Some healthy foods could be derailing your diet
When you think about the foods you probably shouldn't eat if you're watching your waistline, you're probably not pointing a finger at any of many healthy options.
But there's a simple test trending right now that can identify the exact foods that are making you gain weight.
In his book, Your Hidden Food Allergies Are Making You Fat , Roger Deutsch says tomatoes, corn and even lettuce could cause cravings that make you overeat and cause inflammation.
"It can be a food that itself is not considered an unhealthy food or a fatty food. It's just one that doesn't match well with our genetics," he said.
Deutsch is one the pioneers of the ALCAT test - a blood test that measures your body's individual cellular response to more than 200 foods.
And once you single out the culprits, you automatically start losing weight.
Avocados and artichokes may seem harmless - even healthy - but those are the foods that were packing on the pounds for Wendell Potter.
Since cutting out those foods, Potter is already down 10 pounds!
Dr. Michael Jurgelewicz from the Bucks County Center for Functional Medicine says many people don't even know they have food sensitivities because an inflammatory reaction can take up to 3 days.
"Probably some of the top 3 offenders I see come back on reports is gluten, egg and dairy," said Dr. Jurgelewicz.
Angela Pointon from Ardmore is his patient. She says after eliminating eggs, mustard seed and other offenders on her test, the weight fell off.
"I ended up losing 30 pounds after getting rid of those foods from my diet," she said.
Now, the test can get pricey and not all insurance companies are willing to pick up the tab.
Dr. Heather Moday runs a functional medicine center in Center City. She says you can get similar results with a simple and free elimination diet gives an unbelievable amount of information without having to run any food sensitivity testing.
For a short time, Dr. Moday recommends removing the most common inflammatory offenders, such as gluten, dairy, eggs and soy.
Then, slowly reintroduce them to see how you feel.
"Eliminate gluten, eggs, all grains, white potatoes, dairy, soy, processed foods, industrial oils like corn, peanut and vegetable oils and white sugar. For autoimmune, sometimes nuts and nightshades. Its only 21 days and then we add things back to see how people react. Really its about accentuating fresh foods, non GMO, and organic products," she said.
Steve Krol says his blood pressure is down and so is his weight
"I was 204 and I'm down to 184. I have lost one pants size," he said.
It's a little more work than the test, but either way, once you have the results, you have to do the work and eliminate your trigger foods.
There are various food allergy tests on the market, and a number of practitioners and doctors can order it for you.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
