Food Intolerance - Could it be making you fat?
Do you eat healthily, get plenty of exercise and still can’t seem to shift those extra pounds? Perhaps your favorite food is to blame.
Statistics from Allergy UK show that around 45% of the UK population suffers from a food intolerance at some time in their lives. In fact, food intolerance is fast becoming one of the most likely reasons for ill health today. But how does it affect your weight?
Poor metabolism
Ongoing research suggests that how well our metabolism functions is a key factor in weight loss or gain, and some of the foods that are most likely to trigger an intolerance are known to disrupt our metabolism. Research also shows that our metabolism works more efficiently when we eat a variety of nutrients. For example, a lot of processed foods contain wheat, which is one of the main food intolerance offenders, aren’t particularly nutritious and slow down both metabolism and weight loss.
Craving the culprits
It is common to crave the foods that we are intolerant to. According to Dr Jonathan Brostoff, a London based allergy and environment health expert, an estimated 50% of people with a food intolerance crave the very food their bodies can’t handle. If we don’t get our regular fix, then withdrawal symptoms may kick in, often resulting in binge eating and weight gain.
Bloating and fluid retention
In the case of fluid retention, an offending food appears to affect the body by increasing the permeability of the capillaries (fine blood vessels), which means that extra water flows into cells. Also, abdominal bloating might be a symptom of fluid retention, or it could be a sign that the digestive system is not dealing particularly well with a specific food. Either way, excess weight is the result.
Chemical attack
The quality of food today also plays a part. Mass food production has meant that our diet has become highly processed and contaminated with chemicals and, in the case of wheat, bears little resemblance to what our great grandmothers used when baking their daily loaf. We are generally eating more processed foods, refined sugars and additives, often eating a limited number of foods and suffering with impaired digestion. All of these factors lead to our inability to digest food properly and result in a blocked digestive system.
Low energy
Liz Tucker, author of Good health Guide and Understanding Food Intolerance, says that “the effort involved in processing a food that the body is intolerant of puts a strain on the system because it has the addition of an inappropriate immune system response to deal with”. This can cause low energy levels and can lead to a person becoming less active, which can result in weight gain. Once the intolerant food is removed from the diet, energy levels often increase and calories are burnt more efficiently.
What is food intolerance?
Food intolerance is often confused with food allergy but, in fact, they are quite different. Chief Executive of Allergy UK Muriel Simmons, explains “With allergies, symptoms can be very dangerous and even life-threatening. A food intolerance, on the other hand, is more likely to present itself with symptoms such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), eczema, migraine, fatigue,hives and asthma.
Furthermore, they both activate different types of antibodies, which have different roles in the immune system.“An allergy" generates the IgE immune response, which occurs when an antibody mistakes the food as a harmful alien, perhaps believing it to be a virus or bacteria, and attacks it. These responses are usually genetic, often appear in childhood and are unlikely to change.
A food intolerance generates the IgG immune response, which is due to the presence of certain trigger foods. The IgG antibody is responsible for the less severe symptoms associated with a food intolerance and, unlike an allergy, symptoms may take from an hour to several days to appear.
How do you know if you have a food intolerance?
Ask yourself how often you eat the main offenders such as wheat and dairy. It may be more than you think! If you had cereal or toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, a couple of biscuits mid-afternoon and pasta for dinner, some of the major culprits are included in each of your daily meals, and so your excess weight could be down to a food intolerance. If you think you may have a food intolerance, there are several avenues that you can take to confirm your suspicions:
Elimination and challenge - you can avoid suspected foods for two weeks, and then reintroduce them in a controlled way, one by one, on different days, to discover which ones are causing the reaction. Keep a note of the symptoms when you avoid certain foods, and which symptoms reappear when these foods are reintroduced. This requires discipline but can be highly effective. You may find it useful to keep a food diary.
Blood testing - this approach tests the antibody levels in the blood, including unmodified food particles. A finger prick test can analyse antibody levels for up to 113 foods and results are normally available within 10 days. Alternatively a larger quantity of blood can be taken and in the same test IgG and IgE responses can be measured. These tests can be organised through Physical Nutrition – please speak to your therapist.
Bio-energetic stress testing - this can be carried out by an experienced practitioner using a variety of different testing machines. Possible food intolerances can be tested by taking readings from various acupuncture points of very low electrical vibrations in the body.
Kinesiology - the use of muscle testing to identify imbalances in the body. It is a system of natural health care which combines muscle monitoring with the principles of Chinese medicine. It can also show how bodily imbalances are linked, put them in order of priority and determine the most effective treatment for you.
Foods most likely to cause intolerance
The most common offenders today are milk, wheat, eggs, nuts and yeast. According to Cambridge Nutritional Sciences, who carry out specific tests for food intolerance, 40% of their clients test positive to dairy. As far is wheat is concerned it appears to account for about 25% of all food intolerances.
At York Tests clients are tracked for several months after eliminating food intolerances with the help of a follow up questionnaire. Dr Sarah Brewer Medical Director at YorkTest, says “ People who experience gastro-intestinal symptoms from eating trigger foods very often report weight loss once culprit foods are eliminated. This is likely to be due to a reduction in bloating and fluid retention. However, as an ethical company, we do not make weight loss claims”.
How do you deal with a food intolerance?
Once diagnosed with an intolerance, it may be necessary to avoid those trigger foods for a period of time. Your body may have developed a temporary intolerance. After 6 to 8 weeks, you might be able to slowly reintroduce the trigger foods. After all, foods like wheat and dairy for example, can be part of a healthy diet and you should be able to retrain your body to accept them in moderation.
However, it is not just about eliminating foods – it is vital that the underlying cause of the food intolerance is explored and a qualified nutritionist can work with you on this. It may not have been purely down to diet – is your digestive system functioning optimally, is there a lot of stress in your life, do you have a bacterial or parasite infection that has compromised your gut lining? It is important that you work with a qualified nutritionist to ensure that the body can heal itself and that the food intolerance symptoms as well as the weight disappear!
It is also highly likely that your immune system is a key player in the emergence of symptoms, so one of the best things you can do is support it. There are many natural ways to do this and again it is best to consult a nutritional therapist for guidance.
What if you don’t have a food intolerance, but still can’t lose weight?
A food intolerance is not the only reason why those kilos just won’t disappear. Perhaps your body is full of toxic deposits that are hindering the digestive process. In this case a naturopathic detoxification diet may be beneficial. Maybe you have an under active thyroid, which is a common cause of weight gain. If you think this might be the reason then discuss it with your GP. Or it could even be that you are holding onto excess weight for emotional reasons, in which case you might consider seeing a counselor.
First published in Spirit and Destiny.
Symptoms of food intolerance
Gastrointestinal
IBS, bloating, diarrhoea
Dermalogical
Eczema, spots, dry skin
Respiratory
Asthma and wheezing
Neurological
Headaches, migraine
Mental
Depression, anxiety, fatigue
