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Newsletter By :Jasmin alvarez and Kenricka Roberts

The Milk Dilemma

As I saw my friend drink almond milk instead of regular milk. I asked her what is so special about almond milk? She said, “well I am lactose intolerant which is why I don’t drink regular milk”. “Does that mean your allergic to milk “, I asked. She says no, it means I am sensitive to milk. I looked at her like she was crazy, like who is sensitive to milk? Milk is essential and needed to provide calcium in our bones. Plus, it tastes delicious in ice cream. She then explained to me that food intolerance is when one is not able to absorb and digest the component lactose in milk. While food allegory involves an immune response to the exposure of a certain food such as shrimp. food intolerance is not severe like food allergies.

Food allergies or a food intolerance have common symptoms such as nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. It is hard to distinguish which one you have. Food allergies can suddenly occur with a speck of food and can be life-threating. These are foods that you drool about and dream about in your sleep, while food intolerance creeps up on you when you eat a certain type of food in large amounts. I was intrigued by how much information my best friend knew. I was dying to ask her how one could tell if you have food allergy or food intolerance by the symptoms you have. I finally had the guts to ask her and she explained that food allergies can cause rashes, hives, itchy skin, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a sudden drop in blood pressure. Unlike food allergies, food intolerance causes heartburn, headaches, nervousness, gas, cramps, or bloating. I was saying to myself, “I don’t want any of those symptoms, I love ice cream too much!”

I then had a flash back while drinking my third cup of regular milk that I was farting a lot. I experienced cramps and bloating and I started to think what best friend told me. I came back to reality and realized that maybe I have a milk intolerance. I asked her, while I was cramping, what I could do to not be lactose intolerant. She told me to look for lactose free-milk or take an enzyme supplement to help. I realized that she was right and I decided that I should drink almond milk even though it tastes horrible.

Reference : https://www.webmd.com/allergies/foods-allergy-intolerance#1

Leap Therapy

Today was like any other day. I was heading to my class , and I saw my best friend. I saw her spreading avocados on her toast. I ran as fast as I could towards her to stop her from spreading the avocado because I knew she was sensitive to avocados. “STOP!” I yelled as I ran towards her table. She paused from eating her toast, and she glanced up at me saying: “What’s wrong?” I asked her why she was spreading avocado on her toast if it gives her digestive issues, joint pain, skin problems, and headaches? “Well I am sensitive to avocados, but I can still eat them because of Leap therapy” she says. “How is it possible for you to outgrow the sensitivity?” I asked.

“I have started Leap therapy in which I found out how sensitive I am overall to different types of foods," she said. “The leap therapy is known as an elimination diet. My registered dietitian designed a diet plan that started with my least reactive foods and then reintroduced other foods back into my diet as I progressed” she said. I was surprised that we can get over certain food sensitivities so easily. I questioned myself how can we tell the difference between food intolerance and having a food sensitivity. “So, what is the difference between food intolerance and food sensitivity?” I asked her. “Well, the difference is that the immune system is involved and the onset of symptoms occur after eating the food. These symptoms can occur within a few hours” she said. “Can you get it at any age?” I asked. “

You can get it at any age and can be tested through different tests such as Mediator Release Test which requires a blood sample," she said. “How does it work?” I asked. “In the test, if your white blood cells shrink when it is exposed to a variety of food antigens, it will cause a change in the white blood cells to the plasma ratio in your blood sample. Basically, if white blood cells shrink, they release chemicals like histamine that can offset the symptoms. This is what happens when you have a food sensitivity. Although food intolerance have the same symptoms, it does not involve an individual's immune system. It is the inability to breakdown certain foods due to having a sensitivity of foods or reactions of the chemicals in foods.”

How can you overcome this? Leap therapy involves one little step to start and that is a blood test. The blood test goes through a process called the Mediator Release test to identify and quantify which foods causes an inflammatory response in your body. Once the results are cleared, a registered dietitian will create a personalized diet therapy according to those results. Your diet will start with foods that are the least reactive. As your body heals, the foods that are reactive are then re-introduced or taken out of your diet as you progress. The goal of Leap therapy is to create a lifestyle eating that reduces inflammation, reduce or eliminates symptoms in which you feel when you eat certain foods.

Reference : https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/food-sensitivity-test#elimination-diet

Georgia Gwinnett Animal Shelter (Community Service)

As a volunteer at the Gwinnett Animal Shelter, we served to create new welcome gift bags with handmade chew toys, treats and information regarding their new family member. We served within the facility to clean up and put new mulch around the gardens, and the trees. Volunteering at the Gwinnett Animal Shelter was a great experience. The best part was to see the adorable animals being adopted.

Credits:

Created with images by lukasbieri - "mediterranean cuisine eat food" • Foundry - "bottle milk drink" • Devanath - "drink white milk" • FoodieFactor - "avocado avocados food" • Brooke Lark - "untitled image"

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