Heart of Cooking

There is a variety of ways to determine whether you are allergic or sensitive to certain foods. These include blood tests, skin prick tests and muscle testing.  If you want to take one of these tests, I suggest you find a professional holistic or naturapathic doctor who is versed with food allergies.  Each doctor’s approach will be different so it is important for you to ask how they go about testing for allergies.

Keeping a journal:
Did you ever notice that when you’re interested in a certain car, you start seeing it on the road everywhere you go?  Are there suddenly more of these cars or are you just seeing them because you’re looking for them?

Awareness is one of the first steps to discovering a diet that works for your body. There are so many things in our lives that divert our attention away from our bodies and we often end up living in our heads when we are at work or at school.

If you want to start the slow but sure detective work of finding out if the foods you are eating are creating your physical, mental or emotional symptoms, a good place to start is to keep a daily journal of what you eat and how you feel.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you have food allergies or sensitivities, you may be suffering from some of the following symptoms:

Digestive complaints:
nausea
vomiting
abdominal cramps
flatulence
bloating
diarrhea
constipation
gastritis
irritable bowel syndrome
ulcerative colitis

Read the rest of this entry »

Many people do not realize that they may be allergic or at least sensitive to the foods that they are eating on a regular basis.  Furthermore, many of the foods commonly available today contain “common allergens,” foods that people are commonly allergic to.  These contain but are not limited to: wheat, gluten, dairy, sugar, corn, soy, eggs, peanuts, and nightshade vegetables.

Sally Fallon in her book Nourishing Traditions, talks about why certain foods are hard to digest.  She writes:

“Allergy tests have revealed sensitivities to every food commonly eaten, but most prevalent are allergies to milk products and grains… The proteins in grain and milk, namely gluten and casein, are two of the hardest proteins for humans to digest…(pg. 56.”)

The Other Kind of Food Allergy:

It is well known that when someone is allergic to something that their body will immediately react by breaking out in hives or creating some other kind of histamine reaction.  These foods or substances can be life threatening to people who have allergies to them and they have to avoid them at all cost.

But some people aren’t aware that there is actually another kind of allergic reaction that the body can produce that is actually a lot harder to figure out, called a “delayed-type hypersensitivity.”

Read the rest of this entry »

[youtube IRfnYthqbNk]

Most of what I have come to believe about diet is based on my own experience of different foods as well as scientific research.  I have tried many different kinds of diets and have experienced varied results with each.  With some diets, my digestive problems worsened while I gained extra weight.  With others, I felt more energized, my digestive system seemed to work more optimally and I lost weight.

I am a firm believer that each person’s body is different and that each person has to find for themselves what kind of diet works for them.  It is through paying attention to our bodies signals and reactions that we come to know what kind of diet most suits us.

However, one food that I have come to believe is not beneficial for most people is nonfermented soy. This may be off the beaten path of what we are used to seeing in health food stores:  soy cheese and milk, tofu, soy sauce, soy protein powder, baby formula and even soy cream cheese are all products we are familiar with.  (The use of fermented soy products such as miso, natto, and tempeh can be beneficial and healthy.)

Read the rest of this entry »

I have created this website and the Nourishing Foods Menu Planner as resources for people who have allergies or sensitivities to dairy, gluten and soy products.  So it may seem a bit paradoxical at first that I am writing about and promoting the use of raw milk.  However, my hope is that by writing about this somewhat taboo and controversial topic that people who read it will learn the amazing qualities and attributes of this somewhat hidden and healthful food.

It took me a long time to wrap my brain around the possibilities that raw milk holds for people who are “lactose intolerant,” including myself.  The first time I remember hearing about it’s healthful properties was from my chiropractor in Solano Beach, CA.  He basically said that I might want to try it since he knew I couldn’t drink regular pasteurized milk.

Well, that was at least four years ago and I didn’t start drinking it until recently.  It obviously took some convincing on my part to be open to something which has been claimed to be wrought with bacteria and diseases.  Plus, I never liked milk growing up so why start now?

Read the rest of this entry »