How exactly can allergies make you gain weight?

The papers have recently ran several articles on people who lost weight by making some simples changes. One of the big stories has been how allergies can make you gain weight. How though?

There are several things that allergies can do to your body. If you start from the beginning, allergies are actually signals by your body that something you are eating (or doing) is not agreeing with your particular body type. If you are smart, when you see signs of an allergy, you will pay attention and adjust things accordingly. For example, if you eat bread and you start sneezing or get a tummy-ache, then this is a sign that should not be ignored. Unfortunately, most people don't pay attention to these signs or are just not aware of them.

Allergies can play havoc with your internal systems. For example, an allergy to wheat or gluten, can cause inflammation in your intestines and can mean bad digestion of foods and nutrients, resulting in an unbalance in your body. Inflammation itself can also lead to weight gain in several different ways.

A 2008 UK study showed that chronic long-term inflammation is linked with weight gain. The researchers in this study, followed people over a nine year period and monitored things like their weight gain and blood levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a chemical that shows up when the immune system is activated. Interestingly, they found that weight increases were associated with more inflammation in the body.

Another direct way inflammation can cause weight gain is through the hormone Leptin, which is in your body to control weight. Inflammation in the body interferes with Leptin. Food allergies cause inflammation.

This is all very well, but how do you bring down inflammation in your body and lose weight? You need to change your diet. You can do 2 things:

1. You can either go for a full-on allergy test and see what foods you are allergic to and avoid them.

or

2. You can start paying attention to what foods seem to not agree with you. Signs are things like: sneezing, tiredness, runny nose, diarrhoea, bloating and so on.

In conclusion, inflammation in the body, caused by allergies can most certainly make you gain weight.