Living with a food allergy or intolerance can make everyday eating complicated. Understanding which foods are causing symptoms, what needs to be avoided and how to maintain a balanced diet can be difficult without the right guidance.

At Ward Nutrition, Claire Ward has many years of experience working with children and adults with food allergies and food intolerances.

Our approach is about helping you understand your individual dietary needs, manage symptoms and maintain good nutrition without avoiding more foods than necessary.

Food allergies and food intolerances are different and require different approaches. A food allergy involves an immune reaction to a particular food protein. Common food allergens include foods such as milk, egg and peanuts. Once an allergy has been appropriately diagnosed, management generally involves avoiding the particular allergen and understanding how to identify it in foods.

A food intolerance does not involve the immune system in the same way. Some intolerances can be triggered by naturally occurring or added food chemicals, and symptoms can vary considerably between individuals.

Understanding the difference is important because unnecessarily eliminating foods can make your diet more restrictive and potentially affect your nutritional intake.

Food intolerance symptoms can vary considerably from one person to another. The amount of a particular food or food chemical that can be tolerated may also differ between individuals.

Symptoms associated with food intolerances can include:

• Headaches or migraines
• Eczema, itchy skin and other skin irritation
• Sinus symptoms
• Mouth ulcers
• Nausea
• Abdominal pain or discomfort
• Changes in bowel habits
• Fatigue or feeling unusually run-down
• Irritability or restlessness in some children

Because these symptoms can have many possible causes, identifying a food intolerance isn’t always as simple as removing one particular food.

When you’re experiencing ongoing symptoms, it can be tempting to start removing foods from your diet to see what happens. Over time, this can lead to an increasingly restricted diet without necessarily identifying the underlying problem.

A dietitian can help you investigate your food and symptom patterns more systematically. Where appropriate, this may involve a structured elimination and reintroduction process to help determine which foods or food components you tolerate.

The goal is to identify genuine triggers while ultimately maintaining as much variety in your diet as possible.

Managing a food allergy or intolerance in a child can be particularly challenging for families. Along with identifying suitable foods, it’s important to ensure children continue to receive the energy and nutrients required for healthy growth and development.

Our dietitians can help families understand food substitutions, meal and snack options, food labels and ways to maintain a varied and nutritionally balanced diet within the child’s individual requirements.

Coeliac disease requires strict avoidance of gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

If you or your child has been diagnosed with coeliac disease, a dietitian can help you understand how to follow a nutritionally balanced gluten-free diet, identify appropriate alternatives and navigate food labels and everyday eating.

Managing an allergy or intolerance isn’t just about knowing what to avoid. You also need to know what you can eat. We provide practical advice around food substitutions, meal planning, shopping, label reading and maintaining adequate nutrition.

Whether you’re managing a diagnosed food allergy or struggling to understand which foods may be contributing to your symptoms, our focus is on making everyday eating safer, clearer and less complicated.

If you’re having difficulty identifying which foods are causing symptoms or need help managing an existing food allergy or intolerance, professional nutrition advice can help.

Book an appointment with Ward Nutrition for personalised food allergy and intolerance nutrition support.