Food Allergy Diet
Elimination/Challenge Diet

This particular approach to the food allergy diet (also called the elimination and challenge diet) is much simpler than four day rotation diets or other more involved regimes. Nearly everyone who wishes to identify food allergies will be able do so with this method.

Using an elimination or food allergy diet to identify food sensitivities has certain advantages over using various other testing methods. The most important advantage is that experiencing the reduction or elimination of symptoms during the food allergy diet elimination phase is very convincing and motivating. In addition, there is no cost for this test and once you know how to do it, you can test yourself anytime you need to.

Getting a list of things you are not supposed to eat from the lab usually does not motivate you to give up favorite foods. Often the list is so large, that you will give up before even beginning. In my experience, no one has to give up every single food they may be reactive to on a laboratory test report.

This food allergy diet is based on eliminating the most common food allergens and observing the effect. If symptoms worsen within three to four days, this is a clear sign that those symptoms have been related to eating certain regularly consumed foods.

Once the symptoms subside or disappear (usually within two weeks or so), the eliminated foods are reintroduced and tested carefully and systematically. The response or lack of one, both mental and physical, gives the test result.

Eliminating all sugars is an excellent test for candida overgrowth. If typical flu-like die off symptoms occur within a few days of eliminating sugar, there is a candida problem. Sugar includes honey, fructose, sucanat, fruit, agave syrup and maple syrup. Anything with a sweet taste and a high carbohydrate count on the label has sugar of some kind in it. Excessive sugar intake is a major cause of all types of intestinal dysbiosis.

The Elimination Phase

The most common food allergens are:

  • Wheat - bread, pasta, cereal, bagels, cookies, soy sauce, spelt, kumut, as well as the gluten containing grains rye, barley and oats.
  • Corn - chips, tortillas, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn cereals, fresh corn.
  • Milk - liquid milk, yogurt, dry milk, cheese, cottage cheese both cow’s and goat’s, butter is usually tolerated as it is nearly pure fat but clarified butter can be used to be absolutely sure.
  • Eggs - fresh eggs, foods made with eggs.
  • Soy - tofu, miso, tempeh, soy powder, soy sauce, protein extracts, hydrolyzed vegetable protein.
  • For some, any legume or bean including alfalfa sprouts, mung bean sprouts can be a problem but this is more rare than a soy allergy.
  • Yeast - yeasted bread, crackers, vinegar, wine, beer and all pickled foods. For those who are sensitive to molds, dried foods such as nuts or herbs can be a problem.
  • Citrus fruits - this mainly applies to those with arthritis symptoms.
  • Coffee and black tea, sodas, fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, chocolate.
  • Nightshade vegetables - tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant. This is also usually only a problem for those with arthritis but some find them overly stimulating.
  • Vegetable oils, vegetable shortening and margarine from oils such as soy, canola, corn, safflower or other polyunsaturated fats. These can be very irritating to the intestinal tract for some. No hydrogenated fats.

Taking one to three weeks to work on to the elimination diet works best for most people. This gives the body time to adjust and minimizes detox and die off symptoms. In addition, you can finish off the food you have and begin experimenting with foods you may not be in the habit of eating.

As you shift your diet toward the elimination diet, you may experience some cleansing and detoxification symptoms at first. The most common symptoms include headaches, fatigue, joint pain, a flu-like aching or nausea. They tend to come and go during the day. Chronic conditions may flare up temporarily or old symptoms may recur for a while. These are all signs that you have a food allergy. The challenge tests will reveal which foods are the problem.

What can I eat during the elimination diet?

  • Chicken, fish, beef, lamb, turkey, and all poultry and meats. Allergies to these foods are very rare but if you know you cannot eat certain meats, eliminate them too.
  • Rice and anything made from rice. A rice allergy is also very rare so most can eat it freely.
  • Quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and other grain alternatives.
  • Nuts, seeds, and nut butters that you tolerate well unless you have a strong mold sensitivity.
  • Vegetables of all kinds unless you are testing nightshades and legumes.
  • Yams and winter squash are good sources of starch that very few if any are sensitive to.
  • Herb teas unless sensitive to mold, then use fresh herbs.
  • Butter and olive oil.
  • Filtered or spring water, no tap water.

Go to my Cookbook for many recipes which can be used during the elimination phase. But in general eating very simply is the best approach. Go to the The Healing Process section for information on handling die-off and detox symptoms.

Clearing Phase

Usually within two weeks, three at most, you will get a clearing of the symptoms you have been struggling with and you may lose up to ten pounds. Food allergies often cause weight gain and water retention. If this does not occur, either you do not have food allergies, or you have too many of them to experience relief with this diet.

A four-day rotation diet is the most powerful tool for severely allergic people or ones who react to nearly everything they eat. The Yeast Connection by Dr. William Crook has an excellent section on rotation diet for those who need it. There are also many good allergen-free recipes in The Yeast Connection Cookbook.

The Challenge Phase

For nearly everyone though, the symptoms do clear. Then the challenge and testing part of the diet begins. It is tempting to stay on the elimination diet for many people. They feel so much better that they do not want to test any foods.

However, it is best to broaden the diet as soon as possible for better nutrition. One aspect of food allergies or allergies in general is called the allergy/addiction cycle. The foods we react to most, become addicting just as a drug can. The result of this phenomenon is that the foods and substances we are most allergic to, we are also the most attached to.

This gives us a clue as to which foods to test first. The less it bothers you to think of giving up a certain food, the less likely you are to be allergic to it. Testing these foods first allows you to broaden your diet more quickly.

Food Testing Procedure

Choose a day when you are not having much in the way of symptoms at least compared to what you are used to. This makes a reaction more apparent. Eat the food to be tested at breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you react strongly right away, discontinue the test and continue to eliminate that food.

Eat the food in a pure form. Make sure you are only testing one food allergen at a time. Bread for instance has both wheat and yeast in it so a reaction would be hard to interpret. It would be better to test wheat with plain wheat pasta or hot cereal.

If you feel fine all day and wake up the next day with no particular symptoms, then you may add that food back into your diet and test another one. The most common reaction to a food allergen is a return of a chronic symptom in a more acute form.

Food Reactions

Headaches are a very common reaction. Elevated heart rate, joint pain, fatigue, depression and negative thinking, anxiety, sudden weight gain of three to five pounds, digestive discomfort, rashes or waking up the next day feeling hung over are all signs of a food allergy.

If you react to a food, you must wait at least three days before testing another one. Be sure the symptoms have cleared so you will be able to interpret your reaction to the new food.

The most severe allergies may actually take up to two months of elimination to give a clear response on a challenge test. The immune system has been so weakened by the constant exposure to the food, that it takes longer for it to recover enough to elicit the more acute symptoms in response to the food.

Know The Cause

Often testing a food will bring on a very old and chronic symptom that has not responded to any form of therapy. Now you know exactly what has been causing the problem all those years.

This is very important. To really feel what one of your favorite foods has been doing to you (for who knows how long) is essential to being able to give it up. It is the only thing that can help you to break the addiction to that food. And even then, you may go back to it periodically until you tire of becoming ill over and over again.

This is where creating good substitutes for favorite foods is essential. In order to stay on a diet that keeps you well, you must make it satisfying and enjoyable. As you recover from the allergy/addiction, you will be surprised at how your tastes change and at how good other foods taste once you are not dominated by the constant desire for only those foods you have an allergy to.

When Can I Re-introduce A Food?

Some food allergies are temporary. Especially if candida was a problem, as the candida is cleared and the intestinal tract and immune system recover, you may be able to tolerate a food you could not at first. Other food allergies never change and you will have to avoid that food for the rest of your life.

If the allergy is mild, you may be able to eat the food occasionally. If it is more severe, you may not be able to eat the food without awakening powerful cravings for it. This will make moderation very difficult, if not impossible.

Any food you really crave, should not be eaten. It is a sign that you are reacting to it and it will cause problems eventually.

Free At Last

Living with unidentified food allergies for many years is a crazy-making experience. The chaos in the body and mind, the unpredictable shifts in energy and mood, make you a slave to the food. It is the ultimate love/hate relationship. But usually, we know exactly the food we just can't go without.

Food allergy/addiction is the true gateway drug for substance addictions. The cycle begins very early in life for most. Alcoholics are the most severely affected by the addiction side of food allergy/addiction and the effect of the drink of choice for alcoholics is strongly related to the food the alcohol was made from. Eating sugar keeps the alcohol coming by promoting candida overgrowth in the intestinal tract.

Food addiction, tobacco addiction, and drug addiction are always preceded by food allergies and the drug-like effect of refined sugar and starches. The constant toxicity and stimulation leads to adrenal burnout. All addicts have adrenal dysfunction.

Identifying and eliminating food allergy/addictions is extremely helpful in drug and alcohol recovery work. Continuing to eat addicting foods makes it very hard to overcome other addictions.

An Alternative Approach to Allergies, by Theron G. Randolph, M.D., Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.:

"The chief reason these reaction to commonly eaten foods are not readily recognized is that they are part of a pattern of constant reactions in which periods of heightened stimulation may give way to periods of letdown, or withdrawal effects. In the beginning of the problem, eating the food has a marked, immediate stimulatory effect lasting up to several hours. Simply by eating a particular food, such as coffee, wheat or corn, as often as necessary, this up effect may be maintained for a relatively long period of time. It is only when such foods are not eaten regularly that a kind of hangover, or withdrawal reaction, occurs.

Since the delayed withdrawal effects can usually be controlled by eating some form of the same food, the whole cumulative process of reaction can be called a food addiction. A food addiction differs only in degree of severity from a drug addiction. In all other respects, the two phenomena are remarkably similar.

When the exposure to an allergy-causing substance is constant, however, eventually the acute symptoms [of allergy] will give way to either a period of no symptoms, or to chronic symptoms such as headaches, depression, or arthritis. In other words, the acute symptoms have been suppressed because of the constant nature of the exposure, and the body has reacted by attempting to adapt itself to the problem.

It is this phase which we call addiction, and this most often occurs in response to commonly eaten foods. Unlike the drug addict, however, the food addict does not usually know the object of his desire. In fact, the food addict may not consciously crave any particular food, but may simply arrange his eating schedule so that it always includes the unknown addicting substance. ...Unfortunately, there is no single word which connotes the longing for an unknown substance, or a craving for something which is hidden not only from the world but usually from the victim himself, but the word addiction comes closest to that meaning.

The addictive response is broadly composed of two phases: 1) an immediate improvement of chronic symptoms of illness, such as tiredness, headache, fatigue, or aches and pains, when the food is eaten and then 2) a delayed hangover unless the addicting food or drink is taken on schedule. Each individual establishes his own addiction routine, his own pattern of ever-decreasing periods between food fixes. By taking his addicting food, the addict keeps himself in a relatively high state and postpones feelings of letdown, hangover, or pain which follow withdrawal of the addicting food."