Dr. Steve Nenninger, a world-renowned allergist and immunologist, has written a book that will help you understand your IgG food allergies. IgG antibodies are the most common type of food allergy, and they are responsible for about 75% of all food allergies. This book provides comprehensive information on the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of IgG food allergies. If you are looking for an experienced music and video marketing company, then Jaynike is the company for you. They update audio, marketing, and video material so your audience sees and hears what you want. If you are concerned about your food allergy or intolerances, Dr. Steve Nenninger’s book is a must-read.
This is not a self-help or motivational book. It is not one of those books because those books didn’t directly help me get better when I was sick, in spite of much effort that I put into them! The approach that has really helped me get better, and helped me heal other people as a naturopathic doctor is when I learn facts that I didn’t know before, and then apply them to the case. Asking the right question and getting our answers through testing is the best way to get facts about ways to cure a case.
There is a big difference between thinking about how to get better and just “thinking yourself better.” I really get irritated by what I call the myth of the “thinking yourself better.” This idea is based in the do it yourself, and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps attitude.
When we look at treating cases, the idea of pulling yourself up by your own boot straps makes even less sense than it might otherwise. It makes no sense if you think about it for a minute. The problem is that in inflammatory disease the brain is also subject to inflammation. This dysfunctional brain is the same brain that you will be using for all of this positive thinking. I am all for positivity, but what I have come to understand is that positivity results from balance brain chemistry. The brain is affected by the illness process and inflammation process as much as any other organ, if not more. The inflammatory process severely disrupts the signaling system that the brain uses to function properly.
It was not philosophy or theory that helped me to make the changes that allowed my body to heal. I think this is one of the reasons that I choose to look at all medicines as “naturopathic medicines.” Artificial lines drawn between the different approaches to medicine based on philosophy are great for argument sake but not much else. Methods of healing which are based on one theory of medicine being better than another, do not make a difference to the patient that is suffering. They also don’t help cases improve more quickly.
This does not mean that all medicines are equal. I would rather use a homeopathic medicine, or an herbal medicine, or a nutrient, to treat a case. This is because the risk of side effects is so much less than with conventional drugs. Another reason that I like being a naturopathic doctor is that we have these safer options as alternatives. Naturopathic education includes not only natural medicine, but conventional Western medicine, and the interaction between the two approaches to healing.
One of the most important factors in understanding why you have inflammation or illness is a type of allergy called an IgG food allergen. This type of allergen may not show symptoms immediately on the surface, but can work to destroy health through draining the body’s reserves.
IgG testing is a great way to get solid facts about a case that can make a difference. You can have some facts about IgG food allergies that you might not have had before through a simple test. Facts that you can find out about your own body that can give you the information you need to heal.
After being unwell throughout my twenties, I went to my local library and looked up an article on naturopathic doctors. The article described naturopathic doctors and their education. Naturopathic doctors go to a four-year medical school and learn both Western “conventional” medicine and all forms of natural medicine.
I figured I had nothing to lose, and I went to a naturopathic doctor. Because my case was complicated, we did not make much progress other than being able to function without prescription drugs. The modest improvements in my symptoms still felt like a major victory. There was something more important that the doctor offered. The naturopathic doctor truly and sincerely believed in my ability to heal.
This was the first doctor that I had been to in all of my years of illness that believed that I could still heal after all that I had been through. Because of this experience I decided to become a naturopathic doctor myself. In the years of practice and research as a naturopathic doctor I have a level of health far beyond what I thought would ever be possible. After all that I had been through with illness I would have just been happy to take one day without pain as a success.
Some cases are cured by a single herb, a single nutrient, single diet change, or a homeopathic medicine. Over the years I have had many of those cases in the office. Those cases are fun to treat for both me and the patient.
I wasn’t one of those patients that experienced an easy cure, so I understand how frustrating it can be when answers don’t come right away or even after a long wait. I needed to keep looking for answers, not give up, and keep working at it. That is the same strategy that I use in the cases that I work with now.
Naturopathic school was a great place to get information that would help me solve my own health problems. I have also learned throughout the years to pay attention to information that comes from unexpected places. I think this gets harder to do the more education you have. I can look to my own past and see where the need to justify the time, energy and expense of my education caused me to dismiss the information about health and healing that came through simple observations or experiences of my patients or others.
To heal it is important to figure out what is making you sick and keeping you sick. We know that the body is always trying to restore balance. The efforts to restore balance we experience as symptoms. One thing that I have learned is that you need to know your IgG food allergens to recover your health. Without knowing, understanding and avoiding your IgG food allergies it is like being lost without a map. It makes it very hard to find a way back to health and wellness.
Most people know about IGE allergens, the typical example of this is a child with a peanut allergy. I don’t test for these allergies in practice because the patient is often already aware of them. The joke I use in practice is, “If you get a rash when you eat the food then don’t eat it.” OK, it’s a bad joke but it gets to the point.
Practicing naturopathic medicine makes a doctor consider every test carefully. Some people have been sick for years, and the money they spend on testing or appointments must be used as effectively and efficiently as possible.
We don’t have to test for allergens that are that obvious, the results are easy to see when the patient gets a symptom immediately after eating a food. What I am always trying to find out with my testing are answers to questions that I have no other way of knowing. We are looking for answers that are not obvious to me or the patient. That is the reason for testing.
IgG food allergens are the delayed, or hidden food allergens that occur 1-4 days after eating the food. I think that it is outside the grasp of most people’s self-awareness to connect a symptom they are having on Thursday with a food that they ate on Monday, which is why testing is a valuable tool for identifying the IgG allergens.
Some doctors think that the best way to try to get the answers to hidden food allergens is for the patient to do a diet diary where they write down every food. I have not found this approach to be effective in practice. Just having a patient compete a diary is a difficult task, especially if you factor in work, kids, and all the other factors that are so overwhelming for us as people. Then there is the fact that just knowing you will be writing down what you are eating will change what you eat.
Notice the green line. Let’s call this line the “line of health.” As long as your health level is high, you may not notice the IgG food allergens. As the green health line drops the IgG allergies appear. The green health line may drop because of mental, emotional or physical stress. These could be things we face as human beings, like work or finances, school or family, infections or other illness.
Remember, the most important thing about IgG food allergens is that they are a delayed reaction to foods. It is very often impossible to connect the allergen to the symptoms you are experiencing.
IgG allergens can bubble below the surface for many years, draining the body. They create an inflammatory process that must be managed by the body, which it does until it just runs out of the reserves that it needs.
Having an IgG food allergy is a constant drain to your system. It is like leaving your car lights on by mistake. If you leave for an hour and come back the car may still start. If you leave the lights on for 10 hours however it may be a different story and the car may not start.
How many times have we heard about a person being the “picture or health” before the “surprise illness” got them. Fill in “surprise illness” with the disease of your choice: cancer, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, colitis, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.
IgG Food Allergens are a Hole in the Bucket
IgG food allergens are the type of problem in practice that I call “bucket holes.” We think of a good level of health as a full bucket of water. Because people sense that they are not full or running on empty, then they come in looking for a “fill-up.” When patients come in complaining about how many doctors they have been to, then I know this is what has been going on.
So if a person has low energy they may come into the office asking for something that will give them energy. It is a more important question to figure out why a person has low energy. People come in with requests or desires for a treatment that are what I call, “Fill my bucket.” They want something to feel better, to fill them up.
It is easy to give a quick fix, and fill the bucket temporarily. However that person will soon return with the same illness if not a new and sometimes worse condition. A much more effective use of time, effort and money is to fix the problems first. Cork the holes before filing the bucket.
Gluten as a Food Allergen
Gluten is one of the IgG allergens that creates the most problems for the body. So let’s talk about what gluten is and then lets talk about why it creates so many problems for people.
I understand that some people may see the recent publicity about gluten allergies or gluten sensitivities as simply the latest health gimmick or new age health fad. With my years in practice I have seen enough fads come and go to understand why some people react in this way. I think the truth is different when it comes to gluten.
The actual trend or fad regarding health and disease in this country is an alarming increase in cancer, obesity, and other diseases. Many of these are associated with the increase in factory farming and the greatly increased use of gluten enhanced, genetically modified wheat. The concentration of gluten in our food supply today is a hundred times of what is was for our ancestors.
Look at the images comparing the size and shape of gluten molecules and bacteria. Gluten shares a size and shape similar to bacteria. We know that the syphilis and Lyme disease are very destructive to all the body’s tissues. These form of bacteria are perceived by the body as tremendous threats. We do not know why these bacteria create such an immune reaction.
When the body senses the infection it doesn’t just attack the virus, bacteria or other microbe. The full immune response is against the microbe and all tissue associated with the infections, including the body’s own tissues. The body’s immune strategy is to destroy everything. Of course the main goal is to clear the invader, so as not to miss the infection.
After the infection is cleared then the body can go about its work of repairing and regenerating the tissues. Again, the problem with allergens is that the exposure never stops, and therefore the immune response never stops either.
The images in this graphic are designed to show you how these three substance can create similar problems. The graphic represents the size and shape of the gluten molecule that is found in the grains that we call wheat, rye and barley, and compares it to other molecular shapes that our bodies are exposed to.
Gluten is a problem because it looks like the syphilis bacteria and therefore can create the same immune response. It is not just that gluten can create problems in the intestines either. IgG allergens can effect the entire body. Keep in mind there are many different tissues in the intestines. Those other tissues are part of the endomysium also.
If you are having an immune reaction in the intestine then it can show up anywhere else in the body. When the body creates immune reactions it can fight against it’s own tissue.
Gluten is found in any food that contains the grains wheat, rye or barely. Because it is such an effective thickener it is also used in many foods that that you would not suspect. Truly avoiding gluten takes much work!
The amount of gluten free alternatives is fantastic now in comparison to ten or even five years ago is the awareness that exists in the culture for people that have gluten sensitivity. The “Grain Family” graphic shows the relationships of grains.
The Whole Body Allergy Connection
Because the thread of the endomysium runs throughout the body, the local affects of the allergy can become systemic. An additional point about intestinal allergies is that they can have a special affect on the tissue of the body that starts out from the same place as the intestinal tissue in the embryo.
The body forms in three different layers, the endoderm, the mesoderm and the ectoderm. These layers are the inside, the middle and the outside of their body.
The endoderm forms the guts, but some other tissue is also formed from this inner layer. So when the baby is developing in the womb then the inner tube forms the intestines. A part of this inner tube also goes up into our abdomen and becomes the pancreas.
Another part travels all the way up to the throat and becomes the thyroid. So you can see that an immune reaction that affects endodermal tissue like the intestines will also create a problem in the pancreas and thyroid, tissues far away from where they began when the body was first developing.
Why We Crave Our Food Allergens
Part of the addictive effect of our food allergens is because eating our allergens can cause the same effects in our body as taking drugs like morphine. Another way of looking at the addiction to food allergens is that it is more like an addiction to amphetamines. This stimulation provided to the body by consuming an allergen is like a shock to the system, but a stimulating shock. Some people may experience feeling very well the day before they come down with an illness or a return of their symptoms. This is the same effect as when we eat our allergens and feel well at first.
One of the best things that I can hear from a patient when I tell them that they need to give up a food allergen is that, “It is going to be so hard because I love bagels, or I love eggs, or I can’t do without my milk. These words tell me that the person has an addictive attachment to the food.
One of thhe worst thing we can hear when we go through the trouble of testing for allergens is that the person doesn’t eat the food that came back high or eats it rarely.
When I hear a person become frustrated, or confused or even angry about giving up a food, then I know that removing that food will be a big help for that patient.
Summarizing IgG Food Allergens
Let’s summarize why IgG allergy testing is so important for any inflammatory disease.
Testing for IgG Food Allergies
We are lucky in practice now that testing for IgG allergies is so much easier than it was previously. IgG allergies are tested with a single finger stick and two dime size drops of blood.
The testing samples are then exposed to a process called florescent immune assay. This means that the sample is exposed to the antigen (allergen) and if the body is making antibodies (fighting) to that substance then a very sensitive detector will pick up a discharge of light. This process is not only able to tell you if you are allergic but how allergic you are.
Following is an actual test results for IgG allergens on a patients. This is just to give you an overall view of what the first page of the test looks like.
After that I will show you the three main allergens that I see as problems in practice.
The Most Harmful Food Allergens
These three are the most harmful allergens because they are animal proteins, or in the case of gluten, they look like bacteria. Those proteins that are in the animal family have the greatest ability to signal our bodies self defense red alert system.
When our body sees these proteins it thinks there is a bacterial infection in our intestine. Because of this it changes the structure of our intestines, literally opening holes, turning “tight junctions” into “loose junctions.”
The body prefers to have the intestines with what are called “tight junctions.” Having the intestinal cells in a tight junction configuration means that nothing can sneak around the cells and that everything has to go through the cell first. This approval process allows for the body to determine what can go directly into the blood stream and what needs to be changed first.
When the body allows the cells of the intestine to separate from each other then the cellular barrier is compromised and many other allergens can get into the body. When we see this we see a patient that comes back with an allergy test where everything is high.
In this case it is important to recognize the difference between primary and secondary allergens. Primary allergens are the one that cause the tight junctions to open, secondary allergens are the proteins that get though the already open junctions and create a reaction.
The body prefers to have the intestines with what are called “tight junctions.” Having the intestinal cells in a tight junction configuration means that nothing can sneak around the cells and that everything has to go through the cell first. This approval process allows for the body to determine what can go directly into the blood stream and what needs to be changed first.
When the body allows the cells of the intestine to separate from each other then the cellular barrier is compromised and many other allergens can get into the body. When we see this we see a patient that comes back with an allergy test where everything is high.
In this case it is important to recognize the difference between primary and secondary allergens. Primary allergens are the one that cause the tight junctions to open, secondary allergens are the proteins that get though the already open junctions and create a reaction.
Fructose Tolerance Testing
In difficult cases it is becoming increasingly clear how subtle genetic difference can be the cause of disease in a person. In every case now I want to know where a patient’s family is from. One example of this is hereditary fructose malabsorption. It turns out that 40% of people from Central Europe cannot digest fructose.
Fructose is the name of a sugar that is present in many processed foods but all present in fruits and in regular table sugar. There is an excellent test for this condition that we make available through our website.
Blood Type Diet
It is important that any person trying to recover their health eat their blood type diet. Much information is available from Dr. D’Adamo’s website; (www.4yourtype.com) on this diet. The important fact to realize is that foods have blood types just like people do.
For the same reason we wouldn’t give a person with blood type O blood a transfusion with blood that is blood type A, it is harmful for people to eat foods that are not compatible with their blood type.
The basics are that patients with blood type A should eat less red meat and more vegetarian foods, blood type O should eat more red meat and less grain, and blood type B should avoid gluten and chicken.
There is so much more to learn about how your blood type can affect your health. I recommend that patients be sure to use an IfHI certified (Institute for Human Individuality) practitioner if you want to learn more about blood type and blood type diets.
Conclusion
If you know your IgG allergens and avoid them you are on a great start toward health recovery. If you can discover and avoid the genetic pitfalls that may be affecting you (like fructose in German patients or Gluten in Irish and Italian patients) that is an important part also. Finally you need to eat a diet that is compatible with your blood type. Taking these steps is a logical way to approach healing. By working in this way you may not only find recovery of your health, you may be able to create a level of health higher than any that you had previously known. You may have been climbing a hill, or walking into the wind your entire life as the allergens worked against you.
Contact Information
If you have read through this booklet, been to my website and tried other doctors I am willing to work with any person that wants IgG testing through phone consultation.
To initiate this process simply complete an intake form on my website and put a special note in the form that mentions that you read my book and want to be treated. We can send a test kit to you that you can take and then submit to the lab. Once your report is received we will set up a brief visit to discuss the results. More information is available at my website: www.SteveNenninger.com