How To Do An Elimination Diet And Why You Need to Try One
At The Clean Living Company we’re big fans of elimination diets, they cleanse your gut and reset your system – oh hello pure intestinal nirvana!
In just 21 days your system can be running like the well-oiled machine it always wanted to be. Whilst it is always a good time to be healthy and live well, starting with the new year gives you an added incentive, and if you’ve been celebrating the festive period with food and drink, this is a great chance to redress the balance.
We want you to set yourself up for success so take a look at our elimination diet recommendations, where you can find out what’s on your lists of ‘to have’ and ‘to have nots’ and what you can expect along the 21 days and beyond, and our top tips for staying the course. We’ve included a bunch of super handy resources and inspiration too…
The elimination diet ‘Why?’
“If we have a why we can tolerate any how”
So the first thing that you need to nail your elimination diet goals, is just that – a goal. Set your purpose and your intention and remember that as you go. This will help you to stay focussed and stay on track.
An elimination diet is considered the gold standard for figuring out the cause of your gastrointestinal distress.
Even if you don’t think you have any form of issue, you might be surprised to discover that some foods that weren’t even on your radar, have actually been meddling with your system this whole time. And we don’t just mean gut problems, some foods can be responsible for a long list of health conditions including, headaches, insomnia, skin conditions or sinus problems.
Once you relieve the toxic burden and the burden on the immune system during your 21 days, many conditions can improve significantly or vanish entirely.
During the reintroduction period, you’ll have the opportunity to identify which foods are triggers for you (more on this later). Keep in mind that the end results will be well worth it.
The first 3 days can be challenging as your body goes through the process of withdrawal from foods that have been eaten regularly, such as sugar.
You may experience headaches, and some feelings of tiredness or even feel a bit ‘fluey’ but hold firm, because by about day 4 you will be on the other side of it and you will begin to feel fresher and more energised than before.
And it only gets better and better.
Getting it done
For 21 days you will eliminate certain foods including gluten, sugar, caffeine soy, dairy, processed meat, peanuts and eggs. I know, it sounds like a lot! But don’t panic, there is long list of foods that you can keep eating and the great news is that there is no calorie restriction.
To take a look at the Institute for Functional Medicine’s full recommendations for foods to include and foods to avoid click here.
The Clean Living Company’s own elimination diet protocol is inspired by the New York Times Best Selling book by Dr Kellyann’s: ‘Bone Broth Diet’.
Bone broth can be your elimination diet secret weapon, healing your gut as you go, reducing inflammation and so much more.
Line up the Clean Living Company’s 21 day Lifestyle Package to accompany your journey and get the best results.
Follow a paleo diet and start and end your day with a bone broth 5 times a week.
For 2 (non consecutive) days a week, have 4 cups of bone broth throughout the day and eat one paleo meal in the evening.
6 top tips
- Prepare – Stock your larder and your fridge with approved foods and try and donate anything in your cupboard that is not allowed on the list. If its not in the house, you’re not going to eat it!
- Keep your blood sugar level – Do this by including protein, healthy fats and carbohydrates in each meal. This will prevent highs and lows, and keep cravings at bay.
- Check your FOMO! – Do you suffer from Fear Of Missing Out? Try and be realistic with your social engagements during the 21 days, and skip happy hour. If you’re heading to a restaurant, take a look at the menu online first and plan your choices so that they assist your goals.
- Keep it interesting – Change up your recipes, rotate flavours and make the most of nature’s natural flavour packed ingredients like fresh herbs and spices, ginger, chilli and lemon. There is so much to cook with. Take a look at these Pins for mouthwatering inspiration.
- Stay hydrated – H2O is essential to helping your body flush out the toxins it’s been dying to let go of, so help it out! Water can help with the withdrawal headaches in the early days too, so try and get at least 2.5-3 litres per day.
- Drink your bone broth – It will accelerate the gut healing, help stabilise your blood sugar with its healthy fats and crucial collagen proteins and amino acids.
Foods to include
When you want...
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Milk, yoghurt, SWITCH TO nut milk like almond milk or coconut milk, and coconut yoghurt
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Bread, crackers or pasta SWITCH TO rice pasta, seed crackers and gluten-free bread
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Butter or margarine SWITCH TO coconut oil or olive oil
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Hot cereal SWITCH TO buckwheat porridge
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Cold cereals SWITCH TO organic puffed brown rice cereal
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Sugar and sweeteners SWITCH TO Unsweetened apple butter, brown rice syrup, blackstrap molasses, pure maple syrup, raw honey, coconut sugar
Reintroduction
In many ways, this is the most important part of the process (speaking from painful experience). Reintroduce foods one at a time and give 3 days between adding the next food group back in.
This is your time to play detective, do you notice a change when a new item comes back into your diet? Discomfort, reflux, poor sleep etc?
If a food group does raise a red flag, it is advisable to keep it out of your diet for a further 6 months by which time the sensitivity can be corrected.
It might be a good idea to plan in your calendar which foods you want to add in and on which days, so you can pace yourself.
