Recovery From Leaky Gut and Food Allergies

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A couple of years ago I had a lot of food sensitivities. I had been Paleo for years but I was still reacting to foods like crazy. Eliminating grains didn’t solve my digestive problems. Going gluten free almost 10 years ago didn’t heal my gut. Adding fermented foods to my diet also didn’t work. Being free of alcohol, drugs, and junk food wasn’t healing my long standing gut issues either. I was healthier, without a doubt, but my digestion still suffered.

And so, as I’ve mentioned many times, I quit eating everything but low fat varieties of meats and fish – many of them raw – rice, and vegetable juices. Low and behold, I was healed, and not just from digestive problems but of some lingering joint pain and persistent acne too. When I started including fruits, veggies, and fatty foods again, though, I was back to the drawing board.

I didn’t know what was causing me trouble at the time, but it seemed like the problem was plants in general. Of course, that was nonsense so, a couple of years ago, I had a comprehensive food allergy test done and pinned down my food sensitivities. The test results were in line with what I expected. I had been doing elimination diets to figure out my sensitivities and the test results basically confirmed what I had already discerned myself. I was allergic to bananas, rice, asparagus, pineapple – so many things.

But why? That was always my question. Why was my immune system responding to nearly everything I ate?

Leaky Gut

Now, it’s not like I hadn’t heard of leaky gut and hadn’t tried to cure it. This had been my focus for a long time. But leaky gut diets and any kind of digestive healing regimen hadn’t worked.

I finally got my digestive problems under control by eliminating fructose, fructans, and food allergens.

Fructose malabsorption is a condition in which a person cannot absorb much fructose and so it passes undigested into the gut, irritating the gut lining and causing inflammation. While eliminating fructose and fructans was key in recovering from digestive dysfunction, eliminating food allergens was equally important to allow the gut the chance to heal.

Leaky gut is a digestive condition in which large food particles are able to pass through tiny holes in the intestines (leaks) and into the blood stream. This creates an immune response.

The best way to heal leaky gut is to eliminate the offending foods, reduce inflammation, and improve nutrition.

It’s been two years since I quit eating fructose and I no longer feel like I am sensitive to everything. I no longer need to do an all meat diet and I no longer have to avoid all the foods that I used to have to avoid. I no longer even have to avoid fructose. It’s crazy. I thought I would be have fructose malabsorption forever. It is said that it might be genetic. But I can eat fruit all day now with no worries.

Results

Last week I had a blood test and confirmed that my allergies are a thing of the past.

I used a service called PersonaLabs.

The service is valuable to anyone who either doesn’t have insurance or can’t get their doctor’s to consent for tests. The company has been really great to work with and the process is fast and smooth. Their website offers every kind of blood test imaginable. You can have allergy tests, pregnancy, fertility, STD tests, you name it. After choosing which test you want, you’ll find a lab in your area from their extensive list of choices. The lab I went to was about a five minute drive from my house. Then wait three or four days and the lab results are posted on their website as a download for you and only you.

While elimination diets can be useful in pinning down food sensitivities, it’s a lot easier to nail down the problem with a blood test so you can begin healing the very next day. If leaky gut is a problem for you, allergies are probably also present. Eliminating the allergens can speed up recovery significantly.

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6 Comments

  1. I’ve always heard that IgE testing is not that reliable. I’d love to hear more about what foods the test indicated were a problem for you & if you found that to be the case.

    Obviously it helped you heal, so some of the foods must have been problematic! Did you do the comprehensive panel?

  2. Peggy, please answer this question: when you say “I no longer have to avoid all the foods that I used to have to avoid”, does that mean after two years without fructose you are now able to eat foods with fructose? Thanks!

    • That is a good question. I should have been more clear. The fructose malabsorption is still present. I have no information about whether or not one can heal from this disorder. I’ve heard it suggested that there may be some underlying cause which can be corrected but so far it all seems to be theories and none of the solutions are anything I haven’t done already.

      So in answer to your question, it is my food allergies that cleared up. I am no longer sensitive to everything that grows in the ground. But I still can’t digest fructose and fructans and so I avoid them.

  3. This may be a stupid question but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything… if you were paleo then what were you eating that had fructose? I have a leaky gut and am trying to make a good plan.

    • Hi Melissa,

      Fructose is the main sugar in fruit. It is also present in sweet potatoes. Then, there is also something called fructan, which is a polymer of fructose molecules. This is found in lots of vegetables like onion.

  4. I have my daughter on the FODMAP’s diet also. Removing the foods high in fructose has helped her tremendously. We are doing an elimination diet currently to assess her tolerance to wheat and other fructans, to see if these are contributing to her constipation which is her last remaining symptom. . Kate Scarlata, RD and Pasty Catsos, RD both from the US have very helpful websites and blogs with the most current listings updated by Monash University who tests the various foods for their fructose content. Also, there is a new book out as of Aug 2013 which has been written by Monash University. http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/

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