Food Sensitivity and Weight Loss
Weight loss cannot occur without addressing and healing your food problems first. Here’s what to know about food sensitivity and weight loss.
Having food intolerances or sensitivities can be super frustrating and a huge test of willpower. It’s really hard to stay away from foods you love just because they may be giving you a reaction. It may be bloating, a stomach ache, headache skin rash or the reason for NOT losing weight.
These symptoms may appear to be temporary, eating food you are sensitive to causes longer term damage internally. One aspect of food intolerance that is not talked about much is its connection to weight loss, or lack thereof.
What’s Happening in the Body
When we continue to eat foods our body cannot digest or are sensitive to, your body sends out a histamine response. A histamine response triggers our cortisol (stress hormone) and it is released and causes inflammation. The goal is to have cortisol released only when we are actually going to need it in real ‘fight or flight’ scenarios. The more cortisol in our body, the more fat storage will occur, especially around our mid-section. If the body perceives we are in danger, it will hold on to fat, particularly around our most vital organs. We are physiologically built to hold onto fat to nourish our bodies during stressful times.
Aside from creating inflammation and elevated levels of cortisol, eating food you are intolerant to can also exacerbate intestinal health. Most food intolerances present because your intestines have tiny holes in them due to stress and/or irritation leading to leaky gut. The ‘leakier’ the gut, the more undigested foods flow into your blood stream which leads to more inflammation. Another way to say this, is the more intestinal issues (permeability) you have, the higher the histamine response, the more inflammation, the more fat retention. It’s a nasty cycle that not only keeps us away from foods we want to eat longer, but perpetuates digestive issues. Perhaps the most frustrating piece is that it prevents us from losing weight.
The Healthy Nest Nutrition Solution
Try this: Use this knowledge to stay away from foods we are intolerant to. And, enjoy natural weight loss!
Healthy Nest Nutrition talks a lot about intestinal impermeability, or otherwise called leaky gut, and what to do about it. We have a tool-box of ideas and tests to help you identify which foods are problematic and how to deal with them so that you can achieve forever weight loss. Reach out to a holistic nutritionist today to see if Healthy Nest programs are right for you.