The Truth About Allergy Testing: Why It's Not Always the Solution

Allergy testing is a common go to path for families dealing with intolerances to food and uncomfortable symptoms. Tune in to learn about the connection between gut imbalance, food sensitivity and allergies and find out how to make the most of your allergy testing. To find out more about the products and tests mentioned in this episode, click the links above!

Transcript

Welcome to Follow Your Gut,  the podcast where women like you are empowered to take charge of your family's health and happiness. I'm your host, Sarah Bennett, founder and CEO of ōNLē ORGANICS. As a mama of four, I have personally gone through the ups and downs of navigating the sea of misinformation and the runaround from our medical system, while caring for my family's health and wellbeing. This podcast is dedicated to educating and empowering you on the significance of gut health and how it affects everything from your family’s sleep to their mood and everything in between. By understanding the foundation of your wellness and the causes of common, yet preventable symptoms, you can achieve a deeper level of health and happiness for your family. Join me as we explore the world of gut health and enhance our lives from the core of our well-being, all while honoring our powerful intuitions. I am so happy you are here! Let's dive into today's episode. 

Welcome to episode 45;  The Truth About Allergy Testing: Why It's Not Always the Solution

Today we are going to talk about your gut bacteria, inflammation, and the gut-brain connection. We are going to dive deep into how gut bacteria imbalance can make it difficult to pinpoint food triggers and why allergy and sensitivity tests might not be your best first plan of action. 

In this episode I want to help you make the connection between your symptoms and your gut bacteria. Because many people who are struggling with symptoms like eczema, digestive issues, restless sleep, a weakened immune system and mood fluctuations understandably think their symptoms are due to a specific food allergy, sensitivity or intolerance. They can simply get tested, eliminate the foods that show up and heal. Simple as that. They spend a whole lot of money to get tested, whether it's at an actual allergist office or with an in-home test, they then suffer with their symptoms while they await results and then jump through hoops to eliminate all of the many foods that show up on their test. But unfortunately after all of that - their symptoms still persist. 

I know this all so well. Our pediatrician recommended we see an allergist after our child had suffered from symptoms from birth. We had to wait until he was old enough though as our pediatrician said his results wouldn’t be accurate if he were under 6 months old. She advised us to go after his first birthday. So we did. The allergist tested him with the skin pricks on his back. He tested severely allergic to nine different foods. He was breastfeeding so he and I both strictly eliminated those foods but unfortunately - it felt like I had been holding my breath for nothing. I remember that deep feeling of defeat like it was yesterday. I was so skinny from not eating as I feared food. I could see the direct correlation between me eating something and his symptoms flaring but even with eliminating all of his allergens, nothing changed. 

Today I want to teach you about the piece that is often overlooked; the health of your gut bacteria. It is likely that if you or your child have a gut imbalance, your symptoms flare at different times. Whether you know that these symptom flares are connected to your gut or not you are going to learn a lot today. 

When you experience the sudden onset of symptoms or symptoms flares they oftentimes seem random because you haven't changed your diet or supplements but suddenly your eczema rash gets worse or diarrhea is more frequent or migraines become persistent. You are left feeling so confused but this is actually common when you have a gut imbalance. This is the missing piece. It is so often that well intended medical professionals and women jump straight to the testing without pausing to consider the gut bacteria. So let's keep going and I am going to teach you why testing actually isn’t the first thing you should do. 

Something that I reiterate in just about every episode is that whether you are 2 months old or an adult woman - your gut bacteria naturally fluctuates. This isn’t a bad thing but when the perfect storm comes together a minor gut imbalance can turn severe and this is when you experience the onset of these symptoms that are so often misdiagnosed as allergies or intolerances. When your gut is imbalanced it causes inflammation. This can cause the gut lining to become more permeable, a condition known as leaky gut. When this happens, undigested food particles, toxins, and other harmful substances can leak through the gut lining and into the bloodstream, triggering an immune response. Now I know we have all been conditioned to believe that leaky gut is a forever condition that some people just happen to have but this is not the case. Leaky gut should not be a diagnosis that you identify with or without. It is a trickle down effect of a gut imbalance. Heal the gut and your body will heal. 

A significant gut imbalance can be caused by a number of things but typically it occurs when the gut bacteria is already vulnerable. Meaning you likely unknowingly have a minor imbalance and then something stressful happens - you plan your wedding, you have a career change or go on a work trip or even a vacation. Or if you are listening for your child - maybe you introduce a new sibling, they start school, your partner has to travel away for work. Something stressful happens and the stress triggers a spike in you or your child’s hormones. This spike impacts your gut bacteria and all at the same time, your sleep goes to heck, your mood follows and you see a change in the consistency, smell or frequency of you or your child’s poop and any other symptoms that you are susceptible to, flare. 

So you are left with not only symptoms but a fire in your gut that wreaks havoc. Gut imbalance causes inflammation and when the gut is inflamed, it can become more sensitive to different foods at different times. So, what you eat one day may not cause a reaction, but then the next day, it can trigger your symptoms.

This can make it incredibly challenging to pinpoint food triggers and identify what's causing your symptoms to flare. And this is exactly why turning to a test seems like the most logical thing to do. But what you need to know is that it's not the food itself that is the problem, but rather the gut bacteria imbalance that's causing the inflammation and sensitivity.

Are you wondering if you or your child have a gut imbalance? Take my quick and easy quiz to find out in less than 60 seconds. Understanding your gut health is the first step in leading your family towards optimal wellness. Visit www.onleorganics.com/pages/quiz or click the link in the show notes to take the quiz. 

When the gut is inflamed, it causes the gut-brain connection to misfire, leading to the random trigger of symptoms. 

Knowing everything I just shared with you, you see why testing is not the best first plan of action. If the gut is imbalanced and inflamed and is misfiring and responding to different foods at different times this means that your test isn’t going to be accurate. This is why my child didn't’ heal when we eliminated all of his supposed allergens. Because he didn’t actually have any true allergies. His body was having an immune response to the inflammation his gut imbalance was causing. If we had tested him even one week later it is likely his results would have been completely different. 

So what can you do instead of jumping straight to a test? You can intentionally rebalance your gut bacteria. This alone will likely heal all of your symptoms but in the rare case that you are absolutely certain you have fully rebalanced your gut and symptoms still persist, this is now a good time to do a test. 

You will get accurate results when your gut is balanced and after you get your results and you eliminate whatever shows on your test while nurturing gut balance - you will heal your body. 

I eventually learned that all of my child’s symptoms were connected to an imbalance in his gut bacteria and rebalanced his gut with supplements that are equivalent to what you can find in my gut health shop. After his gut was healed we took him back to the allergist and all nine of his allergens were gone. And when I say allergies I mean legit severe allergies. We carried an epipen with us everywhere we went and lived in complete fear because he had tested so severely allergic. When his test came back with zero allergies our allergist couldn’t believe it. He said he had never in his 25 years in practice seen someone heal like our son had. 

I have curated the Women’s and Children’s Gut Rebalance Kits to not only supply you with all the supplements you need to do a 64 day rebalance but also to educate you on everything you need to know about the gut and offer guidance so that you can heal. Once you have fully rebalanced your gut and if you are still experiencing symptoms I have partnered with a third party lab to provide you with the most accurate test. You can find it in my shop and I will also link it in the show notes. This test is called Unearth and it tests for 110 different allergens, intolerances and sensitivities. 

I really only recommend this test if you are 100% confident your gut is fully balanced. I don’t want to waste your time or money in testing when you have an imbalance as your results wont be accurate. Healing takes time and it can’t be rushed. Someonetimes one Gut Rebalance Kit is enough to fully heal but oftentimes mamas get my kits on subscription because they intuitively know that it will take them or their child a few cycles to fully heal. The supplements that make up the Rebalance Kits are all natural with minimal ingredients and there are zero negative side effects whereas having an imbalance not only leaves you with uncomfortable symptoms but the inflammation it causes inside the body has the likelihood of leading to disease if left unaddressed. Again, I will link all of this in the show notes for you if you are interested in exploring them further. 

Thank you for joining me today. It felt important to me to share this episode with you as I have had an influx in Unearth sales from well intended women who really need to know this information to make their test worth it. 

Now before we go - real allergies are very dangerous and please do not experiment without the supervision of your healthcare professional. This episode is intended to bring awareness to the significance your gut health plays in your bodies overall wellness.

Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of Follow Your Gut. As a reminder, the information shared on this show is not just for your children, but also for you as a woman. At ōNLē ORGANICS, I have created a line of the best quality gut-balancing supplements and products that have transformed my family's health and happiness. Head to www.onleorganics.com to start your journey to optimal gut health today. Lastly, I always want to be very transparent that I am not a medical professional, and the information shared on this podcast is based on my personal experience and research. Please always listen to your own inner voice of wisdom and your healthcare professional. Join me again next week for more insights and inspiration on taking charge of your family's health and happiness. I will see you then!