The elimination diet is a process of isolating foods that could be potentially causing the immune system to over react. We are all biochemically unique. Why is it then that we assume we can all tolerate the same foods? What might be food for one, may be poison for another. But how do you find out what foods may be irritating you, and what foods may be nourishing you? Over many years, practitioners around the globe have found that taking potentially irritating foods such as gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, yeast, and corn, out of the diet for a period of weeks and then adding them back in can cause changes in a persons body that will clue them in to what is working and what is not.

For example, numerous people in Tom’s practice have had migraines, chronic fatigue, joint pain, bowel discomfort, stomach problems and other ailments that were never helped with their traditional medical treatments. In many cases, these problems persisted in his clients or got worse over time. When these people eliminated potentially problematic foods for 3 or more weeks using the elimination diet in our book, amazing things started to happen. Decades of rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, headaches, stubborn belly fat, unexplained diarrhea, nausea, and constipation all miraculously got better.

What is the elimination diet? It is a program of eating designed to calm and balance the body. Once the body is calm, and the disease symptoms diminish, it becomes noticeable to a person when a “trouble” food is eaten and the symptoms come back.

Our elimination program starts with a detoxification phase followed by a phase (phase 1) of balancing neutral foods, and then slowly adds back foods over phase 2 and the challenge phase.

The detoxification phase, the first 2 days, in which green smoothies are the only thing consumed, will begin to calm the immune system and clear the gut. If you have a number of health issues then this phase can be made longer for maximum benefit.

Phase 1 is sort of like a baseline diet, consisting of foods that normally don’t cause an immune response and are anti-inflammatory. When you eat foods that your body does not tolerate you will have a high amount of chemicals circulating in your blood that regulate inflammation. Inflammation is a sign that your immune system is battling something. Anytime you have a battle, you have collateral damage. So along with the foreign cells that are attacked by the immune system, good cells are damaged or destroyed as well.

So what happens when you eat Phase 1 foods? Balance. If you have been causing damage 3 to 5 times a day then you not only stop the damage, but increase the beneficial chemicals coming into your body from your food. You start the healing process.

From here we begin to introduce foods back into the diet during Phase 2, one by one, to note any reaction. Lemons and tamari are first on the list. Initially we felt that tamari was not as reactive as other soy products in most people. But now after a few years of results we see that tamari can be very reactive in people with compromised digestion. It will be up to you to decide if you would like to wait on this.

Phase 3 consists of slowly adding back foods that sometimes cause irritations in people. These include nightshade vegetables, fish, bananas, kiwi, and others. You can introduce soy back in at this time as we say in our book, though we recommend waiting until the challenge phase to introduce this. Take it slow. There is no need to rush the diet. By now you will have plenty of foods to eat. You can do it in 28 days or draw it out to two months if your immune system and digestion are severely compromised.

The challenge phase consists of adding back in foods that often cause an irritation in most people (to some degree). These foods include gluten, oats, corn, *soy, dairy, eggs, and yeast. Please refer to our cookbook for the details of this phase. It is very important to isolate these foods. For instance we use rye to test for a gluten reaction.

What are some of the benefits of this diet other than finding reactive foods?

Well for starters, most people lose a bit of weight. A lot of it is water weight at first from inflammation in the body. Then, eventually, as your body becomes more efficient and your digestive system more effective, you will begin to lose excess fat. Energy levels are commonly noted. People simply have more energy and feel great. Most do not want to go back to their old eating habits because they feel so good. Nearly every aspect of your physical and emotional body is altered when doing this diet.

Please visit our blog for elimination diet recipes. For more information on this diet please see our Elimination Diet Page on this site.

A recent research article estimated that, at our current rate of growth, over 80% of the US population will be overweight or obese by 2030.  With our media projecting images of slender and fit stars every second of the day, it is no wonder that many people want to lose weight. Over the last few decades, the standard advice has been “decrease calories, and increase exercise.” Over that same time frame we have increased our weight consistently. In clinical practice, this “calorie in, calorie out” equation only works some of the time, and it often leaves people feeling like they are “bad” for eating when they are hungry. But is that how we got fat to begin with? Is it because we ate too much and exercised too little? Or are there other factors involved?

Things to Ponder

Three successful diet and weight loss plans, The Atkin’s Diet, the Ornish Diet, and the McDougall Diet, allow people to eat as much as they want. All three allow for people to lose weight. The Atkins diet has shown some potential health risks in some research studies, but is effective at lowering body weight and body fat. The McDougall program has an average weekly weight loss of 3.5 pounds per week, and the Ornish program has been shown to reverse both cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer progression along with weight loss. In his book, The China Study, researcher T. Colin Campbell clearly states that people eating a plant-based diet, rich in whole foods, can eat more calories than their meat-eating counterparts and still weigh less. With these facts in mind, it appears that the quality of the food we eat, perhaps more than the quantity, has more of an effect on weight loss than previously thought.

Signals in Food

Scientists have discovered that we have more gene expression within two hours of eating than we do most any other time in life. This is because food is information. It contains signaling molecules that speak to our genes. Did you know there are chemicals in broccoli, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts that help our genes make more antioxidant proteins? Beyond calories, carbs, fat, and protein, plants contain chemicals that change cellular function above and beyond what was ever previously thought. It is expected that scientists will discover over 40,000 powerful plant compounds in the next ten years that are found in our food supply. When we eat plants in their whole unadulterated form, we receive the genius that nature had intended to nourish and protect our cells. If you want to know what happens to people when they eat foods that are processed, bleached, treated with chemicals, grown in depleted soils, filled with preservatives, sweeteners,  additives, and colorings, just look at the US and our epidemic proportions of obesity. These foods confuse the body to a point of making it want to protect itself with a buffering substance called fat.

Why Starvation Does Not Work

Hunger is a natural signal from the body telling you to eat. The sensation of hunger comes from a host of hormones that respond to internal chemical signaling. The sensation of being full comes from another set of hormones and chemical signals. Do you know how to confuse those signaling pathways? Stress out. Stress hormones are powerful manipulators of most all hormonal pathways. They are the trump cards that make sure that running away from a lion takes priority over anything else. Do you know what one of the most powerful stressors is in human existence? Starvation. This is why numerous studies have shown that eating a good sized breakfast to break your morning fast, and continuing with frequent meals throughout the day can lead to consistent weight loss. We have numerous success stories of people eating whole foods frequently throughout the day and losing weight without trying. Fat tissue does not use much energy. Lean Muscle tissue does. In fact, lean muscle likes to be fed frequently. If you want to lose weight AND maintain lean muscle tissue, starvation is not the best way. Eating whole foods that supply steady, clean burning energy throughout the day works.

Why Whole Foods Work

Nature is wise. It provides us with fiber, powerful antioxidants, and nutrients that nourish every cell. By eating a diet rich in plant foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, you:

1.     Provide beneficial fibers that bind to secreted toxin-laden fat in the intestines and get it out of the body. During weight loss, many toxic chemicals that were stored in your fat for many years are released into the bloodstream. Canadian researchers have found that some chemicals even alter thyroid function to a point of halting weight loss altogether. Having plenty of fiber, and potent antioxidants in the diet allows the body to process these toxins and effectively eliminate them.

2.     Provide all the necessary vitamins and minerals that your body needs for processing the energy from food, and protecting itself from damage. Dr. Sydney Baker estimates that the majority of the US population is deficient in the mineral magnesium. Beans, legumes, greens, nuts, seeds, and whole grains are excellent sources of this mineral. Some experts say this mineral is the most important cofactor for energy use and production in the entire body.

3.     Provide incredible antioxidant protection. The thousands of antioxidant chemicals found in plants help support the survival of our cells that are under constant attack. It is estimated that every cell in our body takes a thousand oxidant hits a day. The most potent compounds to regulate this activity come from vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. (Cornell University researches recently found potent antioxidant compounds in whole grains).

Extra Tips for Weight Loss

• 2 cups of green or white tea per day have been shown to accelerate weight loss. Try using the same tea bag over again. This lessens the caffeine while increasing the amount of antioxidant polyphenols that help with weight loss.

• Finding food sensitivities and intolerances can lower a persons stress hormones and inflammatory responses which allows for stabilization of the immune system, digestive system, and often a loss of weight. Gluten and dairy sensitivities are by far the most common.  See www.enterolab.com for testing, and/or try the 28-Day Elimination and Detoxification Diet found in the appendix section of our book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. Weight loss of at least 8-11 pounds is common during the elimination diet. 

• Organic food lessens toxin exposure and increases phytochemical content.

• Small frequent meals with a healthy breakfast allow for even keeled metabolism.

• Eating less flour products and more whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, and teff will assist in stabilizing blood sugar thus lowering fat storage.

• Recent research shows that getting one more hour of sleep a night lessens body weight.

• Staying away from sweetened beverages (high fructose corn syrup), and trans-fatty acids (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils) will save your life and slim your gut.

• Mild to moderate exercise (like walking or jogging) allows for an increase in metabolism without an increase in stress hormones. If you workout too hard, and you are already stressed out, you might be slowing weight loss in the long run.

• And remember, if you are hungry, you need to eat. Choose whole, organic, gluten-free foods and enjoy eating! Food is energy, life, fun, yum!