Food Sensitivities
Alrighty folks, let’s talk about food sensitivities. This is an interesting one because as a species, we generally revolve everything around food such as dinner plans etc. Food brings people together and it’s awesome. With myself being a self-proclaimed foodie, I get the attachment people have with their foods which is why I tell people what foods they need to avoid at the end of their treatments so they have to leave and not bitch at me about it haha. But the reality is this, EVERYTIME YOU EAT YOU ARE EITHER FEEDING OR FIGHTING DISEASE. Read that again. And along those same lines, IF YOU EAT THE STANDARD AMERICAN DIET YOU WILL GET THE STANDARD AMERICAN DISEASES. It absolutely blows my mind that western medicine pays no attention to this. See we rely on a medical industry that pays no attention to our food supply and a food industry that pays no attention to our health. I know I just blew your mind with three great quotes that made you think “that makes so much sense when you put it that way”, and I’m just getting started sitting here on a Wednesday night after seeing 30 patients slap happy and firing from the hip on this important topic. But seriously, I really don’t understand how foods and sensitivities to them are ignored in medicine. Doesn’t the fuel we put into our body have an impact on how well all the metabolic processes work? Doesn’t saying that out loud just make sense that it matters? Try putting bad quality gas and oil into your Porsche and see how well that car does over time. I suspect that some people just don’t care. Like Mark Twain said (I think he said it, don’t quote me on that), “I knew I’d live 10 years longer if I stopped smoking but that would be 10 more years without cigarettes.” And others just aren’t aware I suppose. Well, I will shed some light on the topic in this weekly blog.
So know that there is a difference between a food allergy and sensitivity. Food allergies can be life threatening in certain cases whereas sensitivities add to inflammation in the body silently. I think that is where western medicine comes up short on foods. Their thought is that if someone doesn’t have anaphylactic shock from a food or something like celiac disease that all foods are okay to eat. It is similar to people having no symptoms to report to their doctors which in turn the doctor tells them they are “healthy” (BIG MISTAKE). It is reasons like this that make western medicine amazing at emergency medicine but have led this country to chronic disease states due to disease care labeled as health care when in reality nothing is health promoting about it. So without getting too advanced on the topic, think of food sensitivities as every time you eat the food or drink that you are sensitive to, your immune system reacts to it. This in turn turns on pathways in your body that increase inflammation in your body. And inflammation is at the root of EVERY DISEASE KNOWN TO MAN. This inflammation will turn into something like physical pain anywhere in the body, headaches, anxiety, mood swings, depression, sleep issues, stomachaches, fatigue, brain fog, and nausea among other symptoms. Pretty much any symptom in the body could be caused by consuming a food you are sensitive to. So we go on living our lives everyday unaware that we are eating foods that are causing us a tremendous amount of inflammation that contributes to every known disease. Looking at it from this angle, it’s no wonder we are so sick as a society. Now to stop me from going on a rant, let me tell you what the most common sensitivities are in people I see on a daily basis and help make you aware of them.
#1 – Caffeine.
Bill Hicks said it perfectly, “To understand a society, take a good look at the drugs it uses. Caffeine from Monday to Friday to energize you enough to make you a productive member of society and alcohol from Friday to Monday to keep you too stupid to figure out the prison you are living in”. Caffeine is just that, a drug. That’s why you often get withdrawals when you stop consuming it. In a society that is so stressful and high strung, the last thing people need is an upper that dehydrates you and clogs your liver detox pathways. On top of that, caffeine strips vitamin D from your body and pushes people into a TH2 pattern, which in functional medicine equates to the person having gut, sinus, lung, skin and bladder issues with chronic allergies. Know anybody who suffers from those? If you need something for energy, something else is off in your body and you should get checked out by a doc like me to figure out what that is. If you like the ritual of something warm in the morning, switch over to hot lemon ginger water. Much better for you. The amount of times that caffeine lovers have told me getting off caffeine was the best thing that ever happened to them and their health is countless. They always say that they never knew what it was like to feel good so they didn’t know any better. These foods and drink consist of Coffee, tea, chocolate, cola, yerba mate, guarana and acai. For the people that have a hard time getting off these foods/drinks or need to taper off due to withdrawal symptoms, I recommend taking either Takesumi Supreme or Reishi supreme every time you consume the food to help with the toxicity of it until you can get off of them fully.
#2 – Gluten
Talk about a buzz word, am I right? The word gluten gets thrown around so much that people usually joke about it. When in reality, it is a neurotoxin meaning that it produces massive inflammation in our brains. It also rips apart the lining of our digestive tracts leading to something known as leaky gut (that will be another blog). Now some people say that it is really the pesticide, glyphosate, on the gluten that gives us those bad reactions. I agree for sure but our gluten crop as a whole is so genetically modified that we would still have an issue to this gluten regardless. Ever since the 1940-50’s, our wheat crop was changed forever. It was genetically modified to produce more crops per year to attempt to end world hunger. The issue with that was it changed the crop so rapidly that the human body now recognized it as a toxin (if crops change over say a century, our bodies adapt better to them). And then we went and did some more processes like making it shelf stable for example that made the product so close to a human protein in its protein molecular structure but just different enough for our immune systems to react to it and the tissue in our body it closely represents every time we consume it. In some people it attacks the gut, in some the thyroid, in some the brain, in some all of the above and so on (brain and thyroid most commonly). Oops. Talk about an autoimmune storm!
However, one thing I need to mention is that due to the buzz around the word gluten, it has created a false hope of anything labeled gluten-free as healthy. I have patients who then rely on foods like pasta, bread, and sugary snacks that usually have gluten in them but now they were modified to not have gluten in them. This should be a red flag to chemical storm! So first, anything that says gluten free does not mean healthy. A gluten-free Pepsi is still a toxic drink and a gluten-free toothpaste still has toxic fluoride in it! And then if we replace gluten filled products with “healthy gluten-free alternatives”, we are still consuming sugar filled grain products that create toxicity in the body. This is why we should just consume naturally gluten-free foods like good animal protein, vegetables, fruits and things like that. If you want your rice-based noodles and gluten-free sourdough bread, I get it but at the end of the day it is still sugar. So there is a lot of truth to gluten being as toxic as it has been made out to be. It creates a lot of inflammation in the body and you don’t have to have celiac disease to react to it.
#3 – Dairy
We are the only species that drinks another species milk. THINK ABOUT THAT! Dairy is cow pus and should only be consumed by baby calves. It is extremely destructive to our hormones and generates a crazy amount of mucus in our body. If you have any ears, nose, throat and sinus issues then get off dairy immediately. All the kids growing up prone to strep throat and ear infections kept getting them because dairy feeds bacteria like that. The main source I am talking about is from Cows. A cow has 4 stomachs so they are much more efficient at breaking down their milk. A human only has 1 stomach so we don’t have the right tools to break it down. I once heard at a seminar that every time our stomach comes into contact with dairy we eat, it tells the brain to release feel good hormones so we don’t feel the effects of it tearing apart our small intestine wall. And think about all the dairy farmers pumping the cows full of hormones and antibiotics to keep them producing milk al year round. This gets into the milk supply and interferes with our hormones a bunch. Dairy and eggs are the two most hormone shifting foods and I suggest all of my patients to get off of them entirely. Now I know what you are thinking, “well what if I only do goat and sheep milk based products?” Those are closer to human milk but will still cause issues in the body. Camel milk is something I have been researching recently due to the great results it has produced for people on the autism spectrum. I will have to get back to you on that one but for now, eliminate those cow-based products. You can thank me later.
#4 – Eggs
Although many people in the functional medicine world will disagree with me on this one, I think eggs are the sickest source of protein we can consume. They shift our hormones and allow bacteria and viruses to thrive in our bodies. Dr. Versendaal once said “ they grow viruses and bacteria on eggs in the lab to make vaccines, imagine what happens in your gut when you consume them”. That changed my thoughts forever on eggs. Eggs are one of the foods that the cons outweigh the pros in my book. Also, 50% of eggs are contaminated with the bacteria H. Pylori in the U.S., which is a monster to deal with. It causes ulcers and lots of digestive issues. And the organ that seems to get hit the hardest by eggs that I see in practice is the bladder. And the bladder is one of the most important organs in the body due to it having the longest meridian in the body in Chinese medicine and it being the regulator of the gut and liver. Similar to the gut flora, I think in the next 50 years we will start hearing about the importance of the bladder flora for our health. Time will tell.
#5 Corn
Corn is the next gluten. Soon everyone will find out about how genetically modified it is and how toxic it is for our brains. It is in everything. You see high fructose corn syrup in everything. Fun fact of the day about corn….years ago when studies were done about butter and fat raising your cholesterol, they injected mice with butter and fat and noticed it didn’t raise their bad cholesterol. Well this didn’t fit the narrative since the sugar industry funded the study to make people believe that fat was bad for us and sugar was good for us. So what they had to do was introduce corn oil into the mice and what do you know, the result of elevated cholesterol was achieved and fat received the blame so the sugar industry could have their way with us. But most importantly, corn these days is so toxic due to how GMO it is and if you eat non-organic corn then forget about it. That is one of the most toxic foods on the planet. Personally, in clinic I find that corn contributes to brain fog and fatigue in patients among other symptoms.
#6 Oats
Oats are so similar to gluten structurally that the body doesn’t know the difference and will react the same. This is called cross-reactivity. Even if the oats are steel cut and gluten free, it doesn’t matter. The protein in them is almost identical to the protein in gluten (technically the same can be said for dairy. The protein is very similar to gluten so people will cross react with dairy as well if gluten sensitive and vice versa). And all that heart healthy oatmeal BS, don’t buy into that. Those same people tell you that cereal like honey nut cheerios is heart healthy…ridiculous.
#7 Soy
Soy is also a toxic protein that has been labeled as a health alternative. Soy acts as estrogen in the body and messes up your hormones like crazy. Basically, soy, dairy and egg all mess up your hormones and make you gain weight. If you are struggling to lose weight or are having hormone issues, eliminate these immediately. Also if there is any family history of breast cancer or any hormone dependent cancer, get off these foods immediately as well. You know who used to consume soy a bunch? Monks to abstain from sex. They said that soy turned men into women and women into men. No thanks. Also, toxic estrogen in the body is known to clot blood, which can lead to strokes etc. So anything that acts like estrogen in the body like soy has the ability to do this. Please from here on out, don’t fall for the soy latte or soy whatever being the healthy alternative and ALWAYS skip the tofu, edamame, tamari and tempeh.
#8 Peanut
Another estrogenic food that has a terrible essential fat acid ratio. It is filled with inflammatory fatty acid ratios and like coffee beans is often riddled with fungal mycotoxins. That means that fungus lives in the peanuts and you are eating mold like substances in your peanuts or peanut butter. And I love peanut butter. Probably one of my favorite flavors no doubt but I limit my exposure due to how unhealthy it is. Peanuts, like chicken and eggs, are one of the most infamous foods for people to have anaphylactic allergies to. Here’s a clinical pearl, if you have this type of allergy to any of those three foods and especially if you are allergic to all three that is a vaccine injury. Your immune system is reacting to when vaccines that contain chicken, egg and peanut were injected into your blood stream which traveled to the brain and the immune system knew that wasn’t right so it attacked it then and anytime you consume them it attacks them now.
#9 Nightshades
Last but not least are the nightshade family, which consists of potato, tomato, eggplant, pepper, paprika, tobacco and goji. These again are neurotoxins and create more physical pain than any of the foods mentioned above. These foods will accelerate and flare up any type of arthritis. As soon as any of my patients have physical pain, nightshades are the first food I have them eliminate. This family of foods will also cause gut inflammation, osteoporosis due to inhibiting the absorption of calcium, iron and vitamin D, and arteriosclerosis. This is another food that the cons outweigh the pros.
So what can we do? Well first and foremost, avoiding the foods listed above will produce the best results in your health. I actually encourage you to eliminate the above for 2 weeks and then introduce them back into your diet and see how you feel. I bet you will be surprised on how bad you feel when you reintroduce them. Again, people don’t generally know what its like to feel good so they have nothing to compare to. Your stiff joints and ache and pains are so common to you that you think it is normal. And then you will blame it on getting older and old age. Next, to give your body a fighting chance, I recommend taking a digestive enzyme with your meals. This is because the definition of an allergen is an undigested protein. If you don’t have sufficient stomach acid (I talked about this in the parasite blog) then the food is not broken down properly and binds to certain receptors in the body that release histamine and allergies flare. Also if you have seasonal allergies or environmental allergies, that’s because you’re not digesting your food properly, you need more stomach acid. Fix the stomach and allergies go away, I’ll save that for another blog. So Vervita Gastrodigest II is the digestive enzyme I would recommend to help you break down your food efficiently so that you don’t create more allergens and food sensitivities don’t effect you as bad as they could. Also, something like Takesumi supreme that is carbonized bamboo root can help by acting like a binder in the gut to bind up the food particles. I use that for food poisoning as well.
Testing for sensitivities. As we now know, allergies and sensitivities are technically different although both create havoc in your body. To test for them, I prefer muscle testing samples of the foods on the patient or using what we call vials. Vials are little bottles of water that almost look like perfume sample bottles. These vials either have small particles of the foods in them or are homeopathically prepared with the frequency of the food you want to test. In my experience, this method picks up sensitivities more accurately than any other testing. A second method that goes hand in hand with muscle testing would be a blood test done through a functional immunology lab like Cyrex Laboratories. These two methods together will give you the best answers to your sensitivities. And the gold standard skin testing is a garbage method. It is extremely inaccurate and will miss a ton of sensitivities.
In conclusion, the foods I listed above are the most common sensitivities I see clinically. They add to inflammation in the body that will force you to make time for your illness in the future if you don’t change. They accelerate and contribute to every disease you have ever heard of due to that inflammation. Some people like to say it is everything in moderation. Well that sounds great but the immune system is an all or none system. It either reacts or it doesn’t. So even a teaspoon of milk will trigger all of the inflammation needed to create your issues. And it takes usually a minimum of 6 months before food inflammation in the body is dampened. So give it time being off the foods to feel the full effect. You will probably feel better sooner but be aware of that time frame. Another thing I should mention is that if you eat the same foods over and over then over time you will become sensitive to them. You need to rotate your foods like our ancestors did. Our genes prefer it. So the kid who grows up only eating chicken fingers and mac and cheese everywhere they go will grow up and have lots of health issues. That you can take to the bank. Eating seasonally is the best thing we can do. Certain foods weren’t around year round for our ancestors so we should honor that because our genome is used to it. And remember, it is all about progress not perfection (unless you have full blown autoimmune disease). If this is all new for you, trying to eliminate all those foods at once will be overwhelming and hard for you to follow a plan. Take it step by step, eat a diet similar to paleo/ketogenic while eliminating the foods above as best you can and see how much better you feel. Because in my experience, controlling the controllables like the foods you eat leads to the biggest breakthroughs for patients in their health. And if there were any two changes that I would say give people the best chance at being truly healthy it is managing your emotional stress efficiently and eating a diet that your body prefers.
This is the way,
Dr. Charlie