Food Allergies

Just gotten back the results for my food intolerance test from my co's doc last friday. Blood used for the clinical test was taken about a week earlier.

I must say that such tests are not very well known in Singapore. Dr Ho has heard of such tests but known it to be done in States and they cost approximately 3 - 4 thousand dollars. I'm quite lucky that Dr Tong knew of one local lab that does a similiar test on a smaller sampling of food.

Of course, it is not as comprehensive as the ones done in States but still, the local abbreviated test will include a total of 150 common food items. At that number, the sampling is already large enough for me.

Like the chinese saying goes, 病從口入 and so you might actually say that i have been looking forward to seeing the results. I was hoping to gain an insight of what might or could have been the cause of my recent frequent bouts of illnesses.

From the results, it seems that i'm reactive to quite a number of foods. The ones that i'm highly intolerant are cabbage, sunflower, string beans, malt, mushroom and cauliflower. These are to be the big NOs in my diet.

There's also a whole list of others which i'm most likely to be intolerant but reactions will range from mild to medium. They include coffee, yeast, honeydew, garlic, oysters, sugar cane, crab, navy bean, eggwhite, clam, green pea, trout, chocolate, ice-cream and so on..

A lot of friends remarked that it's going to be a torture as most of them are very much common food found in our daily diet and worse still, the very fact that i'm a coffee lover. Most wondered... isn't it gonna be difficult?

Not so difficult, i think. Afterall when we do consume our food, we are suppose to be mindful enough to consume our food in such a way that we nourish our body and not to make it sick! =)

Yes, i do believe that we should enjoy our food but the most important thing is that it should not become an addiction. If we find it hard to cut off one type of food or another, it just simply mean that we have a craving or addiction for it. Then all the more, we need to let it go.

Ultimately, it's for the good of the body. As the Buddha nicely put it, Health is the precious gain, Contentment the greatest wealth. What more can we ask for when we have a healthy body and a mind free of addictions. =)

Oh, by the way, i've already changed my daily diet and so far, i have been drinking tea instead of coffee for my daily breakfast. Even in the office, no coffee for me so far. I intend to keep coffee to the occassional evening or weekend gatherings with friends so that i will not over consume it, causing harm to my body. =)

Let's all take care of our bodies and mind. =) May all of us be well and happy. =)