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Food Sensitivity Tests: What To Watch Out For

“Food Sensitivity Tests” are pretty common these days. There are now a plethora on the market, but – like anything – there are high quality ones, and low quality ones.

I have worked with many clients who have already tried some of these food sensitivity tests they see on Facebook ads or on tv commercials. (Yes, those are still a thing!) but without relief or results. And, there are multiple reasons these low-end tests don’t provide the answers you may be looking for

COMMON PITFALLS IN LOW-END FOOD SENSITIVITY TESTS:

๐Ÿ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐
Some places I worked did tests that looked at less than 30 items. That means there are hundreds of other foods that aren’t even being checked! If you expand, you likely will eat a food that wasn’t tested, and triggers a problem. And sometimes it’s not food! You need to test chemicals as well (I’ve had people have issues with food colorings in their deodorant, or a preservative in their medications. Once their doctor helped them find an alternative, we saw progress)

๐Ÿ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐ฌ๐š๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐š๐ญ
As above… if such a small list is tested, and a bunch comes back as a reactive food, what if your list of “safe” foods is only 10 items long? You need a large test list that gives the high and medium reactive foods, as well as the safe foods.

๐Ÿ‘. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐จ ๐ˆ๐ ๐† ๐š๐ง๐/๐จ๐ซ ๐ˆ๐ ๐€ ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  โ€“ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Œ๐€๐๐˜ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐๐ฌ (*โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก* ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐ผ๐‘”๐บ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐ผ๐‘”๐ด ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ .)
You need a comprehensive test that tests the END RESULTS from any of these pathways. IgG, IgA, Histamine, and all other non-IgE pathways. Look at the whole pie, not just 1 or 2 pieces.

๐Ÿ’. ๐”๐ง๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž โ€“ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ซ; ๐จ๐ซ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ
You feel overwhelmed, and unsure where to start as your results come back with every single food you eat – or you feel you’ve wasted your time and money because they only thing that showed up was Mung Beans – “what they heck ARE mung beans even?” you wonder. And you are no closer to feeling better.

๐Ÿ“. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ โ€“ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐›๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ.
If the above issues happened (not enough items tested; chemicals not tested; answers too burdensome) and you diligently go through the program… but alas, no help to be had. It’s usually due to one of the previous reasons, or a nuanced issues you missed (for example, a client who realized she was reactive to soy, and didn’t think about changing up her chicken’s diet of corn and soy before eating the eggs – yes, it can matter. Or a client who had corn issues and found that in her cosmetics. Eczema, no more!)

๐Ÿ”. ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž โ€“ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ง๐จ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ
You are confused on the test results, unsure what to eat, not seeing progress, and you aren’t sure how to deal with your medical issues on top of that! Maybe you need to also be on a low histamine diet; or FODMAP restrictions, or need to monitor with your glucose, or are trying to boost your protein intake… But you don’t have a guide, and you feel lost trying to do this all on your own. You want a test that comes with a full health history consultation, as well as ongoing support.

๐Ÿ•. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ โ€“ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐จ ๐ข๐๐ž๐š ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž
No one should ever have to avoid all whole foods for life (with few exceptions.) These tests are to help you reset and heal, but there should be a long-term plan to get to a sustainable plan. I had one client doing the Everlywell test ever 4 months per her doctor’s recommendation to help with migraines. After 3 solid years of this, she was no where close to seeing progress but now developed food anxiety over this ever shifting food list. If you can’t get off of a restricted list, you haven’t addressed the underlying cause.

๐Ÿ–. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š๐๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ โ€“ ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž?
You need to know that to begin to heal and prevent problems later down the road. Food sensitivities usually show there’s an issue with your gut health integrity, GI lining, microbiome, and/or a hyper-responsive immune system. Using a quality food sensitivity test helps you feel better, fast — to calm your body down — but you still need to test and figure out WHY you had them in the first place.

*****These are some of the reasons I use the Mediator Release Test (MRT) with the LEAP ImmunoCalm diet protocol; and recommend it over the other tests.

TEST, DON’T GUESS. Be willing to invest in the RIGHT path to feeling your best.

If you think you may have food sensitivity issues or GI damage, I’d love to hop on a free call with you and help you get a game plan. We can go over your symptoms, health history, and determine if this is the right path for you. Have you tried food sensitivity tests in the past that you think meet any of those 8 Pitfalls? Don’t worry, I can help you with that too!

**FEEL BETTER, FAST**

Published by Kate Cline, RD

Registered Dietitian with a focus on Gut Health, Inflammation, and Functional Nutrition. Personal Trainer with a focus on corrective exercise. Yoga teacher, traveler, empowerment coach.

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