Food Intolerance

Question
I have wanted to go 100% onto the Primal Diet for a long time but I suffer from serious food intolerances that have been verified by the ALCAT  test. I have severe intolerances to coconut, egg yolk, avocado, beef and also cows and goats milk. If I eat these foods I suffer from hives, frequent urination, rash and digestive problems and this makes life very difficult. Given that I cannot tolerate many of the core primal diet foods foods, this concerns me. My question is whether you know of any primal dieter that has resolved food intolerances, allergies or sensitivities simply by eating those foods raw for extended periods of time? Or is it more likely I will have to avoid those food altogether?

Answer
There have been several claims by Primal Dieters that they cured their food-sensitivities over time. I don't believe them at all, though, given various concerns. For one thing, building a tolerance to an allergenic food doesn't mean no harm is being done. For example, I've heard that some coeliacs don't create any antibodies against ingested grains, but still have all the symptoms.

Secondly, overwhelming the immune system by eating lots of the allergenic food(a common technique RAFers use to build up tolerance) may well suppress more immediate symptoms, given the weakened ability of the body to resist that food, but it still means that long-term health problems remain. I'm a case in point. Dairy-intake basically fouled up my entire glandular system over time, but, until the last year or so before going RAF, I didn't notice any immediate symptoms within half an hour of eating dairy, as I was eating so much of it. I also did for various reasons cut out the dairy for some months here and there before going for RAF diet, but failed to notice anything as the dairy-intake caused such permanent damage that only raw foods could help rebuild my health.

Lastly, I heard a lot of extremely dodgy urban legends from hardcore pro-raw-dairy-fanatics within the Primal Diet group who claimed that allergy towards raw dairy simply didn't exist and that all one had to do was eat dairy warmed up to room-temperature or some other gimmick. Not one of them worked for me or any of the multitude of raw-eating acquaintances I know on rawpaleoforum etc. who suffer from dairy-allergy.

That said, a few Primal Dieters have claimed that switching from pasteurised dairy to raw dairy meant immediate relief from allergies, but this doesn't seem to be the case with you as you appear to have tried them all raw. I suspect in those cases that it's just a small allergy to a particular minor chemical component or hormone in pasteurised dairy, absent in the raw form.

To sum up, even if you managed to swamp your immune system with large, constant raw-dairy-intake etc., you'd at the very least be very likely to prevent any further healing as the body's ability to rebuild would be failing. While it might theoretically be possible for a Primal Dieter to eventually get over some allergies(for example, if the allergy is caused only by temporary inflammation in the gut) this is extremely unlikely to happen unless the particular individual eliminates the relevant allergenic food untill the problem is resolved. That said, virtually all the people I know who've said they'd eventually try raw dairy again after years of leaving it out, for example,have reported that the same problems persist when they try it again, only that now that they have fully healed, the previous symptoms take longer to return with the same former intensity.

All in all, you're not alone. Many people suffer from allergies towards most of the foods you mentioned(ie everything but the raw beef allergy which is most unheard of) and have to radically change their diet format far away from the Primal Diet standard. While it is, surprisingly, rather easy to do a raw diet minus coconut oil,raw dairy, egg yolk and avocado, an allergy to beef really complicates matters as it's the most easily available type of raw meat in the grassfed/organic category. Raw pork, by contrast, is very rarely 100% grassfed/pastured and 100% grassfed/organic raw  lamb or mutton is not as easy to find as beef.I would suggest that you start off asking multiple questions on the rawpaleodiet yahoo group or the rawpaleoforum website about where to start.
I would suggest that you look around for alternatives such as organic/100% grassfed lamb/mutton/goat venison. Also buy some raw fat as its' essential(eg:- raw tongue or suet/marrow). Unfortunately, most such fatty organ-meats are only easily available from cattle but there are sources if you're prepared to look around. Plus, you should buy lots of wild raw seafood(avoid any farmed seafood, however organic, with some raw shellfish types being an exception).

Hope This Helps,

Geoff

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