One of the most frequently asked questions I come across in my practice is ‘Can you please test me for food intolerances?’. Funnily enough, one of the tests I use the most infrequently is the food intolerance test. Let me explain why.
It is often the case that food intolerances are not the cause of the health problems the client come to see me for, but in fact the symptom. Food intolerances can often develop as a result of underlying digestive disturbances. Perhaps the easiest way to explain this is to look at the link between digestion and the immune system. The immune system is the ‘gate keeper’ that vets everything we ingest and determines what is safe to allow in the body. If your digestion is not working well, the immune system may not recognise the larger undigested food particles that it is now presented with and goes on the defensive. As a result, you may experience diarrhoea, bloating, stomach cramps, skin problems and a whole host of other symptoms.
In other words, the inability to properly digest any foods can cause your body to treat them as ‘foreign’ and you will start experiencing unpleasant symptoms every time you eat those foods. It is perhaps then no surprise that wheat gluten and dairy proteins, both of which are relatively hard work for the digestion, are the two foods most people report to be intolerant to.
So when I see clients with food intolerances, the most frequent test I suggest is not an intolerance test, but a comprehensive digestive stool analysis. This gives me a detailed view of the state of the digestive system. I find that many times, once the digestion is back into working optimally the food intolerance symptoms are also a thing of the past.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Nutrition, digestion, and the 'diagnosis' of IBS
I've just enjoyed a relaxing week off taking in the delights of Cornish coast line. The scenery was beautiful, we got lots of good walking done, but most of all I really enjoyed staying in a self-catering cottage. In the past I've found going on holidays can sometimes be quite a lot of hard work on the digestion. You end up eating foods you wouldn't normally at home, and the meal size are often bigger in restaurants that I'd choose to have if I was cooking for myself (and once the food is on my plate I'll happily eat it!).
Self-catering allowed me to bring me my vegetable juicer with me - juicing is one of those things I'd love to do more of, but don't always have enough time. But on holiday there's generally more time, so more juicing got done too! So after the week's holiday I felt both physically and mentally restored (although I must confess that I also enjoyed the occasional cream tea - when in Rome etc...)
So digestive problems can ruin a perfectly good holiday, and can make every day life a misery too. One of the most common complaints clients come to see me with is IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) to get some nutritional help where medical support has failed. It seems to be one of those terms that get used when no other explanation can be easily found for continued problems with constipation, diarrhoea, cramping and other unpleasant symptoms.
As it’s not the most glamorous subject to bring up, and won’t really lift the tone of any dinner party conversation, many have been putting up with the symptoms for a long time before deciding to seek help. When clients come to see me, they complain about getting bored with the narrow range of ‘safe’ foods they feel they are able to eat, and for many, their symptoms have also put some serious constraints on their social life.
One such client came to see me a few months ago. She had been putting up with constipation, cramps and loose stools for over 6 years – often having to make the dash for the loo at very short notice. By this point she wasn’t really keen to go out at all, let alone enjoy a shopping trip with friends – she daren’t risk it.
She was feeling constantly tired and run down and was wondering if she was getting all the necessary nutrients from the limited range of foods she felt safe to eat. Her weight had also been slowly creeping up over the years, and she found it difficult to shed the extra pounds.
Our first priority was to see what was lurking in her gut that was causing all the problems – we ran a stool test and found a parasite. She also had very low friendly bacteria – friendly bacteria help protect the gut against intruders amongst other things. They also help digest foods, and boost the immune system. No wonder she’d been complaining about always catching every cold going.
We managed to get rid of the parasite with specific herbs and built up her colonies of friendly bacteria with some supplements. At the same time we started slowly broadening the ‘safe’ foods list and designing a whole new and more varied way of eating. The first priority was breakfast – like many other busy professionals, my client had been skipping breakfast as she wasn’t prioritising it and thought she couldn’t spare the time. What a huge difference that and other small adjustments to her diet made – she no longer had the huge cravings she had had for chocolate cookies!
Now, three month’s down the line – running for the loo is no longer an issue – her gut is totally normal and as an added bonus, there have been some not so sneaky changes in her weight as well, this time downwards rather than upwards.
Self-catering allowed me to bring me my vegetable juicer with me - juicing is one of those things I'd love to do more of, but don't always have enough time. But on holiday there's generally more time, so more juicing got done too! So after the week's holiday I felt both physically and mentally restored (although I must confess that I also enjoyed the occasional cream tea - when in Rome etc...)
So digestive problems can ruin a perfectly good holiday, and can make every day life a misery too. One of the most common complaints clients come to see me with is IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) to get some nutritional help where medical support has failed. It seems to be one of those terms that get used when no other explanation can be easily found for continued problems with constipation, diarrhoea, cramping and other unpleasant symptoms.
As it’s not the most glamorous subject to bring up, and won’t really lift the tone of any dinner party conversation, many have been putting up with the symptoms for a long time before deciding to seek help. When clients come to see me, they complain about getting bored with the narrow range of ‘safe’ foods they feel they are able to eat, and for many, their symptoms have also put some serious constraints on their social life.
One such client came to see me a few months ago. She had been putting up with constipation, cramps and loose stools for over 6 years – often having to make the dash for the loo at very short notice. By this point she wasn’t really keen to go out at all, let alone enjoy a shopping trip with friends – she daren’t risk it.
She was feeling constantly tired and run down and was wondering if she was getting all the necessary nutrients from the limited range of foods she felt safe to eat. Her weight had also been slowly creeping up over the years, and she found it difficult to shed the extra pounds.
Our first priority was to see what was lurking in her gut that was causing all the problems – we ran a stool test and found a parasite. She also had very low friendly bacteria – friendly bacteria help protect the gut against intruders amongst other things. They also help digest foods, and boost the immune system. No wonder she’d been complaining about always catching every cold going.
We managed to get rid of the parasite with specific herbs and built up her colonies of friendly bacteria with some supplements. At the same time we started slowly broadening the ‘safe’ foods list and designing a whole new and more varied way of eating. The first priority was breakfast – like many other busy professionals, my client had been skipping breakfast as she wasn’t prioritising it and thought she couldn’t spare the time. What a huge difference that and other small adjustments to her diet made – she no longer had the huge cravings she had had for chocolate cookies!
Now, three month’s down the line – running for the loo is no longer an issue – her gut is totally normal and as an added bonus, there have been some not so sneaky changes in her weight as well, this time downwards rather than upwards.
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