| Food allergies can be a common source of | | | | Not all food allergies result in immediate symptoms |
| discomfort and symptoms often go undiagnosed. | | | | and blood tests can detect delayed symptoms as |
| Many people experience the daily effects of food | | | | well as immediate symptoms. If the simple elimination |
| allergies without realizing their unease is actually a | | | | approach does not detect the sources of a food |
| food allergy symptom. One of the most common | | | | allergy, a blood test may be the only way to find it. |
| symptoms of a food allergy is weight gain. In the | | | | Foods contain literally thousands of substances. Many |
| body, water is retained as a way of attempting to | | | | of these substances change form depending on how |
| protect the body from the irritation of poisonous | | | | it being raw or heated, how it was heated, how |
| substances and food allergens. Fat cells also expand | | | | fresh it is, what other ingredients it is combined with |
| to provide a buffer and protect the body. When | | | | and even natural "ebbs and tides" in your own |
| loosing weight, water is often shed, but the body | | | | immune system. Because of this, no blood test can |
| retains the fat because it is necessary to protect | | | | be 100 percent accurate. |
| you from these toxins and allergens. | | | | Other common causes of food allergies include poor |
| A food allergy specialist will often first ask a patient | | | | digestion, nutrient deficiencies, too narrow a food |
| to write down their three favorite foods and then | | | | selection in the diet and leaky gut syndrome. Food |
| eliminate those from the diet. A study published in | | | | allergy relief can often be achieved by applying |
| the Lancet found that common food allergens act like | | | | greater awareness of the need for a broad selection |
| morphine-line drugs. This can result in us actually being | | | | of whole foods, and the limitation or elimination of |
| addicted to the foods that make us sick! The | | | | processed foods. |
| cravings experienced for these foods are based on | | | | Quercetin, a flavonoid, and glutamine, an amino acid |
| the same neurochemical responses that lead to drug | | | | can bring relief to symptoms of food allergies by |
| additions. Removing the three favorite foods from | | | | acting as an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy agent |
| the diet can not only reveal food allergies, without | | | | and restoring intestinal membrane integrity. Adding |
| the need for expensive tests, but it can quickly | | | | glyconutrients to the diet can provide additional |
| make us feel great after the short period of | | | | benefit by supporting the "parts" required for proper |
| "withdrawal" to the addictive substances is over. | | | | cell-to-cell communication and therefore proper |
| If tests are required, a blood test is the easiest way | | | | immune system function. While some people may be |
| to determine food allergies and one blood sample can | | | | able to reintroduce foods which once caused allergy |
| be used to test with hundreds of foods. The most | | | | symptoms, as they improve their diet and focus on |
| common blood tests for food allergies are as follows. | | | | an improved state of wellness, variations in genetics |
| - RAST (Radio-Allergo-Sorbent Test) | | | | leave some people with permanent allergies to certain |
| - ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorben Assay) | | | | foods. In such cases, elimination is the only true |
| - ELISA/ACT (Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent | | | | "cure" for such food allergies. |
| Assay/Activated Cell Test) | | | | |