What does food intolerance look like?

This week I was doing some reading and researching about great foods for babies. What should be introduced when and how different foods help to meet the requirements of a growing infant. One of the things I came across was a list of signs that indicate a baby is not tolerating a certain food well. Here is what was on the list:

·       Bloating

·       Gas

·       Irritability

·       Fussiness

·       Over-activity

·       Excessive waking/ Difficulty Sleeping

·       Constipation

·       Diarrhea

·       Frequent Spitting Up

·       Nasal or Chest Congestion

·       Skin rashes

There are a couple of things that I found particularly interesting about this list.

One, is that you can use an identical list when talking about food intolerances in older children and adults. The only change I would make is taking out ‘spitting up’ and adding in ‘difficulty focusing.’

Two, is that many of the things on this list are not signs that most people would immediately link to the idea of food intolerance.

In general, people tend to believe that if a food does not cause them to have stomach upset, diarrhea, bloating or cause them to go into anaphylactic shock, then they do not have any problems digesting it.

Studies have shown that all people experience disruption in their gut barrier when they eat grains. All people have an inflammatory reaction to this disruption. What this means is that all people have intolerance toward grains. However, not all people notice that they have had disruption or inflammation after they eat grains.

Inflammation is an interesting phenomenon. The signs and symptoms show up very differently from person to person. Some people experience joint pain and arthritic conditions, others have skin issues like acne and psoriasis. 

Unfortunately, most adults expose themselves to so many different stressors on a regular basis, it is difficult to connect any sign, symptom or condition that they have to just one factor. In addition, most people eat foods that cause inflammatory reactions so routinely that they think their body is behaving normally.

There is a big difference between your body behaving how it always does and your body functioning properly.

For the vast majority, it takes removing these offensive foods for a period of time before a person is able to connect the dots between the condition they were in and the food that they were eating.

Then, when the food gets added back in, WHAM! Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach…diarrhea! (Yes, I did rip that off of a pepto commercial.) Or more subtly, skin break out, trouble sleeping, low energy in the middle of the day, or inability to focus on a task.

The point is, that every time I hear someone say “Ya, but I don’t have problems eating grains” almost invariably, after gentle inquiry, I will discover that they have at least one of the above mentioned signs that they eat foods that their body does not tolerate.

If you think this might be you, try taking the next few weeks without grains or legumes or low fat dairy in your diet. You will probably be surprised by the outcome!

If you need someone to talk to about it, to hold you accountable or work on some good strategies with you, I know a few great coaches who are more than happy to help!