Obesity has always been seen via the prism of high calorie intake. Surprisingly, obesity is not linked to the amount of calories alone. There is more to it. You will be surprised to know that many people can reduce their weight just by cutting down a few items from their diet. No, we are not talking about fatty food like cheese and butter alone. These few food items that I mentioned are the food allergens. By removing the allergens from your diet, you reduce the inflammation caused by the food. This is all it takes to set your body on a path of weight reduction.
How to find out if you have a hidden allergy?
The most common foods that people are allergic to are milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish and wheat. Aside from these common foods, people may be allergic to other food items also. If you happen to notice a symptom of an allergy right after you consume a particular food, and suspect the reaction to be a result of the food, then it must be tested. Generally two kinds of tests are used to check for allergic reactions. The Skin prick test and blood tests. The skin prick test helps visibly prove that a certain food causes allergic reactions. The Blood test identifies the presence of the any food specific IgE antibody in the blood, measure the amount of it and give us a numerical value. Aside from these two, the one test that can conclusively prove a food allergy is the Oral challenge test. You consume the food that is suspected to give you allergic reactions, to check if it does make you react. This test is to be performed by a trained and experienced health care professional, who is good at treating severe allergic reactions.
Hidden allergy as a cause of obesity
Being overweight and obesity are primarily inflammatory conditions. Consumption of foods that you are allergic to, will cause inflammation. This is called food intolerance. Inflammation makes the adrenal glands secrete hormones, which alter the insulin levels and blood sugar levels. This is called insulin resistance, and it directly leads to high insulin secretion. Insulin, being a fat storage hormone, make you store more fat than you burn. The elevated insulin levels affect the activities of two of the most important enzymes. These enzymes also make the body store fat instead of burning them for energy. Thus food related allergies cause inflammation that leads to weight gain. You get inflamed, gain weight, suffer more inflammation due to overweight, put more weight due to the inflammation and so on and so forth. This becomes a vicious cycle.
As you put on more weight, the existing fat cells add more fat and become larger. Such cells may leak as they expand and stretch. This is called as the leaky gut syndrome. When the immune cells clean up the leak, they secrete inflammatory chemicals. This messes up the hormone leptin, which is responsible for maintaining an optimum body weight. The malfunctioning of leptin, known as leptin resistance, fails to control the appetite and boost the metabolism. This results in high storage of fat.
The solution to this is by removing all allergens from your diet, and cutting down on inflammation causing foods.
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