Today is the first day of a new season of eating for our family. For the last two years Allan has experienced severe digestive issues. His primary care doctor believes that Allan’s digestive upset is primarily due to the trauma that he sustained as a result of being shot two years ago. Since then he has simply been living with the discomfort.
We decided that instead of simply living with digestive discomfort that we wanted to try to do something to bring Allan some relief. Food allergies and IBS run in Allan’s family, so it is very possible that he could have underlying food sensitivities that were amplified by his injury.
Beginning today we are starting an elimination diet/detox. For the last couple months I have been doing quite a bit of research about elimination diets and detoxing. From that research I devised a plan to attempt to identify any food allergies that Allan and I may have.
{Please note that I am not a doctor or a registered dietitian. The plan that I am about to explain is not scientifically formulated and simply the result of my own research on health + nutrition and drawing conclusions to come up with our own elimination diet/detox to fit our family’s needs. This is not professional medical advice.}
Basically, for two weeks we will be eliminating all of the major food allergens (soy, gluten, peanuts and dairy). For the first week, we will also be avoiding foods that are known to cause havoc on the digestive track (sweeteners, sodium, caffeine).
If after a week or two Allan is still experiencing the same symptoms, we will eliminate eggs (eek!) from our diet as well.
After Allan’s symptoms begin to subside, we will then add back one food group at a time to our diet, waiting 1 week before we introduce the next food group back in. I believe that we will reintroduce food groups in the following order: soy, dairy, gluten, peanuts. Just because. 🙂
Please wish us luck and let me know if you have any advice for us during our journey. I plan to check back in on this subject as the weeks progress.
– Maria
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4
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