Last year, my husband found out he had a gluten sensitivity, which explained a lot of his unpleasant digestive problems. So, I took a few gluten-free classes at PCC and starting using substitutes. It wasn’t too bad of a switch for me since we happen to live in an area that sells lots of gluten-free products in stores (like Whole Foods) and even in some restaurants. It also wasn’t a bad thing for me to get away from the starchy carbs that make my blood sugar spike, causing crashing fatigue.

Since menopause, I have been getting severe inflammation in my joints along with edema in my extremities. A previous routine blood test by my doctor showed really high levels of c-reactive protein for inflammation as high at 13.0 (normal is 0-7.0). Something must be causing the inflammation, so I asked my naturopath to test my blood for food allergies. The results were very surprising. Not only was I allergic to all dairy as I suspected, but I was also allergic to eggs, but beef as well. That was a big shocker! I had never heard of anyone being allergic to beef before. I love beef! What would I do without the occasional hamburger or steak? Even worse, how would a cheese-aholic like me cope without an almost daily nosh of cheese?
Family scoffed and asked the same question I had about the beef. My thoughts are that today’s beef is so full of hormones that it’s no wonder people (like me) were becoming allergic. After doing without dairy, eggs and beef for a couple of months, I noticed that the inflammation in my joints had diminished and the edema in my extremities lessened significantly.