What to do when the list of foods you don’t react to gets smaller and smaller.
How to fix food sensitivities.
Food sensitivities can be a symptom of many, many, many types of conditions. Too many to list. They affect around 20% of the population compared to 1-2% for food allergy. A food sensitivity is technically a non immunological response and diagnosis is not cut and dry. There are also a variety of reasons for a food sensitivity to occur in someone- they can be GI health related, enzyme deficiency related such as a lactose intolerance. There are other mechanisms as well but not as important for you as the client to worry about. The issue I’m discussing today is related to you being triggered by multiple foods.
Do you have multiple foods you are sensitive to that are not getting better or you have a list of food sensitivities that just seems to keep growing?
Have you tried the autoimmune protocol diet (AIP) or an elimination diet and that didn’t help you at all? Or did it make your symptoms worse?
This can be caused by what is called loss of oral tolerance. Oral tolerance is how our immune system works normally to allow us to eat food while also protecting the body from bacteria or other things on the foods we consume.
If your condition hasn’t gotten better on AIP or elimination diet, which is meant to remove foods that might cause inflammation and keep you sick, then it is time to look for other reasons why you are not better.
Maybe your practitioner has had you do a leaky gut protocol but did they address why your gut was leaky in the first place? AIP isn’t supposed to be a months long type of diet, despite what the internet tells you about how long you might have to be on it. I may have even said in the past that up to 2 years might be needed. This is not actually the case. The diet is supposed to help you figure out which foods you are reacting to and then readjust your diet until further healing is done.
If you have hashimoto’s you will probably need to avoid gluten permanently and likely need to avoid dairy as well. For me, even too much of other grains in my diet and particularly gluten free breads have caused reactions in me. This is telling me that I likely am dealing with leaky gut but the reason needs to be dug into. This is called a cross reaction where these foods cause the body to attack thyroid tissue or even brain tissue and both can happen in Hashimoto’s.
What goes wrong in the immune system?
Specific immune system cells called dendritic cells found in the small intestine have a job of checking the proteins that come along to figure out if your immune system should react to them. They tag proteins from foods that are not fully digested. Poor digestion can be a need for enzymes or hydrochloric acid or maybe just a calmer environment in which to eat and a thorough chewing of each bite.
Lack of mucus membrane antibody immune cells (SIgA) may be another reason that you have so many food sensitivities. In this case, you may just need to work on your digestion. When you’re thoroughly breaking down the proteins in your diet by chewing well and eating while in rest and digest mode, you can see an improvement in the reactions of these immune cells.
If you are dealing with lack of SIgA cells, we need to dig into seeing if you have an infection, HPA axis dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies or are using steroid medications.
Another type of immune cell called a regulatory T cell will take the message from the dendritic cells and decide whether or not to tell the immune system to create inflammation to get rid of the invader. This happens in your lymph which is why you can have an inflammatory reaction anywhere in the body. Lymph goes through all of your body so you may have joint pain or muscle aches or skin rashes if you are having inflammation. We all respond differently.
Aside from alerting the lymph, these dendritic immune cells can also bring these otherwise normal proteins to the liver and cause inflammation there making your body’s normal detoxification processes more difficult which can also affect the livers ability to convert T4 to T3.
One way to help your immune system do it’s job better is Magic Mind. I’ve been taking it for about 1 ½ weeks now and it has not only improved my focus and productivity but it has cordyceps mushrooms in it which is an adaptogen that reduces inflammation, strengthens your immune system, and supports higher energy levels and physical endurance by ramping up the production of ADP (needed to make ATP) in your mitochondria. I can feel a change in my brain when I take this. Seeing how well it works for me, I would encourage you to try it as well, especially if you are not at 100% each day. It has ashwagandha in it too which helps reduce stress, rhodiola to give you more energy and help increase your body’s resistance to stress and it enhances mental clarity. All things those of us with thyroid problems deal with almost daily. This little green shot has been a real game changer for me.
You can check it out at magicmind.co/helpforhashimotos and get up to 56% off a subscription for the next ten days with my code HASHIMOTOS. You’ve got nothing to lose but fatigue!
Being on AIP can alter the make up of your gut bacteria and it is well known that the diversity of the bacteria in your gut is very important in immune health and in allowing your body to tolerate a variety of foods. This is why a wide variety of vegetables and fruits is so important. Challenge yourself to eat 3-4 different veggies each day and work on getting at least one pound of veggies in each day. Have a variety of fruits but not too much as it can cause blood sugar dysregulation.
Other things that can cause inflammation and contribute to food sensitivities from loss of oral tolerance are toxins like BPA and whatever is in your BPA free water bottle- it is still a toxic chemical.
Maybe you have histamine issues. This can be covered in a separate podcast but common symptoms of histamine issues are things like seasonal allergies, sinus congestion, asthma, skin rashes, joint pain, anxiety, irritability, and migraines. A good place to start with histamine is to avoid fermented, smoked foods, dried fruits, and leftovers from the fridge.
You can do food sensitivity testing. I’m kind of on the fence about this one. I’ve done a Cyrex labs test and avoiding those foods while healing my gut did help me but I’m not 100% on board. Cyrex labs does have some good tests that have been well tested so if you are not getting better after trying all the things, this might be a good next step.
Before the food sensitivity testing I would recommend getting your female hormones in balance, fixing chronic stress- both mental/emotional and physiological. Also, getting blood sugar balanced and getting you on the proper thyroid meds.
Lastly, we may have to check, via testing, to see if your immune system is suppressed. One big clue for this is if you never, ever get sick. Getting to your root cause is what I do. It takes time and effort on both our parts but it can be done.
What results is more energy, improved moods, and you get your life back and that is really the end goal!
Some simple things you can do on your own is just try to eliminate any food you suspect for about a month and when you reintroduce it and you react then you know it should be avoided. You can also keep a food journal tracking your symptoms. Just list out all the foods you have eaten, the amount you ate, and what time. Track how the food was prepared so you can track if a cooked or raw food is the culprit. For instance, my oldest daughter has reactions to raw banana and apple but not cooked. Keep track of symptoms- when you notice them/time of onset, how severe they are and how long before they went away. I got glutened on valentines day and onset was immediate- before I had finished eating and I had bumps appear on my jaw line and neck and my face was itchy and I had immediate brain fog which lasted a couple of hours. Doing this helps teach me about your experience so I can better help you.
What if you could stop sitting on the sidelines of your life and live more fully?
What if you could stop fatigue in its tracks and have more energy?
What if you had a plan to fix your Hashimoto’s?
What if you didn’t have to guess (and waste money) which supplements your body needed to help you move towards healing?
What if you had someone to help you who has been there, knows what it feels like and got out of the hole that is mismanaged hypothyroidism?
These are all things my clients get when they work with me.
Hand holding if you need it. An advocate. Someone who truly cares that you get better and knows how to help you.
I can help you feel better. Day by day.
I’m here when you are ready. Book your Fight Fatigue Discovery Call Here