If you can’t tell, we don’t love traditional “diets” around here. Restricting calories, food groups, or specific items for the sake of losing weight only to fit into societal standards is honestly a waste of time, especially if it comes with a heavy dose of guilt, frustration and rebound weight gain because you aren’t making a lifestyle change. Elimination diets, however, can serve a purpose much larger than just loosing weight (although that’s often a side effect).
We talk a lot about the mind-body connection and tell you to listen and trust your bodies. That all sounds great and everything, but how can you actually do that? If you’re like us (and most people), you are probably pretty disconnected from your body. One way to begin to pay attention and increase your connection is to try an elimination diet.
What’s an elimination diet?
An elimination diet, not to be confused with a “normal” diet, serves a specific purpose and has a time limit. It’s basically what it sounds like – you eliminate foods that you may be sensitive to and then reintroduce them one a time. They last anywhere from 10 to 30 days with a reintroduction period of a couple of weeks, depending on what foods you are eliminating.
Why should you do one?
As we said, you need to get to know your body in order to be able to listen to it. Most of us walk around every day with food sensitivities and even allergies that go unnoticed for years. And you may think, if it’s not causing a reaction, why should I care? Unfortunately, while you may not get an obvious, physical reaction, food sensitivities that go unnoticed can cause a lot of harm in the long run – digestive issues, bloating, fatigue, mind fogginess, and things you may not even think are related to what you’re eating, like depression or anxiety. Figuring out what your body reacts to doesn’t mean you’ll never eat that food again, but you can make more conscious choices and figure out what’s worth it, and what’s not. It will teach you to be more mindful of your food choices and more mindfulness = more connection to your body.
Is it right for you?
An important thing to consider in doing an elimination diet is your why, are you sure it’s not to lose weight? Because if that’s your ultimate goal, then maybe it’s not the right choice for you. Elimination diets are not all fun and rainbows, you go through withdrawals, especially from sugar and can feel pretty crappy the first few days. There are ways to help reduce those symptoms but your body will go into a detox and there’s no way around that. Another aspect to take into consideration is that maybe you have done elimination diets before and you know what works and what doesn’t, well, our microbiome changes constantly, with the weather, our hormones, stress levels, that all affects your reactivity to foods, so it’s a good idea to do one once in a while to get another baseline, or at least, as a reset.
How do you do it?
There a lot of resources out there but you just do it with us! Starting September 3, we are doing a 10 Day Reset based on Dr. Hyman’s Food:What the Heck Should I Eat? book, which by the way, go read it - it’s amazing. Eliminating all the major food groups that cause food sensitivities will help you figure out what works for YOU. If you’re feeling ambitious you can keep it going through September and complete a Whole30 - I mean, you’ll already be 1/3 of the way in at that point.
If you join us, you will receive:
· 24/7 Group Chat Support
· Full Prep Guide with guidelines and what to expect over the 10 days
· Recipe ideas
· Daily tips and tricks with how to stay on track
The best part? It’s FREE.
Getting through an elimination diet can be hard, but it’s made easy when you have support and resources at your fingertips. Interested or want more info? Sign up below!