I recently decided to go have myself checked out by a naturopathic doctor.  I didn’t have any specific ailments but just wanted a check up.  I filled out a long questionnaire and had some hair and blood testing done.

I got my results a few weeks later.  I’m a long term vegetarian so I was interested in seeing what my hair mineral analysis said about my diet.  I’m pretty much spot-on where I should be for all nutrients.  Take that diet doubters!  The only thing that is abnormal is that I have slightly high copper.

I also did a blood test to look for food sensitivities.  These aren’t full on allergic reactions that send you to the hospital but foods that irritate your digestive system.  I had an idea what it was going to find.  My last meal before going to get my results was pizza with cheese dipping sauce and some tapioca pudding.

Like I expected I reacted to dairy.  I reacted to everything they test in the dairy category.  I reacted even worse to eggs.  That surprised me.  I don’t show the physical symptoms that I get from dairy with eggs.

I’m not too upset about that.  I’m vegan at home 95% of the time anyway.  I use almond milk all the time instead of cow milk.  That’s lovely except my most reactive thing was almond followed closely by soy.  I guess coconut milk it is for me.

I also reacted badly to gluten and whole wheat and spelt.  Great.  So we are up to gluten-free vegan.  I still wasn’t upset and this sort of surprised the doctor.  She said people sometimes cry when she gives results.  I told her at the last visit that I don’t get stressed. She didn’t know that I’ve done this before.  When I did the Whole Life Challenge it ended up being basically a gluten-free vegan challenge for me.  I did it twice for 2 months at a time.  I know what to do.  I also know that I drop weight easily if I stick to it so I believe these results.  I just get lazy and stop cooking food that I know is best for me.

Then things started to get rude.  I was reactive to peanuts.  I use peanut butter sometimes on the toast I’m no longer having or in smoothies.

After all this, the thing that really got me was that I was reactive to mushrooms.  Mushrooms!  I love mushrooms.  I was going to get some mushroom spore inoculated logs for my garden this year and grow my own because I eat so many.  At least cocoa and olives didn’t upset my sensitive self or there would be no point in going on.

I started the elimination diet immediately. She also gave me some supplements to support better digestion and to help support the liver.  My cholesterol is high but the rest of the liver enzymes are good so we are doing some liver detox to see if it can handle the cholesterol and copper clearing a bit better.