Food intolerance can cause a slew of unpleasant signs and symptoms. The most obvious ones occur in the digestive system. These are more easily identified (and more easily associated with the food you are eating) than some of the other signs, which at first blush don’t appear to be related to diet.
Although there are multiple causes for these digestive symptoms, if you have any of these regularly, or a combination of several, it’s worth checking to see if food intolerance is the cause…
Upset Stomach…
Perhaps the most obvious symptom of food intolerance is some kind of discomfort in your stomach, located in the area just below the centre of your rib-cage. If you have an intolerance to a particular food, you may experience stomach pain, nausea, or heartburn. This may begin immediately after eating, but can start up to a few hours later.
Bloating…
One symptom that is often dismissed as an unavoidable element of life is bloating. Women, in particular, tend to associate bloating with PMS and other reproduction-related causes like ovulating, or the good old catch all cause of ‘hormones’.
But bloating can easily be caused by a food intolerance. Pay close attention to when you feel bloated, what you ate in the hours and even days beforehand, and whether or not there’s another likely culprit (i.e. your period).
Cramps…
Cramping in your abdomen is also a common sign of food intolerance. This can be extremely unpleasant, but it’s also easily mislabelled as IBS (see below) or mistaken for period cramps. Be mindful of when you experience cramping and how frequently.
Constipation…
An extremely uncomfortable sign is constipation. Despite the general assumption that constipation is caused by a lack of fibre, food intolerance may be responsible for backing you up. In truth, few people are genuinely deficient in fibre, although additional fibre often relieves constipation even when it has another cause. Be careful though, increasing fibre too fast will increase gas!
Gas…
Another common (and embarrassing!) sign of food intolerance is gas. Both fructose (most often found in carbonated drinks and fruit) and lactose (a form of sugar in dairy products) are common intolerances, that can easily cause gas. People often ignore these possible culprits due to the overriding belief that vegetables like lentils, beans, and onions are the only gassy food triggers.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)…
Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, is the label that gets slapped on your digestive issues when possible functional causes (e.g. coeliac disease, crohn’s disease, colitis etc.) have been ruled out. Causes of IBS will vary from one person to the next, but one common trigger for IBS? You guessed it – food intolerance!
Other Symptoms Of Food Intolerance…
Food intolerance can also lead to other signs, in particular problems with your autoimmune system. For more information check out my posts on the cerebral signs of food intolerance, as well as autoimmune diseases caused by food intolerance.
What To Do About Food Intolerance…
The first step in identifying food intolerances is to keep a detailed food diary. Make a note of everything you eat each day, and add any digestive symptoms you experience throughout the day. If you have a food intolerance you will soon begin to see a pattern of certain symptoms after eating a particular food, or food group (like gluten or dairy).
If your food diary isn’t revealing any likely food intolerances then it’s time to start testing – our clinics offer bioresonance testing for 150 items that could be possible triggers for just £95 (including results). You can book online at our London clinic now…
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