How to Live With a Food Allergy

Allergies to food are similar to other allergies in that your body has an abnormal response to a usually harmless substance. Symptoms of food allergies can vary, but can include hives, vomiting, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal upset, fatigue, weight loss or gain, acne, and respiratory problems. Reactions range from mild to life-threatening.

Things You'll Need

• Food/exercise Journals
• Acidophilus
• Bromelain
• Quercetin
• Vitamin B Complex
• Vitamin C

Instructions

1. Assess your symptoms. If you feel fatigued, or if you are having gastrointestinal symptoms and/or respiratory symptoms that do not respond to regular medical care, a food allergy may be the culprit.

2. Give your diet a thorough review. Ninety percent of all food allergies are caused by only eight items. The most common allergens are milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy, nuts from trees, fish, and shellfish.

3. Start a food list. Write down all foods you eat every day. It may be time-consuming, but it will be worthwhile to uncover a hidden food allergy.

4. Keep the list for one month. At the end of the month, add up the checks. Write down any food that you ate at least four times a week. These are your suspected allergens.

5. Eliminate all suspected foods from your diet. Make sure you eliminate all forms of them. For example, if you are eliminating wheat, you must remove all products that contain wheat, not just bread and pastries.

6. Wait 30 days. See if your symptoms clear up or begin to improve. If they do, you have probably eliminated the allergen.

7. Introduce the suspected foods back into your diet slowly, one at a time. Do not introduce more than one food per day.

8. Keep a diary of your reactions. Write down how you feel after eating the reintroduced food. If you have a reaction, remove it from your diet again.

9. Wait two months before attempting to try the food again. If you have a reaction to it after a second reintroduction, then you need to keep it out of your diet permanently.

10. Add a supplement of vitamin C with bioflavonoids to your diet - 1,000 to 5,000 mg per day in divided doses. It helps your body cope with allergens and decreases inflammation.

11. Use quercetin, 500mg twice per day. It helps decrease allergic reactions and supports the immune system.

12. Add bromelain, 100mg twice per day. It helps enhance the action of quercetin.

13. Take a high-potency B-complex vitamin. It helps with digestion.

14. Take acidophilus; use according to product label. It helps digestion by maintaining healthy intestinal flora.

15. Use a multienzyme complex to help improve digestion. Use according to product label and take with meals.

Tips & Warnings

• There are several reasons why your symptoms may not improve after eliminating suspected foods. First, you may not have eliminated all forms of the food. Corn, for example, is present in a wide variety of processed foods. Second, you may not have eliminated the real culprit. Avoid bananas, beef products, caffeine, chocolate, citrus fruit, corn, dairy products, eggs, oats, oysters, peanuts, processed and refined foods, salmon, strawberries, tomatoes, wheat and white rice. These are the foods and food products most likely to cause an allergic reaction. Avoid them until you are sure that you are not allergic to them. Third, your symptoms may not be caused by a food allergy, but by a different condition entirely. It would be prudent to see a doctor to determine the cause of your symptoms.