You may be experiencing some symptoms that make you think you possibly have food sensitivities and need the next step. You don’t necessarily want to head to the doctor and want to know what you can do at home. That’s where an elimination diet comes into place. In fact a lot of doctors use elimination diets to find trigger foods, foods that you’re sensitive to that cause an adverse reaction.

A Little Over 5 Years Ago

Our family started on an elimination diet of sorts with my son, because he had been experiencing severe eczema for years with no cure in site and dealt with hyperactivity. Unlike what I’m going to share here we didn’t have a clear cut plan. In fact ours was more like throwing darts at a dart board with one eye closed. Haha!! We started out by eliminating foods that contained dye, additives, processed sugar and dairy. This helped a bit but didn’t get rid of all the symptoms, so then we implemented a Carbohydrate Intolerance Diet. This diet basically broke down different foods that contained carbohydrates into easy and difficult to digest categories. The difficult to digest went into the elimination category along with what had previously been removed. This seemed to help reduce the eczema more but it still lingered. At this point we decided to have a sensitivity test run that helped us to determine the one thing we had avoided removing wheat gluten needed to go. After removing wheat gluten and all sugars accept for those that occur naturally in fruit his eczema disappeared and his hyperactivity reduced. He is a little boy that deals with ADHD/OCD/Sensory Processing Issues and is on the Autism Spectrum so we still deal with some hyperactivity but it’s much better than what he once displayed.

After going through all of that with our son and the long time it took us to reach our answer I knew there must have been a more direct way to determine what foods someone is sensitive to without a doctors assistance. Which if you are experiencing reactions like anaphylaxis, tightening or scratchy throat, or hives please see a physician as those symptoms can lead to a very serious problem. However if you are dealing with symptoms like brain fog, bloating, headaches, fatigue, acne, rosacea, constipation, joint pain then giving an elimination diet plan is a good first step. There are many plans to choose from that range in intensity. Some will have you remove 8 or more food groups at once for 21 days. This can be difficult for some as change isn’t easy.

Document With Any Elimination Plan

With any elimination plan make sure you are documenting where you started and your journey along the way. This means write down specific detail to how you are physically feeling with energy and mood. If you have any rashes and where you have them. Write down if you have any digestive issues like bloating or irritable bowel. Really anything that you’re experiencing with pain physically, what you’re dealing with emotionally and mentally.

Simple Elimination Plan

To start the simple elimination plan you will want to eliminate all gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, fast food and alcohol for 23 days. Yes 23 not 21. This is becaue it takes 21 days for the antibodies, proteins that the immune system creates when it reacts to foods that it’s sensitive to, to turn over. So you need to give your body at least those 23 days to detox. As for the alcohol you remove that because it helps with the detox process and is full of sugars that help yeast and harmful bacteria grow. The simple removal of alcohol can help you to feel better solely because it helps with your gut flora health.

After the 23 days then you can begin to add in one food item at a time. This means if you want to try bread then you eat one slice of bread, and not bread and pasta. Then wait 48 hours and document any changes you may have noticed over those 2 days. If there’s no reaction then you can choose to either keep that food item or eliminate it. If you notice even the slightest difference you need to pay close attention if you eat a food with gluten again if there’s a reaction.

You may ask, “If I have a reaction do I have to give it up?”

My answer is that’s up to you. You know the consequences. For us in our house we eliminate most of the trigger foods 95% of the time. Some that don’t cause awful symptoms we may have from time to time, but for the most part it’s just not worth it for us.

What to Eat During Elimination Plan

30% Clean Protein: Organic, hormone free grass fed beef, lean beef, chicken , wild fish and shellfish

70% Vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and gluten free grains like quinoa

Be careful of oats as they generally contain gluten

What to Avoid During Elimination Plan

Processed Foods, even health bars because they tend to be high in sugar.

Read all food labels, even on frozen foods. Make sure they are all whole food ingredients.

Also don’t eat a lot of the gluten free packaged foods like breads, crackers and cereal as they tend to have a lot of extra additives.