What you eat can have a direct effect on gastrointestinal symptoms. Stomach pain is not considered normal and needs to be evaluated by your doctor. Stomach pain is a symptom that can be caused by various digestive conditions. Modifying your diet may help prevent stomach pain from developing. Talk with your doctor about performing a challenge diet to determine what foods are triggering your symptoms. Your doctor will be able to provide you with a clinical diagnosis of what is causing the pain in your stomach.
Food Intolerance and Allergy
Food intolerance and food allergies can cause stomach pain whenever you eat certain foods. Food intolerance is the inability to digest certain ingredients, sugars and proteins found in various foods. The most common food intolerances include lactose, MSG, fructose, gluten and food additives. Food allergies are different from intolerances because they're not caused by digest complications, but are the result of a malfunction of the immune system. Food allergies will cause more symptoms than stomach pain, such as skin rashes, asthma and sinus congestion.
Elimination
Keep track of the foods you eat and how they affect your body. Take note of foods that cause stomach pain after eating and talk with your doctor about your symptoms. Your doctor will determine which foods you should eliminate from your diet in order to challenge your body. Eliminate the foods that your doctor recommends for two weeks and continue to document how the pain in your stomach is responding to the elimination. If you don't notice any changes in the severity of the pain, talk with your doctor about eliminating the diet.
Challenge
If you notice that your symptoms improve after eliminating the foods, begin challenging your body at the completion of the two-week elimination period. After the two weeks, add one of the foods back into your diet for one day. For example, if you've removed wheat, eat wheat products for one day and record how your body reacts to the food. Wait three more days and then add the next food back into your diet to determine if you develop stomach pain.
Considerations
Celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, can cause severe stomach pain after eating certain foods. Celiac disease causes long-term damage to the lining of your intestines after eating the protein gluten, which can lead to severe stomach pain, weight loss, diarrhea, cramping and malnourishment. Depending on the severity of your IBS condition, eating can cause minor to severe stomach pain.
