Managing Food Allergies and Intolerances: Try an Elimination Diet

If your doctor suspects a food allergy or intolerance, she or he may want you to try an elimination diet to identify which foods are responsible for your symptoms. An elimination diet involves the following:

1. Start with a diet that includes only those foods that are not allergenic. Incorporate the following, least allergenic foods:

• Brown rice, puffed rice, tapioca, millet
• Cooked or dried fruits (cherries, cranberries, pears, prunes, peaches, cranberries, apricots, papaya, plums, prunes, cherries, unless documented allergy to these or to birch pollen exists)
• Cooked green, yellow, and orange vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, string beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and taro)
• Dried lentils, rinsed well and boiled
• Plain or carbonated water
• Condiments (modest amounts of salt, maple syrup, vanilla extract)

2. When symptoms of food allergy have stopped or diminished (usually within a week or so), you will be asked to keep a food diary and add in foods one at a time in generous amounts every other day to observe which cause symptom recurrence. Foods listed above that are most common food allergens should be added last. Do not return to your diet any foods to which you have a known allergy.

3. If any added food is associated with allergy or intolerance symptoms, it should be removed from the diet for one to two weeks and then reintroduced to see if the same reaction occurs. If no symptoms are experienced, that food can be kept in the diet.

Some people can avoid triggering reactions this way, while others have to completely remove allergy-provoking foods from their diets.

Experiment cautiously with your diet to see what works best. Of course, foods such as shellfish, dairy products, processed meats, or eggs that contribute to many different health problems are best left out of the diet altogether.