Possibly one of the most frustrating things that you can suffer from is food intolerances. Unlike food allergies, which can be recognized by the strong and almost immediate reactions, food intolerances are a hit and miss proposition that can make the sufferer crazy. You can spend months avoiding specific foods and still not figure out the cause of your symptoms. In this case a food intolerance test is the logical way to go to find out what is causing your problems.

The first myth that needs to be disregarded is the one that says that people who are sensitive to particular foods are allergic to them. Food allergies and food intolerances are not synonymous. Indications of food allergies occur suddenly and are generally quite violent. Intolerance to food has less drastic symptoms and can take as long as 3 days to appear. Taking a food intolerance test helps you to find out which foods are the main offenders.

If you do indeed suffer from symptoms of a food allergy, that means you're actually allergic to a certain ingredient and your immune system is trying its best to combat it, much as it would if you were allergic to dust, mold, or plant pollen. However, when you are intolerant of something, that does not at all involve the workings of your immune system.

There are certain food that just do not agree with you. Even if your body doesn't feel like it is being invaded by foreign bodies, your stomach and intestines (where food is digested and the eliminated) will certainly know that something isn't right.

When the body of a person stops to produce particular enzymes or chemicals, which help in digesting a specific food, then there is food intolerance. Many people experience this during their growing stage. Hence there are people who are intolerant to lactose, since the enzyme produced to digest lactose is decreased from the age of two years. Only when a person grows older, he develops symptoms that are unpleasant.

When trying to determine foods that your body is intolerant to you have a few different options. One way is to eliminate everything in your diet except the few foods such as; brown rice, lamb and water that most don't have issues with. Eat only these foods for approximately three weeks. Then after the three weeks you can start to reintroduce one new food every few days. If you keep a food diary throughout this process you will be able to document which food you had problems with and which your body processed normally. In 6 to 9 months of continuing this process you will have a pretty good idea what foods affect you negatively.

An ELISA IgG blood test can determine any food sensitivities that you may have. This is a very efficient test as it uses just one drop of your blood to test for over 200 types of foods. Once you know the foods that you can not tolerate and begin eliminating them from your diet, your digestion will improve as well as your energy and your sleep. Another unexpected benefit that everyone loves is rapid weight loss!