Could Food Allergies Be Trashing Your Mental Health?

Food allergies often wreck my client’s mental health.

Several years ago, I met a young woman who felt emotionally volatile, anxious, and obsessive. She hated being left alone. She frequently felt like dying. Having just broken up with her boyfriend, she found it especially challenging to let go of the relationship. She would cry inconsolably for hours and couldn’t move on. And, as the weeks dragged on, part of her was convinced that she would never escape those emotions.

One of the major factors in her recovery was identifying a gluten intolerance. Within a week of removing it from her diet, her suicidal ideations vanished, her emotions stabilized, and she began the process of grieving and moving on.

She’s not alone. A Meta Analysis conducted in 2018 by Busby et al., showed that, while they didn’t understand why gluten causes all these symptoms, we do know that it does.

Statistics show that up to twenty percent of our population experiences food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances and that number may be on the rise. While we understand those statistics, what’s less understood is that even our healthy foods can cause dire health consequences. As a Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist, I’ve seen mood-related symptoms associated with gluten but also with oats, eggs, corn, and dairy.

Why Are Food Allergies On the Rise?

Tiny protein staples hold the lining of our digestive tract together. They help maintain its integrity and a healthy level of permeability, meaning microscopic particles can pass through the intestinal wall and get into the bloodstream. This is important when you have food poisoning because it alerts the immune system that an infection needs attention. But it’s not so helpful when the intestinal wall is so compromised that food proteins make their way across the barrier into the bloodstream. Once the food proteins get into your bloodstream, your body mounts an immune response to clear them away. That immune response causes diverse symptoms from rashes to migraines, to digestive distress. And, you guessed it, depression and anxiety.  

When this happens, it’s often referred to as “Leaky Gut.”

Antibiotics, poor dietary choices, chronic stress, and environmental toxins are the primary culprits behind this condition.

How Do You Know What Your Food Allergies Are? 

Without testing, it can be a bit laborious to figure out which foods are causing your symptoms. The immune response that your body creates is surprisingly tough. Because of this, it takes up to twenty-eight days to run its course. It means that a food can trigger symptoms for nearly a month. You need to remove all traces of the offending food from your diet for up to 28 days to find out if it is the problem. Then you can reintroduce it over the course of a few days. 

So, for example, if you’re going to start with gluten, you need to remove all wheat, rye, barley, and spelt. You also need to remove hidden sources of gluten like soy sauce. Then, after a month, you can reintroduce it and see how you feel. When the experiment is over, you can address the next food group, like dairy, for example. 

How Can I Test For Food Allergies?

Food sensitivity tests make this process a lot easier. Alletess, Mosaic Diagnostics, and Elisa are all reputable labs. They use blood tests to provide you with results on hundreds of foods in less than a month. It begs the question, “why go through months of food elimination and reintroduction, when you can know the answers in just a couple of weeks?” It’s the route my family took and it’s what I recommend for my clients.

At Sycamore and Sage Nutrition, we carry the Mosaic Diagnostics Food Sensitivity Test. Taking the test provides you with the answer to 190 food sensitivities and a one-hour consult with one of our experienced nutritionists. As a result, you’ll walk away empowered to make the right decision for your health and well-being. And the best part? The lab mails the kit to your home and it only requires a finger poke. If you don’t want to do it yourself, simply request the kit that requires a blood draw. Your local lab will happily help you out for a nominal fee. You can order your test and get started today.

Now You Know, What Next?

Whether you test for food allergies or use an elimination diet to figure out your food sensitivities, a typical protocol involves: 

1. Removing the offending food or foods.
2. Working with a knowledgeable practitioner to clean up your diet. They can help you resolve the root cause of your issues. For example, is your diet high in pesticides or antibiotics? Are you under high levels of stress?
3. Taking supplements to help restore the integrity of your digestive tract and support digestion.
4. Restoring your good bacteria.
5. Reintroducing foods as tolerated.

Busby et al,, concluded their Meta-Analysis by saying “Gluten elimination may represent an effective treatment strategy for mood disorders in individuals with gluten-related disorders.”

I’m here to tell you that it’s not only effective but a potentially powerful tool to restore hope and peace of mind without the use of medication.

For even more nutrition tips to help alleviate depression, check out my blog post Three Reasons Your Diet is Disastrous For Your Depression.

For most people, minor lifestyle changes will make a big difference. However, there are times when the problem runs deeper, and you need professional help. If you’ve tried to figure this out on your own, or you feel like you’re lost in a maze of information and aren’t sure which path to take, don’t give up hope.

We have a range of different approaches that will help you figure out the root cause of your dysfunction and stop the cycle of sickness so you can feel better now. Book your free 15-minute chat today to learn more.