Food Sensitivity

Could your favourite foods be making you feel sick? An elimination diet can help

Elimination diets can help you determine which foods your body can’t tolerate well. If you want to try it, we asked the experts for their tips

Leave it out: are food intolerances fact or fad?

Serious food allergies are rare, while intolerance of many common foods – from dairy products to gluten in bread – is increasing. Are we in the midst of a health craze or something more complicated?

Are Most People Mistaken About Food Allergies?

If you've ever been to a summer barbecue or a soccer game with a suburban parent, you know: food allergies are the cause of real, pervasive concern.

Think you might be sensitive to gluten? Here’s the first thing you shouldn’t do.

But if you suspect you have a form of gluten intolerance, be it a wheat allergy, a gluten “sensitivity,” or a severe condition like Celiac disease, it’s a bad idea to make dietary changes without proper medical guidance.

Can You Get Over a Food Intolerance?

Foods most often associated with intolerances were chocolate, food additives, citrus fruits, fish, shellfish, milk, cheese, eggs and nuts.

Do you have a food intolerance?

Food intolerances are different to food allergies. An allergy elicits an acute, almost immediate reaction; the worst of which is anaphylaxis. Food intolerance is less severe and notoriously difficult to test. Intolerance is usually because the body is lacking an enzyme that is needed to properly digest and eliminate a food or substance. Symptoms may be delayed and might include bloating, headaches or skin rashes. Skin prick testing and laboratory blood tests are available but the most effective, accepted and accurate way of identifying problem foods is via an elimination diet.

Don’t tolerate food intolerance

Here's what to do when certain foods disagree with you.

Half of the people who think they have food allergies actually don’t

But that doesn’t mean you’re imagining things.

Food allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity: What’s the difference, and why does it matter?

Chances are that you or someone you know has experienced unpleasant symptoms after a meal or snack. Maybe you experienced some degree of sneezing, wheezing, rashes, brain fog, joint pain, nausea, bloating, diarrhea, or another symptom. This may have led you to believe you have a food allergy — and maybe you do. But it’s also possible that you have a food intolerance, celiac disease, or a food sensitivity. This is important, because some of the reactions can range from just annoying to life-threatening.

NHS

A food intolerance is difficulty digesting certain foods and having an unpleasant physical reaction to them. It causes symptoms, such as bloating and tummy pain, which usually happen a few hours after eating the food.