I recently had an Alcat Test done by my doctor. It doesn't test for food allergies, but it does test for food intolerances. The difference is that an allergy is instant, your throat closes, or you break out in a rash, it's immediate and can be life-threatening. An intolerance is harder to catch. It's when you eat something that your body can't process correctly and it causes all kinds of troubles at the cellular level, but you don't feel the effects until 3 to 5 days later. For example, you get a migraine, but don't realize it's because you ate something bad for your body 4 days ago. The hard part is, the foods they test for are generally thought to be "healthy foods", and they are, but not for you personally.
My results weren't too bad. There's only about 11 things I have a really bad internal reaction to: basil, bananas, cantaloupe, cauliflower, coconut (incl. coconut milk and coconut oil), cucumbers, grapes (including wine), lentils, pears, zucchini, and olive (including olive oil). You'd be surprised just how many recipes call for these ingredients when you eat healthy! But of all the healthy foods on the planet, 11 isn't so bad. I was eating basil almost every meal, olive & coconut oil were my only oils to cook with, and who doesn't love organic bananas?
The next section of results are foods that I should eliminate for 90 days, then add back into my diet, one at a time, and not more than once every 4 days. If I do that, I'll either develop a super sensitivity to it and know to get rid of it, or else I'll be able to add it back into my diet permanently as long as it's only once every 4 days, so I don't build up too much in my system. I have a fairly long list of those items, about 35 foods. Most aren't a big deal because I almost never eat them, but others may only have ended up here because I was eating them almost every day - like apples, bell peppers, green tea, cumin, kale, quinoa, beets, and wild rice. All healthy foods, I probably just need to not have them so often.
I'm almost a month into this. I haven't been 100% faithful to dropping the 35 foods, sometimes there's no substitute available in the house. I've had a bit of oregano, something that had cocoa in it, etc, but I have eliminated the bad 11 foods 100%. After just about 30 days, here's my results:
Many of you know, I've had insomnia my whole life. I was lucky to get about 2 years of a supplement that worked wonders, but the company stopped making it a few years ago with no substitute. It was a very unique blend. I wake up after just 2 hours, then up for hours, then sleep/wake up about every half hour til it's time to get up. In the last 30 days, I've found I sleep 6 to 7 hours a night, straight through, 5 out of 7 nights a week. If I got nothing else out of this, sleeping is worth it.
I also have been struggling for about 3 years now with just not feeling right. Do you know what I mean? Nothing's wrong. You aren't sick or coming down with anything, You just don't feel "good". There's no waking up thinking that today is already going to be a great day. You just kind of go through the motions every day sort of in a fog. In the last 30 days, I wake up almost every single day now feeling great, feeling happy, with a clear head, and looking forward to every day. That started IMMEDIATELY after dropping those 11 bad foods.
Another odd surprise was that my resting heart rate was around 80 - 85 bpm, and I always felt it was too fast, even when just sitting down, not stressed. Now it averages around 70 when I'm ACTIVE and at rest, it's in the low 60s. That in turn drops my blood pressure, something I've struggled with for about 10 years now. If it spikes, it takes forever to come back down - but now it's averaging a little better than the goal of 120/80.
My body will not drop weight. End of story. I've tried smaller meals, eating healthy, exercise, going to the gym, shakes, supplements, all of it. Nothing works, ever. Since Christmas, I'm down about 10 pounds, with most of it coming in the last 30 days. I'm not sure that'll keep up or my body will adjust and stop losing, but for now, it's working.
I noticed at an event recently that I have a lot more endurance and it takes a lot more to get to the "out of breath" stage. That's a plus since my goals don't involve a number on the scale, they involve overall health improvement - stamina, endurance, flexibility, energy, strength, etc.
I was falling asleep (or close to it) around 3:00 every afternoon. Now I don't get tired AT ALL!
I'm able to do more than before and still not run out of steam until bedtime, and then I fall asleep almost immediately.
The last thing, which is really important is that for as long as I can remember (since I was about 3) I have lived in a constant state of stress. I have the knots in my shoulders to prove it - which I wore like earrings for my whole life - always raised up and not relaxed. In the last 90 days, I have been more relaxed than ever before. I FEEL more at peace. I don't have the same sudden out-of-nowhere outbursts (even if they are in my head) when people cut me off in traffic, or they say/do something stupid, or something goes wrong. I just roll through it without the stress now.
Overall, I can already see that the Alcat test was worth doing. The dietary changes are worth the effort. I would HIGHLY recommend checking to see if your insurance covers it. You can have it done (they take 6 tubes of blood, results are back in 2 weeks) as a small, medium, or large test, depending on insurance coverage and what you're willing to spend. You can test anywhere from 50 to 200 foods,
functional foods/medicinal herbs, male herbs/female herbs, 20 food additives & colorings, 21 molds, and 10 environmental chemicals. We happen to have Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield out of Wisconsin, and they covered the entire test, all groups, a $1200 test, 100%. You never know, yours just might cover it. One word of advice...since most PCPs don't understand nutrition, only prescriptions, you may need to have a different type of doctor order the tests. I used my Chiropractor because she's big into natural healing of the body and eating right. It doesn't have to be a naturopath, since insurance doesn't cover their services. Just find one that understands foods and their link to health.
Good luck and I hope you find better health for yourself! I'll report back after 60 and 90 days, then as I add things back in.
