If you have allergies to some of the foods that you eat, it can take a long time to identify the specific foods responsible for your allergies. Medical professionals sometimes overlook and misdiagnose allergies to foods unless you have a severe reaction to a specific food item. A low reactive diet is a diet plan that allows you to find out the specific foods that cause allergic reactions in your body through a process of elimination. You should only use a low reactive diet if you develop mild allergy symptoms to foods. Additionally, always consult a medical professional before attempting this diet.
Digestive Workup
Before you begin the low reactive diet, go to an allergist or a general physician for a digestive workup. She will evaluate your diet and assess potential foods that you might cause allergic reactions in your body. The low reactive diet lists both foods that you can eat and foods that you must avoid during the diet. The digestive workup will confirm the absence or presence of a specific allergy to any of the foods you will eat during your low reactive diet. The digestive workup typically takes approximately three weeks to complete.
What the Diet Eliminates
During the initial phase of the low reactive diet, you will remove specific foods from your diet. The foods you will remove include eggs, shellfish, other types of fish, dairy, gluten, yeast, fermented foods, bread, beer, salicylates in teas, aspirin, certain fruits and vegetables, chocolate, coffee, food additives, preservatives, colors and MSG. The process of elimination does not completely rule out the possible allergen. Once you have successfully removed these items from your diet, the low reactive diet will require you to add the items back into your diet one at a time to determine if you develop an allergic reaction to any of the foods added back to your diet.
Allergic to Foods
Your body produces the antibody immunoglobulin E when you have an allergic reaction to food. Typically, your body will have a similar response every time you consume the food you have an allergy to. This makes it easier for you to identify the specific foods that produce an allergic reaction. As your body produces immunoglobulin E, your body will also release histamine. The histamine causes the symptoms of many allergic reactions including runny noses, blistering or welts on your skin and difficulty breathing.
Intolerance to Foods
In some cases, your body can take a long time to respond to the allergen. In this case, your body may not produce immunoglobulin G until many hours or days after exposure to the food item. Clinically, this delayed response is called a delayed hypersensitive reaction. When your body has a delayed response, you actually have a food intolerance and not a food allergy. The low reactive diet can help you identify food allergies. However, this diet may not successfully identify intolerances to specific foods due to the delayed reaction.
References
- "The Reactive Hypoglycemia Cookbook"; Stephanie Kenrose; 2010
- "Food Allergies and Food Intolerance: The Complete Guide to Their Identification and Treatment"; Jonathan Brostoff M.D, Linda Gamlin and Jonathan Brostoff; 2000
- "Food Allergy Survival Guide: Surviving and Thriving with Food Allergies and Sensitivities"; Vesanto Melina, Dina Aronson and Jo Stepaniak; 2004
- The Food Intolerance Bible: A Nutritionist's Plan to Beat Food Cravings, Fatigue, Mood Swings, Bloating, Headaches, IBS and Deal with Food Allergies"; antony J. Haynes and Antoinette Savill; 2008
