Navigating Food Sensitivities…

I started investigating food sensitivities when I was unsuccessful at treating my son’s rash that had been on his skin for the first five years of his life. His pediatrician thought it was infectious, his dermatologist thought it was eczema and recommended bleach baths twice a month and periodic steroid cream application. 

I did allergy patch testing as soon as he was five (and could tolerate) and it showed he had a significant egg allergy. When we discovered this, I felt sick. He literally had eaten eggs almost daily for this first five years of his life. 

We removed the eggs and after two weeks. The rash had resolved.

It got me wondering, if his skin reacted so quickly after removing the allergen, does he have other sensitivities to foods that could affect his body/nervous system/behavior? I knew he acted unusually “crazy” after having sugar. Like he was on speed- his eyes would dilate, his brain would go into “la-la land”. It was nuts.

photo credits: Courtney Lively Photography

So, we thought we would investigate with food sensitivity testing. It showed that he was very sensitive to egg and also whey (milk byproduct). It also showed a mild candida overgrowth. His naturopath had us remove this from his diet for two months and treated the yeast…..(candida overgrowth is a whole other topic that I will get to another time). 

During the two months, we as a family, decided to remove egg and dairy from our diet altogether to support my son.  We know that these two are considered “inflammatory foods” anyways, and thought it would be interesting to see if we noticed a difference.

I can admit that at first, I didn’t notice much of a difference. Sure, I didn’t have as much of a bloat in my stomach, I felt pretty energized overall, and honestly didn’t miss the dairy and egg much. It was only until I returned to eating those foods two months later, that I realized how desensitized I had become. Now after I ate, I would feel stomach upset for the day, achy joints, headaches, weird symptoms. 

 My son, however, seemed to have a pretty significant response immediately. I can only describe it as “his brain became clearer”. He wouldn’t have as much trouble with eye contact, he had thoughtful things to say. He seemed to have more patience (most of the time). I felt at times I was almost “getting a window into his thoughts” that I hadn’t been able to see before.

After the 2 months, we introduced egg and dairy back into his diet at times, but overall we try to avoid completely if possible, because he still doesn’t respond well to it. Kids need to be able to have cake at birthday parties (if they are not severely allergic), and I don’t want to deprive him of that, but overall we try to keep it at a minimum.

Removing diary and egg in my diet has helped my skin improve significantly. My response to the removal, prompted me to get my own food sensitivity tested, which confirmed egg and dairy allergies, but also avocado and almond- which I was not prepared for- eek! Sad day!

Overall, the food we put into our bodies can affect us in ways we would never realize. Our skin, our nervous system, our brain, our hormones, our vital organs are affected by the way we eat.  It’s nice to have a little “window” into our own body to understand how we should nourish it.