So what is an elimination diet? Sounds a little intimidating or even impossible to eliminate foods that you have been eating forever.
An elimination diet (which is not really a diet but about finding the foods that work or don’t work for YOUR body. Every body is different and what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. Hence, bio individuality. ) is about eliminating specific foods or food groups for short periods of time to determine if you have food sensitivities and if so, eliminate inflammatory symptoms. A typical plan will have you eliminating sugar, dairy, gluten, soy, caffeine, alcohol, eggs, nightshades (such as eggplant, tomatoes , white potatoes, peppers and spices made from peppers like paprika and red pepper flakes) corn, and peanuts.
It is suggested to eliminate these foods from your body for approximately 30 days and sometimes it could be longer.
After this time period, you reintroduce foods one at a time to see how you feel. So let’s say you start eating dairy again. You would give it a week or so to see how your body feels.
It takes a lot of patience but if you reintroduce the foods at the same time you won’t be able to identify which ones may be causing inflammation in YOUR body.
It’s a good idea to keep a food diary for the whole process. It’s also recommended to work with a nutritionist or health coach to hold you accountable and support you through the process.
It’s also important to heal your gut – by doing so you may be able to tolerate foods that you once found to be inflammatory. Food sensitivities can change throughout your life so it doesn’t mean if you’re sensitive to gluten or dairy you can never eat it again. What’s most important is to find the right plan consisting of whole healthy foods that will best for you.
50, fit and fabulous –
Deb