Elimination Diet for Allergy-Free Life

In the holiday season, special dishes hard to avoid. But many are ill after eating a special meal. Why? Elimination diet can provide answers.

Have you ever wondered if a number of health problems - such as headaches, sinus disease, and skin pain - related to food consumed? Maybe it's time you try an elimination diet.


The concept behind this diet is quite simple: put aside any food that might cause some reaction. These include nuts, fish, seafood, dairy products, eggs, soybeans and wheat, which cause about 90 percent of food allergies.

Once a row of food was eliminated, not much left: a little fat meats, such as turkey and lamb meat, gluten-free grains like rice and quinoa, except citrus fruits, and all vegetables except eggplant and potatoes.

Allergy Vs. intolerance?

Peter Strauven, a nutritionist, said that about 4 percent of the world's population has a food allergy. Intolerance more generally - but Strauven adding that people often believe they have a food allergy when it is not.

So what's the difference between an allergy and intolerance?

According Strauven, food allergy showed an immediate reaction while intolerance can come and go, and the reaction is generally too late.

"Someone ate something and after 5 minutes, swelling of the mucous membranes in the mouth - it is an allergy," said Strauven.

A person with a food intolerance may be exposed to "irritable bowel one or two hours later" - even though this delay can be up to 20 hours.

Growing problem

People who have food allergies and intolerances overall numbers continue to grow, said Strauven. He believes additives and preservatives in food contribute.

"The human body is a kind of trash. Continues filled for life, then the lid exploded," said Strauven. The immune system is no longer able to isolate the inflammation so the body reacts by developing an allergy or intolerance.

Strauven advises his patients the best way to find out if they have a food allergy or intolerance is through a blood test or a pin prick test. But he also warned of commercial blood tests can give false-positive results, which lead to dietary restrictions are not necessary. Elimination diet, according Strauven, also one of the effective tools.

Congratulations on food intolerance
For Stefanie ( not his real name - ed ) , a woman at the age of early 40s , a combination of methods to help address the chronic health problems associated with food intolerance .
After years of suffering from eczema - itchy and irritated skin conditions - it is first passed through a blood test that produces a list consisting of six food products , including dairy products and some fruits .
He began by eliminating these foods from their diet .
" After two weeks , I got a strange reaction that tastes really bad, " said Stefanie . " It feels like my body remove toxins . "
Doctors Strauven confirm that the pain in the early stages of an elimination diet is reasonable because the body is going through the process of detoxification .
But after two months , Stefanie told me , her skin brighter than in previous years .
Stefanie then try again consume foods in the list of results of a blood test to see if his body reacts .
" I feel that my hands started itching skin on my day drinking red wine , " he concluded .