"IT'S NOT FOREVER!"
What the body asks for, it probably needs - an old saying goes. But then it's a mystery why I'm tired after my favorite meal, I'm deeply depressed, my belly is swollen, I have a splitting headache, or a rash appears on my skin.
And mystery number 2: This cannot be caused by yogurt, apples or chocolate, can it? There was still a third mystery here: My friend, on the contrary, on principle did not eat what her stomach demanded. She was conscious. She reduced fats, sugars and red meat, trying to cut down on food portions. Still, she could not get rid of her extra weight and high blood cholesterol levels. Smarter than I was she only in the circumstance that she actively looked for the solution of the mystery. So she learned about food intolerances. And thanks to them, I understand now, how it is possible that she lost weight down to a size 36 in a few months without aging or having a worn-down face, and I also realized that what is generally healthy does not need to be healthy for me. It is not necessary be a bride before the wedding to discover new connections at the clinic that miraculously solves the mysteries.
"It can be caused by intolerance," MUDr. Monika Golková, senior consultant of the first and for the present only certified anti-aging clinic in the Czech Republic, told me. I looked at her and I was as wise as I had been before about the diagnosis. So that’s it.
"Do you mean an allergy?" I fumbled, being a non-professional.
a person in such a way that he or she eats for example nuts or strawberries and gets an asthmatic attack. The reaction is immediate. But some foods apparently act secretly and slowly. Then we fight eczema, psoriasis, and migraines for many years without thinking that the culprit may be the whole-wheat bread or a glass of apple juice we have at breakfast every morning. "Intolerance, thus the individual intolerance to some foods, is the cause of unclear and long-term health problems. Food can be a remedy and a poison too. The intestines do not serve for digestion only. They are also an immune organ, a space for trapping harmful substances. Here the absorption of nutrients takes place, and thus also the detoxification of the organism."
I came to know that if something does not fit with our body, the body will send antibodies to fight against the intruder who cannot be approached through blood. This immune reaction can be felt in bloating, water retention, constipation, diarrhea, or joint pain for which apparently no objective reason exists. We did not go anywhere, did not overload ourselves. "We can also recognize food intolerance from an inexplicable depression. In the intestines there are receptors for serotonin, the hormone of happiness. This hormone gets blocked," Dr. Golková, who is an authority in this field, informs me.
I wonder: If food intolerance occurs over time, then we do not know what the cause is. We mix and constantly change our meals during the day, week, and in a single course. At the same time preservatives, dyes, artificial sweeteners and flavors interact. So how to find the causative agent? To eat for two weeks only rice, then beef, then eggs and so on until we find out which food destroys us? Yes, this is one way. Slow and boring. Or you can gain clarity within five days. At the A2C Clinic.
"IT'S NOT FOREVER!"
"We can detect the extent of food intolerance in its entirety. To test over 200 types of food and 100 chemicals, preservatives, additives, as well as some antibiotics, analgesics and pharmacoactive substances such as histamine and caffeine acid all at once," MUDr. Golková describes the special ALCAT test, which originated in the U.S. You do not change into an experimental guinea pig who eats risky ingredients during the test and finds out what harms it.
"The test does not detect the amount of substance in the body but the response to it." In other words: The test will ask the body how it would react to certain substances. And what is interesting is: You will not be present at all at this interrogation! Your task is solely to allow a drawing of a sample of blood. Nothing more. The blood sample is then sent to an accredited foreign laboratory by airplane. An airplane is not a trick to increase costs but a necessity. The blood sample loses its informative value after 48 hours. The results are back within 5 days in the form of a four-color list of foods. Something like a traffic light:
The first thing that intrigued me are the so-called cross-reactions. A person who is allergic to birch is hypersensitive to apples, pears, apricots and peaches. Wormwood is tied to celery and carrots. A latex allergy turns into banana hypersensitivity. I am smiling.
Then my smile passes. I look at my four-color sheet and turn the page to the recommended tips about how to keep my favorite dishes in the diet and with what to replace intolerant foods. I raise my sad eyes to the senior consultant. Some forbidden items I would prefer not to see. I'm highly intolerant of cow's milk and grains. "If you maintain it for a while, the rewards will come," MUDr. Golková says . "The results are visible in two days already. The metabolism accelerates and digestion improves. The weight naturally drops in somebody by sixteen to twenty pounds, without any special effort. The figure acquires a good shape because the body receives exactly the nutrients it needs for its growth and health, and it does not create any futile fat. One is more energetic, has better performance and a more active brain."
In this way, an allergy to feline fur and a concurrent milk intolerance has been found in my friend. She went off milk for several months and her immune response to the cat has also diminished. "He or she who regenerates can even consume those forbidden foods in a limited quantity," she says as she gives me hope. So I'm not panicking. Chocolate, maybe I'll see you again!
I leave the clinic and pass by the Old Town Astronomical Clock and in my head are the words of the chief consultant: "Let's try to listen to our body sometimes. The causes of problems can be hidden at first glance and appear to be an innocent and health-promoting ingredient - as in certain kinds of vegetables or soy. There is no generally-healthy food; each of us needs something different."
At Baylor University in Texas, the effects of weight loss were examined. Students first chose their own diet, and then they were assigned a meal plan based on the ALCAT test. In 98% of the cases - the University reports - the observance of the ALCAT test recommendations led either to weight loss (in obese probands) or to an improvement in body constitution. The weight dropped more at the expense of fat than of muscle tissue, as confirmed by DEXA diagnostics.
Reading the "traffic light" is a bright moment. The understanding of food-borne intolerances leads to a reduction not only of obesity but also of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We carry over some of the intolerances in our genes, while others we can develop during our lives. Not only before the wedding feast, which is not a model of a good regimen, is it useful to know what one can eat and what not. It is good to feel good in front of the altar. According to MUDr. Golková says that the feeling will already improve within a few dozen hours. Better digestion comes within a week. Skin and allergy problems require longer periods of time. Also weight reduction is more gradual but more permanent. Since we all will live with our bodies for the entire span of our lives, it is good to meet its wishes.
To the term "anti-aging", I admit I have always had an immunity. I am not the Emperor Rudolph II who believed in alchemists with the elixir of eternal youth. But at A2C, near the Prague Astronomical Clock, they do not have alchemical retorts - but they do have results.
Anti-Aging medicine, formulated in higher terms, uses diagnostic and therapeutic methods to slow down the aging process. Brain neurotransmitters, levels of free radicals and antioxidants, and food intolerance are examined; further, the hormonal screening of blood, urine and saliva, and genetic examination are executed. Anti-aging medicine can apply forms of therapy leading to early diagnosis, prevention, treatment and correction of age-related dysfunctions, disorders and diseases. In this way, it improves the quality of life and prolongs age. It is scientific - it uses biomedical and technological progress in identifying, preventing, treating and correcting age-related illnesses. It is based on evidence and is synergistic, so it applies therapies that support each other.
Physicians do not have doubts about a different chronological (given on the birth certificate) and biological age (changes at the level of DNA, cells, tissues, organs, and body hormone levels). Of course, this depends on genetic disposition, behavior, lifestyle, and approach. Each organ can moreover have a different biological age. And the differences can be up to twenty or more years!
The goal of scientific medicine against aging is not only to prolong individual life but, above all, to ensure that one is still productive and vital. By the end of 2065, probable life expectancy is to be 100 years. Today one person out of 10 is over 60 years of age; in 2050, it will be one person out of 5 and in 2150, one person out of 3. Will it be thanks to this medicine that the period of time will be reduced when one becomes completely dependent on others?