Taking the Plunge

 So, even though I had been suffering from stomach issues for a number of years, it took me a very long time to actually take an intolerance test. Why? I was skeptical.

I had read a lot of differing opinions about these independent companies that offered a solution to a variety of everyday woes and honestly just sat on the fence. My mind was curious, my partner was also skeptical and believed they kept your blood to clone you at a later date!

As I mentioned on my About page, I finally took the plunge a few weeks after a conversation with a colleague about their experience. They chose LifeLab Testing and said it was a fairly good experience, they waited over a week to get some results but were generally happy with the service they received.



I did a little more digging and decided to go with York Test. I decided to go with this one as the number of foods and drinks they tested for was greater and I really wanted to get the nitty-gritty of what on earth was my problem. The price was good too, they had a sale on at the time which they seem to offer quite often. I paid £99 (sounds a lot but it was fairly low compared to other sites testing for fewer foods) and I received my test kit within 3-4 days. It contained straight forward instructions and everything I needed to carry out the test.

I had to prick my finger and make it bleed. I won't sugar coat it, I bled a lot! But it was necessary to fill up the cotton swab that you send off. I soaked the swab and packed it all up in the given prepaid envelope and sent it off that afternoon via Royal Mail at my local Post Office. Within a couple of days, I received an email saying they had received it and a couple more days later, I had my results.

You get a login to their website and links to PDFs with your results. The page is simple showing you your intolerances from most severe to moderate intolerance which is anything that has a score of over 12 to low intolerances which is anything 11 and below. (Just for the record, I have an intolerance to 12 things according to this test). At the very top of this list with a grand score of 60: yeast. My first thought? No more Marmite!? I was rather upset as Marmite toast has been my go-to breakfast since forever!

As part of the test and price, you also get access to a 30 minute session with a qualified nutritionist who will guide you on your way. I never got around to using of this but from what I have read, they offer some great advice!

Furthermore, on their website there are some pages with information about the most common intolerances and how to deal with them moving forward.

Overall, I had a great experience with this company and now over a year on from the test, I am feeling a lot better now that I reduce and avoid yeast as much as possible as well as some of the other foods that were listed in the results. 

So, if you are after a simple and quick test to find out what is causing your digestives issues, I'd definitely look at York Tests first.

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