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Five Reasons Why Food Diaries Are A Good Idea For Food Allergy Sufferers

21 September 2016 by Joann Dunn

Keeping a food diary is one of the best things allergy sufferers can do to keep their allergic reactions in check.

Allergic reactions can be difficult to understand and prevent because there are so many different potential causes. A food diary can help maintain the health, peace of mind, and well being of allergy sufferers in the following five ways:

Makes the cause of allergic responses more obvious

The biggest and most obvious benefit of keeping a food diary is that it makes it more easy to identify the cause of allergic reactions.

With a food diary, a person who experiences allergic responses frequently can narrow down the potential cause of an allergic episode to the foods eaten over the course of the previous few entries.

No need to memorize what you're eating in a day

Without a food diary, patients have to memorize what they're eating on a day-to-day basis to have an idea of what causes allergic response. Most people have much more important things to remember than what they're eating. A food diary can free up patients' concentration so that their food allergies don't disrupt their everyday life as much. 

Creates an easy record to identify cross-reactions when two foods are combined

Some allergic responses only occur when particular foods are eaten in combination. The causes of such an allergic response would be much more difficult to figure out without a careful record of food consumption from a diary. 

Makes appointments with your allergist less stressful

Appointments with an allergist can be stressful if you've had some recent allergic reactions but can't give your allergist a lot of detail on what you had eaten before they occurred. 

If you keep a food diary, you can simply hand it over to your allergist at your next appointment and it can answer most of the questions for you. This takes the stress out of appointments while also making appointments more effective.

Can save you from an allergic response

It's important for patients who are prone to food allergies to realize that keeping a food diary can actually save their lives. 

A food diary can completely prevent an allergic reaction by making its cause obvious. When you know what caused a previous reaction, you can avoid it entirely in the future to stay healthy.

Allergy patients should be aware of the fact that a first allergic reaction can be much less severe than subsequent allergic reactions to the same substance. Because subsequent reactions can be more severe, it's important to identify the cause of allergic reactions immediately.  For more information, talk to a professional like Alidina Laila MD.

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