Bill has lost 19 lbs in 30 days (yay you!), noticed that when he eats a reactive food, he starts to have a runny nose! That’s a histamine response and how the body responds when you eat a reactive food. We may not notice a runny nose, but we will note the weight gain a histamine response causes when we step on the scale next day!
Perhaps you’re familiar with the term histamine? You’ve probably heard it in context of seasonal allergies. Histamine is an important part of our immune system because it springs into action when a person is exposed to something he’s allergic or sensitive to.
The immune system of the allergic person, thinking that this allergen is going to cause harm, tries to mobilize and attack by releasing histamine and other chemicals into the body. The histamine then acts on a person’s eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract, causing those notoriously unpleasant allergy symptoms.
Histamine is also triggered when an inflammatory food is introduced. Histamine causes water retention by causing capillaries to dilate and allowing them to leak fluid, so you’ll see an immediate gain on the scale when you eat an inflammatory food. But the inflammatory response is not just water weight. Water weight can be reversed within 24 hours. A reactive response can easily last for 72 hours and it causes more than just weight gain. Eating a food that doesn’t work for your body can kickstart any latent health issues you have (think constipation, acid reflux, IBS and so on).
To control this histamine response, the body produces cortisol. Cortisol and hormones such as progesterone and testosterone use the same building blocks; the more cortisol that is released, the more your hormonal balance is negatively affected. The body is producing cortisol at the expense of progesterone and testosterone. These hormonal fluctuations disrupt water balance, metabolism, thyroid health, healthy sex drive and immune response. Elevated cortisol produces glucose, which leads to increased blood sugar levels. This will start to increase yeast growth as they have specialized glucose sensors and their growth in population will alter gut flora affecting your body’s defense system. A high yeast population means never ending sugar and carb cravings (and high sugar and carb intake is definitely a factor behind the incredible rise of type 2 diabetes in the US. Altered gut flora leads to a weakened immune response as the balance of our intestinal bacteria is thrown off.
This might sound amazing to you, but yes. Every time you eat a food that doesn’t work for you this whole system gets started. There are other factors that affect your weight of course. Certain foods known as goitrogens, attack thyroid function which disrupts your metabolism, so as people age and digestion starts to slow down, you need keep an eye on how often they are eaten.Women are prone to thyroid dysfunction earlier to men (usually around age 35) thanks to our hormones, but men start to catch with thyroid and metabolic issues in their 50s!
The good news? You have control over this cycle which influences every aspect of your health and your weight. Find the foods that work for your chemistry. Read The Metabolism Plan and take charge of your life.
www.lyngenet.com
You Friend In Health,
Lyn-Genet
