As I shared in my last post, I recently reversed my allergies. Many have asked how that’s possible. Most people are allergic to something whether it be cats or pollen or food. So how can you reverse that? Let me explain…
First, you need to understand immune system 101. The role of your immune system is to protect you. Think of it as your military force. Your immune system is not an organ or something that can be pointed out on a diagram of the body. It’s actually a system of specialized cells, many types of them, located throughout your body with the majority residing in places that are vulnerable to attack like your intestinal lining (where new substances enter the body) and your skin (where new substances touch and/or enter the body).
Secondly, you need to understand what an allergy is and how it develops. Let’s use vaccines as an example. When you get a vaccine for a disease such as the measles, the weakened or dead form of the disease is injected into your body. The virus is not recognized by your body so your body begins to mount an attack on this foreign invader. It starts recruiting soldiers to join the “military” and fight! Peaceful times are over, it’s war time! These soldiers are called antibodies. Once your body develops these soldiers (a.k.a. antibodies), they stay signed on with the military for a period of time, just waiting for another war…just waiting to see that measles virus again. When it does, it’s prepared. However, if years go by without any sign of Mr. Measles, the soldiers go away…they aren’t needed anymore. This is the purpose of booster shots. We get them to remind our body to keep the antibodies against measles active.
Allergies work exactly the same way. I was allergic to corn, soy, gluten, tomato, eggs, apples, and many other things including environmental allergies. What this means is that my body developed IgE antibodies to those foods. There are 5 types of antibodies. IgE type means it’s a true allergy rather than an intolerance/sensitivity. So my body recruited soldiers to fight like mad every time one of those foods entered my body. For 2-1/2 years I completely and strictly abstained from those foods. This meant no eating at restaurants, no eating ingredients that were questionable…100% strict control over what went into my body. Just like with a vaccine, when the substance never entered my body, the antibodies quit the “military”.
Ok, wait! So if I eat an egg, why doesn’t that work like a booster shot and start the process over again? The answer is that measles is always a foreign invader to the body, egg is not. My body once saw egg as a foreign invader and thereby developed antibodies against it. Now it does not see egg as a foreign invader. Why was it labeled a foreign invader in the first place? That could be a complicated answer but reading my post on leaky gut will help you understand. Because of my leaky gut, egg was not digesting into it’s normal form that was recognizable by my body. Now it is digesting properly and no longer looks like a foreigner. In other words, my body used to see egg as an Arab, and now it sees it as an American. It has no need to attack now.
What would have happened if I had eaten a little corn here and there while my body was still recognizing corn as a foreigner? The antibodies would remain active and therefore the allergy would have persisted. Reversing allergies requires strict, strict habits. My dedication to strictness is the reason for my success. I also ate lots of nutrient-dense foods and took supplements to heal my leaky gut so this wouldn’t re-occur in the future. Current research indicates that gluten antibodies never “forget”. They are lifetime military members. For this reason and others, I don’t plan to eat gluten ever again. Gluten is also a primary cause of leaky gut (in all people).
To add to the good news- my environmental allergies are also greatly improved. More on that in another post…
I believe there are millions of people who could benefit from this post, why not share with someone you know who is suffering from food allergies?
Photo Credit: davedehetre via Compfight cc