Why You Should Go on an Elimination Diet

If I told you I had a magic pill that could relieve your pain, improve your energy, and eliminate virtually every health complaint you have, would you take it? You’d tell me “that’s impossible,” or “that doesn’t exist.”

Elimination diets can do all of this and more. How is this possible? Studies have found that a wide array of complaints may be addressed by elimination diets. Just a short list includes:

  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • IBS and IBD and their symptoms, including:
  • Abdominal pain
  • Indigestion and GERD
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Pain and inflammation
  • Arthritis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Mood, including depression and anxiety
  • Weight control

What is an elimination diet? How can elimination diets do everything that pills and surgeries can’t?

Elimination diets are diets that eliminate certain foods or food ingredients. Major allergens (wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, or fish), gluten, or artificial additives are the most common things that people eliminate.

The bottom line is that many people have sensitivities to foods that they aren’t aware of. The mechanisms are complex and involve all the different organ systems, but they boil down to the effects of different foods on our nerves, hormones, immune system, and individual cells.

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Leland Stillman, MD

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