An Easy Self-Test to Determine Food Reactions

At some point throughout your life you may have discovered that there are certain foods that you react to in a way that is undesireable. Some reactions are immune modulated, others are biochemical, and still others can be emotional.

Symptoms can range from anaphylactic shock, where a person may stop breathing, to gastrointestinal distress and hives or eczema.

Sometimes, a person definitely knows exactly what foods he or she reacts to. Especially if it is just one food, like tree nuts, and the reaction is severe, like stopping breathing. It’s not easy to miss!

But sometimes a person may have multiple unidentified food reactions going on, with moderate and mild symptoms. Add in the fact that there are reactions which show up within minutes of exposure to the food and others that can take days to present themselves, and it can get very confusing.

In my Nutritional Therapy practice, I often suspect food reactions if a client has been feeling chronically ill for a long time without (or maybe with) some sort of diagnosis from their doctor. Heartburn, fatigue, IBS, eczema, rashes, autoimmune conditions, and even hormonal disturbances can all be linked to food reactions.

There are many medical tests to determine specific food reactions, but today I’m going to talk about an easy self-test that can be done in less than 3 minutes! It is called Coca’s Pulse Test, named after Dr. Coca who invented the procedure.

The premise is that if the test substance (food or supplement) is stressful to your body, you will have a brief reaction that causes your heart to beat faster. You can test for a rise in pulse when a particular food is placed in the mouth.

It goes without saying that this test should NOT be done with a food to which you have a known severe allergy. Also, this test may not be valid if you are taking a drug that controls your heart rate such as a calcium-channel blocker or a beta-blocker.