Food Sensitivity Testing

[opiegirl]

Has anyone heard of this or tried it? I am going to have some food sensitivity testing done.

It gets kind of sciencey with what they're testing. Not Type I food allergy testing looking for certain IgE antibodies, but type III immune complex mediated hypersensitivity testing and type IV cell mediated delayed hypersensitivity reactions. This type of testing is looking for immune reactions that cause inflammation.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this type of testing and if you've had it done, were there any improvements you noticed by staying away from foods that caused inflammatory responses in your body?

Thanks in advance for any info you might have!

[nosrepmodnar]

Read grain brain, he lists all sorts of tests that can find gluten sensitivity, without having celiac.
Personally I have yet to find anyone that I have had stop gluten that doesn't feel better for it.

If you try and cut stuff out without testing remember you have to wait like 4 or 5 days before symptoms may show up when adding food back.

We cut dairy out of our daughters diet and her severe acne has cleared up real good, not gone yet but not red and irate.

[opiegirl]

I haven't read Grain Brain yet, but I've heard its a must read. I've been tested for Celiac's both blood and endoscopy and both were negative, but I know that gluten makes me feel bloated and constipated.

I try to follow the Paleo diet, but like my naturopath explained some things that we may consider good and healthy my body may not like and I don't know it. For instance...night shade veggies, eggs and other non gluten grains. Do they cause inflammatory responses in my body? That's what I want to find out.

[nosrepmodnar]

Yeah, everybody's body is different.

My wife suffered abdominal pains and other issues for almost 9 years, did all the gluten and milk testing to no answer.
Guess the docs don't look at the fact that you may be gluten sensitive even without celiac.

I personally started sugar blocking last January.
Wife and a friend had a chat at St. Pat's day and she pounded home what I had been trying to explain to my wife since the beginning of the year by comparinsg her symptoms and my wife's.

So we finally moved gluten free (it is hard to do if the family doesn't all do it) and she felt 1000% better in less than a week.

We mostly followed a Paleo diet, with additional restrictions (we called it our "Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired" diet).
Felt a lot better myself, but still had problems.
Further researching led to my wife deciding we should go the next step, since we weren't eating a lot of meat anyways, and we went VEGAN!!! OH NOOOO!!!!! No BACON!!!

Well, two months later and I feel the same, but my psoriasis has cleared up.

So similar to what you are experiencing there was obviously some meat that was irritating my body.
Will I eat meat again? I don't know, but if I do it will be local, small farm organic meat and it will be a slow introduction as I do not wish for the psoriasis to come back with a vengeance.

We have read a lot of books, and medical journals and have decided we needed to start educating our friends. Too many people are on the dangerous "I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny and live longer".
We started a blog in the summer to document what we are doing and moved over to a facebook group, to simplify administration and hopefully increase the cross communication which was not happening on the blog site.

I will post both in my profile.
on facebook we are : We are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

Good luck, and I am glad you found the thing that most people overlook in their general health: what is going in their mouths

[OrangeMetal]

[QUOTE=nosrepmodnar;1441614]Yeah, everybody's body is different.


So similar to what you are experiencing there was obviously some meat that was irritating my body.
Will I eat meat again? I don't know, but if I do it will be local, small farm organic meat and it will be a slow introduction as I do not wish for the psoriasis to come back with a vengeance.

We have read a lot of books, and medical journals and have decided we needed to start educating our friends.
/QUOTE]
Hi, I posted the OP on the "do you drink coffee and beer and not get relapses or symptoms" on the general Q&A board and also in a a few other threads. I would be interested if you thinking quitting soy, gluten, caffeine, alcohol, all sugar (including dried fruit), potatoes, corn, mushrooms, and vinegars contribute to being symptom and relapse free.

I am following Boroch's diet. Wahl's allows sugar. OMS diet allows alcohol. and Swank allows most all of this except for the certain fat ratios.

What do you think? I am vegan, and also avoid all of the above. I wish I could drink coffee/alcohol, but am afraid it will give my symptoms and relapse. I have no symptoms and was dxed last year and was told i would have mild diagnosis. In early 40s. Total surprise dx, btw. Do you follow any of those people's diets?

[nosrepmodnar]

I have optic neuritis and a weakened right side, I have not had any new fun stuff in a few years.

I gave up coffee for a year, it was supposed to clear up my psoriasis, it didn't do anything for that and my MS didn't seem to worsen or get better.

I gave up drinking a long time ago since I have a fatty liver and with 7 pills a day and a shot every other I figured I shouldn't put any more stress on the liver.
That being said I had some Jameson in my coffee last st. pat's and a few pudding shots and I let my wife drive home, but I do not recall the symptoms being much worse.

We adopted the vegan lifestyle after Thanksgiving last year.
We do not use soy products unless we really are in a pinch.
We pretty much do not consume anything boxed or canned, just whole foods that we process or cook ourselves.
We are gluten free as well.
We do not eat white potatoes, we do occasionally use sweet potatoes.
We eat fresh fruits, not dried except for occasional dishes with craisins.
We will eat organic corn, but not often, usually in a mexican dish or in chili
We do eat mushroom, organic when available
The only vinegar we use now is Bragg's raw cider vinegar.

I never considered mushrooms an irritant, I guess it is something we could drop to see how it affets us, but we use about a pound a week.

We eat a lot of beans, quinoa, fresh organic veggies all summer, nuts, steel cut oats, coconut oil.
Fruit is usually an orange for breakfast, maybe an apple at night if needing something sweet.

I did do a 5 day juice detox, I need to find a decent liver cleanser recipe and do that daily. It cost me a fortune to do the detox for 5 days with organic vegs.

daily supplements
I also found an algal oil to replace the fish oil for DHA/EPA
4000 Vit-d doc occasionally puts me on 50000 to push it up.
2000 Vit-c
multi
niacin
magnesium
chia, flax and hemp seeds
psyllium husk if having trouble with outgoing traffic.

[opiegirl]

I get my blood work back next week and am anxious to find out the results.

I just listened to a pod cast from Terry Wahl's and find her approach fascinating. I have pre ordered her book that comes out in March. According to her we should all be eating more seaweed, sulfur veggies and fermented foods.

[poppydarling]

I had food sensitivity tests at the UK equivalent of a naturopath's office and found out I was sensitive to tons of foods! I was in my early 30s (diagnosed with hypothyroidism at 34, MS at 40) and did eliminate the foods and felt much better. Wish I had the knowledge then to understand these issues were part of a more serious overall gut/immune system issue -- perhaps I could have headed off some of the severity I've now experienced through diet Hindsight. I'm doing the Wahl Protocol now and hope to see greater improvement.

[dixiemermaid]

The Plan

I have been reading a book by Lyn Genet called The Plan. She is a nutritionist and the plan is all about testing foods to see how your body reacts to them. I am just in the beginning of the plan, but I am a believer. I have often wondered how it is possible to gain 3 pounds overnight, especially when I ate essentially nothing the day before. I would love it if anyone else out there that has tried it or heard of it would chime in.

[KatW]

OrangeMetal, I also have reactions to meat. I no longer eat beef or pork. I can eat chicken, fish, dairy, and eggs. I also drink alcohol and coffee although I limit both to one a day. I know this diet makes me feel better but I'm not sure it helps prevent relapses. I would gladly follow a specific diet if I knew it was effective.

[marieprei303]

I did do the ALCAT food sensitivity blood test in February of this year. I did the panel that includes not only several hundred foods but also food colors, herbs, common medications, etc. I found some very interesting information that caused me to overhaul my diet. Can I say that I have noticed a significant impact in the way I feel overall? No, but that could be because I had my first MS symptom that led to my diagnosis about a month after I started eliminating the food offenders. Timing couldn't have been worse, but I follow the restrictions anyway, since inflammation is definitely our enemy, and every little bit may help me fight this MS thing. I do my best to eliminate the consumption of the worst offenders on my results, such as corn, cabbage, turmeric, and Ibuprofin. I took Advil every single day for headaches, and LOVE corn. Those two things alone were worth the price of the test. The nutritionist that ordered my test for me showed me her test results as well, and I can tell you that everyone has different areas of concern. Our food sensitivities are like our MS, no two people will be exactly the same.

I know people that believe they can slowly eliminate things from their diet and figure this out, but I disagree. I told you the major culprits above, but the list of moderate and mild sensitivities for me seems about a mile long, and some I never would have thought to eliminate. The test is expensive, but I think it was money well-spent, as I have a clearly charted path to guide me towards better eating geared to ME.

[nosrepmodnar]

Turmeric? wow. I use that all over the place and even take a supplement for the anti inflammatory properties

Was there anything on the all green lights list?
I'll have to inquire about it next visit, my GP knows I am doing all this food stuff

[Dale76]

I get my blood work back next week and am anxious to find out the results.

I just listened to a pod cast from Terry Wahl's and find her approach fascinating. I have pre ordered her book that comes out in March. According to her we should all be eating more seaweed, sulfur veggies and fermented foods.

I tried her diet and still do try to follow it loosely but unfortunately all the veggie's where upsetting my stomach badly. I end up eating a lot of oatmeal since it is one of the few things that doesn't turn my stomach inside out and I actually like it.

I take fish oil pills, vit D, B12, multi vit, calcium, creatine and Senakot daily. I also drink protein drinks 2-3 times a day.

[nutritiontara]

I have some questions about the accuracy of food testing (can o' worms...) nonetheless, an important concept to keep in mind is the quality of the food, i.e., organic, grass-fed, hormone free, etc. as all 'additives' can create a reaction (inflammation) in the body. Regardless if it is "on your list".