An elimination diet changed my life, and I’m not even being dramatic here. After struggling to find out what diet worked best for me, I took the time to do what amount to a two-month experiment to find out what was harming my body. This has lead to so much freedom and healing.
What is an elimination diet? It’s is simply removing certain types of food from your diet completely for a certain period of time and then adding those foods back to your diet one at a time to figure out which foods are problematic for you.
“Could you be more vague?” you might ask. And the answer is yes, but I won’t.
You see there are tons of elimination diets out there. The popular Whole30 is essentially an elimination diet. It allows some foods other programs restrict and restricts foods others leave in. I did an elimination diet that removed five foods — wheat, soy, eggs, corn, and dairy — recommended by Dr. Blum in her book the Immune System Recovery Plan.
Dr. Blum’s is just one of many elimination diets created to help people with autoimmune disease. The most popular is the Autoimmune Protocol Diet which removes several foods like nightshades, grains, legumes. It can be followed for several months to help heal the gut, but the ultimate goal is to reintroducing foods to see what triggers you and what does not.
So which one is right for me — or you? It really is what resonates with you and what you feel you can be successful at. I think part of the beauty of most elimination diets is that it gets you cooking and eating whole foods. I chose to do the program I did because, at the time, I knew that that was what I had the energy for and could stick to it. Luckily, it out really well for me and is one of the main reasons my gut is healing and I’m in remission. One day I may do the Autoimmune Protocol Diet just to see if I can’t crank up this energy even more.
No matter what you chose here are some tips to make sure you are successful.
- Time it well. Pick a good time to do the diet, starting with the main period you will be eliminating and the period you will be testing. While you certainly can do any diet over the holiday season it’s hard not to feel resentful of everyone around you.
- Get your people on board. Tell your partner, kids, roommates, and BFF what’s going on and ask them for their support. They may want to join in too. This is also a good time to ask them, very politely, not to bring any crap (especially crap you love) into the house/office for a period of time.
- Approach this with your glass half full. One thing that really sustained me was not to think about what I couldn’t eat but rather what I could. I took the ingredients I had to work with and made some masterpieces. It may have been my most creative period to date.
- Distribute the work. While you are in your planning phase, make sure to keep a list of meal ideas that you can refer to when meal planning or looking for something to eat.
- Remember the why! This goes for any challenge. Before you begin, write down exactly why you are doing this “crazy thing” and put it in your face. Tape it to your computer, to the bathroom mirror, over your bed, on your kid’s forehead…or not. You get it, right? Keep that intention in the forefront of your mind to get you through when it’s hard.
If you have an autoimmune disease, an elimination diet is essential to improving the quality of your life. If you think you may need extra support, contact me for a free consult to see if I’m the lady you are looking for to help you reach your health goals.
Helping you get past all the stuff that is holding you back! 