Weight Gain As A Result Of Food Intolerance

It’s a common believe that weight gain is caused by diet, more specifically by food intolerance. The British Nutrition Foundation declared recently that one fifth of the British population thinks they have some type of food allergy or intolerance. While the foundation believes that only a fraction of these people actually have an allergy or intolerance, weight gain due to food intolerances is a real concern.

People gain weight when they eat more than they can burn off through exercise or daily physical activity. Unfortunately, traditional diet wisdom doesn’t hold true for everyone.  Weight gain can also be caused by such health conditions as Cushing’s syndrome, organ disease, prescription drug use, anxiety, hypothyroidism, blood sugar imbalance, essential fatty acid deficiency and food sensitivity, all of which are linked to food intolerance. Since lots of people react to stress by eating excessively, when coupled with these other disorders and diseases, weight gain becomes likely. The sources of stress might not always be obvious, but may nevertheless still impact an individual’s eating habits and lead to weight gain.

Bloating is a common reaction to food intolerance, though it’s not always an immediate occurance. Bloating and swelling in the hands, feet, ankles, abdomen, chin and around the eyes is caused by fluid retention due to inflammation and the releasing of particular hormones. Additionally, food can ferment in the intestines which tends to result in a swollen and dilated belly, as well increased and gas production. Unfortunately, one can’t assume to see runny noses or sneezes with some food sensitivities. Alternatively, one’s body sees the food as a type of venom or poison then limits the digestion of nutrients and causes the body’s cells to store fat.

Common signs of food sensitivity include indigestion or heartburn, fatigue, headache, depression, joint pain or arthritis, canker sores, chronic respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, sinus congestion or bronchitis and chronic bowel problems such as diarrhea or constipation.

Food intolerance tends to make one feel ill — victims usually crave those food items for which they are most intolerant which, coupled with a habit of overeating, increases the likelihood of gaining weight. It’s also probable that one will create a food sensitivity if they proceed to have the same foods daily. This happens because the walls of the small intenstines become more permeable over time from aggrevation due to unhealthy foods, or food in which the immune system cannot handle well. Food is discerned as tolerable or intolerable by our immune system as it attempts to pass the tolerable foods through the intestinal wall. Tricking the immune system or the intestinal wall, some foods cause harm to the body. The breaking down of the intestinal wall results after years of a monotonous diet, excess alcohol, certain medications and alien chemicals, and an excess of processed  foods. Once arrived in the blood, these foods won’t be  recognized by the immune system. The immune system will  then attack and destroy the manufacturer of anti-bodies  (IgG) and activate its memory, causing a cascade of  defense reactions whenever the same foods of the same  nature are digested. Some of these defense reactions  include stress to the immune system, chronic inflammation and the deposition of immune complexes in tissues and, of course, weight gain.