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Identifying food sensitivities is a key component of reducing systemic inflammation and is one of the most important things to address when reversing chronic symptoms and autoimmunity. Every meal that we eat presents an opportunity to feed health and calm inflammation, which is amazing! BUT, figuring out which foods are calming or contributing to our inflammation levels can be a little elusive. If you’re following an elimination diet, chances are that you have already been able to narrow down and remove some of the “bigger trigger” foods that tend to cause an inflammatory response. It’s also possible that even after removing the bigger triggers, you suspect that there are still some foods that aren’t helping your healing.Whether you have already started eliminating foods or not, at Rooted In Healing we help you figure out the best diet and feel good foods for your bio individual body and provide the clearest roadmap possible to get you feeling better. We want to share the steps that we use with our clients to help them identify which foods they may be causing an inflammatory reaction. Before we provide those steps, let’s define what exactly inflammation is.
Inflammation is your body’s natural, physiological defense response. It’s really great for short term responses to things like an injury, but not as helpful for long term, chronic responses.
You can think of it like a light switch. We want to be able to turn the inflammatory response on and off pretty easily. i.e. we get a cut on our hand, inflammatory response goes on, help is sent to the wound site so it can heal, then the inflammatory response shuts off. We can start to see issues arise when the inflammatory response doesn’t shut off and becomes chronic. That type of inflammation puts your body and immune systems in an over active state, which can lead to your body attacking our own tissues and organs. It can also be one of the reasons you may be reacting poorly to tons of different foods, including the healthy ones.Now let’s break down how food can be triggering your inflammation response.Psst…check out these allergen friendly AIP banana muffins here
Food allergies:
Allergies stem from an IgE (immunoglobulin E) response. IgE are antibodies that are produced by our immune system when allergic reactions occur. An allergic reaction to a food may include symptoms like rashes, hives, itching, swelling and in its most severe form, anaphylaxis or throat closure. These reactions are pretty immediate which makes it easy to pinpoint which foods may be causing the reaction.Food intolerances:
These differ from food allergies as they are not connected to an immune response, but occur when you are missing the necessary enzymes to break down certain foods. For example, if you have an intolerance to lactose, it is because you are either missing or deficient in your lactase enzymes. Common symptoms here can be stomach upset, bloating, gas etc. Since these reactions are also pretty immediate, it can be easier to connect the dots on which food is causing them. While intolerances aren’t connected to an immune pathway, continuing to eat them without the necessary support can result in gut damage.Food Sensitivities:
Like allergies, food sensitivities stem from an immune response. BUT (and it’s a big but), they can be the trickiest to pinpoint because reactions from food sensitivities can be both subtle and happen as long as 72 hours after consuming a food. Additionally, while allergies can be tied back to one starting point through the IgE pathway, sensitivities can happen through a variety of immuno pathways like IgG, IgA and IgM.Food Sensitivity symptoms can look like:- Bloating
- Acne
- Runny Nose
- Brain fog
- Fatigue
- Itching
- Stomach upset
- IBS
- Anxiety / depression / irritability
- Migraines
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