Food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities are so common it's getting impossible to cook a meal for friends without taking a medical history first. Ask anyone and I bet they'll tell you that they react to peanuts, gluten, corn, soy, egg, yeast, shellfish or strawberries.
What's going on?
One theory is that we're in a state of immunological overwhelm because our environment is so loaded with chemicals. Over 80,000 named chemicals are known to be polluting our air, food and water. When the immune system detects a chemical in a particular food that it sees as dangerous (because it is or because it resembles something that is), it launches an attack.
Dr. Claudia Miller named this phenomenon TILT: Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance. Read a lot more about it HERE.
This condition develops when a person has a major exposure to toxic chemicals (Chernobyl) or many minor exposures over a long period of time (hairdressers). This causes the immune system to become more sensitive to things like foods, chemicals or bacteria. It is also implicated as a cause of autoimmune conditions.
Where are these Chemicals?
Here's the tip of the iceberg:
Chemicals in Food and Water
We absorb chemicals called dichlorophenols from chlorinated tap water and grocery store food. They are also found in these common household items:
- Pesticides
- Moth Balls
- Air Fresheners
People with the highest levels of these chemicals have almost twice as many food allergies.
Chemicals in Beauty Products
The average female uses 12 beauty products a day while the average male uses around 6.
Things like phthalates allow the colors and scents of these products to stay suspended evenly throughout the product. Parabens are added to keep bacteria and molds from growing in them. Triclosan is a “germ killer” added to hand sanitizers, toothpaste and deodorants.
These chemicals are now present in most people and those with higher levels have more food allergies and sensitivities.
How Do THESE Chemicals Harm Us?
Chemicals alter your immune system in many ways. Here are a few:
Chemicals kill beneficial microbes in your body, the soil, and the air.
Chemicals deplete vitamin D — a nutrient essential to healing in the body.
Chemicals change how the immune system develops and reacts.
What You Can Do
1. Get rid of the products mentioned above and check the labels of other household items for parabens, triclosan, BPA and phthalates. Use coconut oil - google all of the amazing things you can make with it from makeup removal and skin cream to toothpaste.
2. Eat ORGANIC food as a rule, not the exception. You can afford to now that you have stopped buying all of those toxic beauty products.
3. Filter your water. This one actually works.
4. Do a serious elimination diet for a month and then carefully reintroduce suspicious foods. It's not as easy as it sounds but it's well worth it. Get help from a skilled practitioner, like me. Learn more about MCS here and please do not wear cologne or scented hair products when you come to see me. ;)
