The Problem Discussing Intuitive Eating and Food Allergies

I’ve been avoiding this topic for a while now, just because it’s complicated.  In fact, it’s way more complicated than Meryl Streep’s situation in the movie It’s Complicated, and probably more complicated than Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, though I haven’t seen the latter, so I can’t be sure.

The topic is: how do you handle food allergies when you’re trying to eat intuitively?

A number of you have asked me, and I’m going to try to answer it here.  Though, I must add the disclaimer that what I’m about to say may not be appropriate or right for everyone, and if you’re really struggling with this, I would recommend having a few sessions with me to try to work through it.

I also need to add the disclaimer that intuitive eating is approached with a system of guidelines that can seem deceptively simple, but it can take a while (i.e., weeks, months, or even years) to really feel like you’re doing eating intuitively even somewhat correctly.

The Conflict

When you have food allergies and you’re learning to eat intuitively, your food allergy concerns often come into conflict most with the intuitive eating principle of “eat what your body wants.” 

The process of getting in touch with your body’s desires in terms of food can be a tricky one, especially if you’re accustomed to being on a diet and making choices based upon your diet’s rules.  Add to that a list of food rules due to allergies, and the whole thing can seem impossible.

Food Allergies

So let’s talk first about allergies.  With food allergies, we’re really talking about a range of symptoms—from mild discomfort to possible death.  Since this range is so broad, let’s consider some categories:

Severe Category—Severe food allergy that can lead to anaphylactic shock or other severe symptoms or exacerbate conditions such as Celiac’s Disease.
Moderate Category—Food allergy that leads to symptoms that can last over a period of days, such as skin rashes or digestive issues.
Mild Category—Food allergy that causes temporary discomfort.

Severe Allergies 

If you have severe, life-threatening allergies, then, much like a dieter, you’re going to have to contend with a food or foods that you must avoid no matter what.  And for those of you with these kinds of allergies, it may sometimes feel like punishment, even though you know that avoiding those foods isn’t punishment but a necessary component of your good health.  Thus, my primary recommendation for people with severe allergies is to keep reminding yourself that by avoiding these foods, you’re treating yourself well.  You’re taking care of yourself by not eating peanuts or dairy or whatever foods are most problematic for you.  So, if you have a serious gluten allergy but a major part of you is saying, “I want a bagel from the delicatessen!” you will have to keep reminding yourself of how much you love to take care of yourself and how avoiding that bagel is taking care of yourself.  Also, as much as possible, shift your internal focus towards foods that are non-allergenic for you, and use intuitive eating strategies that focus on all of the things you can eat without issue.  Finally, make sure to have appropriate foods available for yourself so that you can find something else satisfying.

I say all this like it’s near impossible to avoid foods that trigger severe allergies, but in my experience, people with severe allergies are quite good at avoiding foods that they’re allergic to, mainly because the issue of safety is so black and white.  When your choices are: don’t eat this and feel okay or eat this and go to the hospital, the choice is often so ingrained that the person barely takes time to think about it.

That being said, the food allergies that I and most of my clients struggle with are generally in the moderate to mild category. 

Mild and Moderate Allergies

For example, I have a mild allergy to a number of fruits, including pineapple, strawberries and cantaloupe.  If I eat these foods, I usually get a sore throat for a few hours but then it just goes away.  In terms of more moderate allergies, I have a sensitivity to wheat, which sometimes seems not to bother me at all and other times causes bloating and itchy skin that may stick around for days.  Charming, right? 

Those of you with these kind of allergies can relate to the calculus that sometimes goes through my head; i.e., well, if I just have half a bagel and then I don’t eat any more wheat for a few days it’ll probably be okay . . . and maybe one taste of pineapple won’t hurt.  As you probably know, you kind of make deals with yourself about your food allergies.

My Intuitive Eating v. Allergies Experience

Last week, I had a really terrible cold.  I kept getting hungry, and I would check in with myself about what I wanted to eat, and every time, the only thing that appealed to me was a bagel with cream cheese and a soymilk smoothie with blueberries and raspberries.  I would check in with myself again and again, knowing full well that I was: (a) allergic to wheat, thus making bagels a problem, (b) probably overdoing it, for me, on process carbs, (c) not too keen on eating cream cheese when I had sinus congestion and (d) thinking that a cold drink like a smoothie probably wasn’t the best thing for me either, even if blueberries and raspberries couldn’t hurt.  But, I acquiesced, eating smoothies and bagels for pretty much every meal for about 2 and a half days.  Amazingly, however, I didn’t have my usual wheat related symptoms, and I got over the cold way more quickly than normal.*

*Results not typical (to borrow from every diet testimonial ever).  I don’t use this example to say that you should always let your intuitive sense override knowledge of your food allergies.  What I am saying is that it can be a messy, mixed up process, and that our bodies are complicated and sometimes mysterious.

Perhaps some of you with food allergies that are mild or moderate are much stronger than I am on this topic, and you are able to completely avoid those foods to which you are allergic without a struggle.  If you can, kudos to you.  However, if you’re like me (and many of my clients), food allergies, especially to highly popular and/or highly delicious foods, can be a struggle.

So to show you that there’s some method to my madness, I’d love for you to try my 4 Part Plan for working with intuitive eating when you have mild or moderate (i.e., not life-threatening) food allergies. Check it out HERE.

Again, if you’re struggling with food allergies and intuitive eating, I recommend working with me or someone like me to get some individual assistance.  If you’d like to discuss it more here, feel free to comment below.

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Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness. She counsels women and men throughout the country on how to get off the dieting roller coaster, give their bodies what they really crave, and love their bodies and themselves. Golda's counseling and activism work have been featured on CBS's The Early Show, ABC's Nightline and Time Out New York. For more support with healing your relationship with food and your body, get your free copy of Golda's Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining by clicking here.