How To Find Out Which Foods Are Making You Sick

S

Although food allergies are still rare (affecting about five percent of the population), food intolerances are quite common. I see patients for food intolerances every day with symptoms like constipation, difficulty swallowing, heart burn, bloating, and headaches. But how do you figure out which foods might be affecting you?

For many allergic and food intolerance issues, I ask patients to go on a food restriction diet ranging from one week to one month. After following this plan, many of them experience weight loss, fewer menopausal or PMS symptoms, a decrease in acid reflux, better energy, better sleep, a clearer complexion, and more. Even I was surprised at first.

After seeing so many of my patients experiencing these positive side effects, I decided to try it myself. One month later, I concluded that I was going to take out some of these foods for good because I was feeling so fantastic. It's important to note, however, that food allergies and food intolerances are two very different things.

Food Allergy vs. Food Intolerance

A food allergy is an immediate immune reaction usually resulting in throat tightening, hives, and even anaphylaxis. Even a microscopic amount can elicit a life-threatening reaction. If you think you have a food allergy, consult a doctor and do not try to diagnose yourself.

A food intolerance is usually a delayed reaction that can cause intestinal issues or other symptoms. This is an area where much research is being conducted about the immune system and other mechanisms. In fact, we are finding more and more conditions that are affected by the food we eat. So, in short, these food intolerances can be causing all kinds of symptoms that range from headaches to bloating.

To figure out what food intolerances you may have, I have an eight step food elimination plan that you can do yourself. This is really is the gold standard—even better than those expensive blood tests. In fact, blood testing for food intolerances is not FDA approved and research on any type of food intolerance blood testing is controversial at best.

Remember, because these foods the most common culprits, the FDA requires labeling of these food groups by all manufacturers. Therefore, except for corn and additives, you will always be able to read labels to identify hidden sources of these foods.

1. Try to stay off dairy, wheat, soy and eggs for 2-3 weeks. This includes yogurt, cheese, whey, and processed foods with eggs as an ingredient.
2. Add them back one item at a time separated by 3 days.
3. Then, remove peanuts, shellfish, corn for 2-3 weeks. Remember to read labels and ask for ingredients at restaurants.
4. Add them back one item at a time separated by 3 days.
5. Remove tree nuts (i.e. almonds, walnuts, cashews), and all fish for 2-3 weeks.
6. Add them back one item at a time separated by 3 days.
7. Eliminate any foods or drinks with preservatives such as MSG, artificial sugars, and artificial dyes for 1 week. This is probably the hardest part because it includes sodas, most alcoholic drinks, and snacks, but it's only a week!
8. Add back each (if you want) separated by 3 days.

Now you are done! You should permanently remove the foods that caused your symptoms such as bloating, joint pain or swelling, brain fog, or constipation.

The theory behind this plan is that certain foods cause inflammation of the intestines, joints, or stomach. Now if you add the offending food back, you will notice that your symptoms are back, sometimes with a vengeance!

Usually, I find that it takes at least 2 weeks to notice any difference in your symptoms. That's way we try avoidance for 2-3 weeks. In fact, the longer you do avoidance the better the results. Food additives and preservatives usually don't even take that long.

If you think you may have a life threatening allergy or you are still confused, visit a board certified allergist immediately. But if you are able to identify your food triggers that cause uncomfortable issues, your body with thank you.

Amy Shah MD is a physician, Board Certified In Internal Medicine and Allergy Immunology.

---

Image remixed from ayelet-keshet (Shutterstock) and moonkin (Shutterstock).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Andy.

View the Original article

Why Making Introductions is Your Best Networking Tool

Networking is perhaps one of the most valuable career-building skills a person can develop. When it comes to fleshing out your professional contacts, one of the best ways to improve your network is to introduce them to each other.

As advice blog The Art of Manliness explains, most people tend to network with the idea of building their own contact list and finding opportunities for themselves. By connecting your contacts with each other, everybody wins:

It is rare these days for people to take the time to make introductions, which is why it can be very memorable. Johnson says making introductions helps you stand out in a sea of competition. When you make introductions, "people remember you," says Johnson. "It's a way to tell two people three things: I like you both. I am thinking of you. I vouch for you."

Even if your contacts don't always end up working together, you at least establish a rapport with both people. Introductions are yet another way to stop networking and start helping.

There's Someone I'd Like You to Meet…How To Use Introductions to Strengthen Weak Ties and Advance Your Career | The Art of Manliness

View the Original article

Monument Valley Is A Legend In The Making You Must Play Now

I consider myself a fan of games, but once in a while, a game comes along for which I feel something far beyond fandom; Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is one of those, and now Monument Valley, a game out today by UK-based development studio ustwo and in many ways, a spiritual bedfellow to Superbrothers, is another.

Don’t get me wrong, Monument Valley definitely stands on its own apart from any other previous title; but it has a similar ethereal, fantasy feel and abstract storytelling, plus a rich but spare visual look and haunting soundtrack that stick with you despite the mostly casual nature of the gameplay. Monument Valley, however, also relies far more heavily on puzzle play, and therein lies its real lasting charm.

The puzzles in Monument Valley are intrinsically tied to the isomorphic 3D art style – environments rotate and set pieces slide in and out to shift not only the field of play, but also the player’s entire sense of perception. Up can become down, background foreground, hurdles on one side can turn into helpful tools on another. It’s a little like Fez, but a lot like nothing else before it.

Monument Valley is one of those games that you never want to end, and so far, I haven’t been able to play through the entire thing. But it’s also a feast for the eyes, and a game where you can see the level of care taken in creating each individual part of the whole. It’s beautiful in the extreme, and a testament to a time when games were something contained and crafted as a top-to-bottom experience, and not a rough framework to fuel continued commerce through in-app purchases.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad, you must play this game; paying just $3.99 for a universal app that works on both feels like theft given the quality of the experience so far, and I’m just a few levels in.

Unreal Engine 4 Gets Support For Making Linux And SteamOS Games

Unreal Engine 4, the newest version of the game engine that powers many a AAA gaming title, just got a feature that may prove quite important in the near feature: the ability to build games that run on Linux.

This news comes just weeks after the entry fee for making an Unreal Engine-powered game got slashed considerably. Instead of requiring weeks of licensing negotiation and hundreds of thousands of dollars up front, Epic Games decided to license Unreal Engine 4 to developers for $19 a month (plus 5 percent of gross revenue).

That news (and this move into Linux to some extent) are almost certainly meant to help Epic secure their footing among indie developers — a market that a relative newcomer, Unity, has managed to get a pretty solid grasp on. With past releases of the Unreal engine, Epic largely focused on licensing to huge development houses. As the costs of game development plunge and things like the App Store/Google Play/Steam make self publishing an incredibly viable option, however, indie developers are more important than ever.

With this addition, Unreal Engine 4 is able to build games for OS X, Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux.

“Why does this Linux addition matter?” you might ask. “Doesn’t Linux account for something like 2% of the desktop OS usage?”

Yep. For now.

While many a Linux devotee would have said “It’s going to be big, soon!” for most of the last decade, there’s one key thing on the horizon that’s different this time: Valve’s Steam Machines.

For the last year or so, Valve has been working with third parties on a line of pre-built PCs primarily purposed for the living room. Dubbing the line “Steam Machines,” Valve is trying to take the perks of a PC and pack them into the small, convenient package of a console. It’s building its own controller and their own OS.

That OS, aptly called “SteamOS,” is Linux-based. If Valve’s Steam Machines see any sort of success, Linux support will be a must-have.

Nuji, A U.K. Wanelo, Closes $2M Seed To Splash On Making An iOS App For Social Shoppers

Nuji, a U.K. competitor to Wanelo and Lyst which also offers its users a platform to curate and share fashion and lifestyle products they reckon are worth buying, has closed a $2 million seed round with investment coming from TAG, Seedcamp, Samos and various unnamed angels.

The round also includes money from a large European retail investor whose name is not currently being disclosed.

Nuji is using the funding to launch an iOS app, having previously concentrated on developing its website (after an abortive initial attempt to go mobile first). The app is due to launch in April, with no plans for an Android version at this point.

“Now that the website is more mature, it’s the right time to tackle mobile based all of our learnings,” says co-founder Dean Fankhauser.

“It was very important that we focus on web or mobile in the beginning, not both. We wanted to make mistakes on one platform and once we were confident in our product strategy based on data we had, we were more comfortable to dive head first into mobile.”

“Mobile traffic is surging. Every week we look at the stats, it’s increasing. 30% of our traffic is mobile and that’s with a non-mobile optimised website,” he adds. ”80% of that is iOS, so it was very clear what we should be developing for.”

The social shopping curation startup, which launched its service in 2011 and did a stint at Seedcamp — taking in funding from the incubator at that time but otherwise bootstrapping development until now — is not currently breaking out any user numbers so presumably has a job of work to do on growing usage. It says its main markets are the U.K. and the U.S.

One way Nuji has been trying to grow is by updating its website. In recent weeks the site has had a makeover and Nuji claims the new look has doubled its engagement metrics — including time on site, pageviews (up from two per visit to four) and clicks through to retailers. The prior 80% bounce rate has also halved, according to Fankhauser.

“We completely re-built the infrastructure and made quite a few design changes. It now feels more like a classic ecommerce website that happens to have a social layer built on top. Our user’s have responded well to that,” he added.