At Capalaba Natural Health, we understand that food intolerance can have a significant impact on your health and wellbeing. Whether it’s persistent digestive issues or unexplained fatigue, food intolerances can affect daily life in ways you might not realise. Our professional Food Intolerance Testing is designed to help you identify the specific foods causing your discomfort so you can take back control of your health.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through what food intolerance is, common symptoms, the difference between food sensitivity and food allergies, and the benefits of undergoing a food intolerance test.
What is Food Intolerance?
Food intolerance refers to a difficulty in digesting certain foods. Unlike food allergies, which involve an immediate and potentially severe reaction from the immune system, food intolerances tend to cause more subtle and delayed symptoms. These symptoms can be uncomfortable and frustrating, but they are generally not life-threatening.
One of the key aspects of food intolerance is that it can develop over time. Some people might tolerate certain foods well for years and suddenly experience digestive problems, headaches, or skin conditions after consuming them. Foods commonly associated with intolerance include eggs, dairy products, gluten, yeast and certain types of carbohydrates. However, each person is different, and the foods triggering a reaction vary from one individual to another.
Food Intolerance Symptoms
The symptoms of food intolerance can vary widely depending on the person and the type of food involved. Since these symptoms are often delayed, it can be difficult to identify the specific food causing the issue. Here are some of the most common symptoms associated with food intolerance:
Digestive issues: bloating, gas, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach cramps
Fatigue: feeling tired, brain fog and sluggish even after a full night’s sleep
Headaches or migraines: regular, unexplained headaches
Skin problems: eczema, rashes, or other skin irritations
Respiratory issues: nasal congestion or a runny nose
Joint pain: achy or stiff joints
Mood swings or irritability: unexplained mood changes, anxiety, or depression
Immune: You get more colds or flu’s than you feel you should. Food intolerances drive autoimmune conditions so eliminating these foods helps settle your overactive immune system down.
Because these symptoms are broad and can overlap with many other conditions, pinpointing the food causing the intolerance can be challenging without professional assistance. That’s where Food Intolerance Testing becomes invaluable.
Food Sensitivity or Food Allergy?
Many people confuse food sensitivity with food allergies, but they are quite different. Understanding the distinction is important, as it can help you approach your symptoms and treatment in the right way.
Food Allergy: This occurs when your immune system mistakes a certain food as a threat and reacts to it aggressively. Symptoms can include hives, swelling, difficulty breathing, or anaphylaxis—a severe, potentially life-threatening reaction. Food allergies typically cause immediate and dramatic responses, and they require immediate medical attention.
Food Sensitivity (or Intolerance): This is a non-immune response, often involving the digestive system’s inability to properly break down certain foods. It can lead to a range of symptoms that develop slowly, often hours or even days after consuming the problem food. While uncomfortable and disruptive, food intolerance is generally not dangerous.
Food intolerance can still have a significant effect on your quality of life. Identifying and eliminating the problematic foods can lead to better health outcomes, more energy, and relief from most ongoing discomfort.
Elimination Diet
One of the most common methods used to identify food intolerance is an elimination diet. This involves cutting out suspected trigger foods from your diet for a few weeks and then gradually reintroducing them one at a time. By doing this, you can observe which foods cause symptoms and which do not.
While the elimination diet is a useful tool, it requires dedication and a structured approach. The process can take many months to do it correctly, and without proper guidance, it’s easy to overlook key factors. Many people find it challenging to identify all of the foods causing their issues, particularly because symptoms can take hours or even days to appear after eating the offending food.
Benefits of Having a Food Intolerance Test
While elimination diets can be helpful, Food Intolerance Testing offers a faster, more accurate way to pinpoint the foods causing problems. At Capalaba Natural Health, we offer professional Food Intolerance Testing Brisbane, which can quickly identify intolerances across a wide range of foods. Here’s why you should consider having a food intolerance test:
- Accurate identification of trigger foods: Instead of guessing which foods are causing your symptoms, a food intolerance test provides clear results. This takes the uncertainty out of the process, allowing you to confidently remove problematic foods from your diet without unnecessarily cutting out foods that are safe for you to eat.
- Personalised dietary advice: At Capalaba Natural Health, your test results are reviewed by one of our qualified naturopaths, Tony Danie or Colin Cranel. They will help you understand the findings and work with you to create a personalised dietary plan that supports your health and wellbeing. This targeted approach ensures you are eating the right foods for your body while avoiding those that cause harm.
- Improved digestive health: By identifying and eliminating the foods that your body struggles to digest, you can improve your overall digestive health. Many people experience relief from bloating, gas, and stomach pain once they remove intolerant foods from their diet.
- Increased energy and vitality: Fatigue is a common symptom of food intolerance, and once you eliminate the offending foods, you may notice a significant improvement in your energy levels. Many people find they sleep better, feel more energised throughout the day, suffer less brain fog and enjoy a better quality of life overall.
- Reduced inflammation and pain: Food intolerances can cause inflammation in the body, leading to joint pain, headaches, skin problems, and more. Once the intolerant foods are removed, you may find relief from these symptoms and experience a reduction in overall inflammation.
- Long-term health benefits: Ignoring food intolerances can lead to long-term health issues, including nutrient deficiencies, chronic inflammation, and digestive disorders. By addressing your food intolerances now, you can help prevent these issues and support better health in the future.
- Cost effective treatment: Most people experience a significant or full resolution in their symptoms when they remove the foods that they are intolerant to and often no longer need to take natural supplements to manage their symptoms. This saves a significant amount of money long term.
Take the First Step Toward a Healthier Lifestyle
Living with food intolerance can be frustrating, but with the right approach, you can regain control of your health and start feeling your best. Food Intolerance Testing is a quick, simple, and effective way to identify the foods that are causing your symptoms. At Capalaba Natural Health, we offer professional Food Intolerance Testing Brisbane, designed to give you the answers you need and a clear path to better health.
Take the first step toward a healthier lifestyle, contact one of our friendly staff today on (07) 3823 3103 to book a consultation and food intolerance test with one of the health professionals at Capalaba Natural Health!
Food Intolerance Testing FAQs
How long does food intolerance testing take?
At Capalaba Natural Health, our experienced team of Naturopaths can administer a food intolerance test and have your results in as little as 2 weeks. Book a food intolerance test today to get started on the path to eliminating digestive issues, and other troubling symptoms such as fatigue, stress, and excess weight.
What’s the difference between food allergies, food sensitivities and food intolerances?
An allergy occurs when the immune system of the body responds to contact with proteins in food or other substances like pollen, bee stings and medicine. This can cause allergic reactions such as itching, coughing and rashes – or even life-threatening anaphylaxis in extreme cases. Allergy symptoms usually appear much sooner than food intolerance symptoms.
Food intolerances, on the other hand, are not based on an immunological response so is not usually diagnosed by a food allergy test. Symptoms can also take much longer to surface, sometimes up to 72 hours after ingestion. Food sensitivity or hypersensitivity are terms that are occasionally used instead of intolerance or allergy.
If you think you may suffer from food intolerance, get in touch with one of the specialists here at Capalaba Natural Health by calling 07 3823 3103 or using our contact details. Our naturopaths will work with you to create a food and diet plan to help you feel healthier and happier!
What are the most common food intolerances?
It’s difficult to estimate the exact frequency of food intolerance in the general population, because many people aren’t tested or diagnosed. The most commonly diagnosed food intolerances include:
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Wheat
- Yeast
- Gluten
What do I do once a food intolerance is diagnosed?
The best way to manage food intolerance is with an elimination diet. Stopping consumption of the food or foods that the food intolerance test – and your own experiences – indicate are causing your discomfort should begin to alleviate symptoms within two weeks (since that’s roughly how long your body needs to reset itself). It may also take a few days for your body to adjust to a new dietary plan.
Can food intolerances develop later in life?
Food intolerance are usually identified in childhood, but they can also appear later in life. As you get older or change your diet, your body may acquire an intolerance to specific foods. A sudden sensitivity to particular foods can also emerge as a result of long-term use of medications such as antibiotics, a stressful life event or fighting a major illness.
Can food intolerances disappear/be cured?
Because food intolerance is often a sign of some underlying illness, such as gut dysbiosis (a reduction in microbial diversity), infections or low stomach acid, determining the reason for the intolerance is key to curing the intolerance itself.
Food sensitivities, on the other hand, are often not permanent since they do not involve the immune system. Food sensitivities tend to subside when the body has had time to recover from the underlying issue. Many people can consume some of the foods they were once previously sensitive to, even if only in reduced amounts.
