This is a guest article by my colleague Dr. Jonny Bowden. It is the perfect example of the kind of fun, informative writing that he is known for. Since this article is longer than the emails we usually send you may want to print it out and read it offline. If you like what you see here then you may want to seriously consider looking at Dr. Jonny's weight loss coaching program »

Are You Trapped by 10lbs of "False Fat?"

Think the reason your jeans can't close is because you're too fat?

Maybe it's something else.

Like... "false" fat.

"False fat" is a term coined by Dr. Elson Haas to refer to the bloating, edema and water retention that is often a result of eating too much of the wrong kinds of food, foods to which your particular body is sensitive.

This "false fat" can easily add an extra ten pounds or more of weight.

Not only that, but eating these foods can contribute to creating "real" fat as well.

Don't count on conventional allergists to help you figure out the foods to which you have this reaction. These reactions are "allergy-like" responses, but they don't come under the heading of classic food "allergies". "Food reactions" is a better description of the phenomena than "food allergies", but the overall result is something that you don't want: both "false fat" and real fat.

Just like hay fever causes swelling in the nasal tissues and eyes, food sensitivities cause "swelling" by sending water to surround food particles that your digestive system is unable to break down properly. This is just a normal part of the inflammatory response - the body sees these "undigested" particles as foreign invaders and tries to get rid of them.

One result of this is abdominal bloating and water retention.

Another is the release of stress hormones.

What is one of the standard "emergency room" techniques for a major food allergy reaction?

A shot of adrenaline!

Why?

Because this stress hormone has important anti-inflammatory properties. That's why your doctor often gives you cortisol when you have an injury.

When you eat reactive foods, your body also puts out adrenaline and other stress hormones, as part of its own natural "emergency room response".

These stress hormones make you feel better at first, but when you "crash" from the adrenaline high, you reach for more of the craved foods and the cycle begins again. To make it worse, the very foods that you crave are the ones that destabilize blood sugar, raise and lower insulin levels and wind up putting on real fat.

It gets worse...

You can easily become "addicted" to the very foods that cause this reaction.

Here's how it works: The response to a "reactive" food also includes the release of the body's own opiates. It's as if your body had a built-in medic and when the medic saw you in distress he immediately injected you with a painkiller, making you feel kind of loopy and good. Those naturally secreted opiates can be addictive!

As Dr. Haas points out, the presence of the reactive food in your system prevents discomfort just as the presence of alcohol prevents discomfort in the alcoholic. Remove the reactive food and bingo: discomfort begins.

Result: cravings, anxiety, and a kind of "withdrawal"

Since food cravings are one of the primary reasons diet strategies fail, preventing cravings is a critically important part of the Diet Boot Camp program. And the foods that you crave are almost always the very foods that contribute to the problem of overweight in the first place!

Serotonin levels are also depressed when you eat reactive foods because serotonin is mostly carried by white blood cells which are the very same cells used by the immune system in producing a "counter-response" to reactive foods. While those white blood cells are busy responding to the reactive food, they're less able to deliver serotonin to your brain.

Low serotonin levels are consistently associated with cravings, depression and the lack of a sense of well-being.

Since sugar and high carb junk foods raise serotonin levels, those are exactly the ones you tend to crave when you're in "low serotonin mode". Since many of the foods we are "reactive" to are all around us, and many of the usual suspects- like wheat- are in virtually everything, detoxification and rotation diets are often a good idea.

If you're stuck on a plateau, or are experiencing any of the symptoms discussed like fatigue, bloat, or "brain fog"try removing what Dr. Haas calls...

The Seven Most Reactive Foods:

• dairy
• wheat
• corn
• sugar
• soy
• eggs
• peanuts

At the very least, try taking out dairy wheat and sugar and see how you feel. That's exactly what we do in the first two weeks of my Diet Boot Camp program.  You'll be amazed at how much better you can feel within a matter of three days!

Learn more about Diet Boot Camp »

Warmly,

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS