People, who are overweight or obese, struggle to lose weight if they are intolerant to any particular food or food group. This usually results in not having a balanced meal but can also result in consuming high-energy food. Food intolerance can lead to people sticking to a certain type of food resulting in mineral and vitamin deficiency and thereby leading to tiredness. They also struggle to stick to any particular diet and give up.
How does food intolerance prevent weight loss?
The key to weight loss and maintaining the lost weight is not only to reduce calorie intake but also to have a balanced meal.
In order to have a balanced meal, food preferences have to be changed. A number of people have very specific food preferences either due to intolerance or habit.
When people are intolerant of a certain food they end up having an alternative food that is energy-dense. This results in weight gain.
What help can I get from the clinic?
In the first instance, you will have a detailed consultation with our bariatric physician. During the consultation, the specialist will find out if you have any underlying cause for weight gain and any suggestion of food intolerance.
Thereafter you will be offered a plan supported by a team of specialists including a dietitian. It is important to determine which particular food or food groups you are intolerant of.
A food intolerance test and not an allergy test will be done. These test results help our team to design the most appropriate plan for you.
The tests will not identify all the different types of food sensitivity (such as lactose intolerance), and it is not diagnostic of coeliac disease. If coeliac disease is suspected a separate test will be requested in addition to the food intolerance test.
There are many hidden ingredients in the food we consume. Therefore, you may not consciously be aware of eating some of the items that you are supposed to avoid. After the test, we will advise you accordingly to carefully review the list of ingredients and avoid them.
If you have already been successfully excluding certain foods from your diet due to a previously suspected intolerance then that intolerance may not show up on the results.
If required a stool test will also be done to determine if you have dysbiosis microbial imbalance.
Once we have the results of all the tests, we offer a personalized meal plan and a weight loss program for effective and sustained weight loss.
If you are struggling to lose weight due to food intolerance, please contact us for more details using email [email protected]
Watch our video on Food Intolerance & Weight Loss