Many of you may have assumed I was talking about STD/STI testing here and, while that is super important to have done regularly, I’m actually referring to Food Sensitivity testing and Heavy Metals testing.
Even IF we are eating super healthy (and that is a very very big IF) our bodies still may not respond well to some of the ‘healthy’ foods. When the body dislikes a food it can respond with inflammation which, overtime can wreak havoc on your system.
The free way to find out more is to follow an elimination diet, but I know that this seems tedious and terrible to me and I like food way too much and am way too undisciplined to cut out everything and slowly reintroduce it to my diet while tuning into how my body feels. I chose to pay money for convenience and purchased the food sensitivity test from Everlywell. It’s $159 (although it’s pretty easy to find a discount promo code), done at-home, and the results are super easy to interpret -plus you can set up a call with them to learn more.
The at-home test involves pricking your finger and smearing the blood on this special paper thing and then mailing it back in. Oh, and don’t forget to register your kit online so it can be tracked when they receive it.
The test shows your sensitivity (different from allergy!) to 96 different foods and even shows you the degree of your sensitivity. Mine came back that I was very mildly sensitive to lobster and crab (which I don’t eat anyway) and garlic (which I love too much to even consider avoiding with only a mild sensitivity). I have clients who took the test and were shocked to find that ‘healthy’ items like strawberries, almonds, egg whites, basil, etc were high reactivity items. Knowledge is power and this simple tests gives insight into how your body is responding to many of the common items you’re putting inside it.
My next adventure is the try out the heavy metal toxicity test. Pesticides in our fertilizer, additives to various beauty products, cheap jewelry, poor water and air quality, cookware, fish and other foods are a few of the MANY ways we get over exposure to heavy metals which build up in our bodies and cause all sorts of unwanted drama. While I do my best to minimize my exposure and I’m not experiencing any weird symptoms, I’m still curious about what my heavy metal toxicity looks like and feel it is smart to get a baseline now that I can retest at various points throughout my life. I’ll keep you posted.
Be well and do things that make you happy.
xo,
Jenna