Do I have food sensitivities?

Healthy digestion is the absence of gas, bloating, constipation, loose stools, mucus, blood, undigested food, belching and abdominal pain.   When food is being broken down and absorbed properly, none of the above symptoms should be present. 

On the other hand, such symptoms can be an indication that something in your diet is not being broken down or assimilated well, causing inflammation and irritation to the gut lining (what we often refer to as food sensitivities).  Incomplete digestion or an inappropriate diet can also affect one’s energy, mood and ability to absorb nutrients properly.

Food sensitivities are defined as foods that our immune systems are hypersensitive to.  The proteins from the suspect foods trigger an (IgG) antibody reaction from our immune systems and create inflammation in our gut.  Although food sensitivity reactions are not typically life-threatening, gut inflammation can certainly cause gas, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, weaken the immune system and increase hypersensitivity reactions like allergies, hayfever, asthma, hives. 

Note that food sensitivities are not the same as a food allergy.  Allergies, by definition, are mediated by a different (IgE) antibody that causes immediate, severe and potentially life-threatening symptoms such as tongue and throat swelling, difficulty breathing, swelling of the lips and throat. 

Food allergies are typically diagnosed by an allergist using a skin-prick test and are typically lifelong and can follow a genetic tendency.  Whereas, food sensitivities tend to develop slowly over time.  And since the symptoms and the degree of symptoms increases gradually over time, food sensitivities can be much more difficult to identify.

One of the ways to determine if a food sensitivity is affecting your health is to do a food sensitivity test.  This involves a simple blood draw and measures up to 190 different foods that your body may be mounting an immune response to.  Improving your digestion and absorption of nutrients is the first way to improve your overall health and well-being and can have profound effects on how you feel. 

If you suffer from poor digestion, find out if you have food sensitivities.  Once the problematic foods have been removed from the diet, a gut healing protocol will decrease the gut inflammation, alleviate the digestive symptoms and have your digestive tract smiling from ear to ear again.