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At-home allergy test to assess in four easy steps whether a particular food might be triggering intolerance or sensitivity issues. Not appropriate for severe situations that may trigger anaphylaxis.
Food sensitivities and allergies in children are clearly on the rise. Official estimates put the number at about 6% of children under the age of three. This sure seems low to me.
In my child’s preschool class, 10 of 12 children suffered from at least one food allergy!
When I went through elementary school in the 1970s, I barely remember one child with a food allergy of any kind.
Food Allergies, Intolerance, and Sensitivities
In years past, genetic predisposition was a clear and primary contributor to the development of allergies.
However, the modern-day tendency for children to eat just a few types of foods all the time like pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, boxed cereal and peanut butter sandwiches is a big reason for the skyrocketing allergy trend.
Exclusive eating requires a constant demand for the same types of digestive enzymes over and over. This can eventually lead to digestive exhaustion, food addictions, and biochemical disruptions.
Poor diet in infancy and childhood which is devoid or low in animal fats such as egg yolks, cream, and butter is also a contributor to the development of allergies.
Arachidonic acid and beneficial cholesterol in these nourishing animal fats promote the development of an intestinal wall that is strong with much integrity.
The nutritionless, carb-heavy, rancid vegetable oil-laden processed foods most allergy-prone children subsist on can lead to weakness in the intestinal walls. Another name for this is leaky gut syndrome.
These microscopic perforations allow partially digested food particles to enter the bloodstream. At that point, the trigger is set for an unpredictable mix of auto-immune and behavioral disorders.
What to do if you suspect a food allergy in your child or yourself but you wish to avoid expensive testing?
Home Pulse Test
As it turns out, it is rather easy to test for a food allergy at home.
Note that this is not appropriate for any situation where anaphylaxis might occur.
The four simple steps include the following:
- Avoid the suspected food for at least 4 days.
- Eat a moderate amount of the suspected food on an empty stomach. Consume no other food within the previous 2 hours (drinking water is fine).
- Measure pulse rate (beats per minute) before and 5-10 minutes after eating the food in question.
- Calculate the difference in pulse rate. Did you find a significant rise of more than just a few beats per minute? If so, then an allergy or intolerance is likely even if you do not identify any other symptoms.
Besides an increased or racing pulse, food sensitivities and allergies can be identified via rashes, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, joint pain, and even hoarseness.
How to Heal
Once one or more food allergies are identified, a diet such as GAPS would need to be followed.
Over a period of time, usually 18 months to about 3 years, the gut wall will heal and seal. At that point, offending foods can be gradually reintroduced into the diet.
If the allergies are not severe, simply eating a varied and best traditional diet may be all that is necessary to put them in remission. This means no refined or stimulating foods.
“Refined” and “stimulating” foods would include anything made with white sugar, white flour, rancid vegetable oils like canola or soy, sodium, and caffeine.
In addition, a variety of traditionally fermented foods and beverages like home-brewed kombucha help tremendously with supplying friendly bacteria and food enzymes to keep the intestinal tract in optimal function.
These vital foods help maintain the integrity of the gut wall. This prevents compromise where undigested foods spill into the blood and trigger symptoms of sensitivity or intolerance.
Prevention is the Best Policy
Ultimately, it is best to never have to “undo” allergies if at all possible.
Eating a nourishing, traditional diet while pregnant and breastfeeding and ensuring that growing children receive regular and sufficient quantities of optimal growth encouraging foods.
These include cream, butter, ghee, egg yolks, fish eggs, grassfed and organ meats for development of a sturdy intestinal system.
This is the best insurance policy against ever needing any sort of special diet to combat allergy or other autoimmune issues.
Reference
Nourishing Traditions, About Food Allergies and Special Diets
I have done a 4 day rotational diet with certain things eliminated when I was first diagnosed w/food allergies.
I’m not doing that now & can tolerate foods more. I was advised, though, to continue that really for the rest of my life – but it is very hard to do & I haven’t done it. I would like to get back to eating a hybrid of the 4 day rotational – not quite as strict, but rotating foods so I don’t eat the same thing all the time.
That picture is giving me flash backs. I had that crap done to me when I was 5 and then I had “allergy shots” like everyday for the next 5 freaking years. It totally sucked and I doubt it helped me 1 bit. I am sure however it helped the doctor tremendously. (I am also terrified of needles as a result and I cry when anyone even mentions taking my blood.)
I’m definitely no expert and not know much about food allergies,however in the hispanic community ,this is unheard of.I have always heard of mostly people of the white race having allergies,and something else I know ,that when you become a mother ,you are given feeding guidelines..don’t give honey before set age and so forth,and I know from experience that my babies were fed just about everything before 1 year,so i don’t know if maybe when we wait to introduce certain foods until they are older,can then cause allergic reactions..JMO.I am not aware of your spiritual beliefs,but I know there is a verse in the bible that says that if you believe it is bad to eat a certain food,then it will be bad for you.
Just to report how I interpret this as a person on Bee’s diet for two years . . . The concept of food allergies doesn’t exist in Bee’s world (Bee WIlder of Healing Naturally By Bee). She doesn’t believe we can be allergic to any whole, nourishing food.
Many folks start the group saying they couldn’t do Bee’s Egg Drink because they are allergic to eggs. I don’t want to claim to represent her, but I know that she feels that what some feel are allergies are actually healing reactions instead. I know when I’m detoxing on her diet, which is strongest when I’m eating the fewest carbs and the most fats, I experience symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, runny nose and a dry tickly cough. I’m told these are the toxins escaping my body.
Just offering another possible way to interpret the same information.
Best in health,
Vicki Brooks
Eating a nourishing traditional diet can also help with environmental allergies too. I use to suffer from seasonal allergies until I started eating nourishing traditional foods. Within a year the sneezing, runny nose & itchy eyes stopped & have not returned!
I have a child and a husband with food allergies. My son grew out of his. I never fed my children the things that you mentioned. My husband has an autoimmune disease so the genetic tendency for it is there. I breastfed my daughter for nearly 2 years and ate a good diet myself. The symptoms of allergies came before she was even given table food. I fed her a variety of organic baby foods before that.
As for testing for food allergies at home, I think it is a very unsafe thing to do. Children DIE from reactions! If you suspect a food is giving a child a problem, stop giving it to them and get them tested in a dr office. Just because if wasn’t a severe reaction the first time, doesn’t mean it won’t be the next time. I know this from experience.
I’m positive Sara is not referring to those with severe issues that could be life threatening. Those extreme issues would not be safe to self test at all but for those with say, eczema like reactions this type of “testing” is perfect. If you are already eating a food and it’s not causing life threatening complications what she is suggesting is entirely safe, avoid it for a few day and then reintroduce. We do that all the time without even thinking about it. (I know I don’t eat broccoli and cabbage every day!)
Non severe reactions may happen for the first few times, but the next time can be severe. When you are dealing with a child who may not be able to communicate what they are feeling and you only see eczema, you don’t know what could happen.
However, often doctors can’t test for allergies without you eating the food in question. Sometimes parents go into the doctor suspecting an allergy and saying that they are avoiding the food, and the doctors will tell them to go back to eating it and come in later for an allergy test. I guess if you aren’t eating the food regularly, the antibodies won’t be available.
I think home testing, by eliminating the food and then doing a challenge and watching for symptoms, is as safe and much less painful than skin-prick testing. For very severe allergies, there’s always muscle-response testing. I’m not sure how it works, but I’ve known people to have success with it.
Thank you Sarah for this wonderful info. I wish I’d had it available to me 30 years ago while raising children, and for myself! I figured out things by doing an elimination diet, pretty severe I might ad, but was an adult. It would be very hard for a little child to do that type of diet, so your information makes it so much easier for parents today.
Hi Sarah,
What happens if I eat raw cheese or eggs everyday? Will I eventually develop an allergic reaction to them?
In truth, it is very hard to get raw milk where I live so I have to rely on raw cheese.
Hi Erica, you might want to take a break a day or two a week. If you have excellent integrity to your digestive system and eat plenty of lactofermented foods so you are getting many live enzymes in your food, then you should be ok. It’s hard to tell though for sure. I myself try not to eat the same things for too many days in a row.
Hi Pure Mothers, repetitive eating of the same foods over and over is one cause – certainly not the only cause by any means. I mention genetics as well as poor diet low in animal fats as well which results in a poorly developed intestinal wall with little integrity to hold its own.
Good way to test a younger child without having to draw blood. Thanks. I have a question about they “why” the allergies develop. You said that utilizing the same digestive enzymes over and over causes it (from eating the same foods). But we only make enzymes to break down proteins into smaller amino acids (protease), amylase for carbs, lipase for fats and nucleases for nucleic acids. Could it be more of a problem making the right stomach acids causing leaky gut?