Food allergies and PN seem to be interrelated. I'm allergic to
sugar, corn, wheat, oat, egg, cow's milk, chocolate, soy, citrus
fruits, and peanuts. Sugar, corn, and eggs are almost ubiquitous in
processed foods, so I avoid processed foods as much as possible.
Scan the Alkaline Acidic Blood Type Food List on my website and
prepare your SAFE LIST as follows:

80% should be foods that are 5.0 or greater on the Alkaline Acidic
Food List.
(Alkaline Foods)


20% can be foods that are less than 5.0 on the Alkaline Acidic Food
List.
(Acidic Foods)

I have a SAFE LIST of more than 50 safe foods. I rotate these foods
liberally. People who have food sensitivities are usually not
eating a large enough variety of foods. Somehow, the body gets uses
to the same old foods. To avoid this potential problem, have your
SAFE LIST ready when food shopping.

If you are trying to rebuild your alkaline reserves, then the ratio
should be even higher. (Like 90% /10% Alkaline Acidic Ratio) After
you have rebuilt your alkaline reserves, you can maintain the
reserves by staying with a minimum 80% Alkaline Diet (All foods with
5.0 and greater Residual Ash PH). Therefore, the three macro
categories for food, Protein, Fats, Carbs, are satisfied consistent
with the Alkaline /Acid Ratio. Proteins: Meats, and other
seafoods. Fats: Fish, Fish Oils (Omega 3 EPA/DHA). Carbs: Mainly
complex carbs from vegetables.

Good food can become bad food with bad cooking methods. Ex: Fried
Tomatoes. Generally, stick with raw when possible, steam, broil,
bake or grill, preferably without oil. Main reason is because high
heat cooking like deep-frying or using the microwave will destroy
the food enzymes, turning living food into dead food.

Take digestive enzymes with each meal so you can have great
digestion. Poor digestion is partly responsible for problems like
Leaky Gut, IBS, Yeast, and Food Allergies. Digestive enzymes will
have things like Protease, Amylase, Lipase, Ox Bile Extract,
Diastase, Papain, Bromelian, Betaine HCI, Pepsin, etc. A great
systemic enzyme to use for low-grade inflammation is Wobenzym N or
Vitalzym.

Your list may vary somewhat since everyone's body is different. I
know from my communications with others that they have other
diseases besides PN, which would restrict their diet even more than
my diet. The best place to start is with the Alkaline Acidic Food
List, pick out more than 50 foods, stick with the 80/20 ratio,
rotate the foods liberally, fine tune it by paying attention to your
body's warning signs, and that should eliminate the majority of food
allergy problems. If after this, people are still experiencing
allergy problems, then I suggest getting tested because your
allergies may no longer be just foods, but environmental allergens
like ragweed, pollens, animal dander, etc. NAET, Electrodermal
Testing, Blood Test, Allergy Patch Test, Alcat, E-Rast are some
examples of allergy testing.


Recommended Reference Books:

Winning the War against Immune Disorders and Allergies
Ellen W. Cutler, D.C.

She goes into a lot more details about these two subjects, Allergies
(as related
to Immune Disorders) and NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination
Techniques).

Say Goodbye to Illness
Dr. Devi Nambudripad, originator of NAET

Recommended Reference Websites:

For Allergies/Immune Disorder/Ellen's Book:

http://www.allergy2000.com/

For NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques)
by Dr. Devi Nambudripad:

http://www.naet.com/

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Some of the foods on your list are inflammatory. How does it affect
PN?

I agree. Some of the foods on my list are inflammatory. But these
foods provide micronutrients like minerals, amino acids, good fats,
etc. necessary for optimal health. For example, some strict
vegetarians are deficient in necessary amino acids found only in
meat, fish, eggs, and poultry. Five critical amino acids lacking in
the typical vegetarian diet are Lysine, Methionine, Carnitine,
Taurine, and Tryptophan. Protein is necessary for a strong immune
system. An acidic food like cranberry is good for liver
detoxification. The key is having strong alkaline reserves to
neutralize the acidic and sometimes inflammatory foods, leaving the
beneficial micronutrients to nourish your body. With great alkaline
reserves, you should have no PN setbacks, even when you eat some
acidic foods.


How do you know if your alkaline reserves need rebuilding? How do
you know when you have sufficient alkaline reserves? When are you
done with rebuilding?

If you consistently eat a Standard American Diet (SAD), which is
mainly a lot of processed foods, cooked foods, pre-packaged foods,
little to no raw unprocessed foods, bad fats, simple refined
carbohydrates and overeating animal proteins, you are overly
acidic. Chronic stress can drain your body of alkalizing minerals
like Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, etc.

But just for the scientific types who need test results and data to
back up the clinical observation, you can test your Saliva PH for
starters using PH paper. Next, you can prepare a food journal
recording EVERYTHING you eat during the next two weeks and then
compare it with the Alkaline Acid Food Chart. Remember what cooking
method, if any, you used since you can turn an alkaline food into an
acidic food. Ex: Fried Tomatoes. Be HONEST with yourself! What
percentage of acidic foods are you really eating? Clearly,
rebuilding your alkaline reserves is just the beginning to healing.


One way to tell if you have sufficient alkaline reserves is look at
your clinical responses. When you eat some acidic foods, do you
have adverse reactions, or does it make your PN worse? If yes, then
your alkaline reserves are still low. When you have sufficient
alkaline reserves, eating some acidic foods should not set you back
and make your PN worse. You should be able to continue improving
since there are more than enough alkaline reserves to neutralize the
acidic foods. Some may ask why eat any acidic foods if the key is
alkalizing? The reason is because we do need certain fats and
proteins for our overall health. Those are generally acidic foods.
By sticking with the 80%/20% ratio, you assure yourself that you
have more than enough alkaline reserves for optimal health. You are
done with the rebuilding phase when you have no more setbacks.
Simply stated: Rebuild your alkaline reserves with over 80%
alkaline foods. Maintain your Alkaline reserves with 80%/20%
Alkaline Acidic ratio.

What do you think about fish in the diet? Do you have any concerns
about Mercury?

I do eat some fish like Salmon, Black Bass, and Red Snapper, as they
are relatively low in mercury contamination. I also take Omega 3
fish oil supplements. The fish I would absolutely avoid based on
EPA safety guidelines are Swordfish, Chilean Sea bass, Tuna, and
Alaskan Halibut, since those are high mercury contaminated fish.

I have very dry skin in addition to PN, which I feel makes me itch
more. Do you have any recommendations for very dry skin?

Very dry skin will make you itch more and is another warning sign
that internal changes need to be made for long-term healthy skin.
However, let me give you some short-term external changes you can
make that should give you some temporary relief for very dry skin.
Use skin care products that contain aloe vera, borage oil, natural
vitamin E oil, or humectants. Humectants are substances that
attract water to the skin, helping it retain moisture. Use a
humidifier especially in the winter as this helps reduce the amount
of moisture lost by the skin from evaporation. Certain drugs and
diuretics will contribute to dry skin. Check your thyroid, as a
under active thyroid is a possible reason for dry skin too.

Long Term Internal Changes:

Three reasons people have very dry skin are:

1) They don't drink enough water and or don't eat enough water
containing foods. The typical Standard American Diet (SAD), contain
many processed and refined foods, devoid of water. Solution: Drink
more water and eat more water rich foods including raw vegetables,
fruits, increase sulfur foods like onion and garlic, and avoid foods
that have a diuretic effect like soft drinks, sugar, alcohol, and
caffeine, as these foods drain fluids and essential minerals from
your skin cells.

2) They are nutritionally deficient, especially Vitamin A, B, E,
Zinc, C with bioflavonoids, Selenium, and Essential Fatty Acids
(EFA). EFA deficiencies are a major problem in the Western SAD.
Solution: Correct the vitamin deficiencies and increase your EFA
intake. Sources of Omega 3 EFAs are Flaxseed Meal, Flaxseed Oil,
Fish Oils EPA/DHA), Walnuts, Almonds, etc. If you eat a Western
SAD, it's more likely you have an Omega 3 EFA deficiency rather than
an Omega 6 EFA deficiency, so adding more Omega 3 EFAs is
reasonable. If you are diabetic or on blood thinners, please check
with your doctor as EFAs can affect blood sugar levels, and have a
natural blood thinning effect.

3) Enzyme and Stomach Acid Deficiencies: All the nutritious foods
don't mean anything if you don't have sufficient enzymes and stomach
acids to digest and absorb the nutrition in the food. Solution:
Make sure you have sufficient digestive enzymes and stomach acids to
digest and absorb the nutrition in the food. If you have any
potential ulcers, then don't take a stomach acid like
Betaine HCL.

Quick recap for dry skin:

1)Eliminate the allergic food triggers listed above. Very important
and that's why it's the first step.

2)Eat an alkalizing diet from your 80/20 safe foods list. Construct
your safe foods list using the Alkaline Acid PH Chart.

3)Make the long-term internal changes by correcting the three main
reasons for dry skin (lack water, nutritional deficiencies, enzymes
and stomach acid deficiencies).

4)If you still don't see enough improvement in your dry skin after
doing 1,2 and 3, then have your thyroid check.

5)If you still don't see enough improvement in your dry skin after
doing 1,2, 3 and 4, then NOW do allergy tests since your situation
may not be just internal problems, but external problems too
(allergies to pollen, ragweed, animal dander, etc.). If money is no
problem for you, you may do all five steps simultaneously.

I'm confused. Is the blood test you recommended to help with PN
diagnosis the same blood test for allergies?

This is a great question. Let me clarify. The recommended Blood
Panel in the article "A Beginner's Primer for Newly Diagnosed PN
People" is different from the Blood Test for Food Allergies. The
Blood Panel is really a more general and comprehensive blood test to
help exclude other possibilities, thereby strengthening the
confidence of a PN diagnosis. In a typical Blood Panel, there is a
measurement for Eosinophils, which when elevated or out of range,
could indicate an allergic reaction to something. But this general
Blood Panel will not tell you what specifically you are allergic
to. Nonetheless, I still feel it's necessary to have the Blood
Panel and Urine Test as detailed in the "Beginner's Primer" because
you do want to be as confident as possible that you have PN, and not
just a wrong diagnosis.

I recommend the Food Allergy test called "IgG4 Blood Test" by
Metametrix Lab in Georgia. Do the no cost steps first before you do
allergy testing. But if money is no issue, or you just cannot or
will not do the initial three steps, then skip to this blood test,
as it will test about 100 food items for you.

Relative to PN, is there a difference between food allergies versus
food sensitivities?

The answer is yes and no. Yes, there is a difference between food
allergies versus food sensitivities in terms of severity. But in
terms overall health, I would say no.

Food allergies generally refer to foods that will cause an acute
physical reaction ranging from very mild to deadly. In extreme
cases, I've heard of people dying from just eating some peanut sauce
because they were severely allergic to peanuts. Food allergies will
also show up on standard test like blood test and present clinical
symptoms.

Food sensitivities generally are much more mild and will cause
chronic sub-clinical reaction, like low-grade inflammation.
Generally, these sub-clinical symptoms don't always show up on
standard test like blood test, but nonetheless, can damage your
health long term.

Therefore, when it comes to food choices, I don't assess the food
based on whether it will affect my PN. I assess the food based on
whether it will benefit my overall health. For example, I'm not
allergic or sensitive to soda. But soda has absolutely zero health
and nutritional benefits, so it doesn't belong in my diet.

Start identifying your allergic foods by trial and error, or blood
test as described above. Then eliminate all your allergic foods.
Next, put together your 80/20 Alkaline Acid safe foods list of over
50 foods to rotate liberally. By having a large safe foods list,
you assure yourself that you will not be eating any one particular
food too frequently, creating a food sensitivity.


You recommended using the IgG4 Blood Test. My allergist recommended
using the patch test and if necessary RAST. What's the difference
and which is more reliable?


In terms of reliability, no food allergy test has 100% accuracy or
confidence, because there are just too many uncontrollable variables
for anyone to reasonably expect it. RAST, by most professional
unbiased analysis is about 80% accurate or confidence. ELISA is
more accurate than RAST for food allergens. RAST (originally used
to measure the amount of IgE antibodies in the patient's blood) is
more suitable for measuring environmental allergens. Later, they
added testing for IgG antibodies using radio labeled anti-IgG, and
forcing RAST to test for IgG too. For environmental allergens, RAST
is okay. But for food allergens, ELISA would be my first choice and
RAST would not even come in second. ELISA uses enzyme labeled
instead of radio labeled, and hence the name. ELISA is a more
comprehensive test because it can test for IgG1, 2, 3, 4 (all of the
G subclasses),IgM, IgA, and IgE.

If reliability and confidence in the findings is your highest
objective, and money is no issue, then ELISA is the gold standard
for food allergens. To increase the confidence, you can use split
sampling (where your blood is sent to multiple labs, compare the
results and look for any out of range variances). Next, you can do
a dark field microscopic analysis, followed by a pulse test, electro
dermal testing, etc. There are many more tests that may increase
the confidence and support the findings by ELISA, but at some point,
the cost for all these additional tests will be prohibitive for some
people.

That's why I recommend the IgG4 blood test, and perhaps IgG1 (as it
is only a part of ELISA, and the cost is significantly less compared
to doing the entire ELISA). The G4 subclass is looking at the delay
food allergic reaction, and is most likely the problem areas for PN,
autoimmune, and auto antibodies. If we were looking for
implications for other diseases, then the full ELISA may be
justified. I'm not saying the other information from the other
subclasses is useless. But for the purpose of determining whether a
food is a problem or not, the IgG4 findings are enough because my
decision is not based solely on the test, but also compared to my
clinical food history.

If a food comes up negative, you can be reasonably confidence it's
not a problem food relative to PN. This confidence is as high or
higher than any other food allergy test currently available. Again,
we are not talking about environmental allergens. If a food comes
up positive, then it's a matter of severity ranging from very mild
to extremely allergic. The severity is irrelevant to me, as I
eliminated that food when it comes up positive.

When I combine my clinical food history, and pay attention to my
body's warning signs, the finding from an IgG4 test is sufficient
information for me to change my diet accordingly. But for those who
may need more information so they could feel more confident in the
information's reliability, you can order more tests until your
heart's content. The bottom line is how much information do you
need, and how much more are you will to pay in terms of additional
tests, before you can feel comfortable enough to take positive
action! That question only you can answer.