Hidden Food Allergies: The Essential Guide to Uncovering Hidden Food Allergies-and Achieving Permanent Relief [Paperback]

James Braly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 2006

Food allergies and intolerances are on the rise. Headaches, fatigue, depression, asthma, difficulty losing weight, and a range of minor symptoms that come and go-all of these can be signs of an underlying food allergy. If you suspect your health problems may be related to a specific food you've been eating, there are important steps you can take to find relief "Hidden Food Allergies" offers the key to permanent allergy-free health-without the need for medication or unnecessarily restrictive diets. In this valuable book, leading medical authority on nutrition Dr. James Braly and Britain's top nutrition expert, Patrick Holford, identify the most common allergens, help you diagnose an allergy, and provide a full action plan for allergy relief. You'll discover: All about food allergies, and how they are different from food intolerances or sensitivities; How to prevent and resolve childhood allergies; The latest breakthroughs in allergy testing; How to follow elimination diets and reintroduce foods safely; and How to guard against, treat, and reverse food allergies.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Braly, M.D., author of the best-selling "Dr. Braly's food Allergy and Nutrition Revolution" and "Dangerous Grains," is an internationally renowned expert on food allergies, gluten sensitivity, celiac disease, and clinical nutrition Patrick Holford, author of more than twenty health books, including the besy-selling "Optimum Nutrition Bible," was founder of the prestigious London-based Optimum Nutrition Center. Today, Mr. Holford is in great demand in England as a lecturer, writer, and nutritional consultant for radio and national television.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Basic Health Publications; 1ST edition (September 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591201950
• ISBN-13: 978-1591201953
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Allergies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point, July 25, 2009

By 

K. Pooley (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Food Allergies: The Essential Guide to Uncovering Hidden Food Allergies-and Achieving Permanent Relief (Paperback)

I think this book is a GREAT starting point. I personally DO NOT agree with the previous reviewer on the elimination diet being the gold standard. We have 2 children with multiple food allergies and the elimination diet HAS NOT worked for us due to the number of foods we are dealing with. I think this book is good because it talks about several types of reactions and several types of testing. MOST doctors only recognize IGE blood testing BUT you need more than that and this book explains it fairly well.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent starting point, December 14, 2008

By 

Brian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden Food Allergies: The Essential Guide to Uncovering Hidden Food Allergies-and Achieving Permanent Relief (Paperback)

This book is a decent starting point for one who wants to know the basics about delayed food allergies. It's a very quick read with good lists of common allergens and some scientific background on the condition. What I don't like is that the author continuously pushes some controversial blood tests instead of the elimination diet, which is the gold standard (and an inexpensive one at that) for uncovering food allergies. Also, the book isn't very professional looking. It appears to be something that the authors self-published. If you really want to know about food allergies, "Food Allergies and Food Intolerance" is a better option. It covers the subject much more extensively and describes how to do an elimination diet.

I went on an elimination diet after reading this and have so far found that I am allergic to milk, corn, and soy. By avoiding those allergens, I have easily lost 20 lbs (and 2 inches off my waist), I have much more energy, my mood is significantly better, my knees don't continually ache anymore, my food cravings and constant hunger are gone, and my bladder irritation has resolved. In short, I feel better than I have ever felt. Although not everyone will see results like this, I think anyone with nagging chronic health problems should give the elimination diet a try, as it can't hurt, and the only real cost is having to cook just about every meal for a few weeks, which I consider a trivial cost compared to the gains I have seen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knowledge is power., April 4, 2011

By 

tag "tag" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hidden Food Allergies: The Essential Guide to Uncovering Hidden Food Allergies--And Achieving Permanent Relief (Paperback)

I have been sick for four years with eczema and other skin problems, ear infections, chronic fatigue and a host of small problems that most doctors would find insignificant, but were making my life miserable. I learned that my atopic dermatitis (an allergic eczema) put me at risk for food allergies. Since my doctors were not helping and had told me there were no tests that could diagnose a food allergy, I started doing my own research. I read this book and decided that a few hundred bucks was a small price to pay for my health and sanity. So I got the ELISA IgG food allergy blood test. The results came back with very marked sensitivities to all kinds of dairy and egg whites and egg yolks (eggs and dairy are exactly the two allergens that this book says are the most common allergens in people with eczema). I previously thought that wheat gluten was my problem and would have continued consuming dairy and eggs and avoiding wheat and would have continued to be sick if I had not had the testing. I have tried an elimination diet and have tried keeping track of all my foods etc for years with NO success. That is partly because the IgG-mediated allergies have a delayed onset from 2 hours to 2 days, so it is VERY hard to diagnose with an elimination diet. And maybe I'm not a great detective -- an elimination diet might work really well for some people with a lot of patience. But I'm glad I bought the book, I'm glad I did the test, and in the end I will get my health back because I educated myself and took action, instead of waiting for my doctors to come up with a magic pill.