The bright golden-orange spice in curry and mustard comes from turmeric, a tasty herb with numerous health benefits. Turmeric is an excellent source of iron, manganese and vitamin B6. Additionally, curcumin, an active component in turmeric, is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In traditional Indian and Chinese medicine, turmeric has been used to treat allergies, heartburn, digestive ailments, and arthritis. Today, it's gaining research attention for prevention and treatment of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

According to a recent study, a daily intake of turmeric helps blood vessels dilate fully. It also helps protect the arteries from inflammation - a primary cause of atherosclerosis (clogged arteries) and a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

Including turmeric in your diet is easy to do: Sprinkle turmeric into soups, dressings, over meats, roasted veggies, scrambled eggs, or smoothies. To help your body maximize absorption of turmeric's key compounds, add it to healthy fats (e.g., olive oil) while they are warming.

If heart disease runs in your family, or you have other risk factors, ask your health practitioner about taking a curcumin supplement.

Listen to your gut. And make sure to protect it. A balanced gastrointestinal system plays a critical role in defending your body against illness. An imbalance in gastrointestinal (GI) flora can create health issues and is typically the result of poor diet, stress, use of antibiotics, illness and food allergies.

Probiotics are live, microbial food ingredients similar to the health-enhancing microorganisms found in the gut. Well-researched health benefits show taking a probiotic will help . . .

• Boost immunity by enhancing the production of antibodies
• Support the synthesis of vitamins and increase bioavailability of nutrients
• Protect the GI tract from disease-causing bacteria
• Alleviate symptoms of GI illness (diarrhea and constipation, IBS)
• Reduce seasonal and food allergies

Regarding dietary allergens and immunity, scientists believe probiotics achieve their health benefits by stimulating the immune response to increase the secretion of immunoglobulin-A (IgA), which boosts the body's response to food allergens. Elevated IgA may also decrease pathogens in the gut, which improves the balance of GI flora. Probiotics elevate natural "killer cells" that gobble up disease-generating "invader cells" and may protect nutrients that would otherwise be destroyed by pathogens.

Probiotic supplements come in liquid, powder, chewable and capsule form, ranging from one million to several billion live organisms. Most are sold refrigerated. Keep probiotics properly stored so as not to kill the live, healthy bacteria.

Even though probiotics have well documented health benefits, they are not a solution for all difficulties or diseases. Probiotics are most effective when you are supporting your health with a balanced whole foods diet. Your health practitioner can determine the best probiotic strains and dosage and any other supplements suited for your specific health concerns.

A typical day begins with you pressing the snooze button three times because you just can’t get out of bed; your body feels so lethargic that you liken yourself to a sack of potatoes.  When you do finally roll out of bed and somehow make it to work you have a difficult time concentrating because its as though a heavy fog has settled itself over your brain.  After lunch you waddle yourself back to your desk because you are as bloated as a balloon about to burst. After work you consider going to the gym, but on top of the fatigue, fog and bloating, your joints are also aching, so you tell yourself maybe some other time. Just when you thought that you couldn’t feel any worse, a headache sets in making you retire to bed early so that you can rest up enough to deal with your symptoms again tomorrow.
 
If this sounds like you, you might be experiencing food sensitivities.  Food sensitivities are different from true food allergies however in both kinds of reactions the immune system releases cells called antibodies; allergies releases IgE antibodies (immunoglobulin E) and sensitivities release IgG antibodies (immunoglobulin G).

Allergies:
 
IgE allergies happen almost immediately upon exposure to the allergen/antigen (i.e. foods that cause antibodies to be released), and require a medical response as they can cause a range of life threatening symptoms. Common examples include peanuts, bee stings and reactions to certain antibiotics.

Sensitivities:
 
Food sensitivities on the other hand are a delayed response anywhere from hours to days after the exposure to the allergen.  This can make uncovering the allergen culprit more difficult to pinpoint.  The symptoms from food sensitivities will be different for everyone, and can include the following:

• Digestive: gas, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, heart burn
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Headaches and migraines
• Hormonal: fertility issues, PMS, menstrual cramps
• Mood: anxiety, depression, mood swings, poor concentration
• Muscle and joint pain
• Skin: acne, eczema, psoriasis
  
• etc.
  

 
How do you determine if your symptoms are related to what you are eating?
 
Our bodies runs off of the fuel that we supply them, in other words, the foods we eat.  We can be eating all the “good” foods but even those “good” foods could have ill-effects if we are one of the “lucky ones” to have a sensitivity to it.  So here is my checklist to determine if my patients are experiencing food sensitivities and how to help them:

• Finding the Food Culprits: I have my patients track everything they are eating for a period of time as well as any symptoms that occur.  This gives us a baseline of their diet habits relative to how they are feeling.  From there I can spot patterns and make recommendations towards dietary changes. Note – if you see me as a patient expect your diet to be tweaked! In addition, I can also perform a Food Sensitivity Panel that tests for those IgG Food reactions.  This is a great way to get quick answers and ultimately faster results, as we know exactly what foods to stay away from.
• Take a Break: Here we eliminate the culprit foods so that your body can take a break and begin the recovery process.
• Heal: While taking a break from food offenders there are also some supplements that I recommend that work to heal the gut.  Food sensitivities create a lot of inflammation and damage to the lining of the intestinal wall so we want to work to diminish this and give our bodies a fighting chance.
  
• Reintroduce: Yum! You get to start eating those foods again that you have been craving.  Introducing foods one-by-one gives us a pretty good understanding of how your body reacts to specific foods and whether or not it wants you to be eating them!
  
• Support: With a tailored diet and supplement protocol, stress management and lifestyle counseling, it is quite possible that you may not react to the same foods again. This entire process is so that you can feel better and live the life you want.  You will feel empowered to make the right food choices to properly fuel your body!
  

If you suspect that you have a food sensitivity that could be contributing to your ill health, feel free to contact me.  I offer complimentary 15-minute consultations. 780-482-7617