Breaking Bad Habits

Food allergies and food intolerances are very similar terms that are commonly used interchangeably – however, they are two very different reactions that need to be more fully understood.

Food allergies cause intense allergic reactions. Your body treats the food as a hostile atacker, and produces increased amounts of immunglobin E to attack it. This in turn manufactures increased production of histamine, resulting in red, swelling and itchy skin, wheezing, coughing, and a feeling of tightness in the nose and throat. Sometimes the reaction is even more intense, where the body goes into anaphylactic shock, and beginsstarts to shut down. The most cited occurence of this is an allergic reaction to peanuts, where a quick injection of adrenaline is needeed to stop the often fatal anaphylaxis.

Food intolerance is a less severe allergic reaction. Most often seen in cases of lactose intolerance, food intolerance is where the body is unable to totally process a particular food. This usually results in migraines, diarrhoea, vomiting, or feelings of dizziness and lethargy.

In both cases, an exclusion diet and skin prick tests can be highly useful in highlighting the specific foods that cause the reaction. Your diet can then be to remove the unwanted foods whilst still being nutritious and satisfying. Many special food allergy recipe books are available which can be a huge help to those suffering from food allergies.

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