Before ingesting a new food, or a food that has been removed from the diet for a period of time, we recommend doing a sensitivity test. This sensitivity test is a very simple way to assess if your gut lining would react in an inflammatory manner when exposed to a food.
This is how to perform the sensitivity test described by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride in her books, Gut and Psychology Syndrome and Gut and Physiology Syndrome (“GAPS”).
- Select the food you would like to test and prepare it in the form you would like to ingest it. (For example, if you would like to ingest raw egg yolk, you need to test with raw egg yolk rather than cooked or scrambled yolk and white.)
- Dip the tip of your finger in the food and place a small drop on the inside of either wrist. (If the insides of both wrists are already rashy, inflamed or otherwise unwell, it is ok to use another area of skin for the sensitivity test, but the inside of the wrist tends to give the most accurate results.)
- Allow the drop of food to dry on your wrist, and leave it for 12 hours. (I usually recommend performing this test before going to bed so you can check it in the morning.)
- After 12 hours, look at the area where the food was applied. If the skin looks red, rashy, or otherwise irritated, your body is not ready to ingest the food. In this case we typically recommend working on healing the gut for at least 6 weeks before performing the sensitivity test again. We usually recommend the GAPS Nutritional Protocol for working to heal the gut in case of a positive (rashy/irritated) sensitivity test.
*Note: if you have an anaphylactic, or life-threatening, reaction to a food, please do not perform this sensitivity test unless recommended by a practitioner, and only after specific, individualized work to heal the gut.
For more information regarding food sensitivities and healing the gut, please visit our Nutritional Support page to discover how we can help you work toward healing your mind and body through nutrition!