Q: I have a new hypnosis client with severe allergic reactions to a variety of foods. I haven´t worked with this kind of problem before and I´m not sure which technique works better. Can you help?
The first thing to understand is that there’s a difference between a food “allergy” and a food “intolerance.”
Both food allergies and food intolerances involve the gut, but in different ways. A person with a food allergy has no tolerance and must avoid the triggering substance completely. In some cases, ingestion of the offending substance can be life-threatening. e.g. peanuts. A person with a food intolerance, on the other hand, has some tolerance. It’s just an issue with how much.
An allergy is an immune response
When the body identifies something as a threat, it sends out antibodies to protect. So when a food substance has been mis-identified as threatening, ingesting it results in allergic symptoms as the battle between the “allergen” and the immune system breaks out.
Typical symptoms of a food allergy include:
- hives
- rashes
- diarrhea
- nausea
- vomiting
- swelling
- coughing
- sneezing.
While food allergies are considered hereditary, oftentimes they are the result of “leaky gut” syndrome. This is where the lining of the gut develops small perforations which allow protein particles to leak into the blood stream. So nutritional treatment (e.g. probiotics, digestive enzymes) can be especially helpful in helping to heal the gut.
Food intolerances are related to an inability of the body to digest certain foods.
With a food intolerance there is an inability to break down certain proteins (e.g. lactose intolerance) which results in distressing symptoms which can include:
- nausea
- diarrhea
- vomiting, gas
- heartburn
- headaches
- irritability. (Migraines are sometimes triggered by certain foods.)
Medical conditions
New research is emerging daily to disprove what we once believed to be the causes of physical dis-ease and the body’s ability to heal.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, taught that the body is designed to heal itself. His credo was to “do no harm.”
According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of Biology of Belief, only about 5% of all “genetic” conditions are actually genetic.
Research shows that anything that reduces and removes stress from the body will help the body’s own natural healing processes. So hypnosis has much to offer in terms of easing the suffering caused by these conditions — without the use of harmful and intrusive chemical and surgical interventions.
But this is important . . . If a client comes to you with a diagnosis get a doctor’s referral. Hypnotherapists do not work diagnose or treat. We are only concerned with finding out how the problem got started so we can help back the client out of it. If a client is under a physician’s care for the condition, it would be prudent to obtain a doctor’s referral so you can work with their primary care-giver.
It’s all in how you think
The vast majority of allergies are due to environmental programming. So here’s how to think about it. The entire sensory system of the body is fully developed within the first seven weeks inside Mom.
From the moment of conception, the Child is literally downloading information directly through Mom. And there’s no separation between mother and Child. What Mom senses and feels the Child experiences.
Just as Mom’s feelings are the Child’s feelings, Mom’s nutritional intake is the child’s nutritional intake. So, in my mind, it’s not a far reach to see how food intolerances and allergies could be sensitized in early childhood – even inside the womb.
We know, through regression hypnosis, that the Child has consciousness. This is a rather unnerving bit of information for a society that considers children unaware. We tend to think children “get over it” and “outgrow” the things of childhood. Sadly, this is not always the case.
As regression hypnotherapists, we think differently. We know that the younger the child is, the more impressionable it is. Prior to the formation of critical thinking the child is wide open to external influences. So, the things that happen, things said, things done provide a great deal of the “programming” that makes up the Child’s developing belief system.
We also know that the Subconscious Mind is very powerful in its ability to form associations and responses. Unfortunately, they’re not always logical or rational. And with sufficient reinforcement, patterned responses quickly become automatic.
We may assume there’s a deficiency when, in fact, what you’re dealing with is a learned physiological responses. Something to think about, isn’t it?
What’s the truth?
When the child is still inside Mom, if Mom’s experiencing an emotional upset the Child is feeling the chemicals and hormones that go along with that upset. If Mom is feeling upset while consuming a food substance could that not easily be associated in the child’s consciousness and interpreted negatively? Even a threat?
ISE Theory states that when an idea is accepted, and is then reinforced by subsequent situations, over time it becomes a subconscious “truth.” The body then responds automatically in accordance with this truth. It’s basic stimulus-response.
If you think of these responses as food “phobias” they start to make a whole lot more sense. There is nothing present that is actually life-threatening. Peanuts are not life threatening. Milk is not life-threatening. It’s just food that millions of people consume daily without negative effect. And yet, the bodies of certain individuals have learned to reject these substances.
In some cases, a full-out immune response occurs to protect them from the offending substance as if it were life-threatening. This is the individual’s Subconscious “truth.” But it’s not an absolute truth which means that it can be probably be changed.
There are many gifted hypnosis practitioners who have already proven that allergies and food intolerances can be reversed. How? Simply by addressing the underlying irrational associations. Once resolved, the person is free, once again, to enjoy things that in the past kept them in a state of fear.
Until the truth is brought to light, the “food phobia” will continue to keep the person in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. As a result. they will continue to live in a world where they are unconsciously vulnerable to hidden dangers.
Now it’s your turn. Are food allergies/intolerances “real”? Or are they the Mind generating a response to an unconscious trigger?
Food for thought, isn’t it?
