These are the single most common cause of false fat.
Arguably, delayed food reactions cause as many health problems as some of the most horrific of life's various risk factors, such as smoking or stress. The effects are often subtle and accumulate slowly, but the harm is undeniable. Without a doubt, delayed food reactions cause weight gain. Because 300,000 people die each year from obesity-related problems, anything that exacerbates weight gain is a serious issue.
Therefore, the average person's ignorance about delayed food reactions is a serious public health problem. Don't let yourself be a victim of this lack of knowledge!
Delayed food reactions are very similar to classic allergies. The biggest difference is that when you have sensitivities, you often don't notice symptoms right after you eat. Sometimes it can take as long as three days for symptoms to appear. The reason for the delay is that this type of food reaction is caused by a different antibody than the one that causes classic food allergies, and it takes longer for allergens to come in contact with this antibody. This antibody, IgG (or immunoglobulin G), is found only in the bloodstream, so food molecules need to reach the-bloodstream for problems to occur. As long as food macromolecules stay in the digestive tract, no symptoms may appear. Sometimes food molecules move out of the digestive tract almost immediately, but sometimes they don't.
When reactive food macromolecules do eventually meet up with IgG antibodies, the antibodies wage the same basic type of battle fought by IgE antibodies, which cause classic allergies. The IgG antibodies call the immune system into the fight, and histamines and other chemicals are released, causing swelling and other symptoms.
The IgG antibodies are by far the most common antibodies in the body. They're three times more common than the IgE antibodies that cause classic allergies; that's one reason delayed food reactions are more common than classic allergies.
Because IgG reactions are delayed, people are often unaware of their real cause. If you feel a symptom on Monday morning, it may be hard to link it to something you ate Friday night.
Another reason people are often unaware of their IgG reactions is that these reactions often don't occur in obvious places, such as the skin, as do classic IgE allergies.
Even though an IgG reaction may not be obvious, it can still be very harmful. For example, if you're allergic to bee stings and get an IgE reaction on your skin from a sting, you'll be sure to notice and treat it. However, an internal IgG reaction to a food may ultimately cause you much more generalized, systemic swelling than a bee sting; it's like getting a bee sting to the whole body. But because your reaction is spread over your whole body, you may not be very aware of it. All you'll notice is that you don't feel good and have more bloating and swelling. After you've read this book, though, and learned what to look for, I guarantee that you will notice how drastically food reactions affect your body.
Another antibody that can cause delayed reactions is IgA. IgA fights at the front lines — at the mucous membrane sites and in the digestive tract itself — trying to stop allergens from being absorbed by the body in the first place. To do this, it stimulates secretion of mucus, which blocks absorption.
Studies show, though, that almost half of all Americans don't secrete enough IgA. Non-reactive people secrete 3,000 to 5,000 mg of IgA every day, but some reactive people don't secrete much at all. If you're low on IgA, sooner or later a reactive food molecule will work its way through your intestinal wall and cause a reaction. The more reactive foods you eat, the more likely you'll be to use up your supply of IgA and lose your front-line force against food reactions.
Therefore, if you do 'cheat' and eat an allergenic food, it's smart not to eat too much of the food. One jam doughnut might get blocked by IgA, but three doughnuts may overwhelm your forces and push you past your allergic threshold.
Another factor that depletes IgA is use of certain medications, including antibiotics, antacids, ulcer drugs, cortisone and aspirin. Again, as you can see, it's not just what you eat that can hurt your metabolism and make you fat.
