All About My Elimination Diet
As I mentioned on my IG, Cort and I recently did a 4 week “elimination diet” to test for any food sensitivities. This was something my doctor strongly recommended after I developed multiple skin rashes and some GI issues. I wasn't thrilled with the idea because, well, I hate diets and don’t like doing anything extreme or restrictive. After discussing and looking into it, I finally obliged. Cort was very kind to do it with me (I don't think I could have done it alone!). There are many different types of elimination diets, but in my case my doctor recommended that I eliminate corn, soy, gluten, and dairy for 4 weeks.… so basically all the food I love! It’s been pretty hard because gluten and dairy are just so yummy and I was surprised to learn corn and soy hide in a lot of things that I wouldn’t expect (like a lot of gluten free and dairy free snacks)…. but, I have to admit that I’ve been feeling amazing. No rashes or GI issues and my sleep and energy levels have been so much better! I’m starting to slowly implement these items back into my diet to see how I react and if anything needs to be cut out for good. Since sharing this on my IG, I had a bunch of questions about what I HAVE been eating during this time so I figured I’d share a few go to recipes and some food brands that I’ve been relying on!
A few brands I've been eating on this elimination diet:
Purely Elizabeth: granola |Culina: coconut yogurt |Siete: chips, cookies wraps | Wondermilk: ice cream |Kite Hill: dairy free dips |Sweet Lorens: cookies | Udi's: bread
A few other things we've been eating:
We've loved grilling lately, so a lot of our meals have consisted of grilled steak or chicken with veggie kabobs. Another meal we've loved is spaghetti squash with ground turkey and spaghetti sauce- Pinterest has lots of recipes! I love Mexican food (in any form) so we've done a lot of burrito bowls and tacos. We used the Siete brand shells because they're grain free & corn free and Culina plain yogurt instead of sour cream. For breakfast, I've made lots of omelettes or avocado toast on gluten free bread (a lot of you asked what brand.. we used Udi's- I don't love it, but it was the only gluten free bread at our grocery store that didn't have corn in it). For snacks, I've loved Culina yogurt with berries and Purely Elizabeth Granola. Another obvious snack is veggies dipped in hummus or dairy free dips like tzatziki sauce. Kite Hill has a bunch of great options that are dairy free! I am a dessert girl through and through so you know I had my fair share of Sweet Loren's cookies (df & gf) and I also found a few diary free ice cream brands that are pretty good (Wondermilk has a great gluten free cookies and cream option). I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but there are a TON of great recipes on Pinterest if you search Whole 30 (we didn't do Whole 30, but if a recipes is Whole 30 approved, it usually worked with this elimination diet). I hope this helps give you some ideas if you're doing something similar...which it sounds like a lot of you are! I also had a lot of you ask what we did when we ate out. Thankfully, these days a lot of restaurants are accommodating to food allergies so we would just tell our waiter about our situation (and apologize for being a burden lol) and then ask our waiter to make sure that the kitchen wouldn't use any butter, etc.
Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent such nice messages saying that you've done elimination diets and it's totally worth sticking with it!!! Definitely needed that reminder at times!
XO,
Kathleen