WELCOME
Are you fed up of being ill?
Have you, for as long as you can remember, been plagued by minor health problems such as headaches, skin rashes, cold and virus type symptoms, fleeting pains, bloating, sleeplessness, stomach upsets?
Have you never had a fully healthy skin?
Have you tried to lose weight and never succeeded or if you have lost weight have you put it on again?
Do you get recurring problems like joint and muscle pains, restless legs, fatigue, headaches, tics, rashes, depression, anxiety, tinnitus?
Have you had long periods of coping with everything and then suddenly become exhausted and has this happened more than once?
Do you feel tired after a full night's sleep?
Do you feel as if you have never totally been yourself?
Have you felt as if your life goes round in circles? You have periods of feeling okay when you get on with your life, make plans, see friends... Then you find the pace is speeding up, it seems that there's too much to do but you're still okay, coping.
Then suddenly, or so it appears, everything seems too much and you descend into feelings of despair and not coping—all you really want to do is withdraw. And, when it finally passes, do you feel confused and unsure of yourself?
Have you ever made a major change to your diet and, after an initial high, felt worse?
Do you frequently have stomach problems—wind, indigestion, constipation and/or diarrhoea?
Have you had bouts of anxiety, nervousness or depression for no apparent reason?
Does your vision fluctuate over the day—at times cloudy and then clear?
Do you have black shadows around your eyes or a feeling of grit beneath your eyelids?
Has a doctor, more than once, told you he can find nothing wrong or that there's nothing to worry about (the rash, pain, etc… will go away in time), or has he suggested your problem is stress related when you know it isn't?
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If you have answered yes to more than one of the above questions then there is a strong likelihood that something you are eating is making you ill. You are in good company...
We change our diets, take supplements, exercise more and still we feel no better. So what is going wrong? It is my belief that the focus of most health care is fundamentally flawed. Rather than looking for the cause of our problems, doctors usually focus on treating the symptoms. We have come to accept this approach and to expect it, even demand it. We want the quick fix that will remove the pain, the rash or the depression but, sadly, without sorting out the cause the symptoms usually return.
If your diet is not the right one for you then you will not be as healthy as you could be both mentally and physically. By finding the diet that works for your body and mind you will change your life—you will experience fewer health problems, have more energy, an increased sense of well being and a return of hope and joy.
If this sounds far-fetched, I simply ask for your patience and time. Read on and you will discover for yourself the truth about how food can make you ill.
My Story
Being constantly plagued by minor health problems had become a way of life for me. The crippling joint pain, the yo-yoing weight, the skin rashes, headaches, sinusitis, and tinnitus had become so usual that I had stopped seeing them as “illness” and accepted them as normal for me. What else could I do?
My diet was packed full of healthy fruit and vegetables. Visits to doctors invariably resulted in diagnoses of a virus, stress, wear and tear, or tiredness. There was, apparently, nothing wrong with me. I knew I wasn't as healthy as I could be but no matter what I did nothing changed. During this time I pretty much became an expert on relaxation techniques, meditation, healthy eating, stress management, alternative therapies and creative visualisation. Life, at times, did get easier but I was never fully well.
By the time I was in my late thirties, the problems had become serious. I was constantly ill and began experiencing episodes of severe debilitating tiredness and illness. According to the medical profession, there was nothing wrong with me that some fresh air, exercise and maybe a drop in weight wouldn't cure. But these measures did not work and my health got worse. I stopped being able to work and my life began to unravel.
Thankfully, I am a fighter and thankfully I had helped my husband “cure” his migraines and depression by identifying problems with grains, yeast, sugar and tyramine. Looking back I can only smile at how throughout that process it never once occurred to me that my own problems, mental as well as physical, could have their foundation in the food I was eating.
It was on a, sunny, day out in York that I finally made the connection. Sitting on the steps of the Minster exhausted after a very short walk and nursing a migraine, I watched people closely and came to the conclusion that the bloating I was experiencing and the translucent mottled skin I had developed were most definitely not normal. But what was wrong with me?
Biting into an apple my migraine raged even more ferociously and then receded leaving me with a severe low blood sugar problem. It was at that moment that I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe, some of my problems were being caused by food.
Within a few weeks of following an elimination diet I had made enormous progress. The weight began to disappear, the headaches stopped, my skin began to clear, my joints were mobile, my ears stopped ringing and my sinuses cleared. But what surprised me most of all were the changes in my behaviour and feelings.
The manic hyperactive energy followed by extreme fatigue, the mood swings, the inexplicable anxiety, tension, disorientation and confusion, the memory problems, and the extreme need to be alone all began to fade into the background. I had long ago decided that I had a personality defect probably caused by some event that was locked in my memory that I couldn't access. I was wrong, seriously wrong. These psychological and behavioural symptoms were all being caused by the food I was eating.
To cut a very long story short my health improved and I returned to work but a few months later began to re-experience problems. At this point it seemed that I was intolerant of nearly everything I ate and my diet was very restricted. I decided not give in but to carry out more research and eventually I discovered the information on food chemicals, salicylates in particular, which I needed. At last I had found the cause of my problems. The journey had been long, painful and extremely lonely but at last I had arrived at a reason and a “cure”. I became far healthier than I had ever been.
My problems are not some medical oddity, quite the opposite. My research has shown me quite clearly that food intolerance can be the cause of many physical and mental health problems. It has also shown me that food as a cause is very rarely explored leaving many people to go throughout their lives suffering totally unnecessarily.
I believe that life is far too short to have its quality impaired by what we eat. I created the web site www.foodcanmakeyouill.co.uk and wrote this book to help others on their journey towards health. I do not believe that food intolerance is the cause of all problems but I do believe, and know, that for many a change in diet can truly change their lives.
The aims of this book
The aims of The Food Intolerance Handbook are:
- To provide you with an overview of the ways in which food can make people ill if they have a sensitivity to it.
- To explain the differences between food allergy and food intolerance.
- To outline a method, using the Seven Step Plan, that you can use to help you identify any food intolerance problems you may have.
- To introduce you to how food chemicals, natural and man-made, can cause problems.
- And, to introduce you to the concept of a truly healthy diet that works for you.
I wish you every success.
Sharla Race
Sharla Race