As promised a while back, I thought we could talk about the health test I took last autumn. When I received the results I was Island hopping in the Mediterranean, not exactly an ideal environment to start experimenting, so during those weeks I just tried to avoid these items as much as I could to give my body a little break. After I returned back home I wanted to wait for a while before I talked more about it openly about my intolerance’s because I wanted time to research the things on my list and also try to see what kind of reactions I got (if any) from consuming/coming in contact with any of these things.

Here is my list:

Almond

Seems to be okay in very small doses. In bigger doses my belly bloats and hurts.

Butter (Milk fat)

Yeah, naah. Gets stomach pains fairly quick after consumption, my stomach becomes bloated and tense. (Vegan thoguht; It’s my body telling me I’m not a baby cow) I was told my body reacts to the fat in milks and not the protein/Lactose so even lactose-free products are off the table for me.

Coconut

Get really bad stomach pains at night (around bedtime) if I consume a lot during the day. In very small doses my body seems to be able to handle it. It also seems to be a big difference if I have other food in my belly at the time. I baked some cookies a couple of days ago that had coconut in them and ate a few of them late at night with a cup of tea and woke up in the middle of the night because my stomach hurt so bad and my theory is that I reacted so strongly because I had nothing else in my stomach at the time. I’ve also noticed that I sleep bad during the nights on the days I’ve eaten coconut, regardless of how much I’ve eaten.. It really sucks because some of my favorite recipes contain coconut in some way :(((( Probably the thing i’m mostly upset about if i’m being honest.

Cress | Green beans

I often don’t eat cress and I’ve avoided green beans, haven’t tried either of them at home yet so I don’t know about the side effects.. to be continued.

Goat

Not much to say, as a vegetarian I don’t eat that much goat anyway.. haha. So it’s safe to say i’m not too bothered by this haha!

Cotton & Lycra

Lycra, also known as elastane and Spandex - took me by surprise. Bye Bye active wear? haha.

When I read cotton I had one of these ‘‘Aaaaaaha’’ moments. You see, when I used a lot of makeup regularly my skin got very dry & itchy, I always assumed I was sensitive to the makeup remover and I have tried so many different kinds in an attempt to make my skin better.. now I realize it was never the Make up remover at all, but the fact that I was rubbing cotton all over my face every night. Most of the tops I own are made from either Cotton, or Lycra and because there is no way I can cut it out 100% (yet anyway) I don’t know of any side effects. Would be fun to try, but it would be quite difficult and would require me to either be a nudist for a few weeks and sleep without sheets, or buy everything new in linen and other material. And even though it sounds interesting, I don’t think either option is a possibility right now, but it will definitely be on my mind when buying new items!

Glasskraut

I can’t say I’ve come in contact with this recently, so no known side effects so far!

E1202 - Polyvinylpolypyrrolidon / Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone

E1202 is a synthetic substance used in wine making, beer production & in Pharmaceuticals. It is used as a carrier for sweetener in wine, beer & pharmaceuticals. Before I took the test I had been wondering why I experience stomach pain sometimes after consuming Alcohol. Another ‘‘Aaaaaaha’’ moment, Now I know there is a 50/50% chance every time I decide to try out a new brand and I have created a black-list so I know what wine/beer to avoid in the future.

I can’t find much information about this particular E number, according to thekitchencoach it can cause damage to kidneys and stay in your system for up to a year. According to Wikipedia its a cross-linked form of PVP. Some information I found says that if I want to avoid E1202 polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, or PVPP as short I should only drink Organic wines. Don’t know if any of what I’ve read is true but like I said, there isn’t much information out there about this E number and all I really know is that my stomach hurts and gets bloated sometimes after I drink alcohol and this must be the reason why!

Aster - 250 different flowers & Narcissus - 150 different flowers

I didn’t need a test to tell me I’m allergic to Pollen, but it feels really good to know what kind of pollen I react too. It felt less nice to find out that the 2 groups I react to consists of roughly 400 different flowers. Yay.. (Sidenote to future husband; You better write this down)

Now that its been a while since I took the test and I feel more comfortable talking about it since I know a little more than I did at the start. I am still just a rookie in this subject, and I am still trying to figure out how my body reacts, and what it reacts the most too, but I feel like the test brought me one step closer to myself in a way, and I am happy that I invested the money in getting to know myself better. In a way it has always scared me how little we know about ourselves and our body, the vessel that is meant to keep us alive and support us for our entire life. At least now I feel that I understand it (me) a little more.

On one of the pages above the test results it encouraged me to cut the products out of my life completely and then try to introduce one thing after another again after a couple of weeks. That way I would feel the symptoms very clearly and then decide if it is ‘‘worth’’ it. I love coconut, so sometimes I’ll eat a nice curry or a coconut soup and be all like ‘‘WORTH IT’’ - until later that night when all I wanna do is lay down because my belly hurts so bad! Coconut is the hardest to avoid, not only because I used to love to include it in my meals, but also because it is often an ingredient/Substitute in vegan/vegetarian meals/recipes.

The test cost about 1000SEK / 100€ but is a well worth investment in taking a step towards getting to know yourself. I purchased mine at intoleranstest.se which is a Swedish website, it is so simple and can be done in the comfort of your own home! I ordered mine last time I knew I was gonna be at my mom’s house in Sweden for a while so that it wouldn’t be complicated to receive and/or send in. You simply take a few hairs, wrap them in plastic and fill out a form. After that’s done you send it to them in the mail and wait for your test results!

I would recommend everyone to take a test like this, it is super scary when the results first come and you might even try to close your eyes and play ignorant towards some of the things it says on the piece of paper (like me with coconut) but the truth is that it has improved my life a lot and it is always better to know the truth! It’s a smaller step towards a better version of you, and aren’t we all just searching for ways to be our best selves?

That was everything for now, and until next time, take care! xo Nathalie