If you’re always feeling bloated, tired, or off after eating, but you’re not sure why, it might be worth looking into food intolerances. Unlike allergies, which usually cause fast and often serious reactions, food intolerances are slower and harder to spot. The symptoms can show up hours or even days later, making it difficult to figure out what’s really causing them.
This is where food intolerance tests come in. They’re designed to help identify which foods your body may not be handling well. These tests have become more common in recent years, especially among people dealing with ongoing gut problems, fatigue, skin issues or headaches that never seem to go away.
What Is a Food Intolerance?
A food intolerance isn’t the same as an allergy or a serious medical condition like coeliac disease. It’s usually a delayed reaction where your body struggles to digest or deal with certain foods. Common signs include bloating, cramps, tiredness, brain fog, and sometimes skin breakouts or joint pain.
Unlike allergies, these reactions don’t involve the same immune response, and they’re not usually dangerous, but they can still make daily life uncomfortable. Many people don’t realise they have a food intolerance until they remove a certain food and start feeling better.
How Food Intolerance Testing Works
If you decide to do a test, it’s a fairly simple process. Most food intolerance tests work by measuring IgG antibodies in your blood. These antibodies can increase when your body has a mild reaction to certain foods. You either take a blood sample at home using a test kit, or have one done through a practitioner.
Once the test is done, you’ll usually receive a report showing how your body reacted to a wide range of foods — sometimes over 200 items. The results are typically shown in levels, from low to high reactivity, so you can see which foods may be worth cutting back on.
It’s important to remember that a reaction on the test doesn’t mean the food is “bad” for everyone — it just means your body might be struggling with it at the moment. Many people find that after avoiding a certain food for a while, they’re able to slowly reintroduce it without problems.
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What to Expect After Testing
Once you’ve received your results, the next step is to make some temporary changes to your diet. Most people start by cutting out the foods that showed a higher reaction, usually for around 4 to 8 weeks. During this time, symptoms often start to ease — people report less bloating, clearer skin, better sleep, and more energy.
After the elimination phase, the foods are slowly brought back in, one at a time, to see how the body reacts. It’s best to do this part with the help of a nutritionist or someone familiar with interpreting food intolerance tests so you don’t remove foods unnecessarily or miss out on important nutrients.
The goal isn’t to stay on a restricted diet forever. It’s to give your body a reset and help you work out what’s actually affecting you.
Do They Really Help?
While food intolerance testing isn’t always backed by every medical professional, many people have found it helpful — especially when other approaches haven’t worked. If you’ve tried all the usual fixes and still feel like something’s off, the results from a test can give you some direction.
It’s not a magic fix, but it’s a tool. For people who’ve been guessing for too long, it can be the start of getting some real answers.
