Monday, October 4, 2010

And Our First Food Choice Is. . .

Tomatoes!  We treated for tomatoes today. Why?  Because I think we can get a lot of bang for our buck if my kid can eat tomatoes again without breaking out in hives.  Oh the pasta sauces, soups, BBQ, chili, and salsas! Not to mention ketchup.  This poor kid doesn't even know what ketchup tastes like!!  Plus tomatoes shouldn't require all the work that wheat or dairy will need.  So my plan is to get him eating more variety and then we'll tackle the biggies.

On a related note, I once again watched my child's perfectly clear skin breakout before my eyes.  This time it was while eating a pork sausage.  His eyelids and neck immediately became dry, red, and peely.  About a week ago this also happened with a pepperoni stick from Whole Foods.  Could it be pork?  Yes, according to the muscle testing.  It was quite amazing during the test--using me as a surrogate I held the 'pork mix' vial while my son touched the top of my hand.  The doctor then proceeded to test the strength of my other arm.  She could have used a feather, my arm had absolutely no strength in it what so ever.  So our next treatment will be Pork.  Then we'll work on eggs and soy as there's more work to be done there.

4 comments:

  1. Could you explain this muscle testing? I haven't heard of it.

    With sausage and pepperoni I might suspect high histamine levels. Processed foods in general are bad for these.
    http://www.michiganallergy.com/food_and_histamine.shtml

    In my personal experience raw tomatoes are OK, but have an inflammatory effect in concentrated form such as paste or ketchup. Good luck.

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  2. Hi--
    There's no doubt that my kid has high histamine levels, hence his reaction to so many foods that transpires into hives. Since his skin has been looking great the last few weeks, we immediately know when a particular food is not agreeing with him. It's actually a good thing.

    Muscle testing (aka applied kinesiology) is a bit bizarre and hard to wrap one's mind around (at least for me.) However, I'm more of a believer in it since the RAST blood test we had done last year validated all of the allergens found via muscle testing. It's a non-invasive approach. The patient holds a substance (or diluted vial of the substance) in a hand, while holding the other arm out. The practitioner then can tell if there are energy blockages within the body leading to allergic responses based on the strength of the extended arm. My practitioner takes it a step further and can tell which organs are being affected. I would think it's hard to get more Western medicine doctors on board with this, however I was floored when my kid's Ped/MD said it was a valid way of testing.

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  3. Count me a skeptic. If the substance is in a vial in your hand, the antibodies in your blood aren't going to bind to it and get your immune system involved. (You can tell that I don't go for non-scientific explanations.)

    The problem is that Western medicine has no reliable diagnostic for food reactions. RAST, I am told, isn't so great for those of us with eczema because we have such high numbers of antibodies floating around that they tend to swamp the test results. The only answer at the moment, as frustrating as it might be, is an elimination diet.

    When it comes to food issues, my philosophy has always been that you're less likely to have a reaction to something if 1) you made it yourself and 2) the ingredients are simple and few in number. That way you can be relatively sure you're not dosing yourself with "spices," which is food industry shorthand for "anything," including cayenne, which means instant itch.

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  4. Yeah, I'm right there with you as far as being a skeptic. But I've witnessed a few things with my own eyes that have me saying "something is going on here." Only time will really tell, but to see my kid's skin clear and him not itching lately is a blessing.

    And yes, you are right on about eating as natural as possible. It's getting harder these days as "natural flavorings' are popping up in many unassuming foods, and as it turns out these are not natural at all. I have a lot of luck shopping at Trader Joe's, but we keep things pretty simple.

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