What Is An Elimination Diet?

An elimination diet is a short-term eating plan that eliminates certain foods that may be causing allergies and other digestive reactions.  After several weeks or months, you can re-introduce the foods you eliminated one at a time in order to determine which foods your body tolerates or rejects. 

When Should You Try An Elimination Diet?

It’s a good time to try an elimination diet when you are experiencing ongoing negative health symptoms (digestive or anywhere in the body) and can’t figure out exactly what’s causing them.  It is a systematic approach that will help you pinpoint exactly which foods are causing your negative health symptoms.

Common Symptoms An Elimination Diet Can Fix

Symptoms that can are commonly healed by an elimination diet include:

• Persistent diarrhea or IBS

• Bloating

• Constipation

• Eczema 

• Acne

• Fatigue or chronic fatigue

Food Allergies Can Cause Eczema & Skin Related Symptoms

Strong evidence exists that skin conditions like eczema and acne are related to undiagnosed food allergies.

A study done by the Institute of Special Medicine in Rome found a strong relationship between eczema symptoms in adults and food allergens. When 15 adults with eczema were put on an elimination diet, 14 of them experienced significant improvements with skin-related symptoms.

Milk, eggs and grains were the most common allergens, with 6/15 patients testing positive for allergies to at least one of these foods. 

Another eight patients were suspected for having at least a food intolerance to one food, resulting in 93% of subjects (14/15) improving when all foods were eliminated. 

Food Allergies Can Cause Digestive Problems

It’s very common to experience ongoing digestive problems even when eating an overall healthy diet. 

Why?

Because all it takes is one or two unidentified food allergens to make a big impact. For example, 52 patients with Eosinophilic Esophagitis — an esophageal disorder predominantly triggered by food allergies — underwent an Elimination Diet as part of a 2014 study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 70% of patients experienced remission!

During the study patients cut out four major food-allergen groups for a six-month period: dairy products, gluten, and eggs. In 65%–85% of patients, just one or two food triggers were responsible for causing the disorder. Dairy was identified as a major allergen in 11 patients (50% of patients in total), eggs in eight patients (36%), gluten in seven patients (31%).

The patients had no idea that they were allergic to such foods, so they didn’t respond to past treatment methods until the allergens were identified. They only experienced improvements and relief when specific allergens were removed long-term.