In this blog, Surrey Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist and functional medicine test expert explores the truth of most food intolerance tests.
If you’ve ever taken a food intolerance test and been told you’re intolerant to numerous foods and are wondering what if anything you can eat, you are not alone. Many clients who come to my Surrey based naturopathic nutrition clinic arrive confused and frustrated, armed with test results that label them intolerant to dozens of foods. But here’s the truth: most of these tests don’t reveal true food intolerances, instead, they reflect a much deeper issue, your gut health!
The Problem with Modern Food Intolerance Tests
Most commercial food intolerance tests measure IgG antibodies, which are part of your body’s immune response. However, elevated IgG levels don’t necessarily indicate a food intolerance, instead they simply show that your body has been exposed to certain foods. In fact, people often produce more IgG to foods they eat regularly, meaning the foods you eat most often are the ones that show up as “problematic”.
As a result, these tests frequently yield false positives, causing unnecessary food fear and extreme dietary restrictions. In my surrey naturopathic nutrition practice, I’ve seen countless clients who have eliminated dozens of foods based on poor food intolerance test results, only to feel worse over time due to nutritional deficiencies and increased stress around food, and in some cases have restricted key food groups so much that they now have signs or a formal diagnosis of an eating disorder.
It’s Not the Food; It’s Your Gut
Well, that grabbed your attention, but let’s do a bit of a U-turn for a minute! There are obviously foods that will cause problems, but these are generally the unhealthy ultra processed foods that serve no nutritional benefit and contain numerous chemicals that are made in a laboratory. My simple rule is this: if you read the ingredients list and you need a biological degree to comprehend the contents then it’s NOT made from real food and is likely either going to cause you immediate problems or will cause you problems in the long term if you regularly consume those type of foods.
But when we talk about natural foods that come from the earth or animals such as certain vegetables, beans, legumes, pulses, garlic, fruits, poultry, eggs, and avocado for example, if you are told you are intolerant to any of these foods then it’s likely that the truth is these are not “intolerances” and the issue is more likely linked to your poor digestive function. Therefore, rather than pointing the finger at the food itself, we need to explore what’s really going on in your gut:
- Gut Dysbiosis: An imbalance in your gut microbiome can lead to inflammation, bloating, and poor digestion, as well as deterioration of the GUT lining. If the gut lining is compromised then you may have increased intestinal permeability aka leaky gut, and thus even normally harmless foods can trigger symptoms essentially because you either cannot properly digest/break them down or because elements of food are leaking back into your blood stream via your compromised GUT lining.
- Low Stomach Acid: Adequate stomach acid is essential for breaking down proteins and killing off harmful bacteria. Low stomach acid can lead to undigested foods fermenting in the gut, contributing to gas, bloating, acid reflux and food reactions, and may lead to a condition known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
- Malabsorption: Low stomach acid, poor pancreatic function, sluggish bile flow, or digestive enzyme deficiencies can impair your ability to digest and thus absorb fats, proteins and key micronutrients including vitamins and minerals. This leads to incomplete digestion, which in turn causes poor physiology and numerous health consequences driving issues with neuro-inflammation, cognitive function, metabolism, hormone imbalance and immune dysregulation.
- Poor Gut Motility: Slow digestive transit time can lead to constipation, bloating, digestive discomfort, nausea, low energy and deterioration of the GUT lining.
- Sluggish Liver: Maybe your doctor has told you that your liver is fine because your blood tests where fine. But does that mean your liver is in optimal health, does that rule out a sluggish liver that’s overloaded with toxins and not detoxifying particularly well? At our Surrey based Naturopathic Nutrition clinic we will look for signs of a sluggish liver using naturopathic and traditional Chinese medicine principles. If your liver is sluggish this in turn will impact your GUT health, which if poor can in turn impact the liver health, so if needed we will support your liver function naturally using herbs, supplements and foods where necessary.
All of these issues can contribute to a hypersensitive gut environment, one that reacts to almost anything you eat and thus the assumption that the issue lies in food intolerances or allergies, when the reality is, we need to work on supporting digestive function, re-balancing the Gut microbiome, hydration and GUT motility and then you will find that actually you can start to re-introduce some of the foods you previously could not tolerate.
Finally get to restore your food freedom, rid yourself of the myth of food intolerances and restore your Gut health at our Surrey based Naturopathic Nutrition Clinic. Book a FREE Call to discover more here.
A Naturopathic Approach: Rebuild, Restore, Reintroduce
Instead of relying on unreliable food intolerance tests, our Surrey based naturopathic nutrition practice focuses on rebuilding your digestive foundation so you can enjoy food again, without the guesswork, without the discomfort, without the fear and without the major restrictions and thus without the risk of forming a disordered eating habit!
Step 1: Assess Digestive Function
We take a deep dive into your digestive health. This includes evaluating stomach acid levels, enzyme production, and signs of gut dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability aka leaky GUT. There are many signs of poor GUT health from the obvious such as constipation, bloating, acid reflux, to undigested food in the stool, to pale stools to non-flushing or floating stool for example. We may also use functional testing such as a comprehensive stool analysis to get a clearer picture of what’s really going on if needed. Find out more about our stool testing here.
Step 2: Re-Balance and support motility
Subject to what we find during our naturopathic nutrition health assessment, we may start work on GUT motility, softening of the stool or reducing any acid reflux or bloating in the first instance for example, and we can do this easily with simple nutrition changes or certain supplements. However, where we suspect Gut microbiome imbalance, parasites, yeast overgrowth, GUT inflammation or enzyme deficiency for example then we may recommend a comprehensive stool analysis so that we can target our approach with more specific precision. As an example, we rarely recommend probiotics without first running a stool test. This is because there are so many different strains of probiotics, and therefore how do we know specifically which probiotic strains you need if we haven’t tested your microbiome first. In fact, by randomly selecting a probiotic we may be making a GUT microbiome imbalance worse. Find out more about our comprehensive Stool test here.
Step 3: Eliminate Strategically, Not Permanently
At our Surrey based Naturopathic Nutritional Therapy clinic if we suspect there is a food intolerance, which may normally be an obvious food such as gluten for example, then instead of eliminating every food flagged by a test, we use trial-and-error to identify any true food sensitivities. This process is far more accurate, sustainable and cost effective, and involves cutting out key selected food groups one by one for a short period in parallel with step 2 above, if the client gets immediate relief, then we know that we are onto something. Why do we need to over complicate something or prove it on a test, when simple trial and error can give us the answer!
Step 4: Rebuild Digestive Capacity
We use targeted nutritional therapy to restore optimal digestion:
- Support stomach acid with natural aids like betaine HCl (when appropriate) or with bitter herbs and salads.
- Boost pancreatic enzyme activity and bile flow.
- We may also use digestive enzymes and liver supporting herbs where appropriate.
- Introduce gut-healing nutrients like glutamine, zinc, bone broth, lion’s mane mushroom, phosphatidyl-choline and anti-inflammatory herbs where appropriate.
- Rebalance the gut microbiome through probiotics, prebiotics, and lifestyle strategies.
Step 5: Reintroduce Foods with Confidence
As your gut heals and your digestion improves, we slowly one by one reintroduce previously problematic foods. For many of our Surrey based clients, this is a life changing step, as they finally are able to enjoy a varied, nourishing diet again without symptoms.
Ditch the Food Intolerance Test, and Trust Your Body’s Natural Response!
If you’ve been told you have a food intolerance to multiple foods based on a food intolerance test, it might be time to reconsider. Food, particularly natural whole foods from plants and animals are meant to nourish as they contain numerous nutrients needed for both body and mind. Eating food is not meant too, and should not cause you discomfort, nor should it stress you out! As a naturopathic nutritional therapist in Surrey, I help my clients move beyond misleading test results and toward lasting digestive health that positively impacts overall physical and mental health.
Let’s stop blaming the food and start healing your gut, so you can enjoy eating again, symptom-free. Book a Free discovery call with expert Surrey based naturopathic nutritional therapist and functional medicine test expert Natalie @natnuthc to learn more.
Ready to heal your gut and get off the food intolerance test rollercoaster?
If you’re looking for a naturopathic nutritional therapist in Surrey to help you with nutrition, food intolerances, and gut health, get in touch for a personalised plan today. Together, we’ll get to the root of your symptoms without running unnecessary expensive food intolerance tests that lead to unnecessary food restrictions and discomfort, and if we genuinely think there is a food intolerance then we have laboratories that we work with that we trust to ensure they run a comprehensive and accurate food intolerance test that you can rely on. Book a Free call to discover more today, follow us on socials for numerous free tips that we often give away @natnuthc or visit our specialist GUT Health Clinic for more information.
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The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or nutritional advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, lifestyle, or health care regimen. Individual needs may vary, and what works for one person may not be appropriate for another.
