I sincerely wish it were the case that I could eat some more of the things in my sig. Unfortunately, I HAVE tested the vast majority of them and they DO make me sick. I am a scientist and I approached this very methodically. It took me almost a year to isolate each of the foods and test them. My doctor suggests two weeks on a "safe" diet and then consume the suspect food for up to five days. I usually confirm a reaction within a day or so. There were times when I thought I was getting better and then took a turn for the worse. Careful food diaries allowed me to trace it back to something and test it. I held out a long time on chocolate, because I didn't want to give it up (who would?), but it was a problem after all.
I did not rely on the IgG testing alone since I know it is not reliable. In my case, the results do happen to align with foods that tested positive, but there are other problem foods that never showed up on the test. Plus, the test is old. My doctor saw no reason to repeat it because food challenges are much better.
The real proof is that when I very carefully and consistently follow a diet that avoids all these things I feel SO much better. If one of the offending foods slips into my diet even once (e.g., I took some vitamin C tablets made from real orange juice or I took a tiny probiotic capsule that contained a bit of dairy), it sets off anywhere from several days to a week of nausea, body aches and all the rest.
I think my problem more closely aligns with what people call "leaky gut." I haven't been able to find any support groups on that though (OK, I found one, but it was filled with nuts talking about quack alternative remedies) and since my key issue is avoidance of foods that make my sick, I figured this is the place to be.
When I need to quickly explain to someone why I can't eat the food/drink they offer or why I bring my own food, it's so much simpler to say "FOOD ALLERGIES" than explain my problems in the detail I have here. If you say, "food sensitivities or intolerances," people think well you could eat just a little bit of it. They don't understand how sick I get, even if it's not a life threatening reaction.
If there's a better way for me to deal with my food limitation frustrations or a better forum for me to visit, please point me in the right direction!