Today, somebody asked elsewhere about starting their kid on fish.

[conuly]

And let me just say that I am *so tired* of people referring to eating a new food as "introducing" it to their kid. I know what they mean, and it's certainly not novel, but I can't shake the impression that they're going "Kid, meet fish. Fish, kid. Now you can be BEST FRIENDS! Go off and play!"

But I digress.

The woman said she had no "history of food allergies", very specific there.

Except that many people actually do have an intolerance to foods and don't realize it. Why? Because when they think of "food allergies" they think mostly of stomach upsets - nausea or diarrhea - or they think of hives, or they think of fatal problems.

(And sometimes they don't even realize their stomach problems are food related! They think it's normal to have chronic gas, to be constantly bloated, or to always be constipated/runny!)

They don't think of eczema as being related to food. They don't think of asthma as being potentially triggered by food. They don't think of stuffiness and congestion as having anything to do with what they eat. They certainly don't think of mood and behavior problems as being related to common foods - or if they do, they think of it only in the context of artificial colors and sugar.

Of course, the reality is that food intolerances can cause all of these problems. So I'm posting this as a PSA - if you constantly have any of these problems, and nothing works, or you're so used to it that you just use stopgaps all the time? Try keeping a food diary. See if there's any connection.

Comments

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

It took me until my twenties to realise that caffeine and food coloring were causing my digestive and mood problems, because they're just so ubiquitous and I wasn't getting hives or throwing up (my impressions of what 'allergic' meant). And now, when I tell people with similar symptoms that they might want to try cutting them out for a week or two to see if it helps, I get a reaction like I'm sort of crunchy granola whacko. In my case, I think people get defensive because they think I'm lecturing them on the healthiness of their diet. Honestly, I don't care what they eat, but if you're complaining to me about anxiety while knocking back 150 mg. of a stimulant every day...

[conuly]

Oh, god. I posted about this in the original comment.

I have a very high success rate in internet diagnoses of dairy intolerance. Even I don't believe it!

Unfortunately... nobody ever remembers. It goes like this. A friend complains about having some problem that I know can be linked to dairy intolerance - eczema, asthma, congestion, mood swings. I mention that it can be linked to dairy. They go "Oh, no, that's silly". When it comes up again, I mention it again and say it's a long shot, but they might try a simple elimination diet. "Oh, no, I eat too much dairy, there'd be nothing left to eat!" Eventually they get fed up enough to try it, it works - and they come back to me and go "WOW! I took dairy out of my diet and it really worked! I wish somebody had told me!"

...

At this point I mention, you know, that I kinda told them that, and do you know what they universally say?

"Oh, no, I'm sure I read it somewhere". Or maybe they're sure they "saw it on TV" or something.

I could scream.