Allergies: Hidden Food Sensitivities

Sometimes eating whole foods and following a good diet is not enough to achieve good health. It may be necessary to take your wellness program a bit farther by finding foods to which you are sensitive and eliminating them from your diet.

You can be allergic to a food that you crave. Sugar cravings, the desire for junk food and the inability to lose weight can be the result of hidden food allergies. This is very different from the familiar kind of food allergies. People commonly think of an allergic reaction as being immediate and severe, like breaking out in hives from eating strawberries.

Hidden allergies and sensitivities don’t usually have a sudden and obvious reaction. The reaction to the offending food can take as long as 72 hours. People with this type of allergy often have a chronic health problem that they can’t link to any particular food. Sinus problems, digestive problems, eczema, headaches, and obesity are examples of the health problems that can be caused by hidden allergies.

This concept is based on the ideas of Theron Randolph, MD. Dr. Randolph looked at allergies in an entirely new way. Here are some of his ideas.

• A person can take up to 72 hours to react to an offending food.
• Food allergies can cause symptoms of chronic conditions and seem to have nothing to do with consuming the offending food. Symptoms like migraine headaches, sinusitis, eczema, digestive problems, asthma, and obesity are examples of the problems caused by hidden food allergies.
• People with food allergies are commonly addicted to the food that is causing their health problem.
• Commonly, when the offending food is avoided, the individual’s symptoms become worse initially. Symptoms usually flare up for 4 or 5 days, but this reaction can last longer. After the reaction passes the individual will feel much better—chronic symptoms disappear, energy increases and excess weight begins to come off.

There are many well-documented cases of people who have been exposed to chemicals and developed many sensitivities. Physicians using natural health care are well aware of the fact that these patients respond to vitamin therapy. Vitamin C can reduce histamine levels. Trace minerals can support the liver in its effort to get rid of toxins. Supporting the adrenal gland and improving digestion are also useful strategies for bringing allergies under control. Companies like Biotics Research have developed special products to support the immune system and help bring allergies under control.

In his book, Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient Connection Including Brain Allergies Today (Keats Publishing, 1988), Dr. William Philpott has some case histories of patients with mental problems who, by removing food allergens from their diet, experienced great improvement in their psychological symptoms. Many of the patients could tolerate their allergic foods after vitamin supplementation.

Often different people suffer from hidden allergies to the same foods. Allergies to wheat and dairy are especially common. It is not that dairy and wheat are intrinsically bad foods (although many people believe that dairy foods are bad for everyone), but rather that people tend to become allergic to foods that they eat every day. Poor eating habits, drug therapies, pollution and other things create problems with liver and digestive function. This causes the intestines to allow things into the body that really should be kept out (leaky gut). The result is that the immune system ends up reacting to foods that are eaten day-in and day-out.

Allergies can cause over 200 different symptoms—usually chronic problems that the client doesn’t associate with the offending food. While they can cause symptoms, they are also the result of other problems such as chemical exposure and digestive problems. Allergies are both a cause and an effect.

Many holistic health offices treat hidden allergies and little else, and they get good results with many of their clients. Avoidance of allergens will provide relief from many symptoms, but it may still be necessary to find underlying causes. The more pieces of the puzzle that are found, the better the results.