Symptoms Archives - Lifelab Testing

Should You Cut Out Bread To Stop Bloating?

Have you ever felt bloated after eating foods such as bread, pasta, or cereal? If so, you’re not alone. Thousands of people around the UK are wheat intolerant (also known as wheat sensitive), with many reporting symptoms such as bloating and abdominal pain.

In recent years, the number of people choosing to cut foods such as wheat and gluten out of their diets has increased. And it’s not just bread that can cause problems. From meat and dairy to soya and nuts, there are many other foods that can give people bad reactions.

In this blog post, we’ll be exploring some of the most common food intolerances and the symptoms they can cause. 

Wheat Products

bread

Wheat sensitivity occurs when someone finds it difficult to digest wheat products. Although researchers aren’t sure why some people struggle to digest wheat, it’s thought they could lack a necessary enzyme in their digestive tract, resulting in abdominal issues such as bloating and discomfort.

If you’ve noticed that your stomach bloats after you’ve eaten bread or other wheat products, cutting these foods out of your diet could help. This is known as the elimination method and it can be an effective way to diagnose intolerances if you think you know what’s causing your issue.

If your symptoms improve after you’ve stopped eating wheat, it could well be a sign that you’re wheat intolerant.

Dairy Products

In many cases, dairy intolerance is caused because somebody is unable to digest lactose – a sugar that’s present in dairy products such as milk. Lactose intolerance often results in digestive problems including diarrhoea, but there are also a range of other symptoms which could indicate a dairy sensitivity:

  • Skin irritation
  • Respiratory problems such as asthma, snoring, and congestion
  • Headaches and sinus pain
  • Acne

Meat

Meat intolerances aren’t as common as wheat and dairy sensitivities, but the symptoms can be very similar. This means that people who are meat intolerant can often mistake the condition for something else, especially as meat is almost always eaten at the same time as other known allergens.

If you experience problems such as nausea, diarrhoea, bloating, hives or fatigue after eating meat, you could consider taking an intolerance test to find out whether meat is to blame for your symptoms.

Soya

Soya products might be a popular alternative to milk and meat, but they can come with their own host of problems. People who suffer from a soya intolerance could experience bloating, nausea, gas and abdominal pain. For some, these symptoms will be mild enough that they can still consume soya in small doses, for example, in tea or coffee.

Order Your Intolerance Test

Whether you are convinced you’re wheat intolerant or not sure what’s to blame for your symptoms, it’s important to get to the bottom of your condition. If you’re suffering from any of the problems we mentioned above, order your intolerance test from Lifelab Testing today for fast and accurate results.

7 Signs of a Gluten Intolerance

Around 13% of people are unable to tolerate gluten in their diets. At its most extreme, this is known as coeliac disease – an autoimmune condition where the body attacks itself when it detects gluten. But for the majority of sufferers, the symptoms of gluten intolerance can be harder to pin down.

You may have started experiencing digestive problems after eating products such as bread, pasta, or thickened sauces. However, there are various other signs of gluten intolerance which many sufferers never think to associate with their diets.

In this blog post, we’ve made a list of 7 symptoms which could indicate a gluten intolerance.

1. Digestive issues

Digestive issues are some of the most common signs of a gluten intolerance. These can include abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea, and constipation. This is because gluten can cause your small intestine to become inflamed, making it harder for you to absorb the nutrients you need.

2. Headaches

Growing research is suggesting that people who are gluten intolerance could be more prone to headaches and migraines. The American Headache Society found that 72% of coeliac sufferers reported ‘severe’ headaches, compared to 50% of control subjects.

headache

3. Fatigue

Because gluten intolerance can prevent you from absorbing nutrients, many sufferers feel tired. This could be due to a lack of iron, otherwise known as anaemia.

4. Skin problems

It’s not just your intestine which can become inflamed due to gluten intolerance. The condition can also cause inflammatory skin problems such as psoriasis and dermatitis herpetiformis.

5. Depression

Doctors now believe that our gut microbiomes are closely linked to our brains. Digestive problems caused by gluten intolerance can increase your risk of depression, perhaps because the body produces chemicals known as ‘gluten exorphins’ when gluten proteins are digested.

6. Muscle pain

People with a gluten intolerance can be more susceptible to inflammation, which can cause pain in their muscles and joints. Some research has even suggested there could be a link between gluten intolerance and arthritis.

7. Brain fog

If you’ve become increasingly forgetful, mentally drained, or confused, there’s a chance that gluten intolerance could be to blame. We don’t know why this happens yet, but some scientists believe gluten could contain antibodies which have an adverse effect on our neurology.

Order your intolerance test today

Gluten can affect our bodies in many different ways. If you’ve noticed any of the symptoms above, it’s important to take an intolerance test so you can rule out other conditions such as wheat intolerance or IBS. Order your intolerance kit from Lifelab Testing today.

Migraine & IBS

Anyone who has experienced a migraine will tell you it is debilitating. It can completely destroy any ideas you had of productivity for the day and can make your life miserable. Suffering them occasionally is bad enough, but, for some people, migraines are almost a routine experience that can occur VERY regularly. Does this sound familiar?

We have identified a link that you might not have considered…

Is allergy and intolerance testing useful to understand triggered symptoms?

At Lifelab Testing, we know that the management of symptoms in the case of an undiagnosed or not fully understood problem can be quite frustrating.

Sometimes you are experiencing symptoms such as irritation, mood swings, bloating, itchiness and many others, and the only thing you want to do is find a solution for your problem and move on.

At Lifelab, we are here to help you take the first steps to understand more about your body, the cause of your symptoms and help you to improve your health.

We are here to provide you with all the information you will need to take the next step. We will provide you with updated scientific research studies highlighting new development and important advancement in the field of allergy and intolerance testing.

Due to the unclear relationship between IBS and migraines in dietary factors, we have compiled some recent studies indicating that people with migraines and IBS symptoms that followed a restriction diet (under medical/nutritionist supervision, of foods with higher IgG levels) can improve the management of their symptoms and their quality of life.

Research

Elif Ilgaz Aydinlar et al(1) previously reported the possibility to use food elimination diet based on IgG antibodies in migraine and IBS patients showing reduce symptoms with a positive impact on the quality of life of both patients. This study also demonstrated how this could potentially reduce the costs in the health-care system.

In 2017 Hong Sub Lee and Kwang Jae Lee (2)reported that high levels of IgG4 antibodies were observed in IBS patients, suggesting that to improve the quality of life of those patients an elimination diet could be used, eliminating those foods with high levels of IgG4. This study was performed on a small number of people, and the authors suggested that for a more comprehensive study, a large group of people could be investigated in the future.

The pathophysiology of migraines is complex and not well understood. In literature, it is reported how some foods could trigger migraines (chocolate, cheese, and wine to mention some).

 James F. Geiselman (3) in 2019 reported as testing for IgG antibodies in patients with migraines is a beneficial tool for practitioners to treat patients with migraine and headache symptoms, adjusting their diet requirements without using any medications.

Recent studies suggested the possibility of using IgG testing as a tool to adjust dietary requirements in people affected by IBS and migraines, limiting the use of medications to treat some of those cases.

We can see that in recent literature, there is good evidence for the use of allergy and intolerance blood testing as a preliminary tool to manage and treat symptoms from migraines and IBS.

Here at LifeLab, we provide products to test blood allergy and intolerances using a simple home test kit. Our comprehensive Complete Blood test can provide you with a map of your immune system (Allergy Type I IgE and Type III IgG) including IgE mediated allergy and not IgE mediated allergy (IgG4 asymptomatic), and help you in the identification of allergies and intolerances that could be the cause of your migraine.

We Can Help

So what you are waiting for…. Have a look at our tests and start this journey with us and remember if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us, our scientists will be more than happy to help you! And remember we are in it together…

(1) https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2012.02296.x (Elif Ilgaz Aydinlar et al.)

(2) http://www.jnmjournal.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.5056/jnm17054 (Hong Sub Lee and Kwang Jae Lee)

(3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31456119/ (James F. Geiselman)

Nutrichondria: the new health epidemic

As food allergies are becoming more common, there is concern that the data on just how common they are may be skewed due to a new phenomenon; “nutrichondria”. You may have never heard of this new health epidemic. But you’ve likely noticed the wave of individuals self-diagnosing a food intolerance or allergy, despite any scientifically concrete evidence.

A recent DNAFit study defined nutrichondria as “a preoccupation with negative details of one’s diet and a propensity to self-diagnose food intolerances or allergies based on supposition or flawed evidence”.

Why is this a problem? There are various issues with this recent phenomenon, and it can have detrimental effects on one’s health. Here’s how; 

Misdiagnosis of a Food Intolerance or Allergy

Firstly, there’s a huge chance that any self-diagnosis will be a misdiagnosis. This can be just as dangerous as no diagnosis at all, as you may be attributing certain symptoms with the completely wrong food. You’ll then avoid one item while still risking exposure to the true allergen – making you no better off and far more likely to experience adverse reactions than if you had taken a food allergies test, to begin with.

Nutrient deficiency

Whenever food is restricted from the diet, it’s important that you ensure you aren’t allowing yourself to become deficient in the nutrients available in that which you’ve eliminated from your diet. Be sure to replace those micronutrients in your diet to avoid any deficiencies, as vitamin deficiency can bring about all manner of new issues.

Could be a completely different issue

It’s possible that you’ll end up self-diagnosing something as a food allergy or intolerance when, in reality, the issue is something more sinister. Many conditions and diseases all present themselves in similar ways, and it takes a trained physician to understand the subtle differences between them all. An incorrect self-diagnosis could become very dangerous if you end up accidentally ignoring something more malignant.

Don’t self-diagnose

Just like you wouldn’t diagnose yourself with cancer or a mental illness, you shouldn’t self-diagnose a food intolerance or allergy. It’s far safer to get tested if you suspect a food intolerance or allergy, even if it’s just to eliminate them both as a possible cause of your symptoms – you’ll be much better off in the long run.


The Symptoms We’re No Longer Putting Up With

The very least we should hope for from our body is to be able to live a normal lifestyle. To be able to do the things we want to without our body holding us back. When you’re putting foods into your body that are considered “healthy”, you expect that it repays you in kind by allowing you to go about your day-to-day life unencumbered by symptoms that hold you back from achieving your goals. Here at Lifelab, we know that, despite your best efforts, sometimes your body doesn’t pay out on the healthy foods you’re putting in. We also think we know why…

Intolerance and allergies are a real spanner in the works. Until you identify them, they can cause a range of symptoms that can prevent you from living a normal lifestyle. That’s why Lifelab offer allergy and intolerance testing to help you understand why your body isn’t doing its bit. Here we take a look at some of the symptoms you may be experiencing that an allergy and intolerance test could help get rid of.

Bloating

bloating lifelab

Is there anything more frustrating than putting in the work in the gym & eating the “right” foods only to still get asked when it’s due? When you eat a food to which you’re intolerant, it causes irritation and inflammation within the gut. Your body doesn’t have the enzymes required to break down the food, so bacteria does the job instead. When bacteria break down food, it produces more gas than enzymes, and those gases remain in the stomach, giving you that bloated feeling. By taking an allergy and intolerance test with Lifelab, you can identify the foods causing your bloating.

Fatigue

Allergies can have a severely adverse effect on sleep. When you have an unidentified, untreated allergy, it can cause inflammation of the nasal passages. This means your body doesn’t get the oxygen it needs to fuel all the cells within your body. During sleep, this is especially detrimental as sleep is when your body regenerates and recuperates cells. If your body can’t do this when you’re asleep, it leaves you in a constant state of fatigue. This year, we’re not standing for this. We’re taking an allergy and intolerance test.

fatigue lifelab

Headaches

Another symptom of allergies and intolerance is persistent headaches. Headaches can be severely detrimental to your ability to lead a normal lifestyle. They can get in the way of your life at home and also have an impact on your ability to perform at work. By taking an allergy and intolerance test, you can identify the substances which are causing you headaches that stop you from being at your best.

Allergy and intolerance tests

Lifelab have a range of allergy and intolerance tests available to suit your budget, because this year, we’re not putting up with the symptoms making our lives a misery!

How a food sensitivity test can help IBS sufferers

IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine. There’s no known cure for the condition, but there are a variety of ways we can manage it. Interestingly enough, recent research has found that food sensitivity testing can help IBS sufferers manage their condition and improve their quality of life. Here’s how a food sensitivity test can help those living with IBS;

Identify problem foods

The first and most obvious way that food sensitivity testing can help people with IBS is because it identifies problem foods. Those sneaky ingredients which are likely to be causing flare-ups, worsen symptoms and are ultimately making your life miserable. Instead of having symptoms constantly surprise you, you’ll be well aware of which foods your stomach doesn’t agree with and which it does.

Reduce symptoms

Secondly, you’ll be able to reduce your IBS symptoms. Research has shown that following an elimination diet guided by a food sensitivity test can significantly reduce IBS symptoms. A 2018 study compared two groups of people with IBS follow either an IgG test informed elimination diet or a ‘sham’ diet with randomly selected food items. The group who followed the IgG guided diet reported a marked improvement in IBS symptoms.

Potentially overcome intolerances

Because food sensitivities come and go throughout your life – unlike allergies – removing a problem food for a while and then later reintroducing it may result in the intolerance disappearing. While this isn’t always the case, it’s comforting to know that there’s a chance your intolerances may go away with time.

The more we research into IBS and food sensitivities the more solid the case becomes for food intolerance testing. It looks like IBS can be made much easier to deal with through food sensitivity testing. Why wouldn’t you go ahead and learn which foods are causing you havoc?

Cure These Symptoms With Food Intolerance Testing

With NHS waiting rooms across the country reaching capacity and GP appointment wait times extending into months, living with symptoms such as bloating, headaches, nausea and stomach pain starts to feel like the way things are going to be. Many people are living with these symptoms or any of several others which can prevent them from achieving their goals or even living a normal life. But it doesn’t have to be this way. What if we told you that food intolerance testing could be your solution?

Here we take a look at some symptoms which may stump doctors and could, in fact, be related to food intolerance.

Food Intolerance Bloating

woman holding her belly with both hands
Woman holding her belly with both hands

This symptom can have a significant number of knock-on effects. Have you ever felt inclined to get into the gym when your stomach feels full of air? Do you feel like seeing friends when all your clothes feel tighter because your belly is all swollen? Bloating occurs when food passing through the digestive tract irritates the system, this inflames the walls narrowing the passages meaning the food takes longer to get through. All the while enzymes are breaking down the food and producing gases which can’t escape due to the inflammation. This gas then sits in the stomach leading to that bloating feeling you’re experiencing. Food intolerance testing can help you identify the foods that may be causing irritation within your gut.

Can Food Intolerance Cause Headaches & Migraines

woman covering her face with both her hands
Woman covering her face with both her hands

Ranging from irritating to debilitating, headaches & migraines being caused by food isn’t something a lot of people are familiar with. Still, there is a growing connection between the foods you eat and suffering from pain of varying intensity in your head. When you have a headache it can make your work suffer, spending time with family is difficult and even bright lights can cause searing pain. Food intolerance testing can help you identify any foods that may cause you problems and, by performing an elimination diet, the removal of these foods can lead to an entirely new lifestyle.

Food Intolerance Diarrhoea & Vomiting

Diarrhoea, unfortunately, is a near unavoidable condition that everyone will experience at one point or another, same with vomiting. However, when diarrhoea and vomiting are becoming a frequent problem for you, its time to look at the food you’re putting into your system.

When you eat a food to which you’re intolerant, your brain receives a signal from your digestive system to let it know. In turn, your brain sends back a message to initiate the process to get that food out of your system as quickly as possible. This is either through vomiting or diarrhoea. Diarrhoea and vomiting can lead to electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, tooth decay and many more adverse conditions.

How Can Food Intolerance Testing Help?

Food intolerance testing is an essential tool to help save you from weeks spent waiting for doctors’ appointments or hours spent in A&E. This simple test will tell you what foods you may have an intolerance towards and how severe it is. We have food intolerance testing to suit all budgets, and you can find yours here today. You can also take our Find My Test quiz to find out what test would be best suited to your needs and symptoms.

How do I know if I have a food intolerance?

Before you commit to a food intolerance test you’re probably wondering what you should be looking for that might indicate a potential food intolerance. Different food intolerances manifest themselves differently in one person than they may in another. But, there are a group of symptoms that are generally recognised as associated with a potential food intolerance.

Here we take a look at some common symptoms and the intolerance they could be indicative of.

Bloating

Bloating is caused by the excess production of gas during the digestive process. When you have a food intolerance, your body struggles to digest the problematic food which slows down the process. As a result, the enzymes spend more time breaking down the food which means more time spent producing gases. These gases then become trapped in the stomach leading to uncomfortable bloating. You may find that you experience bloating whenever you eat a certain meal or food. If this is the case, it is very likely you’re living with a food intolerance.

Intolerances that cause bloating: gluten, milk, eggs.

Brain Fog

Brain fog is the experience of fatigue and an inability to focus on tasks for any period of time. This condition can be debilitating if left untreated and can have a serious impact on all aspects of life. Brain fog can be caused by a number of different factors including the foods you eat. When you sleep, your brain takes this opportunity to recover from the oxidative stress experienced throughout the day. To do this, it requires a good flow of oxygen. When you have a food intolerance, your nasal passages can become inflamed and restricted. This prevents a sufficient amount of air getting into your lungs and oxygen into your blood. When your brain doesn’t get the oxygen it needs, it can’t fully recover. This can leave you in a near constant state of fatigue known as brain fog.

Intolerances that cause brain fog: wheat, lactose, fructose.

Diarrhoea

Unsurprisingly, when your body realises you have eaten a food to which you’re intolerant, it tries to evacuate that food from your system as soon as possible. This means the normal digestive process simply won’t cut it. In an effort to expedite the process, your body will draw water into your bowels which combines with the food to create more fluid-like faecal matter. This aids its progress through the digestive system resulting in a near-immediate excretion. Diarrhoea can have significant negative health impacts, the water drawn from the cells to make the diarrhoea can leave you dehydrated and  causes an electrolyte imbalance. It is vital to identify any food intolerance that might be causing you to have regular bouts of diarrhoea.

Intolerances that cause diarrhoea: peanut, dairy, wheat.

How a Food Intolerance Test can help

Being aware of food intolerances is absolutely essential to maintain good health. When you know which foods you need to avoid, you’re able to plan your diet to avoid the symptoms above as well as other symptoms such as NAUSEA, HEADACHES, RASHES & OTHERS. You can find our range of intolerance tests, suitable to all budgets, here.

Why Am I Always Tired?

Modern life comes with many trials and tribulations. More than ever we’re straining to see screens, staying up later watching boxset, popping to cafes for mid-afternoon coffees and following the latest Silicon Valley trend which advises waking up three hours before everyone else. It seems that the last consideration many people make is whether or not they’re getting adequate sleep. In the never-ending quest for productivity, we overlook the most vital factor in maintaining good health.

 Here we look at the factors affecting your sleep and why you’re so tired.

Caffeine

coffee allergy testing
Coffee: The Angel & Devil on sleep’s shoulder

The crutch many people lean on to get through a day of fatigue, caffeine consumption is a vicious circle. You take it to wake you up, downing coffee after coffee throughout the day in an attempt to stave off the creeping tiredness. However, caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist, which means that it disrupts the production of adenosine, a substance that contributes to sleepiness. One study found that consuming caffeine within 6 hours of sleep reduces total sleep time by one hour. Caffeine consumption should be limited to morning consumption and kept as far from bedtime as possible to optimise sleep.

Blue Light

Blue light is everywhere. Your phone, your laptop, your television, pretty much every screen you’re looking at has some level of blue light. Blue light has been proven to limit the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Lack of melatonin affects the length of time you spend asleep as well as the quality of the sleep you do get. Blue light limits your ability to go into REM sleep (the deep stages of sleep where dreams occur) which affects the restorative processes your brain undergoes during rest. Using blue light limiting settings on devices, blue light blocking glasses and limiting exposure in the hour before bed will help improve sleep.

Allergy

During sleep, your brain attempts to recover from the work it has done throughout the day. It requires oxygen to undergo this restorative process, and clear nasal passages are essential. When you’re living with an allergy, you may experience restricted nasal breathing. Without taking an allergy test, you may not even know you have one. When breathing is limited, your brain doesn’t receive the amount of oxygen it needs to recover truly. Taking an allergy test can help you identify the substances you need to avoid to get a proper nights sleep.

Darkness

It is not only blue light that affects sleep. Your body responds to any light as a notice that it is time to limit the production of hormones that promote sleep. When your body detects complete darkness, it causes a flood of sleep hormones to flow to the brain and push you into a sleep cycle. Using blackout blinds and switching off unnecessary lights in the hour before bed can have a significant impact on sleep quality.

With allergies having a significant impact on your ability to sleep, it is essential to take an allergy test. You can find an allergy test to suit your budget here.

How Food Intolerance Testing can Help your Adult Acne

One of the worst parts of puberty was how our skin would produce a seemingly endless onslaught of spots. Okay, maybe it was just me, but the majority of us have some memory of an untimely pimple or two ruining a weekend or event.

We can’t prevent the undesirable effects puberty, acne is just a part of growing up, but when the skin condition persists well into adulthood might be time for a change. Could testing for food intolerances help you fight off adult acne?

What is Acne?

Let’s first cover what acne is, before going into how intolerance testing can help get rid of it. Acne is a common skin disease with a variety of potential triggers and causes. 

Our skin is covered in hair follicles, some which are visible to the naked eye, and some that aren’t. These hair follicles are attached to tiny glands that produce sebum to help stop your hair from drying out. Sometimes, your hair follicles produce too much sebum, which can then mix with dead skin cells and, usually, harmless bacteria. As a result, the hair follicle gets clogged up, causing pimples, and by extension, acne.

Why does Acne develop?

While there’s still debate on the definitive cause of acne, academics agree that genetics is the primary cause in the vast majority of cases. A good rule of thumb is, if either of your parents had acne, you’ll probably develop it throughout puberty as well. The determining factor, on a genetic level, is how your skin and sebaceous glands are structured. If these glands don’t function quite the way they should do, it can cause a predisposition to acne.

Hormones can also play a large role, which is why pimples are so common throughout adolescence. It’s suspected that hormones like testosterone and cortisol can cause the glands to produce significantly larger amounts of sebum, triggering acne. Stress is also a potential cause, as our body produces more hormones when we’re stressed or aggravated.

Diet has also been shown to have an impact on individual cases of acne. It’s fairly common to develop acne seemingly out of the blue, if you have a food intolerance, without any previous symptoms. The foods we eat also play a significant role in general skin health. If your diet isn’t well-balanced, or you’re eating foods that don’t ‘agree’ with you, then this could trigger a rapid outbreak of spots.

How can Intolerance Testing Help Acne?

If you suddenly break-out in pimples, without warning, it could be that you’ve recently developed a food intolerance. While food intolerances are usually seen as a digestive issue, skin conditions such as acne are a common symptom of food intolerance.

All kinds of foods have the potential to trigger acne if you develop an intolerance to them, but there are a handful of common problem foods. These include;

  • Alcohol
  • Corn 
  • Nuts
  • Sugar
  • Dairy
  • Gluten
  • Wheat
  • Yeast

food intolerance test can be effective at narrowing down the potential cause of your adult acne, by identifying foods you’re intolerant to.

How can Your Diet Improve Acne?

Vitamin A, zinc and Omega 3’s are vitamins and minerals that are known to contribute to good skin health.

Vitamin A is beneficial for all of our organs and helps your skin self-exfoliate. You can find Vitamin A in foods like; cod liver oil, eggs, carrots, broccoli and even spinach.

Zinc is especially helpful for people with naturally dry skin. It’s used to help keep your skin moist and prevent your body from overcompensating the dryness with extra sebum. 

Dry skin quite a common cause of acne, so keep yourself hydrated and enjoy a well-balanced diet with zinc-rich foods to help prevent it from getting worse (and even combat it). You can find plenty of zinc in most meat cuts as well as lentils, chickpeas and beans. 

Omega 3’s can also be effective in battling acne. Not only do they possess anti-inflammatory properties, but they help with hormone production too. You can get an abundance of omega 3’s from a portion of fish, but the vegetarians among you can also find these fatty acids in Flax seeds, Chia seeds and walnuts.

Attack Adult Acne on Multiple Fronts

Use a combination of avoiding foods you’re intolerant to and eating more skin-nourishing foods to help deal with stubborn adult acne. If you’re going through an unexpected flare-up, try commencing an elimination diet to identify potential problem foods.

It’s recommended that your elimination diet lasts for at least 4 weeks, to allow time for your body to flush out the offending foods and see the benefit. Afterwards, you can try reintroducing foods individually to see how your body handles them individually.