How To Find Out If You Have Food And Chemical Sensitivities

The term food allergy gets thrown around very often in a nutritionist’s office.

However, only about 2% of adults and 6% of children have true food allergies, although many people suffer from negative reactions to eating certain food (otherwise known as food intolerance's or chemical sensitivities).

The basic difference between food allergies and food intolerance, is that food allergies stimulate an immune system response, whereas a food intolerance does not.

Food intolerance's are more likely to originate in the gastrointestinal system and are generally caused by an inability to digest or absorb certain foods. Unlike true food allergies which need only a small portion of the food to cause a reaction, food intolerance's generally require a larger amount of food to cause any sort a reaction.

Two common food intolerance's are: lactose intolerance and Celiac disease.

Chemical sensitivities are another common complaint which occur when an individual is sensitive to either a naturally occurring or added chemical to a food. Two common examples are caffeine in coffee and MSG in many processed foods.

The importance, however, does not lie in the technical jargon, but in how you uncover which foods (whether they are true allergies or intolerance's) are wreaking havoc on your system.

The truth is, it takes a bit of work and some time to do, but in the end will leave you feeling much more in control of your body and health.

Read on for a full description of how to uncover a food allergy. If you suspect a food allergy or intolerance and would like help uncovering it, contact a nutritionist.

1) Anaphylactic Food Allergy (aka: Fixed Food Allergy)

Classification: fixed food allergies are generally easy to identify due to the intense immune reaction and very apparent symptoms

Symptoms: severe, sudden reaction, lip swelling, throat itching, hives, anaphylaxis Treatment: Avoid the food that acts as an allergen.

2) Cyclic Food Allergy

Classification: Cyclic food allergies are more common than fixed food allergies, making up about 85 percent of all cases. They are generally more difficult to identify, because the immune response is somewhat different than that which occurs during a fixed allergy.

Symptoms: often delayed reaction, highly variable (headaches, sinus pressure, rhinitis, abdominal cramping, skin eruptions or fatigue)

Uncovering a Food Allergy/Intolerance

1. Examine food intake. Ask yourself, what foods you might be suspicious of. Also ask "Are there any foods that I crave, or any food that I avoid at all costs?" These foods may be the ones that are causing your difficulties.

2. Keep a food diary Keep a very detailed food diary, including what you ate (all ingredients), when you ate it, medications taken, symptoms and time of symptoms

3. Eliminate & Then Challenge Yourself To best way to be sure about a cyclic food allergy is to perform an "elimination" and "challenge". How this works is for 4 days you must completely eliminate ONE food (let’s use eggs as an example) from your diet. On the 5th day ( the Challenge) include a large portion of this food at breakfast, and then at lunch if no immediate symptoms appear. Keep track of all symptoms over the 4 day elimination and the 5th day challenge. If a true cyclic food allergy is present, there should be a significant worsening of symptoms. If a food allergy is present, avoid this food for 6 months and then you may slowly re-introduce the food into your diet, eating it no more than 1-2x per week. If you found that the suspected food did not cause a problem on the challenge day, it would be helpful to continue this process with all suspected food culprits until the food is found.

With love,

Heidi Rasmussen, BScN

Grandmother's Kitchen