So as some of you know - I decided to get food sensitivity testing done last month while I was home in Ohio.
*Before you read - obviously, I am not a certified doctor in any way. These are all things that my doctor told me so take the information as you will. :)
Why I Decided To Do It:
My mom was the first person in our family to get tested. She was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s and after seeing a traditional doctor, she decided to look into some other alternatives. After just four months of adjusting her diet according to her food sensitivity results, she retested and found that the inflammation numbers in her body were cut in HALF after just four months! Talk about game changing.
So one reason I decided to do food allergy testing was as a preventative measure for the future. Autoimmune issues run in our family (both my mom and dad have!) and keeping inflammation out of your body is a crucial part in helping prevent future autoimmune disease. (After testing I found out that I had markers that indicated possible Crohn’s or Multiple Sclerosis later on in my life.)
Some of you asked if I was having any issues that indicated something was up. I was having a few issues before I got the testing done but nothing super serious. I was waking up with headaches every day. I was feeling super tired. I was feeling nauseous while eating certain foods and it felt like all of the food I ate kind of just sat in the upper part of my stomach and wasn’t really digesting properly. I definitely noticed the worse I ate, the worse I felt. I wouldn’t say there were any huge red flags, but I just didn’t feel like I was in a state of optimal health. But just because you aren’t having tons of issues doesn’t mean that you aren’t sensitive to anything. You just may not realize it yet.
Who I Tested Through:
I did this testing through a functional medicine doctor in my area but the company that she used for my testing was Vibrant America. There are lots of companies that do this type of testing, but I HIGHLY recommend going through your doctor to do so. (And I do feel like I got SO MUCH information from this particular company. On their website you can search doctors in your area who use their testing. I also want to note that my mom did a test through Everly Well prior to her Vibrant America testing and her test results were not nearly the same as this. In fact, some of what the Everly test showed was completely different from the results she got back from her doctor!) When you do the testing, you can pick how many foods/categories you want to be tested for. Your doctor should recommend what to have done but I highly recommend you test for as many of the things you can afford to do. For example if you test for dairy but not nuts, you could find out you are sensitive to dairy and start drinking almond milk, and potentially you could be sensitive to almonds as well and not know it.
What My Results Were:
So when I got the testing done, I was severely sensitive to just about EVERYTHING. LOL. I mean not really, but kind of. The test results were over 100 pages but there is one chart that sums up the main chunk of your information. A chart of RED foods and YELLOW foods. The red is stuff you’re highly sensitive to and the yellow is the “mildly” sensitive. I had five in the red which were wheat, soy, dairy, rice, and lentils. A TOUGH group of foods to be sensitive to. (Although as long as I could still drink coffee and eat chocolate, I was happy HAHA.)
And for that reason, my doctor said to not even pay much attention to my yellow category because of the drastic amount I had in the red. So at this point we are taking baby steps to see how my body feels as I start to make changes in my red area.
Wheat was the downright worst for me. On a scale of 0-6 (6 being the worst you could possibly be sensitive to) I was a 6.4. I don’t even know how that’s possible. LOL. My second worst was soy. Both were highly highly sensitive. But instead of cutting out both right now, my doctor recommended that I start out with just gluten and see how I feel within the next few months. So you’re reading a blog from an officially gluten-free girly now. :) I’ve been in California pretty much the entire time since I started being gluten-free so honestly, it’s been pretty easy! Most restaurants in California have a gluten free bread option so I’ve been okay honestly. It’s really the random things - snacks, salad dressings, etc., that have a lot of hidden gluten, so I’ve been doing my best to watch for those things.
After three months, we will reevaluate how I am feeling and see what changes we have to make from there.
Again, this isn’t an ALLERGY, this is a SENSITIVITY. My doctor said as my gut starts to heal and I clear up some of my inflammation, I might potentially be able to add things back in. Right now, we are just taking things out a few months at a time to see how I feel.
Wild Facts You Probably Didn’t Know Food Can Affect:
Mood - My doctor was telling me how food can literally contribute to depression and anxiety. No, food probably cannot cure it, but I firmly believe it definitely has a lot to do with it. I am not diagnosed with either, but I do get a fair share of anxiety and mood swings so I’m interested to see how much better I feel after these next few months.
Drowsiness - The foods you eat, especially if your gut doesn’t digest it properly, can contribute to feeling tired and drowsy all the time.
Inflammation - Your body can literally be inflamed from the food you’re eating. I know my mom said when she did her testing and cut out gluten, she literally felt less achy because of it. Crazy!
You can actually go through withdrawals from cutting certain foods out. My doctor told me that when I cut out wheat, I could start to have withdrawal, wild cravings, and mood swings from not eating it. I didn’t even know food could affect that much!
How I’ve Been Feeling:
GREAT! Honestly. I’ve been traveling and dancing and busy but I feel like I’ve been managing because I’m finally eating the proper food for my body. I haven’t been feeling as tired (granted I get tired due to lack of sleep or just over-working my body) but during the day, I have been feeling a lot better. I’m digesting way better and haven’t been getting headaches. I haven’t noticed much change in my mood yet but it’s only been one month so far (and I’ve also been stressed and in a lot of high pressure situations this month lol). All of these positives are due to only ONE change in my diet. I will be anxious to see how I feel after about three months. My doctor said it takes about that long to really notice changes.
So I hope that gave you maybe some inspiration to get yourself tested as well. I am obviously so new to this concept of food as medicine but I am fascinated by it for sure.
I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested and if you have any questions please feel free to message me. I’m happy to help! :) And if you have any great gluten free recipes and/or Tik Tok pages/Instagram accounts to suggest, I’m all ears!! Let’s all heal our guts together!
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