I hate the word “diet” because it always meant “restriction”, “restrain” and “hunger” for me. Every diet I’ve tried worked – for a few days/weeks at least! But after I’ve been bored with the routine and tired of all the restrain and restriction, where I end up always hungry, it kicks my butt back. Hard. I’ve been a yo-yo dieter for maybe, 10 years now. Since starting to get serious with my weight loss goals last year, I thought it’s time to overhaul my whole diet and nutrition for the better. Don’t we always wish that, like, every single year!?
I was introduced to The Elimination Diet by UK personal trainer Dax Moy through my bloggy fit friend, Anna over at Pathtofatloss.com. The Elimination Diet is a nutrition program that includes the word “diet” in it but for real this time, this isn’t just another fad or diet for me, it’s a lifetime change.
I’ve been following The Elimination Diet by eliminating ‘possible’ allergens that contribute to the toxicity of my system. NOTE: You will never know what you’re allergic/intolent of if you don’t try to ELIMINATE it from your diet, even temporarily, say two weeks. I’ve eliminated:
- Wheat/gluten
- Dairy (except yogurt with live cultures)
- Sugar
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Red meats (unless it’s organic, grass fed)
- Processed food (anything from a box, can)
Only by eliminating this major causes of intolerance and slowly introducing them back to your diet will make you realize which ones make you fell bloated, causes headaches and make you feel tired.
Food should nourish us, not drain us!
I’ve been free from migraine attacks since I’ve eliminated ALL kinds of food with wheat/gluten in it (breads, cookies, cakes…). My belly is also flatter, less flabier without the starch.
How do I know that wheat/gluten is the culprit? Because once I tried to eat bread, I have a headache the next day. I also feel lighter, no more bloated feeling and generally easier to lose weight when I’m off from breads. I should’ve done this years ago. Of course there are days when I can’t avoid bread and I do eat, with caution and then bam! Headache every single time.
You can download a free copy of The Elimination Diet here. It’s not really rocket science – the diet just wants us to go back to basics, eat whole, REAL food (Special K is not a real food, fyi). Dax explains it so much better in his article so check it out.
Dax requires you to sign up for his newsletter but it’s all good because he’ll be following up with you every couple of days or so as to how you’re doing without the caffeine, etc. You can read in the article why it’s this specific foods are to be eliminated. It’s a great article and a must read for everyone wanting to clean up their diet and have rewarding results. I am no affiliated in any way with this program. Remember, Dax Moy is giving this for FREE.
Dax has a great community of friends discussing about the Elimination Diet and his other awesome programs at Ning. It’s also free to sign up.
Lastly, with Elimination Diet, I am no longer dieting. I’m free.
Grace (18)
Kayla @ TheEclecticElement (11)
John (3)
Krista (3)
Maribeth (3)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I have found this with Weight Watchers. I am not dieting, but follow portion control. I have also found that wines give me a headache the following day, even with one small glass!
.-= Maribeth´s last blog ..Rainy Days =-.
Really good article.. thanks for shared
I was introduced to the diet by the ONE doctor that I trust completely and since then, I’ve done it a total of 4 or 5 times-It too has changed my life for the better!!
I swear, I wouldn’t be were I am today without that diet and that eye opening experience.
EVERYTHING you wrote in this post is mirror for me-If I eat things that I can’t tolerate, I definitely pay for it the next few days. Of course I’m still not 100% but I hope to be the best I can be
Thank you SO much for writing this post!
There’s something called the 80/20 principle, Kayla (I’ll blog about this as soon as I can).
We are just humans and thus, not perfect so if it takes the 20% (not so healthy stuff) so we can eat healthy, real food 80% of the time, then by all means, no need to be guilty. I sometimes fall off the elimination diet wagon by eating a piece of cake or bread…and then have headaches the next day! Grrrr.
.-= Kayla´s last blog ..Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief *Movie Review* =-.
Hey Grace, I’m glad you liked ED. It was truly an eye opening experience for me and I haven’t completely gone back to eating a lot of the “banned” things especially the coffee. For me, it was also the wheat/gluten, it just doesn’t agree with me. The other one is cottage cheese. I don’t know why but I’m glad I found out soon enough
Great job!
Anna
.-= Anna @ pathtofatloss´s last blog ..3 Factors that Affect Your Fat Loss Goals Timeline =-.
I’m so glad you were able to find the things that were causing you such distress and making you tired and causing you migraines. I, too have food triggers for migraines and know to avoid them or suffer. I also know that my best weight loss plan is portion control.
Keep up the good work, you are looking marvelous!
You said:
“You will never know what you’re allergic/intolerant of if you don’t try to ELIMINATE it from your diet, even temporarily, say two weeks.”
That makes a lot of sense. Since everybody is different, self-experimentation seems to be a better way to find out how your own body works, instead of blindly following somebody else’s rules.
Jim Purdy
.-= Jim Purdy´s last blog ..Sensitivity test: Cheese and Diet 7Up =-.
Afte 21 years of marriage, my wife and I have more than started realizing more negative changes in our bodies. While I spent most of my life trying to gain weight (at least until I was 47) my wife spent the last ten years or more trying to shed it. This led us into the research and usage of vitamins & supplements along with beginning of regular execise. I find it amazing that when you poll family, friends and co-workers you get so many different ways that people have found for them to lose weight. We too found that due to varying body makeups, etc,. one size diet does not fit all.
Regarding diet elimination, my wife went thru that when one of her doctors suspected that she may have Celiac disease. She had to eliminate what seemed like everything in her diet. Eventually. it was determined that she didn’t have it but did carry some aspects of it. We found that many of her family have it but had gone undiagnosed for years.
However, there is one thing that I can verify, regular brisk walking , the elimination of white sugar and excessive fat and the addition of clean drinking water will usually allow you to see a healthier and slimmer you.
Wow, that is so interesting! I’m glad it has helped your headaches. My sister had to do something similar to find out what she was allergic to as well and was amazed by the results too. I’m tempted to try it, my hesitation is it’s got to be so difficult to not have any processed foods at all.
You can do it…by taking small steps at a time. Our bodies have a hard time recognizing processed food as real food and it disrupts the natural function of our system (endocrine, liver, etc).
What processed food do you have difficulty avoiding? (Mine might be tortilla chips…)
.-= Tired Mom Tésa´s last blog ..Greenie2Steps Whimsical Wall Art =-.
I am writing to let people know that I tried numerous diet software programs online and the one Ilinked to is not a simple as the author claims. Also after lurking around, I found another diet software package FREE called sparkpeople.com. it’s really incredible.