Page 21 - Bliss Planet Magazine January 2018

with James A. Ferrel MD, CNC

Question: What is a food journal and how can it be used to benefit health?

Answer: A food journal is a chronological record of eating associated events and
conditions with observed responses and other associated results.

The journal construction depends on the situation and intention. If one suspects a
cause and affect relationship between how someone they are journaling feels or
behaves in relationship to their diet, the journal helps to clarify this by analysis. For
example, in an asthmatic or atophic child (has 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.

Bliss Planet 21