Is a Food Intolerance Holding Back Your Weight Loss?
Last Updated: 12th January 2023 · Written by Kate Young
If you’re one of the millions across the UK who are struggling to maintain their weight effectively, then you may need to consider food intolerance testing. You need to ask yourself whether it’s your willpower that is the problem or is a food intolerance holding back your weight loss?These days ‘food intolerance’ and ‘food allergy’ are used liberally, almost as if they were interchangeable. However, even just a cursory glance into the subject of allergy and food intolerance testing will tell you how different they are. Allergies tend to be quick to appear, and are acute or severe in nature and treatable with things like epipens and antihistamines, whereas food intolerances can be slow to develop and are known for being difficult to diagnose and rectify.
So, if we rule out food allergies from the equation, can a food intolerance really be responsible for someone’s failing attempts to drop the pounds?
Inflammation – The Real Enemy
When it comes to digestion and food intolerances in particular, inflammation is the enemy. When you eat foods that your body can’t cope with, it can cause inflammation, which can result in nausea and bloating. This can often lead to the sufferer reaching for foods that make them feel good, which can bring a diet regime to a shuddering halt. What can also happen when your gut is inflamed for an extended period (which often happens with undiagnosed food intolerances) is that small fissures can develop, which then allow what your body believes to be foreign bodies into the bloodstream. What ensues from this point is a seemingly never-ending cycle of feeling poorly, eating badly and ultimately not losing weight.
So, it’s fair to say that food intolerances most certainly can curtail your efforts to shed weight.
So, what can be done?
If what we’ve described so far sounds like you and your eating habits, there’s a more than average chance that you could benefit from some kind of food intolerance testing. You shouldn’t feel sick or listless for absolutely no reason, so it’s important for your health that you identify what exactly is causing your body distress. The alternative, i.e. carrying on as you are and feeling fed up, just doesn’t bear thinking about… does it?
The good news is that by deciding to ask yourself the question, you’ve taken the first step to dealing with the issue. So many people put the symptoms they experience down to just having a bit of a gippy tummy or other minor problems that are almost not worth mentioning.
Now that you’ve perhaps started to consider that a food intolerance to a problem for you, there really are other options.
We’re going to give you two now…
Number 1 is to keep a food diary. This option involves writing down everything you eat and drink on a daily basis, jotting down the state of your general state of feeling – with a particular emphasis on when you’re experiencing unpleasant or uncomfortable digestion. With this information, you can piece together a picture of what might be causing your issues. This is quite a simple and inexpensive method, but it can take a while to paint a clear picture and you may only get a rough idea of what to avoid.
Number 2 is to take a food intolerance test, which is a simple, affordable and painless way of getting right to the source of the problem. For as little as £74.99, you can have your blood scientifically screened by the experts at Lifelab Testing. Even the basic testing checks your blood against 40 key food and drink intolerances, which means that if you’re intolerant to something you eat, food intolerance testing is going to show it up and give you the tools you need to change your diet – freeing yourself from the misery of digestive distress.
So, there you go. Food Intolerance testing could be the secret ingredient you’ve been looking for that turns your diet attempt into diet success.Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Click here if you need information and advice on moving to university with an allergy or intolerance.
