Professional Opinion: Paula Haywood

In her role as a Nutritionist, Paula Haywood joins us to discuss the problems associated with food intolerances and sensitivities:

1.  What is the most common allergy provoking food?

Cow’s milk products are the most common foods people react to. Cow’s milk is in most cheeses, cream, yoghurt and butter.  It can be hidden in many foods and sometimes called “casein” which is milk protein.  It is casein that people can react to not milk sugar, which is lactose.  It doesn’t necessarily mean you react to goat’s milk or sheep’s milk, however some people do.  Some people react to yeast containing foods including wheat.

2.   Can you explain what is meant by food allergy, food intolerance and food sensitivity?

Some people have an allergy to a food and this reaction involves the immune system. Severe food allergies to shellfish or peanuts for example, can cause immediate gastrointestinal upsets or swelling in the face or throat.  However food intolerance refers to a reaction that does not involve the immune system and is caused by the way the body processes the food or food additive. Food sensitivity refers to the fact that a person reacts adversely to a food or component of a food, when it’s not entirely clear whether the reaction is due to an allergy or intolerance.

3.   What is the most common problem encountered by your clients?

Frequently clients see me for advice concerning food intolerances, weight management, digestive health issues (eg. constipation, irritable bowel syndrome), low energy, skin problems, female health issues such as pre-conceptual nutrition advice or unexplained infertility.

4.   What advice would you give to someone who suspects they may have a food intolerance?

Keep a food diary recording daily all foods and drinks taken.  Avoid any suspect foods for fourteen days before introducing them individually, noting your symptoms. Discuss your symptoms with a professional, I do not recommend people simply avoid food groups without having advice because nutritional imbalances will result.  It is also possible to follow a diet for three months that excludes suspect foods, which are replaced with healthy alternatives.  The suspect foods may then be reintroduced once the digestive system has had time to desensitise and heal.  The use of diagnostic tests and supplements may be helpful.  Unless someone has a genuine good allergy, it does not mean that foods have to be avoided indefinitely in all cases.

5.   Any products you particularly endorse?

I sometimes recommend diagnostic tests to assist clients with food allergy testing if it would be helpful for the client.  I may also use supplementation in the short term which depending on the client, may include digestive enzymes, probiotics and other gastrointestinal support products.  What I always discuss with the clients is how and when they eat.  It’s important to make time to eat meals in a calm state of mind and to chew food thoroughly before swallowing.  When stressed our digestion is impaired and this results in poor digestion and unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms we all want to avoid.  Poor digestion over time, can contribute to undigested food molecules triggering food intolerance reactions.  So we should take eating more seriously than we do.

6.   What is the worst case you have seen?

That would be a client who had been travelling in India for one month who on returning developed increased appetite, weight-loss and exhaustion. This client came to see me with irritable bowel symptoms and fatigue.  She was suffering from a variety of parasitic infections, identified via a diagnostic stool test.  It can take some time to recover digestive health following parasitic infections and so I recommend to all my clients, that when they travel abroad, that they take appropriate supplementation to protect themselves.

7.     Favourite literature on the subject?

Hidden Food Allergies by Patrick Holford and Dr James Braly.

8.     How did you come to work in Nutrition?

I became interested in diet and nutrition through my own health issues and read many books on the subject before studying Nutrition formally. I found that when I ate a diet tailored to my own specific requirements, I improved how I looked and felt dramatically.

9.     Do you have any intolerance yourself?

I don’t digest foods containing fats very well including cheese, like many people. I take supplements to boost my body’s ability to breakdown and digest fats efficiently. 

10.  How can I ensure I get the nutrients I need when avoiding one or more food group? Lactose? Gluten? Wheat?

I generally recommend to my clients living in London that they take a multi-nutrient to includes vitamins and minerals essential for health.  This is because much of our food today has travelled some distance and been in storage resulting in loss of nutrients. Modern farming methods also mean that our soil is not as rich as it would ideally be. Living in a polluted city such as London also means we have a higher requirement for anti-oxidants.  I only recommend supplement products that are high quality that I am familiar with myself. There are some decent gluten free foods around and some quite unappealing ones.  A lactose/milk-free diet can include coconut milk, soya products, rice milk and nut/seed milks.  Wheat-free diets can include grains/cereals/flours and starches made from other grains including quinoa, rye, rice, oats, buckwheat, barley and amaranth.  It’s important to read labels as many foods contain wheat, gluten and dairy. 

I would recommend to anyone with food intolerances to seek advice to ensure that they are following a tailored individual diet, that covers any shortfalls from foods which are being avoided for a period of time.

11.  Any best kept treatment secrets for people with intolerances?

I am not a practitioner who enjoys telling people what they cannot eat and so I put the emphasis on what foods people can eat.  Food should be pleasurable for people and it may be that for particular reasons a situation has arisen where a food group has become problematic at a specific time.  This can follow a period of stress.  I like to work with that individual to determine whether with the right digestive support, the food in question may be reintroduced after a healing period of time.  Clearly if the person has a Type 1 allergy inducing an immediate immune response this is out of the question.  But in other cases, this is my preferred method.  Most people benefit from increasing the variety of foods in the diet as intolerances can arise from eating the same foods over a period of years.  Notably, in cases where clients clearly have what tends to be referred to as disordered eating or emotional eating issues, it’s important that they address these.  I can work with clients to develop healthy attitudes to eating however if I feel a client needs specialist help in this respect, I refer them on. 

Paula Haywood

DipION MBANT CNHC

Email: paulaehaywood@hotmail.com