The Elimination Diet

The Elimination Diet:

The main goal of the elimination diet is to identify possible food sensitivities that may interfere with your health. For two weeks, gluten, soy, dairy, eggs and yeast will be removed from the diet. Reintroducing them will allow you to know if you are suffering from any food intolerance. During the elimination phase, you will also stop eating all the foods that cause inflammation in the body. This process will give a break to the digestive system and allow the cells to heal. A Food sensitivity test will allow you to identify specifically which food items make you sick. You can test up to 222 foods in a one-time blood test.

There are 2 phases in the diet: the elimination phase and the reintroduction phase. As their names implied, the elimination phase consists of temporarily removing certain foods. While in the latter phase, the reintroduction of a food group will allow for the identification of any hypersensitivity one may have.

The elimination diet is indicated for conditions such as:

• Bloating
• Itchy skin
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
• Gastritis
• Chronic fatigue

• Fibromyalgia
• Headache
• Migraine
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Weight Gain or weigh loss

The Elimination Phase:

FOOD GROUP:	TO INCLUDE:	TO EXCLUDE:
Starch	Non-gluten grains: brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, teff	All gluten-containing products, wheat, oats, barley, corn, spelt, kamut, rye
Meats	White meat: chicken, turkey. All fresh fish: salmon, cod, sole trout halibut	Red meat: beef, pork, cold cuts, sausage, egg and shellfish, canned meats
Legumes	All dried beans	soy
Vegetables	Raw, steamed, sautéed, baked or juicedYam sweet potatoes	Tomatoes, eggplant, all potatoes, bell peppers (green, yellow, red)Canned vegetables or creamed casseroles
Fruits	Fresh or frozen, fruit juices	All citrus fruits: oranges, grapefruit, melons, banana. Sweetened fruit drink and dried fruits
Dairy products	Rice milk or nut milk, kefir	Soy milk, cow’s milk, cheese, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream,
Fats	Olive oil, flax seed oil, canola, safflower, sun flower, sesame, walnut, pumpkin, almond oil	Margarine, spreads, butter, commercial salad dressing, shortening, processed oils
Nuts and Seeds	Almond, walnuts, cashews, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin and nut butters	Peanuts, peanut butter, pistachios
Spices	Parsley, rosemary, thyme, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, oregano	cayenne , paprika
Sweeteners	Honey, Brown rice syrup, fruit sweeteners, molasses	Refined sugar (white or brown), corn syrup, maple syrup
Beverages	6 to 8 cups of filtered water, herbal tea	Coffee, green/black tea, soda pop, alcohol

Reintroduction Phase:

Week	Food Groups to ADD
1	Citrus Fruits
2	Soy and soy products
3	Eggs
4	Red meat
5	Gluten and wheat
6	dairy
7	Shellfish
8	Nuts, peanuts
9	Coffee, tea, chocolate