Trigger Foods & You
By Dr. Gill Hart
Understanding Intolerance for Healthy Weight Loss
As a preview to her talks at the Your Health Show, Dr. Gill Hart explains the link between food intolerances and body weight and shape.
Recent research published in the Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy has suggested a direct relationship between food intolerance and weight gain. Cutting out ‘trigger foods’ could be a healthy way to speed up weight loss. The research showed that eliminating certain foods, based on individual IgG food intolerance test results, saw reductions in weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumference along with improvements in quality of life – including physical and emotional well-being, mental health, social life, pain levels and vitality.
It can also answer the age old question so many of us have voiced, “I’m eating healthy, I’m exercising. So why are the pounds not falling off?!”
Sidione Price, aged 26 is one of many people that struggled with this. Sidione was told by her doctor that her excessive weight was down to irritable bowel syndrome but when Sidione’s colleague recommended that she take the food intolerance test from YorkTest, she thought she’d give it a try.
The results showed that Sidione was reacting to cow’s milk, yeast and carrots; quite a surprise for her. The test, along with nutritional support, helped Sidione to alter her eating habits. She began opting for almond and soya milk instead of cow’s milk, and swapped wine for spirits due to the high yeast content of wine, and steered clear of dressings and sauces that can contain yeast too. In the months that followed, Sidione lost over 4 stone, and is now a healthy size 12 compared to her peak at size 18.
There are many other factors that contribute to weight loss but it is clear that food intolerance, together with food input, and energy output, all contribute to energy balance in the body. The regulation of food intake in the body is a complex process which involves biochemical signals from many sources including the brain, gastrointestinal tract, fat stores and the pancreas. Even fat cells play important roles in energy storage, fatty acid metabolism and glucose regulation.
The digestive system needs to process and deliver nutrients to the whole body. A stressed digestive system, trying to cope with food intolerances, is less able to process energy and nutrients for the rest of the body. More than 70% of the body’s immune system is in the gut so when the immune response is triggered, the body feels that it is ‘under siege’, thus hoarding supplies, storing fluid and increasing weight.
What types of intolerances are most likely to cause weight gain?
Every individual has a unique biochemical make-up, even to others with similar conditions. On average, people with food intolerances show reactivity to 5 or 6 different foods so it’s almost impossible to identify which types of intolerances are important without conducting a test. Finding out what these are with a test also means you can talk to experts about nutritional support that is specific to you.
How can identifying your intolerances improve your overall health?
The symptoms of food intolerance can vary greatly but it has been shown that removal of foods from the diet that the body is reacting to can improve a vast array of health issues and, as in Sidione’s case, can also help you lose weight.
Food intolerance testing provides invaluable information about what is actually going on in your body. Start changing your diet to suit YOU.
For more information about YorkTest call 01 2022701 www.yorktest.ie
