My personal struggles with food allergies pale in comparison to the story of a man I knew a few years ago. I first met him on a long distance visit to my former husband's family. He was a lifelong friend of my former husband and during our visit he shared with us the many physical and emotional difficulties he was experiencing at the time. He was severely depressed, his hair was falling out in clumps, he was having severe headaches and digestive disturbances - just to name a few. He told us how he had followed the recommendations of a couple different medical doctors, who prescribed one prescription after another and advised him to seek psychological counseling, but he just kept getting worse.

At that time I was not yet a wellness coach (it's stories like these that inspired me to become one!), but I knew a great deal about natural healthcare, so I gingerly suggested that he might try consulting with a holistic nutritional consultant or natural healthcare practitioner and have them check him for food allergies. He failed, as many people do, to see the relationship between his problems and food allergies. So, unfortunately, my suggestions were not initially considered and he decided to consult with another medical specialist.

A few weeks later this dear friend was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He had suffered a grande mal seizure brought on by a strong anti-depressant drug prescribed by his new doctor. Fortunately he pulled through and as a result of this brush with death he finally decided to follow my promptings and explore the natural route. He consulted a natural foods nutritional consultant and discovered that he was allergic to wheat and other gluten grains. After just a few days of eliminating foods containing wheat and gluten he started feeling better than he had in years. Within a few weeks his hair had grown back and all the other symptoms had disappeared as well. He literally had a new lease on life.

Similarly, a woman came to my Eating for Health class recently with multiple symptoms, the most prevelant being a persistant cough. For three years she had sought help for this condition from numerous healthcare practitioners who gave her drugs and nutritional supplements. None of these solved the problem and she had grown weary having spent much time and money trying to get relief. When she told me this, the first thing I asked her was if she drank orange juice, a notoriously mucous producing food to those with allergies. (Normally I would have first asked if she drank milk or ate a lot of dairy products, but I wrongly assumed this had already been checked.) She said no, she only drank milk and water. To which I replied, "There's your problem right there."

Of course, she didn't believe me at first either, thinking certainly the allergist would have come up with something that simple. Finally, I told her I would give her $100 cash if she quit drinking milk and her cough didn't subside. She came back a week later and I could tell just by looking at her that she had quit drinking milk. The bags and dark circles under her eyes, a common indication of food allergies, had diminished. She shared with us that in fact she had not drank milk that week, that her cough had all but gone away and that she was really pleased that she had finally gotten to the bottom of this problem. She also expressed that she felt a bit miffed that she was not aware of food allergies and that she had consulted, at great expense, more than one medical doctor, including a top allergist, and they were unable to uncover the root of the problem.

Knowing these stories and those of numerous other people (myself included), I can't help but wonder how many other people suffer needlessly on a daily basis or have had similar crisis situations that could have been avoided by a simple change in diet. By checking out food allergies as a possibility, you have nothing to lose and you may have literally everything to gain. It is definitely worth exploring. Be aware, however, that identifying and eliminating food allergies can sometimes be tricky business - and a medical doctor is usually not the place to go for help (see Related Resources for more information).

NOTE: It is important to remember that knowledge is power when it comes to your health. Education and self-responsibility are key in reversing conditions in the body. As discussed in Preventing & Reversing Disease, drugs or natural herbs and supplements, are not usually the answer to a health problem. While these may be acutely helpful, the deeper answer always lies in the root cause, which is usually diet, lifestyle (including psychological factors), and/or environment.