We get this question all the time: “What exactly is a food intolerance?” Despite how often the term is used, there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding it. With so many food sensitivity tests, elimination diets, and gut health trends circulating, it’s no wonder people feel overwhelmed.
Let’s clear the air and explain exactly what a food intolerance is—and why identifying yours may be one of the most important things you do for your health.
Food Intolerance vs. Food Sensitivity vs. Food Allergy
Before diving into the science, it’s essential to understand the distinction between food intolerance, food sensitivities, and food allergies. While they’re often used interchangeably, they mean very different things:
- Food allergies involve an immediate immune reaction—think hives, swelling, or anaphylaxis.
- Food sensitivities are delayed immune responses, often identified through blood-based tests.
- Food intolerances, however, are something entirely different.
What Is a Food Intolerance?
A food intolerance is a genetic enzyme deficiency, passed down through families and ethnic groups. It’s not about your immune system reacting to a food—it’s about your body’s inability to properly break that food down at the digestive level.
You might lack the enzymes to digest certain starches, dairy, or even fruits. When that undigested food lingers in your gut, it causes inflammation, toxicity, and eventually, broader health issues.
💡 Think of food intolerance like a mechanical issue—not a miscommunication like an allergy, but a system breakdown in your digestive machinery.
3 Key Truths About Food Intolerances
1. Everyone Has a Food Intolerance
Yes, everyone. A mentor of ours—an akushar (a male midwife)—ran food intolerance evaluations on every newborn he delivered. Each one had a unique intolerance. This evaluation has been used for over a century with consistent results.
So if you’ve never been tested, odds are high you’ve been eating your intolerance without even realizing it.
2. Intolerances Are Not Detected by Typical Food Tests
Many functional tests (like Everlywell, ELISA, or other IgG food panels) measure how your immune system responds to different foods. But they don’t identify enzyme deficiencies, which are at the root of true food intolerance.
If you’re reacting to a lot of foods on these panels, it may not be the foods themselves—it could be that your gut is inflamed from regularly eating your food intolerance.
When we stop eating foods we can’t digest properly, we allow the gut to heal. In many cases, food sensitivities and even mild allergies fade or disappear.
3. Eating Your Intolerance Is a Major Cause of Inflammation
When you consistently eat a food you’re intolerant to, your digestive system struggles to break it down. This creates:
- Gut inflammation
- Immune activation
- Toxicity buildup
- Poor nutrient absorption
By identifying and eliminating your food intolerance, you restore proper digestion, nourish your cells more effectively, and support detoxification at the cellular level. It’s a foundational shift for long-term health and vitality.
What You Can Do
Want to get to the root of your digestive issues, fatigue, skin problems, or chronic inflammation? Start with identifying your food intolerance.
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