Hey all, Dr. Cait here. As many of you have seen either the Facebook videos or heard us talk about it in the office, we are now offering Food Sensitivity Testing!!! I figured that I would take a minute to write a bit about the how, the why and the what about why we are doing this.
I have a Master’s in Clinical Nutrition and if you’ve spent any time talking with me about nutrition, you know that I’m super passionate about it and can go on forever talking about the latest research, documentaries and the current dietary trends that are out there. I’m really excited that I get to tap into that part of my education (and passion) and help more patients in our office with some of their issues that might extend beyond the musculoskeletal realm.
I started looking into food sensitivity testing for myself originally as I have pretty bad knees from years of sports, but I felt like there were other factors beyond needing the recommended knee replacements. I noticed that whenever I “ate clean” my knees actually got worse. By about day 5 or so walking would become incredibly painful. The challenge that this caused was that I had zero incentive to eat healthier and thus wasn’t losing the weight that would ultimately help my knees in the long run. It became sort of a weird phenomenon that I tested repeatedly. Ask Chelsea or Emily, this had been going on and I’ve tested it for a long time.
Being a vegetarian for the last 5 years with a lean toward veganism, I assumed that it was dairy or nightshades that were the issue, however, when I would cut those foods out completely it still didn’t change the knee situation. I knew there was something more going on. I started looking into food sensitivity testing and found it wasn’t as easy as I expected it to be. The first 2 companies that I tried were pretty expensive and would just give me a sheet with a couple of foods that didn’t quite make sense for what I was experiencing. I have never eaten a clam in my life and one company said that was the cause of all of my issues. I was frustrated and disappointed with the results but still felt like I was heading in the right direction.
I reached out to come colleagues to see what they recommended and I found the company that we are currently using. It was a very simple test. I had to submit some saliva and a hair sample (as opposed to blood like the other companies) and within about 3 weeks I had a 10 page report delving into what could be effecting my body. Immediately I recognized that I was onto something.
I have a full video up on our Facebook page but will give a brief run down. The top foods that showed up for me were dairy (which I assumed), white/wheat flour (also assumed this), tangerines, strawberries, lemon, bananas, flax and tomatoes. I am not a big banana fan, but the second I start to “eat clean” I have about 2 bananas a day because they are so easy to carry around and incorporate into my day. I also will put flax on my oatmeal every morning and will have a giant salad full of tomatoes every day. These aren’t foods that I typically eat to excess unless I am making an effort to do so.
This test made so much sense to me and I realized that I could have done all of the elimination diets in the world and fruit and veggies (other than nightshades) would have been the last things that I would have thought to take out. This definitely saved me a lot of time and I am already noticing a difference from removing these foods from my diet.
