A food allergy means that your body is producing antibodies that are attacking that protein that you are eating. For example, if you are allergic to milk, when you drink it, your body will create antibodies to attack the milk proteins. And, as a result of your body attacking the milk proteins, your body is likely to have a reaction.
Many people believe that they have a food allergy when what they really have is a food intolerance. Taking the milk example again, drinking it may cause your stomach to become bloated. This is usually a sign of food intolerance, meaning that your body doesn’t have enough of the lactase enzyme to fully digest the milk. As a result, some of the milk remains undigested in your stomach causing the bloating.
If, however, after drinking milk you begin to experience shortness of breathing, nasal congestion, hives, or other symptoms – it is a strong sign that you actually have an allergy to milk. The best way to know for sure, of course, is to be tested.
So you can see how important it is to distinguish between food allergies vs food intolerances. Food intolerance can often be resolved by simply taking the appropriate food enzymes. Food allergies, however, are much more complicated to treat. In many cases the only thing to do is to avoid the food altogether.
Another thing often confused with a food allergy is chemical sensitivity. As a nation, our consumption of whole foods has decreased dramatically over the last century. Fast foods and processed foods are the order of the day. And thousands of chemicals – some safe, some not – are added to these processed foods. You may think that you are allergic to a food, when what you are really allergic to are the additives within it.
A perfect example is food colorings that are added to many foods. This is almost always done as a marketing stunt supposedly to make the food more appealing to the eye. At any rate, many people, especially young children, are sensitive to some of these food dyes. You may have a reaction to the food and think that, therefore you are allergic to that food, when what you are really allergic to is the food coloring. Because the symptoms of a food allergy and a chemical sensitivity are often similar, it can be difficult to diagnose which one it is.
The lesson to be learned is that whether due to real food allergies, chemical sensitivities, or food additives, the causes of many of the illnesses we experience can be traced directly back to the foods we eat. And, if you want to really improve your health, you can start by being tested for food allergies.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Al_Jeffries
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