Food Intolerance
Food intolerance is an adverse reaction to a food or an ingredient in a food that occurs every time the food is eaten. With some foods the reaction is instant and they are easy identified. Other foods only cause a reaction if they are eaten with certain other foods; this is because different ingredients in the food react negatively together in the person’s gut.
What causes it?
Often people can experience food intolerance after they have had food poisoning or an illness, especially if they have taken antibiotics. As food poisoning and antibiotics kill off the bad and good bacteria in the person’s gut and digestive system. A healthy balance of bacterial and enzymes are needed in a person’s system to digest their food.
"For example, one of the most common types is intolerance of cow's milk, which contains a type of sugar called lactose. Many people have a shortage of the enzyme lactase, which is normally made by cells lining the small intestine. Without this enzyme they can't break down milk sugar into simpler forms that can be absorbed into the bloodstream."
From: www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/foodintolerance1.shtml#what_is_it?
What are the symptoms?
- Nausea / vomiting
- Diarrhoea / Constipation
- Stomach pain
- Bloating
- Flatulence
- Indigestion
- Irritability
- Tiredness
...that starts straight away, hours or days after eating or drinking a certain food.
If you have any or a combination of these symptoms you are probably intolerant to some of the food you are eating or drinking.
Do you have food intolerances?
I test over 400 food and drinks to see which of these foods you are intolerant to. I use a scale of -3 (highly intolerant), to + 3 (very good for you) to rate each food. You do not need to be present for the food testing. However, you are required to have an appointment with me so that we can discuss the results and I can give you any further information that may be required, this appointment can be in person or over the telephone.
I dowse your energy and the energy of the food to test how compatible they are. I use this method because:
- it accurately gives a rating of how tolerant or intolerant you are to a given food or drink,
- it is easier and cheaper than a blood test,
- you do not have to be with me while I am carrying out the test,
- For you it is easier, less time consuming and more accurate than removing foods one at a time from your diet ( this is done to see what foods you get a reaction to).
How do you recover from Food Intolerances?
Once you have the results from the test you can eliminate the foods that you are intolerant to; some people find this easier if they eliminate one food or one food group from their diet one at a time. At the same time you need to be taking in a source of good bacteria that is suitable to you, and you might need to take other supplements to help stabilise your digestive system and health.
It takes about three months of not eating a certain food and supplementing your diet, to be able to improve your digestive system enough to start reintroducing the food. At this point you can have another test or you can just slowly reintroduce each food at a time.
Reintroducing food, without another test, needs to be done at a rate of about one every week. The reason for this is because it can take up to a week to experience the negative side effect of that food and you may be intolerant to a certain food only when it is eaten with another food or drink.
Investment
For the test and the appointment, to get your results, I charge £75.
Testimonials
"I found the food tolerance testing very useful. I have felt for a while there have been foods which have seemed to upset my system. A prime example is fresh pineapple which I love. However more recently it has seemed to exacerbate an ongoing stomach acid problem but I have been unwilling to give it up. However the fact that this scores highly as a bad food for me reinforces the fact that I should be avoiding it."
AG, Bedford