Food Allergy Elimination Diet Tips from Lee Rossano of Advanced Nutritional Solutions. We hear conflicting stories from the news media and doctors about the rise of children’s food allergies. The standard scratch testing is good for airborne such as dust, pets, trees and grasses but not as accurate when it comes to foods. Your “mother’s” intuition may be right on because you are there when your child reacts. What no one tells you is that it can take minutes to days for your child to react to the allergen. There are different levels of allergens, too. From full blown life threatening allergies like peanuts to hard to detect “sensitivities” that affect skin, moods, bowels/gut and behavior to name a few.
How children become sensitive to foods may be because they eat the same foods every day. Studies have shown a correlation between eating the same diet and a reaction to foods, the most common food allergies being
Egg – eczema and bowel problems
Corn – stomach, mood and skin
Cocoa and chocolate
Beef, pork and chicken
Peanuts
Oranges and grapes
Sugar – mood and sleep (ADD/ADHD)
Soy – it is an estrogen (soy is in everything now)
Cow milk (cheeses and cream) – asthma, bowel, stomach, skin
Wheat products – pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, all of the above
Food additives and dyes should also be included in this list
Reactions vary from mild to severe depending on the quantity and frequency of the food eaten. A child will react to a food because they are having trouble breaking it down in the stomach, then the undigested food leaks out of the small intestine and the immune system reacts to it in the blood. This is called leaky gut. The more antibiotics your children have been on the more likely they are to have leaky gut.
Some of the most common reactions to foods are
Nose – frequent nasal stuffiness or watery, runny nose, a small half wrinkle just above the tip of the nose from rubbing the nose
Earlobes – The earlobes may feel warm and look very red. Red earlobe tips.
Cheeks – suddenly become red (blushing)
Lips and mouth – puffy and swollen lips dry mouth. Cracked lips and corners of the mouth
Runny nose – you have just eaten something you are sensitive to
Skin – rashes may be associated with dairy
Bowel problems
Constipation may be associated with wheat sensitivity, diarrhea may be associated with dairy sensitivity
Stomach aches – may be associated with soy
ADD/ADHD and sugar
- Sugars and high fructose corn syrup are Neuro toxins to the brain
- The brain gets addicted to sugar (cravings)
- Sugar affects the immune system
- Sugar affects sports performance, sleep and concentration levels
- Sugar interferes with normal appetite
Remember children usually crave foods they are allergic to. Also you may get an immediate reaction or it can take up to a week for the reaction to materialize. That is why sensitivities don’t show up well on standard allergy testing.
Many cases of ADD/ADHD can be traced back to sensitivities to sugar, wheat and food dyes/colorings.
Today’s children are being exposed to many more toxins in their food chain than we were and they are just reacting to it.
Food Allergy Elimination Diet Tips – My advice is to keep it simple. Get the sugar and dyes out first, then look at soy since it affects the hormones in both boys and girls. If you are still getting reactions start an elimination diet. Take one food a month out and see how they react. Remember it may take months of being off a food before the body can heal enough to reintroduce it.
The right enzymes and probiotics can be helpful in rebuilding the gut and healing the food sensitivities. Be sure and read your labels; there should be no sugars in the children’s probiotics.
Original post 12/2010
Lee Rossano of Advanced Nutritional Solutions can be reached at 248-652-4160, lee@nutsol.com, orhttp://www.nutritional-solutions.com/.
