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Food Sensitivities - We're Here to Help
I assume that you have gone through
Step Four and have chosen a food or foods to take out of your diet.
I hope that you use the Symptom
and Food Diary to record what you eat and how you feel each
day. Remember that the observations and opinions of others can be
an important source of feedback for you as well.
Lastly, there is a Self-Evaluation
at the end of the Food Sensitivities process. I encourage you to
do it, to see if you have benefited from the information provided.
Q1: How can you give advice on food sensitivities when you are a
psychologist?
A: This
is a very good question. My answers are based on personal experience,
reading and study, but NOT on professional training. However,
I do use methods developed by several professionals, including
allergists, naturopaths and chiropractors (NAET
- Nambudripads Allergy Elimination Techniques). What I am
recommending to you is the approach we have followed in our family
and that I now use with my clients with very good results.
In order to explore the effect of food sensitivities, I use the
protocol and record-keeping system Symptom
and Food Diary used by Dr. William Langdon, the allergist
who worked with my family over 25 years ago.
Dr. Langdon believed that:
- Removing a substance from the diet for a week was the best
way to assess it's effect.
- Doing a good job (i.e., completely eliminating one or two
allergens) could provide significant relief to the immune system.
Dr. Langdon helped us to identify some of our food sensitivities,
but it took many years to discover how to manage the very different
sensitivities my children had in a practical way. I owe credit
to Dr. Marshall Mandell for his part in writing about rotational
diets. Dr. Peter Bennett, a naturopath assisted with toxicity
management when removing corn and sugar from the diet and Dr.
Devi Nambudripad, a chiropractor discovered a new way to treat
allergies (NAET
- Nambudripads Allergy Elimination Techniques).
If you are a professional who specializes in allergies or nutrition
anywhere in the world that agrees with the information below (or
disagrees, for that matter), Let's Chat!
I am open to feedback and want to find out about qualified practitioners
so that I can refer other to them.
Q2: What do I do if I feel better (in mind, body or spirit) off
certain foods?
A:
Here are just a few ideas for you to consider:
- Have the food only once per week. There are lots of great
cookbooks for people with allergies.
- Explore various options for allergy treatments. There are
many new methods being discovered (i.e. NAET
- Nambudripads Allergy Elimination Techniques). Consult
specialists in your area to decide what might be best for you.
- Take digestive enzymes before having the occasional time when
you have foods to which you are sensitive.
Remember to be easy on yourself. Do what works, is comfortable
and fits with your lifestyle. If you don't take care of yourself,
nobody else will!
 Caution!
Be careful not to go off more than a few foods permanently. We
all need a well-balanced diet (i.e., a balance of fruits, protein,
starches and vegetables). If you find that you are sensitive to
a large number of foods, you may wish to consult with your family
doctor or a dietitian to make sure that you are getting the nutrients
you need. Also see FAQ 6 concerning the UNI
Diet and FAQ11 concerning the The
Wilson Technique.
Q3: What if I feel just a slight improvement off these foods, and
I feel that it is not worth the effort of keeping them out of my
diet?
A:
This is up to you. Here are a couple of options to consider:
- You may find that just reducing the amount you consume is
enough to help you continue to feel good.
- I have found it helpful to vary the foods that I eat. Experiment
with using a different grain every day (i.e., corn, oats, barley,
rye). The same is true for fruit, proteins and vegetables. If
you want to know what kinds of foods belong in certain categories,
download Food Groups.
- Many families have told me that simply switching to organic
foods made a big difference in how well they felt.
Q4: How do I know if I am sensitive to substances other than these
foods (e.g., perfume or animals)?
A:
There are many ways to test for allergies - both formal and informal.
If you think you are sensitive to particular substances, you
may want to reduce or eliminate exposure to them for a week or
two and see how you feel. It's usually a good idea to reintroduce
exposure for a few days and see if the symptoms return. Once you
know what is affecting you, you can decide what you want to do
about it. (FAQ 1, 2 and 3
above).
If you can't figure it out on your own, you can be tested. Strict
elimination diets (i.e., where 8 or more allergic foods are removed
from the diet for several weeks and then each one is reintroduced
one at a time) and scratch and needle tests used by allergists
seem to me to have been replaced by newer method such as blood
tests, computer tests (i.e., Electro dermal Screening/ The Listen
System) and muscle testing. Call your local medical doctor, allergist
or naturopath to find out what may be the most appropriate method
for you.
Q5: What causes food sensitivities or allergies?
A:
There can be many causes of food sensitivities, allergies and/or
the symptoms you have recorded on the Symptom
and Food Diary. There are also many different ways of addressing
these concerns. It is beyond the scope of the Self-Managed Journey
to be able to thoroughly investigate the causes and treatments.
However, we can still rule out the most common causes of food
sensitivities (i.e., milk, wheat and corn/sugar). If you want
to know more about this area keep reading the FAQ in this section.
Q6: What if there are
a lot of foods I have to avoid and I don't want to live on an extremely
limited diet forever?
A: See the Wilson Technique.
Q7: I have heard that there is a way to eat that will stop symptoms
of hay fever and PMS (Pre Menstrual Syndrome). What is it?
A: See the UNI
diet.
Q8: I want to know if food sensitivities are affecting how I feel.
What can I do to see if my symptoms (in a variety of areas) can
be alleviated?
A:
If you have a lot of foods to avoid or if you suffer from
hay fever, PMS (Pre Menstrual Syndrome) or other auto-immune
difficulty, you might consider using the 5-day rotational UNI
diet invented by Dr. Marshall Mandell (as originally mentioned
in his book "It's Not Your Fault You're Fat Diet").
Using this approach, you can eat everything (except foods that
cause severe reactions such as anaphylactic shock). You do not
eat the same food more frequently than every five days (i.e.,
if you had a milk product on Monday, you would not have anything
with milk in it again until Friday.) This is called a five-day
rotation. Most dietitians are familiar with this system and
can help you with menu and recipe ideas.
If you follow Dr. Mandell's UNI
diet, you will know if food sensitivities are affecting
the way you feel within a week.
In the case of hay fever and PMS, the UNI
diet doesn't cure the problem it only removes the symptoms.
And it doesn't cost a penny to do it.
By the way, I have been following the UNI
diet for over 15 years with some modifications. I call it
the UNI UNPLUGGED. Dietitians say that according to what they
have been taught, I should be dead. Well, I'm not dead and I feel
great - so I can only conclude that what dietitians are being
taught may not be fully correct.
Q9: If I feel better on the UNI
- does this mean that my problems (e.g., PMS or hay fever) are caused
by food sensitivities?
A:
It is unlikely that either PMS or hay fever is "caused"
by food sensitivities. It is likely caused by an overflowing of
your stress bucket (see Resources - book Overcoming
Depression if you want to know more about this). No one knows
why these symptoms disappear. It is an area in need of further
scientifically controlled study. In the meantime, it is my belief
that following the UNI food plan diet reduces the stress on the
immune system and provides relief from many different types of
symptoms.
Q10: Do I have to eat
this way forever if I want my symptoms to stay away?
A: Everyone's
physical make-up is different, so no one knows for sure how you
will react. You only know by trying. You may find that you feel
a lot better by eating in a simpler, rotational, balanced way.
Q11: I am so allergic
that I get symptoms even when I eat only one food at a time on a
five-day rotation (i.e., the UNI). The only time I feel well is
on a water-fast and that can only last for so long.?
A:
You are in luck because there have been other people in this same
desperate situation. Once again, it is not a cure, but rather
a survival strategy. I call it "The Wilson Technique"
after Gloria Wilson, the person who discovered it. She has been
eating this way for 18 years and feeling good. I tried it out
to see if it would work for me, too, and it did.
I believe that the "The
Wilson Technique" holds a lot of promise for severely
allergic individuals. It takes effort, but doesn't cost a penny
to do. It too, should be researched and the results shared with
others.
Q12: I have been tested
and it seems that I am allergic to everything under the sun. I can't
keep it all out of my life. What should I do?
A: See answers to FAQ
6 above.
Q13: How do I know if
I should look into this area further?
A:
If, on the seventh day off the food(s), the total score on your
Symptom and Food Diary (add up all the scores 0 to 3) was 20 or
more, this suggests that you really do not feel well physically.
(I feel that if someone's total score is 6 to 10, this is acceptable.)
Therefore, it may be worth investigating your symptoms further.
You could have additional food or environmental sensitivities
that need to be addressed. There can be many other reasons for
not feeling well; but it is important to figure them out and I
encourage you to do so.
The power and efficiency of the Basic
Empowerment Plus® Evaluation (which we are following in
this Self-Managed Journey) is that we screen for obvious barriers
to your functioning in a lot of different areas. It is beyond
the scope of this approach to look at your reactions to substances
other than the foods to which people are most sensitive. Ask your
family doctor about where you might go to explore this further.
If you want to talk to me about how resources in your area, that
is an option too. (Let's
Chat!)
  
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