Food sensitivity test

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idauria
idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
I got my results back today and I can't eat chicken or turkey!!!!!

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  • Cerebrus189
    Cerebrus189 Posts: 315 Member
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    Holy geez! How did that happen and is it common? Are you technically allergic or only sensitive to something in poultry?
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I took a blood test for food sensitivities and 20 food additives, colorings, etc. I have a lot of digestive issues and thought it would be good to know if there are things I should be avoiding. I never thought chicken and turkey would be on that list! Chicken is on the moderate list and turkey on the mild. I will probably have to avoid them for a long time and then re-introduce at some point. I never felt that I had a problem with chicken so we'll see if it makes any difference. Another interesting thing is that coconut is also on the list. I wonder if that means I can't use coconut oil anymore. I'll have to ask the dr that when I see him to go over everything.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
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    I listen to The Paleo View podcasts on my longer runs (3 hours can get a little boring without someone to "talk to") and episode 39 is all about gut health and how to heal your gut (one thing is bone broth soup, which I made over the weekend and have been drinking every morning). The idea is that, after eliminating potential threats and healing your gut with bone broth, prebiotics, etc., you should be able to add some foods that you had a slight sensitivity to back into your diet.
  • Howbouto
    Howbouto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    I'm sorry to hear that, hopefully since they are mild, you can re-introduce them in the long run.

    May I ask what test you had done?
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
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    wow!!! that's crazeeeee!
  • CajunTexan33
    CajunTexan33 Posts: 76 Member
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    I did ALCAT testing as well with DR. Merrikh in Houston- have to say I am astounded at how much my life has changed in two short months! Gluten and dairy intolerant (orange) and high fructose corn syrup, garlic and onions in my red! That's how I finally ended up going "paleo" and the results of the test added a few more things to avoid. I have been on it about 8 weeks now...and I will say I eat things on my yellow probably once a day- eggs are on my list (yolks and whites)..but I have to have them! My protein avoid list was pretty restrictive- no tuna, soy, chicken, eggs, shrimp...so basically stuck with turkey as I dont really eat much red meat!!

    Dr. Merrikh has an amazing Paleo line of protein powders so I have a smoothie every morning and have found that I can typically do chicken or eggs once a day (though chicken is in my orange and eggs in my yellow) as long as the rest of my day is "clean".

    I went from severe daily migraines, no bowel movements for a WEEK at a time, daily fatigue, bloating, and brain fog to droppping 6 poubds and feeling like a normal himan being within 2 weeks. LIterally life changing.
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I took the ALCAT food sensitivity test. I see a doctor in Raleigh, NC who partners with the lab who offers the test. They run all kinds of tests, but the one I took was 200 foods and 20 additives, colors, etc.

    The 3 foods on the severe list are:
    canola oil
    pine nuts
    sardines

    Moderate:
    chicken
    flounder lemon

    Mild:
    bok choy, brazil nuts, brewer's yeast, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cardamom, cashew, coconut(!), cow's milk(although the test indicated that I had no reaction to whey or casein), cranberry, egg yolk(white is ok), eggplant, grape, grapefruit, honeydew, kidney beans, kiwi, licorice, lime, nectarine, papaya, paprika(but bell peppers are ok, go figure that one), parsnip, peanut, pear, pomegranate, rosemary, squid, tapioca, thyme, turkey, watercress.

    Even though most of the things that showed are on the mild list, I will avoid everything for now. Of course no chicken means no stock, which is a bummer because I really prefer the taste to beef stock. However, I did buy 3 bags of grass fed beef bones today and will be making stock tonight.

    The interesting thing is that there are things on the acceptable list that I personally find bother my stomach. I guess that's a different issue.

    Oh the test also revealed that I have a mild intolerance to gluten/gliaden!
  • redheadmommy
    redheadmommy Posts: 908 Member
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    I am thinking do a food intolarence test on our family and I have read a lot of ALCAT test. They have been critised a lot as they often show false positives for food that patient eats too much or has never eaten.

    I am still researching on these tests, but I am not sure I would believe the result if it contradict personal observation.
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I asked the guy at the lab about false positives and he says that the alcat is over 90% effective because it is not dependent on responses already incurred in your body. They test at the cellular level, so it doesn't matter if you've ever eaten a food or have eaten too much of a food. It's different and more accurate than the IGG tests.
  • redheadmommy
    redheadmommy Posts: 908 Member
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    Have you experimented with the chicken and turkey since the test? Did you confirmed your sensitivity to them? Have you eliminated them and tried to reintroducing them later? After all , do you think the test gave you accurate results?

    This whole food sensitivity drives me crazy. Instead of the ALCAT we did the Elisa igg test on my son , and it came back positive to gluten , gliadin, eggs, whey and citrus fruits. We already knew about the wheat because I figured it out by elimination and reintoduction for 3-4 times . So that was correct for sure, but I am not sure the others are not false positives. We cut out all of those 6 weeks ago after our test result, but it didn't helped and his symptoms show up totally random.
    Since eggs were a huge part of his diet , it made our life very miserable to cutting out. I reintroduced the eggs 24 hrs ago , and nothing changed. So they probably were not the part of the problem, which I am so glad.

    anyway now we are back at square one and trying to figure out what else is a problem. He is not even 5 yrs old and terrified of needles. We mainly decided to do the IGG testing because that only a finger prick test and not a full blood drawn. Now I am thinking to do the ALCAT. It is expensive, but that is the smaller problem. Drawing blood is a mayor thing and I do not want to torture my son unnecessarily.
  • justaspoonfulofsugar
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    @redheadmommy
    I have a child who faints with pain,I was shocked to see such a low pain threshold,he either faints or vomits when pain happens.
    the last time we were at the dr the receptionist gave him a bandage that had lidocaine on it,he was able to get the needle with NO issue because he couldn't feel it.
    psychologically leading up to the exam he was super stressed but when he realised he couldn't feel anything,he was fine.
    I am sure you could get your hands on these.
    hope you sort out the issue soon.
    My child deals with wheat and it's not good.
    it presents itself in stomach and skin but luckily it seems to be only that atm
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
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    redheadmommy, I have not reintroduced any foods from my intolerance test yet. I have to avoid for a minimum of 3 months. However, even though I have eliminated everything on those lists, my digestive system is still a mess so now I am doing a pretty strict elimination diet, per the book Digestive Health with Real Food by Aglaee Jacobs. It's an excellent read for anyone with digestive issues. As far as the test accuracy goes though, I never thought I had an issue with chicken although chicken stock always gave me stomach aches. Now, I know i have a problem with egg yolks and that did come up in the mild column. I removed eggs from my diet a long time ago, which is fine since I don't like them anyway and I don't plan on reintroducing them. Interestingly enough, I did not show any intolerance to egg whites, only yolks.
  • redheadmommy
    redheadmommy Posts: 908 Member
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    justaspoonful: I am not sure it is the pain in case of my son or the whole experience is frightening for him. Last time was awful he kept screaming "mommy do not let them hurt me " and I felt like the worst mother on the world. He is generally super risk averse and won't go near to anything that potentially hurtful or dangerous. I think it is psychological. His little sister is the opposite and she goes through everything like a tank. A few days ago she bumped her head into a table, which made a huge bumping noise. She looked a bit suprised, but kept going and my son started to scream that the baby hurt herself and became very upset.

    idaurie: we also supposed to cut out those foods for 3 months minimum, but after 6 weeks I gave up because there was no real improvement. I reintroduced them 4 days ago and he is not any worse or any better than before. It is challenging because he is a small child, and I have to make judgement about how he is doing without actually feeling what he feels.
    Now we started a detailed food diary and beside the food, we write down any observable digestive and behavioural pattern. I hope after a couple of months we may able to see some pattern. Thanks for the book suggestion, I definitely will look into it. If it were me , I would do the very strict elimination diet too. But it is hard to explain for a small child that he can not eat something he loves and it is healthy food like eggs or orange.
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I didn't realize you were were doing this for your son. I can imagine it being more difficult trying to implement a strict diet of any kind with a child. The hard part about all this is that there are so many factors that could be going on. So many things to have a sensitivity to...nightshades, FODMAPS, salicylates, etc etc. I guess that's why I chose the path I did. I want to eliminate everything and just get to a baseline where I can hopefully start feeling better. I am in week 2 and am not seeing any real improvement yet. Even these so called safe foods I am eating are causing issues. I am uber frustrated but am sticking it out. I worry that I won't feel any better after the 4-6 week elimination period. I have decided that I am going to reintroduce foods anyway and see what happens. I can't eat this restrictive indefinitely, nor are you supposed to.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    Keep in mind, too, that for some sensitivities, it takes more than 4-6 weeks to work out. It's probably a good idea to stick with it for 6 weeks at a minimum.