THE PROBLEMS OF WEIGHT LOSS: YOU MAY BE ALLERGIC TO YOUR FAVORITE FOODS: TROUBLESOME FOODS

The most allergenic foods in the American diet are the foods we consume the most frequently, namely corn, wheat, dairy products, peanuts, citrus, soy, eggs, and to a lesser degree, nuts. Sugar is another common allergen, although sugar is harmful in other ways as well.

People often become allergic to food just because they eat the same foods too frequently. We eat virtually the same twenty foods every day of our lives! As a nutritionist, I study the dietary patterns of my clients and see what they eat on a day-to-day basis. A typical "healthy" American menu looks like this:

Breakfast:

Slice of whole-grain toast with butter or margarine and jam Cup of coffee with sugar and cream Bowl of whole-grain cereal with milk

Glass of reconstituted orange juice sweetened with fructose or corn syrup

Lunch:

Sandwich with processed meat or a fast-food hamburger

Dinner:

Pasta with tomato or butter sauce (or a protein-based entree) Salad (iceberg lettuce and highly processed dressing) French bread with a little butter Dessert, often with coffee and sugar

Do you see the common thread of wheat, corn, dairy, and sugar running through this typical American menu? Not only is this type of diet deficient in a number of critical nutrients, including protein and fats, it is also a highly pro-allergenic diet.

If you're going to get your allergies under control and thus help bring your weight into line, look closely at your current diet. What foods do you love the most? What foods can you absolutely not live without? What foods do you eat every day? These may be the foods to which you are allergic and should consider eliminating from your diet for at least six weeks. You may drop ten to fifteen pounds just from this simple effort.

The recipes and menus outlined in chapter 8 and Appendix A are designed to avoid most common allergens. Now is an excellent time to start ridding your diet of your allergenic foods. If you follow my food plan very carefully for several weeks, and then eat a food to which you are allergic after having avoided it during that time, you will usually experience a marked response to that food—an increased allergic reaction. To explain this heightened response, imagine a man who is sleeping on a bed of nails. If you remove one of those nails, he won't notice. But let him sleep on a feather bed for a few nights, and then introduce just one nail into the mattress; he will notice it immediately!

Think of your food allergies as nails. Your body is struggling to adapt to the presence of those allergens and often will develop an addiction to that food as part of its adaptive process. If you remove all the allergens, let your body calm down and establish harmony, and then invite the offending substance back in, your body will protest immediately.

Typical allergic symptoms can include digestive upsets (bloating, belching, diarrhea, constipation, alternating diarrhea/constipation), skin eruptions, headaches, depression, sinus infections, frequent bronchial inflammations, fleeting aches and pains, arthritis, palpitations of the heart, inappropriate sleepiness, and of course, weight gain, and many others.

Learn to "read" your body. Dairy products frequently cause sinus infections or oozing sinuses (mucous dripping down the back of the throat) and diarrhea or constipation. Typical symptoms of wheat allergy include headaches, depression, midafternoon sleepiness, snoring, and other mental disorders. But again, any food can cause literally any reaction. Be on the alert for allergies.

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