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Question:
What is the best way to identify food allergies?
Answer:
Food allergies (or sensitivities) are linked to many common diseases including migraine headaches, eczema, and inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The most useful way to identify food allergies is to try a simple elimination diet first to see if their symptoms improve. Start by eliminating the most common allergens: milk and all dairy products, wheat, corn citrus, peanut butter, eggs, and processed foods. If your symptoms disappear, you're on the right track.
By slowly reintroducing the various foods back into the diet (for example, trying one "new" food every three days), and paying attention to which ones cause symptoms to return, you can identify the real culprit. Will you be able to eat that food again? That depends on whether the allergy is cyclic or fixed:
Cyclic allergies develop slowly and result from repeatedly eating a certain food. After avoiding the allergenic food for a period of time (typically three to four months), it may be reintroduced. Usually the food won't cause symptoms again unless you eat it too frequently or in high amounts. Cyclic allergies account for roughly eighty to ninety percent of food allergies.
Fixed allergies occur whenever a food is eaten, no matter how much time has passed. If you have a fixed allergy, you will remain allergic to the food for life.
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