Are food allergies more common than we think?
I came across this article on Mercola.com, discussing the rise of food allergies and sensitivities, how to know if we may be averse to any foods, and what we can do about it. It’s definitely worth a read!
This Friday I will be going in for my first Vega food sensitivity screening. My husband and daughter have actually had them multiple times, but up until now it has been enough to work around their diets and cook for them, without adding my own stuff into the mix.
Now, our young son (he’s just 8 months) is already suffering from fairly severe eczema, and I know that I have Candida issues which may be feeding into the eczema (here is the link to a fairly good overview of what Candida is, although I will try to find some even better information about it), and have had them for awhile.
We did his screening two weeks ago, so this Friday I will have mine, and then meet with our Naturopath to establish a diet for me to follow, in order to help both of us. I’ve done the diet for my family before, so I’m well aware of what it will entail (generally, dealing with Candida requires cutting out grains, sugar, yeast and a few other foods from your diet for a period of time, as well as fruit in the very beginning, and gradually add them back in anywhere from 4 weeks to 3-4 months later).
I will keep you updated on what we find out, and will detail the diet and it’s progress for you once I get started. We’ve done this several times before, and it has been so helpful for my daughter and husband, and although I know that it’s a lot of work to prepare the food, and make extra snacks for social settings, etc. it will be so worthwhile!
Anyone else believe that they may have Candida and are interested in having some dietary support for awhile? It’s always easier to do it when you’re not alone!
I know many people who have been ill for years and just accepted it and suffered through it. Then they found out they had a food allergy and changed their eating habits.
Instant cure.
I think many people have allergies, feel terrible and think it is normal. Unfortunately they live their life without knowing they are ill.
Good luck in getting this figured out and dealt with.
I do think it’s a lot more common then we realize. I didn’t realize it until we started dealing with it in my own home. (My daughter and husband can’t have gluten.)
After that, I was constantly talking to people that had food allergies in their household. Many behavioral issues have also been linked to food allergies.
I have Celiac disease, which means I can’t eat any gluten. We all eat gluten free at our house to avoid risking contamination, but I’ve noticed that when our daughter eats wheat crackers, she gets sick, too. I have a lot of books on wheat allergies, and it is estimated that 1/110 americans (I don’t know about Canadians) has some form of gluten intolerance. And it’s linked to about 160 other conditions. I don’t know much about candida, but don’t be discouraged! You’re not alone if you end up having a special diet!!
i’m sorry to hear about your little ones situation with eczema- my oldest boy suffered from it when he was little. Through a combination of my dietary changes, homeopathics, supplements, his growing up, our moving to a new climate/house he is now able to eat a regular diet. It is sooo hard, but so worth it. I’ve been there- stay strong. By the way- you are on my blog roll and I am always inspired by your posts- you know so much and it’s so encouraging.
We discovered my baby’s eczema was related to my dairy consumption, and I had to go dairy-free for awhile. I hope you guys find out what you need to find out! 🙂
I am soooo glad to have found your blog! We just started my 5 and 2-yr old on a 4-day rotation diet which is free from the 11 to 14 sensitive foods that have given them ezcema (and probably other things). It is REALLY hard and we can never go out or even give them a treat (my baking skills stink w/ all these strange flours). I know that it won’t always be this strict and they will grow out of many of them. But I know it is worth it to improve their health and keep them from developing latent celiac later.
I will drop by often and hope that we can exchange recipes and encouragement too!
Andrea
I’m doing the candida diet now and its been tough but so worth it. I’ve battled with depression since high school and never thought it would go away. Turns out that it was simply caused by wheat and sugar. Now that I stay away from it, the depression is not there!!! Hold on, there is light at the end of the tunnel!
I am so sorry that you are dealing with health issues. 🙁 I know that it’s no fun at ALL. Let us know how your allergy test turns out. I was just wondering (since I have family members with allergies), why did your husband and daughter have to do numerous tests? Do you keep re-checking the same things, or what??
We thought for a while that I was dealing with Candida problems, but, it looks like instead I am dealing with adrenal problems. But I was on The Body Ecology Diet for a few weeks to see if it would help when we thought I was having issues with yeast. That diet is for candida problems, by the way.
It was extreme in some ways, but I did like some of the things. For example instead of just avoiding sugar forming food, you try to eat 80 percent vegetables and 20 percent protein or carbs. This is supposed to keep your body more alkaline which helps your heal faster.
The only problem I had was that it was expensive to eat that many organic veggies! Especially since I have a big appetite (nursing mother and all). I also didn’t always feel like I got enough protein or carbs to feel my best.
I didn’t agree with everything, but it did give some good thoughts.
Thanks for the encouragement, Beth! I think celiac is much harder to deal with than Candida!
Erin, glad to hear your son is doing well now. Thanks for your sweet words.
Andrea, I know what you mean. My baking skills with alternative ingredients really stink too! You should see my burned, flat cookies from last night. 🙂 Sharing recipes would be very helpful!
Thanks Michelle!
Thanks, Kimi. I’ll post about the results soon. Turns out it’s not only high Candida, but adrenals too, but we’ll deal with that after the Candida is mostly dealt with. Sigh… lots of work to do. But I’m motivated to get started. I might look into that book. I also have the Candida Yeast Guidebook- do you know that one at all? Guess we’ll both be sticking to more alternative grains and cooking styles, huh? 🙂
And the reason for the re-checking is that after the initial screen, you do the diet and supplements, and then retest to see if any of the sensitivities went away now that the Candida is gone. With the second test, we saw a large decrease in the number of foods they were sensitive to, so the Candida was obviously affecting their bodies quite a bit.
I’m glad you are doing better, but I do wish this post was recent (I hope that’s not bad to say!) because I could SO use the support right now! I am thinking I need to go on GAPS (or something) as I am pretty sure it is candida that is giving me all these problems 🙁