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Food allergies are a bit different as noted earlier. The best and usually only way to treat food allergies is to avoid the foods you are allergic to. This will require identifying the foods you are allergic to, and then avoiding them. You may have to invest in a special book that addresses your specific food allergen.

When shopping, you will have to check all labels and ingredients for hidden allergens. You may be surprised to learn for example, that many common foods have soy or soy derivatives in them. If you have a soy allergy, eating these foods may result in a flare-up.

Most processed foods are more likely to cause problems than foods in their whole, natural state. People with food allergies often do best on a diet that incorporates plenty of whole grown, fresh foods including fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. Certain grains, including buckwheat and rice, are much less allergenic and often do not contain gluten, a substance many people are allergic to.

You may find you have a combination of food and common allergies. If this is the case, you may have to adopt a lifestyle change. You may need to take prescription or over-the-counter medications to help reduce your symptoms, then also take precautions to avoid common triggers so you can live as comfortably as possible.

What We Learned

Diagnosing allergies is often an easy process. If you ingest a food and suddenly have symptoms, you can easily identify a food allergy. Sensitivities are harder to diagnose, because they may result in chronic symptoms that seem unrelated to an allergy. You may for example, experience a delayed skin reaction, or have problems sleeping.

Common allergies are often diagnosed by symptoms and by serologic testing. Your healthcare provider can help you properly diagnose the foods and environmental irritants you are allergic to using simple blood tests. Other people prefer to do their own testing using food elimination diets or other means. No matter what means you use to diagnose your allergies, it is important you discover your triggers.

Once you do, you can start treating your symptoms and preventing allergic symptoms from recurring. While you may not be able to cure allergies, you can reduce them to a minor irritant using a combination of preventive techniques and by taking regular medicines. Some people will opt for allergy shots in combination with other treatments including use of air filters and the “avoidance” technique to help limit their symptoms.

In the next section, we’ll look at some less traditional ways you can treat allergies and even prevent allergy symptoms from flaring.