Food Allergy… or Frankenfood?

If you’re one of the millions of people who experience fatigue, overweight, depression, anxiety, headaches, or chronic pain, and don’t have a good solution… it’s time to check your food. In my medical practice, about 90% of patients have reversed all or most of their symptoms when they omit certain foods from their diet. By far, the most common culprit I see is wheat gluten. Even in patients without overt symptoms, they feel better when they eliminate gluten from their diet. This doesn’t happen because so many people have suddenly become intolerant or allergic to common foods like wheat, corn, or peanuts. It happens because someone’s been messing with our food!

Most people are unaware that the government allows not only “fillers” to be added to foods like meat as well as breads, pastas and cereals, but it also allows for toxic pesticides and herbicides to be used on our food. The fillers are synthetic starches that the body does not recognize as food, and that interfere with our absorption of nutrients. The toxins sprayed on crops like peanuts and corn that prevent bugs and weeds from destroying the yield of crop, are also toxic to your body.

If you’ve ever traveled to Europe and come back feeling healthier and lighter, despite having eaten your way through every city, you understand what it’s like to eat…..food. In fact, the reason most people in the U.S. are obese, despite dieting and exercise is not that they’re not eating the “right” foods, or they’re eating too much food; most often it is because there are non-food items sneaking their way into our diet, which confuse the body and creates inflammation and disease.

This week CNBC published,  “GMO crops have proliferated so extensively across the grain belt there is probably no going back for most of the eating public.”

Many of us are not educated on what the consequences of synthetic foods are, or how prevalent they are in our foods. Even if you do not typically eat fast foods or packaged foods, it is difficult to escape synthetics, unless you live an alternative lifestyle and go to extreme measures.

Why are synthetics so harmful? It’s not just that they have toxic effects, but they inhibit the way your body breaks down food. Your body has no way to adequately recognize, breakdown, digest and absorb these genetically modified “Frankenfoods,” because they do not give our bodies the appropriate signals the way real foods do. When we eat foods that our body does not recognize, it responds by increasing our fat cells, where toxins are stored. This protects our vital organs from storing the toxins. This process also increases inflammation, which leads to heart disease and vascular disease as well as impairment of the immune system. It basically messes with your normal chemistry.

Thankfully, the power is within you to make small changes that will protect you and allow your body to receive the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

Here are three simple things you can do now:

First:  Cut it out.
Refrain from eating any overtly synthetic foods such as artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, and crystalline fructose. These are just a bad idea on every level. (Although good marketing has most people think they are healthy and will make you slim.) Also omit all high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This confuses your body’s metabolism and causes overweight and disease. Look at labels! You have to be stealth, but once you develop the habit, this is easy.
Lastly, omit gluten from your diet (sounds harder than it is!) for ONE WEEK. That’s right, just a week. That is about how long it takes for you to see a huge difference, feel SO much better, and never want it again. From there, you will see what I mean and have the motivation to reach for gluten free foods. I highly recommend Store House Foods packaged meals! Healthy, easy, and smart.

Second: Change the way you meat.
Avoid processed meats. Eat only meat without sulfites, or that has been ground fresh (typically, there are additives and fillers when a restaurant or market does not ground the meat themselves.) Whenever you can, eat grass-fed beef and free-range organic meats, since these are void of the growth hormones that are typically in conventional meats.

Third: Go organic…just a little.
Organic really is better, and you don’t have to go all the way. Eating even small amounts of organic fruits and veggies means you diminish your pesticide exposure and toxin load. This helps your body deal with whatever toxins you are inevitably exposed to, and to eliminate the waste and excess food you do not need. Don’t overthink it or become compulsive. Just adding some organic fruits and veggies in gives you energy and vitality, and makes you feel better, so you make better choices overall and it’s easy.

The body is meant to keep a balance; to absorb the nutrients it needs and eliminate what it does not. Support it by adding in as much “clean” foods as possible and eliminating overt toxins and synthetics.

I am happy to be of service with personal questions and tailored dietary needs!
Blessings,
Dr. Kim