Five indicators of undiagnosed food intolerance.
“All these food allergies weren’t around back in the day.”
How many of you have heard this?
While it may have a grain of truth due to the lack of processed food that was consumed a generation or more ago, it’s also possible to go decades without even realising that your symptoms are caused by food.
I will use myself as an example here. I have forever thought I had no allergies at all, especially not to food, and when my son was diagnosed with a corn allergy at the age of 18 months I wondered why as most allergies in young children are inherited. This was over 2 years ago, and while I’ve pondered whether I might “struggle” to digest certain foods, especially when I eat too much of them, I’d not even considered that I might also be intolerant to something. Cut to recent months, when during the course of my kinesiology training we were practicing food testing and I was shown to be reacting to gluten. While I wasn’t sure it was the main problem, I had felt the difference when I was tested for it. So I dutifully cut it out and within a week was feeling less bloated, my skin was clearer and (sorry TMI) less constipated. During this time I was planning on making a pasta dish for dinner and as my children are fine with gluten I was making them wheat pasta, so thought I’d join my husband with his GF spaghetti. Within hours of eating it I felt bloated, had abdominal pain and through the night woke up multiple times feeling like I had a tennis ball stuck in my stomach. What was it made of? CORN! Subsequent testing has confirmed that I am almost certainly the source of my son’s corn allergy, and yet at 36 years old I NEVER KNEW I WAS INTOLERANT TO IT!
Which leads me on to the subject of this post: Are you intolerant to something but don’t know?
Now I’d like to point out here that as much as avoiding certain foods or food groups has had fleeting trend status in the media, I’m not looking to tell you to cut out foods unnecessarily. Often the body will struggle with something because of concurrent health problems, emotional state or simply because of overall diet. It is not always an out and out allergy and often will be transient or fine in small quantities. All I’m saying here is to listen to your own body and make conscious decisions based on how you feel.
So, what are some commonly misinterpreted signals that our body doesn’t currently (and notice the word currently) like something…
Bloating after eating - although it may be necessary to undo that top button when we’ve had a little more than we should have, full bloating especially when accompanied by pain and gas indicates that your gut isn’t exactly happy with what it’s received. Take note of when it happens and look for patterns in what type of food you’ve eaten. There may be a correlation that indicates a certain food is causing it. Likewise take a look at your eating environment; are you stressed, rushing or working while you eat? All of these can keep your body in the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous state, in which your body is unable to properly digest and absorb nutrients.
Skin flare ups - Yes they can be hormonal or caused by external allergens, but if they happen regularly and don’t have an obvious cause they may be triggered by food. Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and apart from the liver and kidneys is one of the main ways that our bodies are able to flush out harmful toxins.
Aching joints - food allergies and intolerance often cause inflammation in the body as it sees the food as a threat and tries to protect itself. If you get swelling or aching in your joints which isn’t caused by physical trauma and have ruled out arthritic conditions (although food can cause these, but that’s another can of worms for another post) it may be worth checking for allergies.
Chronic constipation or diarrhoea - It might sound crass but as they sang in the TV series Scrubs “Everything comes down to poo”, and they were right. If you regularly struggle with stopping or going then this is a big sign that something is amiss within your digestive system. Yes it could also be many other things, the simplest being dehydration, but it can also be a strong indicator of intolerance as the large intestine struggles to deal with it.
Brain fog - I’m not just talking tiredness here. I’m talking confusion, forgetfulness, feeling like it’s hard to focus… the list goes on. When the body is struggling to digest and process a food it can have a strong knock on effect to cognitive function. Again, please listen to your body here and seek medical help if you need to.
Now, as we are all unique then it stands to reason that this list is neither exhaustive nor should be used as a diagnostic tool. If you are concerned about something then always seek the input of your GP or medical team. But if you are having mild symptoms, digestive discomfort or simply have a “question mark” over certain foods, then by all means, find your local kinesiologist and get tested. It is completely non-invasive, gives instant answers and you never know, might just leave you feeling better than you have in years.