Food intolerances👤🪪⚗️💊

Foreword

I don’t have any ethical or religious dietary restrictions, but I do have quite a few food intolerances linked to my neurodivergence.

For me, these intolerances show up in two ways: as effects on my senses, such as pain, itch or discomfort, or as effects on my mind, such as overstimulation or sedation. To capture the full range of these adverse effects, the list includes substances I ingest as well as those I inhale passively when people nearby smoke or vape them, such as tobacco and cannabis.

Below they’re listed in two sections. The first, by pharmacological/chemical class, explains how each substance affects me and helps identify intolerances not listed. The second, by food type, is a practical index for cooking, shopping and eating out. Each food links back to why it’s listed, and so whether related foods are likely to be fine. Please pay special attention to the counterexamples (shaded in grey): they can look related, but they’re exceptions I can consume.

The active ingredients are my best hypotheses, and this page is a work in progress, so some items may be missing. If in doubt, please ask me.

Key

Tea
I can’t consume
Ginger
Only a small amount
Tofu
A related counterexample: I can consume
Opioids
Pharmacological class
Shogaols
Chemical/physical class
MSG
Individual chemical (linked)
Curry pastes
Food group
Tea
Food item
via mouth ulcers
How it acts in the body

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Intolerances by pharmacological/chemical class

A systematic classification of how each substance affects me, and what else might

Intolerances by food type

A practical index for cooking, shopping and eating out; follow each food’s link to its classification to see why it’s listed

Commonly declared ingredients

Other food types