Not long ago, I saw a patient who had frequent abdominal pain, bloating and sometimes diarrhea for more than 3 years. I had him tested for food intolerances and found that he was intolerant to milk, wheat and egg whites, and his symptoms improved significantly after he reduced these foods. In fact, food intolerance, also known as chronic food allergy, is a gastrointestinal reaction that occurs when a person lacks the enzymes to digest a particular food, rather than an immune system response. Symptoms of food intolerance often occur hours or days after the food is consumed. Common symptoms include: abdominal pain, diarrhea, indigestion, rash, itchy skin, headache, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, etc. Many people may have intolerances to three or more foods at the same time. Because of the insidious onset and lack of specificity of symptoms, it is difficult for people to identify intolerances on their own and professional testing is required. Many large hospitals and medical checkup centers carry out this program, which requires only 05 to 1 ml of blood to test for intolerances to some common foods in life. The current common 14 tests include beef, chicken, cod, corn, crab, eggs, mushrooms, milk, pork, rice shrimp, soybeans, tomatoes and wheat, etc. Some also offer 90 tests for food intolerances, including various vegetables, meats and fruits. What should I do if I have a food intolerance? If you find out which foods you are intolerant to through the food intolerance test, it is easy to get rid of your intolerance without taking any medication or injections, just by making dietary adjustments to avoid intolerant foods. Each person has different types of food intolerances and symptoms, so the time required for dietary adjustment varies. According to the test results, foods are divided into three categories: avoidance, rotation and safe consumption. If there are many intolerant foods, foods with moderate and severe sensitivity can be classified as contraindicated and foods with mild sensitivity can be included in the food rotation. See the attached chart for foods that can be substituted. It is important to note that all types of processed foods containing intolerant food components should also be absolutely avoided in the dietary adjustment. If you are intolerant to milk, then anything containing milk ingredients such as milk sugar, cream, ice cream, lactic acid drinks, etc. are forbidden foods; if you are intolerant to eggs, in addition to not eating eggs, egg-containing foods such as cakes and omelets must also be avoided. Only with strict control can the symptoms be truly relieved.