How To Combat Your Food Allergies

A food allergy develops when your immune system, for some reason goes awry. There is no one single reason why your immune system may start acting up, but there are plenty of things proven to cause allergies.

The biggest cause, however, is probably genetic. In many cases the food allergy erupts because the food that you are eating contains a type of protein that your body can't handle. In this case the body will create antibodies to attack these proteins. The antibodies attacking the proteins are what cause the symptoms usually identified as an allergy. These types of food allergies are commonly passed down.

A second cause of food allergies are medications or drugs. For example, a number of people have reported having problems with aspirin substitutes. One of the more popular ones, naproxen, triggers breathing difficulties in a number of customers. In other people, the same drug will produce blisters or hives.

An allergic reaction such as this is easy to diagnose because the reaction will take place almost instantaneously after taking the drug. In most cases the solution to this type of allergy is simple. Switch medications, if possible, to one that you are not allergic to.

Sometimes food allergies start because of diet problems. For example, drinking excess alcohol can eventually do enough damage to the digestive tract that you develop what is called a leaky gut. This is a situation where your small intestine becomes inefficient at digesting the food proteins that you consume. The undigested proteins enter your bloodstream and unintentionally create havoc when your antibodies converge to attack them.

Correcting this type of problem can be a long process involving dramatically modifying your diet. You can help this along by explaining your problems to a dietician and having her create a dietary meal plan for you.

Food allergies generally fall into two basic categories. Those that cause symptoms immediately and those that cause symptoms at a later time. The former, also known as immediate-onset allergies are easy to identify because you begin to suffer almost immediately which makes it easy to make the connection. The latter category of allergies also known as delayed-onset allergies are much more difficult to diagnose because they happen hours and sometimes as long as a day after the initial food consumption.

The bottom line is that to really discover your food allergies, you should seek the help of an allergist. He can give you a battery of tests that can tell you the foods that you are allergic to. You can then talk to a nutritionist to work out ways of combating your allergies.