The Allergy Solution

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Hey, it's JJ Virgin. And welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I talk nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle. Some of the coolest people in the world can. Plus, I give you tips that you can put into fast action to uplevel your health so you can go out there and live that big life you're meant to live. Now, today's show is all about food allergies. Now, I wrote the Virgin diet a couple years ago all about food intolerance, food sensitivities, and food allergies. Because I found over the years that this was like one of these crazy things that no one was talking about yet it was so prevalent. And today's guest is gonna talk to you about why it's become an epidemic. It's way worse than you realize. But he's also gonna share how quickly you can turn this around with some simple action steps. So let me tell you a little bit about him. It's Dr. Leo Gallen. He's a board certified internist. He is recognized as a world leader in integrated medicine. Educated at Harvard and NYU School of Medicine. He won the Linus Pauling award for his trailblazing vision that created a new way to practice medicine for thousands of docs. Been on in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, self, men's fitness. He's appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Dr. Oz, PBS, CNN, and Fox. I've been following this guy for years and years and years. Like, big fan, big fan, you know, and then he emailed me and I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's Dr. Leo Gallen. So super excited about this. When he told me about his new book, I was like, man, we've got to get you on. His new book is called the Allergy Unlock the surprising hidden truth about why you are sick and how to get well. It is a deep dive into food allergies. And he's got just some super cool information in there. This is definitely one you'll want to grab. He wrote it with his son, Jonathan Gallen, who is an attorney, and he helps really get into some of the environmental health aspects in The Allergy Solution. So it's just a great there. He's going to be doing a public television special on the show called the Allergy Solution. And this is just. I'm super excited about what you're about to hear. And again, you're going to hear some things that you're going to go, what, are you kidding? So again, Today's guest is Dr. Leo Galland. So let's do it. Dr. Leo Gallen, welcome to the show. I am so excited to have you here with me today.

Great to be talking with you today, jj.

This is one of my favorite subjects, so let's dive in and let's start with just some kind of shockers. What big surprises have you discovered about chronic symptoms that people come to you with?

Well, there are so many people who are chronically ill, have been given a diagnosis of a disease, and what really underlies their symptoms are allergies to foods in particular, sometimes to molds and other things in the environment. One of the big shockers is the research indicating that allergies can prevent people from losing weight.

Yeah, that is one I discovered early on and I didn't understand. I saw it, I couldn't figure out. I was like, am I really seeing this? You know, that this is causing weight loss resistance? It's crazy, right?

Right. But there's really good research on the mechanisms by which this happens.

So talk a little bit about that. We're not big, heavy into studies, but I think it is important, like if you can cite a little research on why something like this would make people not be able to lose weight or even gain weight.

An allergic reaction in your body triggers the release of chemical substances that actually make fat cells grow larger. As the fat cells grow larger, they interfere with anti inflammatory signals in your body, so your allergies get worse. It's a real vicious cycle.

And once someone's in that, how do they get out of that?

Well, you have to identify what the allergens are, and usually it's food. So that a diet change can really cut through everything, allow weight loss to occur and improve allergies at the same time and decrease inflammation in your body.

So, you know, I think this has started to turn around where people understand this, but there still is a group, a subset of people out there who think that an allergy means that you have hives or your throat closes up. You know, it's this extreme, extreme reaction. But in reality, can people have an allergy and not even realize that they have it?

Most of the people that I see with allergies are unaware that they're having an allergic reaction. There are many different mechanisms of allergic reactions, Things like hives and throat closing. That's only one mechanism. That's the one that's measured in the standard test. But if you don't have that mechanism, you can have allergic reactions that are making you sick, and there may be no lab test that can pick it up.

So then how would you know that you had it? How can you figure it out?

That's why I developed a method when it comes to food, which is a major source of these hidden allergens. I developed a method called the power wash, which is a way of eliminating most of the food allergens that cause these kinds of chronic problems. And I know that in your work, you've identified some of the most common, like wheat and dairy and corn and peanuts and sugar, food additives as well. With the power wash, which is described in the allergy solution in detail, it's described in a way to take people through it. It's like I hold your hand and guide you through it. There are many other common food allergens that are eliminated. And then you test yourself, you reintroduce foods one at a time and see how they impact on your symptoms, the way that you feel in general, and even your weight. I've seen people who would gain three or four pounds overnight after introducing a food to which they were allergic to. And that's mostly fluid retention. It's this kind of allergic bloating and swelling. But that's an indicator that there's an allergic reaction that can cause weight gain.

So how big of a deal? Like, I mean, is this an epidemic? How many people do you think are suffering with some form of an allergy at this point?

What the research tells us is that more than half of the people in the US Will experience an allergic reaction to something during their lifetime. And government studies based on populations have indicated that about 56% of the population show standard allergic reactions on skin tests or blood tests. That's extraordinary. Around the world, it's over a billion people. And when you think back 40 or 50 years ago, the percentage of people with allergies was far lower than it is now. Those same government statistics indicate that it was maybe 10 or 20% in 1970.

Okay, so what's going on? What is going on? Why is this happening? It's crazy.

It's happening because of the. It's a perfect storm caused by the interaction of four factors. One factor is the outdoor environment, the types of pollution that cause global warming. The increase in carbon dioxide and diesel exhaust fumes and what they contain, automotive exhaust, they increase allergies through several different mechanisms, but they do damage our tissues and change our immune system. The indoor environment, not really appreciated. Exposure to chemicals indoors, in particular, things like formaldehyde or artificial fragrances, cleaning sprays, they increase the risk of developing allergy. And there's a direct link, for example, between the levels of formaldehyde in your bedroom or living room and, and the likelihood that you'll develop allergies of any kind, not just allergy to formaldehyde. The third environment that's really important, and I know you talk about this a lot, and it's been one of my areas of research for over 30 years, is the internal environment in the GI tract. Changes in gut microbes, in the composition of the microbiome make people more susceptible to allergies. Loss of diversity of gut microbes is a key factor that's due not only to antibiotics which permeate our food supply, but to a variety of pesticides and herbicides and things like Roundup which have been shown to do it. Now, all of those three areas of environment, outdoors, indoors and internal, are impacted by, by the food that we eat. And our diet can either make us less likely to respond in an allergic fashion or more likely to respond in an allergic fashion. And diet directly impacts on the microbes in our gut as well. So the standard American diet, eating fast foods, that devastates the gut microbes, it also shifts our immune system into an allergic way of reacting rather than an allergy fighting way of reacting.

Well, let's talk fast food a little bit. Let's let you go on a bit of a rant, if you want to, about why, you know, because everybody knows fast food is bad. But what are the issues that are creating the problems that are in fast food?

Two kinds of issues. Part of it is what you're eating when you eat fast food, But a large part of it is what you don't get when you eat fast food. That is, you don't get the flavonoids and other phytochemicals that are found in fruits and vegetables and herbs and spices. And those are really powerful regulators of immune function. They have very strong anti allergic effects. The higher your intake of flavonoids from foods, the less likely you are to develop allergies. They also help you resist the ability of indoor toxins to promote allergies. So they really work on multiple levels. And the low level of flavonoids in Fast foods, I think is a big factor. Another component that's lacking in fast foods are phytochemicals that are found in the cabbage family and in broccoli called isothiocyanates. They have been shown to protect against the ability of outdoor pollution, things like diesel exhaust fumes to cause allergic reactions or to aggravate allergies that already exist. So that's a big one. The other aspect is what you do get in fast foods. In a large international study on the causes of allergy called the Isaacs Study, the single dietary factor that was most linked to developing allergies was trans fats. Our old enemy that causes heart disease, promotes inflammation, promotes cancer. High trans fat consumption from fast foods was found to be the single most important factor in promoting allergies.

Wow. You know what's big there too though, is that these things can creep into your diet from things you're eating at the grocery store too. So it's like you look at it and you really. I remember reading something somewhere and someone said, oh yeah, you know, try to minimize your intake of trans fat. And so I'm like, try to minimize your intake of like, don't eat trans fats, don't do artificial sweeteners, they're all toxins. And you know, speaking of toxins, I mean those, you mentioned some other toxins. What do you do about all these toxins? Both the ones that you're eating, the ones that you're touching, all of these things around us in everyday life. Since they're obviously a big key factor.

Here, what do you do?

Right, well, in the allergy solution we have a chapter called Mission Detoxable. A lot of the research for that was done by my son Jonathan, who was the co author on the book Most of the indoor Toxins and there could be 100,000 of them or more in your home, don't need to be there. You can make simple, smart choices that keep these out of your home and allow your home to be toxin free. You don't need cleaning sprays and so called air fresheners. Air fresheners don't give you fresh air. They just spray a whole bunch of chemicals into your air and mask the smell that's naturally there. A lot of the cleaning materials that are used just don't need to be used. Soap and vinegar and baking soda water and a little bit of elbow grease really go a long way.

Well, and they're a lot. That's expensive too. I mean, that's the big thing is it's like all this Stuff that you're talking about is really moving away from a lot of the things that we've done to make things easier, that cost more and damage us to back to the basics.

Yeah, a lot of it is just back to basics. You don't need these things. You need to pay attention in terms of formaldehyde to pressed wood products, glued wood products, and there's a lot of furnishings that are formaldehyde free. But the major source of formaldehyde in homes actually are these glued wood products. And of course, then there's dampness and moisture in the air, which increases the release of formaldehyde from the glued wood. And it also happens to dampness, also increases the ability of mold to grow. And that's a major allergy promoter.

That's a whole other one that we're doing a big interview on because it's such a big deal. So the big takeaway here is that these, I call them food sensitivities, these food allergies, they are way bigger than people realize that they are absolutely an epidemic. They're an epidemic because of things that we can actually control, which is what's super cool about it. So you can turn it around. I know you've made this really easy and simple to do in your book, which is what I really appreciate, because, you know, people start to hear this stuff and they're like, oh my gosh, it's everywhere. I'm overwhelmed. But the real takeaway here is this could be making you, you know, fat, tired, sick, and you can turn this around. And so many of the symptoms that we're taught to think are normal or, you know, you're. You're aging. No, they're not. They're probably because of what you're eating, what you're surrounding yourself with. And these can be turned around quickly. And I know you've outlined that in your book. So I want to let everyone know where they can get more from you. Dr. Leo Gallon. So I think the best website for you is drgallen.com, right?

That's correct.

Okay, let me spell it for everyone. It's Dr. D R G A L L A N D R G A L L A N D dot com. What are they going to get there?

Well, first of all, there's information there on the site. There is a large booklet that will be given away to people who are purchasing the book through the site, and there are links to various retailers. It's a booklet called Food is Medicine that describes specific foods and their specific health benefits and how you can Optimize using food to heal you.

Great. So lots of great resources and I love that because that means that you can get started right away, no excuses. And by doing this, you heard a couple of the things already. You will save money so you can turn your health around simply and save money. And who doesn't love that? So again, I want to remind Everybody, go to drgallen.com and Dr. Leo Gallon. Thank you so much for joining me today. Now, after the break, I'm going to be answering a listener's question, so stay with me.

Want to get direct access to jj now you can with the Sugar Solution online program. This is JJ's deep dive into the tools, advanced strategies and techniques that amplify her New York Times best selling book, the Sugar Impact Diet. Get direct access to JJ and JJ, Sugar Impact coaches, a24.7 community and the tools, strategies and bonuses you need to succeed. Visit www.sugarimpactdiet.com to have JJ by your side so you know exactly what to do each step of the way on your weight loss journey. Get started today at www.sugarimpactdiet.com.

Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. And today's question comes from Jackie. Listen up.

Hi, jj. I am. I've been on your program. I started it the last week in February, and I am getting really discouraged. I buy the shakes, I buy the bars. I'm still doing the program eliminating the seven food intolerances, and I have not lost a single pound. I teach water aerobics three times a week. I work out on the weights three times a week. I'm 68 I5 2, 148 pounds. And I'm just really, really discouraged and I can't understand why. I'm not losing any weight. So please help me with this. Thank you.

All right, Jackie, I can feel your frustration. In fact, this is actually my favorite subject and what I call weight loss resistance. It's like you're doing everything right, yet you still can't lose the weight. So let's look at this and let's look at first off, congratulations, like, yay for you for doing working so hard. And I know it's frustrating, but we do know one thing. Look at what happened when you ate gluten. Clearly, gluten isn't working well for you. And when you pull it out, you can have problems. You put it back in and your skin broke out. So we know gluten's a problem. I wanted to put this in with this call today by Dr. Leo Gallen, because as you can see, there's so much more to food and to allergies than just what you eat. And I do think I am super concerned about you being in a chlorinated pool, because that can create definite problems. So to me, I'm just wondering if there's a way to remove you from being in a chlorinated pool. Have you go work with a functional medicine doctor to see that and see if there's any issues that you've gotten from the exposure from the chlorine. So that would be first, because that could impact your thyroid function. When I look at people having trouble with weight, I always want to look at toxicity. What things are you getting exposed to on a regular basis that could be causing a problem? Because excess toxic burden can actually slow down your metabolism and make your body hold onto fat. So that's a key one I'm concerned about. The next one, of course, is fixing your food intolerance and making sure you're eating correctly, making sure you're getting good sleep, making sure you're handling stress, because elevated stress hormones make you store more fat around your waistline. Looking at insulin resistance, this is something that a good functional medicine doctor can do, is look at your hemoglobin A1C, fasting glucose and insulin. Chronic elevated insulin or pre diabetes makes you store fat, makes it really hard to burn it off. Look at your hormones now that you're 68 years old, because a lot of times you have very low sex hormones, obviously, and low testosterone, it might be hard for you to put on any kind of muscle. And sometimes you also, at that point, start to have elevated cortisol, which makes you break down even more muscle. So I definitely get a workup from a functional medicine doctor. Look at your hormones, sex hormones, thyroid, adrenal, and then insulin as well. And look at all those things. And of course, look at your gut microbiome, because if you have bad bacteria in the gut, then you can extract more calories from the food you eat and store it as fat. The bottom line is you're eating well, you're exercising. So now we've got to start looking at what other things could come into play. And the obvious frontrunner here is that you've got, you know, chronic exposure to something that may not be good for your body, like chlorinated water that you're getting in two, three times a week. But again, toxins, hormones, especially thyroid insulin, sex hormones, cortisol, stress and sleep, and gut microbiome are the places to go next. And that's where really you do really well to go Find a good Functional medicine doctor. Dr. Leo Gallen today is an example of a good functional medicine doctor who can help you with all of those types of things and do a complete workup. But again, I want to congratulate you on staying the course, sticking with it and saying, okay, now what do I need to do? And so that is fantastic. And there are the solutions out there, so keep going with that. And if you can move from TV teaching water aerobics to teaching other types of exercise classes on land, I'd love to see that even more. It's better for your bone density anyway, so and it's actually better for fat loss than being in the water. So hope that helped. And if you'd like to submit a question, just go to jjburgin.com ask and you can leave a voicemail for me. I love hearing from you. And one more way I'd love to hear from you. I would so appreciate it if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review for me. It helps a bunch and be sure to subscribe and share the show with your friends. This is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you that you are worthy Dare to live a life that matters.

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