As mentioned in my previous blog, as part of my journey of discovery with my health issues, I undertook an elimination diet. So what is this elimination diet???

The patient is required to remove all possible allergens from their diet for as long as it takes for them to be symptom free. These allergens usually include; gluten, dairy, food additives such as preservatives, colourings, nitrates, antioxidants, and MSG. It also means eating foods that are low in salicylates and amines.

Once you are symptom free for a minimum of four consecutive days, then each of these allergens are reintroduced one at a time back into the diet. During this time, the patient is required to eat a certain amount of a specific allergen every day until a reaction to that allergen is obtained. If no reaction or recurrence of symptoms occurs after 7 days of eating, then it is reasonable to assume that there is no intolerance to that food.

If a reaction does occur, then there is an intolerance to that food. The elimination process begins again, whereby the patient removes that food from the diet an must be symptom free for at least 4 consecutive days before the next challenge can begin.

Depending on how many sensitivities are suspected, and how long it takes to be symptom free between challenges, this process could take as long as 12 months to complete, as was the case for me. During this process most people tend to lose weight due to the restrictions of the diet.