Elimination diet??

ProgressNotPerfection32

I know this is intended to be a thread for those of us who are getting healthy but I have a question that is more on how to implement the elimination diet for my son .does anyone have any experience with a food elimination diet? If so, any input, help, or advice is needed. My son is sensitive to artificial food dyes, I am 100% certain of that. But I believe there's more sensitivities. Problem is, dr won't do a food allergy test unless there's a known reaction to a particular food. Which leaves it to me to do an elimination diet myself. I would like to start right when school lets out so I have a good idea where we stand before he goes to kindergarten in August. Just trying to get my ducks in no row before I have to implement it in May. Thanks in advance!!!

Chain_Ring

Just don't get ahead of yourself.

LKArgh

I have been on elimination diets myself when breastfeeding, as two of my kids had food sensitivities as babies. What makes you think there is a problem? An allergy and a sensitivity are very different things, so if you are not seeing allergic reactions, an allergy test would not mean anything. Plus they are often not that accurate.

cwsreddy

I know this is intended to be a thread for those of us who are getting healthy but I have a question that is more on how to implement the elimination diet for my son .does anyone have any experience with a food elimination diet? If so, any input, help, or advice is needed. My son is sensitive to artificial food dyes, I am 100% certain of that. But I believe there's more sensitivities. Problem is, dr won't do a food allergy test unless there's a known reaction to a particular food. Which leaves it to me to do an elimination diet myself. I would like to start right when school lets out so I have a good idea where we stand before he goes to kindergarten in August. Just trying to get my ducks in no row before I have to implement it in May. Thanks in advance!!!

Why do you believe there are more sensitivities? What are the particular reactions you're attributing to foods? I don't have kids myself but a good friend just went through a similar process as you - cut out the food colorings and her daughter's behavior improved markedly. It's actually really adorable because her daughter is 100% on board and refuses to eat things with food coloring even if her mom isn't around. She's pretty badass.

foxruddellc1

I heard of an all natural way to detect if you are allergic to a certain food, though I haven't tested this.

You take your heartbeat at rest while sitting down for a full 60 seconds, and record it. Then chew one bite of a particular food, and while it is STILL in your mouth, you stand up and take your heartbeat again for 60 seconds. If your heart rate increases by 5 or more beats for type O blood or 6 or more for other blood types, you are allergic to that food.

I saw this on a site I trust but I do not know the "science" behind it, or if it works, but worth a shot. You could google this.

Best of luck :flowerforyou:

ProgressNotPerfection32

That's cool! Never heard of it but will test it out!! :-) thanks

WhiteRabbit1313

I know this is intended to be a thread for those of us who are getting healthy but I have a question that is more on how to implement the elimination diet for my son .does anyone have any experience with a food elimination diet? If so, any input, help, or advice is needed. My son is sensitive to artificial food dyes, I am 100% certain of that. But I believe there's more sensitivities. Problem is, dr won't do a food allergy test unless there's a known reaction to a particular food. Which leaves it to me to do an elimination diet myself. I would like to start right when school lets out so I have a good idea where we stand before he goes to kindergarten in August. Just trying to get my ducks in no row before I have to implement it in May. Thanks in advance!!!

Well, Atkins Induction appears to work well, as an elimination diet, for possible gluten sensitivities. One could also cut out dairy with it, too. Because you have to prepare your own foods, you can avoid artificial dyes, etc. pretty easily. I don't know that there's any real benefit to cutting out table sugar, but that's part of Atkins, as well.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

A doctor and / or allergist will remove pretty much all foods except for proteins, fats and green leafy vegetables and then have you slowly add in 1 food at a time that he normally eats and feed it to him for 1-3 weeks and see how he reacts. If there is no reaction in any way (digestive issues, behavior, breathing issues, break outs, etc) then you will add in the next food and rinse and repeat the process until you have found what you need to find out.

It is best with his age to have this Dr approved. Maybe seek a second opinion with another Dr. One who will listen to you and address your concerns in a serious manner.

One of my good friends had to take her sons to 3 different Dr's before they would listen and take her seriously and she found out that all 3 sons are Celiac.

skinnybearerika

You should try seeing a naturopath. They are essentially dietitians and drs combined and will certainly guide you. They will also do comprehensive allergy tests if you ask as they recognize many people have food sensitivities that go undiagnosed

ProgressNotPerfection32

My 5 yr old is that way, too. He was so bad, I could have literally beat him senseless (no I never did!) and it wouldn't effect him. We tried teaching numerous calming techniques when he was happy and he never could remember them once he had a meltdown. He would have 2-4 meltdowns a day that lasted 20 min to 2 hours at a time.

I believe he has sensitivities to other things because:

Yellow dye- makes him extremely emotional and unable to control any emotions. Can not calm himself, gets very violent and aggressive. Effects generally don't show up for 12-24 hours after ingesting.

Red dye- makes him extremely hyper for about 48 hours after ingesting any amount of any red dye. Also causes him to wake up a lot at night crying and is unable to go back to sleep.


We just eliminate all dyes because I haven't tested any others.

There are times that he gets either extremely emotional and unable to calm himself, hyper, violent, aggressive, etc when I know he hasn't had anything with dyes. It's usually times where he has had a lot of certain foods. One morning he was exhibiting behaviors after having pizza, cinnamon rolls, chocolate, and bread the night before. This has happened with other things on other occasions, but I'm unsure what the foods were because it was awhile back. He has gotten to where he can tell us if he is unable to calm himself, which is great. He also still wets the bed. On rare occasions he can stay dry all night and he has been able to stay dry during naps that last up to 3 hours since he was 3. Not sure if the bed wetting is age or food related, due to his age. He also gets abdominal pains some days and seems to not coincide with constipation.

Just from those rare occasions where he has dye-like reactions, I know there's something else. But I'm unsure since most of the foods that trigger it include several ingredients that are common for sensitivities.

lucasmoten

I heard of an all natural way to detect if you are allergic to a certain food, though I haven't tested this.

You take your heartbeat at rest while sitting down for a full 60 seconds, and record it. Then chew one bite of a particular food, and while it is STILL in your mouth, you stand up and take your heartbeat again for 60 seconds. If your heart rate increases by 5 or more beats for type O blood or 6 or more for other blood types, you are allergic to that food.

I saw this on a site I trust but I do not know the "science" behind it, or if it works, but worth a shot. You could google this.

You're joking right?
If you are sitting, and waiting 60 seconds, that's practically "at rest".
Any activity such as standing is going to spike your heart rate well above 6 BPM.

As for the food still being in your mouth, I don't see how that helps much as you kind of need your system to process and be able to affect the blood stream and nervous system to ascertain whether there is an issue or not.

ethompso0105

You should try seeing a naturopath. They are essentially dietitians and drs combined and will certainly guide you. They will also do comprehensive allergy tests if you ask as they recognize many people have food sensitivities that go undiagnosed

I second this. I also started seeing an applied kinesiologist--she's been able to see what my body can and can't handle. I highly recommend people like this when general practitioners aren't able to find results.

ProgressNotPerfection32

You should try seeing a naturopath. They are essentially dietitians and drs combined and will certainly guide you. They will also do comprehensive allergy tests if you ask as they recognize many people have food sensitivities that go undiagnosed

Thanks, I hadn't thought of going that route

Bigora

Maybe you want to have a look at the book "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp. This book is very interesting and helpful and might answer some of your questions.

You can find it at Amazon. (not sure about setting the link).

I hope your little one gets better soon.:flowerforyou:

nosebag1212

I know this is intended to be a thread for those of us who are getting healthy but I have a question that is more on how to implement the elimination diet for my son .does anyone have any experience with a food elimination diet? If so, any input, help, or advice is needed. My son is sensitive to artificial food dyes, I am 100% certain of that. But I believe there's more sensitivities. Problem is, dr won't do a food allergy test unless there's a known reaction to a particular food. Which leaves it to me to do an elimination diet myself. I would like to start right when school lets out so I have a good idea where we stand before he goes to kindergarten in August. Just trying to get my ducks in no row before I have to implement it in May. Thanks in advance!!!

Find a new doctor?

claudiakendall98

Hi my son had a reaction when he was 2 when given Amoxicillin .It was liquid and pink .He hived head to toe and was diagnosed with penicillin allergy but Doctor was not sure and said he would not test to see if it was indeed a true penicillin allergy.He suggested it could have been an reaction to the color of medication which some of the color are derived from insects.Sure enough we had many more hiving reactions after eating some colorful foods after which we noted the foods that caused reaction and he knows to this day to avoid food coloring and certain foods.I found out in my 40 that I also have this food coloring allergy quite by accident .I naturally stay away from high colored frostings and cake as I just do not find them enticing but I transferred some cupcakes that where brought to my house to a Valentines party to another plate and started hiving within seconds of just touching the red frosted cupcakes. I knew I was having reaction but did not put 2+2 together until next day when I went to put them on a smaller plate and this time I hived head to toe.
So my family has allergy to insect derived food color and I am glad as I do not fancy eating ground up insects ,ewww.I have a phobia of bugs and the idea of them being in my food just makes me ill.Lol
My suggestion if it is not natural food ,do not eat it.