Being unable to tolerate a food can be very aggravating. A food allergy, by contrast, is easy to spot, as you will react very quickly after ingestion. But an intolerance takes longer to become evident, and the person who has it might not even realize the cause. Or you can go out of your way to eliminate certain foods, and still not discover what the culprit is. So, a food intolerance test can determine the culprit a lot better than food elimination.

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.

There is a fundamental difference between the inability to digest a specific type of food and an allergy to that same item. When you are allergic to something, the body treats it as a threat and acts to eliminate the problem. Conversely, intolerance is simply the inability of the body to handle a food item.

While your body will not react as if it is infected by something foreign, your body's digestive organs (like your stomach and intestines) will respond negatively to many ingredients in food, simply because they are not tolerant of those particular ingredients in those foods.

If your body stops producing or doesn't produce specific enzymes needed to breakdown a certain food then an intolerance will occur. As we grow and our bodies change this can sometimes happen to us. For example, many people become lactose intolerant because the chemical needed to suitably digest lactose decreases as we age. It can take several years for the unpleasant intolerance symptoms to show up.

To discover what foods you are intolerant to, reduce your diet to water, lamb and brown rice only. These foods rarely cause problems in the average person. Eat just these foods for approximately three weeks. When you do decide to reintroduce foods to your diet, just introduce one every 3 to 4 days, not several at once. Keep a very detailed diary so you can discover possible causes if you do have a reaction. It should be clear within 6 to 9 months as to exactly which foods you are intolerant to and should avoid.

Taking the ELISA IgG blood test to check for food intolerance is another means of figuring out which foods your body will not tolerate. Over 200 foods are tested using only a couple drops of blood. You will notice that you sleep more soundly, your digestion will improve, and you will feel more energetic when you are no longer consuming foods that you are intolerant to. Weight loss also occurs at an accelerated rate, which many people find pleasing.