Are you allergic to breakfast?

Taylor Yost makes breakfast (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Do you suffer from vague symptoms that come and go, like fatigue, palpitations, arthritis pain, eczema or sneezing? It could be your breakfast.

According to Stephan Rechtscaffen, M.D., holistic physician and founder of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, 50 to 60% of the population has food allergies. And the most common food allergies are breakfast staples such as citrus, wheat, soy, sugar, coffee, eggs, corn and dairy.

Dr. Rechtscaffen, speaking to the 2009 class of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition on May 16, 2009, defines allergies very broadly as “a reaction to something other than us,” whether it be something in the environment, something we eat or some chemical agent. However, many doctors limit their definition of allergens to something that will register on a blood test as an immunoglobulin E reaction (IgE). The problem, Dr. Rechtscaffen points out, is that most foods are not IgE reactive.

Furthermore, the best test for food allergies is not a patch or blood test or other scientific technology, and it doesn’t take a doctor to administer it. It’s something you can do at home on your own or with the guidance of a health counselor or nutritionist.

The first thing you can do is look at your breakfast. According to Dr. Rechtscaffen, most of us do not have adverse reactions to something that we rarely eat, but to things that are common or habitual elements of our diets, and this usually means breakfast.

It could, however, be anything that we eat on a daily basis, maybe a late night snack that we always go for. Ask yourself, “What is a constant in my diet that I always have on hand?” “What is a typical meal for me?” One patient, Dr. Rechtscaffen relates, suffered from palpitations that doctors were at a loss to diagnose, until he discovered that she was eating pineapple faithfully every night before bed. Once she eliminated the pineapple, she eliminated the palpitations.

Dr. Rechtscaffen also recommends that you answer this simple question: “Do you prefer ice cream or cake?” It sounds counterintuitive, but we gravitate to what’s causing our problem. If you prefer ice cream, you may have a problem with dairy. If you prefer cake, you may have a wheat sensitivity. 

Tomorrow we’ll explore an at home test to see if you are in fact sensitive to one or more foods.