Food Intolerance: Establishing Your Baseline Frequency and Severity of Symptoms With a Diet Diary

View PDF | Print View
by: Guest Total views: 233 Word Count: 482   

Food intolerance is associated with a number of both digestive and non-digestive symptoms:

Celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and other food intolerance may be associated with numerous digestive and non-digestive symptoms. Some of the most common non-digestive symptoms reported by people include fatigue or sense of being overly tired, headaches, bone, joint and/or muscle pain, mental fogginess or impaired attention, nerve pain (neuropathy), and skin rashes. The most common digestive symptoms include feeling of excess fullness with meals or afterwards, bloating or distended abdomen, diarrhea, excess or foul gas, constipation, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

It is important to rate the severity and frequency of common symptoms before and after starting an elimination diet:

A good place to start when determining if foods are causing your symptoms is to keep a symptom diet diary along with your own "Top Ten Symptoms" list. The initial symptom list should include a baseline rating of the frequency and severity of your symptoms before making any change in your diet or eating pattern.

The key to success with an elimination diet is an adequate trial with an accurate diary:

When trying to determine if certain foods are contributing to how you feel and the kinds of symptoms you are experiencing, it is important to complete an adequate trial of elimination combined with an accurate recording of what you eat and how you feel. A commitment of 4 weeks strictly eliminating the foods recommended according to your specific assessment while recording accurately what you are eating and how you feel will help you identify patterns. It will also help you stay motivated to eliminate, restrict or rotate regularly any problem foods when you see patterns revealed.

A minimum of a month of elimination diet is recommended:

It is recommended that you try a month of initial elimination diet because of the time required for the intestinal lining cells to repair and your body to eliminate any ongoing immune stimulation or inflammation. It also takes some time for individuals to identify hidden sources of possible problem foods and adjust to the new eating pattern.

Be prepared for the possibility that you may experience withdrawal symptoms:

Be aware that some individuals will experience classic withdrawal like symptoms in the first 3-7 days of eliminating certain foods, in particular grains and dairy products. Gluten in products made from wheat and casein in products containing cow's milk, contain morphine like substances. Gluten exorphines and casomorphin are produced from the digestion of gluten and casein respectively with morphine like effects. The term "comfort food" has a physiologic and biochemical basis. Many people have unconsciously or consciously developed a life-long pattern of self-medicating with food. A few are even addicted to certain foods. Furthermore, we all have very strong cultural, social and psychological ties to eating and meals.

These guidelines should help you determine if foods are causing your symptoms and if you should employ a diet diary followed by elimination diet.

Additional information:

Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. Another aspect of diet clearly related to cancer risk is the high consumption.

Related "Diet":

• Diet Pills: Reviews, the Best Diet Pills, and Complications Associated With Diet Pills
  Some people may think that this diet pill is extre ...
• Lose Fat The Easy Way
  Like exercise, keep it simple. Everybody knows ...
• Stay Healty, Eat more Fish and Seafood
  More good news, there is evidence of a lower risk ...
• The Real Story Of Food And Health
  In addition to minimizing cooking and eating more ...
• What Foods Contain Folic Acid?
  Many people are lacking in folic acid as well as v ...

Comments

Add Comment