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An Elimination Diet Can Show Hidden Food Allergies and Intolerances!
The idea of an elimination diet for food allergies is to get rid of most potentially reactive foods from your diet for several weeks, to see whether your symptoms improve. Sometimes we're surprised by some "hidden" allergies! The way you go about this will depend on the severity of your condition. If you are working with a physician, you should always take his or her advice into careful consideration. And of course, if you already know a particular food sends you into a severe reaction, avoid it like the plague. Your first choice, the more restrictive one, would be to limit your diet to only a few basic foods for about three weeks before re-introducing any. This is what this type of elimination diet might look like:
Remember, your food choices in your elimination diet will depend largely on what you haven't eaten much of in the past. If you are Asian, avoid rice; if you're a New Zealander, avoid lamb--you should suspect foods that have been common in your diet. If you like to snack a lot on baby carrots, get rid of carrots for awhile and see what happens. Foods are not allergenic in themselves. It's our toxically-overloaded bodies that are responding to foods (often processed or altered from their natural state) they feel overwhelmed by when we eat them all the time. Let me phrase it another way: It's the foods we have tended to eat, day in and day out, all year long, that we are most likely to be allergic or sensitive to. You may actually crave some of the foods you're sensitive or allergic to, so don't expect this to be a breeze. Also, many people feel absolutely rotten the first several days they're on an elimination diet--so don't let that get you down; just keep going. After a two- or three-week period, try re-introducing individual foods, one at a time, keeping careful records of reactions. Remember, "classic" allergy reactions will occur within a couple of hours, but "hidden" reactions may occur up to 48 hours later. Keep careful records of what you are eating at what time, and the symptoms you are experiencing, along with their times. Dr. Doris Rapp, in her book Is This Your Child? gives helpful advice on setting up your notebook. The second sort of elimination diet you might try would involve getting rid of the most commonly-allergenic foods: cow's milk products, chicken eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, citrus fruits, and food additives (especially dyes and MSG). Again, consider your ethnic background, and add any other foods you've tended to eat often over time (rice, lamb, tomatoes, etc.). During either this plan or the previous one, make an effort to rotate the foods you are still eating. I'll tell you why: when I discovered that oatmeal was nauseating me, I switched to rice cereal in the morning. After a couple of months eating that every day, I realized I couldn't handle it anymore, so I switched to quinoa . . . . until one morning when I sat down in front of my steaming bowl of cereal, inhaled, and my stomach turned! A rotation diet will ease up on your immune system, and, all other things being equal, tends to preserve your tolerance for the foods you can eat. Re-introduce foods in the same way described earlier, keeping good track of what you're eating when, and how you feel, or what your body is doing.
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