Okay, raise your hand if you have a sensitive tummy.
Come on, don’t be shy.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had problems after eating with gas, bloating, constipation, acid reflux or any other digestive disturbance.
Like how I phrased that, “digestive disturbance”?
Being reactive to food is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that you need to pay more attention to what you put into your mouth than maybe the person sitting next to you at the table.
This is a journey that I’ve had to take as I’ve become healthier.
Sounds funny to you?
I thought so too. I never thought that I was reactive to food until I started cleaning up my daily diet and exercising more.
It’s like I had to pay an extra price for wanting to be healthier.
Let’s just say I was not a happy camper when I realized this.
To figure out if you suffer from Sensitive Tummy Syndrome, a.k.a. Food Reactivity, Food Sensitivity or even from Food Allergies, you’ll just need to take a closer look at what’s going on with your body before, during and after you eat.
You might first notice stomach bloating or you might notice gas or being overly gassy, like as in, you fart, a lot.
After that you might notice some congestion either in your sinuses or in your chest or even better, in your bowels.
Not what you’d want to hear? Well it’s more common as a result of food issues than you may believe.
Altered bowel movements can be a direct result of food issues. You can land on either spectrum- the constipation side or the diarrhea side.
Do you notice any of these in yourself?
They might not be noticeable at first, like you’ve been living with them for a long time and have just gotten used to them being around. It’s almost like you’ve thought that this is just what happens as you get older.
If you do notice any of these reactions, when do they most often appear? Is it after a particular meal or after certain foods?
If you’re not sure, then just keep track of when you think things are happening and if you’re in the process of cleaning up what you eat, then these reactions might be more apparent or might occur more frequently.
For example, I notice that when I eat a lot of dairy foods, my nasal sinuses become very congested. If I’m eating well, then I notice that this congestion can occur within 10 minutes after I’ve eaten.
This is just one simple reaction but the long term effects for me are nasty sinus infections that occur in the cold winter months. When I back off of dairy products, the sinus infections are minimized to a huge extent. When I back off dairy products and sugar, the effects are more pronounced and even more so when I cut out wheat and gluten as well.
Sound crazy?
It may seem a little drastic, but it’s part of what I get to deal with because I choose to be healthier.
After you’ve figured out what foods set you off and possibly when they do so, then you can figure out if those foods or category of foods are trigger foods for you.
There are a few ways to do this.
The most conclusive way to figure out is a doctor’s blood test. If you are willing to go in for an allergy test, you’ll find out exactly what foods as well as other items set you off and which things you’ll need to avoid in order to be healthy.
If you choose to not go the allergy test route, then you can do a simple elimination test. This method is not as specific or as definitive but it does work.
Take the food out. If your symptoms go away, chances are it’s a food trigger for you. If they don’t, then it’s not.
(One note, if you go the elimination test route, test only one food at a time and follow along without that food for a minimum of one week.)
As simple as this sounds, this is the easiest way to determine if you have a sensitive tummy.
After all, isn’t it better to really know what’s going on inside of you?
