Food Intolerance: FAQs (3)
If food was my problem surely I'd know, wouldn't I?
How I wish this I could say yes. Sadly, if you have eaten the same food every day for years you will not know if it is causing a problem. It is only by removing the suspect food from your diet and then testing it that you will know for definite if that food is a problem for you.
The body has an amazing ability to cope and that is what it will do until it reaches a point when it can no longer tolerate the onslaught and more serious health problems begin to emerge. For example, you can have been plagued by minor problems for years then get a nasty virus and find that you simply just do not get well again. You are mystified and so is your doctor. Or, you can change your diet to a more "healthy" one and feel great for a while and then find you are putting on weight, feeling tired all the time, developing joint problems, feeling miserable etc...
Having said all of that, it is possible that you do know and instinctively avoid certain types of food, you may have refused certain types of food as a child but been made to eat them because they were "good for you" (children who are "picky" eaters could be signalling a food intolerance problem) and you may know that some foods give stomach problems or a hangover effect but because you enjoy them or they are "good for you" you keep on eating them.
The way the body adapts is explained in more detail in the book
Change Your Diet and Change Your Life.
Why has my doctor never mentioned food as a possible cause of my symptoms?
Our western doctors are trained to look at symptoms and to treat them. Rarely do they look for the underlying cause. So if you present with a rash, migraine, or joint pain you are more likely to be given medication than be offered help with re-evaluating your diet. This is simply their training.
It is also the case that there is no simple test for food intolerance. If a doctor suspects a food problem, other than an allergy, then he has to rely on you to carry out the elimination diet, the testing and has to accept your findings. He has little control and no objective measure of how reliable your findings are. Many doctors are very uneasy about this situation.
Thankfully allergies are now more widely understood and accepted and
hopefully, in the future, food intolerance will become more accepted.
You can find out more in Change Your Diet and Change Your Life.