Managing Your Food Intolerances | Sensitivity Check

Food intolerances are common all over the world. Many of us live and cope with food intolerances. Did you know, that in the UK alone, it is believed that over 2 million people are suffering from an intolerance? What’s more? Many of them have no idea how to deal with it. In fact, there are many of us who are not even aware that we have an intolerance. Luckily, Sensitivity Check can help, as we help you to identify your intolerances and tell you how to cope. We suggest avoiding these foods through an elimination diet. 

Where does the trouble lie?

The trouble lies in identifying whether or not you have an allergy or an intolerance. The terms are used quite interchangeably but this is not good, as there is a difference. The symptoms are quite similar but the mechanics are different. However, with Sensitivity Check, you can quickly identify your own individual issues by taking an affordable and effective test. We do not recommend that you self-diagnose. However, if you believe that you can manage your own intolerances, then please feel free to keep a food diary. This will help you to identify exactly where some of your problems lie, and a Sensitivity Test will then be able to confirm your suspicions about where your issues lie.

A Day-to-Day Basis

If you have identified what foods you are intolerant to, then you can now go ahead and plan your meals around your intolerances. This will help you to avoid the offending item and is quite easy when you are at home. However, the issues you may face will be when you are out and about, particularly if you are going to a restaurant where you do not know what the ingredients are. Not being in control of what you eat can be daunting to some people. Therefore, we advise that if possible, you call ahead and explain your circumstances. You can avoid any potential dramas later on.

The difficulty comes from common foods such as bread, dairy and potatoes, as they are particularly difficult to completely eliminate when away from home, as many pre-prepared foods contain them. If you do know what restaurant you are going to be visiting, then an effective step to take is to call them and ask what options you have to side-step the food that affects you.

Length of Elimination Dietensure your food intolerances don't affect your life

If you have successfully embarked on an elimination diet and are avoiding all potentially harmful foods, then you are probably wondering how long you have to avoid said items for. This varies from person to person and also on the severity of the intolerance. This is because intolerances can lie in foods that are a personal favourite of yours. This means you could have easily overindulged on this particular ingredient, and therefore it may take longer for your symptoms to relax. If you do have an intolerance, we suggest that you reintroduce this food after at least six weeks of avoidance. You can then measure whether or not your body is affected. If your body reacts, then great, if it doesn’t, you may have an issue and you should further evaluate your diet.

Managing Your Food Intolerances

Lastly, the effects of food intolerances are avoidable if you simply do not eat the food. Firstly, however, you must identify the food which is causing you issues. You can do this by self-monitoring your diet, or hopping over to www.sensitivitycheck.com to find out more. The sooner you take any action against your intolerances, then the sooner you will be free of any unpleasant reactions that come with food intolerances.

Want to know more? Our customer service advisors will be happy to help you via LiveChat, and they work 24 hours a day, 5 days a week as they look to help you with choosing your first test. 

This article was written by Kate, our Lab Manager

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