Name: Clare Jenkins
Age: Aged 34
Occupation: Mother and professional child carer
Sensitivities: Potato, wheat, yeast and milk
Introduction: It is all too easy to end up with a diet that is predominantly carbohydrates rich. Particularly for young mothers, who are looking after young children and find that they get too little time to think about how they can best balance their own diet. Rather than alleviating tiredness, which so many people can suffer from, over-consumption of particularly refined carbohydrates can exacerbate tiredness and in some cases cause uncomfortable feelings of bloating. In addition, it can result in an imbalance of intestinal bacteria and an overgrowth of Candida yeast . Although Candida yeast is part of our body’s natural flora, the toxins created by the yeast can enter the blood stream through the colon wall causing the walls to become porous. These toxins can in turn cause symptoms in various systems of the body including: digestive, endocrine, immune, urinary, nervous, and skin.
Some of the early symptoms of overgrowth of Candida yeast are abdominal bloating, chronic fatigue, thrush, constipation and/or diarrhoea, menstrual cycle disturbance, and chronic respiratory congestion.
Health Background: Claire Jenkins first came across the K-Test when she visited her local health centre with her husband. Although she hadn’t previously thought about the possibility of food intolerances, she was quite curious to discover whether there were any foods that might not suite her. She was relieved to see the test did not require a blood sample and took two tests with an 8 week interval.
Claire had been leading a very busy day to day life, looking after 3 of her own young children and caring for 2 additional toddlers during the day. She often felt tired, particularly mid afternoon and also regularly suffered from feeling bloated. However, she contributed the tiredness to being on her feet all day with small children. Like many young mothers, Clare hadn’t given that much thought to what she was eating on a daily basis and as a result she had a carbohydrate rich diet, including mostly foods such as potato, cereal and bread. Understandably, this was the food that was convenient to prepare and easily available when she was rushing around after the children.
The K-Test: When Claire took the K-Test in February 2008, the results indicated that she was sensitive to wheat, potato and milk. It also indicated that she had sensitivity to yeast, which explained why she had experienced uncomfortable symptoms such as thrush and cystitis on a regular basis. Coffee was also picked up as a food to monitor, which came as no surprise to her, as she had already discovered that one cup too many, made her feel quite shaky. The recommendation from the K-Test was to reduce the foods she was sensitive to (by substituting them with suitable replacement foods) for a period of 6-8 weeks and to re-test herself, so that she would be able to establish what levels of intake these foods would be more suitable.
The Results: Claire did adhere to the recommendations carefully. She reduced her intake of potato and wheat and replaced coffee with red bush tea. She also increased her intake of vegetables and fruit.
Claire commented, “I have been surprised at how my energy levels have been affected by the changes to my diet”. “Whereas I used to feel very tired at around 3-4 o’clock in the afternoon, I find I now feel fine until later in the evening”. She further added,” Although I don’t see this as way to loose weight, my higher energy levels have allowed me to be more energetic, so I find I am walking to school rather than driving, go for more dog walks and I run and play with the children rather than sit and watch them”.
“The K-Test has also made me more conscious of what I should buy and cook for my family”. “We eat less potato and bread and fewer crisps, but more rice and a lot more fruit and vegetables.” “At first this was not that easy for one of my children, but they have all got used to it now and eat a healthier diet as a result”.
