Addressing food allergies and gut function
The top 5 things you need to know about addressing your food allergies and gut function!
You’ve managed to eat an array of foods your whole life and now all of a sudden you’re struggling to put their finger on what’s triggering a myriad of gut symptoms?
Perhaps you wake up feeling fine in the morning and then by the time 3pm rolls around the bloating and tummy sounds have you hiding at work.
In this post I want to cover some of the key things you need to know when it comes to food allergies and gut function, from how to best identify the foods causing the issues to improving your overall gut health.
As always this is not prescriptive advice you should seek individualised advice for your health. Okay let’s jump in!
Number One- You can develop food sensitivities over time!
There is a difference between a true allergy to a food and a sensitivity to a food. This one often trips people up.
A food allergy generally involves a specific branch of your immune system being involved. It’s commonly referred to as an IgE response. We commonly hear of allergies to shellfish, lactose and peanuts. However you can have a true allergy to many foods, even peas as I’ve seen in my clinical practice.
With many true allergies the response happens fairly quickly after ingesting the food, and the reaction can be fairly extreme requiring the administration of an epipen for some. For many this allergy is often present from childhood even if it wasn’t diagnosed early.
A food sensitivity involves a different component of your immune response and is commonly referred to as an IgA or IgG response. These are a little harder to identify because, in many cases the response isn’t immediate it comes on over a couple of days after eating the offending food. It also can depend on the amount of that food that you eat as to whether you’ll have a strong reaction.
What makes it even harder to identify is that sensitivities can come and go depending on what else is happening in your gut and with your health. This is why many of my clients come in and say, “I’ve never had a problem with bread but now if I look at a slice I bloat.”
You can test for food sensitivities and it can be very helpful, avoiding the foods you’re sensitive to for a short period of time while you heal your gut, and maybe even reintroduce the offenders slowly after a comprehensive gut protocol and time.
Number Two- A leaky gut will make you more prone to food sensitivities
Essentially your gut is a tube that runs from end to end. You have a host of microbes that help to keep that tube healthy and functioning well.
Now because of the use of many chemicals, antibiotics and changes to our food quality we’re seeing that the microbiome is suffering and changing. The good bacteria is struggling to maintain health because it’s under assault.
When the microbiome is compromised we start to see changes to the lining of your gut, with more inflammation and issues with functioning that result in a gut that is ‘leaky.’ You can read more about leaky gut at this blog post here.
If you have food sensitivities you want to address your leaky gut. Healing the lining of your gut can go a long way to minimising food sensitivities and for many of my clients after some time they’re able to re-introduce the bothersome foods, provided they aren’t a true food allergy!
Number Three- Cutting out food groups can lead to more issues with sensitivities in the long term
Exclusion diets like FODMAPS and others are designed to be used short term only! I can’t tell you how many people I see in the clinic that have significant issues with their gut health. They cut out a heap of foods and then never look to re-introduce them again, for fear of experiencing more flare-ups.
While I understand the logic and anxiety around having gut flare ups come back. Cutting out foods long term can put you at higher risk of:
Nutrient deficiencies
Ongoing gut inflammation and hypersensitivity
Boredom and disinterest in food or food binging.
If you have a sensitivity look to cut out the offending food for a period of 6-8 weeks and in that time, do some work to heal your gut lining. An experienced naturopath or gut clinic will help you with this. Avoid cutting things out long term without the support of proper food sensitivity testing!
Number Four- Food allergy testing vs elimination diets
As a naturopath I often refer clients to have further functional testing done, we can test for up to 200 different foods through a private functional pathology lab.
This food allergy testing while insightful is an additional cost, starting from $350. The information you receive from the test can go a long way to helping identify the main food groups that you need to reduce or eliminate short term.
So for some patients who already have some idea of what’s bothering their gut we’ll run a short rotation or elimination diet. Rotating different foods over a 3-4 day period to see how your gut responds.
This can offer be a little more involved but can give us very good information about what foods could be triggering your gut. So before you rush out to spend hundreds of dollars on testing, speak to your naturopath about which option is going to best support your gut issues.
Number Five- Food sensitivities can be reduced with a little bit of work and a comprehensive protocol
A comprehensive gut protocol will consider the following things:
_ Reducing unwanted microbes in your gut, bad bacteria, parasites, and other disruptive microbes
_ Reducing inflammation in the gut, using researched products to help encourage healing and of the gut lining, things like larch, glutamine, and fibres.
_ Improving the diversity of good bacteria, through using multiple different probiotic strains as well as using food to help influence the microbiome bringing it back to better health.
_ Addressing any underlying causes of the gut issues in the first place, poor diet, stress, sleep, pharmaceuticals etc.
It’s a process but you can improve the lining of your gut and see a decrease in the level of food sensitivities and gut symptoms. If you’re struggling with a true food allergy that you’ve had from childhood then please eliminate the offending food. However if you’ve seen a slow decline in your gut health and and slow increase in your sensitivities know that you can take steps to improve this over time.
If you’d like more information please book yourself in for a 15 minute complimentary call down below.