The Elimination Diet
By Dr. Tom Messinger, N.D., R.N.
I. Commonly asked Questions
1. What is the elimination diet?
The elimination diet is a 21 day program of eating hypoallergenic foods and thus
avoiding foods that may be causing an allergic response in your body.
2. Why should I even consider doing a diet such as this?
Many chronic health issues, including common complaints such as fatigue, body
aches, and mood changes are often caused by your body reacting adversely to a
food.
3. How come my regular doctor has not told me this?
Naturopathic Doctors are trained with a heavy emphasis on how nutrition, or lack of,
impacts our bodies and also how it plays a major contributing role to both chronic
diseases and just overall not feeling well. Conventional doctors still do not receive
adequate nutritional training in medical school. This is unfortunate considering how
important nutrition is in regards to our health.
Research now points to inflammation in the body as the underlying cause of most chronic
diseases that people commonly suffer from. This fact is recognized by both the
conventional and naturopathic medical fields. Inflammation occurs because the body is
reacting to something.
Sometimes inflammation is a good thing. For example, with a physical injury or an
infection, the body has an acute inflammatory response to increase blood flow, antibodies
and other immune supporting cells to the area that needs it. This inflammatory response
helps you to recover from the acute situation. When the trauma or infection is cleared,
then the acute inflammatory response ends.
However, chronic inflammation occurs because there is an “irritant” that we are being
exposed to on an ongoing basis. This makes our immune system persistently release
inflammatory mediators, thus setting the scene for chronic inflammation and disease. It
makes sense that the most likely culprit of chronic inflammation is in our diet because
eating is the most intimate way in which we come in contact with our external
environment. Plus scientists now know that 80% of our immune system resides in our
intestinal tract!
4. If I was reacting to a certain food, wouldn’t I know it?
Not necessarily. This is because there are basically 2 types of reactions one can have
from food, an “immediate hypersensitivity reaction” and a “delayed
hypersensitivity reaction”. The immediate hypersensitivity reaction is the reaction that
you hear about when someone is allergic to peanuts, they break out in hives
or have difficulty breathing soon after ingesting a peanut. This reaction is obvious to
everyone. However, the most common reaction that people have to foods fit into the
category of “delayed hypersensitivity reaction”. Unfortunately it is not often as easily
recognizable because the symptoms usually do not present with the acute severity as
hives and shortness of breath.
However, through clinical experience, I have seen that there are many symptoms as well
as diseases that may have food sensitivity reactions as an underlying cause.
Some conditions and symptoms that may be helped by the elimination diet include:
 Weight gain/weight loss
 Fatigue, including chronic fatigue syndrome
 Muscle and joint pain
 Chronic pain syndromes
 Fibromyalgia
 Headaches/migraines
 Sinus issues
 Autoimmune disease- including Hashimoto’s disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis,
Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis
 Thyroid disease
 Hormonal imbalances, menstrual difficulties, PMS
 Gastrointestinal problems- GERD, indigestion, heartburn, gas and bloating,
Irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative colitis, diarrhea,
constipation, nausea
 Osteoporosis
 Seizure disorders
 Anemia
 Skin rashes, eczema, acne, and psoriasis.
 Asthma
 Depression
 Brain “fog”
 Anxiety
 Sinus problems
As you can see there is a long list of issues associated with food sensitivities.
5. So what are the foods that I need to avoid for the 3 weeks?
This is negotiable based upon your needs, current diet, and health issues. We will
discuss it and see what would be the best plan for you that would not only help to identify
triggers for you, but also be the most feasible plan to fit into the circumstances of your
daily life. Foods that would be recommended to avoid for the 3 weeks would be
determined by a naturopathic evaluation of your current health issues, previous health
history, and current diet.
Below is a list of possible foods and food groups to be avoided based upon your
evaluation. Categories a, b, c, d, and f are the most common allergens that cause
symptoms and are commonly avoided during the elimination phase.
a. Gluten containing grains- wheat, barley, rye, kamut, spelt
b. Dairy products- milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. This includes any product that is
made form the milk of an animal
c. Eggs
d. Soy- tofu, soy sauce, tempeh, all soy products
e. Nightshade vegetables- tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, yams, eggplant. Black pepper
and sweet potatoes are not nightshades.
f. Corn and all corn products
g. Red meat, including beef and pork
h. Chicken
i. peanuts
j. Sugar
k. Alcohol, Coffee
l. Oranges
6. Are you crazy?!! What else is there to eat?
Well, in section II of this guide, I will tell all the foods you can eat. I understand that you
may think I am crazy; and that it may seem like I am asking you to do the impossible;
and this may be a huge adjustment to how you are eating presently. But after you are
done with the 3 weeks and likely way before that, you will realize I am not that crazy
after all.
We are all creatures of habit, so this is about changing well-ingrained habits, which is not
usually easy, but after about 5-7 days you will find that you get into the swing of things
and it becomes routine. Also, if you are like most people who do the elimination diet, you
start to feel a whole lot better and that in itself is a tremendous motivator!
I know that this is challenging and you may not want to go through the “hassle” of
making these adjustments for 3 weeks, but take a step back for a moment and think about
why you are even reading this darn document. There must be some health issues that are
nagging you, and even though this process is certainly not as easy as taking a pill, there is
no pill that can have the profound lasting health benefits as identifying food allergens.
This program may be the only opportunity afforded to you in your lifetime where you can
discover the impact that your dietary habits have on your health. It may make a difference
between continued symptoms for the remainder of your life versus a life free of those
symptoms.
7. So if I find that I am allergic to certain foods, will I have to avoid them the rest of
my life?
I can not tell you with a definite yes or no. Let me explain. When one has been
consuming a food or foods that they are reacting to, the inflammation in the intestines
that has occurred over the years does cause some damage to the intestinal cell lining. So
after identifying the food allergens, there needs to be an additional period of time of
avoidance, usually about 6 months. During this time of avoidance, I like to refer to it as
phase II of treatment, we then work on decreasing the inflammation in the intestinal tract,
getting rid of unwanted microbes, restoring balance to the intestinal flora, and healing the
intestinal lining. When this phase is complete, we then reintroduce the previous allergenic
foods to see if it provokes a response. Often times, a person can resume eating these
foods in moderation, but not daily. Occasionally, a person will have developed a
permanent allergy to the food and will have to avoid the food or eating it only on limited
occasions.
8. What happens if I have had a disease for quite a long time, can I still expect to see
improvement with this program?
Absolutely. When the immune system is not being activated on a daily basis, the body
can focus its energy on repair and rejuvenation. Our body has an amazing inherent ability
to heal itself as long as we do not get in the way. Consumption of allergenic foods, often
on a daily basis, is one of the most common ways we interfere with our body’s ability to
establish homeostasis.
9. You actually have me interested in possibly pursuing this if it means I can actually
feel better without having to take prescription medication. How do I proceed?
The next step would be to schedule an appointment so that I could get a detailed health
history and perform a pertinent physical exam. If you are not still not quite sure that this
would be the best next step to take, I offer free 15 minute phone consultations that may
help you decide on what is right for you as an individual.