up with an answer, think of yourself as the perpetual three or four year old. Keep asking "why". You're digging and digging and digging, and you're looking for that root cause. Some of them we can address pretty easily and some of them, it takes some time. Healing and health is not a quick thing by any stretch of the imagination.
When we're looking at the "why" of food sensitivities, a lot of us look to food sensitivity testing. From my perspective as an integrative physician and somebody who's lived with this stuff for my entire life, it's easy to look at the food sensitivity testing and go, okay, this is my answer. The test will tell me which foods are the problem. The food really isn't the problem. The reaction to the food is like your body waving a white flag and saying, "Hey, there's something going on. I need help!" And typically that's related to some kind of inflammation.
It's also important to keep in mind that food sensitivities can cause inflammation and inflammation can cause food sensitivities.
It is a great big circle a bit like the chicken and the egg. But it is good to know which foods you're reacting to right here and now, so that you can exclude those for a period of time and support your body in calming down some of that inflammation.
There are multiple different kinds of food sensitivity tests out there and that becomes part of the puzzle, as well. Because each one of them is going to give you a different puzzle piece or an answer to a slightly different question. They don't all tell you the same answer. Okay?
I have put together a new resource called Food Sensitivity Testing: Which Test is Right for You? It is a free download, just hit this link.
When you get it in your email, you can flip through it pretty easily on your phone or tablet. Spend a little time getting familiar with the different tests that are available.
In addition to typical food sensitivity tests, I also include a bit about food allergy testing and about genetics. Genetics can be helpful in finding a possible root cause of histamine intolerance, but I find not a lot of folks are talking about it yet as an option. I find that it is very helpful because it's adding another piece to your puzzle. (It certainly helped with my puzzle!)
I hope all of that makes sense. I'm going to stop there for today...but know there is so much more to come. Remember, you're not alone. And the puzzle can be solved. It may be stinking hard, but the puzzle can be solved.
So until next time, take care of you.