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One of the most common but neglected allergies that plague us are food allergies. Identifying food allergies, unless they have dramatic immediate consequences, can be difficult, but not impossible. Many times they are labeled as intolerances rather than allergies, but do not be confused if you cannot tolerate a specific food, then you have an allergy to that food.
We are all familiar with milk intolerance, the inability to digest milk; we can even purchase milk that has bacteria in it that make it easier to digest. Many other foods can affect us in the same way. Some of the more common symptoms include headaches, gas, raised blood pressure, irritability, and general malaise. How do you know if something you are eating for health is causing you to become ill? If you are willing to spend some time you too can discover if any foods you eat are contributing to your poor health.
You will need a few inexpensive pieces of equipment, and patience to track down your food allergies. A pen or pencil, and two small note pads are all you will need initially. For the first month, you will keep track of everything that you eat and drink, if you smoke, every cigarette. You will also keep track of your general health, any feeling of illness no matter how insignificant, any fever, any day when you seem more tired than usual, any night when you can't sleep, or are bothered by insomnia, or nightmares. Each entry should have a date and time. For example: October 21 7am-blueberry bagel with cream cheese, coffee, cream, sugar.
Your entries for discomforts should be just as detailed, with a date, time and details. Make sure you list the onset as well as a decrease in symptoms as accurately as possible. If you take an aspirin or other medication for symptom relief be sure to log this in your food notepad.
After you have kept your log for a month, you will need to graph your illnesses, and your food consumption for comparison. You should notice a pattern of some type, if it is not a distinct pattern then you may need to log everything for an additional month without making any changes. If you do notice a distinct pattern between eating something and then the onset of symptoms, you will need to eliminate that particular food from your diet for a month. Take care you are getting the nutrients you need to maintain your health.
After eliminating a suspicious food, you will need to continue your logs for an additional month. At the end of this month, again graph your foods and indispositions. You should notice a definite decrease in entries for your illness log. You may not notice a complete ending of symptoms, this could mean that you are either still consuming something that you are allergic to, or that you have more than one allergy. Concentrate on one allergy at a time to avoid confusion.
Now add your suspect food for two weeks, again logging everything in your logs. If you notice that your indispositions increase during this period you have eliminated one food. If you need to continue to locate the source of other allergens then start over from step one, and repeat the whole process.
This is not a foolproof method, but it can help identify foods that bother you. If you find that eating Mexican or Italian food bothers you, try eliminating common ingredients, including spices to see if it is a specific spice, or ingredient that is bothering you.
This is not intended to replace your doctor's advice or care, but it can save you many trips to the doctor for undefined ailments. Before you start you may want to get a complete checkup to make sure you have no underlying infections or illnesses, which could be the cause of your problems.
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