"What for one is food, for another - poison." The ancient proverb of Lucretia is as relevant as ever. And this is not surprising, because the food (especially its modern version with a high degree of processing) is the biggest challenge for our immune system.
You can not imagine how many people suffer from allergies or hypersensitivity to certain foods without even guessing about it. Symptoms are very different, but among them, migraines and constipation are more common, less often gases, bloating and diarrhea. All these reactions of the body can be manifested immediately or within a few hours after ingestion. How do you know if you have food intolerance and what does your body dislike? One of these methods is the elimination diet. This is a fairly strict type of food, cutting off from the daily diet all potential allergens.
The essence of the elimination diet
Instead of taking medication, trying to overcome the symptoms, it should be for a while (usually three to four weeks) to give up certain foods, and then alternately return them to the diet, closely watching the possible reactions of the body. Thus, it will be possible to solve the problem itself, and not its consequences. Why not just do a food allergy test? Because it is expensive and unreliable. Despite the wide variety of all kinds of tests for allergens, the elimination diet is still the gold standard for determining food sensitivity.
Which foods should I clean?
The more products can be limited, the more accurate and better the result will be. Very good, if you can exclude from your daily diet:
- everything that contains or can contain gluten
- dairy
- soy and soy products
- eggs
- maize
- fish and seafood
- pork
- beef
- chicken
- beans and lentils
- coffee
- green tea
- citrus fruit
- chocolate
- nuts
- nightshade vegetables
- alcohol
Perhaps it looks a little frightening, but in fact, there are not too few allowed products. Among them: rice, turkey, fish, lamb, most fruits and vegetables.
Another important tip: try also to abandon often used products. Do you eat turkey or spinach every day? For the duration of the elimination experiment, find a replacement for them. It is likely that because of the frequency of use, you become sensitive even to diet foods.
Elimination diet vs. migraines and constipation
Surprisingly, there is a direct connection between migraine and food. Some products cause a headache, while others can prevent or even cure it. In those who are susceptible to food sensitivity, allergic triggers dilate the blood vessels, which leads to a migraine attack. Getting rid of the active allergens, obtained with food, you are most likely to forget about unbearable headaches. With regard to constipation, if there are inflammatory processes in the body (hidden or obvious), the constant use of gluten or other doubtful products threatens with continuous intestinal disorders. Elimination diet is the safest, but very effective way to fight inflammation regardless of the true causes of the disease.
Re-introduction to the diet
Elimination diet does not presuppose a lifelong rejection of excluded products. That would be cruel! The bottom line is to exclude, and then re-enter them slowly, one at a time. Thus, it is easiest to control yourself for the presence or absence of unpleasant symptoms. After three weeks of elimination diet, you can enter the forbidden product (or their group) on the menu for one day, and then monitor the reactions of the body for two days. For example, if on Monday you try "milk", then eat cheese, ice cream and drink a glass of milk. Then for two days, go back to a limited diet, watching for any changes in state of health. If on Tuesday and Wednesday there were no negative reactions of the body, on Thursday, boldly enter a regular product (for example, eggs). In 5-6 weeks of such alternations, one can get a lot of valuable information about the reactions of the body to various foods.
The exclusive diet is a useful and very instructive experience in the study of the body's needs. Temporary rejection of products, although it causes some inconvenience, gives valuable knowledge about one's own health in the long term.