I was told that you if you eat the same thing everyday for a long period of time, such as having a hard-boiled egg everyday for lunch, your body will develop a toxicity FROM it. Is this true, even of good foods?
No, eating the same things every day - especially healthy foods - won't affect you adversely, and your body won't become toxic as a result. However, it is important to vary your diet to make sure that you are covering all your nutritional bases and that you're not getting too much of any one thing. I checked with pediatrician Sandy Newmark, M.D. to see if eating the same foods daily could pose a health problem for children. He said that he had seen no research that suggested any such danger, but he agreed that a variety of foods is best, for children as well as for adults.

It may be possible, however, to develop intolerances to foods you eat often - you may find you are less able to digest them than you used to be or that you react badly to some of them. But with certain exceptions (lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance) food intolerances are highly individual and mysterious. In some cases they are triggered by physical or emotional stress or exposure to environmental toxins. Lactose intolerance stems from a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which is needed to help digest lactose, a sugar in milk. Individuals with this problem develop bloating, abdominal pain and, often, diarrhea when they consume milk. Gluten intolerance is caused by an abnormal immune response to gluten, the major protein in wheat and some other grains. These problems have a genetic basis.

Some people react to natural substances like the histamine in foods such as cheese, some wines and certain fish, particularly tuna and mackerel. Eating a food with a high level of histamine can lead to what seems to be an allergic reaction but is really just a response to the effects of the compound, sometimes called "histamine toxicity."

I encourage you to vary your diet - include as much fresh food as possible, minimize your consumption of processed foods and fast food and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. If you follow my anti-inflammatory diet, you'll get the vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and dietary fiber you need for optimal health.

Andrew Weil, M.D.

問：最近，我被告知，如果每天都吃相同的食物，例如每天午飯都吃一個水煮蛋，這樣過一段時間后，你的體內就會因此產生毒素。這是真的嗎？即使吃營養好的食物也會對身體有害嗎？

答：每天吃相同的食物，尤其是健康食品，不會對你的身體造成副作用，當然，你的身體也不會因此而中毒。但是，為了確保攝取所有的基礎營養，也為了確保不過量食用某類食品，豐富飲食的品種也是相當重要的。我曾與兒科醫生仙蒂·紐馬克博士聯系，詢問道，兒童每天吃同樣的食物是否會引起健康問題，他回答說，他還沒有見過任何研究表明這類危險的存在，但是，他也贊同，無論是兒童還是成人，保證飲食的多樣性都是上上之舉。

但是，如果你經常吃相同的食物，你就有可能對這些食物產生不耐癥。或許你會發現食物比過去更難消化，或許你會對這些食物產生不良反應。但是，除了一些特例（如乳糖不耐癥，麩質不耐癥），食物不耐癥因人而異且很難抓住病因。在一些病例中，食物不耐癥的發作往往伴隨著物質或精神的壓力，要不就是暴露在環境毒素之下。乳糖不耐癥的病因是缺乏乳糖酶，這些乳糖酶是消化乳糖的必需物質，牛奶中的糖就屬于此類。患有乳糖不耐癥的人會引起腹漲，腹痛，喝牛奶時經常會有腹瀉的情況發生。麩質是一種蛋白質，它是小麥和其它谷物的主要成分，對麩質不正常的免疫反應則是麩質不耐癥的最終病因。麩質不耐癥有遺傳因素的存在。

一些人對某些天然物質有特殊反應，如食物中的組織胺，包括芝士，特定的酒和魚，特別是金槍魚和鯖魚。食用高組織胺含量的食物可以引發類似過敏的癥狀，事實上，這只是臨床觀察上的反應，通常被稱為“組織胺中毒”。

我建議，你應該豐富你的飲食種類，盡可能的多吃蔬菜，減少加工食品和快餐食品的攝入量，多吃瓜果蔬菜。如果你遵照我提出的“抗發炎飲食食譜”來選擇食物，你將會得到理想健康狀態下所必需的維他命，礦物質，適量的脂肪酸和膳食纖維。

安德魯·威爾醫生