Do you suffer from a range of undiagnosed symptoms that feel like a complete mystery? Has it become your norm to suffer painful or uncomfortable intestines, joints, or muscles, headaches, brain fog, asthma, rashes, depression, irritability, or cold-like or other challenges? Food sensitivity or intolerance may be at least one of the culprits.
Food Allergy vs. Sensitivity vs. Intolerance
Although the terms food allergy, sensitivity, and intolerance are frequently used interchangeably, they are different and may call for different treatments. While the table on page 30 sheds some light on their differences, making sense of any form of food reaction can be complicated and generally requires guidance, ideally from an experienced holistic practitioner. For example, the underlying cause of your food sensitivity or intolerance may be menopause, adrenal dysfunction, an autoimmune condition, a hidden viral infection, or a bacterial infection such as a systemic overgrowth of yeast (candidiasis) or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
See chart below.
The Short-Term Traditional Approach
Conventional practitioners tend to prescribe over-the-counter antihistamines, antidiarrheals, antacids, and laxatives for food sensitivity and intolerance. Though these remedies may provide temporary, intermittent symptom relief, the traditional approach generally does not target the underlying root causes of symptoms.
The Sustainable Holistic Approach
Holistic approaches to food sensitivity and intolerance tend to delve deeper than conventional treatments. Incorporating wellness practices such as food avoidance, mindful eating, stress management, and other supportive lifestyle adjustments can lay the foundation for sustainable well-being.
Try an Elimination Diet and Food Avoidance
A thirty-day elimination diet can allow your body to detoxify from trigger foods and permit their identification. Following the guidance of your practitioner, you would eliminate the most common problem foods and beverages (wheat/gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, caffeine, foods high in fermentable carbohydrates) and replace them with non-trigger choices. You would then gradually add back the eliminated foods one by one and journal their effects.
While following an elimination diet, it is also generally best to avoid inflammation-inducing saturated, hydrogenated, and trans fats (beef, pork, lamb, duck), GMOs, alcohol, MSG, dyes and chemical additives, and especially sugar/simple carbohydrates.
Once you determine your trigger foods, you will focus on avoiding them altogether. Even minute amounts can cause symptoms.
Address Potential Adrenal Fatigue
Since adrenal fatigue is a well-known cause of food sensitivity and intolerance, finding natural ways to support the adrenal glands can go a long way to addressing your food reactions. When there is a poor adrenal response, the adrenal glands can’t produce enough cortisol to suppress inflammation and food reactions. This can result in the common symptoms noted in the below table. (See more on adrenal fatigue in my article, “Fatigued? Boost Your Energy Naturally and Safely”)
Consider Taking Other Dietary Supplements for Symptoms
Food can do a lot, but for many, food alone can’t do enough. Limited space allows for only a brief discussion of just a few of the numerous natural options that can help you cope better with food reactions.
• Adrenal Gland Support: Dietary supplements that combat adrenal fatigue include isotonic nicotinamide riboside (NR, a B-vitamin precursor to NAD+, a coenzyme that is involved in the creation of energy from food; shown to suppress histamine production and anaphylactic responses in mice), adrenal glandular extract, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), and adaptogenic herbs.
• Antihistamines: Vitamin C, stinging nettles, and flavonoids have been proven to have antihistamine and anti-inflammatory activity. Flavonoids are plant-made chemicals with potent antioxidant activity found in many foods (vegetables, nuts, seeds, wine, tea, fruits). This nutrient category includes:
- OPCs — Provided in abundance by standardized French maritime pine bark (pycnogenol), red wine, bilberry, and grape seed extracts; also proven in my clinical
practice to be effective in isotonic form against food sensitivity; and - Quercetin (ideally, with bromelain)—
Especially effective against respiratory ailments; found in many vegetables and fruits.
• Digestive Aids: When taken in the right dose and at the right time, these supplements can support the intestines:
- DGL and d-Limonene — Natural antacids;
the latter promotes healthy peristalsis - Homeopathic Belladonna 6X — Inhibits diarrhea
- Digestive Enzymes — Help the intestines break down foods when enzymes are naturally lacking
- Aloe Juice — Antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory
- Probiotics — Since gastrointestinal conditions (celiac disease, IBD/Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis) can make you more prone to food sensitivities, fortifying your intestines with probiotics could substantially reduce your suffering, antibiotics, prednisone, oral contraceptives, and cortisol-generating stress can also readily cause intestinal flora imbalances (each person requires a different combination and potency, depending on their health concern)
If you’d like personalized guidance and support for your food sensitivities and intolerances, please reach out for guidance through vitathenawellness.com or text EMPOWERME to 202.270.5612.
Submitted by Erika Dworkin, BCHN, Board Certified in Holistic Nutritionist, Dietary Supplements Specialist, Intuitive Wellness Guide, and former owner of the Manchester Parkade Health Shoppe in Manchester, CT, which operated for 65 years. To read more about using a therapeutic diet and dietary supplements to cope with menopausal digestive and other changes, click HERE to ask for Erika’s FREE ebook, The 5 Essential Steps to Mapping Your Path to Midlife & Menopause Empowerment, and click HERE to read her chapter in the collaborative experiential Amazon bestseller, The Energy Medicine Solution: Mind Blowing Results to Live Your Extraordinary Life.
All statements in this article are practice- or scientific evidence-based, and references are available upon request. The statements in this article have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, are for educational purposes only, and are not intended to take the place of a physician’s advice.
Erika is available for nutrition consultations and to speak to groups, in person or via Telehealth or Zoom. She can be contacted by phone at 860.646.8178 or by email at: edworkin@vitathena.com. Office Hours By Request. Visit: www.vitathenawellness.com to request a 20-Minute Wellness Assessment.