4 Steps to reintroduce a food after an elimination diet
reintroduce a food after an elimination diet
So you just did an elimination diet and now you're wondering:
How do I re-introduce a food?
An Elimination diet is the gold standard for identifying foods that are problematic for your body. Certain foods are removed from the diet for a period of time and then reintroduced methodically to identify if any symptoms or “food reactions” occur.
You'll know you are ready to introduce a food when:
1.Your symptoms have noticeably improved and you would be able to identify the impact of a possible food reaction. This might look like the clearing up of a skin condition, stomach aches are gone or way less frequent, your brain fog has lifted.
2. You would be able to notice/identify a reaction if one did occur
In terms of a timeline, I typically suggest at least 30 days before reintroducing a food.
If you have eliminated more than one food, how do you know which food to try first?
You’ll want to introduce the food that has the most nutritional value and is the least likely to cause a reaction.
Some foods that people react to most commonly include diary, eggs, gluten and nightshade vegetables.
4 Steps to Reintroduce a Food:
1. Decide on the food you want to reintroduce
2. Take note of how you feel before you try the food. Write down your current symptoms and rate the severity 1-10 (this is called your health baseline. Your new starting point) You can grab the food journal/symptoms tracker in the eat-to-heal course workbook at EatToHealCourse.com
3. Eat the food: there are different ideas out there about how much of the food to consume.
4. Once you have eaten the regular portion of the food, wait 3 days before trying another reintroduction.
Sometimes our bodies can tolerate a specific food once in a while, but eating it daily becomes problematic.
If you would like to know how the food impacts you when you eat it more often, you can introduce the food by:
1. Eat a regular portion of the food
2. Wait 3 days
3. Eat a regular portion of the food 3 days in a row
4. Be sure to monitor for symptoms, and document them
The Most important thing to stick to here is the waiting period between reintroductions. Oftentimes if the first few foods we reintroduce go smoothly, we let go of the reins and start eating several foods at once.
If you do this you are essentially sabotaging your efforts,
because, If you do have a reaction to food, you won't know which food caused it and you may have to start back at square one.
So follow the steps and you will be eating a more diverse diet very soon!
DOWNLOAD the free Eat To Heal Guide at EatToHealCourse.com