Foundation of health – Digestive Function

Dr. Zeff, on the importance of dietary intolerance and health. January, 2024

Categories for the Food Intolerance Testing

By POTATO I mean white potato, sweet potato and yams.

This includes any food containing potato, potato flour, potato starch, etc. Many soups, stews and other prepared foods contain potato in some form. Dextrose is usually potato, as is vitamin A palmitate, and ascorbyl palmitate. Read labels and do not eat foods containing these. Iodized salt contains dextrose. All lo-fat and skim milk products contain vitamin A palmitate. All baking powder, which I have tested, seems to contain potato, though it is not listed on the label. If baked goods bother you, try those without baking powder. Recently, a potato derivative has been added to most commercial flour. Therefore, most bread and pastry products now contain potato. Organic flour and noodles do not. Most yeast contains potato, both baking yeast and beer yeast. Red Star yeast does not contain potato. Eat breads made with Red Star Yeast. If you have a question about this, call the bakery and ask. There are beers, which do not contain potato, such as Deschutes Brewery, Tuborg, Olympia, Budweiser, and Corona.

By FRUIT I mean all apples, pears, berries, lemon, oranges and other fruits, raw, cooked or dried.

Also, all products made from fruit, such as wine, vinegar (wine or apple cider), fruit liquors, citric acid, acetic acid, (from apple), cranberries, coconut, avocado, dates, olives, papaya, palm, and all oils, barks, peels, etc. from these fruits. This includes any food cooked or flavored with fruit or fruit extracts. Many vitamins contain fruits, such as bioflavenoids, or ascorbyl palmitate. Currently, almost all honey contains fruit. Most white flour products have citric acid (a fruit product) added as a preservative, but not labeled as such. Be careful with white flour products except pasta!

The following are not classified as fruit for our purposes here, and you may eat them as you desire: all melons, such as honeydew, cantaloupe, muskmelon, watermelon, etc; tomatoes and rhubarb. Almost all canned tomato products contain citric acid and should be treated as fruit: read labels. You can find tomato products without citric acid, or make your own.

By SUGAR I mean white, brown, turbinado and raw sugar, molasses.

Sucrose, sucralose, “Sucanat”, dried cane juice, evaporated cane juice, or any sugar cane or sugar beet product. You may also see sugar added to products under the name of organic cane juice. You can substitute honey, pure maple, barley malt or fructose. Fructose is considered to be found in two forms. If it is specified as being derived from corn it is to be considered a grain product, if it is specified as fruit derived it is to be considered a fruit. Do not use artificial sweeteners, such as saccharine or nutri-sweet.

By EGG I mean all poultry eggs and all products made from them or in which they are contained.

Commercial lecithin is usually made from egg. Do not eat foods containing lecithin unless it soya lecithin. Most pastries contain egg, as do mayonnaise, many ice creams and some cottage cheese, noodles, candy, gum and bread. Read labels.

By MILK I mean milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, goat’s milk, buttermilk, whey or anything else made from milk, and any food in which any of these are used.

Sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, lactic acid and lactose, and any lactylate, caseinate or similar substances are milk derivatives. Many soy cheeses currently contain some milk products. Some meat products are now treated with “lactoferrin”, a milk derivative to retard E. coli growth. Many milk sensitive people will react to the lactoferrin. Meats from large meat-packing facilities will always have this, especially hamburger. Organic meats may not: ask the butcher.

By MEAT I mean all beef, pork, lamb, mutton, chicken, turkey, etc., and any fats or oils or gelatins made from them.

This includes jells, marshmallows, some ice creams, soups with meat stock or bullion, gravy and some solid shortenings and margarines. Fish is not classified as meat for our purposes here. Use “rennetless” cheese, or cheese made with “vegetable enzymes”; rennet is a product of beef product and will react in your digestive system as meat.

By MIND SALT I mean salt mined from the earth as opposed to salt evaporated from the sea.

I can no explain this, but I have seen patients react to the one and not be bothered by the other. I suspect that there may be a difference in the crystal structure, or perhaps the non-sodium chloride constituents of the salt. I recommend a pure, unprocessed sea salt, like de Sousa’s or Lima. A pure, true sea salt is grayish or pinkish in color, contains a multitude of valuable minerals and trace elements. Read labels and use only products which specify “sea salt.”

GRAIN means any cereal grain or grain product.

This includes wheat, rye, rice, barley, oats, corn, flax, sesame, millet or wild rice. Also, anything made from them, such as liquor, malt vinegar, malto-dextrin, beer, noodles, bread, wheat germ or bran, etc.

CORN means anything that is made by corn or is a corn product.

Please be aware of corn syrup, or corn syrup solids as well.

WHEAT means any cereal wheat or wheat product.

This includes anything made from them, such as liquor, beer, noodles, bread, or wheat germ, etc.

GLUTEN is a sticky, complex protein found in certain grains: Wheat, Oats, Barley, Rye, Spelt, Triticale, or Kamut.

Avoid these grains and anything made from them, such as liquors, malt vinegar, malto-dextrin, beer, noodles, bread, wheat germ, or bran, etc. Read labels. They may be used in soups and gravy as thickeners. There are grains and other flours that do not contain gluten that can be used in place of these, such as: Corn, Millet, Rice, Taro, Teff, Arrowroot, Tapioca, Wild Rice, Buckwheat, Quinoa, Barley Malt, Wheat Grass, Barley Grass, and Amaranth.

By SOY I mean soybeans, tofu tempeh, soy sauce, and hydrolysed soy protein.

Avoid these. Read labels: if it says “soy” anything, don’t eat it.

By FISH I mean any fish or shell fish, or any foods or supplements that contain fish products or fish oils, including sushi, caviar, fish oil supplements, anchovies, and some tomato products.

Recently , some commercial tomatoes have been genetically altered with a added fish gene to increase their frost resistance. Fish intolerant people will react to these tomatoes as if they are eating fish. Eat only organic, natural tomatoes, and avoid commercial tomatoes or tomato products, sauces, ketchup, etc.

HONEY includes all honey, as well as bee’s wax, propolis, and bee pollen.