CrossFit South Bend

Today we’re sharing Ella’s story. Ella’s mom, Erin, was concerned that Ella was having frequent gastrointestinal issues with no resolution. Ella felt uncomfortable a lot and had to miss school and athletics due to digestive issues.

Erin, took her to the doctor and the doctor said that nothing seemed to be acutely wrong. The only recommendation was to take Tums when her stomach hurt. It temporarily helped but it wasn’t fixing the underlying problem. This past year Ella had missed 20 days of school and 15 days of those were related non-sickness related gut issues.

Erin decided to order a food sensitivity test through our Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® program for Ella (this is not the same as a food allergy test), and it turned out that Ella had a major dairy sensitivity/intolerance. Once she cut out dairy she felt a lot better. To be clear this is not the same as a dairy allergy. It’s possible to have a food sensitivity to a food without having an allergy and this was the case for Ella.

Ella feels like it’s manageable to avoid dairy on a daily basis. Erin definitely had to rework her planned meals for Ella, in terms of cutting out dairy, but once she got the hang of it it was definitely worth the trade off. Furthermore, Erin said that the cost of the test was definitely worth the benefit of Ella not dealing with digestive pain all the time.

Ella we’e so happy that you feel better, and we’re so proud of all your progress! Keep up the great work!

Robby:  Today I am here with Ella and Erin. Today we’re going to talk about Ella’s story. First of all, thank you guys so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Erin:  You’re welcome.

Robby: What I figured we could start with is, I wanted to have you guys just talk about how was Ella feeling before you guys came in? So, Ella how were you feeling before we started taking out the dairy and all stuff? How was your stomach feeling?

Ella:   I had stomach pains after eating and it was really hard to do things. But then, once the dairy got cut out, then it was easier to things and helped me a lot.

Robby: That’s great. Erin, you were telling me that every time you guys went to the doc you just kept getting told to take more tums, right? Is that basically …

Robby: Yeah. This has been going on for years really. When she was younger, I took her to the doctor and she was constantly complaining about stomach aches and there wasn’t really indication from a clinical perspective to do any kind of invasive testing. Which, I agree with but at the same time I knew something was wrong. So we explored. I thought maybe there was anxiety or there were problems at school and that really didn’t pan out. I think everything was fine, there was just something going on that we didn’t know so, this kind of went on for years. She’s been taking tums and it helps a little bit at the time but it wasn’t fixing the underlying problem.

Robby: I think you were telling me about a number of days missed at school. So, how frequently was that happening?

Erin: Yeah, that really started just recently. She had missed some school before in the earlier years but this past year it’s really had started to get worse. So, when we started to see … I think at that point she had missed like 20 days of school and probably 15 of those were related to stomach issues that weren’t … It wasn’t a virus or anything. It was these same ongoing issues that she’d had.

Robby: So, Erin decided to order a food sensitivity test for Ella and a gut health test and we found that Ella had a pretty serious sensitivity to diary. Then, how was it when you guys took the dairy out? How’d you feel?

Ella: I felt a lot better.

Robby: Cool. I bet.

Ella: And I stopped missing a lot of school. I just overall felt a lot better.

Robby: That’s great.

Erin: Yeah, ever since we’ve done that, she has not missed a day of school for those stomach issues. So that’s great.

Robby: How have you felt in terms of … How manageable is it to do at school and things like that? Do you feel like it’s something that’s fairly manageable for you to do on a day to day basis?

Ella: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robby: Yeah?

Ella:  Yeah.

Robby:    Erin, in terms of having lunches and …

Erin: It was hard at first. I won’t lie. I went and I looked and I said, “Okay.” Everything I had … I had always given her diary. I mean, you always have yogurt, milk or chocolate milk, cheese on sandwiches so, almost everything that I gave her was off limits now. So, I really had to think. We do, honestly, have … There’s a limited amount of things that she can have but there’s still … It’s still doable. It’s very doable. It’s not like I have to … We’ve tried some of the substitute dairy, that kind of stuff. It’s okay but it’s almost just easier to cut it out completely and substitute with other things. She’s eating meats and fruits and vegetables and it’s probably better for her anyway.

Robby: Yeah.

Erin: So, it’s doable. It is really doable. It’s just a learning curve.

Robby: Yeah, and that’s really fantastic. I mean, when we were initially talking, we were unsure was it gluten, was that the main culprit but it seems like once we did the test we saw the dairy was really the main culprit and I think that was very helpful.

Erin: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robby: Well Ella, we’re super happy for you all your progress and we’re glad you’re  feeling better. We’re glad you’re able to get back to school and not have to miss as much. Anything you guys want to say in addition about Ella’s progress or anything else like that?

Erin:: No, I mean, I would just say if you’re child is having any kind of health issues, think about food sensitivities. It’s not something that ever crossed my mind and then, come to find out, she does have something in my history. Cousins, and other relatives that have the same issues. I did not know that until we started going through this and talking about it. It’s something to explore if that’s … If you’re child is having some issues, it’s something worth looking into. In the whole scheme of things, the price of the test is more than worth the outcome of it.

Robby: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. Food sensitivities are different from food allergies. Your child might not have a food allergy to something but they could have a food sensitivity so it is something worth getting checked out. Well, thank you guys so much for coming in. We’re so glad that you guys have made so much progress and we’ll see you guys next time.

Any information received from this video is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice and treatment from your personal physician. It is recommended that you consult your own doctor or other qualified health professional regarding the treatment of any medical condition and that you speak with your doctor before taking action on any nutritional or health recommendations we provide. The information provided is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. It is offered for educational purposes only, and statements made have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration.