A couple of months ago, I noticed that I wasn’t feeling well. The problem was, I had no way of correlating the uneasiness with anything until I noticed that I started to feel immeditely lethargic after I ate certain foods.
Sometimes, I would have a terrible headache and an upset stomach after having just one small glass of red wine, which was really unusual for me. I decided it was time to take charge of my health, and I began to do some research about food sensitivities.
I discovered that they can cause a variety of symptoms, from mild to severe. During my research, I found out about the EverlyWell Home Food Sensitivity Test and decided to give it a try. Here’s my review of the Everlywell Food Sensitivity test!
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How Food Sensitivities Affect Your Body
Food sensitivities can cause a variety of symptoms, and they can come or go as you age.
Some food sensitivities cause visible symptoms, like rashes or acne. Others affect the way you feel on the inside by causing inflammation in the joints, an upset stomach, a headache, or even making you feel lightheaded or dizzy.
Food sensitivities can also affect your mood, leaving you feeling irritable or tired after you eat certain foods.
Food sensitivities are not the same as food allergies. Food allergies are much more severe. The symptoms come on quickly, with even the slightest contact with the offending food. An allergic reaction to a particular food can affect your organs, and often results in a trip to the emergency room or at least breaking out your EpiPen.
Food sensitivity symptoms are the body’s way of telling us when certain foods aren’t agreeing with us. The signs are a bit more subtle, sometimes not showing up for as much as 48 hours after you eat the offending food.
When your body reacts negatively to certain foods, an immune system response triggers the release of an antibody called Immunoglobulin G, or IgG. This antibody may be the cause of the headaches, stomach upset, and other reactions that occur with food sensitivities.
The delayed response makes it especially challenging to determine which foods are causing the symptoms. Many people go through their lives, never knowing what’s causing them to feel unwell, relying on upon over the counter meds to get relief of their symptoms.
Here are some common red flags that may indicate food sensitivities:
- Skin reactions, including acne, swelling, redness, itchiness, hives, eczema
- Red, itchy, or watery eyes
- Itchiness inside the ears
- Certain foods may leave a tingly, itchy, or strange taste in your mouth
- Swelling around your lips, tongue, or face
- Respiratory symptoms, like a runny nose, coughing, or sneezing
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Drops in blood pressure
- Joint pain and inflammation
- Headaches and migraines
Food sensitivities can evolve over time. Sometimes, a mild reaction to a particular food can become a much more severe allergic reaction over time. Severe reactions cause chest pain, weak heartbeat, and confusion.
In a worst-case scenario, they can even lead to difficulty breathing, shock, or anaphylaxis (a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical attention).
How the EverlyWell Home Food Sensitivity Test Works
The EverlyWell Home Food Sensitivity Test measures your body’s IgG reactivity to 96 different foods. The test is ordered online, and it’s shipped right to your door. When you receive your kit in the mail, register it with the included barcode at EverlyWell.com.
The kit includes everything you need to clean your finger, collect your sample, and mail it back to the company. To do the test, simply wipe your finger with the included alcohol pad, the prick your finger with the included lancets.
The lancets make the process quick and painless. Put a drop of blood on the blood spot card, and then place the card in the included biohazard bag.
Then, mail your sample back to EverlyWell in the postage-paid envelope.
Detailed instructions are included with the kit, and you can call EverlyWell for assistance anytime.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a text message from the company when they received my sample in the mail, and another when my results were available online. It made the experience feel much more personalized.
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Interpreting Your Results
It took about 7 to 10 days for my results to be available online. The results are really easy to read, and they can be downloaded or printed, in case you want a copy to share with your doctor or just for your own records.
There’s a personalized report for each food that’s been tested, as well as detailed information about what the results mean and what to do next. Each food is rated on a sensitivity scale of 0-3.
One of the first things that jumped out at me when I got my results was a sensitivity to brewer’s yeast. That explains why I was suddenly feeling so bad after just a small glass of red wine.
Thankfully, I didn’t have any High Reactivity to specific food groups, just moderate and mild reactivity.
How Do You Know the Results are Accurate?
EverlyWell goes to great lengths to make sure their test results are reliable and accurate.
Each test has to be reviewed and approved by an independent, board-certified doctor from your home state. They also use only CLIA-certified labs to process your kit. These labs are required to be certified on a state and federal level, and they’re inspected regularly.
My Take-Away of the EverlyWell Food Sensitivity Test
I think this is a great place to start if you’re interested in learning how your body reacts to certain foods.
It’s much faster than beginning an elimination diet from scratch to figure out what you’re sensitive to. I am using my test results as a guide on which foods to eliminate from my diet to see if it makes a difference in the way I feel.
I’ve already started by removing all food or beverages that contain brewer’s yeast, and many of the symptoms I was experiencing are gone.
If you’re looking for an actionable way to take control of how you feel on a day-to-day basis, I highly recommend taking the EverlyWell Home Food Sensitivity Test. Eliminating the foods that don’t agree with your body is an easy way to improve your health right away.
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