As February comes to a close, our senses can feel spring coming – the days are getting longer, the air smells different, and we begin to feel renewed. Throughout winter, we tend to just curl up on the couch to avoid the elements. While this is super cozy, the lack of movement causes stagnation within the body that can lead to toxic buildup. According to ancient Ayurvedic practice, spring is the best time of year to detox and reset. It’s time to clear out those heavy, unwanted toxins that have accumulated over the past few months.Continue reading
Category Archives: Gut health
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
I’ve been trying out new elimination-diet-friendly recipes lately in hopes of growing my collection of meal/recipe recommendations for those who may need to avoid the common offending foods (dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, eggs) and was pretty impressed with this dip recipe I found in The Candida Cure Cookbook.Continue reading
What is an Allergy?
Allergy today is generally misunderstood, and it’s more common than we realize. Our greatest challenge is recognizing it. Allergy is the cumulative effect of many insults to the body which, over time, have overwhelmed the body’s protective mechanisms. While dust may appear to be the cause of your runny nose, in reality it’s only the trigger that activates the symptoms in an already comprised organism.
People inherit the disposition for allergy rather than the specific allergy itself. Metabolic individuality can cause people to react very differently to various substances. What adds to the challenge is that cellular injury releases endorphins, creating a subconscious addiction to the offending foods so you can actually be craving the foods you are intolerant to (In fact, this is a good tool to use to identify what may be causing your symptoms – what do you crave all the time?).
Food allergy or intolerance can be caused by intestinal permeability, allowing undigested proteins and food particles to pass through the gut into the bloodstream causing systemic body inflammation. It is the body’s response to the foreign object that becomes the problem more than the object itself.
The Physiology – Food allergy occurs when a specific immunoglobulin antibody (blood proteins produced in response to an allergen or toxin) reacts to a foreign object (the allergen) that is found in our bloodstream, causing our immune system to react abnormally whenever exposed. Our Ig (immunoglobulin) antibodies work to identify triggers that could be harmful to the body, and tell the body to release histamine. Histamine causes your blood vessels to swell or dilate, so that your white blood cells can quickly find and attack the infection or problem.
What causes Allergy?
- Allergy appears when the accumulation of toxic substances leads to metabolic overload (when your body can no longer keep up).
- Nutritional deficiencies further stress the immune system leading to vulnerability of developing allergy.
- Chronic infections heavily contribute to the production to allergic symptoms. Infection of the intestine can make it’s lining more permeable to undigested food particles, which end up in your bloodstream & produce allergic symptoms.
- Toxins produced by Candida (including acetaldehyde, carbon monoxide & alcohol) also play a major role in allergy as well.
- Stress is any form, whether emotional, physical, chemical, or environmental will also contribute to allergy by weakening your immune system and adding to your metabolic overload.
Literally any symptom which your body is capable of producing can be of allergenic origin. Due to the vast array of possible symptoms as well as causes (food, chemicals, or inhalants), food allergies are a difficulty topic of study from a scientific standpoint. How do you study a substance that causes headaches in one person, rashes in another and depression in yet another, while the majority of people experience no symptoms at all? Most laboratory blood tests deal primarily with the antibody IgE and don’t screen for reactions involving the IgG, IgA, or IgM antibodies. Food journals are a great way to spot the patterns and pinpoint possible suspects.
In holistic nutrition, we’re always trying to get to the root of the problem and address it at that level, rather than simply suppressing symptoms. Imagine you had a stone in your shoe causing you pain in your foot. Would you take painkillers to relieve your pain, or take off your shoe and remove the stone?
Self empowerment through personal responsibility is key. The primary sources of prolonged/chronic trauma and irritation to the body are habits, lifestyle and beliefs. For example, getting drunk regularly is a source of chronic irritation to the body, as the body tries to compensate for mineral loss, lack of oxygen and toxicity to the liver. If it continues long enough, the body will fall out of balance and symptoms of dis-ease will begin to appear. Symptoms are the body’s message to you that it is struggling to cope with it’s environment.
If you suspect you may be suffering from a possible allergy, I can help you get on the path to healing. Although change may seem intimidating or uncomfortable, with the right support it can be fun and exciting! The end goal is not permanent avoidance, but only temporary avoidance while we support the healing of the intestine. Intestinal permeability is typically how it all started in the first place.
I encourage you to take the next step and reach out to me so we can get started! You can book an appointment with me at Sage Wellness or you can call Sage at 613.235.7243