Investigating food allergies

In my battle against allergies I am trying a new tactic. For months I have been trying to figure out if I have a banana allergy. I have been in denial actually. I don't want my diet to lose another food. There's already so much I can't eat! My latest go-round with the tree fruit resulted in a slight, but increased reaction. I noticed a burning sensation on a spot on my upper lip. I also felt a loss of sensitivity there. My banana reaction reminded me of how my apple allergy used to manifest. Many have said that allergies can get worse with each exposure. So this is concerning.

My new smartphone app will test for changes in my heart rate as a way to indicate if I may have a food sensitivity. "Bulletproof Food Sense" takes a user's heart rate in the morning for a base rate and then at increments after meals. Backers of the tool say the heart rate can increase long after you've eaten, so it is important to check back more than just right after you've finished. Your after meal heart rate can be compared to your base rate to figure if your rate increased after eating a certain food or foods. The app can also take a before bed rate so you can hold it against your morning rate to see if there is an environmental allergy that may be giving you trouble, for instance a certain fiber in your pillows.

The app takes the heart rate several ways. It can be hooked up to a heart rate monitor like those used by fitness buffs. You can take your pulse manually, a method which requires much concentration and no interruptions (I tend to lose count easily when doing this). The method I use is built right in to my iphone. There is a sensor in the flash of my camera. I simply hold my index finger over the flash for a minute as it measures my beats.

I have recently started using this app, and thus I haven't come to any conclusions yet on whether I find it useful and worth my time. Only frequent use will tell. Actually, I'll probably test my banana theory with the pulse counter to see if there is any change. There are some other areas of the app that I will experiment with as well, like the relax tab.