Naturalpath

A: You could be suffering from delayed food allergies or food sensitivities. Immediate food allergies occur when you eat something and you have an acute response to it, i.e. hives, wheezing, etc.

Delayed food sensitivities are harder to pinpoint as they may occur any time from a couple of hours to a couple of days after you eat the offending food. Symptoms of these reactions include the obvious: gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation and the not so obvious: joint pain/arthritis, weight gain or the inability to lose weight, skin eruptions including acne and eczema and mood disorders.

These delayed reactions can occur due to damage to the gut lining from poor diet, chronic use of over the counter drugs including non steroidal anti-inflammatory pills and aspirin, stress, coffee and alcohol. These can cause the gut lining to become “leaky” or more permeable to protein from foods.

If you eat the same foods consistently, your immune system can become primed up to them and react by launching an immune response. If you suffer from any of the above symptoms you can either do a trial elimination/ rotation diet or get yourself tested for IgG food sensitivities and gut dysbiosis markers through your local integrated health care professional.