Discovering you have a food allergy or intolerance may feel like the end of the world for your daily eating routine, but it doesn’t have to be. Allergy and intolerance testing is a key component to meeting your health goals. You'll know what you can eat without triggering a food allergy or intolerance. Need some help figuring out how to adjust your food habits? Let’s take a look.
Don’t guess if you have an allergy or intolerance
This sounds silly, but starting with the right information is essential. Many people will assume that they have a food intolerance or allergy. Something they eat doesn’t sit with them well or causes a bad or dangerous reaction. Of course, avoiding that trigger food or drink becomes crucial.
This, in and of itself, is fine. But this should be the start. The next thing that you should do is sign up for allergy and intolerance testing. These at-home tests allow you to send your blood sample to a lab for specialty testing. Your sample will be used to test against 38 allergies and 40 intolerances to help you get accurate information on what your body is reacting to.
Food intolerances and food allergies can be challenging to diagnose on your own. So at-home testing is an excellent idea to help you understand what you’re dealing with. Once you get your test results, you can learn how to move forward.
Eating with food allergies
If you get diagnosed with a food allergy, the good news is that you aren’t alone. In fact, 1 in 17 people has a food allergy, giving you lots of advice and information to work with about living and eating with a food allergy.
When you get back your allergy test results, use that information to help you know what to avoid. Even though some have mild food allergies, they should still be taken seriously and avoided. This is for your safety, comfort, and enjoyment of food.
Take some time to learn about hidden food allergy sources. For example, those with a cinnamon allergy should avoid bakeries that make cinnamon-topped baked goods, even if the recipe contains no cinnamon. Cross-contamination is a huge concern for those living with food allergies.
Eating with food intolerances
While food intolerances aren’t dangerous for your health, understanding your triggers is still important. After all, who wants to feel unwell after eating something? That being said, you have a bit more freedom when learning how to eat properly with food intolerances.
If your food intolerance is severe, you can reduce or entirely avoid the trigger. Most of it will depend on how your body reacts to the trigger and how commonplace that food trigger is in your diet.
Since food intolerances are even more common than food allergies, you can find lots of advice on alternatives to replace some of the stronger triggers you might want to limit or even avoid entirely.
Some of the best things to do are to learn your triggers and their strength by keeping a journal. Use that to help you know how much is too much when it comes to particular food intolerances.
Get used to checking everything
Food allergy and food intolerance triggers are in many strange places. Part of how to eat properly with food allergies and intolerances is to get used to reading food labels, menu items at a restaurant, etc. You’ll need to alert food servers and preparers of your allergies and intolerances so that you don’t come into contact with something.
Take DIY approach
If you have a food allergy or intolerance that is commonplace in many commercial food choices, one of the best things you can do is take a DIY approach. For example, learning how to make gluten-free cupcakes. Or peanut-free nut butter cookies. At-home baking or cooking is a great hobby for your health and pocketbook). It also helps you stay on top of your food allergies and intolerances.
Dieticians are helpful
One last tip is to strongly consider working with a dietician. They can help you create a healthy, delicious menu that is free from allergens and intolerances. A trained expert can support your best health without putting you at risk with triggers for food intolerances and allergies.
Eating properly while living with food allergies and intolerances is about getting accurate information. The key starting point is at-home testing for allergies and intolerances. From there, you can learn about where your triggers are, how to avoid them, and how to keep your health profile as complete as possible.