Can my Symptoms actually be a Food Intolerance?
Food intolerances or "sensitivities" can affect you in so many ways.
And they’re a lot more common than most people think.
I'm not talking about anaphylaxis or immediate allergic reactions that involve an immune response. Those can be serious and life-threatening which we spoke about the difference in a previous blog HERE
If you have any allergies, you should completely steer clear of any traces of foods you are allergic to, and speak with your doctor or pharmacist about the need for possible emergency medication.
I'm talking about intolerance, meaning your body does not tolerate a specific food very well, which can cause immediate, delayed, or even chronic symptoms anywhere in the body. These symptoms can take hours or even days to show themselves. Symptoms can be located just about anywhere in the body - either physical or mental symptoms can be down to simple food intolerances. But it also means that all these random possibly linked symptoms is what makes food intolerances so tricky to identify.
Symptoms of food intolerances
Some common food intolerances have immediate and terribly painful gastrointestinal symptoms, such as lactose or gluten intolerance. These can cause stomach pain, gas, bloating, and/or diarrhoea; symptoms will often start immediately after eating lactose or gluten.
On the other hand, other more insidious symptoms can occur elsewhere in the body - and most people will not realise they may be linked to foods.
Symptoms like:
● Chronic muscle or joint pain
● Sweating, or increased heart rate or blood pressure
● Headaches or migraines
● Exhaustion after a good night's sleep
● Autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's or rheumatoid arthritis
● Rashes, eczema or rosacea
● Inability to concentrate or feeling like your brain is "foggy"
● Shortness of breath
If your body has trouble digesting specific foods, it can affect your hormones, and metabolism, cause inflammation, and result in any of the symptoms listed above. These can affect any (or all) parts of the body, not just your gastrointestinal system.
How to prevent these intolerances
The main thing you can do is to figure out which foods or drinks you may be reacting to and stop ingesting them.
I know, I know...this sounds so simple, and yet it can be SO HARD.
The best way to identify your food/drink triggers is to eliminate them.
Yup, get rid of those offending foods/drinks. All traces of them, for four full weeks and monitor your symptoms.
If things get better, then you need to decide whether it's worth it to stop ingesting them, or if you want to slowly introduce them back one at a time while still looking out to see if/when symptoms return.
Start Here: Two common food intolerances
Here are two of the most common triggers of food intolerances:
● Lactose (in dairy - eliminate, or look for a "lactose-free" label - try nut or coconut milk instead).
● Gluten (in wheat, rye, and other common grains - look for a "gluten-free" label - try gluten-free grains like rice, quinoa & gluten-free oats).
This is by no means a complete list, but it's a good place to start because lactose intolerance is thought to affect up to 75% of people, while "non-coeliac gluten sensitivity" can affect up to 13% of people.
So, if you can eliminate all traces of lactose and gluten for four weeks, it can confirm whether either or both of these, are a source of your symptoms.
Yes, dairy and grains are a part of many government-recommended food guidelines, but you absolutely can get all of the nutrients you need if you focus on replacing them with nutrientdense foods.
A reliable way to monitor how you feel after eating certain foods is to track it. After every meal or snack, write down the foods you ate, and any symptoms so you can more easily spot trends.
Click here to download a free copy of my Weekly Diet Diary/Food Journal to help you track.
And, as mentioned earlier, symptoms may not start immediately following a meal. You may find, for example, that you wake up with a headache the morning after eating bananas.
You might be surprised what links you can find if you track your food and symptoms well!
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you eliminate something, you need to make sure it's not hiding in other foods, or the whole point of eliminating it for a few weeks is lost. Restaurant food, packaged foods, and sauces or dressings are notorious for adding ingredients that you'd never think are there. You know that sugar hides in almost everything, but did you also know that wheat is often added to processed meats and soy sauce, and lactose can even be found in some medications or supplements?
When in doubt you HAVE to ask the server in a restaurant about hidden ingredients, read labels, and consider cooking from scratch.
What if it doesn’t work?
If eliminating these two common food intolerances doesn’t work, have a look at your symptoms and food diary and see if there’s a glaringly obvious food or drink that could be linked to your symptoms. However, at this point I would strongly invite you to get in touch with us for a free 20-minute consultation. I don’t want you giving up a load of foods on the off-chance something might work and risk your nutritional health.
If you are wondering whether you have an allergy or intolerance, please do get in touch. I offer The ‘I’m not sure this food agrees with me’ Panel, a Food & Environmental Allergy & Intolerance Bundle with a 30-minute consultation included.
Recipe (dairy-free milk): Homemade Nut/Seed Milk - Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
½ cup raw nuts/seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds)
2 cups water
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Method
Soak nuts/seeds for about 8 hours (optional, but recommended).
Dump soaking water & rinse nuts/seeds.
Add soaked nuts/seeds and 2 cups water to a high-speed blender and blend on high for about one minute until very smooth.
Strain through a small mesh sieve with 2 layers of cheesecloth. Squeeze if necessary.
Serve & enjoy!
Tip: You can double the recipe and store the milk in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.