Transcript

#86 The Benefits of Food Sensitivity Testing

[00:00:00] Welcome back to episode of the Hormone Hub Podcast, where we talk all things perimenopause, menopause, and have the conversations no one else is having. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode. 

Kylie: hello, hello, ladies, and welcome back to the Hormone Hub. On today’s episode, we have a very special guest. We have Rebecca Lang, who comes to us from, from beautiful Bargara Beach. So Rebecca is a naturopath. She’s a nutritionist and she’s also qualified in Western herbal medicine. She’s owned her very successful naturopathic clinic up in Bagheera for 15 years.

And we’re actually talking about the food sensitivity tests that we do. And like I do, Rebecca uses the food sensitivity tests for every single client. Rebecca also owns Of the Earth Juice Bar and Health Shop. She offers [00:01:00] juice cleanses and what I didn’t know of the earth publishing. So yeah, a little string in your bow.

You kept a secret there, which she uses to print a local magazine for her community. Rebecca is also the president of, oh, sorry, the vice president of the Australian Traditional Medicine Society, otherwise known as ATMS. Now, I just sort of wanted to sort of dig into this a little bit first before we get started on the food sensitivity test, because as health practitioners, we go through, , a pretty rigorous accreditation process, , with our qualifications with ongoing continuing professional development.

 And, ATMS is, is a big part of, lifting our profession. Above all the cowboys out there. And, the fact that Rebecca is, vice president is pretty big deal. So thank you, Rebecca, for coming on the show today. 

Rebecca: Yes. Thank you, Kylie, for having me. I’m excited to be here.

And, yes, I’ve been [00:02:00] on the board of directors for the Australian Traditional Medicine society for the last three years. And two of those years I’ve been the vice president. So I’m, we’re just coming up to election now, to, go onto the new three year term. But it’s been a very good role to have and, be a bit more involved in having an understanding of the political side as well of, of natural medicine in Australia and health practitioners as well.

So. ATMS is one, one of the oldest and biggest associations in Australia, and, we have nearly 10, 000 members. So yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s exciting to be here and to speak to everyone as well about the food sensitivity tests and how I use that with my clients. 

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. So anyone who’s of being in my world, sort of bring up the food sensitivity test on, quite often or as often as I can, actually. So Beck, why do you use the food sensitivity test with all of your clients? 

Rebecca: Well, I like to [00:03:00] individualize my client’s dietary advice. So I don’t believe that one diet, suits everybody.

And let’s face it, there’s that many different diets out there. It’s quite overwhelming. Yeah. My clients come and see me and they might have tried, a variety of different diets and none of them are really given them any massive results or some of them have restricted their, eating so much that they’re only having a few different food types.

And then I believe that, , by limiting it so much as well, that that can then, build up even more food sensitivities because you’re not rotating your food. So, by doing the, food sensitivity tests, I also feel that I’m able to help reduce inflammation for the clients. And we’re working, with food as medicine, which is one of the things I’m very passionate about.

And people end up not having to be on as many supplements and I mean, nobody wants to be on 10, 15 supplements a day or anything like that. So,,[00:04:00] if we can take out those foods as sort of causing inflammation in a person’s body, they won’t need to take as many supplements and we can allow the body to self heal through what we’re eating and drinking each 

day.

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. And what sort of, conditions have you seen like really turn around, using the food sensitivity test?

Rebecca: Well, one of the areas I do specialise in is skin, and I work a lot with lots of different skin conditions, sort of, and if someone walks in with a, a very random, weird rash or something unusual that they’ve had for a few years and maybe been to a whole heap of different specialists and no one’s been able to help them, they’ve tried all sorts of things.

I actually get really excited because I know that I’ll be able to help them by using the HairSense app. It with things like that. And that’s possibly just from reducing the inflammation in the, in the body and these foods that they’re having every day that are keeping the inflammation there. And [00:05:00] then we’re able to bring that right back and allow the body to go into homeostasis and actually heal itself.

But I, so I do also use it with I see excellent results with eczema that’s one of the easiest things as well. And I do use it for psoriasis as well. And psoriasis can be very difficult to treat. And I see people who may be a pad of like 20, 30 years, and it may not be like a A fast result, so it might take six months, it might take eight months, but over that time, like I have two ladies I’m seeing at the moment that have had an 80 percent improvement in their psoriasis over about an eight month period.

To me, I want them to be at 100%, but to them, this is the best they’ve ever been and not, , having

to them. So they’re probably. , a couple of areas I love. I also love using it for, children with behavioral issues or ADHD. Parents [00:06:00] see a fantastic result with those children and anyone with asthma had amazing results over the years with asthma in children, but also adults and, , older people.

They’re probably my favorite areas, but also anything to do with pain. So, , you’re looking at anything to do with inflammation, which is a lot of things. So arthritis and all that as well. And then of course, if you have any any digestive issues, any bowel issues, I wouldn’t dream of , working with a patient or client with digestible bowel issues or skin issues without using the hair sensitivity test.

Kylie: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. No, I, I a hundred percent agree. And that’s the thing. It’s, it’s often, , things that are, , hard to treat, but I’m, , firm believers when we go underneath and we have a look at, okay, well, what’s triggering that inflammation. And often I hear from clients, , it’s foods that they eat.

Every single day and you’re like, no, I eat that every single day or, or on the flip side of [00:07:00] that, , the foods that come up for them, they intuitively stay away from as well. Sort of see, see both sides, which I think is fascinating. 

Rebecca: Yeah, sometimes you notice people might say, well, actually I don’t have a lot of that.

And it’s like, well, that’s. It’s good because you are obviously very in tune with your body. You’ve already picked up on that, but they may, there may only be one or two things on the list. And that, but that can change everything. I remember one lady, it was lettuce and parsley that she was growing in a garden.

And once we removed that, her whole skin condition that she’d had a couple of years disappeared. So, , there’s no way I could know that and, and I just, I make it clear to my clients that, , it is an alternative test. We are testing in that lower range. So , allergies are sort of like in that higher range.

We’re not testing for allergies and most people know what they’re allergic to because they’ll have something and they have an instant reaction, like their face swells up or they instantly feel sick. So most people already know that we’re testing in [00:08:00] that lower. Scale of those things that they haven’t been able to pinpoint they might have it, , three days in a row and they’re fine on the fourth day they have, , some type of burn.

They go, , suddenly feel bloated and sick, but then like I haven’t eaten anything different. Yes. So it seems to be some things also what builds up in the body. 

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. And what I also really like about this particular food sensitivity test that we use is it doesn’t take out whole food groups unnecessarily.

So we, , dairy, for instance, , on a traditional elimination diet, you would take all dairy out, , any dairy that goes into your cooking any dairy, , whatsoever. Whereas what I love about this, it’ll break it down and it might sort of say, okay. Cow’s milk isn’t great for you right now, but you can still have yogurt and goat’s cheese.

So it gives you the flexibility. And I think that’s why people are so compliant and why we get results as well. 

Rebecca: Yes, and I agree. And I, I just, I’m not big [00:09:00] on people like saying to my clients, look, I want you to go gluten dairy. Sugar, , caffeine, everything free. , just take all these foods out because what’s it , who wants to live like that if you really have to, and I mean, look, if someone’s a celiac, , that’s when you’ve gotta be completely gluten free.

But, , maybe , you if you’re not a celiac and maybe you, you just need to remove certain. foods that have gluten in it, but maybe some other ones you are okay. And, , when my son was young, I had to bring him up because of all his digestive issues back then. This was when I first started studying to be a naturopath is I had to bring him up gluten dairy.

He was gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, citrus, and melon free, and that was through, , cause we didn’t have the hair sensitivity test then. I mean, it was around, but I didn’t know about it and I was trying to do all these elimination diets and everything. And I mean, the poor kid. , had such a limited diet.

I remember his cake when he [00:10:00] was three was just like sunk in the middle with no icing on it. And he was just so excited just to have a piece of cake. , he’s now, he’s older, he’s actually able to eat anything he wants really. So, but if I had have had this back then it would have been a lot easier, but.

I do remember when I did finally get it when he was probably about 12 or something that night he said to me, I gave him his dinner, which was had chicken in it. And I remember him saying, mom, mama, you’re poisoning me with this dinner. And I was like, eat your dinner, eat your dinner. And then I went into my office and got the email of his hair sensitivity results.

And on there was chicken.

Kylie: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s the thing. Yeah. Foods that we would otherwise consider to be healthy, , like as nutritionists, we should be telling everyone to eat more chicken, more broccoli, more eggs, more, , and , often, , it’s the healthy stuff that comes up too.

, Just because something’s healthy doesn’t mean it’s right for your body. 

Rebecca: Yeah. And [00:11:00] that’s exactly what I say to my clients as well. It’s not about what’s healthy or unhealthy. It’s about what’s incompatible. for your body at this point in time. And so, and what I was saying, my son, when we got those hair tests results, I was actually then started slowly introducing a few things with gluten in it.

And that had tested okay in there because we knew that he wasn’t a celiac and no medical tests I’d done was ever able to tell me he had. Yeah. any allergies or anything wrong with him. It was just from what I was seeing of his symptoms. But yeah, we’re able to slowly start bringing foods in then. And he was actually fine with it.

So then he was able to have pasta and he was able to have some different breads and stuff. So, , it made it a lot easier. For me and also for him, , because he was actually sort of not been putting on a lot of weight because his diet was just so limited. 

Kylie: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that’s the thing.

And I see clients all the time who are sort of scared of food. [00:12:00] Because they, they don’t actually know which foods, but they’re, yeah, they’ve been told to go gluten free. They’ve been told to go dairy free. They’ve been told to cut out this, cut out that, cut out that. And they’re so, their symptoms haven’t got any better, but they just don’t know what to eat.

Yes. So, so how do you find people’s compliance? Following the program? 

Rebecca: I’ve always been really surprised. Like you said, I’ve been in practice for 15 years now. And I use this for every single client because this is how I, this is how I work with diet. , I don’t give any dietary advice until we’ve done the hair sensitivity tests.

Otherwise I can be like, look, I want you to take out, , cow’s milk and they’ll be like, what milk should I have? And then I might tell them. And then we. Do the hair sensitivity test and find out they’re actually got problems. I 

Kylie: see that all the time. People are having their oat milk and their almond milk and, , and then it comes up on their test because just because it’s not dairy doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Rebecca: Yeah, that’s right. So now I’d say, look, I’m not giving any advice [00:13:00] until we just get this done. So then we can work your advice around it. But yes, I’ve always had. Amazing compliance for clients, I think, because it’s so simple and, , you just got these items in red that you need to remove. And and I also work, , we do a bit of a meal diary and, and things like that, where we kind of record things.

And over that time, I, , might help clients work out different meals that they can have and look at different replacement foods. And I think, and I always send people just be like really strict in the first four weeks. Just really be committed, , you paid the money for this. And because I know at the end of four weeks, they’re going to already feel the difference.

They’ll see the results. Their brain fog is gone. Their energy is improved along with a whole heap of their other symptoms. If they’ve already got a really healthy diet and they’ve already been eating, , really pure and clean. I usually say that, say they may see the best results about eight weeks.

And then it just continues to improve after that. So I [00:14:00] think as soon as people start feeling this difference in their body and their mind, they’re committed. And, , even with the children, it always amazes me because the kids, the parents come in and they’ll, they’ll say the four year old or the five year old is now telling the parents.

No, I’m not allowed to have that. I’m not allowed to have this. And, , if they’re from doing shared care, one parent might not be on board, but then the child is telling that parent, No, I only have goat’s milk now. I only have this. And the other parent who may not have been on board starts to see the results.

As well, but the child becomes committed themselves because they’re feeling the difference in their body. , suddenly they’re not getting these stomach aches or headaches or, , discomfort that they were getting for, but they didn’t maybe know how to explain to the parents. In words, exactly what that was.

Yeah, so even the children are so committed to it. 

Kylie: Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. I love that. All right. So what I’ll do in our show notes, I [00:15:00] will put, so anyone who is up at Bygara Way, I will put Rebecca’s contact details in the show notes. We’ll also have a link to the food sensitivity test if this is something that you want to have a look at.

But just for our listeners overseas as well, we do. You have a test that’s specific to New Zealand, to Australia, to the US, to the UK and then throughout Asia and the Middle East as well. So it’s pretty and I think that’s good too, because a lot of other tests sort of look at, , they’re based on American. It’s an American test based on American foods where you can’t really translate that for Australia and New Zealand. So I think the fact that we’re testing foods that you would get from your local supermarket and products produce that you would buy locally. I think that’s a really good , distinction for this test as well.

So all of those details will be in our show notes together with Rebecca’s details for health and healing and offer. Of the Earth Bargara. [00:16:00] All right. 

Rebecca: Yes. Yeah. So I’ll just say that Bargara is on the coast of Bundaberg. So we’re four hours north of Brisbane and we’ve got, yeah, Of the Earth Juice Bar and Next Door Bargara Beach Holistic Health Centre.

Kylie: Yeah. And it’s such a beautiful part of the world. It is. And I need to make the effort to get back up there. I haven’t been up for a while. 

Rebecca: That would be great. 

Kylie: All right, Rebecca, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you everyone for listening and we will see you in the next episode. 

Rebecca: Great. Thanks for having 

Kylie: Pleasure. Anytime. Bye.

Thank you for taking the time to listen today. You can head on over to the show notes at kyliepinwill.com/podcast where you’ll find all the links. Now, before we go, it would mean the world to me if you’d head on over to your favorite podcast channel, subscribe and leave a review. Don’t forget to share it with your friends.

Then stay tuned for next week’s episode and I can’t wait to see you then.[00:17:00]