Chemicals are found everywhere in nature, including in our foods, mostly in plant-based foods.

While our bodies are designed to be able to deal with these naturally occurring food chemicals, if our body is out of whack, these chemicals can become a problem.

The food chemicals we see causing the most issues are:

• Histamine
• Salicylates
• Oxalates

It’s important to realise that the natural chemicals in many ‘healthy’ foods can be just as much of a problem for sensitive people as the ‘artificial’ ones used as food additives.

You many be sensitive to none of these food chemicals, to only one of them, or to all of them! In this section, we will give you a general overview of food chemicals to help you understand and identify if this may be an issue for you.

Although we've included oxalates here, it's important to understand that oxalate issues are a bit different.

Click here to learn more about oxalate toxicity.

In this section, we will mostly talk about histamine and salicylate sensitivity.

It's also important not to freak out about food chemicals. First of all, they are not a problem for everybody.

It's also impossible to avoid them all!

HOW BIG IS YOUR FOOD CHEMICAL BUCKET?

To better understand food chemical sensitivity, it can help to imagine that we each have a food chemical 'bucket'. The smaller your bucket, the more sensitive you will be to food chemicals.

It's important to understand that food chemicals build up in the body and that symptoms (see more about symptoms below) happen once your bucket is overflowing. This is why the size of your bucket is so important!

It's also why you might be OK with a specific food one day, and not the next.... which can make it very confusing when trying to identify which food is causing your symptoms. With food chemical sensitivity, it's not a specific food that will cause symptoms, but the accumulation of foods high in histamine and/or salicylates.

For the most part, when you're healthy, your bucket is generally bigger and you may be able to eat more food chemicals without any trouble.

However, many factors can make your personal bucket smaller and also influence how quickly it gets filled up.

Here are the main ones:

1- An unhealthy gut.

This is a major factor, here's why:

• DAO deficiency: DAO is the enzyme needed to metabolise histamine in food. When the gut lining is damaged, there is often a reduction in DAO production, which will affect someone's capacity to process histamine, especially from high histamine foods in the diet.
• Bacterial overgrowth: certain bacteria can actually produce histamine, adding to the overload.
• Toxicity: Food chemicals are eliminated in the same way as any other toxins in the body. An unhealthy gut produces a lot of toxins which also need to be eliminated, such as LPS produced by 'bad' bacteria and even phenols produced by an overgrowth of 'good' bacteria. Add to this the normal load of toxins in your daily life and you can see how the body can become overwhelmed!

As you can see, with poor gut health, not only is your bucket smaller in size, it also gets full very quickly!

* SIBO can become a triple whammy, with an excess of histamine production, a reduction in DAO production and the production of a huge amount of LPS and phenols! This is why food chemicals sensitivity is especially common with SIBO.

2- MCAS.

People with MCAS can be extremely sensitive to the naturally occurring food chemicals found in foods, supplements (especially herbal supplements) and personal care products (like peppermint in toothpastes). Visit the MCAS section to learn more.

3- Genetic.

There are many genes/pathways in the body that will influence each persons capacity to get rid of food chemicals. The more snps you have in those genes (e.g: HNMT, DAO, MAO, NAT2), the smaller the size of your food chemical bucket.

3- Stress and trauma.

First of all, stress and trauma of any kind will quickly deplete us of many nutrients that are needed to 'clear' the food chemicals from your body. Additionally, food chemicals are a 'stressor' in the body. Although our body is designed to be able to deal with these, when under too much stress or undergoing trauma, it can simply add too much extra stress to an already overwhelmed system.

The more stress/trauma you are experiencing, the smaller your bucket!

4- Your toxic load.

As we explained above, food chemicals are eliminated in the same way as any other toxins in the body. So the more toxins you're exposed to on a daily basis, the smaller your food chemical bucket is going to be.

FOOD CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY SYMPTOMS

Naturally occurring food chemical symptoms vary from person to person and can affect the skin, airways, gastrointestinal system and nervous system.

Remember that symptoms occur once your bucket is overflowing.

Some of the most common symptoms include:

• Headaches/migraines
• Flue-like aches and pains
• Joint pain and arthritis
• Swelling and bloating
• Hives and itching
• Sinus congestion
• Mouth ulcers
• Stomach and bowel irritation, IBS, diarrhoea
• Irritability, moodiness, restlessness
• Brain fog

* Estrogen lowers tolerance to food chemicals. Symptoms may be worse around ovulation (mid-cycle) when estrogen is at its peak and/or before the start of your periods.

You will find symptoms specific to each food chemical in the following sections:

Histamine sensitivity

Salicylate sensitivity

Oxalate toxicity

EXAMPLE OF FOOD CHEMICAL CONTENT IN FOODS

Some foods are low in naturally occurring food chemicals, some are moderate, some are high and some are very high. Here's some examples:

Low - iceberg lettuce, bamboo shoots, chives, fresh skinless chicken, eggs, salt, and ghee.

Moderate - peeled cucumber, parsnip, peeled zucchini, bok choi, fresh duck, and lard.

High - broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, rocket/arugula, radish, corn, pork, turkey, almonds, macadamia nuts, brewer's yeast, coconut milk/cream, and coconut oil.

Very High - avocado, bell pepper/capsicum, chilli, eggplant, tomato, olives, bacon, liver, canned tuna, almond meal, peanut butter, strawberries, chocolate and extra virgin olive oil.

You will find more comprehensive food lists provided in the Histamine, Salicylate and Oxalate sections.

WHY SUPER HEALTHY RAW FOOD 'TREATS' CAN MAKE YOU FEEL HORRIBLE

If you look at the list of foods highest in food chemicals above, you will notice that cacao, nuts, dates and many popular raw foodie fruits are on the list... and sadly, this is what is in most 'healthy' paleo/raw food desserts. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all diet.

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO

First, follow the dietary guidelines recommended in this program.

The Supersafe diet is low in all food chemicals and the safe diet is low to moderate.

If you feel a lot better when following these diets and your symptoms return once introducing more food chemicals during the adventurous diet, then we recommend following the information provided in the 'Managing food chemical sensitivity' section.

Remember that not everybody will be sensitive to food chemicals. If you don't think it's a problem for you, then you really don't need to worry about these :-)

We also recommend reading the 'Oxalate Toxicity' section.

CAN YOU HEAL FROM FOOD CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES

Many people will see their reactions getting less and less as they take the various steps in this program to heal their gut and their body.

Taking steps to heal the gut is crucial to reduce these sensitivities.