How your diet can make you feel sick even if you eat well.
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Many Americans eat poorly. They choose processed foods and fast food for the sake of convenience and continue eating junk food despite the rise in obesity rates and chronic disease. It is easy to point to the diets of these people and say “of course they feel lousy!” , especially after the movie Supersize Me made its debut. But what if you eat a balanced diet, low in refined sugar and processed foods and still feel sick?
Food sensitivies are a prevalent problem and are generally not acknowledged by conventional medicine experts as a cause of diseases and health complaints. Naturopaths view diet as one of the foundations of health, and often look at diet and digestion first when treating patients. Food sensitivities can be caused by a weak digestive system that fails to break foods down into small enough compounds in order for absorption and assimilation of nutrients to occur efficiently. Larger compounds that manage to get into the blood stream may trigger a reaction by the immune system or may themselves cause problems such as inflammation to occur. Most of us are familiar with true food allergies that can result in death–this is an example of a specific type of immune reaction that happens as soon as the food is ingested.
What many people do not know, is that other immune reactions (called delayed sensitivity reactions) can take place up to 3 days after a food is ingested resulting in a variety of symptoms including headaches, fatigue, joint pain, weight gain, depression, and digestive symtpoms (the list goes on). In some cases, the inflammation taking place primarily in the digestive tract can prevent the absorption of key nutrients resulting in nutrient deficiencies (which may show up on blood tests) or insufficiencies (often detected through clinical symptoms and patient history since lab tests may be normal).
Foods that are more prevalent in our diets tend to be the biggest culprits. Some of the top foods resulting in allergies and/or sensitivities are dairy, wheat, corn, soy, eggs, and citrus. Artificial ingredients and refined or heavily processed foods should generally be avoided, since these foods were not designed by nature to be digested by humans and many of these foods are devoid of nutritional value.
If you suspect you have a food allergy or sensitivity, you should consider consulting a Licensed Naturopathic Doctor. Licensed Naturopaths are trained to diagnose and treat medical conditions and approach health holistically, meaning they treat the whole person (body, mind, and spirit) rather than just a symptom or disease. Naturopaths can also help healthy individuals maintain optimum health and prevent future disease. Unlike the conventional medical model, where a patient is lucky to spend 10 minutes with their doctor, most Naturopaths spend two to three times as long during a routine visit and give guidance with the treatment recommendations in order to ensure the best outcome.
About the Author: Dr. Bowker is a Naturopathic Physician and owner of Snohomish Valley Holistic Medicine. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Bowker serves as a Board member for the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians. She has also been a guest speaker for community organizations and instructor of several community health classes. For more information, please visit her primary website: www.snovalleyholistic.com
