Food intolerance and food allergy are both a type of food sensitivity.

FOOD INTOLERANCE

This doesn’t involve the immune system, isn’t life-threatening and is a slow onset reaction. It is an inability to process a particular food and can cause: abdominal cramps, bloating, flatulence, diarrhea or headaches. 

Indirect problems associated with food intolerances and poor absorption include:

• Skin irritations e.g. eczema, dandruff
• Catching viruses easily
• Becoming deficient in iron or calcium (suffering from anaemia or osteoporosis)
• Being underweight due to inability to get full nutrient value from foods
• Being overweight due to interference with the thyroid gland causing a disruption to normal metabolism
• Dry skin, hair and nails
• Tiring easily
• Respiratory problems e.g. bronchitis, breathlessness, sinusitis

TIP:  Biocare Prolactazyme Forte is designed to assist with the complete digestion of milk and milk products and provides enzymes to facilitate the digestion of dairy products.

FOOD ALLERGY

If you have a food allergy, your immune system reacts to a particular food as if it isn’t safe which could cause a life-threatening reaction.  Food allergy is a fast response (minutes) by your body’s immune system to a perceived invader. Signs are immediate:

• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Vomiting
• Migraines
• Watering eyes
• Rashes
• Swelling tissue, hives or in severe cases an anaphylactic shock (swelling in the tissues of the tongue, mouth and throat) which requires emergency intervention.

Foods known to cause allergic reactions include: eggs, strawberries, milk protein, wheat, soya, crustaceans e.g. crab and prawns, additives/colourings, celery, cereals containing gluten (including wheat, rye, barley and oats), lupin, molluscs e.g. mussels and oysters, mustard, nuts (including peanuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts), sesame seeds and sulphur dioxide/sulphites.

TIP:  To find out what food intolerances or allergies you have, consult The British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy to find a registered nutritional practitioner.

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Home remedies have been around for hundreds of years and just like most things their popularity comes and goes.  At the moment the popularity of  natural products and remedies is on the increase and many folk are on the look out for the effective home remedies.  So just how do you start finding home remedies that are suitable for you?

The first thing to finding home remedies that work is to start off with the most basic and straightforward remedies that you can find.  If you have never intensively researched and investigated natural home remedies, then leaping in and trying to self-treat a major disease or medical condition without the advice and support of your GP is not advised and should be avoided.

Most commonly people will use natural remedies for more everyday injuries and conditions and that’s where you should start. Something like toothache for instance, an oral care complaint that because of the way it can quickly develop – sometimes in the middle of the night when seeing a dentist is not possible – is an ideal condition to try to treat via natural remedies. 

Start by lifting the head if the toothache developed in the night when you were sound asleep.  By simply sitting yourself up with some pillows you will relieve the pressure in the head and sinus regions and this could be all that you need to reduce the pain.  If that isn’t enough, then you can place an ice cube on the affected tooth and this will numb the nerves and reduce inflammation.  All great to help you through before you can get to the dentist.

Another of the home remedies that you may be interested in is an allergy treatment such as a remedy for Hay Fever.  Hay Fever, that periodic burden on so many lives as the pollen rises, can be managed and kept at bay by following some simple steps.  Have you tried lining the insides of your nostrils with petroleum jelly?  You should try it if you suffer with Hay Fever!  What this does is to trap and stop the pollen from entering through your nose and setting off your allergies.  For Hay Fever you can also add a tea spoon of local honey, along with a tea spoon of apple cider vinegar to some hot water and drink as an early morning tea.

So, as you can see finding yourself some home remedies for you does not have to be a huge undertaking of mixing complex potions and concoctions. all it takes is a little common sense and a little research and before you know it, you’ll be using these remedies without giving them a second thought.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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