“Knowing your sensitivities doesn’t have to limit your diet – it can give you more avenues to explore and help you feel better.”
29-year-old retail manager Chanel Carolan-Gibbard had been experiencing a combination of symptoms for around three years. After eating certain foods, she would develop a phlegmy cough, alongside bloating, fatigue and inflammation. The coughing could be particularly severe after meals, while the bloating sometimes became painful and left her feeling self-conscious.
The symptoms began to affect experiences that should have been enjoyable. Eating out with friends and family could feel embarrassing because Chanel’s coughing led people to assume she had a cold. She also found it difficult to fully enjoy certain foods while eating out or on holiday, never really knowing what might leave her feeling uncomfortable afterwards.
Chanel suspected food could be behind her symptoms and tried keeping a food diary to identify a pattern. However, she found it difficult to record everything regularly and eventually stopped without reaching any conclusions. It was Chanel’s partner who ultimately encouraged her to try YorkTest. He had previously taken a test himself and, after regularly noticing Chanel coughing following meals, bought one for her in the hope of finding some answers.
The results were far more extensive than Chanel expected. Her test identified reactions to cow’s milk, wheat, gluten, egg yolk, yeast and flax/linseed. Having seen her partner receive just one reactive ingredient, Chanel had worried her own results might be similarly limited and leave her no closer to understanding her symptoms. Instead, she finally had specific foods she could explore removing from her diet.
Initially, seeing several trigger foods felt overwhelming. Chanel remembers feeling as though she “couldn’t eat anything”, but her nutritional consultation helped change that perspective. Her consultant suggested plenty of alternatives and offered practical advice on how to shop around her results. With the wide range of options now available in supermarkets, Chanel ultimately found the elimination process quite easy.
Within just a couple of weeks, she began noticing a difference. Chanel felt more energetic and saw the inflammation in her face and legs reduce. Although the number on the scales hadn’t changed, other people commented that she looked as though she had lost weight because the inflammation had gone down.
Over time, Chanel has slowly reintroduced her trigger foods and says she currently doesn’t experience adverse reactions when eating them. She still tries to limit them at home but takes a more relaxed approach when she’s out with friends and family. For Chanel, having that understanding has allowed her to make informed choices without feeling unnecessarily restricted.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the experience has actually broadened Chanel’s diet. Rather than focusing solely on everything she needed to remove, she began experimenting with new foods and discovering alternatives she may never have tried otherwise. She describes the overall change in her life as “very positive” and feels YorkTest gave her valuable insight into what her body needs. Instead of seeing her results as a list of restrictions, she now sees them as an opportunity to explore food differently and feel better in the process.
