Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Allergies And Their Restrictions

By Charlie Monaghan Carter

If you are among the ever increasing number of people who must restrict their diet due to food intolerances, you will know that staying within the guidelines can be tough.

If you have a fairly common allergy or intolerance such as dairy or gluten, then finding foods that are dairy or gluten free isnt too difficult, its when the intolerances get more intricate and uncommon that they become a problem. Also, another big problem for people with food intolerances is eating out at a restaurant for example. A lot of the time, chefs will not understand the implications of a given food on a person with intolerances.

It is quite common for a chef to add a little flour to a sauce to thicken it up, believing that the intolerant person will not notice or be affected by such a small amount. And if the sufferer doesnt explode there and then (and usually they dont) then the chef believes that he got away with it and that the person indeed is not suffering from that little amount. What they dont realise however is that the intolerance usually comes into effect as the food is being digested an hour or two later and the effects can then last for days.

This makes it very difficult for people suffering food intolerances as eating out can quickly become a huge gamble. The more foods you are intolerant to, the bigger the gamble and the greater the likelihood that you will accidentally eat something that will upset you. It is not always easy to provide a chef with a list of foods to avoid. The reason for this is that it is hard work to find good food that avoids many common foods, so many people will soon tire of trying to accommodate you. Dont be surprised if your invitations drop in quantity.

For the sake of your health, it is of the utmost importance that you avoid all foods that you have an intolerance to. It is very hard work for your body to process these foods and so to allow it to recover, you should stick to foods that you know your body can handle. Having said that, if you start eating just a few foods that you know arent going to upset you, you may find that you begin developing intolerances to them as well.

It is important to monitor what you eat and to be aware that this can happen. It is also important for this reason to maintain as wide a diet as possible. This can be difficult, as many people find foods that dont upset them and stick to those as the wider range of foods you eat, the more likelihood there is that you will be intolerant to one or more of them.

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