Do you experience occasional digestive discomfort, or is it a regular occurrence?

Do you have bloating, belching, constipation, diarrhea, GERD or IBS?

What have you done to resolve your digestive issues?

Drugs are not the answer. They only temporarily calm the symptoms. And all drugs have side effects. So for the little bit of short term relief, until you eat again, you’re contributing to more serious health problems to come down the road.

Deborah had constant digestive problems …

• bloating
• alternating constipation
• diarrhea
• just feeling awful every time she ate

She cleaned up her diet so that she was eating only healthy food, but that didn’t help. She was at wits end. No matter what she did, and she was trying everything healthy, every time she ate, she felt miserable.

When Deborah came to see me, I suggested Food Sensitivity Testing. We tested for 200 Foods + 50 Functional Foods & Herbs. When her report came back, I was quite surprised that she only had a very short list of sensitive foods.

Not surprisingly, she was intolerant to some of the foods she loved and was eating every day, like asparagus and walnuts. Foods she chose to eat not only because she liked them, but also because they’re healthy foods. But these normally healthy foods are not healthy for Deborah.

She went on her rotation diet, avoiding her sensitive foods and eating only safe foods. In less than a week she told me she was feeling great! All those years of feeling miserable every time she ate … gone … just by avoiding foods to which she was sensitive.

My story is a little different.

I had been taking digestive enzymes for about 30 years. If I didn’t take them I suffered, mostly from bloating, gas and passing undigested food in my stool. When I did the food sensitivity testing on myself, I wasn’t even thinking about my digestion. After all, I had it under control, taking my digestive enzymes every time I ate.

When my report came back, I had a very long list of sensitive foods, including salmon, trout, kiwi, grapefruit, potatoes, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, papayas, pineapple, apples and more.

I had been taking a lot of whole food supplements, spending about $200/month. The majority of these supplements, that were supposed to be helping me, contained ingredients to which I was sensitive. This would explain why I had reached a plateau in achieving the level of health I wanted. Even my tried and true digestive enzyme, that I never ate a meal without, contained ingredients to which I was intolerant.

What was I going to do?

I couldn’t stop my digestive enzymes. That would be a disaster!

I found a replacement I could take. I took it for a week or two and then noticed some burning in my stomach. I brushed it off, thinking I was just detoxifying – that happens when you eliminate your sensitive foods. The burning pain persisted, so after a couple days, I wondered if my body was producing enough enzymes on its own, something I never believed could happen for me.

So, I stopped taking the digestive enzymes. It took up to a week for the burning to completely stop. I had no digestive symptoms after I stopped taking the enzymes. One day, a couple weeks later, after dinner I had a little bloating. I took one enzyme. I haven’t taken any since. It’s probably been a couple months. My digestion is working just fine – without taking any digestive enzymes. This is after 30 years of needing to take them every day with every meal.

Not only am I not taking the digestive enzymes, I am not spending $200/month on supplements any more. I take 4 supplements now instead of 15. And I feel better. I feel my body healing.

Are you feeling less healthy than you would like? Do you have some unresolved health issues that you would like to get to the bottom of and eliminate once and for all?

Research has shown that 30-90% of people in our society have food sensitivities. As long as you eat foods to which you have sensitivities, you will continue to create inflammation in your body and your health will decline.

Are you ready to take charge of your health? Do you want to feel better?

The time to take action is now, before it’s too late!

Note: This is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have health problems, consult your physician.

© 2012, Christine H. Farlow, D.C.