Elimination Diet

I'm starting one next week, too. I'm the person who is actually doing it, although I guess my family will have to along with it (for dinner, anyway). I don't have food allergies (at least that I know of), but have food sensitivities, I guess.

What foods do you have to eliminate, and what is the schedule for adding them back in?

My diet next week will be very limited, but I don't mind. However, I'm finding that food items that you think would be single or maybe a few ingredients often have one ingredient that I "can't" eat. I was going to buy frozen cod, but unfortunately it had some preservative added to it.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon starting Sunday. (Was gonna be day after Easter, but my family is celebrating a day early). Mostly it's because my last food allergy test said I was allergic to the entirety of the top 8. But I'm unsure if it's because my arm was sensitized from an allergy shot the week before, or if it's because I'm suddenly allergic to everything. So, crash elimination diet activated.

Be cautioned though. A lot of them for are quite restrictive and full of health woo. Don't be discouraged for not following it absolutely perfectly.

hipari wrote: »

Since you didn’t mention what kind of elimination diet, I feel I have to warn in case it’s the FODMAP used to treat IBS. In its full elimination mode it’s very restrictive, and it’s not meant as a permanent solution. I have IBS and have personally figured out my specific triggers, and I also know someone who got stuck in the elimination mode. After observing her behavior around food for years, I think she is nearing an eating disorder with all its limitations and the effect it has on social situations (up to the point where she refuses to go to restaurants since they ”don’t know what they’re doing and there won’t be anything I can eat anyway”). The fodmap diet’s elimination phase is meant to ”clean the slate”, so to speak, and then start reintroducing things group by group to see what the person’s triggers are. Best of luck to you and your family member, and hopefully the reintroduction phase goes smoothly as well.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm not doing the FODMAP elimination diet, but the LEAP protocol designed around the results of my specific test. It is very restrictive. Even after completing the first phase, I can only start reintroducing foods one at a time. My main concern/question is: "When can I have my coffee back?!?!" Apparently coffee isn't a reactive item for me, but caffeine was close to the "reactive" side. I would rather suffer some bloating or slight discomfort than giving up coffee .

Yes, I did it after my first gout flare up as a way of identifying foods that triggered my attacks. It was a long and tedious process due to the slow reintroduction process and occasional setback when I identified a trigger... but I only had to think about the pain of a proper flare up which it was enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

The pay off has been that since I was able to understand which foods were okay for me, I have regained a lot of flexibility in my dietary choices, so in the long run it's worth sticking to carefully because you can learn a lot about yourself.

I did a full elimination diet once to try to figure out my worse GERD triggers. I first ate just brown rice and then added one food at a time every 3-5 days. Not something I would recommend unless you have no other option. It works, but severely limited food gets old fast.

33gail33 wrote: »

Strudders67 wrote: »

I did an elimination diet about 10 years ago. I'd know for over 20 years that I was intolerant to dairy; by my mid 40s it was clear that I was intolerant to yeast as well. Working with a specialist in allergies, I eliminated an awful lot of stuff for three months, then introduced items one by one, eating multiple instances (ie mushrooms with breakfast, lunch and dinner over a few days, then including vinegar in each meal etc), so that I could record whether I reacted, what the reaction was, how quickly I reacted and how severely.

I can't say that it was fun but it was useful. It confirmed what had already been determined anyway, but at least I now know that I can eat most things in small doses and, if the cumulative effect brings on a reaction, I know what to eliminate for a week or so to let my body recover.

If you don’t mind me asking what were your yeast intolerance symptoms? And can an allergist test for that?

The symptoms were very similar to my dairy ones - stomach cramps / diahorreah at one end and a lump of mucus in my throat / vomiting / difficulty swallowing / losing my voice at the other end. Not all at the same time, thankfully. Different foods provoke different reactions, although the lump in my throat is the most usual, and some foods / drinks cause a reaction quicker than others. Cumulative effect is also a factor.

I did get tested, but whether it's a common / believable test is a different matter - I had a few appointments with Prof. Brostoff (sadly now deceased but was a leading allergy specialist here in the UK) and the first session included applied kinesiology muscle testing whilst holding vials of various liquids. It sounds 'quack' to me - but I can't explain the reactions I had at the time. However, as I went armed with a self-diagnosis, all he did was confirm that diagnosis. Having said that, he also picked up on allergy to grass and silver birch, but I hadn't mentioned my hayfever.

He did have me doing an elimination and reintroduction diet though and, helpfully, I finished with a better understanding of what I reacted to - which is why I went to see him in the first place. I mostly don't eat things that I'm intolerant to but, now, I can eat out and have what I like - knowing that, if I have a reaction, I just have to avoid certain things for a few days to get rid of the symptoms.

Subsequent to this, as a result of the research I then did, it's actually quite possible that my dairy intolerance is in fact due to the yeast in the cheeses that I react to. I'm not a big milk drinker anyway, but I have always loved cheese.

Elimination Diet? Isn't that a really high fiber diet? 🤔

Eliminations diets cover so many food areas. Elimination diets can be what you make them. My experience when told many years ago of the FODMAP diet my known, previously deciphered salicylate sensitivity crossed all groups, oops, so it was a good idea and none starter. Over time I discovered Histamine Intolerance too. Salicylate intolerance is the difficulty in digesting/eliminating salicylates, including aspirin and for me paracetamol because of the filler/binder cornstarch. Many plants use salicylate as their means of combating moulds and mildews naturally! This sensitivity often cross references with Histamine intolerance, this is a reaction to food decomposition, for some the freshest foods can cause issues. At my worst I was down to about 10 foods and needed a way out. Added to which i reacted to neighbours laundry residues.

Tracking down dietary issues is a mine field though I recommend using blood testing, I can't remember which I used through my BANT (UK) nutritionist so sorry, the NHS can but is reluctant and regrettably they are not always as accurate as private ones. Dietary sensitivities are so wide spread but the General Medical Profession do not stand a hope of getting to grips with it all.

There are several situations which can under pin dietary issues, no particular order.

Poor bile flow, our modern diets are low in bitter tasting foods which causes the bile to be less effective as it could be. I used HCI and Pepsin capsules for quite a time, then found having the juice of half lemon juice in water first thing has been sufficient. I had to be careful which capsules I used because those with peppermint in reacted because, its salicylate.

I also used digestive microbes also seen as pre and pro biotics, I think pre feeds the most helpful microbes. Years of use of antibiotics and different General Medical prescribed medications reduced my microbial function. It took me two years of use to really make a difference.

I know one hears much about Candida Arbican, its an issue which predominantly effects women in part because of prescription preparations directed at them along with antibiotics. Doing a sugar elimination diet is very helpful here because sugar directly feeds our least helpful microbes. I think it can also assist in combating HPolori.

Having a diet high in copper is also counter productive. It is known to be a good metal for door handles and the like to combat common colds and flu, the easy transfer of unhelpful bacteria too. Copper can come from your water pipes and your diet. The vegetarian diet is naturally higher in copper than the omnivore diet because the vegetarian consumes much less zinc the antidote to copper, I can't remember the balance.

Dairy issues can be lactose but in most persons its the casein. Bovine (cow)dairy is predominantly type 4 casein, Goat and Sheep dairy is predominantly type 3, this more closely resembles human milk. Persons who react to type 4 often do well on Type 3 dairy and some lactose intolerant persons loose their lactose sensitivity because the body is not working so hard to cope with the type 4 casein. There are bovine herds which are type 3, the milk is often sold as A2 milk. If one does react to dairy elimination brought relief after 2 days though it can take longer.

Trying to eliminate grain protein, gluten intolerance is more difficult especially if you use proprietary prepared foods. For those with issues in this area it can take up to a year to reduced the symptoms though many will find relief within days or weeks. Those for whom it take towards 12 months all it will likely take to set off their symptoms again is one mishap with the substance.

Dietary reactions often accompany endocrine issues, most commonly autoimmune conditions. My experience has been, they are not taken seriously enough, not tested for properly with symptoms often dismissed. Thyroid conditions have over 300 possible symptoms, many are emblematic but are often dismissed as, "women's issues" because predominantly women suffer more than men, something like 12 women to one man. Then when it is finally agreed a woman is hypothyroid she is not generally tested for autoimmunity. General Medicine say the treatment for Hashimoto's along with dietary hypothyroidism is the same but restoring digestive integrity has been proved to reduce the degree of autoimmunity and give the sufferer a better, if not totally restoring their quality of life.

In my dietary travels I found vitamin C and Vitamin B6 assist in the production of DAO Histaminases which helps resolve histamine issues. There are also digestive enzymes which provide single or multi enzymes to help a persons digestion.

Wishing anyone with dietary restrictions all the very best, I want fewer persons to have to follow the path I have regrettably trodden to get to my lowest ebb, life had to be worth the fight and it is.