Just had Yorktest results and in a head spin/bit of a panic

[PowerthruIT]

Hi all,

After quite a few years of something just not feeling right despite living a reasonably healthy life I decided to take a Yorktest for food intolerances after speaking to a work colleague.....I've had the results back and I am in the extremely high score for intolerance against all milk, eggs, wheat, gluten and yeast! Basically ingredients found in all the household staples (and lots of nice stuff) I have eaten for pretty much all my life!!

Now I know I am no alone here judging by all the 'free from' products in supermarkets now and I am not looking for any sympathy but more some advice on starting points, others experiences of whether cutting these things out really makes a difference, any good books for 'free from' diets/recipes etc.

I suppose I am just on the fence here as, at 42yrs old, was I better just not knowing this as despite not feeling right I wasn't suffering so to speak - just was wondering why I was not sleeping consistently well, occasional skin breakouts and just generally feeling a little more lethargic over the years. But is that not just parenthood in general??

As per the title just in a bit of a head spin!

www.nhs.uk/conditions/food-intolerance/
Home tests
Some tests you can buy that claim to diagnose food intolerances are not recommended.

There's limited evidence that they give accurate results and they may suggest you should avoid multiple foods, which can be harmful.

Well I would certainly not cut out all these foods! If you really feel you must try this, then cut out one at a time and see what happens. Or make a private appointment with a dietician. This sort of exclusion diet needs proper diagnosis and treatment guidance. Whatever you do make sure you get loads of calcium and vit D - you are just at the age when osteoporosis begins - you really do not want that.

York test is not reliable so it’s extremely unlikely you’re intolerant to all these foods you’ve been happily eating for years. If you suspect an allergy then speak to your GP for a referral to an allergy specialist who can do proper testing (blood test and/or skin prick)

This explains why York (and other) intolerance testing is a crock of shit:

Whatever is causing you problems will be something you eat regularly, so it will show up on a York test with all the other things you eat regularly! Which means if you remove all the things you eat regularly chances are one of them will be the culprit causing your symptoms.

The only reliable way to test for an intolerance is an exclusion diet.

I should have said, if whatever is causing you problems is food-related...

Which tbh it doesn't actually sound like it is.

@Yarnosaura very interesting what you have advised....funnily enough before the test I was certain foods in the nightshade family would come up high, specifically potatoes and tomatoes as I tend to get bloated and windy after I eat them, so I do limited how much I eat of them. Guess what I hadn't eaten any tomatoes or potatoes for about 4 or 5 days prior to the test (not purposely for the test just happened to be not included in my meals that week) and suprise suprise they both came back as a ZERO on the test - i.e. can eat as much as I want of them!

Hmmm - makes an interesting convo with the follow up call I have with their 'consultant' next week!!!

Thanks for the advice

Oh that will be an interesting 'consultation'!

These tests should be banned, they encourage people to restrict their diets, generally by removing staple foods, which can cause real problems, health-wise and also there's a financial impact if people end up buying expensive free-from foods. It does make me very angry.

Happy to recommend my favourite dairy/egg free substitutes. Another family member is gluten free so I know a couple of good subs there too. And if you head to your library (or buy - they're worth it) some Deliciously Ella recipe books, I'd recommend them to anyone for being healthy and tasty, but especially you as I think she cuts out all dairy, egg and gluten as standard (but some recipes contain nutritional yeast at least). There's also her great app full of good recipes.

I would do as PP suggests though and do one at a time first!

Honestly I would really really recommend NOT cutting out foods that you are tolerating.

You run the risk of it developing into a full blown allergy.

And York tests are nonsense. Waste of money.

I did the York test years ago, and it did come up with multiple things I ate a lot of (green beans ! I am sure I don’t react to these) , although there were some things that I ate daily that did not show up , eg chocolate, coffee.
I excluded everything on the list , which was difficult as it meant giving up gluten, dairy products, rice - all grains actually- various vegetable and nuts, and reintroduced them one by one. Literally the only one that caused any reaction was gluten, which I had a big reaction to. I now know that I have coeliac disease.
It would have been easier to exclude things one at a time, starting with the most likely culprit.

@SirVixofVixHall the more on this thread I am reading the more I am less worried and thinking the York test a bit of a con! For example peanuts came up very high on my chart (I eat a lot - one of my go to snacks) yet when I try to search for a peanut 'intollerance' all I can find is info on peanut allergies, as if they are one and the same and you don't have one without the other!.

I can tell you I certainly don't have a peanut allergy as I would have probably died by now given what the reaction should be to even eating a minor amount....so how can I be intollerant??