Food Intolerances: More Than Just What We Eat
My personal journey
Food can affect our bodies, emotions and everyday lives in deeply individual ways. In this resource, I explore my personal journey with compassion, curiosity and respect for the person behind the symptoms.
For as long as I can remember, food has never been "just food."
I developed ARFID when I was nine years old, although at the time nobody knew what it was. People saw me as a fussy eater, difficult or simply unwilling to try new foods. Looking back now, with a diagnosis of autism and ADHD at the age of 50, so much of my relationship with food suddenly made sense.
As I've grown older, my understanding has continued to evolve. Through my own experiences and the work I do with clients every day, I've become increasingly interested in how our bodies respond to the foods we eat. I began noticing patterns that couldn't easily be explained. Certain foods left me feeling exhausted, foggy-headed or physically unwell. Others affected my digestion, my energy, my concentration or even my mood.
Like many people, I wondered whether it was simply stress, getting older or something I was imagining.
After exploring food intolerances more closely, many of those pieces finally began to fit together.
One of the things I love most about my work is helping people become curious about themselves rather than critical of themselves.
The aim is not to create fear around food or encourage unnecessary restriction. It is to help people notice patterns, understand the difference between allergy and intolerance, and make informed decisions with appropriate support.
YorkTest: Tests and Practitioner Discount
YorkTest offers a wider range of home-to-laboratory options, including: Premium Food Intolerance Test; Food Allergy Test; Food Intolerance & Allergy Bundle; Junior Food Intolerance Test; Gut Microbiome Test; Annual Health Test; Essential Health Check; Stress (Cortisol) Test; Female Hormones Test; Female Fertility Test; Menopause Test; Male Hormones Test; Thyroid Test; Liver Function Test; Cholesterol Test; Inflammation (CRP) Test; Vitamin D Test; Metabolic Health Test; and couples, parent-and-child, family and complete health-and-nutrition bundles.
If you decide that a YorkTest product is appropriate for you, visit www.yorktest.com/products/ and enter my practitioner discount code PLEAROYD at checkout for an additional £5 off.
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Testing should be considered alongside symptoms, clinical history and appropriate professional advice. A food allergy can be serious: suspected immediate allergy symptoms require medical assessment. IgG food-reactivity testing is different from diagnostic IgE allergy testing and remains debated, so results should not be used alone to diagnose illness or begin a highly restrictive diet.
By Maggie Learoyd
Psychotherapist | ADHD, Autism & ARFID Specialist
Founder of Space to Breathe Therapy
