Food intolerances

melpinklv

Hey guys
I have often heard of people cutting certain things out of their diets like wheat, and then feeling much better or loosing weight because they were actually intolerant of it. I would like to try to systematically cut these out and see which may make a difference. How would one go about doing this (what time period is needed etc) and which food should I test? Does anyone have any stories of how they tried this, and did it work or to?

Thank you for your help on this road.
Melissa

superhippiechik

Cow's milk makes me physically ill,pasta bloats me to the point of tears and I have to be careful when I eat Beef.

tommygirl15

Just track the days that you feel really sick and bloated, and then look back on your diary those days and see what the culprits could be. You can also get allergy/intolerance testing at a doctors office if you are concerned.

jesswait

I did this, it only took a few days to notice I wasn't getting (digestively) sick anymore. After about a week my energy levels were up higher than they had been in years and I could concentrate better. Tommygirl15 is right, any time you are feeling poorly after eating check what you eat that day.

To narrow it down a little, there are the 7 most common allergens so trying a few days without them one at a time might help you.

Wheat
Dairy
Eggs
Soy
Nuts
Corn
Shellfish

lenoresaari

Read the labels on everything if you eat anything processed; there is so much stuff snuck in there that
you can react too. Soy is huge offender for me. The purer the better I say. I started by just eating stuff
that comes straight out of the ground or off a tree and slowly added other things to see what was causing reactions. Usually the reaction is immediate or within an hour or two.

Powders, additives etc are like poison to me; I get migraines. So if I eat rice, I eat plain rice. Butter, plain butter,
applesauce just plain; you get my drift. Read the labels...........

km202

My doctor actually did blood work to determine my food intolerancies. I am supposed to eliminate all those items from my diet for 3 months. After three months, I can try one at a time to see how it makes me feel.
I definitely feel better avoiding the foods I am intolerant to.
I do notice that if I cheat, it has adverse effects on my body and I definitely feel it.

monicalosesweight

If you're cutting them out because you want to lose weight that may not be the best thing to do. I have a real allergy to gluten but there are usually symptoms.

If you are Celiac's, you're probably experiencing things like SEVERE bloating, talking 5 inches at times and diarrhea and some other horrible things like flatulence. I have friends who have it and trust me - if you have it, you most likely do know it. You also feel like your head is cloudy and some Celiac sufferers experience migraines. Now, if you have some of these symptoms, it won't hurt to go off of wheat for a month to test but you may also want to give up dairy. The two usually go hand in hand together.

If you suspect a wheat allergy (migraine's and skin rashes and congestion among many of the symptoms including bloating), you could give up wheat.

If you are perfectly healthy and have non of these issues, you really don't want to give it up. Here's why:

1. Gluten free items are higher in calories - Yes - you will have to read the labels and may have to limit having it
2. Expect to eat rice - a lot
3. Gluten free products are expensive - your budget will double in cost OR you will have to learn to cook
4. Gluten free recipes for breads require a lot of testing unless you buy your breads from Whole Foods or nutritional stores - my loaves run about 5.50 to 6 or 7 bucks a loaf.

Basically, be sure you really do have issues. This is not a diet for someone whose losing weight - it's pretty high in calories to go gluten free and you really, really have to learn how to get around the grain aspect. It's not a fast fix. If you are having issues, definitely give it a go. I'd say you need a full month to verify the issue and then reintroduce milk to see if it's worrisome. I hope you don't have these problems. Trust me, it's not a fun way to live looking up restaurants and finding safe places to eat - giving up all deserts that exist...you really, really want to only do this if you're experiencing problems.

Good luck.

Monica