Food Allergies? Diagnose Yourself Fast

January 23rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Health Research

Often a bad reaction to a food is nothing more than a digestive problem and is not a food allergy. If you are having problems with certain foods, you’ll need to monitor your symptoms and when they occur so you can find out if you have a real food allergy and get the correct treatment.

The most severe reaction with food allergies is anaphylaxis which can be fatal if not treated right away. This is a rare reaction that occurs when several symptoms occur at once and it happens quickly. This kind of reaction is what many people think of with food allergies but usually food allergy symptoms are much milder. Depending on how severe your food allergy is, you may not even realize that it is the cause of your symptoms. The following are food allergy symptoms that are likely to occur.

  • Feeling scratchy and itchy
  • Developing a rash
  • Head pain
  • Watery and scratchy eyes
  • Nausea

With food allergies, you may not experience all the symptoms at once. They may come on one at a time as the food is digested and processed through different parts of the body. It is not uncommon to have little or no symptoms until the food is being digested in your intestines.

Keeping a food journal where you note what you eat and how it makes you feel is a good first step in figuring out if you have food allergies. You can refer to the journal to see what foods gave you trouble and what symptoms you had. You may be able to narrow your problems down to a specific food this way.

Take your food journal with you to the doctor and let him see what you have found. He can tell you more from looking at your food journal than you could figure out. Sometimes, the doctor is able to run tests that will determine what foods are causing the reaction. It can be hard to determine when large meals with many different foods cause a reaction. A doctor knows what questions to ask to get to the bottom of the problem.

Doctors will usually want to do a skin allergy test which consists of putting an allergen in a liquid form on your skin to see how you react. These tests should not be tried at home because you may need immediate assistance if you have a bad reaction so don’t think you can test yourself.

After doing some research and seeing the doctor, you may find that you don’t have any food allergies. It may just be that certain foods do not agree with you and are difficult for you to digest. You need to get properly diagnosed so you can get the best treatment.

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How to Avoid Thanksgiving Weight Gain

January 7th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Family Health

Thanksgiving means hanging out with your loved ones and having a great meal (or two) together. If you aren’t careful, though, that Thanksgiving meal can mean gaining weight. You can enjoy the Thanksgiving meal without overdoing it and packing on the pounds. The following are some suggestions to help you do this.

A lot of us eat when we are stressed. Getting ready for Thanksgiving can be stressful with all the travel plans you have to make, the food you have to cook, and the family gatherings you have to plan. This can make you want to pig out the whole month long. Take time to relax and rest so that you won’t be tempted to overeat before Thanksgiving even gets here. This advice can apply to the Christmas holiday as well.

You can make that Thanksgiving dinner your family loves a little healthier without losing any of its flavor by substituting some healthier ingredients for the unhealthy ones. One thing you can do is use more spices for flavoring instead of butter and gravy. Low fat evaporated milk can be used in desserts. You can use low fat chicken broth to flavor potatoes and gravy. Changing the way you cook the meal by using a steamer for vegetables or removing the fatty drippings from the turkey can help too. Your family won’t even notice the difference.

Don’t miss lunch Thanksgiving Day thinking you’ll make up for the calories you are going to eat at dinner. Having a small meal or snack before your big dinner will help you with portion control. You don’t want to be starving when dinner arrives and eat way more than you planned. Also, try to fill up on healthier foods like green salads before the main part of the big meal. A caution about the salads: veggies are low in calories, but that salad can contribute to your weight gain if you don’t lay off the dressing!

Portion control is the key at Thanksgiving dinner. Often, though, there are so many different foods to chose from that if you eat even a little of all of them you’ll be going over your calorie goals. Decide which foods you really want the most and eat a little of all of those instead of trying everything on the table. You’ll still be full and feel like you got to eat what you wanted.

A great way to work off some of those calories from the big dinner is to go outside and get some exercise. You could go for a walk, play a game like touch football or run around with the kids. You could also play a fun game of charades which is good for ages and gets everyone up and moving. You don’t have to gain weight this year at Thanksgiving if you make good food choices and plan ahead.

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