Transcript

Hello everyone. And welcome back to the hormone hub. Today we are going to talk about food sensitivities, food allergies, [00:01:00] reactions to foods, that we may or may not be thinking about. So, you know, let’s face it. Most of us know what healthy eating looks like. Okay. So we know we should be drinking more water.

We know we should be eating more veggies. we know, you know, more protein at this age, you know, yada ya. But what if our healthy eating is actually causing us issues? So today I wanted to talk about, you know, how this can happen and you know, also what to look for and what we can do about it as well. So pretty much with every single client I’ve worked with for the last five or so years.

I now do a food sensitivity test. Now this food sensitivity test, if we think of allergies as like the full blown enchilada, your body is having a massive reaction, it’s an immune response to you know, whatever it is. So for instance, peanuts or tree nuts or gluten or dairy, or, you know, whatever it is you, if [00:02:00] it’s an allergy, your body has an immune response.

So it generally can start with, you know, tongue tingling. And you know, it’s potentially life threatening a hundred percent because it’s, then affects your, tongue, your throat, your airways. So yes, we want to, you know, be aware a hundred percent of allergies, but what I’m talking about today, I’m talking about lower level food sensitivities, or intolerances that just trigger, you know, a low grade inflammation in your body.

Now this low grade inflammation could be different for everyone. And certainly as our bodies, you know, and I hate saying this as we get older. The way our body responds to food changes. So we naturally produce less digestive enzymes to break down our food. We naturally produce less stomach acid to, you know, again, to break down that food so we can digest it.

So we wanna make sure first and foremost that we are, [00:03:00] you know, supporting the way our body produces digestive enzymes and supporting our natural production of stomach acid. Then what might happen is, you know, we could be eating and I see this all the time in women, this pattern of eating, you know, very similar foods over and over again, you know, we’ve got, you know, healthy eating nailed.

We know we need to have broccoli. We know we need to have chicken, eggs, brown rice, you know, whatever it is for you. But maybe it’s not right for you. Maybe it’s just too much for you. Maybe your body has got to a point where it’s hit its tolerance level, then triggers this cascade of inflammatory symptoms.

So, you know, commonly, we, we notice first. Or, you know, a really common one in women, our age bloating, constipation, diarrhea, both, you know, those IBS type symptoms. It could be in, you know, [00:04:00] fatigue, you know, is definitely caused by food sensitivities. Poor sleep. So waking up, not being able to sleep at night, cravings can be driven by food sensitivities.

 You know, then we sort of think of things like, you know, poor concentration, poor memory, brain fog, you know, that low energy levels, you know, recurring and sort of unresolved illnesses, infections that we can’t quite shake. Then we’ve got skin things that could be going on. So any eczema, psoriasis, hives, rashes, just weird skin stuff in general can all be triggered by food sensitivities and, you know, even if we consider these foods to be otherwise healthy, they may not be right for you right now. So we wanna, you know, just identify them and take the guessing game out. Now a lot of, you know, hormonal symptoms and imbalances can also be influenced by food sensitivities because, you know, we think of that, that inflammation.[00:05:00] 

And then remember a few weeks ago I talked about, you know, high estrogen being an inflammatory state. So again, we’ve got this, the more inflammation you have, the, you know, the more potential for it to, to cascade. So we really wanna identify all of these things that are triggering a low grade inflammation. We wanna take them out.

We wanna let that inflammation settle down. We would, you know, ideally your symptoms will resolve and, you know, life can, can go on for sure. 

So why yeah, I just wanted to, to chat about this test today is sort of how it works, because I did get a lot of questions and also, you know, like how simple it is.

So the reason I use this particular test over, you know, other tests are a) it’s local food and produce that you would get in your local local supermarket. So if you’re in Australia, we have a specific test for you know, Australian foods and [00:06:00] products. If you’re in New Zealand, a separate New Zealand test, same with the UK, US, Canada, Southeast Asia.

So wherever you are, you’re actually being tested for foods that you’re likely to be eating. So not, you know, we don’t just take, you know, the Australian test and kind of like make it work with, you know, foods that you would get in the US. So it is specific to your local area. And the other thing I like about this particular food test is it doesn’t take out food groups unnecessarily.

So what it does is it breaks it down. So we might have, you know, with dairy, for instance. So it might come back, just say, I’ve tested myself, it’s come back and it might say, okay, Kylie cows milk isn’t right for you right now. But what you can have is you can still have yogurt and butter for instance.

So it breaks it down to that specific level. Likewise, with, you know, gluten and wheat and things like that, a lot of people are put on elimination diets to take out [00:07:00] these whole food groups. But if we are taking out like all of everything, we might actually be okay to have sourdough. We might actually be okay to have certain brands of pasta.

We might be okay to have, you know, we might not be able to too. So we wanna be able to know exactly what to eat, exactly what not to eat. And the thing is, if we are told to avoid dairy, avoid gluten, what do we do? We tend to then go to, you know, with milk, for instance, we’ll go to almond milk or soy milk, or, you know, some kind of nut milk, but a lot of these products and the same with a lot of gluten free products, if we are taking out the key ingredients and we are putting in like manufactured ingredients, you know, those foods are quite often highly processed.

So the beauty of this test is it doesn’t just tell you to take out, you know, the particular food, it also tests the [00:08:00] alternatives as well. So, you know, you might be sitting there thinking, God, well, what’s left. You know, if you’re gonna take out milk and almond milk, you know, what can I have? But the beauty of this is, is there’s over 600 different products that it tests.

 And what I get clients to do is focus, rather than focusing on what you can’t have is focus on what you can have. So anyone who’s ever been put on elimination diet on a FODMAPs diet will appreciate this. And you know, I will never ever put a client on a FODMAPs diet ever again, you know, and I think the problem with FODMAPs is you know, yes it identifies the different groups of foods, but you may not be sensitive to all of those groups yet. You’ve been told to take out all of the foods in all of those groups and you’re never, ever told, well, what can you have instead? The same with elimination diets, you take out everything, but you’re not told, you know, what you can have.

So for anyone in my previous life as a nutritionist [00:09:00] that I put on a FODMAP diet or an elimination diet, you’ve got my sincere apologies, and I will never do that to another client ever again. And just a, a little side note on FODMAPs, there is you’re only supposed to be on it for four weeks. So people are sort of told, you know, here’s a FODMAPs diet, go follow this off you go. And you know, I’d speak to clients like two years later and they’re still trying to battle through and figure out what works and what doesn’t work. So the beauty of this is while it may come up and say, okay, Kylie, you can’t have cows milk, broccoli and chicken, but it does give me the alternative.

So it will give me all the vegetables that I can have. It will give me all of the proteins that I can have. It will give me anything in dairy that I can have. It will give me forms of, you know, bread or pasta that I can eat. So, you know, focusing, switching that mindset from what you can’t have, because you know, food is a problem for [00:10:00] you over into what you can have can be, you know, a massive shift just in your mindset, because you no longer feel restricted by what you can’t eat. So, and the other thing I wanted to talk about is we are not taking these foods out forever. You know, we recommend a period of six months. So we, you know, take them out. You know, we identify what’s a problem or problematic for you.

We take them out of your diet out of your life for about six months, we let that inflammation settle down. We let those symptoms resolve and then ideally we should be able to reintroduce those foods without too many problems. Usually there might be a reaction to one or two foods on that reintroduction.

Generally, you know, straight away. I’ve had clients who, you know, have had tomatoes come up on their food sensitivity test tomatoes seems to be a highly emotional thing that comes up. I’ve had tears over [00:11:00] tomatoes, but you know what I’ve had ladies, you know, fight me over the tomatoes. I’m like, it just is what it is.

Trust me for six months. Let’s go with it. Cause they eat tomatoes every single day. So we’ve taken the tomatoes out, the inflammation’s settled down, you know, and then I’ll get a text six months later going, oh my God, I just had tomatoes yesterday. I was so excited and you know, I blew up or my body blew up or my, my hands puffed up or, you know, whatever it is, the symptom, and those ladies know straight away that tomatoes just aren’t for them.

So it can quite often be those foods that we love and the foods that we eat every day are the actual ones causing problems for us, you know, despite how healthy they might be. So the other beauty of this is, we are also testing, not just foods, so we, we test foods. So it’s broken down into categories.

So vegetables, fruits, different animal proteins, different vegetarian [00:12:00] proteins, dairy, non dairy, herbs, spices, common packet foods, you know, chocolates, different brands. So it’s quite comprehensive, but the beauty is, it also has a look at , it has a look at laundry products. So what are you washing your clothes in and then wearing it?

So different brands. What deodorants are you wearing? Is it your toothpaste that’s an issue. Is it your cleaning products? So it really breaks it down into a brand by brand, you know, it, it is that specific, which is good and, you know, it gives you alternatives. So if you don’t react to a different brand, we just switch you over to that brand.

No problem. So we aren’t taking out all toothpaste from your life. All right. And if there is something that isn’t on the test. We can also add that in by request as well. So if you’ve got a specific brand or a specific supplement that you are having, and you’re having it every single day, you’ve got these symptoms that [00:13:00] aren’t resolving.

We can test that to, just to make sure. Now the beauty is, this is a non-invasive test. It is suitable for everyone, and it’s actually a hair test. So we take a small sort of snip of your hair, about two centimeters off the end. It can be colored hair, cause yeah, try finding too many women our age that don’t have colored hair so even though I’m going grey there’s still a little bit of color going on there. So it can be colored and it doesn’t have to be from the nape of your neck either. It can just be from the end, pop it in a Ziploc bag, post it to me. I send it off to be tested and usually we get the results back about seven to 10 days after I have sent it off.

So it’s pretty quick turnaround. We also, there is a specific baby test as well. So if you know, you’ve got a family member who’s breastfeeding or bottle feeding an infant, the infant has, you know, really sort of bad [00:14:00] colic, poor digestion, skin rashes. We can test the baby as well. And also our furry friends.

We can do pet hair, pet fur, feathers, and again, it’s tested for over 250 different items. So all of your, pets who have particularly stinky bums or itchy skin, or, you know, all the weird things that come with our pets, we know we love them. You know, we can test the pet as well. So again, we just need that little sample and we post it off. So I hope this sort of gives you a good idea of, you know, where food sensitivity testing comes in. So, you know, we eat food three times a day. We don’t think about how the impact of this food is particularly if we think, oh, well, I’ve got a fairly, you know, healthy diet.

So if you have had, you know, any changes in your symptoms or any unresolved [00:15:00] symptoms, it’s certainly worth considering a food sensitivity test. And because we’re focusing on what you can have rather than what you can’t have, the compliance is good. It’s easier to follow and we get the results because it is easier for you to follow.

So when we hit perimenopause and our hormones are fluctuating, we’ve got higher levels of estrogen. It’s commonly reported that a lot of women notice increases in their allergy symptoms. So when we have high levels of estrogen, we also have higher levels of histamines.

So if you are sort of having any, you know, you’ve noticed your hay fever has, you know, gone crazy. So things like nasal congestions, sinus, hives, you know, irritability, things like that, it, it can be due to high histamines related to high estrogen. Now this is quite common for women [00:16:00] too who’ve never really had any sort of, allergy type symptoms, but it can also come in the form of, you know, as well as our, you know, typical hay fever symptoms.

It can also come in the form of irritability, insomnia and not sleeping at night, uh, migraines that you’ve never had before. Joint pain, fluid retention, things like tinnitus, so that ringing in the ears can be related to high histamines, nausea, diarrhea. So it’s, you know, it’s good to be aware that, you know, these are related to higher levels of estrogen, but can also be triggered.

So we’ve kind of got this vicious cycle of food intolerances because we’ve got lower production of, you know, stomach acid and lower production of digestive enzymes. So we are not breaking down our food as well as we should do. So, you know, there’s studies out there to show that these high sort of [00:17:00] histamine levels and you know, this mast cell activation, so that’s, what’s going on when we’ve got the high histamine levels, it can also contribute to heavy periods, period pain, , and this is all because you know, that histamine stimulates that excess estrogen production, you know, causing that heavy bleeding.

So it’s certainly worth, you know, having a look. So if you’ve noticed a big change in your allergy symptoms or in your, you know, you’ve just got these new sort of intolerances and you can’t really put your finger on it. It’s worth sort of investing in the food sensitivity test and also sort of thinking about, you know, what’s potentially triggering it.

Because yeah, like I said, food can be your friend and food can also, you know, make us very unwell. So it can be our medicine can also be our poison. 

So, if you have any questions, let us know. I will pop up a [00:18:00] sample in the show notes, just so you can see, you know, what it looks like and you know how simple it would be to follow. Anyway, that’s it for today. Just a quick one on food sensitivity, testings, when you might need to consider be tested and yeah, all those good things.