Tag: MRT

Chronic Sinusitis Can Be Due to Food Sensitivities

February 12, 2014

Do you suffer from chronic sinus infections, drippy nose, or just plain old congestion? If so, the cause is likely something you’re eating all the time that you don’t realize is making you sick.

Here’s a testimonial from a client who received a customized anti-inflammatory LEAP diet based on Mediator Release Test (MRT) results and found a life where she no longer has sinus issues. As a Certified LEAP Therapist (CLT), my job is to design a customized anti-inflammatory diet to resolve symptoms. The MRT allows us to pinpoint the triggers of inflammatory activity instead of shooting arrows in the dark and so produces real results.

LEAP Testimonial

I originally sought counseling from Dr. Yarnell at the advice of a good friend. I have had chronic sinus pressure which resulted in me taking a nasal decongestant every day. I also used to get about 4 sinus infections a year which ended with me taking antibiotics. Otherwise, I was a very healthy person who regularly exercises, only ate organic produce and didn’t smoke. Therefore, I was a bit skeptical of whether or not the LEAP program could really make a dramatic difference for me.

I was also concerned with my ability to stick to the program. The first two weeks were restrictive. For someone who had multiple cups of coffee every day and a piece of chocolate, this seemed daunting. However, because I was feeling so much better and Dr. Yarnell was my advocate I was able to get through it. Once I started introducing new foods I felt like I had so many options and zero interest in the foods that caused me to feel bad.

The benefits of LEAP were amazing and unexpected. My hair started growing thicker, I no longer crave caffeine or sweets, I have more energy, I sleep better, I am less anxious and I think more clearly. My sinus issues are gone as well. I also realize that I could not have done this program without the guidance of Dr. Yarnell. She is relateable, encouraging and worked with me to develop a customized program. The blood tests alone would not have allowed such a complete transformation.

I have recommended the LEAP program and Dr. Yarnell’s guidance to my family and friends – and look forward to hearing their success stories as well.

~Lauren C., New York

The MRT vs the ALCAT: Is Food Sensitivity Testing Reliable?

October 28, 2013

People ask me all the time if food sensitivity testing is reliable. My answer is always: “Depends on which test you use.”

Food sensitivity/food allergy testing that looks for IgE or IgG antibodies can show us whether or not someone has been exposed to a food and created an antibody to it, but not necessarily if the person becomes symptomatic when exposed.

In other words, antibodies can tell us there is a gun in the room, but not whether it has been fired. The existence of these antibodies are not reliable indicators of symptoms.

The ALCAT test, invented in the early 1980s by a team led by Dr. Mark Pasula, was the first test to look at the release of inflammatory markers known as mediators rather than the slippery antibodies. Over time, Dr. Pasula wasn’t satisfied with the way the ALCAT measured the mediator release from the blood. This led to a bitter difference of opinion within ALCAT and Dr. Pasoula split to apply what he had figured out to making a more accurate and reliable test.

The state-of-the-art Mediator Release Test, or MRT, is like ALCAT 2.0.

Dr. Allen Bonilla, D.C., in Los Angeles, recently decided to see once and for all which test, the ALCAT or the MRT, would provide more accurate results with which to treat his suffering patients. In this video, he takes blood samples for three ALCAT tests and three MRT tests on the same afternoon and submitted them to the labs.

Holding the results side-by-side, it’s plain to see that the ALCAT results changed radically from sample to sample, while the MRT results were practically identical for the three submissions.

Thank you, Dr. Bonilla, for this enlightening experiment, and for sharing it on video. (Be sure to continue reading below the video for more…)

I’ve always found it hard to trust ALCAT results when working with clients, and now I can see exactly how unreliable this test is. It’s unfortunate, because ALCAT employs a sales force that convinces allergists and other doctors to order this test for their patients. When following the ALCAT results does not eliminate their symptoms, they dismiss the idea the dietary therapy could help relieve their condition.

Oxford Laboratories, on the other hand, the company Dr. Pasula founded to build the MRT, realizes that doctors do not have the time or expertise in nutrition to correctly interpret the test results and implement a therapeutic diet, so they focused their efforts on training Registered Dieticians (RDs) and other practitioners knowledgeable in nutrition and food.

Which makes the MRT a choice to go with a professional who can take the time to work with you to regain your health.

My food sensitivities clinic is open to clients nationwide. My clients receive not only the reliable results from the MRT, but also extensive analysis and customized anti-inflammatory diet plans complete with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack ideas, recipes, and safe brands and shopping advice.

Nausea, Vertigo Symptoms of Food Sensitivities

October 2, 2013

My son awoke on Monday morning complaining of vertigo and nausea. It was a clear food sensitivity reaction.

These symptoms have happened before and I’m learning that, if I do a little detective work, I can directly correlate the episode with something he ate. I’ve also learned from past experience that if I insist he goes to school during these episodes, I should expect a call from the school nurse after he eventually vomits. He stayed home and on the couch for most of the day. By dinnertime, he was feeling much recovered.

If you are not living in a constantly inflamed state, then your reaction to an inflammatory trigger will be noticeable. If you are following a customized anti-inflammatory diet, or LEAP, then you can recover from any inadvertent reactions

This time the culprit was a pineapple popsicle he had enjoyed for dessert the night before. We have known he was sensitive to pineapple since he submitted his blood for the Mediator Release Test (MRT), but it had been more than four years since he had eaten pineapple and he begged to have it. At this point in our food sensitivities journey, the best way to tell if his oral tolerance has risen for a food is to challenge it on a day when it is the only new variable.

He wanted to try it. Sometimes you have to suffer through a hypersensitivity reaction to convince yourself that you are truly better off without that food in your life.

Of course, its best to avoid the hypersensitivity reaction in the first place. That’s the goal of the customized anti-inflammatory diet that I design for my clients in my naturopathic food sensitivities clinic. I work with clients nationwide; feel free to contact me for a free initial consultation if you suspect food sensitivities may play a role in your ailments.

I Was Infected with Listeria When I Was Pregnant

September 20, 2013

camel riding with my son who survived listeria in the womb — Here is my son today, a healthy survivor of listeria infection in the womb.

About eleven years ago, when I was nine months pregnant with my first child, I accidentally became infected with listeria, a bacteria that spreads through unhygienic food handling practices. Since listeriosis (listeria infection) can cause stillbirth, I was treated with massive doses of i.v. antibiotics over several days. Thankfully, my baby was born alive, but we have been dealing with the consequences ever since.

You can ready the whole story here as it has been posted on the Stop Foodborne Illness wall.

Listeria is the same bacteria that killed a bunch of people who ate unwashed cantaloupe a few summers ago. Here are some tips on how you can stay safe from foodborne illness.

Those life-saving antibiotics given to a developing fetus killed the listeria in the placenta but also destroyed my son’s digestive system before he even emerged from the womb. No one had mentioned the long-term effects this treatment might have on the baby that survived it.

The quest to heal his body led me on a direct path to the dietary management therapies I employ today as a naturopathic doctor (ND) and Certified LEAP Therapist. It’s fair to say that getting listeria irrevocably changed my life, my career, and my passions.

I’m thankful to have found a way to heal my son and turn him from a failure-to-thrive baby into a healthy and robust almost-11-year-old, and to be able to use the knowledge gained from my journey to help others heal and recover their health.

I could not have foreseen the path my life has taken, and I thank you all for reading and taking me along on your own journey toward health.

Namaste.

What Causes Headaches? It Could Be A Food Sensitivity.

September 3, 2013

Last month I noticed that I began to get headaches regularly every afternoon. I didn’t immediately suspect that it was a food sensitivity reaction, but once I realized what was causing it, I was able to make the headaches disappear.

I’m not a person prone to headaches and after the third day in a row of having dull pain above my right eye I began to suspect something was wrong. Of course, I jumped to all sorts of rational conclusions first: it was a tumor that was causing the pain, what if it were a parasite behind my eye, or maybe I had brain-eating amoebas!

Then I gave it some thought and asked myself to remember when the headaches had started and what had changed at that time. I realized that my headaches had begun after we had arrived back home from our east coast vacation. I had been suffering from a cold that week so hadn’t thought of a headache as notable since my sinus cavities were full, etc. But then the cold ran its course and I still had the headache every day more than a week later.

I wondered if the problem could be caused by the agave syrup I used to sweeten my cup of decaf coffee at home. On vacation I was using cane sugar in my coffee, but at home I usually use agave. Food sensitivities can be delayed by up to four days, so a headache beginning around 3 pm could very well result from a drink at 7 or 8 am.

I stopped using agave syrup the very next day and had only a faint headache that afternoon. Two days after ceasing using the agave I was completely headache-free. It has now been four days without a headache and I am convinced it was the agave.

I feel lucky to have been able to identify the culprit and find relief so easily! Many of my clients complete MRT food sensitivity testing and find they are sensitive to as many as thirty or forty foods. After they complete a washout and some healing time, they often find that there were one or two big offenders that were tipping the scales for everything else.

I worked with a 29-year old attorney who had suffered from migraines almost daily since she was twelve years old. With MRT testing and the LEAP Immunocalm Diet, she was able to identify her biggest sensitivity as being from the additive fructose. As in High Fructose Corn Syrup. She realized that everything she used to eat as a busy career woman contained fructose and she had been unwittingly keeping herself in pain.

The first two weeks after removing all fructose from her life she went through a washout period and experienced about a dozen migraines. Then they stopped for good. Now she lives a migraine-free life as long as she avoids her fructose trigger. She feels like a new person. She received a raise and a promotion and is happily living migraine-free.

Sometimes you just don’t know until you know.

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