Figuring out Food

Glass of delicious, cool, nutritious, Julia-bellyache-inducing milk found here. 

Thanks to Sjogren's Forum for tweeting a link to this article entitled, Which Foods Are Your Inflammatory Triggers? The Elimination Diet in Four Steps by Angie King-Nosseir, MS, RD and found on Autoimmune Mom's blog here.

With my recent foray into "What the heck am I eating that's making my innards so cranky?!" land, and finding out quickly that dairy is definitely one culprit, some kind of elimination diet may be in my future.

Have you been forced to eliminate various foods from your diet? Want to know more about your food intolerances? Here's one method to do an assessment:

If there’s one thing that a person with autoimmunity should do to start the healing process, it is to first figure out what foods are acting as inflammatory triggers.  For many, this can seem daunting.  We have deep-rooted emotional connections to the foods and beverages that we consume, whether we realize it or not.  Embark upon an elimination diet, and you will soon understand what I mean.  Still, it’s a worthwhile, and I dare say, mandatory process. 

Let’s say you successfully make it through a 21-day elimination diet (you can).  You’re feeling much better, and you’d like to find out which foods you can safely add back from your previous life.  This is where it can get tricky. 

How are you going to reintroduce foods so that you gain a clear understanding of which foods are triggers and which are safe?  Just as important, how long is this going to take? 

Here’s a smart tip: If you do it the right way, it doesn’t have to take months upon months.  The more data you gather throughout the entire process, the easier it will be to understand which foods are friends and which foods are not, in the least amount of time.

Continue reading here.