One Person’s Health Food is Another Person’s Poison

I know this week’s post should probably be Role of Supplements Part 2, but I just had to side track.  I’m so excited to have received my updated Standard Food Panel yesterday!  For the past year I’ve been working on reducing my inflammation.  If you’ve read my blog then you know I messed myself up pretty bad by eating a low fat/no fat diet in my early 20-30s.  Due to thi,s my inflammation was through the roof.  So, every six months I retest to see how I’m doing.

Now, the funny here is Dr. Jeff Taylor brought me my results yesterday and said, “I don’t know what you eat – those graphs are high”.  Yes, there is still much room for improvement – which I will accomplish.  But, these are WAY down from where I started.

February 25, 2010 was my first test.  There is a reaction class of 0 (no reaction) to 6 (extremely high).  At that time I had one item in the extremely high category, 13 items in very high, 14 items in high, & 16 items in moderate – that’s 44 foods that are reactive to my system, out of 92!  This was not a good sign for me. 

But, here is the real kicker . . . my one extremely highly reactive food, carrot.  Yes, you read that right, carrot.  The lovable, nutritious, chocked full of great nutrients, everyone should eat their veggies, carrot.  That little orange devil is my nemesis.  OK, maybe that’s a bit strong, but this is why there is no one-size-fits-all food program.  Most nutritionists, registered dietitians, health food fanatics, doctors, you name it, would say eat carrots – they’re healthy.  And that advice would be the worse possible solution for me.  One person’s health food really can be another person’s poison.

Here’s the exciting news though.  The new test is dated March 21, 2011.  Not only do I have zero items in the extremely high category, I have zero items in the very high category. I do have seven items in high and 20 items in moderate.  But, that’s 27 items instead of 44 and all are lower!   

Understand though that these aren’t fried foods or trans fats . . . these are foods considered healthy by most people.  But health is relative to each person’s individual system and the path toward optimal health must be accessed for each person individually.  With proper planning I’ve been able to decrease the inflammation within my body substantially.  This is so exciting, I feel like celebrating.  Let’s see . . . looks like my no reaction items indicate a nice fruit salad of apple, banana, blueberries, pineapple and strawberries is in my future.