1. Don't eat problem foods
It sounds obvious, but in the beginning, strictly avoiding your food sensitivities is the single most important key to success. Removing a source of chronic irritation allows your body time to relax and repair. The ideal goal is to be able to eat this food in moderation once a week or once a month and tolerate it without consequences. It can take months or years of food avoidance and treatment for some people to get to this point. I've seen months of hard work undone when people over-indulge in problem foods, such as, for the entire holiday season. Stay strong and find your support network.
Recent criticism around food intolerances has emerged which portray it as a fad. This is unfortunate because removing these stresses truly improves total health and wellbeing. Much of the criticism stems from eliminating a food and replacing it with one of the many processed foods now available that are safe for certain food intolerances. You're presented with the opportunity to expand your food palette and improve your health. Embrace it!
2. Food Hygiene
Food hygiene refers to your mealtime routine. The following suggestions allow you to get the most nutrition and enjoyment from your food.
Chew your food thoroughly. Your teeth physically break up food while saliva chemically breaks up food. Chewing also signals all of the other necessary digestive juices that finish digestion. Putting large chunks of unchewed food in your stomach is stressful on your digestion and increases the likelihood of continuing the food intolerance cycle. Many people have a "1-2-swallow" routine for eating, which is great for stuffing yourself on a 15-minute break but not for promoting health.
Avoid drinking large amounts of water and beverages during meals. Using beverages to "wash" food down in place of chewing is a common pitfall. The increased fluid may further decrease your ability to digest food by diluting your digestive juices.
Eat at least one meal a day with friends and family. Meals are best eaten in a low stress environment, which leads to the "rest and digest" response. Food is a celebration. Relax and enjoy the opportunity to catch up with your company.
3. Specific Enzymes for your food intolerance
Times arise when you decide to enjoy your food intolerance in moderation or you are surprised to find, for example, that all of the meat and vegetables in your dinner were dredged in wheat flour to make them brown better. Taking enzymes specific to your food intolerance can be helpful to aid the food break down. Specific enzymes are available for the most common problematic foods such as gluten and lactose. This is not a solution to food sensitivities, but a stopgap measure to help control symptoms.
4. Repair your gut
In conjunction with removing food intolerances and improving food hygiene, your body needs to repair the digestive system. There are many supplements and herbs available that can assist this function. The following are common supplements and herbs:
HCl (or stomach acid) can help break down food better therefore decreasing food sensitivity reactions
Probiotics can rebalance the bacteria that aid digestion in your gut
L-glutamine, marshmallow root and licorice root all soothe and rebuild the damaged gut wall
Fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation that worsens the food intolerance cycle and delays repair
Simply taking everything that might be of benefit is what I refer to as "the kitchen sink" method. This is not the best approach because it's unfocused, difficult to maintain the routine of taking many supplements and can be unnecessarily expensive.
5. Change your Attitude
If you're going to grunt and groan through every meal for the rest of your life then you're in for a long road and you risk alienating the people around you. Stop using the word "can't". You always have a choice and by changing your frame of reference you positively alter your relationship with healthy food. You "choose" to eat foods that are more nourishing for your body because you're not willing to put up with foggy thinking, intractable pain, diarrhea, acne and joint pain.
Final Thoughts
It's normal to need help along the way. Healing food intolerances is a process with ups and downs. People that achieve optimal success have a combination of support from their family, friends and a health professional knowledgeable in creating individualized food intolerance treatment plans.
Some reasons that you should contact your health professional are:
Symptoms continue to get worse
List of "can't" foods is getting larger, instead of smaller
Unintentional weight-loss and inability to maintain healthy weight
It sounds obvious, but in the beginning, strictly avoiding your food sensitivities is the single most important key to success. Removing a source of chronic irritation allows your body time to relax and repair. The ideal goal is to be able to eat this food in moderation once a week or once a month and tolerate it without consequences. It can take months or years of food avoidance and treatment for some people to get to this point. I've seen months of hard work undone when people over-indulge in problem foods, such as, for the entire holiday season. Stay strong and find your support network.
Recent criticism around food intolerances has emerged which portray it as a fad. This is unfortunate because removing these stresses truly improves total health and wellbeing. Much of the criticism stems from eliminating a food and replacing it with one of the many processed foods now available that are safe for certain food intolerances. You're presented with the opportunity to expand your food palette and improve your health. Embrace it!
2. Food Hygiene
Food hygiene refers to your mealtime routine. The following suggestions allow you to get the most nutrition and enjoyment from your food.
Chew your food thoroughly. Your teeth physically break up food while saliva chemically breaks up food. Chewing also signals all of the other necessary digestive juices that finish digestion. Putting large chunks of unchewed food in your stomach is stressful on your digestion and increases the likelihood of continuing the food intolerance cycle. Many people have a "1-2-swallow" routine for eating, which is great for stuffing yourself on a 15-minute break but not for promoting health.
Avoid drinking large amounts of water and beverages during meals. Using beverages to "wash" food down in place of chewing is a common pitfall. The increased fluid may further decrease your ability to digest food by diluting your digestive juices.
Eat at least one meal a day with friends and family. Meals are best eaten in a low stress environment, which leads to the "rest and digest" response. Food is a celebration. Relax and enjoy the opportunity to catch up with your company.
3. Specific Enzymes for your food intolerance
Times arise when you decide to enjoy your food intolerance in moderation or you are surprised to find, for example, that all of the meat and vegetables in your dinner were dredged in wheat flour to make them brown better. Taking enzymes specific to your food intolerance can be helpful to aid the food break down. Specific enzymes are available for the most common problematic foods such as gluten and lactose. This is not a solution to food sensitivities, but a stopgap measure to help control symptoms.
4. Repair your gut
In conjunction with removing food intolerances and improving food hygiene, your body needs to repair the digestive system. There are many supplements and herbs available that can assist this function. The following are common supplements and herbs:
HCl (or stomach acid) can help break down food better therefore decreasing food sensitivity reactions
Probiotics can rebalance the bacteria that aid digestion in your gut
L-glutamine, marshmallow root and licorice root all soothe and rebuild the damaged gut wall
Fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation that worsens the food intolerance cycle and delays repair
Simply taking everything that might be of benefit is what I refer to as "the kitchen sink" method. This is not the best approach because it's unfocused, difficult to maintain the routine of taking many supplements and can be unnecessarily expensive.
5. Change your Attitude
If you're going to grunt and groan through every meal for the rest of your life then you're in for a long road and you risk alienating the people around you. Stop using the word "can't". You always have a choice and by changing your frame of reference you positively alter your relationship with healthy food. You "choose" to eat foods that are more nourishing for your body because you're not willing to put up with foggy thinking, intractable pain, diarrhea, acne and joint pain.
Final Thoughts
It's normal to need help along the way. Healing food intolerances is a process with ups and downs. People that achieve optimal success have a combination of support from their family, friends and a health professional knowledgeable in creating individualized food intolerance treatment plans.
Some reasons that you should contact your health professional are:
Symptoms continue to get worse
List of "can't" foods is getting larger, instead of smaller
Unintentional weight-loss and inability to maintain healthy weight
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