How to Test for Food Sensitivities at Home for FREE!

26 Aug How to Test for Food Sensitivities at Home for FREE!

Do you suffer from chronic digestive issues like gas, bloating, constipation or maybe even diarrhea? How about skin rashes like eczema or psoriasis or maybe even severe acne? Do you have recurring joint pain or suffer from muscle aches and chronic fatigue? If you answered yes to any of these, it could be that the root cause of your symptoms actually stems from a food sensitivity. As we talked about in last week’s blog, The 5 Shocking Foods that Account for 75% of all Food Sensitivities, food sensitivities affect everyone on this planet to varying degrees, yet because these symptoms are so much more subtle than the symptoms of an allergy, it’s common for people to live for years, even a lifetime, without even knowing they have a food sensitivity. Plus, it’s important to note that because a food sensitivity causes reactions in the digestive system and not the immune system, it can take up to 48 hours for a symptom to actually surface as that food makes its way through the digestive track.

Now the best way to really know for sure what foods you are sensitive to is to get an IgG blood test done with a nutritionist or health care practitioner but these tests don’t come cheap. The typically IgG test runs between $250 – $600 depending on how many foods you have analyzed. BUT this isn’t your only option! There are in fact at least two other ways, which I’m going to discuss below, that you can test yourself and your family at home for FREE!

The first DIY at home test is to do an elimination diet. This is where you would completely remove from your diet a food that you suspect might be causing you issues for anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Again as we discussed in my last blog, if you don’t know where to begin, there are 5 foods that account for 75% of all food sensitivities in America. Those foods are; wheat, dairy, soy, corn and eggs. You could start by choosing one or two of these foods and then be sure to completely eliminate them from the diet. Once you’ve created that “clean slate” you would slowly reintroduce the food back into your diet, paying attention to any symptoms that might arise, like the ones mentioned at the beginning of this article. If a food is causing issues in your system, the longer it’s absent from the body the more reactive you’ll be to it the next time you try to digest it.

The second way you can test for a food sensitivity is by doing the Coca Pulse Test, which was published back in 1956 by the prestigious immunologist, Dr Arthur Coca. The Coca pulse test is based on the phenomena of how stress affects your pulse rate: if you are sensitive or intolerant to a food, when you ingest that food you will immediately cause stress inside the body, which will then manifest as an increased (and in some cases, decreased) pulse rate. What I like about this test is that it’s easy, free and provides a way to trace a stress response to certain foods but I will warn you, his actual test is quite time consuming and cumbersome, which is why I prefer the adapted variation below (Dr Coca’s book is now public domain and available for free here on the internet).

Instructions
1. Write down the name of the food item or supplement to be tested.
2. Sit quietly for 5 minutes. Then measure your resting pulse rate for 1 full minute.
3. Place the food item or supplement to be tested on your tongue, then close your mouth. You do not need to chew or swallow the sample – just get a good taste. Note: Encapsulated supplements need to be removed from the capsule first.
4. Wait at least 1 minute.
5. Check your pulse rate again for 1 full minute and record the result.
6. Rinse your mouth thoroughly with pure, warm water and then wait until your pulse rate is back to the original pretest rate. Note: This can take hours to happen for severe reactions, but normally only takes about 10 minutes.
7. Repeat this test with the next food item or supplement.

IF YOUR PULSE RATE INCREASES OR DROPS BY 4 OR MORE BEATS PER MINUTE (3 BEATS IF YOU HAVE TYPE O BLOOD), THEN THE ITEM BEING TESTED COULD BE CAUSING A REACTION

Option: Do this test after eating a whole meal. If you notice an increase or drop in heartbeat you can then break down the meal and test the individual items.

We are all entitled to feel the best that we can and so often I find that most of us don’t even know how good we can actually feel. As a society we’ve become so used to living with symptoms that we begin to accept them as “normal” when in fact there is nothing normal about them. With a just a little detective work you can easily find out which foods are not supportive to you and your body and by eliminating them you can start to improve your health immediately!