In Naturopathy, the causes of food intolerances are attributed to
the contamination, adulteration and tampering of food, and to the
changes we are causing to the environment;
to the consumption of extremely refined foods, depleted of
minerals and vitamins; and to the compromising of the intestinal
bacterial flora (through excessive use of laxatives, antibiotics
and corticosteroids).

Food intolerances usually develop towards common foods
consumed frequently; they are not hereditary, though a predisposition
can be inherited.
Some develop as early as the neonatal stage as a result of
breast milk impregnated with food toxins, incorrect weaning,
etc., and are then carried in a more or less masked form throughout
life; others arise at particular moments in life due to specific
psychophysical stresses.

There are various methods for identifying food intolerances:

• nutritional: A. Rowe's rotation diet,
• laboratory-based: analysis carried out on blood.

A reliable method adopted by Clinical Ecology is the
Cytotoxic Test – food toxic tests on blood, whose
most important parameter is the observation of
any cytoplasmic structural changes affecting the
leucocytes.

Other intolerance tests used are the kinesiology test and bioelectronic
tests.
The treatment consists of the strict elimination of foods
to which an intolerance has been identified, for a period that depends
on the degree of reaction detected, bearing in mind the phenomenon
of cross-reactivity; foods belonging to the same biological family, the same group
or those containing similar substances must also be eliminated.

The first three weeks of dietary exclusions are characterised
by a mild flare-up of the initial symptoms, caused by the
massive release of toxins accumulated over months or years of
dietary errors.

Recovery and wellbeing depend on the complete cleansing
of the body's system, which consists of the removal of these toxins,
which, once dislodged, pour into the bloodstream
without a fixed destination.
It is therefore not sufficient to exclude foods in order to
heal; the individual's toxic drainage systems must be enhanced,
otherwise the person will recreate, days, months or years later,
new problems resulting from a
"toxic drainage," a deposit of toxins in other
organs.

The naturopathic treatment will therefore consist, in addition to
suspending the incriminated foods, of:

• removing the predisposing factors
• underlying constitutional treatment
• draining and antioxidant treatment
• nutritional supplementation.

After the period of abstinence from foods that tested positive,
these are reintroduced into the diet with great caution and
following a specific protocol. In future they may be consumed
two or three times a week to
avoid relapses.

Prevention is the best cure: the inner awareness
that "we are what we eat" and that only by following
a correct dietary regimen can we achieve a state of
true psychophysical wellbeing sets us on an advanced path.

Raffaella Colella e Luciana Larcher
naturopate