June 30, 2022
healthline.com offers us the following understanding of a food allergy vs. a food sensitivity.
The difference between a food allergy and sensitivity is the body’s response. When you have a food allergy, your immune system causes the reaction. If you have a food sensitivity or intolerance, the reaction is triggered by the digestive system. (https://www.healthline.com/health/allergies/food-allergy-sensitivity-difference)
Symptoms of food intolerance include gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, cramping, and nausea.
Symptoms of food allergy include hives, swelling, itching, anaphylaxis, and dizziness.
When my daughter was a baby I would feed her canned fruit. She loved it and let me know that she was unhappy about not getting more when the can was empty.
I noticed that the next time I fed her she would sometimes get little red bumps all over her tummy. I also noticed that the third time I fed her she would get them all over her body. One time I discovered three little red dots on her abdomen. They were on her right side, just underneath her ribcage.
I started feeding her in only her diaper so that I could watch for those initial 3 little bumps. It seemed that if she was going to have a reaction to something then the first time she was exposed she would get those three little dots; which were almost imperceptible.
I also noticed that even though I was feeding her the same thing sometimes she would break out and other times she wouldn’t. WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?
I realized that I tended to switch between two brands. One brand had Vitamin C as a preservative and the other brand had ascorbic acid as the preservative. I asked the professionals what the difference was. They said "nothing;" that the two substances are the same thing.
By the time she was 2 years old I had a list of 18 things that she could not eat without breaking out. They all seemed to be unrelated.
Fast forward about 5 years. We had moved. I stumbled across a professional who pursues health through using a variety of alternative methods. One of which is studying blood through a microscope.
By using blood microscopy the health of my family substantially improved. There was so much improvement that even my husband started having his blood looked at. Until this point he just considered it to be a bunch of nonsense.
As part of this experience I found out that when it comes to preservatives in food anything that says “ascorbic acid” is actually a substance that was made in a laboratory. Anything that says “Vitamin C” as a preservative is the actual, naturally occurring thing.
Reading labels on food just took on a whole new meaning. This also included package deciphering. What do all the statements on the package, with the intention of enticing me to purchase that particular product, really mean?
Topics of Future & More Detailed Discussion:
* Reading / Deciphering the label required on all food products / My food rules
* An overview of various approaches to establishing and maintaining our own health
Do you have a health related topic that you would like to see addressed in a future blog? Be sure to leave your requests in the comments below.
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