Institute of Nutritional Endocrinology (INE): Body Freedom Foundations – Pillar 5: Diet – Food Allergies
Body Freedom Foundations
Pillar 5: Diet
Food Allergies
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When you think of “allergies” do you automatically envision someone with an inhaler device? Many people think of the very dangerous situation of extreme reactions — closing throats, swollen tongues, and the inability to breathe. Severe food allergies are not to be taken lightly.
But did you know that not all food allergies come with extreme reactions you can immediately see on the outside? More than half of all Americans have a food allergy – most don’t even know it.
Food allergies and food intolerances develop when your digestive system is put under strain from our day-to-day eating habits and lifestyle. With the modern Standard American Diet (SAD) flaunting and tempting people to eat inflammatory processed foods, it’s inevitable that the lining in the gut wall just can’t do the job nature intended.
Once the gut is exposed and damaged, you begin to develop sensitivities to every day common foods. The symptoms may start out small – almost unnoticeable, but with years and years of chronic exposure the consequences can become more serious.
If you knew someone with a seafood or peanut allergy who ate lobster or peanut butter every day, you’d likely think he or she had a death-wish! But if you have a hidden food allergy or a compromised digestive system, you’re doing exactly that — eating your favorite foods day after day — never realizing the build up of damage your diet is causing.
A person can have a food allergy or sensitivity to foods like bread, milk, eggs, and even healthy foods like broccoli — and they may not realize that these common foods are making them ill.
That’s why doing some detective work to figure out if there are any food allergy culprits is important.
In this pillar, you’ll learn how to detect hidden food allergies and what to do about them so you can better help yourself and your clients.
Watch the Instructional Video
Downloads: Video (Mp4) | Audio (Mp3) | Slides: Full | Slides: Printer-Friendly | Transcript
WARNING: The above audio/video files may be large and may take a long time to download.
Action Plan
#1: Assess whether your client has hidden food allergies/intolerances.
Food Allergy Detection Assessment: Here you’ll find a scorecard assessment that will help you determine the likelihood of food intolerances/allergies, and the impact they may be having on your health and the health of your clients.
#2: Identify potential food triggers.
Complete the assessment, then follow the instructions in the Learning to Spot Potential Trigger Foods assignment.
Food Frequency Checklist Assessment: This assessment goes deep into a person’s diet and examines the frequency of exact foods from various categories. It also identifies any foods they feel it would be difficult to give up.
Learning to Spot Potential Trigger Foods: AKA the “No, Go, Maybe Protocol”, use the results of the assessment above, and follow the instructions to highlight the list of foods identified as best.
#3: Track food intake and symptoms.
Careful tracking of the response to foods, using the Diet and Symptom Tracker, during both the elimination and provocation phases is important to a person’s success.
Diet and Symptom Tracker (XLSX): If you prefer to track things on your computer, use the Excel spreadsheet version. You may choose to print a copy of the PDF form for when you’re not at your computer.
Diet and Symptom Tracker (PDF): Print the PDF version and share it with your client. Print several copies of it and staple together.
Suspicious Food Tracking: As you track foods using the Diet and Symptom Tracker form above, list suspects in the “Foods I’m Suspicious About” column. Also, list all the suspect foods from the Learning to Spot Potential Trigger Foods exercise here. These are all the foods that someone already knows makes them feel uncomfortable or have been tested and found to create an allergic or intolerant response.
#4: Design an elimination diet.
Elimination Diet Menu Plan: Use this document, along with the results from Learning to Spot Potential Trigger Foods to make a list of the foods you or your client will be eating during the core 4 days of the elimination phase.
FAST Recipe Collection: In this 80-page document, you’ll find ideas for how to plan a unique Food Allergy Spy Training (FAST) diet. Provide for as many meals as is needed to be satisfied and substitute ingredients as needed according to the plan.
#5: Watch an additional video to learn about the food reintroduction phase, also called “provocation”.
Downloads: Video (Mp4) | Audio (Mp3) | Slides: Full | Slides: Printer-Friendly | Transcript
WARNING: The above audio/video files may be large and may take a long time to download.
#6: Eliminate all foods that hurt the gut and add in foods and protocols that heal the gut.
Before beginning the provocation phase, be sure to eliminate all foods that hurt the gut.
Foods that Hurt and Foods that Heal Your Gut: A list of foods, herbs, and additives that hurt the gut, followed by a list of those that heal and repair. Eliminate all the hurting foods during the elimination diet (and preferably forever!).
On the “foods that heal”, include as many as possible during the elimination phase, taking into account the elimination plan. It’s possible for you or your client to be sensitive to some of the gut healing foods.
Healing Regimes for Your Gut: If you are ready for more details about the healing nutrients for the gut, this paper offers a quick start list followed by more detailed background information and reference lists.
Calming the gut is critical to long term success of food allergy elimination provocation.
#7: After 4 – 7 days, reintroduce foods following the provocation process guidelines.
After following the elimination diet for a minimum of 4 days (and more ideally up to 7 days), begin to reintroduce foods by following the guidelines in the video and in Provocation Phase Instructions.
FEPP: Provocation Phase Instructions: This document includes more detailed instructions about FEPP, the Food Elimination Provocation Protocol, and explains many of the forms needed for the next part of the food allergy investigation.
Use the form at the end to record foods at every stage of re-introduction to determine which foods you or your client’s body tolerates and which ones — not so much!
FEPP: Food Reintroduction Guidelines: Review the sample chart to get an idea about how to fill out a food reintroduction tracking chart (also available in the Provocation Phase Instructions). A blank chart is included in this PDF.
FEPP: Food Reintroduction Phase: Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid: Learn how to avoid the top 3 mistakes most people make when reintroducing foods.
