
National Curry Week – is the nations’ favourite dish making you sick?
Consistently voted Britain’s best dish, we love a curry.
From korma to keema and balti to bhuna, we can’t get enough of that complex blend of spices. Whether you like yours mild, delicately infused with coconut or searingly hot, packed full of mouth watering chillies, pulling back the foil lid to reveal the rich colours and sensational smells before piling your plate high is a familiar weekend routine across the country.
Whilst a spicy curry can certainly come back to haunt you the next day, they can present more of a problem for those living with food intolerances. If you shy away from a tasty tandoori, because curries just ‘don’t agree with you’, it might be worth thinking about the individual ingredients. You may discover that one simple element is to blame. If you can identify your specific trigger, you can replace it and continue to enjoy a Friday night feast without the unwanted side effects.
Herbs and Spices
You can’t say curry without thinking of spice but is a particular one of them causing you trouble? Curries commonly make use of a range of flavourful spices to add depth to a dish. Everything from cinnamon to garlic and mustard to ginger are used to create our most loved meals.
Whilst a particularly spicy dish can make you feel a little delicate, if you find this occurs more often than not, it could be worth pinpointing the particular ingredient so you can remove and replace it.
Dairy
Creamy curries such as kormas and tikka masala are usually made using dairy to create a rich sauce. If cows’ milk is a problem for you, you can still enjoy the delicious flavours with a chicken tikka, minus the sauce.
If you’re making your own versions at home, try substituting dairy with coconut cream to recreate the a food intolerance friendly sauce.
Lentils
Lentils feature highly in Indian dishes, such as Daal and can present digestive issues for people who are sensitive to them. Happily, there are plenty of delicious veggie and bean alternatives to tuck into when choosing from the menu.
Chicken, beef and Lamb
Often we assume the dairy or gluten in a meal is responsible for symptoms such as bloating but, as we all experience unique and individual reactions to the foods we eat, meat can be as much of a trigger food as any other. With a rise in plant-based diets, there are more veggie and vegan options available than ever before. This is fantastic for who have an intolerance to certain types of meat. Asian menus typically boast a wide variety of meat free meals and most meat dishes can be subbed with tofu, seitan or ‘meaty’ veg such as mushrooms or aubergine.
If you’re feeling left out when it comes to takeaway treats, why not try some of these substitutes. If your trigger foods are still a mystery, take control of your diet today with a quick and accurate Smartblood home-to-lab test.
Smartblood Story - Julia's Intolerance to Dairy
Julia is a market trader, and also studying speech and language therapy. Julia has suffered with regular migraines for over 22 years, and has tried everything to get rid of them, even ice baths!
It wasn't until Julia had a Smartblood food intolerance test recommended to her by one of her friends that she found out that she had raised IgG antibody levels to many dairy products. Replacing these foods with others on the advice of a Smartblood nutritional therapist has made a big difference in Julia's life - her migraines have vanished, and she would recommend a Smartblood test to anybody.
It’s estimated that those with trigger foods actually react to between 4 and 6 ingredients and the results can be surprising. Anything from prawns to potatoes can present a problem.
If you think dairy is causing you discomfort, cut out the guesswork with a Smartblood test. With results available in as little as 3 days, you don’t have to wait long to take control of your diet and see the benefits.
The 1st-step indicator test is popular with those that have health problems that may be explained by a food intolerance but want to just check this before proceeding to a full test, which can be done on the same sample with no extra effort.
The full Smartblood test is a complete program that includes a 30 minute consultation with one of our BANT registered Nutritional Therapists and is a great way to discover all of your food sensitivities and take control over your own personal trigger foods.

1st Step Test
- A Simple Yes/No
- Result in 3 Days
- Our most popular pathway
- Can Upgrade if Positive

Smartblood Test
- Reactions to 134 Foods
- Results in 3 Days
- £80 Refund if No Reactions
- Nutritionist Consultation
If you think that a food intolerance may be responsible for your symptoms then we believe that our easy to complete tests could help you. SImply choose either a 1st-step indicator test for a positive/negative result overall or find out all of your food intolerances out at once with the full Smartblood test.
The 1st-step indicator test is popular with those that have health problems that may be explained by a food intolerance but want to just check this before proceeding to a full test, which can be done on the same sample with no extra effort.
The full Smartblood test is a complete program that includes a 30 minute consultation with one of our BANT registered Nutritional Therapists and is a great way to discover all of your food sensitivities and take control over your own personal trigger foods.

1st Step Test
- A Simple Yes/No
- Result in 3 Days
- Our most popular pathway
- Can Upgrade if Positive

Smartblood Test
- Reactions to 134 Foods
- Results in 3 Days
- £80 Refund if No Reactions
- Nutritionist Consultation
If you think that you may have a food intolerance then we believe that our easy to complete tests could help you. SImply choose either a 1st-step indicator test for a positive/negative result overall or find out all of your food intolerances out at once with the full Smartblood test.
The 1st-step indicator test is popular with those that have health problems that may be explained by a food intolerance but want to just check this before proceeding to a full test, which can be done on the same sample with no extra effort.
The full Smartblood test is a complete programme that includes a 30 minute consultation with one of our BANT registered Nutritional Therapists and is a great way to discover all of your food sensitivities and take control over your own personal trigger foods.

1st Step Test
- A Simple Yes/No
- Result in 3 Days
- Our most popular pathway
- Can Upgrade if Positive

Smartblood Test
- Reactions to 134 Foods
- Results in 3 Days
- £80 Refund if No Reactions
- Nutritionist Consultation