You know very well that you always get a rash when you eat strawberries or that your friend gets an asthmatic attack after shrimp. But some food can cause damage inconspicuously. For years you've struggled with a bloated stomach, psoriasis or migraines without suspecting that these troubles might have been caused by a slice of bread you had for breakfast. "The incompatibility of some foods is a frequent cause of unclear long-term health problems," Monika Golková, head of the Prague Anti-Aging Clinic, A2C, explains and adds: "Food can be a cure but it can be a poison too. The intestines not only serve for digestion, they are also an immune organ. Therein proceeds both the absorption of nutrients and the detoxification of the organism."
If you irritate your digestive tract with harmful food, you can incur what’s known as the "irritable bowel syndrome" (IBS). This is a condition where "holes" are formed between the mucosal cells which can allow bacteria and toxins to enter the bloodstream. For those intruders which would normally not penetrate the blood, the body responds with an exaggerated immune reaction that may be manifested by bloating, constipation or diarrhea. "In addition, there are serotonin receptors in the intestines, the hormone of happiness. Food intolerance can cause depression," the expert warns. Is it an intolerance or an allergy? "The most common allergic reactions to food will occur on the skin (rashes, pimples), or by the enlargement of the tongue or esophagus. In addition breathing difficulties including asthma, vomiting, gagging, diarrhea, abdominal pain and convulsions may present. The strongest ones will even cause a drop in blood pressure, a loss of consciousness, and in the worst case even death," nutrition counsellor Kristýna Kalinová, kristynakalinova.com, explains. However detecting food intolerance is more difficult. It is namely caused by other antibodies, and the symptoms occur only several days after eating an inappropriate food. Someone intuitively knows what does not agree with them, but often does not apprehend it at all. According to statistics, every third person suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)," Doctor Monika Golková from Prague explains.
"To be absolutely certain which foods you are allergic to, you should visit an allergologist who will carry out immunological tests for you. And these either on the skin (so-called ‘prick tests’) or from the blood. In the hospital. time-consuming provocation tests are carried out in complex cases in which increasing doses of allergens are administered and doctors observe the reactions of the organism," the nutritionist explains. The tolerance test is more complicated. In dietary practice, the elimination method is used to determine the irritants: For two weeks for instance you only eat rice, then you add beef, eggs ... It's lengthy and inaccurate. There is only one workplace in Bohemia where they are able to test over three hundred kinds of food at once, including the harmful chemicals we consume. The whole test is called the ALCAT test. From the A2C Clinic, blood samples are sent by air to a foreign laboratory. You will have the results within five days. "We do not identify the quantity of dangerous substances in the body, but the response to them," Monika Golková explains and adds: "Even if you have only a small amount of these substances in your blood, the white blood cell reaction can be very pronounced." Quite innocent and healthy goodies can be hidden behind your problems such as for instance certain types of vegetables, soy or yoghurt. So the truth is that what is generally healthy does not need to be healthy just for you
"Intolerance cannot be cured, but over time its symptoms can be alleviated. Some individuals even find it possible that they can afford the food occasionally. Otherwise, a diet with the exclusion of the intolerant food is appropriate," the expert recommends. "When you keep the diet, you will feel the first results in two, three days already. It will flatten your belly, speed up your metabolism, and improve your digestion so that you begin to lose weight naturally. Of course it depends on the initial state, but clients usually lose eight to ten kilos (17 - 22 lbs.) without effort. The figure becomes firmer because the body gets exactly the nutrients it needs and does not make any futile fat. You are more energetic, you have a better performance and a more active brain. With skin problems, however, it takes longer." Proportionally with the improvement of the intestinal state and the progressive detoxification of the organism, other problems are corrected. "If you suffer, for example, from an allergy to cat fur and have at the same time milk intolerance, the following may happen: When you stop drinking milk for several weeks, your immune reaction to the animal will also be greatly reduced," the doctor explains. And also the opposite is true, if your immune system is okay, then you can consume the so-far forbidden foods in limited amount. So if you are forbidden to eat chocolate, don't panic, it does not need to be this way forever.
