Mindfulness & Food Allergies

What is your kryptonite?

Is there something that you do which weakens you and makes you feel ill or less present?

We all remember Superman, the strong, powerful man that could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

The only thing that could defeat him was kryptonite. The villain would throw kryptonite at Superman, and he would become weak and unable to function.

That may sound a little extreme in the context of real life, but as a person who was born with allergies and sensitivities, I can tell you that it’s more of an absolute truth than a tale.

I work with a large number of clients in the same boat who struggle with sensitivities and allergies. I’m also seeing an increasing number of the aging population struggle with these issues for the very first time, along with clients of mine who didn’t take their sensitivities as seriously as they should have, that are now reaping the consequences. Both of these groups now have to deal with the confusion of learning how to manage their sensitivities.

It’s so essential to be aware of allergies in the elderly population, not least of all because you will be elderly someday, and maybe you can help someone.

When you’ve been living a specific way for over 75 years, it’s not just hard to understand and process a food allergy, but it’s even harder to change your lifestyle.

Furthermore, it can be catastrophic when an older adult struggles with making these changes while lacking the necessary support to make the transition!

However, when it comes to understanding and managing food allergies/sensitivities, the work has to start with mindfulness.

Ann is a 78-year old woman with an excellent quality of life, despite the fact that she has had allergies to foods for a while. Even though she cheated frequently, she wasn’t too concerned. She learned what she wanted to learn but didn’t think she had to be too strict about her diet.

Eventually, Ann’s health started to fail; she began experiencing all sorts of issues.

It was getting to the point that her fatigue and various other physical issues kept her homebound as she began losing daily function. She went to the doctors repeatedly, and they kept trying different treatments, tests and medicines.

My gut was telling me that her food allergies were the root cause of her failing health. However, Ann kept telling me that she wasn’t eating anything she was allergic to, aside from the occasional cheat.

One day she came in confused, off-balance and unable to remember anything. 

My “spidey senses” kept telling me that we needed to investigate her diet. I felt so strongly that this was not an aging decline, and the more I questioned her, the less I was convinced of her version of events.

Finally, I convinced Ann to let me connect with a family member to help her with her food, even though she still didn’t think that was the problem. She was willing to amuse me, however, because she had run out of options and began feeling terrified that her body was failing her once and for all.

To all of our surprise, I was dead on. The problem was her food allergies and the lack of understanding of which food was her kryptonite.

After a couple of weeks of a clean diet, with support from a member of her family, Ann’s brain began to function again.

She learned so much with her family, and now they’re able to support her. There’s so much learning to be done, and they now understand how important it is that she doesn’t eat the foods she is allergic to.

They don’t have food allergies, so they didn’t think it was a big deal. However, to see their mom go from almost needing a nursing home to being herself again was a huge wake-up call!

I find that if someone doesn’t have allergies, it’s very hard for them to understand the magnitude of harm that the wrong food can do to someone who’s sensitive or allergic. I know this firsthand as I have had to advocate for myself my whole life! 

Think of it as positive energy vs negative energy. Food can help you, but it can also kill you.

Managing food allergies can become very isolating hence the desire to cheat.

I find it’s even worse in the elderly population because…

… change is hard.

… friends and family don’t understand.

… they feel they’ve made it this far without eating mindfully, so it must not be that bad.

I wish Ann’s story was an isolated incident, but a lot of people are being tested and medicated for seemingly untraceable symptoms; all along, the symptoms are a result of their kryptonite.

Unfortunately, this issue also isn’t just limited to the elderly population. I see people of all ages, some as young as 30, making the same errors and not taking their allergies and sensitivities seriously enough. They will cheat and feel unwell for a day as a result. Maybe they feel bloated or tired for a whole week! Yet, they continue to disregard their body’s signs.

It’s not okay!

When your body is stressed and fatigued, it’s not healing and repairing as it should on a daily basis. 

When you eat something that you know will make you ill, you disconnect from your Body Within, the inner voice that tells you that you’re making a mistake. This disconnect will get worse as you age, not better.

Self-healing comes from mindfulness, being present and listening. 

Balance your Body Within and learn your kryptonite to build a strong foundation for health and aging gracefully.

Your Body Within will thank you!

If you want to explore the use of nutrition to self-heal and age gracefully, check out my Nutrition for Life program! This self-study program is designed to help you learn how to use food as medicine, investigate how different food affects you and breed more balance in your life. Click here to learn more!