Lisa asked: Recently I’ve been experiencing some awful reactions when I eat certain foods. The strange thing is that there doesn’t seem to be a link between the foods: hot chocolate, fizzy drinks, fruit juices, some spicy foods, casseroles, porridge. I get really bad tummy ache, hot flushes and need to go to the loo after eating them, sometimes within just minutes. Do I have a food allergy or could it be something else that is causing it?

Answer…

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been suffering.  From what you’ve told me it sounds like you may well have several food intolerances. There are several key differences between intolerances and allergies, notably speed of reaction as allergies tend to be instant whereas it can take your body anywhere between 15 minutes and 4 days to give you a symptom to a food intolerance. Food allergies, often, though not always, will result in a rash or swelling of the mouth.

To understand why some foods which have been ok up until now suddenly become a problem I use the analogy of a barrel. If your body is a barrel into which we load substances which are toxins to us gradually over time the barrel will fill up. Environmental and lifestyle factors such as stress can make the barrel fill up more quickly. Once the barrel gets full foods that otherwise wouldn’t be a problem suddenly cause it to overflow giving us very unpleasant symptoms. This means that it isn’t the orange juice that made the barrel overflow that is necessarily the biggest problem it’s simply (switching metaphors for a moment) the last straw.

The link between the foods you’ve listed might well be that they are acid forming in the body but without knowing more – for example what was in the casserole, which spices on which foods and whether the porridge was made with cows milk and what if anything it was sweetened with I can’t be more specific. For now I suggest you avoid the foods mentioned, increase your intake of alkaline foods such as vegetables and brown rice and recommend you see a food intolerance/nutritional therapist to help you get to the bottom of the problem.

Carole Batchelor has diplomas in Holistic Nutritional Therapy and Allergy Intolerance Therapy and  is qualified to Diagnostix level in Callahan Techniques Thought Field Therapy.  She is also a Grief Recovery Specialist.

Ask Carole about: Food Intolerance, Thought Field Therapy, Bloating, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fatigue, Gall Bladder Problems, Grief, Anxiety, Stress.

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