There are people who suffer from food allergies and this cannot be denied. Allergies to nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, dairy, and soy are the most common ones. And from this list, fish and nuts are at the top. People with such allergies meet the adverse reaction in a matter of hours or minutes, and they can feel that something is wrong, and others can also see that. Some people can even die eating these foods if they are allergic to them.
However, this new trend of cutting out food just because some crazy dietician or website tells people that one is allergic to it, is wrong.
Go to a normal doctor, get an allergy test or a blood test to test for allergies and only then call yourself allergic to some foood.
Professor Tom Sanders, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics at King's College London says:
"Many women believe they have a food allergy or intolerance but in reality numerous studies have shown that only 1-2% or the population suffer from a food intolerance and only 0.3% suffer from Coeliac disease. Cutting out wheat is almost always an extremely bad idea - at best it will lead to mental and physical underperformance but at its worst this type of fashionable fad will set women on the slippery slope towards an eating disorder. The quality of a diet is all about what you include not what you cut out." (The Flour Advisory Bureau)
This new trend claims indirectly that everyone who is overweight has to suffer from some kind of food intolerance. Therefore, they advice their 'patients' to cut out wheat or fructose or sugar. Of course, the patients lose weight right away. You don't need to be a genius to understand that not eating any kind of bread and any kind of sugar will reduce your weight. But is it healthy?
Their most common claim is that people feel bloated or get headaches after certain foods and this is why we should cut them off. It seems to me that these guys haven't heard of bloating from eating mixed foods. The stomach cannot digest properly if you throw inside everything all mixed - see my previous posts on separating food for better digestion and for losing weight. For me, no matter what I eat, if I mix them too much, I get a headache and I feel bloated. Is that supposed to mean that I am allergic to everything and that I should stop eating? I think it's supposed to mean that I should stop treating my stomach as if it were a trash bin.
Sometimes people are not even allergic to wheat or dairy: they are allergic to all those "E's" added to the food. This is why I am in favor of organic food.
There are people who are lactose intolerant or who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (spastic colon).
If you think you have IBS because you are allergic, think again and look at what can cause (and therefore cure) IBS:
stress
medicines
caffeine
large meals
lack of exercise
wheat
dairy
alcohol
chocolate
too much sugar
not enough veggies
Excess of any of the above can irritate the colon. I have a problem with some of them too so I eat carefully.
Easy exercise (walking, bike, etc) improves digestion. Alcohol and caffeine are known to irritate the colon. Large meals - obviously, since it's hard to digest. Milk and related - it's known to happen to the best of us. This is why they say that milk should be drunk by itself, separately from any other kind of food. Milk IS hard to digest.
Caffeine normally constipates but coffee on an empty stomach can cause diarrhea. Yogurt is good when you are constipated but on an empty stomach it works just like coffee. Bread is better when it's older, not when it's hot and fresh. And rye bread or whole cereals should be preffered to white puffy bread. Lots of sugar can also cause constipation. Haven't you ever had a chocolate bar or something sweet on an empty stomach? I get stomach ache on the spot when I do that.
The colon needs fiber so this is why everyone tells you that you should eat veggies and fruits. And in order to work properly, the colon also needs plenty of water - not coffee or sodas or other pops.
So stop getting paranoid about food intolerance and check your diet first.
Losing weight and staying healthy is easy, when you care. Forget famishing yourself: there are other ways.
Since I was 15 I've been obsessed with healthy diets, losing weight, sports, and everything included. I read books after books and I collected articles on staying fit and healthy. Even now, 12 years later, I am still reading everything I find on the subject.
I will share with you, step by step, everything I know. Free advice.
About Me
Name: Andreea Home: Bucharest, Romania About Me: Post graduate student, happily married, who has found the perfect job in a perfect company. :) See my complete profile
