Elimination Diet - Frequently Asked Questions

When people suffer from chronic symptoms (especially gastro-intestinal, neurological, respiratory, or skin disorders) food intolerance or food allergy can be suspected. An Elimination Diet is the traditional tool for finding out which foods cause your symptoms.

Did you know that chronic symptoms are a telltale sign of food intolerance? There are only four main kinds of food intolerance (not to be confused with Food allergy) and they are widely suffered.

These are the four main types of food intolerance:

To narrow the possibilities - look in the Symptoms Matrix.

Taking the old version  of the Elimination Diet means cutting back to a very restrictive diet for 6 - 8 weeks. Allowed foods were lamb, rice and some vegetables. The purpose is to clear the body of all suspected foods. Unfortunately there are hundreds of foods which can cause food intolerance, so none of these can be eaten during an Elimination Diet. Dining in restaurants can be very difficult. Many people find an Elimination Diet tedious and difficult to endure, and there is the risk of missing out on nutrients. Therefore the dietician or doctor may prescribe supplementary vitamins or minerals for the duration of the diet.

Isn't there a better way? Yes! There is now. With our 17 years of research of the medical journals we have designed the Detection Diet Journal to deliver the accuracy of the Elimination diet - but it’s much faster and really easy.

Instead of 6 weeks eating only lamb, greens and rice - the Detection Diet Journal gives you proof in only 21 days - and you get to eat a huge variety of foods. What’s more the Detection Diet Journal is free

Restrictive Diet: The Elimination Diet in the first few weeks is extremely restrictive. This means no bread, cereal, noodles, biscuits, pizza, cakes, cookies, gravies etc. There can be no beer, wine or spirits; no spicy food, no processed foods, refined flours, sweets, sugar or dried fruits. You will also have to live without yogurt, milk, ice cream, chocolate, coffee and tea. Other disallowed foods include soy, soy milk, fish and seafood.

Inconvenience: If your symptoms are NOT particularly difficult to live with or don't seem to threaten your health, you may be unable to justify the time, effort, expense and inconvenience of taking the Elimination Diet.

Missing Out on Nutrients – the possibility of not getting enough nutrients for the duration of the diet – 4 to 6 weeks. You need dietary supplements. But the Detection Diet finds your food sensitivity safely and quickly.

The Detection Diet is much easier and safer than the old-fashioned Elimination Diet and is highly effective for identifying the foods that cause your symptoms and stress.

• It is not restrictive and allows you to diagnose yourself.

• It does not require doctor or dietician's supervision - you simply substitute a few foods and keep notes

• Is a low risk, low cost investigation of your symptoms

Get the Detection Diet Journal - free when you subscribe.

There are foods we enjoy and then there can be foods we "love" - those we feel we cannot live without. The foods you 'love' may be exactly the ones that are causing the trouble. In fact there may be some degree of food addiction or cravings involved. These are classic signs of food intolerance.

You may want to consult your healthcare professional if you believe you have a food addiction. Allergies can cause severe reactions.

We can come to regard some foods as ‘comfort foods’. While this is not strictly addiction, partially digested foods do release 'opioids' (related to opiates) into your bloodstream - making you crave those foods again and again. This is a sign of food intolerance. But the Journal Method will soon sort it out for you. . . . it gives proof of intolerance.

Keeping a journal puts system into your exploration. You will find it's really handy to have notes about everything.

Without exact records of what you ate, how and when it affected you, it’s easy to get muddled. The journal takes you through the phases of discovery, with tips, traps and guidelines on how to record your progress.

Expect answers to your ongoing nagging symptoms and illness. Also - expect to better understand and appreciate your body. This is an exploration.

Expect to forget some things, and trust only your Journal to remember it. Expect to start feeling better. Your energy levels will go up as symptoms subside - and expect to discover new and delicious foods.

Expect your reactions to offending foods to be more noticeable than before. Years of eating such foods has put long term stress on your body. Removing them from your diet gives your body a welcome break and a chance to recover and heal itself. Reintroducing them will give you a strong signal that your body doesn't want it any more. Your body is talking to you. Don't ignore it.

Expect to feel better and better every day. Expect to be able to do things you haven't done for years: play netball, walk the dog or swim without feeling tired and wrecked afterwards.

It used to take 6 - 8 weeks - but many peoiple could not last that long.

However - our modern and streamlined version, the Detection Diet takes only 21 Days.

The old information was: eat only lamb, rice, peas and pears. However we now know that peas and pears are not good on an elimination diet because of the high fructose content. That restricts eating to lamb, green vegetables and rice for 6 - 8 weeks. But with so little variety you miss out on nutrients - so this method is no longer seen as useful.

Many years ago Deborah Manners tried this type of Elimination diet. She managed to stick with it for a few weeks and it did find one of her intolerances. But it was difficult to maintain - so she designed a new streamlined journal - that anybody could use . . .the Detection Diet Journal.

It is a proper laid-out Journal - free to subscribers.

Yes! Of course you can always cheat. But that will wreck your results. You will be unable to figure out which foods caused which symptoms.

No - it is best to use a proper method to find which of the four main food sensitivities you have - first. Is it Gluten, Dairy, Yeast, or something else? Eliminating these four first sets you up to be successful with possible further investigations.

You could also investigate one the main four - by switching to the appropriate diet for a few weeks.

(e.g. try a Gluten-Free diet by following a Gluten-Free guide) to see if that works for you. Shop now for food guides.

Any investigation of food intolerance is better than suffering on with your symptoms!