Elimination Diet

An elimination diet is a special dietary program made to clear your body of chemicals and foods which you could be sensitive or allergic to. It is called such since you take out certain foods and food categories from your diet. In a period of two to three weeks, you’ll eliminate foods from your diet which are the most likely problems of your sensitivity symptoms. If your symptoms improve during this period of time, you will carefully add foods into your diet again, one at a time to find out the exact food which can trigger the symptoms.

The main rationale to this diet is that the modifications will let your body’s detoxification machinery, which could be compromised or overburdened, to regain, starting to function again efficiently. The changes to your diet will help the body clear or eliminate different toxins which could have accumulated because of environmental exposure, beverages, foods, alcohol, drugs, or cigarette smoking. It can also lower inflammation throughout your body.

Make Preparations

Are skin issues a problem for you? Or any digestive issues such as bloating, gas or intermittent constipation or severe allergies? What is your energy level like? How about your mood? Do you ever feel like you have brain fog? These are just a few of the potential symptoms you could have from food sensitivities.

Therefore, before you start an elimination diet, begin from your head and go down to your toes, making a list of each thing you notice in your body, no matter how long-standing or subtle the symptoms are. This will make you more aware of any important changes when they change.

Begin to Eliminate Certain Foods

The best elimination diet takes out the biggest amount of foods. It is a general rule that the more restrictive it is, the better it is. It is more work of course, however, like most things in the world, when you put hard work into it, you will get greater results.

To start off, a good elimination diet will take out dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, pork, corn, beef, chicken, coffee, beans/lentils, nuts, citrus fruits and nightshade vegetables. This might seem like a lot, however, it gives you all kinds of options for a fairly satisfying diet that is made up mainly of meat like fish, turkey and lamb, rice, most fruits, and more kinds of vegetables.

Stick to the Plan for Three Weeks

When it reacts to foods, your immune system produces antibodies, which will take about 21 to 23 days to turn over, so if you do not quit things to which you have sensitivity for this time at least, you will not get the full effect of taking them out of your diet.

Reintroduce Foods

Once you’ve eliminated certain foods from your diet for days, you can reintroduce them slowly into your diet. You can add them back one at a time over a period of time, like dairy, gluten or eggs, however, do remember not add more than one at a time. This process will help link any allergy symptoms to a specific food.

Pay Attention to How You’re Feeling

Over the next 48 hours, see how you feel. If you do not have any reaction after a couple of days, you can eat that same food again, and for a second time, pay attention to how you feel. Then it is for you to decide if you will re-incorporate this food or not into your diet regularly. After you have made the call on the first food to reintroduce, select another one and follow the same steps.

During the elimination diet and the process of reintroduction, being aware of how you feel is really important. When you discover that by yourself, you might be saving yourself a lifetime of annoying symptoms, inflammation, and in some instances, even diseases which are life-threatening.

Change Your Diet for Good

By this time, you should have had plenty of weeks of great practice with willpower, and you will know the foods that you need to take out of your diet for good. And you can decide what your basic way of eating should be. Use this to your advantage and attempt to live by it as much as you can since you will feel better and better.