So many of my readers have done the Carroll Food Intolerance test. It’s a test that tells you what your body can’t process properly. If you eat too much of that food then your system reacts in ways that are unpleasant.
Initially, I suggest or ask that you remove the food (or foods) from your diet (as much as possible) for a 2-3 week period. This is to decrease the load on your system, giving it a break so that it can clear out toxins that have built up. But what to do after that? What if your coffee has never tasted the same? What do you do when you go out to eat? What about vacation, or parties or just life in general?
The answer to all of this is, it depends. It depends on how terrible you were feeling. It depends on how much of your intolerances you consumed throughout your life. It depends on so many life factors. We are all individual and will react completely differently.
But there are so many ways to make your intolerance work for you!
Some of you will give up the intolerance immediately and never look back. It doesn’t matter what happens around you or where you go; you make it work because you feel so great. That’s great, keep it up!
Most of you will make it through the first 3 months (with maybe a few blips) and feel great. But after that, you struggle keeping it up.
A few of you will not follow through. Maybe you choose not to, maybe it’s not the right time, maybe something comes up in your life. That’s ok, circle back around when you choose to.
Let me be clear, all of the above are OK! You need to do what feels right to you, at the time. But what about those of you who feel great without your intolerance but struggle to continue to avoid it? Perhaps your mother in law pressures you to eat her dessert. Maybe you travel a lot for work and have to eat out. There may no options where you live and you can’t make the trip to the city.
When addressing intolerances, it doesn’t need to be an all or nothing approach. The more you avoid, the better you feel. But it’s ok to have that cheese. It’s ok to have your grandmothers cookies when they are available. Eat out at your favourite restaurant. In all of these scenarios you have a choice.
Make your choice. You can eat as much as you want, knowing that you LOVE it and it’s worth it to you. You can eat a little bit, so you have the taste of the food but not the negative effects that can happen afterwards. You can say no, because right now, you don’t want to feel the way that food will make you feel. Check in with your body and listen to it. It will take some trial and error. My husband still says it is worth the whipped potatoes at holiday dinner even though he feels exhausted afterwards! But year after year he eats a bit less.
Try to prepare. If your work is having a luncheon, eat some of it and bring some parts for yourself. Stock up on snacks before you take a vacation. Bring some meals with you when you visit relatives, or offer to cook a few meals for everyone. Offer to bring a dessert to the party you are going to. Suggest that you help to choose the place for a work party so you know there is something for you to eat that will make you feel good. Stash some meals in the freezer for those days where you just can’t cook. Have a back up meal that requires very little prep for the days you are on the go from activity to activity.
Find things that you love. So many people tell me they love Earth Balance more than butter. That they love the natural peanut butter. That their brownies are even better with maple syrup. If you can find staples that you LOVE, then you will want to continue to eat them. It will be hard to avoid intolerances if you dislike what you are eating, or get bored. I can help with this. Check our website for new recipes, our Facebook for links and our instagram for inspiration.
Consider every day life and sometimes life. I want you to focus on what you do EVERY DAY. If you use 2 milk in your coffee and are dairy intolerant it is worth looking for a change. If you use mayo once a month and are soy intolerant, it might not be worth changing it (at all or until you finish what you currently have).
Think about yourself. How do you feel when you don’t eat your intolerance? So many of us worry about what our coworkers think, what our family thinks, what the waiter thinks. It’s hard not to. But what about your health? What about your future? Try to think of yourself 20 years down the road. How do you want to feel then?
If you have your intolerances sometimes your system should be able to handle them and you won’t feel terrible. This is my goal! I want you to not have to think about everything you put in your mouth. If this is not the case for you, if any little bit still bothers you then perhaps we need to look at other healing methods.
If some of this has sparked questions and ideas but you want to talk about them further come in so we can go through them. Derrick, our counsellor is also available to help you work through lifestyle changes.
Remember, that we are all different. Do what works for you!
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