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Being unable to tolerate a food can be very aggravating. A food allergy, by contrast, is easy to spot, as you will react very quickly after ingestion. But an intolerance takes longer to become evident, and the person who has it might not even realize the cause. Or you can go out of your way to eliminate certain foods, and still not discover what the culprit is. So, a food intolerance test can determine the culprit a lot better than food elimination.

The first legend that needs to be dispelled is that people who are intolerant to certain foods are allergic to those food items. Food allergies are not the same as having an intolerance to those foods. The symptoms of food allergies are usually strong and come on quite suddenly, whereas food intolerances usually cause symptoms that are less severe, and can take up to 72 hours to appear. By taking a food intolerance test you will quickly discover which are the offending foods.

There is a fundamental difference between the inability to digest a specific type of food and an allergy to that same item. When you are allergic to something, the body treats it as a threat and acts to eliminate the problem. Conversely, intolerance is simply the inability of the body to handle a food item.

Your body does not think that it is being invaded by a foreign body. Nevertheless, your organs, usually your stomach and intestine which is where food is digested and eliminated, will react to certain ingredients in the food in question merely because it is intolerant to that particular food.

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.

There are a couple of ways of discovering which foods you are intolerant to. You can reduce your diet to just a few foods that are known to cause the least amount of problems, brown rice, lamb and water are the common starting foods. After about 3 weeks of eating only these foods you can then reintroduce one food at time, every 3 or 4 days. It is a good idea to keep a very thorough diary to see if you get any reactions. After about 6 to 9 months you should have a clear picture of which foods you have an intolerance to.

Taking the ELISA IgG blood test to check for food intolerance is another means of figuring out which foods your body will not tolerate. Over 200 foods are tested using only a couple drops of blood. You will notice that you sleep more soundly, your digestion will improve, and you will feel more energetic when you are no longer consuming foods that you are intolerant to. Weight loss also occurs at an accelerated rate, which many people find pleasing.

A food intolerance test can help you understand what is causing your problems. Food intolerance is different from food allergies. When you have an allergy, your body treats the food as a threat and tries to eliminate it. Food intolerance is the inability of the body to handle some foods because your body doesn't produce certain enzymes to digest that specific food. To find out what foods you can't tolerate, eliminate specific foods in a given time period and observe your reaction. An Elisa IgG blood test also determines food sensitivities to over 200 food types. Once you eliminate foods you can't tolerate, you will also experience weight loss.