Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Treatment of Food Intolerance

The treatment of food allergies and food intolerance is the easiest and most difficult treatment of all. Avoid the foods you are reacting to! In many situations this is easier said than done. Wheat, dairy, soy, nuts and corn are some of the most common allergens. They are found in so many things it can be very difficult to avoid them. Once you have been tested and are sure of the things you are reacting to you will need to obtain a list of all of the “other names” for the things you are intolerant to. For example all whey is dairy; you wouldn’t know that unless I or someone else told you. You can find a list of alternative names to the most common allergens on my website www.booktitle.com

There are some practitioners that will use homeopathics, digestive enzymes and herbs to treat food intolerance. Homeopathics treat by giving a little of a substance you have a negative reaction to in order to retrain the immune system to respond appropriately. Allergist will often do this with allergy shots. It is often referred to as desensitizing. The best way to desensitize is have a practitioner make a formula of your allergens specific for you. If that is not available to you, try a homeopathic combination with opsin formulat. Digestive enzymes can range from specific enzymes for dairy and gluten to general enzymes for digestion. If you have lots of foods you react to I recommend you try one of the following 15 minutes before eating: ½ teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a few ounces of water, or ½ teaspoon of lemon juice. If pills are easier there are several digestive enzymes I recommend on my website. Repeat the same with herbs. If you are unable to find any of these products in your local health food stores you can buy them on line at
www.booktitle.com

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Monday, February 22, 2010

Weight Loss & Food Intolerance

My patients are often surprised to discover they are intolerant or sensitive to foods they have been consuming their whole life. Even the healthiest of foods can give you a reaction. Who would think they could react to salmon or even kale? It is really frustrating to eat well and still gain weight. If you have more than five of these symptoms you should definitely check into food intolerance. Just think this could be the key to finding your weight loss solution. How great would that be to just stop eating food your intolerant to and watch your weight drop.

Watch our videos to learn more on Weight Loss & Food Intolerance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SZKXZo4uFw

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What causes Food Allergies & Intolerances?

In normal food digestion and absorption, you start to break down your food first in your mouth by chewing. Next enzymes released in your saliva begin to break down the carbohydrates in the food. In your stomach, acid is released to break down proteins and release vitamins from the food. Upon exiting your stomach, bile salts from your gallbladder start to break down fats, and then pancreatic enzymes continue to break down proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Natural intestinal bacteria, or flora, also contribute to the digestive process. By the time your meal reaches your small intestine, the once recognizable food has been broken down into its basic components of amino acids, fatty acids and sugars. Once in these basic components, nutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream and distributed throughout your body.

For an allergic or an immune intolerance reaction to a food to occur, your body must absorb a component of that food, usually a protein, in an inappropriate form. Normal food digestion and absorption can be disrupted by bacterial, viral infections, exposure to environmental toxins, imbalance of intestinal flora, commonly used drugs such as antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors and other antacids, and chemotherapy and radiation. If the normal digestion and absorption process is disrupted, it becomes possible for inappropriate food components to be absorbed into the bloodstream, identified by your immune system as harmful, resulting in an antibody mediated reaction.

Testing for Food Allergies and Immune Reaction Intolerances

Reactions to foods can be tested with several different methods. Immediate allergic reactions caused by IgE are commonly tested either with a blood test or by skin scratch/patches. Immune reaction intolerances, caused by IgG antibodies, are most reliably tested by blood test using the ELISA method (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay). At our clinic, we find the IgG testing to be a more clinically useful tool to determine the cause of many symptoms. We use Meridian Valley Laboratory and US Biotek to test for IgG reactions to 95-190 foods.

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

Founded by Dr. Renee Young, the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness is dedicated to providing safe, supportive and effective healthcare to its patients.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Monday, February 15, 2010

Food Intolerance Check List

There are several different ways your body can react to food. The most common is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction. Many holistic practitioners refer to this reaction as food intolerance. It is often confused with food allergy. Food intolerance or sensitivity is not the same as allergy. The symptoms are often vague and are not life threatening adult sufferers in particular are often not properly diagnosed. As a Naturopathic doctor I spend lots of time educating my patients on the difference between food allergies and food intolerance.

Here’s the Food Intolerance Check List

* Headaches
* Brain Fog
* Inability to pay attention (adult ADD)
* Fatigue
* Insomnia
* Dark Circles Under Your Eyes (if you think you inherited this trait - your mom probably has food allergies too)
* Constant post nasal drip
* Itchy or Dry Skin
* Ringing in your ears
* Sores in your mouth
* Constipation
* GERD or heart burn
* Bloating (the kind where you think to your self “I should wear this to dinner because it stretches”)
* Gas (Especially after eating)
* Diarrhea
* Joint aches
* Anxiety & Depression
* Weight Gain


Watch our videos to learn more on ADD and Food Allergies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu88k85lHKo

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

What is the difference between food allergies and food intolerance?

Food allergies occur when your immune system reacts immediately and severely to a food. White blood cells, specifically mast cells, release large amounts of histamine. This type of allergic reaction to food can sometimes cause serious illness and even death. Common reactions are hives sever congestion and difficulty breathing. Severe reactions are referred to as anaphylactic reaction. During an anaphylactic reaction a person suffers from sever inflammation of the tissue resulting which can lead to difficulty breathing, rash and even death. (1-9) Statistics of up to six percent of children and three percent of adults are said to have this type of IgE-mediated food allergy. (10, 11) These severe reactions that happen when you are truly allergic make it relatively easy to diagnose. Often when you ask your doctor to test you for food allergies, they are testing for this type of reaction. The skin prick tests is the more commonly used test by allergist. They are fairly reliable for the detection of IgE to environmental allergens, but are not well correlated with food allergies or food intolerance. (12-15)

Food intolerance occurs when your body mistakes a harmless food for something bad. Your immune system makes IgG antibodies, which trigger the release of inflammatory cytokines resulting in unwanted symptoms. Some of the symptoms include chronic headaches, fatigue, eczema, joint pain, psoriasis, bloating, flatulence, depression, insomnia and weight gain. Food Intolerance imitates many other conditions like acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, ADD, ADHD, asthma, migraines, and hypoglycemia. Reactions can occur up to 72 hours after you consume the food. This type of delayed reaction often makes it difficult to figure out. The cause of food intolerance is unknown. There are several factors that seem to play a role in food intolerance. Most often indigestion, stress and genetics play the biggest role in food intolerance. It is estimated that somewhere between 45-60% of people have this kind of food intolerance. (16, 17) The best way to test for food intolerance is to request an IgG blood test from you doctor. If that is not available to you, try eliminating the most common allergenic foods for three weeks and then reintroduce them one at a time.

Indigestion is one of the more common symptoms to food intolerance. As we get older the amount of acid and enzymes we produce to digest our food decreases. With a decreased ability to break down you food, your body is more likely to attack. Stress is another huge factor in digestiong. Remember when you were a kid and had the butterflies in your stomach. Emotional changes effect digestion. Perhaps as an adult you don’t experience butterflies; instead it is full on anxiety attack that you so willingly treat with what ever medication will get you through your day. And why wouldn’t you. It stinks to have anxiety! Irregular emotions and life changing events are big triggers that effect digestion and how your immune system relates and reacts to foods.

Watch our videos to learn more on Flatulence & Food Intolerance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0S3WefknhY

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center


The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/

Monday, February 8, 2010

What are Food Allergies and Intolerances?

There are two main types of immune system responses to food. These immune responses occur when your body mistakes a component of food, usually a protein, as harmful, and your immune system responds by forming antibodies to fight what it perceives as a foreign invader. The symptoms you experience from a food allergy or immune reaction intolerance occur when your immune system mounts a response against the “invading” food component.

The most commonly tested immune response to food is an immediate reaction caused by a specific type of antibody called IgE. Immediate reaction or IgE allergies are most commonly caused by peanuts, fish, shellfish, milk, eggs, soy, wheat and tree nuts such as walnuts, pecans, almonds. Symptoms of an IgE reaction can be mild to life threatening, including skin rash, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, itchy skin, shortness of breath, chest pain, difficulty breathing and anaphylaxis.

The second type of immune response, caused by IgG antibodies is commonly called food intolerance. Symptoms of immune reaction food intolerance are often considered delayed and can occur anywhere from 1-72 hours after eating the offending food. Symptoms can include skin rash, diarrhea, constipation, gas and bloating, acid reflux, nausea, insomnia, headaches, irritability, nervousness, anxiety, chronic ear infections, asthma, and arthritis.

The two immune system responses described above are internal processes; they occur after food is broken down and absorbed into your bloodstream through your intestinal lining. The term “food intolerance” is often also used to describe external reactions that occur within your digestive tract alone, before the broken down components are absorbed. This type of external food intolerance occurs when a food either causes irritation to your digestive lining or you are unable to break the food down properly due to a lack of digestive enzymes. The most common example of this type of reaction is lactose intolerance, where an individual does not have sufficient lactase, the enzyme which breaks down lactose, the sugar present in dairy product. Lactose intolerance classically causes gas, bloating, and changes in bowel movements, such as diarrhea or constipation.

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Food Allergies & Intolerances – general, incidence, risk

In the past 20 years there has been an alarming increase in the number of individuals with allergies and intolerances to different foods. Immediate allergic reactions to foods are estimated to be a problem for at least 4% of the adult population, up to 8% in children, whereas delayed food intolerance reactions are estimated to affect 10-15% of the population, up to 25% of children.

Risk of having an allergy or intolerance is much higher if one of your parents is affected (48%). If both parents have allergies, risk increases to 70%.

Watch our videos to learn more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI4O20zkFIc

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com

Monday, February 1, 2010

Screening for Breast Cancer

Each individual has different risk factors and concerns about breast cancer screening. Below are descriptions of screening methods and general guidelines on how to use each method. Please discuss your options with Drs. Young or Larsen to determine the best breast cancer screening plan for you.

1.Mammography. Mammography uses ionizing radiation to image breast tissue and screen for suspicious areas. The exams are performed by compressing the breast firmly between a plastic plate and an x-ray cassette. Mammography can detect breast cancer too small to be found on clinical exam or self exam and will detect 80-90% of breast cancers in women without symptoms.
According to USPSTF’s recently revised guidelines, women aged 50-74 should undergo mammogram every two years. If you or an immediate family member has a history of breast cancer, please discuss an appropriate mammogram plan with your doctor.

2.MRI and Ultrasound are used as supplemental or alternative breast screening tools. Both carry less risk as they do not involve exposure to radiation, but have less research supporting the efficacy as a breast screening method.

3.Self breast exams (SBE) are one of the best preventative measures you can take on your own. Ideally, you do a SBE weekly so that you can become familiar with the changes in your breast during your menstrual cycle. For many women, breast tissue changes during menses are common and harmless. Look for persistent changes to breast tissue, skin thickening, swelling, distortion, tenderness, skin irritation, redness, and scaliness, nipple abnormalities (ulceration, retraction, and spontaneous discharge). Typically breast pain is a result of a benign condition and is not an early symptom of breast cancer. Directions on how to do a SBE at the end of the newsletter or at the following website:
http://www.henricodoctors.com/cpm/WomensImagingCenter3.gif

4.Clinical breast exams are performed by your doctor at your annual check up beginning at age 20. Yearly gynecological exams are important to screen not only for changes in breast tissue, but also for changes in ovary, uterus and cervical health.

In our opinion, appropriate use of mammography varies based on individual risk factors. An individual with a strong personal or family history of breast cancer should have a mammogram performed more frequently than an individual with no significant risk factors. Please discuss the benefits and harms of mammography with your doctor to determine the best plan for you.

5. Breast thermography is a relatively new screening method available as an adjunctive or alternative to mammography. As cancerous cells develop, they stimulate angiogenesis, or new blood vessel formation, to support growth, creating “hot spots” in breast tissue. This screening method utilizes an infra red camera to identify areas of increased heat in breast tissue. Please talk to Drs. Young or Larsen if you’d like more information on breast thermography.

Watch our videos to learn more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ihblh61NIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm9MzDAYeL0

Young Naturopathic Wellness Center

The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.

To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit
http://www.drreneeyoung.com/