There may be a physical reason that your body is having difficulties with certain foods or ingredients. You may have what is called a food sensitivity, also known as food intolerance.
Definition
What is food intolerance? It’s when two possible conditions exist. Either your body has difficulty digesting certain foods that you eat due to a lack in enzymes or it is just sensitive to them, causing you physical grief every time you consume them. Some conditions that can cause intolerance to specific foods are the gastrointestinal diseases Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Celiac disease.
According to WebMD, the most common substance for people to be intolerant of is lactose, which is a sugar found in most dairy products. Some others include food additives such as sulfites and benzoates or fructose, which are the sugars you find in products such as honey and fruit juice.
According to Dr. Trisha Macnair from the Milford Hospital in the United Kingdom, genetics may play a role as to whether or not your body can digest certain substances or not. For example, she notes that people who are of Mediterranean decent, Asians, Native Americans and Africans suffer more from lactose intolerance than people in other parts of the world.
Signs and Symptoms
People often confuse having food intolerance with having a food allergy because they both have similar symptoms. However, when you’re not allergic to the food and just sensitive to it, the symptoms come on gradually; not like allergic reactions which bring upon sudden indications and activate your immune system.
Also, with food sensitivities or intolerances, you may only feel the ill effects after eating a large amount of the food or when you eat it more often than usual. Your body may be able to handle it in small doses, but when it is overloaded, it responds accordingly.
While allergic reactions can have deadly consequences, food intolerances cannot. It’s just a discomfort and aggravating, but not life-threatening, which is a good thing.
So, how do you know if you may have food intolerance? Here are some common signs:
- Gas, bloating, discomfort and sometimes pain in your abdominal region
- Diarrhea or vomiting
- Heartburn
- Headache
- Anxiety or crankiness
Diagnosis and Testing
The problem with diagnosing food intolerance is that, most of the time, people attribute symptoms like those listed above to other causes so they don’t even think of the effect that their diet may be having on their health. They just shake it off as something different.
Another reason that your sensitivity may go unnoticed is that you may not realize that the symptoms occur only after eating certain foods. Let’s face it, most of us are so busy that we don’t pay much attention to physical discomfort until it reaches a level where we think it needs attention.
Therefore, one of the best things you can do if you question whether you have sensitivity to what you’re eating is to keep a food journal. Note what you eat, what time, how much you consume and how you feel after you’re done eating and you may begin to notice a pattern emerge. You’re probably going to have to do this for a week or two so that you have enough time to see common bodily responses to the foods you eat over time.
If you keep track of what you eat and when you review it still aren’t sure what is causing you issues, you can always take your food log to a nutritionist or gastroenterologist and see if they can find any possible links between what the foods you’re choosing to consume and how you’re feeling. They may be able to spot things that you just aren’t trained to see. Also, they may decide to do some further testing just to be sure that what you have is an intolerance and not an allergy.
Treatment
Whether you know for sure you have an intolerance or just believe you do, certainly you want some relief as the symptoms are no fun to contend with. So, how do you effectively deal with foods that don’t seem to want to deal with you?
Just follow these two simple guidelines and you should feel some relief in no time:
- Limit or eliminate your exposure to the offending food. You may not be able to eat certain foods at all without suffering; or, you may be able to have them in small quantities. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to test it out. Start by eliminating the food from your diet and add it in slowly to see if you react to it. If you do, then you’re better off leaving it alone. Just make sure you eat some other foods that will provide you the same vitamins and minerals you’ll be missing by cutting that particular one out of your diet.
- Read ingredient labels. You may be taking in some of the foods you’re intolerant of without even realizing it. So, make sure you read the labels on the foods you buy so you’ll be able to ward off any problems before they start.
Living with an unknown intolerance can be frustrating, to say the least. Hopefully with this information you can start to discover what is causing you issues and make the uncomfortable symptoms of food sensitivity a thing of the past. Your body will definitely appreciate it.
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