Naturally, there was no overnight fix for curing my bloat; to this day, I still get the odd flare-up, but this time around, I can pinpoint the triggers and know my solutions.

In the past, I’ve tried cutting out dairy and soy alone and introducing probiotics and prebiotics into my supplement routine, but after a two-week course, there were no real improvements.

Diet

This time, my first port of call was addressing my diet. I’d heard about intolerance tests before but had only pinpointed them around allergies; however, I signed up for an in-depth test with Simply Health Checks.

After sending away some hair strands, five days later I received a highly detailed report of what my body liked and disliked. Split into red (highly intolerant), amber (mildly intolerant) and green (no intolerance) across all food groups, metals, types of woods and plants, I was able to put the causes of my flare-ups under the microscope.

The results? I had intolerances to apparent groups such as dairy, soy, gluten and lactose and surprises such as prosecco, mushrooms, strawberries, red and white wine, chickpeas and shellfish. From this point, diet elimination was crucial; it helped keep my gut calm and balanced.

“Lymphatic drainage massage, digestive enzymes and a robust intolerance test helped me finally heal my chronic gut issues”