When you start an elimination diet you remove foods known to cause uncomfortable symptoms and reintroduce them later while testing for symptoms.
The elimination diet helps to identify food intolerances as well as allergies and sensitivies to certain foods.
The elimination diet is a diagnostic procedure that is used in order to identify foods which a person cannot consume without adverse effects.
Adverse effects of eating certain foods may be due to food allergy, food intolerance, other physiological mechanisms, or a combination of these.
The elimination phase of an elimination diet should take no more than six weeks to work.
After that the reintroduction period can take a few days to several weeks, depending on how many items you're reintroducing.
If you're cutting out many food groups in one, just watch out for nutritional deficiencies.
During an elimination diet, you'll hopefully experience less bloating, gas, diarrhea, headaches, inflammation or other issues.
That's because the problem foods are no longer part of your diet.
The results of an elimination diet can be long lasting.
An elimination diet isn't about losing weight but there are benefits.
An elimination diet is a great way to identify foods you're allergic or sensitive to, but it's not a “quick fix” or a long-term solution for weight loss.
While this is a restricted diet during the process, it's not the end point.
While it seems ironic, it is possible to have a food sensitivity to foods you crave and enjoy eating.
In the first few days of an elimination diet, symptoms may become worse before they get better.
The goal of an elimination diet is to cut out foods long enough to calm the immune system so when you start adding foods back in, you'll clearly notice a reaction.
Typically, two to three weeks is a good time frame for accomplishing this.
Following an elimination diet means saying goodbye, at least temporarily, to alcohol, caffeine, and sugar as well as common allergens like gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, and soy.
Some will take it a step further and add peanuts, citrus, nightshades, beef, pork, processed meats, and shellfish to the list of no-nos.