What is the Root Cause of Environmental Allergies?
Episode 161
With summers at their peak, we see people with a myriad of health issues and allergies coming through the doors of IWG. In today’s episode of Integrative Wellness Radio, Dr. Nicole talks about some of the issues that come with different seasons, whether it is food intolerance or seasonal allergies. She further dissects the main root cause that is the leading factor of the Human Body being so reactive to these environmental changes. Listen to the whole episode to get a more in-depth insight! Interested in learning more about Dr. Nick & Dr. Nicole’s courses, memberships, or private work? Learn more at Integrative You . Have a quick question, Would you like to schedule a call, or just want to say hi? Text us at 732.913.0009. Our mission to innovate humans & Healthcare does NOT start and stop with us! This is why we are also dedicated to helping other practitioners in evolving healthcare too! If you are a healthcare leader and are looking to up-level your clinical + business excellence Learn more about our course membership: Limitless Healthprenuer and start boldly disrupting this industry! Noteworthy Time Stamps: 02:27 Why allergies are on the rise 07:23 Things you aren’t being told when it comes to allergies 10:30 Food allergies are far from being black & white 14:58 If you have allergies, you have a hyperactive immune system 19:07 Skin prick tests and possible false positives 25:50 Debunking the allergy myths 34:48 The epidemic of kids having peanut allergies 38:01 True definition of allergy 48:23 Allergies are a reflection of our overall health
Topics: allergies, immune, allergy, root, cause, health, food, environmental
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## What is the Root Cause of Environmental Allergies?
- Allergies are on the rise due to a multitude of factors impacting our immune system's reactivity.
- Many common misconceptions and unaddressed truths exist regarding allergy testing and understanding.
- The human immune system is far more complex than a simple "yes" or "no" when it comes to allergens.
- Allergies are not isolated incidents but rather a significant indicator of your body's foundational health.
Pull quotes
Imagine if medicine actually looked at you as a whole, opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems.
Nick and Dr. **Unknown:** Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine, to learn about what the limitations are with testing, and what you can do to start your health journey.
Um, I know that there are a lot of people that are struggling with, uh, different types of seasonal allergies.
Transcript
**Unknown:** I've been up all night, no sleep. Imagine if medicine actually looked at you as a whole, opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems. Dive into Integrative Wellness Radio with Dr. Nick and Dr.
**Unknown:** Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine, to learn about what the limitations are with testing, and what you can do to start your health journey. Sometimes I tend to lose myself when I'm out here on my own. Hi, everyone. Welcome.
**Unknown:** I'm very excited to be talking about this topic just because just alone today I had a variety of different patients coming through my doors with all different types of food intolerances and really just struggling day to day with what they are consuming, and let alone also on top of that, struggling with the change of seasons. Um, I know that there are a lot of people that are struggling with, uh, different types of seasonal allergies. Uh, some people call them seasonal allergies, but deal with them all year long, and some people have it worse in the fall, some people have it worse in the spring. But overall it's really trying to understand, you know, what is going on in the body that is causing us to be triggered by these different types of environmental changes, uh, and also what is the major reason why so many people, including children, are struggling with what they can and cannot eat.
**Unknown:** And it really comes back to, you know, what is going on with the food industry, what is going on in our bodies, and why are we so immune reactive. So we really want to uncover some of the basic things about the limitations with testing, because I know there are many of you that potentially have had food allergy testing, and you feel confused about it, you feel overwhelmed about it, or you feel like it's not accurate. So it's understanding some of the limitations there, some of the better tests that are out there, and in addition to what can we start doing about changing this dynamic and helping our bodies to be less or more tolerant and less sensitive, and really what can we be doing to help our children from being so overly sensitive to a lot of the foods that are out there. We are really helping you to understand more about allergies and really breaking through some of the false beliefs that you think that you just have to live with them.
**Unknown:** Uh, I know many people just think that this is what it is for me, and I just have to know how to navigate around it. Allergies is something that we've been faced with as integrative practitioners because there are so many people that are struggling with really overworked and taxed out immune systems. So it's really helping to understand, you know, what is going on, why? Why is that happening?
**Unknown:** What is potentially things that we are being exposed to just in our food industry that are causing us to be so hyperreactive? And really from day one, uh, myself and the other practitioners that I work with, we've always questioned, uh, we've always kind of pressed the envelope and asked better questions. Instead of just saying, "Well, everybody has allergies, and we just need to help people navigate around them," it was always about figuring out why, and also understanding that there is a variety of different systems that can actually really contribute to these sensitivities and allergies in addition. It's not just, "Oh, you just have a allergy," and just call it a day.
**Unknown:** There is always going to be other systems that are involved in the immune system being super reactive. So as we kind of understand a little bit more about allergies, uh, like I said before, I don't just work with allergies. I work with a variety of different types of people, but it's inevitable that I work with allergies to some capacity with all of my patients. And it's primarily because if you are someone who has a history of Lyme disease, maybe you're someone who has autoimmune conditions, maybe you even have hormonal imbalances, maybe you have irritable bowel syndrome, all of those systems and all of those conditions are really a representation that there is dysfunction in the body or there are imbalances in the body.
**Unknown:** And the more imbalances that we have, the more immune reactive we are, and this can definitely be part of the cascade effect that happens when it comes to the development of sensitivities and allergies. And trust me, I know that a lot of you can relate to those things 'cause I hear it over and over in my practice. Most of us have just gotten used to our symptoms or we've normalized those symptoms, and we think it's normal that everybody's tired. We think it's normal that, you know, you can't get through a whole night's sleep without getting up to go to the bathroom.
**Unknown:** Uh, it's normal that your memory is not good. If anything, you probably joke about it with your friends. So we've definitely normalized allergies. We've normalized sensitivities.
**Unknown:** We literally have peanut butter-free tables in schools. There are some schools that are completely nut-free, and you ask any teacher or anyone who works in a school that's been doing this for fifteen, twenty years, they all look at you and go, "Oh my goodness, things have changed." There is such a different dynamic with kids with their ADD, with their, um, ADHD. These kids are-- There's more kids than ever in these special classes for special needs. Um, there are now EpiPens on every corner of the hallways, and there are, you know, special classrooms and special cafeterias that are avoiding certain types of foods.
**Unknown:** This is definitely something that we need to ask better questions about. You know, we've just normalized it, and if anything, parents have become aggressive about it. You know, "You're gonna kill my kid by bringing in this sandwich." But I think the bigger question that stands is why are these kids so reactive? Why are allergies a bigger problem than they ever have been in the past?
**Unknown:** I'm in my mid-thirties, and I never had one friend that had allergies. I'm not even that old. We did not have segregated cafeterias. We did not have autoimmune conditions.
**Unknown:** I don't remember any of my friends being on medications. And nowIt's almost weird if you're not on medications. It's almost weird if you don't have an allergy. It's almost weird if you don't have ADD.
**Unknown:** So times have really changed, and we really need to start thinking about why and what is the causation behind it. So first and foremost, I think th-this is such an important point to make, is that it's not your fault. It's not your fault that you potentially just gave birth, and you have a baby that is allergic to every formula. It is not your fault that you have kids that have to sit at the peanut butter-free table.
**Unknown:** It's not your fault that your kid has anaphylactic shock from eating certain things. It's not your fault that you potentially have tried to do your best and get clean organic food in your house, but your kids still have allergies. Or you've tried an elimination diet, but you still don't feel well. It's not necessarily always about elimination, elimination.
**Unknown:** There is usually a core root or a foundational problem that is being completely overlooked. Because if you suspect an allergy or a sensitivity, what you're doing first and foremost is you're usually going and getting a skin prick test. You're getting a skin prick tes-test which is gonna give you, you know, the information of what you need to avoid, and you think, "I'm just gonna avoid that, and my problems will be solved." Then if it doesn't work out that way, then you go and get allergy shots for three, four, five years, and sometimes you still don't even have full resolution. But nobody is telling you otherwise.
**Unknown:** Nobody is telling you to get a different test. Nobody is telling you that your gut might be causing it. Nobody is telling you that you might be toxic. Nobody is telling you these things.
**Unknown:** So you usually get frustrated, and you give up. So today, we're really trying to understand what are the things that nobody's talking about and what are the missing pieces. So when we talk about this different concept of allergies, and we talk about the root cause of allergies, there's a couple of foundational things that you need to understand. Number one is that when we segregate out all of the body systems in traditional medicine or conventional medicine, we assume that everything is working independent of each other.
**Unknown:** We assume that the gut has nothing to do with the onset of allergies. We assume that the neurological system is not being affected by the allergies. We just assume that everything is working independently of each other and that we have all these separate things going on. And when we do this, we actually ignore basic physiology.
**Unknown:** We ignore the fact that everything is connected. And one of the most basic concepts of this is that ninety to ninety-five percent of your serotonin, which is your primary feel-good hormone that gives you joy and allows you to feel pleasure, that hormone is made in your gut. So if you have a patient who's dealing with depression, and then you also have a patient who's dealing with irritable bowel syndrome, but maybe their irritable bowel isn't bad enough, there's no reason to take action on it because it's just mild, and it comes and goes. Then this patient potentially is being treated for depression that is actually caused by their low-grade gut issues.
**Unknown:** So the point of me telling you this is that there is a massive cascade effect that happens when there are toxicities, when there are infections, when there are foreign things that are triggering our immune systems and then making us more susceptible to the, to the development of, uh, intolerances, sensitivities, and allergies. So we need to stop looking at just chemistry and be able to figure out what the actual root cause is. So one of the really fascinating things that I wanted to talk about is food allergies are not black and white. Literally, it couldn't even be farther from being black and white.
**Unknown:** So you go and get a test, and your test is negative, but you know that every time you eat that food, it makes you feel crappy. In addition to that, we also notice sometimes that we have an issue with a cooked food but don't have the issue with the raw food or vice versa. So just so you know, there are tests out there that actually break down food and evaluate it cooked versus raw, even the breakdown of the food all the way down to its peptide level. So I'm gonna try to keep this as simple as possible.
**Unknown:** You have a protein, breaks down into amino acid, breaks down into a peptide. So you could be reacting to a peptide that is then causing you to feel not well from the consumption of the food protein, but when you do the test on the food protein, it comes up negative. So then you're super confused 'cause you're like, "Well, I eat the wheat, and it makes me feel bad, but technically I'm not allergic to it." So again, this could not be further from being black and white. There is a lot of gray when it comes to food allergies and food allergy testing.
**Unknown:** So like I said, if you might be having an allergy to the peptide, so which is like the breakdown of the food protein. So if that's the case, you might actually be having an issue with a variety of different foods that share that peptide. So this gets really confusing because people get so overwhelmed and frustrated, and they're like, "I'm allergic to everything. I can't even drink water anymore.
**Unknown:** I feel like my body is reacting to everything."And really what it comes down to is that you might actually be reacting to the peptide and not necessarily the food protein. Allergies can start in the womb. So I will give you an example here. I've worked with many young patients, uh, literally in their infancy, and it's primarily because we've worked with the parents and then they're-- they have-- they give birth to the child, and the child is having massive intolerances to different types of formulas.
**Unknown:** They might even be having intolerances to the breast milk. And then what happens is it turns out that they are dealing with an issue to dairy, or they're dealing with an issue to mold. So what happens is, is that if mom had some type of intolerance that maybe she was not aware of the symptoms, and then she kept consuming that food through her pregnancy, this is very common with dairy, by the way, that then the child is going to be intolerant to dairy. And then maybe you're gonna do formula and your child is spitting up or having colic, and it's because they have an intolerance to the dairy.
**Unknown:** Another really common one is that when kids are very young, maybe they're, you know, below the age of one years old, and they're getting ear infections. And they're getting ear infections, and what's happening is that their, uh, parents are obviously gonna give them an antibiotic, and then it turns out that they have an allergic reaction to either penicillin or amoxicillin. So if mom had toxic mold in her body, then that is actually what makes these children reactive to these antibiotics. So most antibiotics, including penicillin and amoxicillin and ampicillin, they are actually derived from penicillium mold.
**Unknown:** That actually will then cause a reactivity to the antibiotic. So I think that this is such an important point because you cannot have an allergy to something that you have not had exposure to. So the only way that you can have a allergy is if you've had an antibody that has built up against something that you've been exposed to. So it's impossible to have an allergy or a sensitivity to something that is not in a toxic amount in the body.
**Unknown:** And again, when it comes to the environmental allergies, this, this principle holds true because if you have been exposed to toxic mold, and maybe it was in the womb, maybe it was due to antibiotic use as a young child, then that is definitely gonna be a catalyst to the development of environmental allergies as well. The other thing too is that we assume, "Oh, I just have allergies. Well, you know, it-- I just gotta deal with it." But if you have allergies, what that's really telling us is that you have a hyperactive immune system. So the hyperreactivity of your immune system is really an indicator that your immune system is pretty stressed, which is very difficult for your body to be healthy in the event that there is chronic inflammation due to how overreactive your immune system is.
**Unknown:** So we need to get away from just thinking, "Oh, it's just allergies, no big deal," instead of thinking, "What is going on with my system that is causing my immune system to be so hyperreactive?" The biggest one that I think people are always shocked about is that you don't have to live with allergies forever. If you actually have the tools and you have a skilled physician to help to figure out what is the root cause of these allergies and sensitivities, then you can definitely have your body completely rebound from these allergies and sensitivities. You know, when we're talking about sensitivities, that is obviously a lot easier to work with. Um, not every child is gonna be able to fully recover from the anaphylactic, um, immediate onset throat closing situation.
**Unknown:** Um, but when you're having more of a delayed onset type of reaction, those are things that once you remove the foundational stress, the body can fully recover from. So there's some really like staggering statistics when it comes to the epidemic of allergies. But what I think was the most astound is that there has been a fifty percent increase in food allergies in children between nineteen ninety-seven and two thousand and eleven. That is a huge number.
**Unknown:** That is a massive percentage. So we're literally talking about a huge jump in a very short amount of time. So when it comes to these food allergies, we have to start asking why. Why has this become such a significant issue?
**Unknown:** And when it just comes to the anaphylactic, that's the immediate onset throat closing, can't breathe situation, thirty thousand emergency visits a year. In addition to that is a hundred and fifty deaths. Like that is just so unbelievably heartbreaking that we have not been able to, you know, get a handle on this, that we're still having deaths due to this type of immune response. So we really, again, need to start understanding this more in depth as to why.
**Unknown:** And the types of foods, uh, that are causing these allergies are, are growing. So at this point in time, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, cow's milk, tree nuts, wheat, fish, soy. So some of the craziest things about some of these foods is that when it comes to peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, and soy, these all classify as foods. So when these foods grow, they act- actually have a tendency to get invaded by fungus.
**Unknown:** So fungus is in the same family as mold. So sometimes it's becauseOf a reaction or a toxicity of the fungus that people are starting to react to these foods. There is a lot of things to be considered with these foods. Is it the food?
**Unknown:** Is it the protein of the food? Is it something that is on the food? Is it pesticides or herbicides that we're spraying onto the crops? Is it going to be the fact that the cow was consuming tons of corn?
**Unknown:** Is it because the cow was also fed tons of wheat? And are we reacting to the cow's milk, or are we reacting to the feed of the animal? So these are all things that are very cross-reactive that have to be considered in understanding these food allergies. So again, I mentioned earlier that a lot of you might be familiar with a skin prick test, and it's something that you may have done for yourself.
**Unknown:** It's something you may have done for your child to help understand, you know, do they truly have food allergies? But the point of me wanting to give you information about this test is that there is a lot of probability for false positives. So the reason being, the biggest reason is the food extracts that are being put into the skin or onto the skin are not standardized. So if you go to two different doctors, you might have two different results because the standard of the wheat, um, extract that they put onto the skin is not gonna be the same in both doctors' offices because there is no standard for it.
**Unknown:** So they could easily be purchasing those food extracts from two different companies, the extracts are completely different. In addition to that, there is a lot of room for error. So if they are putting the, um, the skin prick, if they're doing the skin prick, uh, closer than two centimeters, then you're gonna easily start to have a lot of cross-contamination and cross-reactivity. So you could easily have false positives due to the positioning of the skin prick in addition to the use of the food extracts.
**Unknown:** So the point of this is that there is a lot of room for error when it comes to this test, and you could easily walk away from this test feeling so overwhelmed because you're thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm allergic to everything. Like, how am I gonna live my life?" But it's because of some of the error and the lack of standardization when it comes to the food extracts. This is a bit less common, but one of the other routes that, uh, they use in conventional medicine is gonna be the oral food challenge. You actually have to be, um, hospitalized for this because in case you do have an anaphylactic, uh, shock, they're going to obviously have to medicate you to get you obviously out of that anaphylactic reaction.
**Unknown:** So with that being said, um, there is definitely a lot of... well, there's a lot of risk, and there's a lot of room for false positives, and this can be due to, um, things that the person has actually ingested within a few days leading up to the test. It also can be if someone's avoiding a certain food and then introduces the food, they might not necessarily have immediate reaction. Um, this can also be skewed by medications, supplements.
**Unknown:** There is a lot of room for error with this test as well. So with that being said is we have to also understand that this might not be giving us the information that we are looking for. So one thing that I think is off the radar quite often when it comes to food allergies is, uh, the actual health of the sinuses and the tonsils. So many kids are actually dealing with major issues with their sinuses, ear infections, tonsillitis, strep throat, and a lot of these kids are getting their tonsils removed due to the chronic infections.
**Unknown:** But what's very fascinating about the tonsils is that the tonsils detoxes is by dumping toxins into the veins of the head and neck, and those toxins get dumped into the tonsils and the lymph of the head and neck. So what happens is, is if you have a lot of overload in the tonsils due to reoccurring infections or also due to, um, sinus drainage into the tonsils, we could actually be causing a higher risk for allergies. We can also be causing a higher risk for ADD and ADHD because if all of this is congested, we're gonna have a lot of backup of these toxins getting into the neurological system. So the body is so intricate in how it detoxes, and an-- and every organ serves a purpose because so many doctors say, "You don't really need tonsils.
**Unknown:** You only need one kidney. We don't even know what the appendix does. It's not an important organ." But what's fascinating is your tonsils, your spleen, your appendix are actually all part of your immune system. So it's very important that if your child is suffering with massive, um, uh, allergy issues, but they also have a lot of tonsil issues, and they've had tons of sore throat, strep throat, we need to consider, um, how these are playing into each other and how having continually enlarged tonsils can actually further perpetuate more and more food allergies.
**Unknown:** So I had a patient presenting with an allergy to penicillin. So I kind of mentioned this, uh, earlier, but just to reiterate. So when we're dealing with seasonal allergies, again, we just kind of think, "Oh well, you know, I'm having a reaction to the different pollens, and this is pretty normal." But a lot of the pollens and danders that come from both trees and animals are very similar under a microscope to molds. So when you areAre a child and you are dealing with a common cold, ear infection, sore throat, sinus issues, upper respiratory, urinary tract infections, whatever it is for you, and you get prescribed different types of antibiotics.
**Unknown:** And most of those antibiotics are derived from mold. So penicillin, amoxicillin, and ampicillin are actually made from a mold called penicillium. So with that being said, is that if you have had high amounts of antibiotics as a kid, or you grew up in a water-damaged house, building, there was water in the basement, a leak, et cetera, then you potentially can be exposed to toxic levels of mold. So as you are exposed to toxic levels of mold, your immune system builds antibodies.
**Unknown:** From there, you now have an allergy to penicillin because it's all in the same family. So again, because those molds actually are very cross-reactive to different types of pollens and danders, now you start to have seasonal allergies, and maybe they potentially get worse every year. So there is a huge, huge connection to having high levels of toxic mold in the body that can be a contributing factor to your seasonal allergies. So myth number one, food allergies are an epidemic globally.
**Unknown:** So for the most part, food allergies are an epidemic in the US. Many of my patients, we have a conversation about the things that they really need to, you know, give a break to. And I s- I say it that way because my goal for my patients is not that they're gonna have to go on an elimination diet for the rest of their lives, and that they're gonna, you know, have to avoid a, a category of foods for the rest of their lives. My goal is to fix the root cause, fix the foundation, so that they can obviously go back to eating a balanced diet.
**Unknown:** Don't get me wrong, gluten in the US is crap, so I think all of us should really make an effort to avoid it to the best of our capacities. But often when we have the conversation about gluten, because people hear how it's really not great, they say, "You know, I'm so stressed. I'm gonna go to Europe, and I'm going to Italy, and I really wanna eat pasta, and I'm so sad 'cause I know that you said I shouldn't eat gluten." And I usually respond with, "Eat it because you'll probably be fine." I've even had someone who technically had celiac that didn't respond to gluten. So in the US, uh, our wheat is very altered, and what I mean by that is they've taken various strains of wheat and hybridized them.
**Unknown:** They've hybridized the wheat in order to make it grow bigger and faster. So with that being said, most of the wheat that we are consuming is completely hybridized, and it is not your ancient wheat anymore. In addition to that, we also alter the wheat, um, by a process called deamidation. So most wheat is alcohol-soluble.
**Unknown:** So you also probably hear how there's gluten in weird things. There's gluten in your soy sauce. There's gluten in your Chicken Francaise sauce. There's gluten in your salad dressing.
**Unknown:** There's gluten, you know, in a variety of different things that you don't always think about. So the reason why gluten is in so many of these miscellaneous items or even condiments is because when they take gluten through this deamidation process, what they do is they take gluten from being alcohol-soluble, and when they deaminate it, they switch it to being water-soluble. So when the gluten is then water-soluble, it can actually be mixed into a variety of different types of foods to act as a filler and to also act as a thickener. So they do this specifically to be a cheap ingredient in a variety of different, different condiments and other types of ingredients.
**Unknown:** But in addition to that, when you go through that deamidation process from water or alcohol-soluble to water-soluble, this is actually one of the biggest immune system triggers. So they actually find that the fact that the wheat is hybridized in addition to this deamidation process, this is one of the major, or both of the major reasons why people are so immune reactive to gluten. And for those of you that are listening right now thinking like, "Oh, well, gluten doesn't hurt my stomach, and I definitely don't have a problem with it," I know that I was in denial for a long time. I definitely have zero gut complaints when I eat gluten.
**Unknown:** But when I started to be honest with myself and I started to pay attention, what I realized is that it actually made me fatigued, and it gave me brain fog, not the same day, but the next day. So don't always be thinking about a gastrointestinal response when it comes to food allergies. You need to also start thinking about, "Am I having a neurological response? Am I having inflammatory response?" Are your joints hurting after you eat certain things?
**Unknown:** So the other big thing about gluten that I talked about in a previous podcast, but I talked a lot about celiac disease being connected to a very specific chemical cll- called glyphosate. So glyphosate is the primary ingredient in Roundup. Yes, Roundup, the things that you kill your weeds with. Roundup is actually being sprayed on the majority of our produce and the majority of the produce that are being sold in all of our grocery stores.
**Unknown:** So unfortunately, there is not one of you that are listening that do not have some level of glyphosate poisoning or toxicity. It is inevitable that we are all being exposed.And the glyphosate is now been linked in the research, again, not my opinion, this is proven research, that glyphosate is destroying the microvilli of your gut and one of the leading causes of celiac disease. So we really have to ask ourselves, are we allergic to wheat, or are we sensitive to wheat, or are we allergic or sensitive to glyphosate? So this is extremely important to take into consideration because when you go to Europe and you're tolerating the wheat just fine, chances are you're not really reacting to the protein or the-- even the peptide, chances are in the US you're reacting to the chemicals that are on the wheat.
**Unknown:** So when it comes to wheat, yes, there are sprouted and organic and better versions, but for the most part, it is very, very difficult to find pure ancient wheat in the US. Another big myth is that, uh, allergies happen after the introduction of table food. So there is a big difference between formula and breastfeeding. And I know that some kids actually even react to breastfeeding as well.
**Unknown:** But the thing that you wanna understand about baby formula, this was kind of just even a couple of weeks ago, a, a very good friend of mine, she came to me because she has a newborn, and he was, um, reacting to his formula. She had a specific condition that she was not, um-- it wasn't in her best interest to breastfeed. So, um, she opted to bottle feed. And he was having, uh, reflux, so then they recommended a specific type of formula that was supposed to be more gentle.
**Unknown:** And as he came into the practice, and I did a couple of tests on the baby, the first thing that presented itself was, uh, an intolerance to condensed milk nutrition. Condensed milk nutrition is a primary ingredient in baby formula . In addition to that, the first ingredient for this, uh, gentle baby formula was hydrolyzed corn maltodextrin. If you were to Google that, it is literally carcinogenic.
**Unknown:** It is as toxic as it gets. So guys, you need to really be careful with what you're giving your children. You need to be careful what your children are giving their children. These baby formulas have so many toxins, cross-contaminations, and ingredients that if you were to start r-breaking them down and researching them, you'd be completely horrified.
**Unknown:** So with that, these are children that are having these allergies so, so early on, and you might be thinking like how does an infant already have an allergy or an intolerance? And a lot of times this can come from antibodies that were already built up in mom's body, and there are other factors that have to be considered with was the baby a natural birth? Did the baby go through the birth canal and get exposed to all of that good bacteria? Was the baby exposed to bad bacteria like Group B Strep?
**Unknown:** So this specific child was not only reacting to the condensed milk nutrition but was also reacting to some of the cross-contamination of molds in the formulas. Yes, there's mold in your baby formula. I'm sorry to horrify all of you. But the reason being is because the baby was pumped full of antibiotics because mom had Group B Strep.
**Unknown:** So this already potentially exposed the baby to, uh, molds because that is how these antibiotics are made. So there are so many things that have to be taken into consideration when your child is having allergies or intolerances at such a young age. The other most common thing that I am hearing is that the onset of the allergies were at the two-year-old mark. And what is happening is that there is, uh, with the introduction of certain vaccines, uh, a lot of these vaccines have, uh, peanut oil in them, and the peanut oil is there as a preservative.
**Unknown:** So the peanut oil, um, in the vaccines is definitely can be tied to why some of these kids are developing reactions, uh, to peanuts in the first place because this is an epidemic at this point with how many kids are dealing with, uh, peanut allergies. So there definitely has to be other components that contribute to that, but if the baby's immune system is already being triggered, maybe because of the exposure to the Group B Strep going through the birth canal, maybe because the baby has already been given antibiotics due to ear infections, uh, in addition, maybe the baby is reacting to the, uh, different ingredients in the formula, all of those compounding factors, and then we introduce vaccines that are potentially added, adding more stress to the system in that current moment, and this can definitely trigger this peanut intolerance as well. So the big one is that we always assume that our testing is accurate. We always assume that our blood test is giving us all the information that we need.
**Unknown:** We always assume that, um, even the, the skin prick test is giving us all the information that we need. But what I've realized over time, and this is not just about food allergy testing, this is also about all different types of testing, is that there is so much room for human error. There is a process that has to be-- that these tests have to be taken through. So if you go get a blood test, depending on how long the blood sat there, if the blood was spun properly, if it was stored at the right temperature, if it was transported at the right temperature, if they added the proper reagents to it, if, uh, they skipped a step because they forgot a step as they were processing it.
**Unknown:** So you could easily have results that say, "No, you don't have an allergy," but in reality you do because there is room for error depending on how these samples are being handled. In addition to that is we need to stop looking at the food protein. We need to start breaking the food down into its peptide level so that we understand the bigger picture. So the primary lab that I gravitate towards because I think that they are pioneering in food allergy testing is Vibrant, uh, AmericaVibrant America, number one, has automated their process.
**Unknown:** They've taken humans and lab technicians out of it. So your samples are actually all processed through automation through artificial intelligence. In addition to that, they have also taken, um, your sample, and they break everything down and test it down to the peptide level. So they are literally breaking it down to be extremely specific and also to understand, are you cr-- uh, reacting to a variety of different foods because of an issue with the peptide.
**Unknown:** So this is really one of the tasks that is giving you the most accurate information to truly know where you fall when it comes to food allergies, uh, and even environmental allergies as well. The other big thing that I think people need to be clear on is that there are all different types of allergies. There are all different types of sensitivities. So when I say allergy, um, I know that they're-- this term is kind of bastardized, but an allergy is the immediate onset throat-closing situation.
**Unknown:** A sensitivity falls more in the IgG or IgA antibodies. So when you get a test back that's revealing IgG, what that's actually telling you is that you have a delayed onset sensitivity. So you might be eating the gluten and two days later feel tired or foggy or, you know, your stomach is upset. But you're not gonna feel it that same day.
**Unknown:** You're not gonna feel it immediately at all. IgA is even more confusing because this is showing that there is a response in your mucus membranes. So you hear it all the time. People say, "Oh, I eat dairy, and I get phlegmy, or I get congested." So that's more of an IgA response because you're having an inflammatory response in the, uh, mucus membranes, or you're even having that response in the mucosa of your gut.
**Unknown:** So you might be having inflammation in your gut that's making you get bloated. But again, it's happening days later, so you just are ripping your hair out being like, "What did I eat today? I don't even know. I ate chicken for the past two days.
**Unknown:** Like, why would I react to the chicken today?" And it's not the chicken that you ate, it's what you ate three days ago. So you have to be able to know how these tests need to be interpreted because most of the time, if you're requesting getting food allergy testing through your primary care physician, they're gonna run a really basic IgE panel. And again, the IgE is the immediate onset throat-closing situation. Most people are dealing with the delayed onset reaction.
**Unknown:** Um, by the way, don't go to your doctor and ask them to run IgG because you will be charged. I made this mistake. So IgG is not covered by insurance quite often, so it's best for you to just use a separate lab and get the foods tested that you need to get tested. So, like, if you use Vibrant America, um, they, you know, it's gonna cost you anywhere between two to four hundred dollars depending on how many foods you need to be run, but there's no surprises because it actually costs you ninety dollars per food to, to test through, like, LabCorp or Quest.
**Unknown:** So don't make that mistake. So another big thing is that when people, they feel like their allergies are progressing over time, they literally just get to the point of, "I'm allergic to everything. I don't even know what to eat anymore. Drinking water is bothering me." But again, this can get really, really confusing because of cross-reactivity, cross-pollination, and even rotation of crops.
**Unknown:** So I'll give you an example. Um, I remember for the longest time not understanding why they would say gluten-free oats. Oats naturally are gluten-free. And I was like, "I wonder if it's a contamination in the manufacturing plant." And it's actually not that.
**Unknown:** It's actually the rotation of crops. So very often in the fields where they grow wheat, um, after the wheat is harvested, they actually then grow oats in the same field. So there is a lot of issues with cross-contamination and cross-pollination. So in addition to that, the cross-reactivity conversation.
**Unknown:** So this is kind of what I was saying about the whole, uh, mold conversation. So some of the foods that grow and have a susceptibility to fungus is gonna be grapes, so think of wine, wheat, corn, soy, rice. All of these foods in their growing process have a susceptibility to fungus. So you would hope that they are monitoring and not necessarily harvesting these crops that have been infected with the fungus, but you will be surprised that they do.
**Unknown:** So sometimes if they're infected with fungus, like mold, sometimes they won't harvest it and sell it to us at the grocery store, but they'll use it for feed for the animals. So either way, you could be a vegetarian or you could be a meat eater, chances are you're still getting exposed to these different types of fungus through the foods that you're eating. So then you're eating these foods, you're getting exposed to the mold. The mold is getting in your body.
**Unknown:** Maybe now you get diagnosed with candida. Maybe you're getting really bloated. Maybe you have athlete's foot. Maybe you have yeast infections as a female.
**Unknown:** Maybe you're getting skin rashes. All of these are fungal issues. So now all of a sudden you start to have, uh, seasonal allergies, and you're like, "Where the heck did this come from?" And it's because now your immune system has started to react to the mold that's in your body from the foods, but now it's gonna react to the pollens and the danders and the molds that are on trees and bushes. So you can tell that it becomes quite a significant cascade effect that happens.
**Unknown:** So again, this is not about manage the allergies, manage the allergies. It's about get rid of the stuff that's in your body that should not be there. Get the mold out of the body. Start to clean up the foods that you're consuming, so you're not continually being exposed, and get the pathways that help you detox working more optimally again.'Cause that's the thing is the more and more junk we're exposed to, the less resilient our bodies are.
**Unknown:** So the famous example that I use is that when you, you know, you're young and you go out and, you know, you have drinks with your friends, and then, you know, you wake up the next day and you go to work, and you do your thing, and you feel fine. The older we get, you know, we're like, "Oh gosh, I had a glass of wine, and now I'm hungover for three days." So that is an indicator that your body isn't as resilient as it used to be, and it's not because you're old. It's because the major filter-filtration pathways, like your liver, are not filtering the way that they used to. And a lot of times, those pathways become compromised because of the things you're being exposed to from an environmental standpoint.
**Unknown:** So this is gonna be pesticides, herbicides, mold, toxins, infections, viruses. All of these things are contributing factors to further compromising how well our bodies get rid of the bad stuff. So sometimes you just go in, you clean up those systems, and you decrease the reactivity of the immune system, and you find that you can actually balance out a lot of the allergies that you have. So this is kind of like a prime example of a patient.
**Unknown:** So this patient was getting to the point that they were literally bloated with water, and this person had a history of irritable bowel syndrome. They also had elevated eosinophils in the blood. Um, they were non-celiac but definitely had gluten intolerance. Uh, bloating with most carbohydrates.
**Unknown:** It really didn't matter what they were consuming. It wasn't just about the wheat, but just bloated with, um, everything from rice, corn, um, or other types of carbs. And then they were having a lot of issues with, like, how well their, uh, blood sugar was, um, being regulated. So really just to kind of, like, understand how this all plays in with each other.
**Unknown:** So number one is that elevated eosinophils, uh, this is something that comes up in people's blood work, and it's usually not communicated with them. Like, what does this actually mean? So for the longest time, when I was in school, they taught us that if your eosinophils are high, then that is an indicator of allergies. But really what it is, is that there is, uh, parasite infections that come from contaminated water, can come from your pets licking in y- in your face, comes from sushi.
**Unknown:** This starts to elevate the eosinophils, which then triggers an allergy response. So this specific person, they were dealing with irritable bowel, but it was primarily because they had parasite infections from their long-standing sushi consumption. In addition to that, they had glyphosate toxicity from the consumption of non-organic foods, which then led them to have this issue with wheat in the first place. And again, it wasn't really a true allergy to wheat.
**Unknown:** It was more so they were in-- they weren't tolerating the wheat because of the chemicals that were in the gut at this point. So between the parasitic infection, the glyphosate toxicity of the gut, this was starting to really throw off the blood sugar because your intestines work hand-in-hand with your pancreas, which regulates your blood sugar. And then it also, because the, the chemical toxicity was such a big part of the puzzle for this person, that now they started to just get irritated by most of the things they were consuming because it wasn't about the food or the water, it was about the chemical reaction. So that's the thing.
**Unknown:** You hear it all the time, "Oh, I only react to fruits that have skin. So if I eat the skin of the apple, I don't feel well. But if I take the skin off of the apple, I'm okay." You're not reacting to the skin. You're reacting to the chemicals on the skin.
**Unknown:** Like, you would be horrified if I even got halfway into what they do to the food. Like, they put wax on the apples to make them look shiny so that you're more inclined to buy them. There is two hundred and sixty-two different types of pr- pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that are used on our produce, and these are things that create toxicity in our bodies, which make us more immune reactive and then cause us to react to so many different types of foods. Because again, it's not about the food, it's about the chemicals on the foods.
**Unknown:** So I mentioned this prior is that we assume that allergies are just allergies and that allergies actually are not a reflection of our overall health. But with that, the primary thing is if your immune system is very reactive, and it's reacting to environmental toxicities, and it's in, uh, reacting to different types of foods, this is gonna create a massive inflammatory cascade, which is then going to trigger, uh, neurological inflammation. At its lower degrees, neurological inflammation is brain fog. It's also going to be memory loss.
**Unknown:** At its higher degrees, it could be PANDAS, which is children that are dealing with tics. They're falling. They're also potentially dealing with ADD, ADHD, and it can even develop into multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's and dementia way later down the line. So the more allergies you have, the more inflammation that you have, which inflammation is gonna destroy your joints, it's gonna cause your brain to degenerate faster, and it is going to just overall impact your health in a very negative way.And if you do have different types of infections on top of that, those infections can definitely be a trigger to the further exacerbation and development of these allergies.
**Unknown:** So the point of me saying this is that you need to connect the dots. We need to be able to look at the big picture to see, is there something going on in your gut? Is there-- Do you have infections? Do you have toxicity?
**Unknown:** Do you have other things that are playing into the allergies that you are dealing with? Because chances are you are, and treating the allergies is like a band-aid approach because it's not actually fixing the root cause. Most people think that they cannot get rid of their allergies because they, you know, we've all been led to believe that you just get them, and there's not much you can do. The biggest thing you could do is get allergy shots and hope for the best.
**Unknown:** But when it comes to allergies, it really comes down to if you get-- if you figure out what is the root cause that triggered the immune system to create these allergies, you can definitely support the body in different ways to get it out. And really the most common things that I see, number one, is going to be get rid of mold toxicity and pesticide residues, herbicide residues, fungal-- fungicide residues. If we can help the body to get that out and get the gut healthy again, most allergies are going to actually balance out on their own. Um, one of the other things that we do as well is actually, um, we help to neutralize these different allergies using our bio scan technology.
**Unknown:** So the bio scan actually sends signals into the body that are a homeopathic match to the food to help to neutralize the negative effect that the food is having on your body. So we actually will use this as a modality to help to neutralize the negative effects from the foods as we fix the foundation, and we fix the root, which is balancing the gut and getting the toxins out. So when we kind of pair those two approaches together, we find that people really get better a lot faster, but they're really able to resolve it overall. So if you haven't figured this out yet, I'm here to tell you that it's impossible to kind of understand how to piece the puzzle together when it comes to these food allergies.
**Unknown:** But there are so many different components that have to be evaluated to really understand where they're coming from, so that you can really stop the allergies, um, and help to really get your body back to being less immune reactive. And obviously, one of the biggest things is, is preventing them from getting worse. Uh, I've worked with many clients that by the time they got to me, they already had-- they were so limited on what they could do and what they could eat because their immune system was just so overreactive for so many years, and their allergies kept developing, um, and progressing over that time period. But I will tell you that your allergies are not bad genes, it is not bad luck, it is not inevitable, it is not just you're doomed, there's nothing you can do about it.
**Unknown:** There is always, always, always going to be a reason, and you just may have not had testing that helps you to reveal what that is. Because very rarely do things look like the textbook. Uh, very rarely do I have that textbook blood work that comes back that says, "This person is allergic to this, this and this," and the patient looks at me and is like, "Yes, that is a hundred percent. I feel like that's a hundred percent me." Most of the time, you know, with the old test that I used to use, patients are like, "Well, this is saying that I do okay with corn, but I know when I eat it, I'm doubled over in pain." So, you know, what's going on there?
**Unknown:** So we have to really be able to look at the big picture and piece it all together. And in addition to that, we also need to up-level our approach to the healing process. Because what happens is, is that if we're thinking everything's textbook, we get really limited with the tools of how to help the person to get better. But if you dig deeper, and you look beyond the textbook, we can actually leverage better tools.
**Unknown:** One of those is actually the bio scan, um, technology that really helps to neutralize these different types of allergies. So I love this quote, um, "Just because it's the way it's always been done doesn't mean it's right." I know that most of us have just been on this route of, okay, well, you know, I think I just need to do the allergy shots, or I just need to stay on an antihistamine long term, that, you know, that's really just the norm, and that's definitely going to be the best option. But when it comes to some of these other modalities that we talked about tonight, like the bio scan helping to neutralize allergies or getting rid of mold that could potentially be a trigger for your allergies, these are all new concepts. They're not new concepts in the world of functional integrative medicine, but they might be new concepts to people that have really been in the realm of conventional medicine.
**Unknown:** So just because it's not the most common that everyone is talking about doesn't mean that it doesn't work, doesn't mean that it is not highly effective. So I think we need to start branching out and getting away from the more, you know, well-known and well-accepted because this is creating the epidemic of everyone being on pharmaceuticals. You know, we're dealing with kids that are being put on even antidepressants as young as three years old. And I know that sounds crazy, but that is the reality of it.
**Unknown:** We are relying on pharmacology as being the end all be all to getting us healthy. And this is also one of the reasons why there are so many allergies, and there are so many autoimmune conditions. And, you know, talk to anyone. Anyone nowadays is literallyNo one's walking around saying, "I feel great.
**Unknown:** I feel awesome. Like, I have so much energy." Most people have some level of a complaint about their health, and I really feel like my passion is to, to change that and to get people to a place that they can enjoy their lives again, and they don't have to live in that mindset of fearing, "Am I gonna get cancer? Am I gonna get, uh, Alzheimer's? Am I gonna get, am I gonna get multiple sclerosis?" You know, these are conditions that are becoming more and more prominent, and we are watching our family members deteriorate, and then we're living in fear of are we next.
**Unknown:** So it's, it's really just trying to be proactive before things get bad, and don't take your allergies lightly. Really be able to, you know, find a solution and find the root cause to deal with it now so that it doesn't become a bigger problem later. So I wanna thank you guys for being here with me. I think it's just so important to, uh, provide this information and, uh, get the information, uh, beyond the four walls of IWG.
**Unknown:** Uh, but I will tell you is that when you finally get your own testing and you have the opportunity to start healing and getting your body to a better place, that's really when this becomes such a breakthrough experience, and I really hope that all of you can experience that at some point. Um, and if you're looking for any additional information, uh, definitely check out our website. We have so much information. We have so many amazing podcasts, um, integrativewellnessgroup.com.
**Unknown:** And if you are a healthcare practitioner or some know a healthcare practitioner that is trying to get into the world of functional and integrative medicine, um, they can check out the institute, uh, integrativewellness.com because that is where all of the information about our institute lives. All right, guys, I hope you have a good night, and I will see you next week. We thank you for being a listener and subscriber to Integrative Wellness Radio. If you're looking to learn more about Integrative Wellness Group as well as Dr.
**Unknown:** Nick or Dr. Nicole, you can check out integrativewellnessgroup.com. All night, no sleep. 'Cause I feel like I'm always dreaming.
**Unknown:** Wide awake, that's okay
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Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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