I have had numerous benefits doing the food testing myself, but I will share with you one of my stories. My freshman year of college, I developed seasonal allergies (August through November). At first I thought I was just getting sick, but when the itchy ears, eyes, throat, nose, etc. started bothering me, I knew it was something else. I have always preferred to handle my health the natural way instead of taking any medications, but for those of you who have experienced allergies before, you can relate when I say that it can be miserable. Besides all the itching, my nose would either be stuffed up or just drain continuously. I would get a headache and feel worn out all day making it hard to function. So I started taking some over-the-counter medication, but after a while my body just became immune and it would no longer work. Then I tried a prescription from the doctor, again it worked for a short time and then just stopped. The only thing that would work for me was the antihistamines that would make me very sleepy and groggy, but it was the only thing that would keep me from feeling miserable those four months so I took it. There would be good days and bad days where I took a little bit more (weather was a contributor- some days I just stayed inside) but it became a part of my life where I knew to have this on hand just so I could feel better.

One summer I was at my cousin's cabin two weekends in a row and weather wise the situation was the same. The first weekend I was there I had some orange juice and my allergies flared up really bad that I had to take the antihistamine more frequently, the following weekend I didn't have any orange juice or flare ups. I started making a connection that there may be a possibility the orange juice could be part of the problem (I know, sounds crazy, right?). But when I was a freshman in college this is when I increased my consumption of orange juice and this is also the point at which my allergies started, crazy coincidence? Maybe, but I thought maybe there was a connection to why this was happening.

A couple months later I saw an old friend and she was telling my about her son getting a food test and how he had improved drastically. I thought what the heck, I'll try it, I had the food test in March of 2011 and found out some interesting information. Guess what food was on that test that I was sensitive to? Yep, that's right, oranges. I now know this is one of my triggers for my allergies. That month I started making some changes in the foods I was eating, making sure I was eating the foods my body could handle and trying to avoid others as much as I could. I also took a few supplements that seemed to help improve things and I was just feeling better overall. August came and I started to get nervous because it was the season where I knew I had been miserable in the past, but this time it didn't effect me much. I took two to three antihistamines in those four months; let me remind you I had almost been taking one every day in the past. Since then I have not had to take anything these past few years. It feels great to no longer have to take anything during allergy season and has been so worth it to change what I eat, I actually get to enjoy the outdoors again during that time of the year.

I have been certified as a nutrition consultant since 2009 and because I saw how much this has helped me and was so fascinated by it I decided to become certified. I want to be able to help others see changes in themselves that I experienced because my quality of life has improved and I hope to help others do this as well. What I love about this test is it's based on each person individually. What foods work for my body might not work for yours and vice versa.