In my BS Detector guidebook, I have a “BS Checklist” – Things to look out for during a commercial, in a book or on the cover of a magazine. One of the items on that list is an authority claiming to have a “secret” in regards to gaining muscle, losing fat, or whatever.
The only secret is that there are no secrets.
So when you see the line:
“…I’m about to share with you the secret to weight loss.”
followed by an extremely simplistic solution:
“The key to weight loss is avoiding and overcoming food intolerance.”
Then your BS detector alarm needs to start ringing.
Just think about that statement – she is saying that for the millions of people who struggle to lose weight and keep it off, the answer isn’t that they’re eating too much. It’s not that they move too little. It’s not that the food environment encourages over-consumption, it’s not that long work hours and high amounts of stress are not conducive to home-cooked meals or taking walks.
It’s not the fact that people are notoriously terrible at reporting their food intake, even when they’re taught how.
It’s not agricultural subsidies or that adults who don’t cook raise children who never learn how. It’s not even the plethora of diet and exercise books out there with contradictory information, slashing your favorite foods left and right, and leaving you completely confused of how to proceed.
It’s having digestive issues with a certain food or foods.
Does this sound right to you?
Now I’m not discounting the discomfort that can occur from ingesting a food you don’t handle well. Let me tell you about the time I ate two protein bars totaling 22g in sugar alcohol before a 3 hour long seminar. (Actually, I’m going to pass on that story. Just read these reviews for sugar-alcohol gummy bears instead.)
THE WARNING IS NOT JOKING.
But to say that intolerance is the sole cause of weight gain and difficulty in weight loss is asinine. And to be clear, that is what she just stated above and what this whole book is about.
“…if you weigh more than you like and look older than you’d prefer, you are most likely struggling with food intolerance.”
So if I’m 57 but would prefer to look 25, I have food intolerance? Got it.
Here is a checklist given for how to tell if you have food intolerance:
- Have you tried unsuccessfully to lose weight?
- Is what you used to do to lose weight no longer working?
- Are you a yo-yo dieter?
- Do you frequently experience discomfort after eating, such as bloating, gas or indigestion?
- Can you only lose weight by starving yourself or exercising like a maniac – or possibly not even then?
- Are you feeling and looking older than you should?
She then states if you fit even one of those bullet points, you’re likely eating foods you’re intolerant too. Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a stretch? (Especially when the bolded point is the only real one that indicates any sort of digestive issue!)
So you, like almost everyone else on the planet, want to lose weight and look younger. Ergo, you have a food intolerance. What are the foods you’re probably intolerant to?
The 7 “High Food-Intolerance” Foods
- Gluten
- Eggs
- Soy
- Corn
- Dairy
- Peanuts
- Sugar & Artificial Sweeteners
Where did this list come from? Well, it appears that parts of it came from the eight foods that comprise 90% of all food allergies, (soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts) part of it from hot topics of the day (sugar & artificial sweeteners, gluten) and one I’m not really sure of the origin of (corn).
While this diet protocol has you re-introduce these foods after a 3-week washout period, she states that she would like for you to leave out sugar, artificial sweeteners, corn, and peanuts forever. Why?
Peanuts
“Peanuts have a high risk for aflatoxin mold, which is toxic and provokes a lot of allergies.
Peanuts are also high in phytic acid and lectins…”
Corn
“[corn is] one of the worst of all the grains because it tends to be allergenic, is high on the glycemic index and has a pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid profile.”
She also notes that it is high in lectins and that “almost all U.S. corn is genetically modified.”
Sugar & Artificial Sweeteners
There is quite a long list of reasons given to avoid sugar, everything from saying it “disrupts your insulin metabolism,” to “sugar depletes nutrients.” Yikes.
Artificial sweeteners are stated to be horrible for the same reasons as sugar, on top of it being a “neurotoxin.” And then, aspartame turns into formaldehyde when “it’s raised over a certain temperature”! Doesn’t that sound terrifying?!
Apples – just one of many foods that contain formaldehyde naturally. (taken from ameribestprayers.com)
Once we get to the actual chapter-by-chapter review of this book, we’ll go over what’s true and false about those statements. For now, just know that you really don’t have to be this scared of food. It’s certainly not the instrument of impending death and illness it’s made out to be above.
What happens when you eat a food you are intolerant to?
This can be a difficult thing to ascertain, because it’s difficult enough to just figure out who is intolerant to a particular food or component of food as we mentioned in Part I. But we can get an idea by looking at lactose-intolerance, which tends to be better understood.
With lactose-intolerance, your body doesn’t have (or have many of) the proper enzyme (lactase, to be specific) to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk and other dairy products. Therefore, it doesn’t get digested properly in your small intestine.
When the lactose shows up only partially broken-down in your large intestines, bacteria ferments it, which causes gas and bloating. This is also often followed by diarrhea, as the lactose doesn’t get fully absorbed or broken down before passing through.
While the mechanisms for other types of food intolerance are not well understood, we’ll pretend it is something similar to the above. One prevailing idea of why food allergies and intolerance are on the rise the the “hygiene hypothesis.”
Because of modern society’s obsession with cleanliness, the hypothesis goes, we’re depriving ourselves of the helpful bacteria that have helped us with a multitude of functions, including digestion. For instance, the human body only produces 20 enzymes that break down carbohydrates. But a group of just one kind of bacteria has over 260 such enzymes. It seems logical to me that depriving ourselves of helpful bacteria with a hand-sanitizer obsession could lead to an increase of food intolerance.
Must rid ourselves of evillll germmmmssss
(But again, this is just a hypothesis)
This leads back to the prevailing theme of our book…
So, is food intolerance really the “secret” to why so many of us can’t lose weight? Let’s review what we’ve gone over about food intolerance:
- Food allergies are on the rise, with some estimates saying 4% or more of the U.S. population having at least one.
- Food intolerance could be rising as well, but with such difficulty in diagnosis, it is hard to say and impossible to give an accurate figure.
- Food intolerance is characterized by an inability to digest a certain food or food component. (Malabsorption)
So we have no idea how many people have food intolerance, but for those that do it means digestive upset due to an inability to break down and absorb the food properly.
Think about that – the nutrition from the food item cannot be absorbed. That’s unabsorbed vitamins, minerals…and calories.
As well, it’s uncertain how many people suffer from an intolerance. How could anyone be confident enough to say that EVERYONE who struggles with weight loss has an intolerance? There is no evidence to back up that assertion at all.
But that doesn’t mean this whole book is worthless.
Yeah, it’s shitty to make big, bold claims that can’t be proven. But for someone who does suffer from extreme bloating and misery after meals, this diet could be helpful. Elimination diets can absolutely help you figure out if you have ‘problem foods’ (provided you do one correctly), and help you to find relief. It may not be 100% accurate and you may not know the exact component that is causing you distress, but you’ll likely feel better.
Just don’t expect it to solve all of your weight-loss woes.
Next up: the up-and-coming buzzword of inflammation and how it relates to food intolerance / sensitivity. How exciting!!
As always, leave me any questions, comments or suggestions below!
Making Sense of Modern Fitness 
Very interesting post!
Thanks 2 Cups! Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if there’s anything specific you want to see covered.