I seem to react badly to more and more foods – how can I find out which ones are bad for me and how can I avoid all the possible problem foods?

If you seem to be reacting to many foods then strengthening your digestive function is a better approach than trying to avoid a steadily increasing number of food groups and thereby heavily restricting your diet.

Always sit down to eat, chew each mouthful well, don’t hunch over whilst eating, and don’t drink within 20 minutes of eating.

Separate fruit from other foods, and avoid foods that are highly processed – e.g. it would take you more than 10 minutes to work out what they were when they were first harvested or killed.

Use bitter herbs such as Yarrow Complex in a little water (5-10ml) before each meal.

Initially, it is best to avoid dairy products, wheat, caffeine, alcohol, citrus fruit and chocolate for 2 weeks.

Many people feel a lot better after doing this whilst observing the good eating habits outlined above.

You can then reintroduce foods one at a time and see if they still upset you.

You will find that certain foods may upset you when you are in a hurry or stressed, but not when you are calm and happy. This is because physical or emotional stress detracts from digestive power, so foods that require a lot of energy to digest then prove troublesome.

Ali Cullen
Nutritional therapist