Do you have trouble eating certain foods? Today, food sensitivities affect more than 100 million people worldwide. Unfortunately, food intolerances can be difficult to pinpoint and painful to manage. Symptoms of food sensitivity include nausea, stomach pain, gas, cramps, bloating, heartburn, and brain fog. If you are struggling with digestive symptoms, follow these six tips to start healing your food sensitivities.
1. Identify and Avoid Food Triggers
If you regularly eat foods that trigger your immune system, you are not giving your body the chance to heal. Since it can be difficult to identify trigger foods on your own, we advise talking to a health professional about getting a food allergy test. Once you know what you are reactive to, you can avoid those foods entirely to heal your food sensitivities.
2. Keep a Food Journal
If you choose to not move forward with a food allergy test, we recommend tracking what you eat and what symptoms you experience. It’s important to remember that it can take days to weeks to notice symptoms. Food journaling is helpful for identifying trends while food allergy testing enables you to identify specific food triggers.
3. Rebuild Your Gut Flora
The best way to rebuild your gut flora is to consume plenty of prebiotic foods, fermented foods, and polysaccharides.
Prebiotic Foods
Beans
Peas
Whole Grains
Vegetables
Fruits
Nuts
Seeds
Fermented Foods
Kimchi
Sauerkraut
Fermented vegetables
Kombucha
Polysaccharides
Onions
Cabbage
Okra
Eggplant
4. Tweak Your Diet
A few dietary changes can go a long way in minimizing your symptoms. To improve your diet, increase your fiber intake, decrease your sugar intake, and decrease your intake of inflammatory foods. This means boosting your consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and decreasing your consumption of refined sugar, red meat, dairy, and other fried or processed foods.
5. Consider Supplements for Gut Health
If you have food sensitivities, there are many supplements that may help you feel better. These supplements include:
Zinc: helps strengthen gut lining
L-glutamine: repairs intestinal lining and improves growth of intestinal cells
Collagen peptides: prevents breakdown of intestinal lining
Probiotics: treats gastrointestinal diseases
Fiber: improves gut microbiome
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