FERTILITY AND ELIMINATION DIETS

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Have you been told that you need to eliminate a specific food or worried that you might need an elimination diet to help your fertility? Before you cut out dairy (or gluten, or soy, or anything else) watch this video first! You probably DON’T need to eliminate anything — and there’s usually a much better way for you to help your body, gut, and fertility.

In this video you’ll learn.

• Food allergies vs sensitivities

• The problems with food sensitivity testing

• The problems with elimination diets

• 3 things to do instead of elimination diets

If you like this video follow it up with some great DIY gut health acupressure!

And if you want to decompress from all the overwhelming, unscientific, and unhelpful fertility recommendations you’ve been getting everywhere, follow up with the Tipping Your Fertility Scales video.

With much love,

Nicole

Nicole Lange

LICENSED ACUPUNCTURIST
HOLISTIC FERTILITY EDUCATOR

• VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

  Nicole Lange, acupuncturist and creator of The Baby You Want online fertility program here. It is the one and only place where infertility meets your whole life.

  And I'm just going to get right to the point here. Most elimination diets are rotten.

  The vast majority of people who are told to do them, especially for infertility, aren't served well by doing them.

  And if you're seeing a natural fertility specialist who says you have to eliminate entire groups of food, I want you to have everything you need to take that advice with a big old grain of salt, use lots and lots of informed critical thinking, and probably say no.

  Stick with me and I'll explain why. Here's what we're about to cover.

  Food allergies versus food sensitivities.

  The problem with food sensitivity testing.

  The problems with elimination diets.

  And three things to do instead of elimination diets.

  One of the highest level concepts we have to establish straightaway here is that there are food allergies, and there are food sensitivities, and they are very, very different things.

  So food allergies are true immune system full body allergic overreactions to perfectly normal proteins in foods. So here the body sees those food proteins as something to freak out about. And to do this, it responds with a specific immune cell called an antibody. More specifically a type of an antibody called immunoglobulin E, which is abbreviated as IgE.

  Now IgE cells are the allergy antibodies. And people with allergies and asthma tend to produce just way higher amounts of IgE than they should. So let's think of the E as in extra.

  Now IgE food allergy reactions are usually pretty immediate, pretty obvious, and usually involve way more than just the gut alone. If you have a food allergy, like to peanuts or shellfish or milk or in true celiac disease to gluten, you're going to likely figure it out pretty quickly. Say when you break out in hives, or your tongue swells up, or you have consistent diarrhea and nausea and severe stomach issues your entire life.

  A skin prick test or an IgE blood test can be used to confirm these sorts of allergies. But these tests get a crazy high number of false positives. So even with a positive IgE food allergy test, you have to also have a clear history and then see obvious body signs.

  And once you start elimination it should make a pretty big night and day obvious kind of difference. If you can't tell you'll probably don't need elimination.

  Here's what the American Family Physician Foundation released as their expert consensus on the topic of food allergies and testing.

  IgE testing for specific foods must be driven by a history of signs or symptoms after eating a particular food.

  False or clinically irrelevant positive allergy test for foods are frequent.

  Indiscriminant screening results in inappropriate avoidance of foods.

  Booyah!

  The takeaway with actual food allergies is this. Don't just test for no obvious reason, and if you do test, be sure you work with someone who knows their stuff. Probably a full-on allergist and or immunologist. And if you eliminate a food it should make a big difference.

  Food sensitivities, otherwise called food intolerances, are a very different thing. Lots of bodies have local, I'm talking inside the gut, signs like bloating, nausea, pain, bowel changes, gas.

  But it's not from an IgE immune system overreaction at all. Sensitivities are from many other very legit but totally different root causes.

  They can be rooted in genetic issues like not having the right enzymes to break down certain foods. They can also come from developing sensitivities, but not allergies, to certain food additives or colors. Or from having local gut reactions to bacteria or viruses that hitchhike in on the food.

  And last but definitely not least, a huge root cause of lots of food sensitivities is having local gut inflammation and intestinal lining damage, which is also called intestinal permeability, caused by all sorts of lifestyle related things like eating junk food, and sugar, and getting crappy sleep, exposure to alcohol and antibiotic antibiotics, and chronic stress. The list goes on and on and on and on.

  Now food sensitivities are very real and can be really uncomfortable and miserable. But understanding how different they are from food allergies at the root level is key here.

  The main test marketed to find food sensitivities are tests that looks for immunoglobulin G, or IgG, reactions.

  Now I'm talking about pretty much all the tests you can buy online, all the tests that you can buy at stores, the tests that are ordered by alternative healthcare providers like naturopaths or acupuncturists, and even some of the tests ordered by general doctors.

  The problem is where IgE is an extra immune system response, we can think of the G in IgG as in good memory. IgG is the body's way of molecularly saying, "Yeah, I've seen this before."

  So an IgG immune system reaction here simply means you've been exposed to a food and the body has a memory of it. It doesn't mean the food was a problem at all.

  In fact, many allergists will go so far as to say having an IgG reaction to a food is a sign of tolerance to that food, which is crazy.

  So having an IgG test come back positive for anything, I'm talking dairy, eggs, soy, it doesn't mean you're having an over the top reaction to that food. Which is what the people who sell the tests will usually tell you. It just means that you've eaten those foods.

  People are often shocked when they get these tests back and they're told they have these strong immune system reactions to all the foods that they regularly eat, and then they're told to cut those foods out. But when you understand what these tests are measuring, you can see that that's exactly what you should expect to see. And that cutting out the foods is kind of crazy.

  If you buy into the idea that an IgG reaction means you should eliminate a food, even though that's incorrect, and if you totally eliminate all of those foods on the list and instead eat, god knows what, because half of your diet will be out the window. And if you then were to just go back and retest your IgG, say a year later, it'll now just look like you're allergic to all the new foods you switched to.

  Of course you were never allergic to any of it. Ditto goes for hair tests. That's also looking for IgG and it means nothing. Tests like applied kinesiology or muscle testing are even worse.

  The American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology have stated there is, and I quote, "No evidence of diagnostic validity to this sort of testing."

  And one study that used experienced kinesiologists concluded, and again I quote, "The results of this study indicated that the use of applied kinesiology is no more useful than random guessing."

  Last but not least there's also a breath test for hydrogen and methane that's used to test for SIBO, which stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. This is another common reason that people are told they need to do elimination diets.

  But the problem here is the breath tests have been scientifically proven to not actually correlate with the bacteria levels in the small intestine. In fact, research shows that people who are diagnosed with SIBO are actually much more likely to have IBS, which is more about genetics and the mind gut connection, or celiac disease, which might require cutting out gluten but not all the other foods that a strict SIBO diet would cut out.

  So the bottom line here is all of the tests that might lead you to a strict elimination diet, with the exception of true IgE food allergy test with obvious body signs to back them up, are probably not accurate and won't get to the root of your super legit gut concerns.

  Worse still, I'm about to tell you why they'll probably even make things worse.

  Strict elimination diets can lead to serious and harmful malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies. They will also contribute to having a terrible relationship with food and increase your risk of disordered eating diseases. And they're at best a ginormous waste of time and energy. You will put so much energy into avoiding foods instead of getting to the actual root cause of your symptoms.

  For example, the missing enzymes, the sensitivity to artificial chemicals, the mind body disregulation, or the damage in your gut from all that lifestyle stuff like stress and not sleeping.

  And speaking of stress, this is a big, big, big problem with elimination diets. Unless the elimination diet is really going to make a glaringly huge difference in your quality of life, doing one is going to make your life way more stressful. Which is the last thing someone dealing with the very real medical concern and already plenty stressful situation of infertility needs to add to their plate. Pun very much intended.

  Reading every single label, not being able to eat half of what's available when you go places, having to agonize over which restaurant you can eat at, being paranoid, that you had contamination and somehow ruined your fertility. These things are awful and not needed, and this stress is not going to help your gut or your fertility.

  I should mention that all of this is assuming you really do have gut specific symptoms and concerns in the first place.

  Do not get me started on people being told by natural experts that they have gut issues when they don't have any signs and they would never even say something's bothering them in this part of their body in the first place.

  But that is a whole different video for a whole different day.

  I hope it's pretty intuitive, but here are three things I want you to do instead of elimination diets.

  Number one, figure out your root. I would much rather you actually help your gut without being overly restrictive about it.

  If you think you have a dairy intolerance for example, it's probably because you don't have the enzyme to digest dairy. So maybe you cut back on dairy and you consider buying an enzyme supplement to give your body what it genetically lacks for the times when you really just want to eat some pizza. And then enjoy the hell out of the pizza.

  It's moderate, it's sustainable, it's holistic, and it's balanced.

  And let me be clear. Even if you don't cut down on dairy and you don't take the enzyme to digest dairy, now you know that it's not going to cause some gigantic immune system issue that's going to ruin your fertility. You're just going to be gassy.

  Number two, heal gut damage.

  Most human beings alive today do have some level of gut damage and intestinal permeability from all of those lifestyle factors that I mentioned earlier. So obviously having a beat up and inflamed gut is not great for whole person wellness and general health. So work on it.

  Fiber is a very, very unsexy but fabulous gut healer and protector. Picture coating your gut like a big old bandaid so it can heal and stay healthy. So work on improving your fiber intake. Just do it really gradually so you'll avoid getting bloated.

  You might also want to talk to a healthcare provider and see if some specific gut healing supplements are okay for you. Things like Slippery Elm, collagen, zinc, and L-glutamine. These things might be worth taking for a while to help your gut heal, but you should not need them for forever.

  Which brings me to the oh-so-important holistic idea of preventing future damage too. You don't need to be a martyr and never ever have a cocktail or chips or coffee. Just like pizza, you should have them moderately and enjoy them when you do even when you're trying for a baby.

  You just don't want to make a habit of using these things to deal with stress or to comfort yourself. If you're doing that, think about other healthier options that'll also decrease your stress and be good for your gut. Things like exercise, yoga, talk therapy, The Baby You Want program, get enough sleep, do meditations or self-hypnosis.

  And self-hypnosis actually comes full circle back to getting to the root and preventing future damage at the same time, cuz one study on SIBO showed hypnosis for stress reduction was as good, or better, than antibiotics plus a really strict elimination diet.

  And self-hypnosis for IBS has been scientifically proven to improve about 80% of IBS cases by 70 to 80% with no food changes necessary. There are even fabulous apps for this now.

  Remember, simple unsexy stuff often makes a much bigger and much more sustainable difference than trendy or extreme options.

  Improving your gut health is important. Do put some of your energy here. It'll definitely help your fertility if you can improve anything that's making your body feel off or more threatened.

  It's just that elimination diets usually aren't the way to do this. So choose some options that actually make you feel better. And also have realistic expectations.

  Remember, you do not need to be perfect to get pregnant. But it's nice to make choices that move you towards feeling better instead of a way.

  So here's what we just covered.

  Food allergies versus food sensitivity. Now you know there is a big, big difference.

  The problem with food sensitivity testing. It's either testing for food tolerance and memory, or for nothing at all.

  The problems with elimination diets. They can lead to malnutrition and unhealthy food relationships, they don't get to the root, and they are super stressful.

  And what you should do instead of elimination. Get to the root, patch up prior damage, and prevent future damage to.

  If anyone suggests you need food sensitivity or food allergy tests, I hope you'll pay attention to whether they're wanting to test your IgG or your IgE. And even if it's IgE never go on a positive test alone.

  If you've already been doing elimination for a food sensitivity concern, I hope that this video liberates you to free up a whole bunch of your time, energy, and mental bandwidth to put your energy towards actually finding your root issue and choosing other things that really make you feel better.

  If you want to learn even more about digestion and fertility and the ways they are intimately connected, I would love you to check out The Baby You Want online program. This program is the only place where all the dots are connected between super big picture things like your guts, your anxiety, your quality of life, and your fertility. They are all connected, so you can actually get stronger and more balanced as you move towards having the family of your dreams.

  If you have local gut concerns you might also want to check out the Acupressure For Fertility Body Boost and Calm Brain video. The DIY acupressure point I cover inside that video is one of the very best for gut issues and overall health.

  Now, if you found this video helpful, please, please, please subscribe and share it with a fertility friend.

  As always, thank you for investing some time with me and for watching this video and I'll see you again soon.