Absolutely.
But how is that possible you might ask?
Let me share the story of one of my clients.
Her problem was: she could not lose the weight because she was chronically inflamed.
Her food sensitivities and the imbalances in her gut resulted in the inflammation. How did we know she had food sensitivities? She embarked on an elimination/cleanse protocol soon after we started to work together and we also introduce some good bacteria to help her gut.
The result? She started to lose weight and feel better in just a few weeks. The holidays came and went and even though she did come off her path somewhat, she only gained one pound. Now that she knows the foods she is sensitive to, she is much more careful about what she chooses to eat and the weight continues to shed.
Food sensitivities are a much bigger issue than you may realize, so even if you don’t think you have a food sensitivity, take a minute or two and answer these questions below. You might be surprised. Answering “yes” can indicate the possible food intolerances.
- Do you have puffy eyes or dark circles beneath your eyes?
- Do you suffer from unexplained headaches? Depression or foggy thinking?
- Have chronic joint pain, muscle aches or arthritis?
- Do you have itchy skin, eczema or rashes?
- Do feel extremely tired after eating or in general?
- Do you eat the same foods every day?
- Do you have frequent sinus infections or stuffy nose?
- Does your throat tickle? Or suffer from chronic coughing?
- Are you a compulsive eater? Do you find yourself binge eating often?
- Do you suffer from a lot of water retention?
- Do you often feel bloated? Gassy, burp a lot or have chronic constipation?
- Does your weight go up and down every day by as much as five pounds?
- Find you are unable to lose weight no matter how much you exercise and watch the calories you eat.
Ninety percent of food sensitivities stem from the most common reaction-producing foods: wheat/gluten, dairy, corn, unfermented soy, peanuts, eggs, citrus, and MSG.
Top it with eating the typical American Diet and you end up fostering the growth of bad bugs in the gut. They then damage the gut lining and produce toxins that are absorbed into your system.
Because of the damage in your gut lining, partially digested food particles will end up leaking into your bloodstream. What happens next is that your immune system will react to the toxins and foods, producing inflammation. That inflammation then leads to a toxic liver + insulin resistance, which will make your body store higher levels of insulin in your body. And insulin is a fat promoting hormone as we all know.
So this is how an unhealthy gut will make you fat, sick and tired. Inflammation is how all diseases start.
So how do you figure out if you have food sensitivities? Here are some tips to get you started:
1) Eat a whole foods based diet that is right for your metabolic type. Let go of processed foods and introduce foods that will feed the good bacteria in your gut (such as fermented foods).
2) Add in some good quality probiotics on a daily basis to boost the good bacteria in your gut. Choose from reputable brands.
3) Try an elimination diet for a few weeks. Cut out the so called “Sensitive Seven” and watch the pounds melt away.(One client lost a pound per day when she gave up her beloved dairy.)
You will see a huge difference within a few short weeks, I guarantee it.
You can be sensitive to any food – even otherwise so called “healthy” foods like Greek-style yogurt, egg-white omelets, soy milk, beans etc. Typically, we will develop sensitivities to the foods we eat most often. Because the “Sensitive Seven “are all common ingredients and the basis for many commercial and processed foods, most of us are overexposed to them.
So what are the “Sensitive Seven Foods”?
They are dairy, gluten, soy, corn, eggs, peanuts, sugar and artificial sweeteners.
When you do an elimination diet, you are technically pulling out the high food intolerant foods from your diet for a period of few weeks and then challenge your body by adding it back slowly (one-by-one) and see how you feel.
Food intolerance’s kind of “sneak upon” you. Many of us never make the connection between the foods we eat and how we feel.
One of my client came to me with IBS symptoms. We determined her metabolic type which in this case, under stress, has a very sensitive digestive system. We did the elimination diet and she immediately felt better after taking out wheat/gluten and dairy from her diet. We then worked on strengthening her digestive system so that she could easily digest the more difficult to digest foods such as gluten and diary.
It’s not the gluten or diary that is a problem – its a poor digestive system.
So whats the next step? – An Ayurveda rejuvenating cleanse.
If you have signs and symptoms of poor digestion such as gas, bloating, burping, constipation or diarrhea, loose stools and heartburn, try my free 5 Day Anti-Inflammatory Cleanse.
In health,
