Steps For A True Elimination Diet

[JonnyD]

Hi, All,

I hope you can help. I've been gluten free for almost a year but still suffer from an allergy to something(or multiple things?) in my diet. I'm going to have to do an elimination diet soon and am hoping for some advice. Just so you know, I've been allergy tested but those results all came back negative. A strict elimination diet is the only way to determine what's still bothering me.

But, apparently, an elimination diet means different things to different people and there's a lot of conflicting infomation out there.

For any who have had success with an elimination diet, can you describe the safe foods you started with and the process you went through to re-introduce/challenge foods?

Thanks.

Jonny

[ciamarie]

Here's what I've been doing for about a week or a little over that. I started with a list of foods that I know are o.k. / safe. On that list is:

chicken, turkey, rice, homemade rice bread, broccoli, green beans, yam, tomatoes/sauce, celery, apple, squash, salted butter, olive oil, tapioca starch, carrots. (I basically went with things I have in my cupboard, fridge and freezer -- there are other things that could probably make it to the safe list but I'm not planning to do a big grocery shopping trip soon.)

Then I made a list of foods that are 'probably safe' and on that list I have banana, peanut butter, oranges (juice), potatoes, raisins, pork, buckwheat, onion, cream, eggs, corn, brazil nuts and beans. I then have a space to note the date I ate a particular food and the result.

I have another list of 'maybe safe' foods which doesn't have much on it now. I'm working on the 'probably safe' foods first. I'm basically trying to see what bothers my DH, and of course there are many more things I'll be trying as time goes by.

I've been testing one different 'probably o.k.' food per day, but some advocate giving it 3 days. When I get into more of the 'maybe' foods I'll possibly do that. I decided to do that for now, instead of the food diary I was keeping, because it seems a bit more methodical to me.

[StephanieL]

It may be easier for you to do a food log before you start eliminating foods. Have you tried that?

If you really want to go to the ED, look at Dr. Sears. He's a ped but is the go to for ED's for Mom's trying to figure out what's up with babies.

[Avalon451]

I've had this one in my sights for a couple of years, but too scared to try it. It sounds like the official way to go, to really figure out what your problem is. Hard, though.

Open Original Shared Link

[Adalaide]

Out of curiosity reading through the caveman diet link it lists sea salt as the salt you can have. Living in Utah I can get salt from here (apparently it's called "real salt" as if all the other stuff is fake or something) that is amazingly cheap and if you've never had salt from here you have no idea what you're missing. I use a quarter of the amount I would use if it were that iodized crap in a box. It's also amazingly flavorful in a way I never imagined salt could be. Anyway, since it isn't chemically altered or treated at all would it probably be equally okay to use if I'm reduced to trying this diet? If so, I'd recommend it to everyone over sea salt. It simply can not be beat.

[ravenwoodglass]

You said your allergist tested you for true allergies. Can you go back and have him give you a starting point for your elimination diet? Not all allergists will do this but that is how I did mine and it was what pinpointed my gluten problems. I had the testing for true allergies then he started me with only 5 foods. No beverages other than water, no spices, teas, coffee and only salt as a seasoning. I had to stick to those 5 foods for about 2 weeks, or until my symptoms resolved, and then I added back one food at a time, 3 times a day in pure form, for a week and if no reaction occured then I was allowed to keep that food in. He said that food intolerances are often delayed reactions so that was why we had to do a full week because that was how long it can take for a delayed reaction. If I reacted I dropped that food, waited until the reaction resolved and then introduced a different food.

[Skylark]

My first elimination many years ago I went down to lamb, rice, and lettuce for two weeks. I felt better so I started reintroducing foods three days apart. I'll usually have a reaction within 48 hours if something is going to make me sick since I have pretty good intestinal transit time. I was reacting to soy, cow dairy, and gluten. (This before celiac was in the news so I didn't know to get a celiac test.)

This time I went on GAPS, eliminating dairy as well as the GAPS-required legumes, grains, and soy. I also started keeping a food diary. Sure enough, I'm back to reacting to casein and also foods high in tyramine. I'm very suspicious of nightshades at the moment based on the food diary.

[JonnyD]

Thanks for all the input. I'm formulating a diet right now and am hopeful that I can identify my other food issues.

[Ty Cannon]

Hi Jonny,

There are three main sources of inflammatory/allergic response. They are gluten, dairy and animal proteins.

What I have my clients do when they have these kinds of problems is simply cut those three things out of their diet for two weeks. That is usually enough for most people to notice a difference. I also recommend using blended drinks. This can be a very powerful tool for insuring you are getting all the necessary nutrients you need to heal your body, as well as helping to detoxifying your system.

Let me know if you would like a good blended drink recipe I would be happy to post one for you.

Ty