Can Food Intolerances Contribute to Period Pain?

Period pain is often caused by a hormonal imbalance. But sometimes it can be caused by inflammation in the body (or both). Food intolerances can cause inflammation in the body & may contribute to period pain. 

Food. It’s all around us & we need it every day. Our first line of medicine is not a  drug or supplement. It is food.

The food we eat has a direct impact on our health. Eating more fruits & vegetables provides an anti- inflammatory affect on our body. Eat more processed foods & there is more opportunity for the body to be more inflamed.

But what if some of the healthy foods we eat don’t agree with us?

Food intolerances are different from food allergies. A food intolerance usually means that you can have a little bit of a food & not get any symptoms, but have too much & you can get symptoms such as eczema, asthma, headaches, sinusitis, weight gain, bloating after food, difficulty sleeping, constipation or diarrhea.

A food allergy on the other hand, means that if you have even a the smallest amount of food, you will have an allergic reaction which can be life threatening & can include rashes & even  breathing difficulties.

So what’s the connection with food intolerances & period pain?

If you have food intolerances, it can make your body inflamed and this, in some cases can contribute to period pain.

So HOW do we test for food intolerances & what can be done about it?
There are 2 ways that we can test for food intolerances.
1). The elimination diet. During an elimination diet, the person comes off wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, some vegetables, sugar & processed foods for 2 weeks.

If their symptoms subside then, then we know that there is a food intolerance to one or more of the foods that they have eliminated.

We then reintroduce one food at a time, watching for a reactions.  If the person get’s a reaction to a certain food, then we know they have a food intolerance.

This can work very effectively.

However, sometimes people can be intolerant to a random food that hasn’t been eliminated or if a person is very busy or stressed, sometimes it can be difficult to eliminate things from their diet.

2). A food intolerance test is another good way  to see if you have a food intolerance. Our test includes 96 different foods. Just a finger prick of blood is all it takes. This test is then sent off  to the lab & we have the results in 3 weeks time.

Talk to your naturopath about which test to see if you have food intolerances is best for you.

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