The Elimination Diet

Hello everyone! I'm writing this post because a few weeks ago a friend of mine asked for my help and this was my solution. My friend has been suffering from enormous stomach cramps for the past few months and has visited many doctors to no avail. They have prescribed the most common medication for her case: antacids, painkillers, antibiotics, and digestive enzymes; none of which have made her feel much better. We often overlook the importance of diet in living a healthy and fulfiled life, as well as the major role it plays in our health and our body's response to disease. It is often difficult to figure out what is upsetting us and putting us off balance. A way to figure it out is by going on the elimination diet and being fully aware of your body's reactions. This is how it works.

• The basis of the elimination diet is to eliminate all irritating foods and re-introduce them progressively, whilst being mindful of their effects on your health.

• NO more: GLUTEN, DAIRY, SOY, CORN, SUGAR for 6 weeks

• Reintroduce them one after the other

• Eat the food twice a day for two days and on the third day, don’t eat the food and see how you feel

• If you have a reaction, write it down and wait for the reaction to pass before introducing a new food. This can take up to a few days

• Week 7: Re-introduce corn, eat twice a day for 2 days (Monday and Tuesday), don’t eat on Wednesday and Thursday, see how it goes and if you keep it then re-introduce it in the diet for the weekend

• Week 8: same with soy

• Week 9: same with sugar

• Week 10: same with gluten. With gluten, avoid white flour as well as whole wheat products, to begin with. Focus on spelt, rye, barley instead of wheat (so in French: épautre, Seigle, orge)

• Week 11: same with dairy. First re-introduce non-cow dairy, such as goat milk, feta, goat cheese. If that’s ok, then re-introduce dairy with small amounts of lactose, such as cheese and yoghurt. Finally, if that’s ok re-introduce cow’s milk. Repeat the same process of 2 days of eating twice a day and 2 days of break, for each type of dairy product so that you know which causes you trouble.

• Keep a book or notepad (phone notes work) in which you record everything you feel when you re-introduce the food groups so that you know which cause you the most trouble

The most important part of this process is to remember to listen to your body and really be mindful of what it is trying to communicate through different reactions. The reactions can really be a myriad of things: brain fog, lack of concentration, allergies, skin rashes, bloating, irregular bowel movement, acne, lack of energy, joint pain...

Hope this helps you figure out which food groups aren't working out for you and how you can feel better by simply eliminating the food groups that cause you the most trouble.