Conditions & Symptoms linked to food sensitivity:

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
• Diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, upset stomach
• Migraine and other chronic headaches
• Fibromyalagia, joint or muscle pain, muscle weakness
• Fatigue, tiredness, insomnia, general malaise, hyperactivity, "brain fog"
• Hives, eczema
• Excess mucuous production, chronic post nasal drip

Get results with LEAP

LEAP MRT is a blood test that tests your blood against 150 different foods and chemicals. It iis an endpoint test that precisely measures the liquid to solid ratio after blood is added to a food or chemical antigen. As part of your results, you recieve a color coded chart, the basic immunocalm diet, and a book with general information.   I work with you to adjust and fine tune your test results into the immunocalm diet that will work best for you.

Immunocalm Diet

Once you have your results from the blood test, I work with you to design an eating plan. You start with just 20 - 25 of the foods you tolerate the best. Some people feel better immediately, while some people go through a "washout" phase while the toxins released by your immune system as "protection" are removed. By the 10th day, most people are feeling significantly better and ready for the next phase. The gut has started to heal.

Then you start adding back one new food a day; the diet plan gives you all the details and timelines. I spend approximately 1 1/2 hours with you in our first meeting once we have your results. I make sure you are comfortable with your meal options, and provide you with a written list of menu suggestions based on your results.

Once you have been on the immunocalm diet for long enough to have substantially reduced your symptoms, it may be time to challenge your yellow foods. These are the ones you are modertely reactive to. Over time your gut may heal enough the allow you to enjoy some of these foods again. You may find that you tolerate them in small but not large quantities: the good news is that once you know how some foods affect you, you can choose how you want to use that knowledge. Eventually, you can even test your red or most reactive foods.

FODMAP

FODMAP is another type of elimination diet. While LEAP tests the immune response to proteins in different foods, FODMAP is based on the incomplete digestion of sugars. FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccarides and Polyols. You can see why we use the acronym FODMAP!

FODMAPs are foods that contain several categories of carbohydrates (the "saccharides") that are difficult to digest. These partially digested sugars are fermented by bacteria which creates gas, bloating, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

On the FODMAP diet, you eliminate all the suspects for two weeks. If your symptoms have improved, you can go on to challenge the different carbohydrate groups. You may tolerate some but not others, and you may tolerate limited amounts of the foods. Just like with food sensitivities, there is often a threshold dose that you need to reach before symptoms are triggered.

FODMAP and LEAP are different ways that the body can react to food. It is possible to have both food sensitivities and react to some of the FODMAP carbohydrates. I often recommend starting with FODMAP, and then moving on LEAP if symptoms remain.