You have poop problems.

If your meal makes you nauseous, gives you a stomachache, or sends you running to the bathroom, don’t immediately call food poisoning or blame it on lactose intolerance—if it happens every time you eat a certain food, it could be an allergy, says Baker.

But here's where it often gets hard to tell if you're dealing with a food intolerance instead, which is typically linked to food-triggered digestive issues, says Dr. Gupta. Unlike allergies, a food intolerance isn't an immune response and generally carries less serious symptoms.

"Adults often have an adverse reaction to a food and simply start avoiding it," Gupta says. It's important to figure out if the reaction is an allergy or an intolerance, so you know whether drinking that glass of milk will simply send you to the bathroom or have a more serious consequence, like the symptoms listed above.

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What to do if you think you have a food allergy:

If you consistently notice one or more of these symptoms after you eat, enlist the help of a board-certified allergist, who can help diagnose you. “Be ready to report your symptoms and the suspected foods,” says Baker. “Your allergist may ask you to keep a food diary, and may order diagnostic tests.”

If it turns out you are allergic to a specific food, you should be prescribed epinephrine (an Epi Pen) to carry with you at all times, he adds. You never know when a case of hives could turn into a life-threatening reaction.

Even if you’ve only had mild symptoms, “you should work with your allergist to have a written emergency treatment plan so that you and your loved ones or close friends know what to do in the event of a serious reaction when you may be incapacitated,” says Baker.

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