How Do You Know if You Have Food Allergies?

It seems like these days everyone has a food allergy of some sort, so how do you know if you’ve been suffering from food allergies?  There are some common food allergy symptoms which many people experience and may not even know are related to what they eat.  Furthermore, many people assume that symptoms they have experienced for years, or perhaps their entire lives, are just “how my body is” or normal.

Common food allergens include:

• Gluten: Found in wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt (in small amounts) and potentially in cross-pollinated oats.
• Dairy: Any products from a cow such as milk, cheese, whey, casein, and cream.  In this case, does not refer to eggs.
• Soy: Whole soy foods like soybeans, tofu, tempeh, as well as lecithin, soy sauce, and soy protein isolate which are found in many processed foods.
• Corn: The whole form, as well as that commonly found in breakfast cereals, tortillas, and in processed foods.

Food allergy symptoms can vary greatly, but here are some very common signs:

• Bloating after meals, even when there is no gas.  The abdomen may feel hard or painful to the touch.  This usually occurs within an hour of eating and lasts a few hours.
• Gas, belching, acid reflux, or digestive upset.  This usually also occurs after meals, or after a certain food has been eaten.
• Nausea, especially in the morning upon waking.  Also, a poor appetite in the morning and having a sour stomach.
• Congestion of the sinuses, frequent ear infections in children, and sinus infections.  These symptoms are usually related to a dairy allergy.
• Skin problems such as acne, rosacea, psoriasis, and eczema.
• Loose stools, food in stools, or constipation.  Basically ,anytime the bowel movements aren’t twice a day and well-formed is a potential sign.
• Asthma, chronic fatigue, and auto-immune disorders can all point to serious food allergies.

If you experience some or many of these food allergy symptoms you may consider which foods in your diet make you feel off.  Also, the help of a nutritionist or dietician can be invaluable in finding and eliminating foods allergies.  There are also allergy tests which can be performed by a Doctor, however these tend to be less than reliable, only around 65% accurate at best.

My recommendation to my clients is to choose a likely culprit from the list of common food allergens, eliminate it from the diet for 4-6 weeks, then “re-challenge” the food by eating it again.  Your body becomes much more sensitive to foods it is allergic to if it isn’t exposed chronically, and you will have a noticeable reaction if you have a true immune mediated food allergy.

Often the foods we are allergic to are one of our favorite comfort foods, which may seem particularly cruel.  In reality, it is because food allergies cause the body go into stress mode and to secrete endorphins, which make us feel “high.”  The body does this as a response to the stress of eating a food that the immune system has tagged as harmful.  Why people develop food allergies, and how to cure them, are still somewhat of a mystery.  But, removing foods that cause chronic stress to the body can be an amazing and life-altering experience of renewed health and well-being.  Just some food for thought…