Before you invest in food sensitivity lab testing, consider becoming your own best expert on your body by getting very clear on the way it communicates with you when you eat food. Simple guidelines to use are below! 

The Elimination Diet is a useful tool for diagnosing adverse food reactions, whether true allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity.

To get started, eliminate the following foods for three weeks. After three weeks, you can reintroduce the foods to your diet one at a time.

gluten (barley, rye, oats, wheat, spelt)

dairy

corn

beef

pork

eggs

soy

peanuts

shellfish

refined and artificial sweeteners

Because wheat, corn, and soy are commonly added to many processed food products, we are often not aware of the extent of these foods in our diets.

Rules for Reintroduction of Problem Foods

Choose just ONE eliminated food at a time.

Eat it 2-3 times in one day.

Wait 48 hours.

Tune in to your body signals.

Body Signals When A Food Is Problematic

Joint aches

Muscle aches

Headache

Sinus pressure

Nasal congestion

Chest congestion

Skin problem

Fatigue

Insomnia

Kidney  or bladder symptoms

Digestive or bowel symptoms

What You Should Know about Foods to Avoid

Food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances each mean something different.

Allergies cause severe symptoms immediately after a trigger food is eaten. These are IgE reactions and can be life threatening. Examples are tree nut allergies.

Food sensitivity reactions may be delayed by hours or even days. Food sensitivities are usually an IgG, IgA, or IgM reaction from the immune system due to a problem in the digestive system.  These are common in intestinal hyperpermeability  or "leaky gut" which is often a precursor to autoimmune disease.

Food intolerances can be the result of reactions to certain chemicals in food (e.g., MSG, sulfates or naturally occurring histamines). They can also occur when a person lacks an enzyme necessary to digest the food, such as bile salts to break down fat, or lactose which is needed to digest some dairy products.

Treatment for Problematic Foods

It is best to avoid foods your body tells you are a problem. Talk to your healthcare provider about targeted strategies to identify and correct the underlying problem, and retest. Many times you will be able to eat your forbidden foods again, once you have corrected the Root Cause.

Additional Benefits to The Elimination Diet

The Elimination Diet reduces inflammation. In so doing, it also fosters an improved immune response to allergies, chemicals, and pathogens so we are sick less often.

This information is adapted from the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) expanded patient guide to The Elimination Diet that I use in my practice.