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Possibly one of the most frustrating things that you can suffer from is food intolerances. Unlike food allergies, which can be recognized by the strong and almost immediate reactions, food intolerances are a hit and miss proposition that can make the sufferer crazy. You can spend months avoiding specific foods and still not figure out the cause of your symptoms. In this case a food intolerance test is the logical way to go to find out what is causing your problems.

Many people think that being intolerant to a certain food is the same as being allergic to it. This is a myth. Having a food intolerance is very different from having a food allergy. Food allergies cause problems that are very severe and occur very quickly, while food intolerance results in symptoms that are less serious, and may not appear for as long as 72 hours. You can quickly learn which foods are giving you problems by taking a food intolerance test.

With a food allergy, your body is in fact allergic to the food in question and the reaction is that of your immune system itself fighting back, very comparable to if you were allergic to pollen. With food intolerance, the immune system does not come into the picture.

There are certain food that just do not agree with you. Even if your body doesn't feel like it is being invaded by foreign bodies, your stomach and intestines (where food is digested and the eliminated) will certainly know that something isn't right.

Food intolerance usually happens when your body no longer produces the necessary chemicals and enzymes that aid the digestion of that food in particular. This is common for many people as they grow up, which is why such a large number of people become lactose intolerant, since the production of the enzyme used for lactose digestion decreases after the age of 2. We generally begin to develop symptoms much later, and these tend to be unpleasant.

You can find out what foods you cannot tolerate in a number of ways. You can do this by reducing your food intake to a small number of foods that it is known cause the smallest number of problems. It is common to begin with such foods as lamb, water and brown rice. If you eat only these foods for about three weeks, then you can begin to reintroduce other foods one at a time, every few days. You should keep a detailed diary and record any reaction you have. After 6 or 9 months you will probably have an clearer idea of which foods you cannot tolerate.

The other way to discover which foods you are intolerant to is to take an ELISA IgG blood test for food intolerances. This only needs a few drops of blood and over 200 foods can be tested. Once you start avoiding the foods you are intolerant to you will typically find that your energy levels increase, digestion improves, you get better sleep. Many people also find an added benefit of fairly rapid weight loss!