What Is Food Sensitivity And How To Manage It Successfully

Regardless of their health credentials, some foods might make you unwell. Unlike food allergies, such as an allergy to peanuts or shellfish, food sensitivity reactions are rarely extreme or life-threatening. However, food sensitivities are more common than most people realize. They can subtly affect health as well as mood.

While food sensitivities are often undiagnosed, there is a growing awareness of this issue. The good news is there are ways to detect whether you are sensitive to some foods.

Food Allergy, Food Intolerance or Food Sensitivity – What’s the Difference?

While similar, there are distinct differences between food allergies, food intolerance, and food sensitivity.

Let’s explore the differences.

Food allergies are an immune response that triggers a histamine reaction within the body. Food allergies can have extreme reactions, such as hives, or worse, anaphylaxis shock. A reaction to a food allergy is generally immediate and extreme. It often requires medical attention.

Food intolerances occur when the body lacks the enzyme necessary to digest a certain food. Consequently, there is an uncomfortable digestive reaction. An example would be lactose intolerance. Those with lactose intolerance have insufficient amounts of the lactase enzyme necessary to digest milk sugar. Food intolerances are genetic and often run in families.

Food sensitivity, on the other hand, is harder to pin down. In contrast to a food allergy, the reaction to a food sensitivity can be delayed for days after eating the triggering food. Also, unlike food intolerance, the cause of the reaction is unknown. Unfortunately, because of the delayed and often vague reaction, those with food sensitivities may never know what’s causing their symptoms.

Indeed, it’s difficult to tell if you are sensitive to a particular type of food. But if you pay close attention to your eating and are conscious of the ingredients that you consume, it might just be possible to at least get a rough idea of whether you have a food sensitivity or whether the reason behind your symptoms lies elsewhere.

Let’s have a look.

6 Most Common Symptoms of Food Sensitivity

If you often suffer from one of these symptoms, it’s worth considering if certain foods in your diet might be doing you a disservice.

• Skin reaction
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Bloating
• Bowel movement changes (diarrhea)
• Digestive problems (constipation)

3 Steps To Deal With Food Sensitivity

First, keep a record of all the foods you eat, along with when your symptoms occur. Do this for several weeks.

Next, begin an elimination diet. This involves eliminating foods one at a time for two weeks or longer.

This process may bring on temporary withdrawal symptoms so you may feel a bit off for a while. For example, eliminating caffeine might bring on headaches. That’s why it’s recommended to follow the elimination diet for at least two weeks. This will allow your body to get used to not having the tested food.

When you are symptom-free for the ensuing weeks, you know you have pinpointed a trigger food.

Once you have a list of potential culprits, you then carry out the oral challenge.  This means making your way through the list of those suspects one by one. By eating them.

You eat each for a period of time but only one of the foods from your list of suspects at any one time, to see how your body reacts. The oral challenge should follow the elimination diet. Because without eliminating the foods first, it’ll be hard to determine the difference.

6 Most Common Foods That Cause Sensitivity

You’re already familiar with foods that are the biggest troublemakers when it comes to food sensitivity. But it’s useful to keep yourself reminded. When you’re shopping next time, try to refer to the list below and seek out healthy alternatives.

• Gluten (found in oats, wheat, rye, barley)
• Wheat (commonly found in bread, pastries, pasta, cereal, crackers, cakes)
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Yeast
• Sugar

How Do I Find Out If I Have a Food Sensitivity?

It certainly takes some commitment, planning, and organization to carry out your own food sensitivity testing.

To get the most out of the elimination diet and oral challenge, you have to keep meticulous records of all the ingredients you’re consuming and of all the reactions you’re experiencing. You also need to be prepared to endure any withdrawal symptoms.

As a way of reducing the scope of self-testing, you can try and take a test that many health providers offer.

Some of these tests are more affordable than others. In the UK this is: Check My Body Health https://checkmybodyhealth.co.uk/ which costs a reasonable fee.

However, bear in mind that generally, such tests are not 100% accurate. So it’s probably reasonable to treat them as general guidance in the right direction. It’s something to base your elimination diet on, rather than an accurate assessment.

Living Well With Food Sensitivities

Fortunately, by eliminating the foods which trigger your symptoms, you can eliminate your symptoms within weeks.

It’s also advisable to eat organic as much as possible. Food additives, pesticide, and herbicide residues are ubiquitous in common foods. These can also be the source of food sensitivities.

While it may be difficult to eliminate some foods completely, cutting back on certain foods will cut down on your symptoms and discomfort.

Living with food sensitivities involves finding a balance to minimize your symptoms as well as maintaining a healthy balanced diet.

Incorporating these foods might help you minimize the unpleasant symptoms and contribute to your overall wellbeing.

Recommended Foods to Avoid Food Sensitivity

Whether you have tested for food sensitivity or not, it’s always good for you to eat the best you can, wherever possible. You can’t go wrong with including more of the good stuff in your diet.

Here are some ingredients to use if you wish to eliminate food sensitivities, and also to try something new.

Gluten-Free Foods For Food Sensitivity:

Grains:

• Amaranth
• Buckwheat
• Corn (or maize)
• Millet
• Oats (gluten-free)
• Quinoa
• Rice

Flour

• Almond
• Arrowroot
• Brown rice
• Buckwheat
• Coconut
• Cornmeal (maize)
• Garbanzo
• Millet
• Oat
• Potato
• Teff

Bread and bread products

• Almond
• Brown rice
• Buckwheat
• Millet
• White rice

Cereals

• Cornflakes
• Oatmeal
• Granola

Pasta

• Buckwheat
• Chickpea
• Quinoa
• Red lentil
• Rice

Dairy-Free Foods For Food Sensitivity

Milk Drinks

• Almond
• Soya
• Coconut
• Hazelnut
• Cashew
• Oat
• Brown rice
• Hemp

Yogurt

• Soya
• Coconut
• Almond

Natural Sweeteners as Healthy Alternative to Sugar

• stevia
• xylitol
• erythritol
• monk fruit
• yacon syrup
• coconut sugar
• honey
• maple syrup
• molasses

Sometimes, it feels like being trapped in a vicious cycle of un-wellbeing. If the elimination diet seems too much to go through, perhaps a better option is to try and reduce the consumption of the most notorious villains.

Testing each ingredient on your list one by one can take months. So start simply by eliminating the most infamous culprits like gluten and sugar. Then introduce more of the healthy alternatives listed above, gradually replacing the not-so-good-for-you foods.

Sometimes, you achieve the greatest changes by being gentle to yourself.

Featured Imaged @Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

Disclaimer:

This article was written by Zuzana Halliwell. I am not a doctor or health professional and cannot be held liable for the information written here. This article is meant to provide information about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The content is based on my own personal experience and on information provided by medical professionals that is available to the public. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Do not use it as an alternative to seeking help from a medical professional.