When we think of allergies we typically think of skin rashes, watery and itchy eyes, sneezing, and perhaps some digestive problems. We flash back to the TV commercial of a beautiful women strolling through a field of wheat, sneezing and rubbing her eyes. When she takes a drug, suddenly the world becomes a halo of colourful flowers and clean, crisp air.

This view of allergies is very limited because allergies are more than just a rash and a sneeze. The reality of it is that allergies can have a powerful influence on your health and may even be the reason you just can’t seem to shed those extra five kilo’s.

An allergy is an immune-system response to a substance that the body perceives as toxic. When you experience hayfever (the most common of allergic responses), it’s your body’s production of histamine that is coursing through your body, in response to your allergy.  Histamine causes the hay-fever symptoms, making you sneeze and itch. Anti-allergy medication typically contains anti-histamine to counteract the allergy symptoms.

Many people suffer from intolerances which don’t exhibit such a strong reaction and doesn’t cause an immune system response. These intolerances could cause you to keep those kilos on no matter how much you exercise or diet.

When you have an intolerance to a certain food, the body does not have the ability to readily excrete it from the tissue. As a result it will often retain water to flush it out of the system, leading to a bloated tummy and a feeling of sluggishness.

If the flushing mechanism doesn't work, the body will start to store the toxins in fat tissue. As you continue to eat the food you are allergic to for lack of knowledge, the toxic material will begin to overwhelm the body’s fat cell capacity, causing your body to build new fat to handle the toxic load. This would explain the weight gain and the inability to lose weight.

To make matters worse, food allergies slow the metabolism down. According to Dr. Elson Haas, author of the False Fat Diet, “food reactions create five metabolic roadblocks to weight loss”. They slow down the metabolic rate, increase the hormone that causes weight gain, creates hypoglycemia, depress energy and they contribute to illness.

There are allergy tests available today, but none of these tests are perfect and they can’t detect food intolerances. Instead they rate the allergy potential in terms of how drastically the body responds to the allergen, such as the ELISA test. In the RAST skin test, they test for an IgE reaction (immediate hypersensitivity).

The most common food allergies include wheat, corn, dairy, soy, sugar, eggs and peanuts. Other cases of foods that are thought to be healthy, such as bananas, have also proven to cause food intolerances. This proves that you can be allergic to any kind of food.

If you are suffering from symptoms such as unexplained weight gain, flatulence, bloating, diarrhea/ constipation, low blood sugar, skin problems like acne and chronic fatigue then you may be suffering from a food allergy and should start checking for food allergies. Consult your healthcare professional for advice on how to determine and control your allergies.

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