The journal construction depends on the situation and intention. If one suspects a cause and effect relationship between how someone they are journaling feels or behaves in relation to their diet, the journal helps to clarify this by analysis. For example, in an asthmatic or atopic child (has a tendency for asthma, atopic dermatitis, or hay fever symptoms), it’s a must to perform a food journal based analysis. Food allergy testing, by blood or skin tests, is far from accurate, either in specificity or sensitivity. Observations by an educated parent or journalist using a food journal can more easily, safely, inexpensively, and accurately uncover food allergies in this child. There are over 170 foods that have been documented to cause allergic reactions. These reactions can manifest in anything from innocuous skin hives to recurring ear infections, to difficulty thinking and behaving (encephalopathy) to difficulty breathing (asthma), to difficulty maintaining blood pressure etc. (potentially deadly anaphylaxis).
Once determined, those foods, which the child’s immune system recognizes as foreign, can be eliminated from the child’s diet, and the child’s symptoms and health improved. In emergent cases, those foods that most commonly cause allergic responses can be eliminated before journaling is initiated. These foods include the “big eight” –cow milk, soy, peanuts, egg (protein only-not the yolk), wheat, shellfish, tree nuts, and fruits. The vast majority of food allergies are caused by these ” big eight” foods. The “second eight”–sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cottonseed (meal not oil) poppy seeds, mollusks, beans (except green beans), peas, and lentils may also warrant elimination, depending on the severity of the situation.
Next, using a food journal, new foods can be rotated in with an assessment of each new food introduced. After analysis one can create menus of healthy, complementary foods for optimal nutrition for the journaled patient.
An appropriate journal in the case of such an atopic child case would record events such as Dr. Doris Rapp’s Big Five, with the timing of foods individually introduced. Such a journal would contain Doctor Rapp’s columns for food introduction:
1. How does my child feel, behave, and remember before and after introduction?
2. How does my child look before and after introduction?
3. Is there any handwriting or drawing changes before and after introduction?
4. Is there an asthma or breathing problem before and after and how is it changed?
5. Is there a change in the pulse rate or rhythm before and after?
A journal to evaluate food used for prevention or intervention for depression or fatigue would be different. It would contain more patient subjective information that correlates temporally with a specific food or other chemical introduction or exposure.
A food journal constructed for prevention of obesity might include an all inclusive account of each item put into the mouth, all information leading to the identification of eating triggers, and other obesity-related issues.
Motivation, peer pressure, mood all may be relevant. Their inclusion may allow for analysis that permits more effective intervention strategies.
A food journal intended to improve nutrition for a coma patient would be quite different. It would include monitoring of serum and urine objective findings as well as other observations to help develop proper feedings.
Food journals can be used both for prevention and intervention in the Prescription for Nutritional Healing.
James A. Ferrel MD, CNC
Author: James A. Ferrel MD, CNC
Dr. James A. Ferrel MD, CNC is a retired physician who specialized in environmental medicine. He is the author of Neogenesis - Reconstructing the Self.
