A food allergy develops when your immune system treats a food you have eaten as an invader, not s friend. This can happen for a number of reasons- the food may contain a kind of protein, that the body does not like or when the inside lining of the digestive tract becomes more permeable or normally ‘leaky’ due to antibiotic use, excess alcohol consumption, gut infection and excessive physical or emotional stress. The leakiness enables food proteins to ‘gate crash’ your blood stream and your immune system will react to these ‘gate crashers’ by attacking them. Your immune attaches antibodies to the gate crashers which attack and destroy it with specialised cells such as phagocytes and releases all sorts of reactive chemicals, such as histamine, which also cause many of the symptoms we experience as allergic reactions. The two most common types of allergic reaction are:

Immediate onset-IgE

Delayed onset – IgG

involve 2 different families of antibodies called IgE and IgG respectively

IgE conditions and symptoms

Allergic dermatitis, eczema, angioedema (swelling of the skin- e.g. the lips), psoriasis, asthma, interstitial cystitis (recurring urinary tract infections with no known cause), epilepsy, non- seasonal allergic rhinitis, ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease

IgG conditions and symptoms

Non seasonal allergic rhinitis, ankylosing spondylitis (member of a group of rheumatic diseases that affects the mobility of the spine), anxiety, panic attacks, , asthma, ADHD, autism ( associated with milk and gluten cereal allergies), bed wetting, depression, diabetes- insulin dependent ( gluten, soya and milk casein are primary culprits) eczema, epilepsy (with a history of migraines or hypoglycaemia), fatigue, fibromyalgia, headaches, inflammatory bowel disease, iron deficiency anaemia, IBS/ leaky gut, middle ear disease, rheumatoid arthritis and sleep disorders

Food Intolerances

Some foods or drinks knock your system out of balance and the 2 big culprits are SUGAR and CAFFEINE. The more you eat or drink, the more resistant you may become to their affects, resulting in rebound exhaustion. This is food intolerance!

There are other kinds of food intolerance which we define as non-immunological response to food- you get symptoms but there is no observable or measureable immune reaction. The most common example is intolerance of lactose- milk sugar found in cow’s milk- which happens in people who lack adequate supplies of the enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest it.

How do I test for Allergies or intolerances?

I test for food intolerances and allergies with my pendulum. The first thing I do is check if the person is suffering from intolerance or an allergy. Once I have found this information out I go through my book filled with all the different foods we eat and find what agrees with you and what doesn’t.

There are some amazing crystals which also help you cope with the symptoms of food allergies. These crystals are:

Apophyllite, Aventurine, Danburite, Diamond, Lepidolite and Muscovite