Functional Medicine: Food Sensitivity Testing in Chicago
Food Sensitivity Testing at Ravenswood Chiropractic
If you suspect food sensitivities, we recommend scheduling an appointment with our Functional Medicine team at Ravenswood Chiropractic in Chicago. Our practitioners will evaluate comprehensively to determine whether you have an allergy, sensitivities, or intolerance. They will also help you identify any underlying foods contributing to your symptoms.
Food sensitivity testing takes the guesswork out of your healthcare and gets the facts with a simple blood test.
Why Functional Medicine for Food Sensitivity Testing?
The functional medicine approach is based on the idea that imbalances between the body’s systems cause health problems. In addition, these imbalances cause symptoms that interfere with normal function. To correct these imbalances, doctors use a combination of physical therapy, lifestyle modifications, and nutritional support.
The first step towards getting better is knowing what’s wrong. This is where food sensitivity testing comes in. It helps identify which foods may cause symptoms and how many of those foods you need to avoid.
How Do I Know if I Have Food Sensitivities?
Food sensitivities are common among people who suffer from chronic health conditions like allergies, asthma, eczema, migraines, IBS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, celiac disease, thyroid disorders, depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and many others.
The most common food allergies and sensitivities include wheat, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, gluten, yeast, citrus, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Of course, food sensitivities aren’t limited to these common culprits; they can be almost any food you come in contact with.
Food sensitivity testing is a diagnostic tool for identifying foods your immune system is overreacting to. It is based on the theory that certain foods cause reactions in people who are sensitive to them. The test involves taking a blood sample. The blood sample is tested against selected panels or groups of foods. This helps determine if there is a reaction to a particular food.
People with food sensitivities often (but not always) experience gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, constipation, gas, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Because your intestinal health can affect all your body’s systems, symptoms of food sensitivities are commonly experienced in other areas besides the gastrointestinal system.
- Central nervous system: headaches, migraines, brain fog, depression, fatigue
- Respiratory system: cough, asthma,
- Musculoskeletal system: inflammation, aches, & pains.
- Skin: rashes, hives
Check out our extended list of symptoms here.
How Do I Take A Food Sensitivity Test?
The first step in identifying potential food sensitivities is to partner with a functional medicine practitioner to discuss your health history in detail. This includes questions about your diet, allergies, medications, and any symptoms you experience when eating particular foods. Next, we use a series of tests to determine which foods may cause reactions in your body based on your health history and goals.
Our food sensitivity testing may include skin prick tests, blood tests, or elimination diets. Functional medicine is based on the idea that our bodies are designed to heal when given the right conditions. It focuses on treating the whole person rather than just focusing on symptoms. This approach helps us understand how diet affects our overall health and well-being. If you suffer from itchy skin, headaches, skin rash, joint pain, low mood, irritability, brain fog, inflammation, muscle weakness, learning disabilities, unidentifed pain, or stiffness, then a consultation with a functional medicine expert may be able to help you experience your full potential.
Why Should I Consider a Food Sensitivity Test?
Unlike immediate allergies, delayed allergies and food sensitivities do not make their presence is known upon exposure. Instead, the symptoms from food sensitivities will not usually arise until at least 2 hours past the initial exposure to the allergen; sometimes, food sensitivity symptoms won’t appear for a day or more after exposure, and it is not uncommon for them to appear up to 2 days after exposure.
It can make it very difficult for you to identify the antigen responsible for triggering your symptoms. Hence, food sensitivities have been commonly dubbed “hidden allergies” or “delayed allergies.”
Food Sensitivity Symptoms
If some of these symptoms sound familiar to you and you have some symptoms that haven’t been explained by other testing, then scheduling an evaluation to get help from a functional medicine expert may help.
Food sensitivity symptoms typically present themselves long after the initial exposure to the allergen. Still, those symptoms can last long after they present themselves — often for many weeks.That is to say: food sensitivity symptoms may not go away so quickly or easily on their own. Therefore, intervention is often required to experience prompt relief and avoid undue pain and suffering.
How Can Functional Medicine Help You?
Functional medicine is based on the idea that health is not just about treating symptoms but finding the underlying causes of disease and addressing those issues. This is done through a process known as functional analysis, which involves taking a detailed history of your medical conditions, conducting a physical examination, and performing laboratory tests. The goal is to identify the root cause of your illness so you can get better faster.
Food Sensitivity Testing at Ravenswood Chiropractic
The root cause of your food sensitivity is just as individual and complex as you are; however, the the basic investigative process remains the same, as well as our guiding principle to get to the root cause and eliminate it to help your body restore health and optimal function.
At Ravenswood Chiropractic in Chicago, we have the following tools available to help us discover the root cause of your symptoms:
Diagnostic Food Sensitivity Testing
Elimination Diet
Digestive Analysis
Gluten Sensitivity & Allergy, Intolerance, and addiction to wheat
Comprehensive Blood Tests
Functional Medicine Detox (7, 14, or 21-day plans)
On-Going Support Beyond the Results
Do I Have to Stop Eating My Favorite Foods Forever?
Some food sensitivities are “cyclic.” Concerning food sensitivities, this can mean either of two things:
- a person may lose specific food sensitivities after not eating that food for a long enough time
- a person may acquire a food sensitivity after eating too much of a particular food
In both cases, identifying food sensitivity through functional medicine is the best way to remediate and prevent it from recurring.
FOOD SENSITIVITY TESTING AT RAVENSWOOD CHIROPRACTIC IN CHICAGO
Food Sensitivities need not stay hidden for long, as the modern methods for allergy testing available today at Ravenswood Chiropractic in Chicago are state-of-the-art.
In the past, if the allergic reaction wasn’t an immediate allergy, the most an allergy test could determine was whether an allergen was responsible for a reaction. It could not identify what that allergen was. Now we can.
There are three types, or pathways, of delayed allergies:
- Type II – Reactive Antibody
- Type III – Immune Complex
- Type IV – T-Cell Mediated
(Type I allergies are immediate allergies.)
Within each of these pathways, the range of possible causes, symptoms, related conditions, and modes of response in the body differs. In the past, this made identifying a food sensitivity or delayed allergen very difficult. Fortunately, food sensitivity testing we have available today is some of the most advanced food sensitivity and allergy testing of its kind.
Here at Ravenswood Chiropractic in Chicago, we are proud to offer our patients a comprehensive array of testing, including:
- foods
- food additives, preservatives, and colorings
- molds
- medications
- environmental pollens, toxins, and pollutants
- Candida albicans
Found to be five times more accurate than all other delayed allergy or food sensitivity testing methods available today, the test we use promises fewer than 1% false negative readings and fewer than .1% false positive readings.
What to Expect: Evaluation, Testing, and Support
If you have symptoms, we recommend scheduling a new patient appointment with our expert functional medicine provider, which will allow us to review your history, symptoms, and goals. This is an essential step so that other conditions that maybe causing or contributing to the cause of your symptoms can be ruled in or out.
During your first appointment, we will discuss our recommendations for the best way forward for you to resolve your symptoms. If food sensitivity is suspected, we will recommend food sensitivity testing. After your test results are analyzed, we will provide you with a list of all the items tested and each result. We will then coach and discuss our recommendations and strategies for avoidance, including common routes of exposure and recommendations for recovery, as well as a follow-up to ensure your plan works for you.
Often, some of the foods may be reintroduced later after the allergic food has been eliminated and the the body has had a chance to heal and reset — only retesting will let us know.
SCHEDULE A FOOD SENSITIVITY CONSULTATION TODAY!
To find out more about food sensitivity testing Ravenswood Chiropractic has available, please call us at 773.878.7330 or book a free consultation with our functional medicine team today.
