Elimination Diets
Elimination diets are the cornerstone of testing for food intolerance. They involve removing a food or foods from your diet and then, after a number of days, reintroducing the food to test for an unwanted reaction.
There are many types of elimination diets suggested by various doctors and writers. The main differences are usually to do with the number of foods you are asked to eliminate and for how long.
- You were asked to eliminate more than one food or food substance.
- The elimination period for certain foods was not long enough.
- No account was taken of food chemicals.
My research, and own experience, has shown that elimination diets are a powerful tool but only if used appropriately. In my view there is no single elimination diet that will work for everyone - you have to take into account the substance you are testing, how sluggish your system is and also how ill you have been.
In Change Your Diet and Change Your Life you will find that the elimination diet varies depending on what you are testing. For example, many food chemicals are cumulative in the body and you need to reduce the level in your body over a period of time before testing.
I also explain how, when testing single foods, to watch out for problems that could indicate a food chemical intolerance. One very clear indicator is that you initially have tremendous improvement in your symptoms and then days, weeks, or even months later find your symptoms have returned.
If you are testing foods I advice testing only one food at a time - purely and simply because if you try to do more than one the results become confusing and you are in danger of eliminating the wrong foods from your diet.
I also do not insist on other major changes (except for simplifying your diet before starting) as these cause too much stress on the body and I usually find that by the time people have resorted to elimination diets they really are not very well.
So keep it simple, test one food or food chemical at a time and keep a detailed record of the changes in a food diary.
Further information can be found in Change Your Diet and Change Your Life.