Elimination Diet
Weight loss is the result of a combined effort of what you eat and what you burn by way of exercise. It is perseverance that makes permanent weight loss a possibility. But not everyone likes to or can exercise. That’s how fad or crash diets have become so popular. These diets make it easy to lose weight.
These diets are usually inclusive or exclusive of food groups and work on the basic method of reducing the number of calories you eat. The fad diets only mention what you can and cannot eat.
The elimination diet is one such diet. Originated in 1920s, this elimination diet is a diet that slowly eliminates one food group at a time. Started by Dr Albert Row, it is used to diagnose what type of food allergies you could have or better still, could provide your system a relief from all the eating, especially the wrong kinds. Reducing and eliminating foods that your body cannot handle, can provide relief.
The elimination diet is also an allergy or food allergy elimination diet. When you are trying out the elimination diet, you also have to keep track of which symptom is appearing and not recurring. Symptoms of illness, skin rash, digestion problems, congestion, fatigue, joint pain and any other kind of discomfort, all have to be tracked carefully. While following this diet, it is important to be strict about following this diet, especially if you suffer from chronic colds or any other condition. If required you can continue this elimination diet as long as required.
If you are trying this diet to give your immune system a rest, it is done by giving up one kind of food for a fixed time period. The maximum that this diet should be followed is for a period of three months. Common items periodically eliminated are yeast, dairy, gluten and in extreme cases some specific foods too. Because of this diet slowly eliminating processed food, it is called the Cave Man Diet or the Reduction Diet or the Rare Food Diet. Often this diet is carried on longer than is healthy. The whole process of elimination and provocation can prove tiresome on the body. Getting rid of dependence on one kind of food and reintroducing the body to that food can often cause complications so proper care should be taken.
If you start to feel better, then something in your every day food that you have now eliminated was actually harming you. It need not be only food. It could be something in the air or something in your surroundings. Yeast is often a common cause of many chronic symptoms. But it could be grains or even something as basic as carbohydrates which tend to cause different symptoms in the body.
The elimination diet includes a menu and recipes that teach you how to follow the elimination diet. You should read everything you buy carefully. Study the labels carefully. You are allowed a long list of things to eat. When you eat meat, remember to eat as fresh as possible. Frozen is another permissible option but processed meat and processed goods are a complete no no. You are permitted all vegetables except those with a high content of sugar like corn, white potato, tomato, peas, beans and other legumes. You can eat all types of nuts except peanuts as they are actually legumes. The nuts should not be roasted or cracked. In vegetables you can eat are sweet potato, yams, cabbage, carrots, squash, cauliflower, avocado, garlic, radishes, all kinds of greens, and green peppers. All carbohydrates should be avoided and even food made with any kind of flour should be avoided.
In fruits, again, you should choose fresh over packaged or canned. Frozen is an acceptable alternative. Fruits you can eat are bananas, grapes, pears, pineapple, peaches, mangos, plums, melons, different berries like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries apricots and cherries. Avoid fruit juices strictly.
Food that you need to avoid judiciously include all forms of all dairy, all grains, sugar, fruits like oranges, grapefruit and citrus foods, food coloring, additives, chemicals like sweeteners and emulsifiers, yeast, cola, processed food, meats, coffee and tea and condiments. Along with food, you need to even remove external and harmful influences like pollutants and perfumes. After a few months, as your symptoms improve you can slowly introduce foods slowly into your diet.
Veganism, vegetarianism and gluten-free eating are all versions of this elimination diet. People who suffer from weight gain or weight loss, chronic migraines, hair loss, bloating and gas, irritable bowel syndrome, skin rashes and seizures, all can benefit from this elimination diet. Expect slow results but you will discover what benefits you the most. By the end of the three months, mostly people are either intolerant of dairy, fructose, yeast, gluten or have a food allergy.
The allergy elimination diet is also very helpful during breastfeeding. Babies tend to develop allergies early, especially during breast feeding. If you follow this elimination diet, then it can be quite beneficial. Start off eating more safe foods as you start to breastfeed your baby. Babies respond to a change in the diet very quickly and babies are known to be colicky or irritable if they develop an allergy. There are some distinct foods that irritate a baby.
An elimination diet can work well for kids. This diet is not advised for pregnant women but a modified elimination diet can help pregnant women as their fetus can grow very well. Recipes in elimination diet help kids to find out whether are allergic to any particular product or food group. As your kid grows up, it is easier to keep track of which food the child eats and what reaction it has.
There is also a lesser strict version called the Detection Diet in which major items are kept out to see what kind of a reaction the body has to it. In the detection diet, it is easier to identify what the problem areas are in your diet.
|