Health Blog

Pet Intolerances

07/05/2011 11:34:00

At testyourintoleranceusa.com we test 600 different items, ranging from tree pollens to fruits and many others in between. But sometimes there is a product which you want testing that we do not offer. What happens if you want your specific pet hair testing against your own sample to see if you are intolerant? When this happens, we offer a completely free service that allows you to enclose up to five extra items in separate bags and we will test them against your hair sample to see if there are other intolerances.

Unfortunately, pet allergies don’t only come from pet hair, it can come from the skin (usually known as dander), urine or saliva. This means the allergens can attack from many different angles and also cause all manner of symptoms.

How to live with pet intolerances if you have pets:

First and foremost, you will need to avoid being around new and unknown pets
Wearing a mask can alleviate symptoms in severe sufferers
Regularly clean furniture; it can house all manner of hairs
Actually have LESS furniture; less furniture means less problems
Change your mattress annually
Use a vacuum with no bag and clean with a wet cloth after usage
Avoid owning products like teddy bears, pillows and other fabric covered items as these can all cause problems

Pet allergies can affect you in the strangest of places, as anywhere pet hair can reach, intolerances can reach too. For example, you may have no pets and then go to work and suddenly suffer intolerance symptoms: runny & itchy eyes, blocked nose and trouble breathing. It turns out you could be intolerant to your coworker‘s cat, your boss’ dog or your cleaner’s horse!

It may appear that a pet allergy is a constant battle even with today’s antihistamines and other drugs around, but this needn’t be the case. Some simple forward planning, a clean home and pet avoidance can leave you breathing free and feeling fine.

Yeast

05/13/2011 15:52:00

One of the main requests we get here at TestyourintoleranceUSA.com is for people to see whether they are yeast intolerant or not. This is a surprisingly common intolerance which if gone undiagnosed, can cause a lot of pain to the sufferer.

The symptoms of a yeast intolerance can be extremely varied. If you have excess gas, feel tired, bloating, bad breath, psoriasis/eczema, mood swings or heartburn, these could all point to a yeast intolerance.

Most people get their sources of yeast from breads, and cakes, which include muffins, donuts and buns. It is most commonly used as a rising agent but is also found in beers and ales. Obviously these items are substantial items in most people’s diet so when you are diagnosed it is often considered to be the end of a tasty diet, but this is often not the case.

What to do if you are yeast intolerant:

You will have to take considerable action to change your own diet so that you can allow your body to detox from the yeast and begin to repair itself. You will need to cut out products high in yeast (as mentioned above) as well as milk and dairy products, and other items of confectionary as these can all trigger yeast intolerance symptoms.

Items that are usually (please check the labels) yeast free include:

Soda bread
Pitta breads
Naan breads
Tortilla wraps
Rice cakes.

At TestyourintoleranceUSA.com we test for yeast and many other products where it can be found. We can help you rid you of those horrible bloating problems by implementing a simple diet change. Why not get healthy today!?

Avocados

04/22/2011 10:53:00

Avocados (or sometimes ‘Alligator Pears’) are a fruit, containing a large seed inside it. They are grown in tropical climates and one avocado tree can grow up to 1,200 avocados annually.

They are often described as a super food as they lower cholesterol levels, protect against breast cancer thanks to the high levels of oleic acid and are also rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. They are stocked full of vitamins A, B6, C, D & E, Riboflavin & manganese. The only down side is that they are extremely high in calories, at around 400 calories per avocado!

They have a long list of proven benefits:

Promotes a healthy heart
Has a wide range of anti-inflammatory benefits
Optimised absorption of Carotenoids
Supports cardiovascular health
Promotes blood sugar regulation
And is full of anti-cancer benefits

Avocados are best eaten with other fruits and vegetables as they allow for better intake of vitamins and minerals. For example, eating an avocado with a lettuce, spinach and carrot salad increases absorption of carotenoids by 400%! Although they are prone to enzymatic browning (going brown when left open) adding lemon or lime juice will prevent this.

To open an avocado, take a sharp knife and cut it length ways all the way round. Twist the two halves in opposite directions until they part and one side contains the large round seed. Remove the seed with a spoon or with a sharp knife and then scoop out the goodness!

Below is a recipe for a truly beautiful avocado soup, which is both light as air and filling too.

Avocado Soup

Ingredients

A little oil

1 heaped tablespoon flour

1/4 pint Soya milk

1 1/2 vegetable stock

seasoning

1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped

1 ripe avocado, halved, stoned and peeled

chopped parsley or snipped chives for garnish

Method

Heat the oil, stir in the flour and cook gently over a low heat forabout 3 minutes, without browning.

Remove from the heat and add the milk, beating.

Gradually add the vegetable stock, stirring constantly, along with seasoning and green pepper.

Simmer for 15 minutes.

Allow to cool, before blending.

Reheat and serve garnished with parsley or snipped chives.

Enjoy!

House Dust & Dust Mites

04/21/2011 15:55:00

It’s that time of year again. Eyes are red, noses are stuffy and your skin is itchy. Everyone automatically blames hay fever but maybe you should be looking a little closer to home.

It is more likely to be the common dust allergy,which means an intolerance caused by dust mites and their excrement. They are microscopic creatures that live in your mattress and carpets and feed off dander (human skin flakes). They have eight legs, no eyes, and a mouth, housed in a tough translucent shell. It sounds like the kind of thing nightmares are made of! The mites’ excretion contains a lot of protein substances that when incontact with the skin or inhaled, cause the body to produce antibodies. These antibodies can lead to irritation, swelling and excess mucus – just like hayfever symptoms.

It is thought that one mattress can contain between 100,000 to 1 million dust mites and 45 percent of homes in the western world have enough dust mites to trigger allergy symptoms.

It is thought that everyone has some kind of dust allergy, but it affects some people a lot more than others. Unfortunately there is currently no cure for this allergy, only prevention.

Keeping the house clean means there is no where for the mites to live and breed. Although even the keenest cleaner will never be able to eradicate them, so what else can you do?

Vacuuming regularly, preferably with a heavy-duty vacuum is a good start. Washing pillows and sheets at least once a week will also help. Keeping your house moist free and air filters have all been proven to stop house dust mite in their tracks.

To help stop this ‘mitey’ big problem, here at TestYourIntoleranceUSA.com, we test for over 100 different types of pollens from trees and plants and also test for house dust and house dust mites. Why not see what you are intolerant to today?

Chocolate

03/23/2011 19:17:00

Everyone knows that too much chocolate can be bad for you, but do we really know why?

New research shows that not only does chocolate cause fatty deposits to build up over the consumer’s body (usually in the least desirable places!) but regular chocolate consumption can lead to weaker bones and osteoporosis. Females eating chocolate on a daily basis were found to be more likely to have a lower bone density than someone eating no chocolate.

The manufacturers actually make chocolate less healthy to improve the taste, according to a recent British Medical Journal, stating that “manufacturers often remove the healthy chemicals from the chocolate, like the flavanols (which help to increase the blood circulation), because these substances give chocolate its bitter taste”.

Chocolate has many health problems too; it can cause:

o Migraines
o Cyclic Vomiting
o Hives
o Colic in breast fed babies
o Cystitis - non-infectious
o Anal Itching

People with Wilson's disease must avoid chocolate, according to the MedlinePlus website. This disease can cause a dangerous build up of copper in the body. Chocolate, rich in copper, is a bad food choice.

In the United States, the typical person eats 11.5 pounds of chocolate annually simply because Chocolate is actually highly addictive. When ‘Chocoholics’ think they want more chocolate, it is their body simply ‘craving’ more. The same alkaloid compounds found in alcohol are also present in chocolate, researchers say. Other active substances in chocolate, like caffeine and magnesium, are often suggested as potential contributors to craving

Chocolate products have a high lead content compared to other foods. Considering that Cocoa Beans have one of the lowest lead contents, where does this come from? Most of it enters the chocolate on its journey from the tree to your tongue. Seems it's more about where the bean's been. Shipping, processing and manufacturing expose it to the toxic metal. This means that too much chocolate can lead to:

o Reproductive problems (in both men and women)
o High blood pressure and hypertension
o Nerve disorders
o Memory and concentration problems
o Muscle and joint pain

So next time you reach for that chocolate bar, please have a think as to what you are really letting yourself into.

Oranges

03/14/2011 21:08:00

Firstly, Welcome to the new & improved TestYourIntolerance blog. Here we will use this space to write a fortnightly article aimed at highlighting the pros and cons of many common food and non-foods that we include in our 600 item intolerance test.

This first blog is about the pros of the ever ripe, ever round, Orange! An orange comes from the citrus family along with lemons, limes and a host of others and are usually (strangely enough) orange. They are available all year around from various warm countries around the globe and are packed full of nutrition.

A single orange contains almost 100% of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C, as well as fibre, Vitamin A, B, amino acids, beta-carotene, pectin, potassium, folic acid, calcium, iodine, phosphorus, sodium, zinc, manganese, chlorine and iron. Incidentally, orange juice contains only 25% of the Vitamin C that an orange has to offer!

What many people don’t realise is how nutritious the albedo (the white pith) is for you. It contains more bioflavonoid and other anti-cancer agents than the orange pulp itself. It also contains pectin, which is a soluble dietary fiber with potential to lower serum cholesterol, relieve diarrhea, act as an immune system stimulant and as an anti-ulcer agent. Oranges also have a low glycemic index (GI) but orange juice has a higher GI than orange themselves.

Also, the orange skin is very good for you and should be kept on when making smoothies as contains even more Vitamin C & Fibre. It also has some unique uses around the house as it is a great mosquito repellent, it helps to keep your brown sugar soft and even protects the leaves of your plants from cats!

So lets all try ‘an Orange a day, to keep the doctor away’!