Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane

staying healthy in the fast lane

eliminate all ten foods, you will still have improvement in some
of your symptoms (e.g., headaches, joint pain, gastrointestinal dis-
tress, etc.). The key to any food intolerance test is to eliminate the
foods that are positive reactors and reintroduce the most com-
monly eaten foods first so you can identify which foods are the
most significant offenders. The reactors should be eliminated for
one to six months and then reintroduced. Starting with the most
commonly eaten foods makes the most sense. I tell patients that
if you eat garbanzo beans once a month but you have daily head-
aches, the garbanzo bean is probably not the major problem food,
even if it is a true reactant. Focus on the foods you are eating three
or more times per week first for reintroduction.
A very important point is that just because a food doesn’t show
up on the test doesn’t necessarily mean you are not sensitive to it.
If you feel bad after eating, it is the food until proven otherwise—
positive test or not. Trust how you feel. Write down the food and
your symptoms in your diet diary. Eliminate the food. A month
later, re-challenge yourself to find out how you feel.
The Basic Elimination Diet (see Appendix A), or what I call the
“Poor Person’s Food Allergy Test,” was designed to eliminate many
of the classic allergens such as dairy, wheat, glutinous grains (oat,
barley, rye), corn, eggs, yeast, chocolate, tomato, citrus, peanuts,
nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc.),
and a few others. This list can be used as a simple shopping list. All
you do is fill up your refrigerator and cupboards with these foods
in their whole state and eat away for two to four weeks. See how
you feel and chart your symptoms on the Diet-Exercise-Symptom
Diary (see Educational Handouts at Prescription2000.com). After
at least two weeks (preferably one month), add in foods one at a
time, a day or so apart, starting with the most frequently eaten. If
there is a reaction within twenty-four hours, eliminate the food
again, this time for three months, and then try it again. If done
right, you may save thousands of dollars not only on allergy test-
ing but on your overall health as well.
Food intolerance can cause, aggravate, be part of, or be the total
cause of symptoms that people have been living with for years.
I can’t tell you how many times I have asked people what they