Identifying Your Food Sensitivities 

Could Be The Key To Losing Weight

I remember a time when I started to suspect I may have some issues processing dairy. As a medical professional, I bet you might think I would just cut it out of my diet at the first whim it was a problem… but I didn’t. In fact, I was NOT willing to give it up for over a year. I did not think I could live without milk, cheese, coffee creamer or sour cream. About a year passed, and I finally decided I would take the plunge to give up dairy, and guess what happened? I lost 10lbs in 6 weeks, and I didn’t even know I had weight to lose! I was totally inflamed and didn’t even realize how bad it had become! As time passed, I had food intolerance lab testing, and I removed additional foods that I had intolerances to; like pistachios, and pears…I could easily avoid those. But I was also sensitive to SUGAR and EGGS and BAKING SODA…not fair when my favorite treat is homemade, nestle toll house cookies. I am happy to share that after eliminating these foods temporarily for 6 months, and working on restoring my gut microbiome, I can enjoy all of them again! Except Dairy. It just doesn’t agree with me no matter what I do! I don’t miss it like I thought I would. Every time I indulge in a cheese platter, ice cream or dump sour cream on a baked potato, I pay for it later with horrible gas and bowel cramps. It’s just not worth it. I have learned to enjoy my meals without dairy.  Let me tell you, I will never go back to feeling miserable and uncomfortable again. Here’s the thing about it… food intolerances are sneaky. They aren’t like food allergies which cause either a mild irritation like itchy skin, watery eyes or scratchy throat… or a full-blown anaphylaxis reaction. When you eat a food you’re intolerant to, again and again, you end up feeling lousy all the time, and you can’t really pinpoint what’s causing the problem.  What are the common symptoms of food intolerances? Common symptoms include:

• weight gain
• brain fog
• fatigue
• digestive symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea
• joint pain / muscle aches
• skin sensitivities
• headaches

Other than the discomfort of those symptoms, here’s the hard truth you may not realize… Your food intolerance may be the very thing that’s causing you to gain weight. What I have found in my clients, is if you properly deal with food intolerances where they start – in the gut – then oftentimes you’ll start to lose weight automatically because you get out of the chronic inflammation cycle. The general health practitioner population has always thought inflammation is caused by obesity. The truth is the opposite! Inflammation causes obesity! It’s a cycle: you get more inflamed, you gain more weight, you get more inflamed, you gain more weight. The first step to breaking that cycle is to identify the foods causing the issues and remove them. You can do this at home and test it out for yourself! My advice is to do an ‘elimination + reintroduction’ diet. Here’s how you do it: 1. Eat an elimination diet for 4-12 weeks (the longer the better) – No ‘borderline’ foods (see below) at all during this time. 2. Every 3 days add 1 (just one!) new ‘borderline’ food to your diet and see how you do.  3. Make sure to see how you feel not just immediately after eating it, but also the day after, as symptoms of food allergies and intolerances can be delayed. You may be able to devour nuts like a chipmunk but eating dairy makes you gassy and miserable! Here are the top ‘borderline’ foods to test: Nightshades This group includes mainly potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Now I don’t know about you, but life without potatoes and tomatoes makes me want to cry. I’m definitely not going to eliminate these without some trial and error first! Eggs So. Much. Controversy. One day they are good for you, then the next day they’re bad.  Here’s what we know for sure: they can cause a high allergy response in a lot of people, the egg white especially. I had an egg white intolerance when I first tested myself! After avoiding them for 6 months and working on sealing up my gut, I can eat them again! Nuts & seeds Not all nuts & seeds are created equal!  You may tolerate some varieties but not others. Dairy Cow’s milk is inflammatory for most people. Take it from someone who fought it for years and then finally eliminated dairy! Wheat The truth is some people have celiac disease which means gluten is poison to their GI tract.  Others have a gluten intolerance which may feel like bloating and GI upset. Check out my FREE Easy Food Swaps guide for even more support cleaning up your diet. Use the guide as a shopping list or a kitchen cabinet clean-out checklist.  

Dealing with a food intolerance stinks… Whether it’s gluten that makes you bloat like you’re pregnant, or ice cream giving you total digestive upset (even though it didn’t used to), it never feels good to have issues with foods you were once completely fine with! So give this test a try! When you do begin, tag me on Instagram so that I can follow along with your progress! Want more tips & tricks backed by science to finally release this weight this year? Download my FREE guide, Reduce Your Toxic Load

Take good care,