Symptoms Of Food Allergies

Symptoms of food allergies. There are many advantages to our modern technologies. We have food available to us from grocery stores and restaurants in a way unseen by our ancestors. Our food processing enables us to have essentially anything we want, anytime of the year.

These are very good things, however, there is a downfall. When we eat the same foods over and over, we obviously increase our exposure to them.

In looking at how our diet would be if it followed the seasons, we would eat things that were in season, and locally grown. The seasons change, and so do the foods readily available in that phase of the year.

This rotational diet does not overexpose us to one food item day in and day out.

Let's look at wheat, for example. Most of us in the industrialized world eat wheat everyday. Often that wheat has been refined, bleached, and enriched. Exposure to any item, especially one that has been manipulated so extensively, so very often sets us up for trouble.

Another factor that often causes harm is the age of introduction to various foods. In human development, we are born very immature compared to most mammals. Look at a horse as an example, it is able to walk within a few hours of birth.

We humans are totally helpless for months. This is due to the fact that our brains, and therefore our heads are so large that we are born quite immature in comparison to other animals. Our intestinal tracts are also immature.

The food that is designed for us to eat for the first months of life is exclusively breast milk. When we use formula or anything other than breast milk, we are exposing an immature digestive tract to potential food allergens. It is best to wait to introduce anything other than breast milk for several months, around 6 is a good goal. Also, it is in the beast interest of both the mom and baby to nurse for a couple of years.

So how this relates to symptoms of food allergies, when we are exposed to food too often and too young, we see problems arise. Other factors create problems, like poor dietary choices, antibiotics, stress, immune dysfunction, ect.

OK, so the symptoms of food allergies include fatigue after eating, fuzzy mental ability, cramping of the abdomen, flatulence (gas), skin rashes, ear infections especially in children, asthma, food cravings, weight gain, mouth sores or anal fissures, and allergies.

So what to do? Well, eat whole foods as close to how they occur in nature as you can. Now in cold weather, in general it is best to cook your foods , just make sure that they are whole foods.

Variety is the spice of life, especially in your kitchen. Maybe make a food diary for a couple of days by recording everything you eat. See if there are any items that you are eating on a daily basis. Those are the items to consider removing for a period of time, just to see how you feel. Two weeks is the average amount of time.

The food category HAS to be completely removed for this to be effective. Example, when removing dairy, this includes butter, milk and milk products, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream etc. Everything that has dairy in it. And you MUST look at labels to make sure nothing is hidden in the container that you are eliminating.

This test is very good at determining symptoms of food allergies. After two weeks (more or less) add back that food by eating it once a day for three days. If you have any worsening of symptoms, you are either allergic or sensitive to that food and should remove it completely from your diet. Perhaps in 6 months or so you can rotate it back in if you heal your GI tract, but be wary of problems.

When adding food categories back into your diet, like dairy, just add one thing at a time. For instance just add milk for three days and if no problems arise skip a day and then on the fifth day add butter or whatever else you are craving the most. The craving usually indicate there is an allergy though…

The really good news is that when you eliminate allergenic foods from your diet, you generally feel sooo much better, fewer symptoms of food allergies. Increased energy, improved sleep. Weight loss, better digestion an elimination, improved immune function, and often increased ability to concentrate. Skin issues often improve dramatically also.

Symptoms of Food Allergies are but a small part of Naturopathy, click here to learn more!

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