It’s not uncommon these days to believe food causes adverse reactions, or ‘intolerances’ like diarrhea, constipationIt’s not uncommon to believe food causes adverse reactions. Also known as ‘intolerances’, these reactions vary. Food is to blame for bloating, gas, cramping, fatigue, and concentration problems. Gluten and dairy of the most targeted offenders. Recommendations to determine whether you have a food intolerance include elimination diets. Elimination diets can range from simple to highly restrictive. People may experience these symptoms, but it’s questionable whether food is the cause. In fact, food sensitivity tests are not backed by science.
Certain Foods Make Me Feel Bad Mentally and Physically
The general population accepts false, or exaggerated nutrition information as science. Misinformation like ‘sugar is addictive’ or ‘gluten is inflammatory’. Confirmation bias is what proves them true. We subconsciously search, interpret, and remember information from a perspective that aligns with our beliefs. This tells us that what many people believe is food intolerance is in fact the ‘nocebo effect’. Because they believe something can trigger symptoms, the thought is powerful enough. Of course, you’ll feel bad if you believe that wanting a second serving of dessert makes you an addict!
Food Intolerance is a Slippery Slope
Adhering to an elimination diet is a stressful, anxious, and time-consuming experience. Resources, willingness, and energy to create new menus and recipes takes effort. You have to start the diet over if you eat something from the elimination list. Willpower is finite and bound to backfire. Your brain and body don’t understand intentional restriction. By design, your thoughts revolve around the elimination foods. Also, an elimination diet’s efficacy is ambiguous at best. Many factors, like stress, interfere with results. Eliminating more and more foods is a slippery slope. In time, there’s a limited list of allowable foods. A limited list of allowable foods is also known as orthorexia. Orthorexia is an unhealthy obsession with being healthy.
Challenge the Nocebo Effect
For most people, Intuitive Eating is the answer to the problem. By making peace with food, we engage with it from a peaceful mindset, knowing that all foods are neutral. Symptoms of ‘intolerance’ vanish when feeding ourselves doesn’t involve mental gymnastics. By honoring our hunger, we make choices from an embodied place. We know that our cravings are biologically designed. We shouldn’t fear them, but rather satisfy them. By honoring our health with gentle nutrition, we eat food that tastes good and makes us feel good. The variety of foods we eat expands. We know that a single snack, meal, or day of eating doesn’t have the power to derail our health. It’s what we eat over time that counts.
If you doubt your thoughts about food are causing you mental and physical distress, you’ll want to grab a copy of my free guide to wellness culture.
