Step 2 Elimination Diet

Step 2 – Avoiding (also called Elimination phase)

This phase is recommended to last 2-3 weeks, following a strict diet eliminating all foods that may be causing you any unhealthy symptoms. Most common food eliminations include dairy products, some types of meat and eggs, which are considered responsible for over 80% of food sensitivities and allergies.

It’s easy to avoid a specific type of food, but it may be harder to detect if it becomes an ingredient in other foods. For example, you may think dairy products are easy to identify, but you need to check all labels to avoid whey, lactose or casein in foods that you wouldn’t expect to be classed as dairy. This is particularly difficult when eating out in a restaurant or buying pre-prepared foods.

Unfortunately, it’s a common complaint during the first few days to report that symptoms get worse instead of getting better or new symptoms develop. This can be compared to “withdrawal” symptoms and is normal as your body adjusts to the new diet, but consult your doctor if symptoms persist for more than five days. Most common cited symptoms include fatigue, headaches or cravings, but nevertheless, your doctor will advise you to follow the diet strictly and abruptly, instead of gradual changes.

Before you progress to the next stage, analyse your symptoms to see how much you’ve improved. If you find that you notice no changes in your condition after three weeks, consult with your doctor again as you may need to alter the foods that you can eat. The majority of cases are resolved with the standard list of allowed foods, but some cases require a few alterations before you feel any benefits.

Although you may be feeling much better during the elimination phase, it’s important that you continue to progress to the next phase. If you remain in this phase for a long time and avoid the challenge stage, your metabolism may “forget” about your food sensitivities and when you do decide to start testing individual foods, the most likely outcome is that you find that none of the forbidden foods cause any symptoms. Unfortunately, once you start eating these foods again on a regular basis, your symptoms will quickly return but you still don’t know what foods are causing them