FOOD SENSITIVITY TESTING
WHAT ARE FOOD SENSITIVITIES AND ALLERGIES?
Food sensitivities are adverse reactions to a food, causing inflammation in the body; IgG antibodies are involved in these reactions. If your child does not react to a small amount of a food but does react to a larger amount, your son or daughter has a food sensitivity. Often food sensitivities are delayed, meaning that symptoms to a problem food can surface up to four days after consumption!
Food allergies are adverse reactions to a food, causing inflammation in the body; classic IgE antibodies are involved in these reactions. If your child reacts adversely to a small amount of food, your son or daughter has a food allergy. Often food allergies are immediate but they can sometimes be delayed as well.
WHAT FOODS CAUSE THE MOST FOOD SENSITIVITIES AND ALLERGIES?
Dairy and wheat are the two biggest culprits in the North American diet. The more prominent a food in it's supply, the greater the chance of a sensitivity or allergy. In Japan, rice allergy is common. Likewise, seafood presents a common allergy in Spain.
WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE SENSITIVE TO COW'S MILK?
Years ago, cow's milk was unpasteurized when sold to consumers. At that time, it had 22 enzymes helping with its digestion. Today pasteurized cow's milk is not only found in many of our foods but it is enzyme deficient. When our bodies cannot digest a food, our bodies produce any number of symptoms. It is important to know that lactose is not the only culprit in cow's milk; many react to the milk proteins themselves.
WHY DOES MY CHILD CRAVE CHEESE?
If your child craves a certain food, you will very often find that they are reactive to that food.
I AM WORRIED THAT MY CHILD WILL HAVE A VIOLENT REACTION THE FIRST TIME THEY TRY A FOOD.
Your child can only become sensitive to foods to which they have been exposed. Do not forget about the foods your child received in utero and while being breastfed.
CAN REACTIONS TO FOODS CHANGE AS MY CHILD GETS OLDER?
Initially your baby might react within moments after consuming a food to which they are sensitive. As they get older, your child's reaction may take longer to appear or present differently. When a mother eats cheese when she is breastfeeding her child, the child may experience projectile vomiting within moments of eating. At 4 years old, that same child may become constipated 3 days after consuming cheese. At 5 years old, that same child may have behavioural problems soon after consuming cheese but not experience any physical symptoms.
ARE MY CHILD'S FOOD SENSITIVITIES PERMANENT?
Food sensitivities are not permanent; they disappear when problem foods are eliminated from the diet for a short time and when dietary habits are improved. Unfortunately, if food sensitivities are not detected, as is often the case, they turn into food allergies.
SYMPTOMS OF FOOD SENSITIVITIES AND ALLERGIES
Does your child have one or more of the following?
- colic/gas pain
- diaper/skin rash
- excessive spit-up
- frequent runny nose/congestion
- diarrhea/constipation
- unexplained mood swings/hyperactivity
- multiple ear infections
- poor sleeping habits
Unfortunately, these are just a few of the symptoms commonly found in today's children. Over 200 physical symptoms and 50 medical conditions are triggered or worsened by food sensitivities and allergies! There are underlying causes behind these adverse reactions. The Resourceful Mother can guide you to the information and expertise needed to understand, minimize or eliminate these reactions.
DETECTING FOOD SENSITIVITIES AND ALLERGIES
Food sensitivities and allergies have gone undetected for decades. Allergy tests, i.e. scratch tests or skin testing, performed in doctors' offices, measure immediate hypersensitivity reactions; they do not measure delayed reactions. They also measure skin reactions however reactions can occur anywhere in the body i.e. intestine (almost all reactions start here), brain.
Meredith teaches parents other options for detecting, managing and eliminating adverse reactions to food; there is simply no need to continue watching your child suffer. Meredith performs Interro-electro dermal testing in her office, a method of testing for immediate or delayed adverse reactions that occur in the intestine. This form of testing has been around for over 20 years – it has and continues to help thousands of people identify the foods to which they are reacting adversely.
Electro dermal testing, on the Interro system, measures the electrical/energetic resistance of the skin. Every organ system and cell of the human body forms a conduit for electrical energy; this energy flows through specific paths called meridians. The level of sensitivities to foods (220 foods!) is measured specifically from the flow of energy through the meridian of the large intestine.
A stress measurement reading is acquired by touching a probe (a pen-like device) to the exterior of the index finger. The computer records the stress and scales the measurement into levels of sensitivity. The test is non-invasive and does not hurt. Children from age 2 and up can be tested, provided they can sit still for about 20-30 minutes. Sometimes children read or watch movies, while Meredith does the testing but most are curious to see the results as they come up on the computer screen.
Test results are printed off immediately, so there is no waiting time! And of course, Meredith is knowledgeable about all of the alternative foods to the major food groups, if any of those foods come up as a challenge. As you know, she is also well vested in helping children overcome their food sensitivities.
