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"Donna Harran, an active former sales director who recently retired to Jupiter with her husband, didn't feel well for months, and was determined to find out why. She went to doctors, tried the gluten-free diet, and tried exercise.\"I even went to boot camp, one of those boot camps that was like, 'Wow, that was really hard!'\" said Harran.MOBILE/TABLET USERS: Tap Here to Watch Video\u00A0Despite the gluten-free diet and the intense exercise, she stayed tired, she stayed bloated, and she couldn't lose weight.\"It's like, gosh, I'd just love to drop that last ten pounds, but it seems so hard to do,\" said Harran.For West Palm Beach school-teacher Beth Matrow, the problem was a bad knee following a fall which stayed swollen and inflamed.\"I couldn't walk for exercise anymore, and I just started to gain weight,\" said Matrow.Both women's doctors finally suggested they have their blood tested for food sensitivities.Doctors believe if you're sensitive -- not allergic -- to certain foods and additives, your body produces reactive agents which results in inflammation -- and causes a host of problems.\"It's almost looking right now in medicine that the root of almost all debilitating diseases has an inflammatory component to it, absolutely,\" said Dr. Bridgette Hampton, an internist in North Palm Beach, who treats Matrow.Sensitivities to food can also surface in the form of anxiety, depression, joint pain, asthma, acne, bad breath, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, brain fog, hyperactivity, puffy eyes and face, and even stubborn weight loss.Oxford Biomedical Technologies analyzed both patient's blood samples for reactions to over 500 foods and additives, then sent them detailed results including a card listing their top sensitivities in red, their medium sensitivities in yellow. They're advised to avoid those foods for two to six months.\"Pineapple, saccharine, strawberries, sweet potatoes and wheat,\" Matrow read off a partial list of 25 foods and additives she is sensitive to.Both said it was not easy at first -- they had to scour labels for hidden ingredients, such as soy and lecithin or certain food colorings. And change their diets. Harran, who is Italian, could no longer eat olive oil, garlic, tomatoes or beef, but she said she soon found easy ways to substitute those items.And Harran said she experienced an unexpected bonus -- she lost 20 pounds in six months, without eating less, and was able to add back bread to her former gluten-free and ineffective diet.\"After a few weeks a few pounds started coming off, and my stomach's getting better,\" said Harran.\"I have a whole new outlook now because I feel so much better,\" said Matrow, who added her knee hardly causes a limp anymore, and she lost weight even faster: 25 to 30 pounds in three months. However, she gave up wheat, cow's milk products and high fructose corn syrup -- found in most sweets and processed foods.\"I was really motivated to keep going because I felt so good and my body was like humming -- just like fine-tuned, and that's why I kept going on,\" said Matrow.Now they both say even though they could, they'll never go back to eating the foods that caused their food sensitivities.\"Eat what makes you tick, what makes you flow, what makes your body just hum, instead of just chug, chug, chug along,\" laughed Matrow.Doctors say you need to be committed to avoiding your sensitive foods for several months, but after that, you can try reintroducing foods and seeing if you are still sensitive to them. To conduct your own easy at-home test, notice if you cough or if your nose runs after eating -- that's usually an indication you're sensitive to something you just ate, but it may take some detective work to determine which ingredient was the culprit.11 foods to increase your brain power!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wpbf.com/article/food-sensitivity-test-leads-to-better-health-weight-loss/1322943>