Food Intolerance - How to Tell If You Have Intolerance Symptoms

Given that nearly 70% of us are or will suffer from food intolerance at some point, this issue is becoming a critical issue in maintaining good health as, left undetected, intolerances can trigger chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's, asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic weight gain and arthritis as well as common complaints like infertility, insomnia, PMS issues, eczema & other skin disorders, ADHD, Candida, back ache, migraines and more.

If you're wondering why food intolerance is becoming such a big deal these days it's because our lifestyle choices are causing intolerances to develop. Eating low fibre, high fat & sugar processed foods, drinking too much alcohol, over using medications like antibiotics, NSAID's, birth control pills and steroid medications are all having an impact.

Highly stressed lifestyles and chemical overload in our bodies due to pesticides on our foods, chemicals in our soap, laundry powder, deodorant and make up are all contributing to the development of this new epidemic. If you need convincing, just look at your local supermarket. You can see there's a growing demand from people for specialised and substitute food products - just take a look at the health section in your local supermarket to see the variety of goods offered to this massively growing market. There's gluten-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, wheat-free, egg-free and some people are even intolerant to healthy foods like pineapple, broccoli and ginger.

Food intolerance is not the same as food allergy which can be life threatening. Food allergy symptoms appear almost immediately and can include breathing difficulties and major rashes. Food intolerance symptoms can take up to 3 days to appear, which is why they are so hard to diagnose. Unfortunately our medical doctors don't turn to food intolerance as a possible trigger for these symptoms partially because they are not life threatening, there's no medication you can take and doctors are not fully trained in the business of nutritional therapy rather than drug therapy. Here are some typical symptoms though.

What are the symptoms of food intolerance?

• Abdominal Pain


• Anxiety/Moodiness


• Belching after meals - unable to stop


• Bloating & flatulence


• Constipation


• Cystitis


• Concentration issues, difficulty remembering things


• Diarrhoea


• Eczema and other skin disorders


• Foggy brain, memory issues, fuzzy thinking Headaches - recurring


• Indigestion


• Insomnia


• Irritable Bowel Syndrome


• Immune system is weak - frequent colds and infections


• Joint Pain, joint swelling


• Low Energy levels, feeling tired, lethargic


• Low Libido


• Menstrual Disorders inc luding mood swings


• Nausea after eating


• Persistent cough or 'noisy breathing'


• Sinusitis or constant nasal discharge


• Snoring


• Stomach cramping


• Throat infections that recur a lot


• Thrush and similar fungal infections which recur


• Weight control problems - weight gain and weight loss

If you are suffering from one or more of these symptoms on a regular basis it is very likely that you have food intolerance. You may have even had it for years and been dismissing minor symptoms. The good news is that unlike food allergies (which can be life threatening), you can test for intolerance and cure it. Food intolerance is not for life.