Traditionally, the fight against extra pounds begins with increasing physical activity and optimizing the nutrition system. For many of these measures, it is enough to get tangible results in three months, but there are situations when the generally accepted ideas of a healthy lifestyle do not help, or even do harm. A person becomes lethargic, sleeps poorly and feels a general malaise, although he follows all the recommendations. In this case, it makes sense to pass an analysis on food intolerance. It is possible that kefir or whole grain cereal recommended in all diets is a junk food in a particular case, and eating it does tangible harm instead of stabilizing it.
Food intolerance - what is it?
Food intolerance is often confused with an allergy to food, but these are different types of body reactions. Allergy is a reaction of the immune system, and intolerance is hypersensitivity, the difficulty of digesting a product or group of products.
If you feel discomfort after eating, feel worse, and become sleepy, you need to monitor for some time which product provokes the condition. If the option of overeating is eliminated, then you need to understand what kind of food the body reacts negatively to, and take appropriate measures. Exclusion of a food product is not always a solution to a problem, because each of them has nutritional value, and simply by removing it from its menu, a person loses some vitamins and minerals. It is necessary to find a complete replacement that does not cause rejection.
Do you have any allergies or intolerances?
Most often, citrus fruits, milk, cereals fall into the list of products poorly perceived by the body. All types of cabbage and legumes cause an accumulation of gases in the intestines, and many often attribute them to the group of poorly tolerated products. The use of spices in the nutrition system not only enriches the taste, but also improves the quality of food, for example, asafoetida, added during the preparation of cabbage (legumes), eliminates the effect of gas formation.
How to distinguish allergy from intolerance? In an allergic reaction, even a small amount of the eaten product almost instantly leads to a violent reaction (skin rashes, shortness of breath, cramping, etc.). Intolerance does not cause vivid sensations, discomfort is a cumulative reaction.
Signs
Symptoms of food intolerance appear several hours after a meal and can last up to two days. The main manifestations:
- Cramping in the intestines.
- Swelling, intestinal gas formation.
- Dark circles are indicated under the eyes, a slight swelling of the face and rashes on the skin are observed.
- Diarrhea, constipation, flatulence.
- Unpleasant uncharacteristic sensations in the mouth, belching.
- Headache starting 40-60 minutes after eating.
- Fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome.
The main types of intolerance
If people received natural, environmentally friendly food, no one would know about allergies and food intolerances. The desire to grow a large crop in the shortest possible time, the use of preservatives, flavor enhancers, substitutes, the intensive development of industry that polluted the environment, led to negative consequences, of which health became a part. “We are what we eat,” doctors say, and this is true. The accumulation of unnatural elements in the body that the internal regulatory system cannot cope with, gives rise to a spectrum of diseases. Knowledge of the causes in each case helps to alleviate the condition:
- The absence of any enzyme. These substances are secreted by the pancreas and are designed to help break down food for further digestion in the intestines. The absence or insufficient allocation of a group of enzymes causes discomfort and poor absorption of food. For example, the absence of an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar causes milk intolerance. The consequences are accumulation of mucus in the body, bloating, poor health, cramping and abdominal cramps.
- Chemical elements of food. Rennet for the production of hard cheeses is a natural remedy, but can cause intolerance in many consumers. Chocolate with additives that enhance the taste or give additional taste (strawberry, banana, coconut or others). also an irritant. For many people, the caffeine contained in tea and coffee is unacceptable. Dyes used to give products an aesthetic appearance are chemical in origin and often cause allergies and are poorly perceived by the body.
- Toxins When expired foods or dishes are eaten, poisoning occurs, its degree can be different, but in any case, the consequences follow the person for quite some time, and sometimes completely change the way of life and even lead to the fact that he needs to go on a diet. Toxins suppress many bowel functions, sometimes without recovery. When purchasing bakery products, ready-made dishes, canned goods in the store, you must pay attention to the expiration date.
- Nutritional supplements. Over the past thirty years, the food industry has been intensively using chemical additives, their number is constantly increasing. Most of them serve to extend the shelf life, improve appearance, enhance taste. Eating such products has negative consequences: most often preservatives, stabilizers, etc. accumulate in the body, and the effects observed after a few years are rarely associated with the food consumed.
In each specific case, the analysis of food intolerance helps to find out which foods cause discomfort.
The dangers
The body always reacts to foreign elements, including protective mechanisms. One of them is the production of antibodies that bind foreign molecules and remove them through functional systems. With the constant use of irritating and non-digestible food, the load on the whole body increases - from the walls of the intestine to the liver and kidneys, since harmful substances diverge from the bloodstream throughout all cells of the body.
Over time, organs are affected by chronic diseases. The immune system is omnipresent, but gaps also form in it. A chronic disease of any organ always leads to malfunctions, and if you do not remove the cause, then there will be no improvement, problems will increase, because the body is a single system. Failure in the liver leads to gradual poisoning, the accumulation of toxins, which, in turn, enter the bloodstream and enter the brain, heart, etc.
A consequence of neglect of one’s health is obesity, which in the modern world is becoming an epidemic that affects all segments of the population. A blood test for food intolerance helps to identify the causes of the pathology and to find out why the endocrine failure occurred.
Diagnostics
Now you must know why people who are overweight want to take a blood test for food intolerance: for weight loss, it’s not enough to blindly give up a certain group of products or exhaust yourself in the gym. It is necessary to approach the solution of the problem comprehensively, and it is recommended to start with a visit to specialists.
After the initial examination and medical history, the doctor will usually refer the patient to research. Diagnostics includes several laboratory tests:
- FED test. For analysis, 4.5 milliliters of venous blood is taken and the sensitivity to the hundred most common food products and thirty kinds of additives (chemicals) is checked. FED test - development of American specialists. After testing, the results of analyzes, recommendations on nutrition, a list of useful and neutral products are given.
- Another popular food intolerance test is the blood test, or blood code. The test program, in which the patient’s blood is tested for reactions to common foods, is a scientific development of Russian scientists, fully adapted to domestic realities. Based on the test results, a specialist consultation is held, a complete picture of the analysis and recommendations for further actions are provided.
- After you have passed a blood test for food intolerance for weight loss, it is recommended to additionally identify hormone levels. Violation of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands causes hormonal failure and, as a result, obesity or weight loss.
- York test. This analysis of food intolerance was one of the first in world practice. The basis was the study of allergic reactions in children, conducted by American scientists. A blood and plasma analysis of the patient allows you to determine allergens and poorly tolerated food products. Having ascertained the state of things, the patient, guided by the advice of specialists, draws up a menu, excluding unsuitable products.
- Analysis of food intolerance to in vitro. Detects the presence of immunoglobulins (IgG class), the presence of which indicates allergies, in addition, allows the diagnosis of non-IgE-mediated reactions to food products that occur with prolonged intake of inappropriate food. To clarify the results, laboratory specialists recommend a series of tests that can confirm or refute intolerance to any product.
How and where is the analysis carried out
An analysis of food intolerance for weight loss involves some preparation:
- Blood is given in the morning on an empty stomach. After the last meal, it should take from 8 to 10 hours. It is allowed to drink clean water.
- Morning hygiene procedures are carried out without the use of toothpaste (powder, etc.).
- If medication is prescribed, then it is necessary to consult the attending physician regarding their cancellation within a day. Medications can change the real picture of the analysis.
- It is necessary to refuse smoking, including passive.
- If there is an acute infectious, inflammatory disease, then it is better to postpone the test until complete recovery.
Where to pass an analysis on food intolerance? You can contact the clinics specializing in healthy lifestyles, laboratories and centers where they offer to be screened for programs "hemocode", FED-diagnostics, or in those that deal with allergology.
The results of the analysis are issued immediately or, in certain cases, after seven days. With the results, you should contact a specialist who sent for testing in order to get a complete decryption of the data and advice on further eating behavior.
For many, it comes as a surprise that favorite and frequently consumed products are on the list of non-recommended or prohibited. Also, the list may include products that have never been in the diet, but if you carefully read the packaging with food, you can find them. For example, the patient has never included soy, indicated as an allergen or intolerable product, in his menu, but today this ingredient is part of most sausages, pastes, etc.
A blood test for food intolerance in vitro will illustrate not only products that are poorly absorbed by the body, but also a list of allergens that cause a reaction. This will help change eating habits, lose weight and get rid of a number of diseases.
Where is the catch?
Having passed an individual analysis of food intolerance (for weight loss, for example) and received a decryption on hand, the majority immediately makes a radical decision to solve the problem. If milk is indicated on the list as a prohibited product, then all dairy products immediately disappear from the diet, which is not always true. Most often, dairy products have a favorable effect on the body, and they rarely get on the signal list. But milk can “insidiously” hide. The unbearable substance in it is lactose (casein), and it is present in many products: baked pancakes, hard cheese, which is pleasant to sprinkle with pasta, ice cream and many other dishes contain milk, and it becomes implicitly consumed.
After reading the label with the composition of the product, you can safely say what is included in it. For example, if eggs are forbidden, then it is necessary to abandon traditional baking in favor of dietary products. A person who is determined to get rid of extra pounds and ailments that prevent him from living will have to be very careful when choosing food.
How long to stick to the rules
Rejection of intolerable products at the beginning of the diet is difficult, but after two or three weeks the first tangible changes will follow. During this period, toxins are partially eliminated from the body, the process of restoration of tissues and functions begins. The immune system, which received a respite, is harmonized and tuned to productive activity, without an emergency mode in which it has been functioning for a long time.
After a few more weeks, you will get used to the new food system, and you may not want to return to addictions. Worth a try. No diet lasts continuously, unless it is a way of survival. Refusal of products can be gradually nullified by introducing one unit from the forbidden list into the diet. At the same time, reactions should be monitored: if they are negative, then it is necessary to find a substitute of equivalent nutritional value and no longer experiment.
General rules of conduct
After analyzing food intolerance and taking a course on losing weight, improving the quality of life, well-being, it is necessary to adhere to general recommendations that help to achieve the result:
- The food intolerance test must be repeated after 6 months to check the results and track changes in condition.
- Adhere to a rotational diet. Its essence is that for four days no product is consumed in food (for example, meat or oil is excluded for 4 days). That is, if the chicken was eaten on Monday, then the next time on the table it should appear only on Friday. Firstly, it will become clear how useful or harmful the product was, its residues will be completely removed from the body. Secondly, if the product is an allergen or poorly tolerated by the body, then the toxins will not accumulate and cause rejection and increased work of all organs.
- Eat fruit as a separate meal, but not earlier than two hours after lunch. It is recommended to periodically unload the body and eat food only twice a day, moving the lunch meal to dinner.
- A useful rule is to use simple dishes in baked or boiled form. The less culinary manipulations the products undergo, the more beneficial they are for the body.
- Coffee and tea are replaced with herbal decoctions, plain water. Sugar makes sense to replace honey (if there is no allergy) or completely abandon it, and use stevia or licorice root as a sweetener. More fruit juices, mashed potatoes.
- In any condition, it is useful to refuse fried, fatty foods. It will benefit from the exclusion of confectionery, flour products using yeast, products containing artificial dyes, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc.
Reviews
A lot of controversy caused a blood test for food intolerance. Reviews of experts talk about the lack of a scientific basis for this method of determining the conflict of an organism with food. Allergologists, for whom this area is a field of professional activity, expressed themselves to a greater extent. Many of them argue that with the help of such tests it is impossible to determine how the product or its components affects the state of the body. In most cases, the absence of one or another enzyme is caused not by the reaction of the body, but by a genetic predisposition, as occurs in the case of lactose intolerance (casein).
Also, according to supporters of traditional medicine, gastrointestinal diseases are factors contributing to the rejection of products. , , - . , , , , . . . , – , , .
In the wake of the general fashion, many have been tested for food intolerance. The reviews of the people who did this say that many people were disciplined by this procedure, while the diet did not bring tangible results in this regard. Those who wanted to lose weight without prejudice to health and without a feeling of hunger were satisfied with the effect, the first signs of which began to appear after 2-3 weeks. Most argue that during the course of following the recommendations, a significant amount of kilograms was lost, while the feeling of lightness returned, sleep and overall health improved.
There are practically no negative reviews. A few months after passing the test, some respondents came to the conclusion that if you use the general recommendations given by doctors, you will be able to lose weight without testing. In each test, the list of prohibited foods contains flour, sweet, soda, fried foods, etc. If you exclude them from the diet, the first result can be obtained in three weeks. Therefore, many began to doubt the appropriateness of such an analysis.