Food intolerances/sensitivities - Where would I start if I was going to try to find out if I am intolerant or sensitive to particular food?

[SomeKindofWonderful]

I have started this thread off the back of another thread which I sort of gatecrashed unintentionally. I thought it only fair to continue on a new thread.

The thread was actually about dark circles under the eyes and from this thread came the potential for dark circles to be allergy or congestion related.

Now I suffer horrendously with sinus problems, get infections lot, have almost permanent bunged up nose/sinus, AND I have horrible dark circles under the eyes (made better by No.7, thank you ).

My Dr has never taking my nasal issues seriously, or the bugs I get so often, the sinus trouble - thats just your weakness. So whilst I have not actually spoken to him about possible intolerances, he will without a doubt laugh it off/dismiss it as not really likely/an issue/anything to get worked up about, and will probably tell me to just try cutting stuff out.

I have had a quick look on google and its a mindfield...it could be gluten, it could be dairy (and to be fair, it could just as easily be as my Dr would say, just how it is).

My diet is very heavy on gluten, I think, although to be truthful I do not know exactly what it is found in, but my diet has a lot of the following in it:
bread
pasta (my favourite food)
potatoes
rice
chocolate
milk/yoghurt

I do eat plenty of fruit and vegetables but also a lot of stogde.

Anyone have any ideas what kind of sensitivity would be most likely to cause congestion/sinus trouble/dark eye circles?

How would I start to cut food out and monitor if it makes any difference? Do I say, do gluten first? Would it need to be ALL gluten, or just reduce it?

Is there any kind of diary to use that would help, or tips on how to do it properly so it actually gets results (or not) that mean something?

I do not want to give up pasta for no reason .

Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post

sinus probs and dark circles, I would start with dairy as dairy is mucus forming and will be contributing to your blocked/gunked sinuses. I would also work on your liver, by decongesting it as that is one reason for dark circles, a poorly functioning liver.
try eating artichoke, caulies and cabbage (the rawer the better).
for the sinus, drink elderflower infusions, and you can try a steam inhalation of lavender, eucyalyptus and tea tree essential oils

I'd say the best thing for you to do is an elimination diet. This means you cut out the major common groups:
dairy
wheat/gluten
tomato/aubergine/potato/nightshade family
meat/fish
citrus

One of the easiest ways to do it quickly is doing a 14 dayer, where you do:
day 1 eliminate alchohol
2 eliminate meat/fish
3 eliminate dairy
4 eliminate gluten
5 eliminate nightshades
6 eliminate citrus
7 eliminate caffeine
day 8 fast and eat just rice and grapes
day 9 add caffeine back in
day 10 add citrus back in
day 11 add nighshades back in
day 12 add gluten back in
day 13 add dairy back in
day 14 add fish back in
day 15 add alcohol back in.

there are various themes on this, so pick the one that will suit you best...keep a careful food diary, writing what you eat at each meal, how you feel and look. If nothing else you'll have had a good detox becuase basically what you are left with is veg, nuts, seeds and pulses, some fruit and rice!

ask to speak to a dietician and get a diet sheet and advice on elimination

pointydog can I get referred to dietician through NHS GP, or would that be private?
fourlittlefeet - the alcohol one only joking! That elimination diet sounds like the kind of thing I was thinking of...to get an idea what it might be, if anything to do with my eating habits.

What is the difference between wheat and gluten? Sorry if that sounds green but never really paid much attention to the food i eat. Sort of thought as I don't eat red meat that my diet was pretty healthy! But looking at it just today for example I now see exactly how shocking it can be

misi thank you for your advice. I quite like elderflower, so that won't be difficult. I have tried menthol crystal steams for sinus, and it works a bit, but sort of gets so far then stops! Interesting that liver has impact on circles under eyes...

I am having some bloods taken this week actually, after another 'virus' last week, Dr finally acknowledged it would not hurt for an MOT, and I think they check the liver funciton with the range of things they test for? Be interesting to find out what it might be. I remember a long time ago, I had bloods taken and my liver something (gamma count? not sure) was a bit low - I remember joking with the Dr that clearly I was not drinking enough alcohol as if I was it would be high! He was not concerned then though.

I was talking about this with DH over dinner this evening, and he said he recalled a period of time when I was not suffering from congestion/bugs and my skin was fab...when I was pregnant! I suffered horrendously with morning sickness throughout and could only really eat fruit and yoghurt!

Funny how recommending concealer can help the processes of becoming well again isn't it!!!

Thanks everyone for your advice.

SKW, gluten is the protein in wheat and related grains. if you google it you'll find out loads. best thing if you're testing it is to eat rice instead and check everything you eat... I think even stock cubes can have it in! Lol that it was a concealer thread that led you to this.

I googled it, and there is so much stuff I went blank!

I shall plow my way through it. I just don't want to get obsessed with this defintely being the cause. It is making a lot of sense, as there a few niggly things that I have always had that seem to be linked back to diet, so it would not surprise me, I just want to be sensible about this, along with other routes such as these bloods.

Oh and drinking tons more water and less coffee (I am going to buy decaff to take to work tomorrow...)

not sure. My only experience of a dietician was when dd2 was referred to one by the sermatoligist she was seeing at hospital and we spoke of changing her diet. That was all nhs referrals.

pointy i am seeing the nurse on thurs for blood test so I might mention it to her. She might be able to advise me on how to approach the Dr and get some proper support going on.

Dr just seems to think anyone who has virus are just wooses and pull their socks up.

(apart from when I had work trouble when pg, and he immediately told me not to go to work until they resolved it, signed me off for 6 weeks 3 x 2 weeks, then when my mum died he signed me off for almost 6 months, told me I needed to concentrate on my new family as DD was 6 months old when I was due to return - he said family was the best therapy for grief and thats where I should be!, so I know he has compassion and support there, I just need to get at it!)

can i just add a note of caution? exclusion diets can get obsessive very quickly (i speak from bitter experience). you can end up convinced that you had better not eat pretty much everything just in case, as it can be frustratingly difficult to see if symptoms really are improving as you cut foods out.

normally you're advised to eliminate one food group at a time and leave it a few days before you re-introduce it, watching for improvement/ deterioration in your symptoms. i would worry a lot about doing fourlittlefeet's diet as it seems very drastic (not to mention difficult when you get to the 'basically not eating anything much' stage). changing lots of things in your diet at once might be just as likely to upset your system and cause other effects which you cannot put down to one or other food group (I'm sure this is what happened to me).

so i would say, get professional advice if you can. if not, do one food group at a time, cutting it out for 3-4 days (enough time for it to get out of your system) then reintroducing. good luck!

I agree. as a nutritionist, the diet suggested by fourlittlefeet would not be something I would reccommend or endorse as being properly effective. in the case of dairy, the effects of the mucus forming parts of dairy can be active within your body for several weeks and the effects felt for up to 3 months. cutting out dairy for a week and re-introducing will tell you absolutely nothing I am afraid. all exclusion diest I have come across reccommend one food group at a time with at least 2 weeks between each. doing like above will not give you enough time to work out which is which.
I suggested dairy first as the balck eyes coupled with the other symptoms of sinus problems is classic mucus forming foods problem. black eyes can indicate an intolerance, but rarely do you get sinus probs with other food groups that are not mucus forming. as the liver is the major detox organ, working on the liver alone may produce the results you want as it may just be a liver congestion problem, but cutting out dairy will certainly be the most useful even if you are not intolerant to it as it will still help the liver recover its effectiveness. most GP's will tell you to go do an elimination diet, in my experience, few offer good help in doing so. A previous thread on this forum did suggest that NHS dieticians may not be the best people to seek for help with this. There are nutritionists available privately, the institue of nutritionists shouyld be able to give you a list of licensed ones in the area, but as a nutritionist, I often reccommend a few visits then go on your own for a while as otherwise, the cost does mount up and becomes quite expensive if you want the nutritionist to be there every step. but personally, I would try dairy out for a week and the other things I suggested if you wish and see what happens, you won't get a good result but you may get small signs which will encourage you to carry on, as believe me, exclusion diets are very difficult especially if you are the only one in the house doing it!!!!!

try dairy first. You need to be very careful about checking labels as skimmed milk powder, casein and whey get everywhere. Exclusion diets are very tough.

thank you all....
I have had a blood test, and once the results come back (ok I am hoping) I will then go back to see GP and ask for a referral to dietician to discuss possibility of food sensitivities and combine it with other sources too, the internet, others with intolerances etc. I will see how that goes and if no luck I will consider private (mainly as we are trying to buy a house so penny pinching right now!).

if it is a sensitivity, it is certainly not life threatening, so is it possible that if it is say diary, could I just cut it down, or would it be that I have to cut it out completely? If this is effecting say my liver function, would this be shown in the blood tests I am having done? (i think liver function is being tested)

In the meantime, I am reducing my coffee intake and replacing all but my first cup of coffee in the morning with decaf, I am upping my water intake, and on saturday I am going to cut out dairy for one week (I can replace it with soya milk?)

good luck with the dairy. soya milk is ime fine - i recommend alpro sweetened . fine in tea but goes a bit funny in coffee!

you might find you could eat dairy on a rotational basis - once in 4 days being mentioned sometimes. Or you might benefit from taking lactase enzyme to help digest the lactose. However if it is a sensitivty then you might need to avoid cows milk completely. Trial and error, I'm afraid.

Thank you, and thanks everyone for your advice, very informative and less heavy on the brain than the google searches I have been doing! r

oh yes. never knowingly heavy on the brain!