146 Diet Wise
Plan ahead
With most of these additional exclusion steps, it is a good idea to plan
ahead. Make sure you have reintroduced enough foods as alternatives that
you won’t just starve because of the extra restrictions. When you judge
there is enough to eat, start the new regime. In general, stick to each trial
stage for a minimum of two weeks.
When challenging, follow the same procedure I have described
for other foods. But you may sometimes generalize: obviously if three or
more salicylate foods react, you would be justified in assuming you have a
sensitivity to this compound and not put yourself through more needless
reactions; same with the nut-and-pip list.
I would recommend that you fully test each of the gluten foods
individually, however. I have seen many people labeled as having “gluten
allergy” who were fine eating, say, oats or rye. This was obviously not a true
gluten sensitivity but probably wheat allergy.
Fasting
Finally, if all else fails and you have any patience left, you can consider a
fast. This will settle once and for all whether there is some other factor
in your illness than allergy to food. Review your condition carefully. You
have probably been through many trials and tribulations before reaching
this point. You might feel like giving up: that is understandable. If you think
going on is too difficult, I do urge you to make contact with a professional
doctor with skills in this area: generally that means avoid doctors who belong
to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (www.aaai.
org). They think only in terms of classic allergies, antihistamines and shots.
For many years their position papers scoffed at the notion of widespread
food allergies.
You should seek a local member of the American Academy of
Environmental Medicine (www.aaem.org).
Alternatively, you could opt for the fast.
If you are tired and run down and have lost too much weight, now
is not the time to start a fast. Instead, give yourself a break, eat well and take
a holiday if you can. Then come back to the problem. A word of warning,
however: don’t let solicitous busybodies depress you with too many adverse
comments. Sometimes this may make you feel ill. There is a very powerful
psychology at work here. You may be under a great deal of pressure to
desist from what you are doing. For one thing, watching others diet makes