Elimination Diets
During perimenopause, it has been scientifically shown that a woman’s gut microbiome adversely changes due to fluctuating hormone levels. When this happens, women start to gain weight, lose their hair, and experience brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal issues (constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating). Women start to panic and eliminate and restrict foods without having any sense of what their bodies may be reacting to. How many elimination diets have you tried? Have they worked or were they too restrictive to maintain? Some of the reasons for embarking on an elimination diet may be related to finding out what food sensitivities, or intolerances you may have, starting a new health journey and looking to reboot your metabolism, clearing out candida overgrowth, managing gastrointestinal issues such as IBD, IBS, SIBO or perhaps you want to cut out certain inflammatory food groups to lose weight, increase energy levels, and change your body composition.
Is an Elimination Diet Right for You?
Know your WHY. This is necessary to know before starting an elimination diet. Are you having gastrointestinal issues, are you suspect of food sensitivities or intolerances, did you just finish multiple rounds of antibiotics, are you on a weight loss journey or are you struggling to try to eat healthier?
Have you met with your primary care physician, a nutritionist, a dietician, or a health coach for guidance and support? Building a team of health professionals around you is beneficial to help you decide which path to take. Taking advice from an online forum from a member you don’t know, or embarking on an elimination diet that worked for your neighbor, is not in your best interest. Nutrition is an individualized lifestyle intervention best supported by a professional.
Take inventory of how you eat now and how you feel after consuming certain foods. Keeping a journal is a beneficial strategy to use, and one you can share with your healthcare professional, to start becoming aware of patterns. Changing your mindset is a positive component when embarking on an elimination diet. Stay open-minded to new foods, recipes, ways of preparing meals, and new ways to shop at the market. A positive mindset will translate to a more positive experience.
After checking in with yourself and understanding your WHY, speaking with healthcare professionals about your curiosity and desire to start an elimination diet, educate yourself on the various types.
Popular Elimination Diets:
Basic Elimination Diet – This method is by far the most popular due to restricting many food groups and is most often used to discover food sensitivities and intolerances. Refraining from eating dairy, eggs, nuts, wheat/gluten, grains, shellfish, added sugars, processed meats, shellfish, high histamine foods, and soy products can be extremely difficult and overwhelming. Plus, taking multiple food groups out at one time will not give you answers as to what is triggering the adverse effect or feeling. With the guidance of a professional, like a health coach, you can learn how to take one food group out at a time, what to swap in instead, and stay accountable to journaling to mark your progress.
Gluten-Free Diet – This elimination diet only requires you to remove gluten-containing products. That includes food that contains wheat, rye, barley, triticale, seitan, bulgar, semolina, farro, and spelt. Gluten is a protein that can cause gut dysbiosis, or inflammation, in many people, and should be avoided completely by those with Celiac Disease, an autoimmune condition. Removing gluten from one’s diet can be overwhelming and a health coach can help you replace your favorite products with healthier options.
Low-FODMAP Diet – Developed at Monash University in Australia, the FODMAP Diet works by eliminating fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polys, which are short-chain carbohydrates that are not absorbed well in the small intestine and may absorb too much water and ferment in the colon causing a lot of gastrointestinal distress. Foods that are omitted are bovine, sheep and goat milk, chocolate, dried fruit, stone fruit, apples, beans, broccoli, lentils, coffee, artificial sweeteners, and much more. A health coach can help you keep track of what to omit and what is safe to eat during this short-term elimination diet.
GAPS Diet – GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and targets healing the gut lining. There are 2 phases to this diet and it supports those people suffering from chronic diarrhea, IBS, Crohn’s disease, gastritis, and ulcerative colitis. It also serves to support people suffering from neurological disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disease.
Carnivore Diet – The carnivore diet is based on eating only foods from the animal kingdom, although sometimes certain foods may be omitted for a period, such as eggs and dairy. This can be labeled as the ultimate elimination diet since all plant foods are omitted. This diet is designed to reboot your metabolism, boost weight loss, heal chronic pain and inflammation, and boost cognitive function among many other things. While some people maintain this diet long-term, it may be a beneficial elimination diet short term.
The Worst Elimination Diets:
Juicing Cleanses – If you’re looking for a way to disrupt your hormone balance, increase toxins in your bloodstream, slow your metabolism, and consume tons of sugar (void of fiber) then juicing may be for you. The only good thing about juicing is not eating processed junk food or drinking alcohol during the cleanse. Other than that, no health benefits.
Mono Diet – The Grapefruit Diet, The Egg Diet, and the Banana Diet are all examples of these single food cleanses. There is no medical or scientific research done to show any health benefits. The only thing you will gain here is being malnourished. We require a variety of foods to provide the essential nutrients we need to sustain life and thrive.
There are many health benefits from properly utilizing an elimination diet, but only if you are doing it right. That often means you need the guidance and support of a health professional.
This blog is not to be used as medical advice or for making any lifestyle changes to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your physician for any medical issues that you may be having.