Multiple Food Sensitivities and Weight Gain

By Theresa Harding

One of the many challenges to my weight loss efforts was trying to figure out why I was always feeling bloated.  It seemed like, the more careful I was at selecting my snacks, the more I was feeling bloated after snacking on my favorite treat.  I always noticed that I would feel bloated after eating my favorite blue corn tortilla chips, and this caused me to increase weight in return for my indulgence.  This was my favorite snack.  I figured it’s only a snack, so why would I feel bloated only after eating a simple snack?  I did consider at one time, to see my doctor for food sensitivity testing, but I never did.  I started taking digestive enzymes to help alleviate the bloating.  I did get some relief, but I continued to eat the corn tortilla chips because I craved them all the time.  Well, after doing more research, I learned that I am now sensitive to this snack food.  So, I no longer eat blue corn tortilla chips for a snack.  I’m also happy to say that my midsection does not inflate anymore, lol!

Whether it’s low fat, low carb, low GI – most of us have tried, and failed, to lose weight at some point. Some of the weight gain problems could be much more deep-rooted – a multiple food sensitivity. According to medical estimates, food sensitivities affect 75% of the population, having a profound impact on their health and weight.

How it Affects the Gut Lining

Multiple food sensitivities can damage the gut lining. Damage to the gut can lead to a leaky gut, allowing food particles to be exposed to the gut’s immune system. This then triggers a system-wide immune response, leading to inflammation all over the body and producing obesity by increasing insulin resistance. Inflammation from any cause — infections, food sensitivity, or a high-sugar, bad-fat diet — will produce insulin resistance, leading to higher insulin levels, and an increase in weight.  Since insulin is the hormone that signals your body to store more fat — mostly around the belly.

Symptoms of Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities, also referred to as food allergies or food reactions can result in digestive disturbances such as gas, belching or bloating after meals. But they can also cause symptoms not related to the digestive system including headaches (including a migraine), joint pain, arthritis, hyperactivity, skin rashes, asthma, dry cough, wheezing, diarrhea, kidney damage and elevated liver enzymes. Food sensitivities can make you feel lethargic, sleepy, or low in energy, especially after eating. They can also be responsible for mood swings and cravings.  No one ever thinks about getting a food sensitivity testing done, to find out the underlying cause of their weight gain.

Food Cravings

I always craved the blue corn tortilla chips all the time, even though I would feel bloated while eating them.  They were my guilty pleasure.  Unfortunately, the foods that most people crave are also the foods that they are likely to be sensitive to. Some people feel that they are addicted to their problem foods, but it is not the food itself, but the endorphins—the body’s opium-like painkillers which are triggered by the problem foods—that they are addicted to. Because of the cravings associated with food sensitivities, there is a tendency to overeat and increase weight, which is likely to be a problem. For underweight individual’s, food sensitivities may have the opposite effect, making it difficult for them to gain weight. Both overweight and underweight individuals often find it easier to reach and maintain their ideal weight when their food sensitivities are properly addressed through nutrition and lifestyle changes.  You can find out now, what foods to avoid by simply seeing your doctor for food sensitivity testing.  This might be the solution to your weight gain.

The Top Foods that Contribute to Food Sensitivities

These are the top foods to which people are sensitive. Some of the common food sensitivities are;

• GMO, genetically modified Organism, foods.
• Gluten (in wheat, rye, barley, and some oats).
• Dairy
• Corn
• Eggs
• Soy
• Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts).
• Nightshades are a family of vegetables that include potatoes (except sweet potatoes and yams), tomatoes, peppers (green, red, yellow, orange, jalapeno, chili, and pimentos), eggplant, tobacco, spices (from peppers like cayenne, chili, red pepper, curry mixes, paprika)
• Citrus
• Yeast (baker’s, brewer’s yeast, and fermented products like vinegar)

Common Reasons for Food Sensitivities

There are also common reasons why most people suffer from multiple food sensitivities. The reasons are related to too much of one food, Leaky gut syndrome, Deficiency of Probiotics, over-worked immune system, and Genetics.

If you are overweight and can’t seem to lose that last ten pounds, multiple food sensitivities are likely part of the problem. They are the cause of inflammation, which is the underlying cause of weight gain. You can lose a significant amount of weight just by eliminating foods from your diet which you are sensitive.

It is also recommended to short-term, eliminate dairy and gluten because, both dairy (milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt) and gluten (found in wheat, barley, rye, some oats, spelled, triticale, and kamut) are linked to insulin resistance and, therefore, weight gain. Temporarily cutting them out of the diet, allows the inflamed gut to heal. This one move may be the single most important thing you can do to lose weight.

Have you tried the food elimination process to identify what foods you’re sensitive to?  Please share.

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