When our journey began with my daughter’s Ulcerative Colitis, we knew nothing of food sensitivities or food intolerances, but identifying and reducing these sensitivities has been a key to her recovery and prolonged remission so I want to share our experience.

First, if you want more formal information about food sensitivities (IgG) versus food allergies (IgE) you can check it here.  http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/e-newsletter/igg_vs_ige.pdf

My simple way of explaining it is that IgE allergies cause an immediate and intense reaction while IgG sensitivities have a delayed reaction and may cause long term health problems. In my daughter’s case, her UC was exacerbated by intense sensitivities to a number of foods, including soy, egg, and dairy. In my own opinion, because of the delayed reaction to the foods, it is almost impossible to identify which foods are causing the reactions without blood testing. A functional medicine doctor may order the testing, but you can also just go to Any Lab Test Now and get the testing yourself.  

The test results will provide a report that graphically represents foods and substances in groups:

  • Green: Indicates acceptable foods or substances / not a significant reaction
  • Yellow: Indicates a low reaction and these items should be avoided if possible
  • Orange: Indicates a moderate reaction and these items should be avoided for a minimum of 3-6 months
  • Red: Indicates a high reaction and these items should be avoided for a minimum of 6 months.

Your insurance might not pay for it but once you get the results, you will have the information you need to develop a diet that does exacerbate your health problems.

Now, about the ROTATION DIET. Just yesterday, we received my daughter’s new IgG testing and guess what?? She’s not sensitive to ANYTHING!!  That’s right, for the first time in almost 4 years, there was nothing in the yellow. That means as long as she doesn’t continuously eat the same thing day after day, nothing she eats will cause a serious reaction in her system. How did we get there? Rotation diet.  

It works like this: your body gets more sensitive to foods when it sees the same thing 3, 4, 5 days in a row. It takes four days for the antibodies to various foods to reduce back down, so if you want to reduce your mild sensitivities and not develop new ones, you have to eat different foods each day for four days and then start all over with the first day. At first it can seem a bit daunting, but here’s an example below.  We strive to provide healthy foods while including foods that kids find “fun” so that they don’t experience added the added stress of feeling left out at the lunch table.

If you are dealing with chronic disease, I would urge you to give food sensitivity testing a try before taking big steps medically. Imagine the difference in health that can be experienced when we stop introducing foods our bodies find toxic and inflammatory!