Is a Food Intolerance Making You Tired and Fat!

Yet many people never associate their symptoms with what they are putting in their mouths.

Food Intolerance vs. Food Allergies

Food intolerance is much more common today than in the past. It is generally found in two sets of people: those who eat one or more foods that produce an allergic response, and those with compromised immune systems. Compromised immunity is rampant today, not just from illness but also due to both the high intake of pesticide residues and farming chemicals in our food and water, as well as the drastically increased consumption of synthetic foods and food additives, preservatives, colorings, emulsifiers and thickeners! Because the symptoms of food intolerance are so diverse and may only appear after repeated exposure to the foods in question, many people are not aware of their food intolerances. Conversely, food allergies generally produce immediate, and sometimes life-threatening reactions. People who have an allergy to a particular food usually know it, and steer well clear of the food in question!

It is important to remember food intolerances commonly cause inflammation in the gut. The greater the level of inflammation in your digestive system, the greater the likelihood that your abdominal muscles will not respond to exercise.

Visit any gym and you’ll find scores of people who train regularly to shape their bodies only to have distended bellies and often comparatively unattractive torsos. If you do not investigate possible food intolerances and address them, then you will not get the results you desire, no matter how much time you spend exercising, nor how many expensive vitamins and sports supplements you consume. Even those who consume a small fortune in organic foods can continue to struggle with their health! When you have an inflamed gut, then just because you put it in your mouth doesn’t mean it actually makes it so far as to benefit your body. In order to get results in the gym, you must first address any digestive issues (Figure 7B).

Taking Action Against Food Allergy and Intolerance

Blood Tests

There are a number of companies that conduct blood testing to determine food allergy and food intolerance. While a large number of medical doctors and chiropractors perform food allergy and intolerance testing, today you can go directly to some independent testing labs. Consulting a health care professional does have its benefits though, as there is a fair amount of patient education and additional dietary management involved in restoring gut health and eliminating chronic gut inflammation.

Elimination and Rotation Diets

The least expensive way to begin clearing yourself of food allergies and intolerance is by going on either an elimination or rotation diet. An elimination diet calls for the exclusion of suspected problem foods for 8-12 weeks. If you aren’t sure which foods to eliminate, it is best to start with all foods containing gluten. Gluten is found in all grains except corn, rice, buckwheat and millet. Dr. Bill Timmins of Biohealth Diagnostics Laboratory in San Diego, California has found that between 50-60% of all white-skinned people and approximately 40% of colored people are gluten intolerant. At the same time, it is a good idea to cut out any form of processed dairy for at least two weeks and see how you feel. If eliminating gluten and dairy don’t make a substantial difference, your next step is to remove the two food items you most commonly eat or drink, also for two weeks. Keep working through your normal food list until you have identified the culprit foods through the process of elimination. Once you have identified a questionable food or foods and stayed off it for at least two weeks, reintroduce them one at a time and eat them alone initially. If side effects develop from eating the recently reintroduced food, you’re probably still intolerant to that particular food and should avoid eating it for at least three months, at which time you can retry it. If you do this twice and don’t respond favorably, you may need a year away from the food before you can safely eat it again, if you can at all!

A rotation diet requires that you don’t eat foods from the same genetic family more than once every four days. For example, if you eat lamb on Monday, you would not eat it again until Friday. True rotation dieting requires that foods be grouped by taxonomic or genetic relationships so that you don’t repeatedly stimulate the immune system with foods of the same genetic family. There is some skill and training involved in administering rotation diets properly, so it is best to consult a CHEK NLC or a physician practicing holistic medicine.

Enzyme Therapies

Current research on the use of enzyme therapies shows that the correctly prescribed type and dose of enzymes will act to break down immune complexes into smaller clusters. For unknown reasons, when the enzymes reduce the number and size of immune complexes in the blood and tissues, the antibody system is triggered back into action. (Consult a Naturopathic Physician for enzyme recommendations.)

CHEK Points for a Healthy Digestion

To improve digestion, gut health and rid yourself of unwanted food intolerances, follow these practical suggestions:

1. Never watch the news while you eat! In fact, never watch anything on TV while you eat unless you’re sure it’s going to be funny or make you feel good. Avoid watching sporting events while you eat, especially if you have an emotional attachment to the outcome. The excitement of watching your favorite team will likely cause that fight-or-flight response which shuts down digestion—especially if they lose!

2. Don’t read technical or stressful material while you eat. Reading the newspaper is just like watching the news and will yield the same effect. In fact, if you ate the newspaper, your digestion would probably be better than if you read it while you ate! If you wish to read, read something that makes you happy, something inspirational or something spiritually stimulating.

If you have poor eyesight, wear glasses or contacts—it’s not a good idea to read at all while you eat because the eyes require a lot of energy to run and can drain energy needed for digestion.

3. Play relaxing music. Either classical music or music with a one second beat (such as that from the Baroque period of classical music), or new age music that has no discernible beat (you can’t hum to it), is relaxing to the body and will stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system – the part that activates the digestive system.

Research from Johns Hopkins University has revealed that rock music causes people to eat faster and to consume larger portions, while classical music—especially slow string music—causes the opposite effect. (Ref. 3)

4. Drink two glasses of clean, chlorine-free water 15 minutes before each meal.
Always avoid drinking alcohol before meals. When alcohol of any form enters your digestive system in the absence of proteins and fats, it irritates the gut and can lead to leaky gut syndrome, setting you up for food intolerance and a host of other problems. Also avoid drinking coffee or other stimulants before eating. These drinks cause the activation of your sympathetic nervous system, which in turn shuts down digestion. If that isn’t bad enough, a release of insulin from the pancreas and liberation of blood sugar from the liver results. Therefore, anything you eat is likely to be shuttled into fat cells, which means you’ll probably end up wearing it!

5. Limit use of dehydrated foods and re-hydrate nuts, seeds and dried foods such as fruit, grains and legumes by soaking them for 12- 24 hours before eating. (Ref. 4). This deactivates enzyme blockers that keep nuts, seeds and grains from germinating until they are in the correct environment. It’s also a good idea to flash boil dried fruits once re-hydrated to minimize your chances of parasite infestation. Dehydrated foods quite often get stuck to the colon wall. My good friend and associate David Webster, colon hygenist and author of Achieve Maximum Health, has seen nuts, grains, popcorn, seeds and just about every form of dried food you can think of come out the tail pipe while administering a high colonic. (Ref. 5). Interestingly, many of his clients had not eaten some of what he was seeing come out of their colons for as long as seven years!

6. Avoid foods that you’re intolerant or allergic to.

7. Thoroughly chew your food until liquefied.

8. Eat smaller meals more often. A number of nutritional experts today suggest that the body can only break down a given amount of protein at any one sitting. They feel that eating smaller portions and dining five or six times a day makes for much better digestion and absorption. Personally, I feel there may be variances among people as to how much protein they can digest, just as there are tremendous differences in the amount of alcohol one can tolerate.

Hypoglycemia is also a growing concern. The onset of hypoglycemia is largely due to the over-consumption of simple carbohydrates in drinks and foods, as well as the consumption of drinks laced with caffeine and similar stimulants. Those with poor blood sugar handling capacity almost always find their concentration and overall level of well being improved when eating more frequent, smaller meals.

9. Never suppress the urge. According to Dr. Tom Benteen, you can entrain (change the timing of, or teach) any physiological system in as little as 7-21 days. (Ref. 6). This means that if you suppress the urge to defecate each day for as little as a week to three weeks, you can cause a permanent traffic jam in your intestinal tract. This is sure to disrupt digestion, inhibit absorption of nutrients and increase your chances of toxicity through the bowel.
Whenever possible, start your meal with raw (live) foods.

10. All raw foods, such as fresh ingredients from a salad, contain enzymes that are beneficial to digestion. Pineapple and papaya contain enzymes powerful enough to assist in the digestion of meats and are often very tasty in salads.

This article is based on Paul Chek’s new book, “How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy!” Or to find a CHEK NLC (Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach) near you, click here.

References

Lopez, Williams and Miehlke. Enzymes, the Foundation of Life. Charleston, SC: The Neville Press, Inc., 1994.
Brostoff, Jonathan and Gamlin, Linda. Food Allergies and Food Intolerance. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2000.
Campbell, Don. Mozart Effect. New York: Avon Books, 1997.
Jensen, Bernard. Dr. Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care. New York: Avery Publishing Group, 1999.
Webster, David. Achieve Maximum Health. Cardiff, CA: Hygeia Publishing, 1995
Benteen, Tom. Personal communications, San Diego, CA, 2000.