Elimination Diet Guidelines: What to Do and How to Do It
What is the Elimination Diet
The Elimination Diet is a diagnostic eating plan, during which foods are excluded, then added back in intervals of time. It is designed to identify foods that cause adverse effects, such as food allergies and food intolerances.
Food allergies are caused by severe immune system reactions that cause a range of symptoms. They can be serious and even life-threatening. Food intolerances, on the other hand, may appear a few days after exposure, their symptoms are usually less serious and limited to digestive or skin problems, mood dysregulation, and headaches.
Here is how to do the Elimination Diet:
For three weeks, exclude all foods that contain these allergens:
- Vegetables from the nightshade family — tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers (ketchup, hot sauces or Ashwagandha too)
- Tart fruits like citrus, mangoes, strawberries, kiwi, pomegranates, plums or apples
- Eggs
- Dairy
- Pickled/fermented vegetables of any kind
- All meat, fish or shrimp (when you add back, only add real center cuts and no more than 2 ounces per day, no cold cuts, pepperoni, bologna, salami or lunch meats of any kind)
- Chocolate, cocoa and spicy foods
- Canned foods
- Alcohol, especially beer and wine
Foods to eat:
- Oatmeal and brown rice — the easiest foods to digest (babies’ first solid foods)
- Legumes (beans, peas, and lentils; just not from a can)
- All vegetables (exclude nightshades during the testing period)
- All leafy greens (note if they should be pureed)
- Fruits that are not tart
- Raw, soaked almonds, walnuts, sesame and pumpkin seeds unless a known sensitivity is present
After 3 weeks of complete elimination, start adding each item from the list in 2-day intervals, in that order. Journal each day and note the way your body feels. Note psychological and mood changes too. You will be amazed with how much this exercise may reveal to you.
As a general rule of thumb, eliminate or greatly reduce:
- All foods that come with a nutrition label (anything in a box)
- All foods that are not labeled organic
- Lunch meats, salami, bologna, cured meats and cold cuts
- Bleached grains or foods with bleached grains
- Foods that contain additives and preservatives
- Hydrogenated oils (pretty much everything that comes in a box contains those)
- Hydrolyzed protein (fake meats)
- Refined or added sugars
- Flavoring packets (also any food with flavoring packets)
- Fruit juices unless you squeeze your own (100% juice label is not enough)
- Margarine (or engineered “health” foods of any type)
- Foods containing dyes
The Takeaway
The Elimination Diet is not a perfect diagnostic tool. Nothing is perfect in the realm of allergies and sensitivities. The blood tests miss all foods that haven’t been consumed recently. They have to detect antibodies, so if none are present at the moment, none will be detected. That doesn’t mean, however, that an allergy is not present given the exposure.
The IgG blood test measures immune response to help provide guidance on what types of foods should be monitored the most during an elimination diet.
DNA allergy tests test for predispositions, not what is, and the skin tests are too limited and disregard sensitivities. Skin tests are best for diagnosing allergies to airborne irritants, such as pollen, pet dander and dust mites.
The Elimination Diet is recommended as an essential tool, in conjunction with any allergy or sensitivity test.
Legal Disclaimer
The statements on these pages are not evaluated by the FDA and are for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page intends to treat, diagnose or prevent disease. If you suspect that you have a disease or a condition of any type, please see your primary care physician without delay. Consult your physician before taking supplements or changing your diet.
