The Elimination Diet

The Digestive System

What is the purpose of an elimination diet? To identify foods that cause sensitive gut, food intolerances, and allergic or uncomfortable gastrointestinal symptoms. During the elimination period, eliminate foods that commonly cause allergic symptoms from the diet for two to four weeks. After your symptoms improve, slowly incorporate foods back into your diet, one at a time to determine what foods are provoking disagreeable symptoms.

Castor oil packs are a welcome addendum to ANY cleanse or digestive Concern.

Foods you may eat

Cereals: Cream of rice hot cereal. Puffed rice and puffed millet dry cereal.

Grains: You can have all kinds of rice except for wild rice. You can also have rice pasta, plain rice cakes, plain mochi (a rice product found in the freezer section), rice bread (check labels), millet, quinoa, amaranth, and teff.

Flours: Rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth, teff, and bean flour

Protein: lamb, chicken, turkey, cold-water fish like wild salmon, sardine, mackerel, and halibut

Beans/legumes: you can have all beans and legumes except for broad beans (fava), peanuts, and tempeh. Check labels of canned beans, dips, and soups for sweeteners, spices, and additives. Do not eat canned beans with EDTA added.

Vegetables: Green beans-french or string, brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, chives, lettuce, leeks, parsley, mung bean sprouts, shallots, garlic. You may occasionally eat a tiny serving of 1/4 of carrot, turnip, parsnip, sweet potato, beet, asparagus, or pumpkin every other day.

Fruits: all berries, granny smith apples, pears, and lemon or lime

Nuts: Almond butter or soaked almonds (soak raw almonds 8-12 hours, the peel comes off easily. Store in the refrigerator)

Oils/fats: Sunflower, olive, and safflower

Sweeteners: Pure 100% maple syrup and brown rice syrup

Beverages: Water (plain or true mineral), unsweetened rice milk (plain or vanilla), pear nectar (made from pears and water or canned without sugar), and herbal teas (chamomile and ginger are soothing for the colon)

Condiments: Salt, fresh parsley, chives, garlic, pure vanilla, cream of tartar, baking powder (1/4 t. baking soda and 5/8 t. cream of tartar), apple cider vinegar, and carob

Elimination Diet Guidelines

1. Use only those foods allowed. READ LABELS! Regular flour usually contains wheat. Vegetable oil may contain corn, and casein and whey are dairy proteins.

2. Use only foods listed (unless you checked with your nutritionist or ND)

3. Avoid any non-essential medication. (Consult with your primary care provider if uncertain). During the elimination diet, you should avoid aspirin-containing medicines.

4. Withdrawal symptoms may occur during the first week of the diet. Some or all of your symptoms may increase temporarily, but they usually subside within ten days. The following may help you feel better: buffered vitamin C, a bath with Epsom salts or baking soda, naps, and mild exercise such as walking.

Fumes may become more bothersome and can cause symptoms. The most common fumes are petroleum products (gas, oil, kerosene), paints, perfumes, and cleaning agents. Try to limit your exposure to fumes during the diet and challenge period.

5. Follow the elimination diet for 3 to 4 weeks. You can challenge a food source after you have experienced five days without bloating, gut sensitivities, or decreased symptoms.

When challenging individual foods, eat one serving two to three times a day along with elimination diet foods. Challenge for three days and then wait three days. If there is no sensitivity, then you are most likely good with this type of food.

If no improvements occur in 4 weeks, the food substances probably did not cause your problem, and you can gradually return to a regular diet.

Best wishes on your 'Food Trigger' Detective work ;) Robin

Castor Oil packs

as recommended by Edgar Cayce for over fifty different ailments such as adhesions, appendicitis, arthritis, cancer, cerebral palsy, colitis, constipation, epilepsy, gallstones, gastritis, hepatitis, hernias, Hodgkin's disease, hookworm, intestinal impaction, improving eliminations and circulation of the lymphatic system, sluggish Liver, lesions, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, pelvic cellulitis, ringworm, sterility, and toxemia.

1. Saturate a cotton or wool flannel pack material (approximately 12 x 14, 1/4 thickness) with castor oil.

2. Warm the castor oil cotton or wool flannel pack with an electric heating pad.

3. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent soiling linen or direct contact with the electric heating pad. I like to have a hand towel handy as well.

4. Do it in the afternoon or evening for one to two hours.

5. Then sponge off the castor oil with baking soda water.

Plug in the electric heating pad, and turn to high. First, I place a hand towel, then saran wrap or trash bag liner on top of the electric heating pad, and castor oil cotton or wool flannel pack on top of the saran wrap. While the castor oil pack is warming up, I prepare comfortable pillows for my head and under my knees. Often, I lay a beach towel underneath my head and knee pillows to further protect my bed linen. I prepare my water and baking soda washcloth to wipe off excess castor oil and conveniently place it on a dish beside the bed to use afterward.

Now I'm ready to lie down and massage my abdomen with approximately one tablespoon of castor oil. Then place the castor oil pack atop my belly diagonally from the Liver to the lower left descending colon, saran wrap, hand towel, and heating pad. Now is a great time to meditate, pray, or listen to healing music. Recommended sessions are 1 to 2 hours.

Do not use the heating pad during castor oil sessions for inflamed conditions, infections, bleeding, or recent injuries under 48 hours.

My recommendation is seven consecutive days. Edgar Cayce mentioned five days and two days off (repeat) or three days and three days off (repeat). You'll have to intuit this part; however, I recommend seven days in some consistent version.

Edgar Cayce often recommended taking small amounts of olive oil (two to three times a day) during this process. "As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."

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