It’s not about the food?!? What do I mean by that? Many clients I work with are desperately trying to figure out which food they’re having a sensitivity to (sound familiar?). Which food is causing their symptoms, thinking if they can just figure that out, it will provide the Holy Grail to health. I totally understand this because food and what we eat is at least something we have some control over. It’s much harder to figure out what could be lying deeper, so it’s easy to get fixated on the food. But, I’m sorry to report, it’s not about the food. It really is about what’s lurking underneath. Yes, eating a healthy diet is key to good health, for sure, 100%, no room to negotiate this. But, generally what is going on with our health lies deeper, and the food sensitivity is just another symptom.
For sure, we have food sensitivities and many people have downright food allergies. If we can figure out which food or foods are causing a reaction in our bodies and we eliminate them, we can definitely start to feel better right away. So, that’s all good news! My point is that ultimately it’s not about specific foods and food sensitivities. Our symptoms are really coming from something deeper, something underlying the food sensitivity. I’m not saying gluten or sugar or dairy are health foods (just to go with some common food sensitivity examples), but we ought to be able to eat them once in a while and not have days and days of issues from them.
Food sensitivities can come from the fact that really we shouldn’t be eating gluten, sugar or dairy on a daily basis and the symptoms they’re provoking are showing us what these foods are really doing to our health. From that perspective, it makes all the difference in the world to figure out which foods are causing the problem and stopping eating them. But, really we all know we shouldn’t be eating processed foods like sugar, dairy and gluten (unless you’re eating wheat berries cooked up like brown rice, then all gluten falls in this category). Cutting back or eliminating unhealthy foods will do our bodies a world of good.
Often though it just isn’t that simple. It is hard to figure out which food is the culprit for starters and then remember it’s really about what’s underlying the food issue to begin with. That’s super hard to know what it is and even harder to figure out what to do about it. Let me explain what I mean. If I get flu-like symptoms 2-3 days after I eat a bagel (pretty common food sensitivity example and timeline) it can be from the gluten, but more likely my system is already stressed out with inflammation and the gluten is the last straw. So, what is stressing my system out that it can’t handle a little ole bagel once in a while (once in a while is the key here, daily bagels don’t do anyone good).
Let’s take the example further, and say I have candida growing naturally in my body, like we all do, and then I’m on a steady, daily diet of sugar. My pH gets thrown off by that acidic sugar and now that natural, healthy amount of candida gets the green light to flourish – conditions are just right, grow, grow, grow. Now my entire intestinal track is upset because candida is just supposed to be in the last part, doing it’s job, but now it’s throughout my entire large and small intestine. Those parts aren’t happy anymore. They are calling on my immune system to make some inflammation to isolate the offender and protect me. Now, I’ve got this inflammation happening, my intestines are on high alert with an army of protection at the ready and now enters my bagel. What should normally have been a small invasion of toxins dealt with quickly, I’ve got any army that’s already doing battle with the overgrown candida and the bagel is just too much.
I get an exaggerated response that goes on for days because the candida, from all the sugar, is really the issue. It’s not the bagel or really even the sugar (although sugar is how I wound up in this mess). Stopping eating bagels and sugar will help. I may get some relief, but I really need to get rid of the overgrowth of candida to right my intestinal ship, get the inflammation to calm down, and then bagel and even sugar once in a while (again once in a while, not daily) won’t be an issue. Make sense?
There are tons of microorganisms that can be underlying our food sensitivities. Read more about these deeper things by Clicking Here… It’s super hard to control or even know what’s going on underneath the food, so focusing on the food feels like it gives us some control over what is happening in our body, but it’s really only getting to the surface of the problem. Bummer, I know, but liberating because if we can get to the root of the problem, we can yank it out and get our guts back on track, and then not only will occasional food indulgences not cause a major problem, but the symptoms that are bugging us will really heal.