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Food Sensitivity Testing with EverlyWell

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Food sensitivity testing

Back in December 2016, I was scrolling through good old Facebook when I came across a friend's post about her food sensitivity testing with EverlyWell.  Completely curious, I read her entire post.  And the whole time I was reading, I was super excited for her.  I mean, what a great insight!  She would be able to know which foods to avoid so that she can heal her gut and move towards wellness!  So awesome!

I was so intrigued by this post I knew that I had to do food sensitivity testing with EveryWell for myself.  Here's the thing.  I feel fine.  I eat pretty much everything.  Except for canned tuna.  I don't like canned tuna.  But anyway, I was just wondering if I do happen to have any food sensitivities.  I truly believed that my test would be negative for everything.  Simply based on how I feel.  Which is great!  Actually, I figured that if any sensitivity came back, it would be gluten.  I eliminated gluten for a while to see if it would help with my rosacea.  It didn't help with that at all.  Anyway.  

On the flip side, I am smart enough to ask myself the question, “What if I could feel BETTER?”  That's the thing!  Most people don't realize that they COULD feel better.  So, I decided to grab myself a test kit from EverlyWell and see what I see.

It really couldn't have been simpler.  I got the test in the mail, gave my blood sample – which was hard by the way.  The finger prick was the easy part.  Squeezing my finger to get every last drop of blood out was the hard part.  Go figure.  So, I put it in the bag, slap the label on it, and drive it to a UPS store.  Off it went.  

It didn't take long to get the results, either!  I got an email when they were ready and I simply logged on to see what came up!

Guess what?  Gluten showed up in the Class 0 – low reactivity – section.  What?  I guess that is not what was causing my rosacea.  HA!  But, in Class 3 – high reactivity – here is what I found:

EverlyWell test results

DAIRY!!!!!!!!  I about DIED!!!  I have homemade milk kefir in my smoothie every morning!  And milk in my coffee?  I LOVE cheese.  I mean, who doesn't?  I really, really do!  And butter!?  Oh dear.  Each food is clickable.  So, here is what it says when I clicked on Cows Milk:

EverlyWell test results

So, I guess I need to try to eliminate Dairy and see what happens!  But what about Class 2 foods?  How did I do there?  What else might be irritating to my body?  

EverlyWell test results

I guess I should take those out too!  Can I just say that I didn't think I would feel completely overwhelmed when I saw the results of this test.  The idea of removing dairy seems impossible.  Because I love it so much.  I realize that it isn't impossible.  I can do it.  It is just a mindset shift.  I am VERY curious to learn what my normal feels like without dairy.  Will it feel different?  

So, what next?  Obviously the next step is to begin eliminating these foods and see what happens.  But what is my plan?  I was able to convince my husband to try the Whole30.  Doing the Whole30 will eliminate these foods, plus a lot more!  Well, the Whole30 keeps almonds but gets rid of peanuts.  Turns out peanuts don't really bother me, but almonds do!  Gah!  

Now, the question is WHEN?  When do I say goodbye to these foods for a while?  To be honest, I have been procrastinating.  Because I know it will be hard at first.  But then it will get easier!  So, stay tuned for my progress and what I find!  

Have you ever done food sensitivity testing?  I think it is so fascinating!  Lots of people have told me that they don't ever want to do that test because they don't want to know what they are sensitive to.  They are afraid they would have to give up what they love eating.  I consider it another tool in my bag of tricks.  Knowledge is power AND freedom.  And, in this case, health freedom!  I have the knowledge.  Now I just have to do something with it!

If you are curious about your own food sensitivities, give EverlyWell a shot!  It was simple to do and the results can give you a great starting point!

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Food sensitivity testing

13 Comments

  1. Hi Kelly! Glad you found out what was bothering you.. thanks for sharing the EverlyWell test! I am dairy intolerant also I got tested at the doctors a few years back and wanted to tell you my favorite dairy free cookbook is Oh She Glows! Also the Joy of Vegan Baking is a good baking book.. both easy and delicious with normal ingredients. My skin issues cleared up a lot after cutting dairy out for sure! But another thing I noticed when we traveled was I don’t react to the dairy from Italy, France or Spain (northern Europe or UK i still get sick on) so I am thinking maybe the way dairy is processed and treated here? Or hormones or pesticides in the soil? Anyways if I want to cheat I usually get a block of Manchego cheese from Trader Joe’s and I am good:) I don’t know if that would be the same for you but just wanted to share since you said you loved dairy so much! Thank you for sharing your story! 🙂

  2. Hi Kelly, I’m dairy intolerant too, I grow up eating dairy but became completely intolerant after mooving to US in my 20s, my kids , my sister and her kids can’t tolerate any dairy too. I was trying reintroduce it many times unsuccessfully and ended up making coconut kefir and yogurt for years, but I could never get over craivings for cottage cheese and real kefir . About 2 year ago we travel to california and I found in the local store A2 milk yogurt, i heard about a2 milk before but never see it in chicago, so I tryed and to my surprise i didn’t react at all! I found a local farm here in IL and buying raw milk from grass-fed Guernsey cows, it’s A2 milk and non of us have any reaction to milk anymore, I make kefir , yogurt , raw cottage cheese, we go over 2 gallon/week for 2 families. I highly recommend you research A2 milk, and as Nicole mentioned she didn’t react to europien dairy because Europe growing Guernsy cows and they producing A2 milk. Good luck to you, thank you for shearing !

    1. I too have a friend with dairy allergies and in Italy was able to have Gelato every day with NO issues whatsoever! I then read an article that the American dairy from Jersey cows and the strain of milk produced here is a factor.

  3. AGH! I do I do Feel your Pain! I don’t know the brand, but we did the IgE immuno blood test for food about 2 years ago. I was following 80/20 Paleo as I thought gluten was an issue. Found out ALL Cows Dairy, duck, EGGS, bananas, and pineapples were SEVERE. MOD: green beans, mango – thank God no nut issues! And the only grain flagged was buckwheat. Once I did the elimination thing, my Naturopathic Dr. gradually had me only eat such things 1x serving every week. (so maybe on Sat morning I have eggs as a ‘treat’) in rotation so my body does not build up a higher intolerance and more severe allergic reaction if cutting out such things completely and forever.

  4. Hi Kelly, I was wondering do you drink raw milk ? I know with so many things like milk if you go to the raw form your body responds differently. Like wheat , if you mill your own grains the gluten doesn’t bother you . I was just wondering?

  5. American milk products are flash pasteurized instead of the slow pasteurization process used in Europe. That turns the casein in milk into a poison. Goat milk is naturally lower in casein. You can find raw milk cheese, both goat and cow’s, in health food stores.

    1. Hi Morgana, I’m wondering what poison is created when you pasteurize milk too quickly? I will start drinking the milk directly from the teet to avoid bad bacteria while avoiding pasteurization.

  6. I haven’t done the blood testing, but it sounds very interesting. 2 years ago my husband requested whole 30 for himself so that he could have a specific plan for starting a paleo trial diet to see if it would help with cholesterol and diabetes and blood pressure. After the first 30 days, he’d lost 15 lbs and blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol were all normal. So, yeah it helped! What I didn’t anticipate was that I would have so much less fibromyalgia pain. Within 3 months of holding tight to the whole 30 restrictions, I was off the couch, lyrica, mobic, flexeril, and Norco completely. Most days I dont even take Tylenol or motrin. 2 yrs later, I just finished running my second half marathon, and getting ready to start training for my 3rd.
    Dairy and legumes are absolutely triggers for the fibromyalgia. And I haven’t even tried grains yet. I don’t miss cinnamon rolls as much as I dislike fibromyalgia.!

  7. I did a similar test 20 years ago, and my results look almost identical. Milk, cheese, etc. I’ve heard of several others with the same results. Makes me curious the % of results that are similar. Skeptical for sure, like “stop eating fatty cheese and you will feel better.” Duh.

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