Step 3 Elimination Diet

Elimination Diet - Step 3.

Step 3 - Challenging (also called re-introduction phase)

If you notice a relief for your symptoms with your new diet, then it’s time to move to the next phase. The main objective of the challenging phase is to gently re-introduce foods that were originally in the forbidden list, to determine how your body responds. Foods are added one at a time, to permit detection of any allergic symptoms. Re-introduction should be done gradually, with small amounts at the beginning, so that your body does not respond negatively to the food being introduced. You should maintain an updated food journal, taking note of what foods you re-introduced and any potential symptoms. Foods can be re-introduced in any order.

You should move on to a new type of food every three days, which would be enough to detect any symptoms caused by sensitivity to that particular food that has just been added. Most commonly, sensitivities develop between 10 minutes to 12 hours after eating, but it can take as long as 48 hours. In the first day, start gradually in the morning with a small meal containing some allowed foods and the particular food to add. If no symptoms develop during the day, attempt two larger meals throughout the day. The second and third days are merely for waiting to see if any symptoms develop, and you should not eat any more of that food. Symptoms may include headache, nausea and fatigue and if any food elicits such response they must be added to your permanently forbidden list. In some cases, a clear-cut answer is not possible. In this case, wait 4-5 days and do the challenge test again.

When testing each food, opt for straightforward sources of food. For example, pizza is not a good food to challenge for cheese, as it contain may other ingredients as well, possibly some that are forbidden.

Test food	How to test
Dairy products	Do not test all dairy products at once, but instead test each individual product in separate days. You may even want to test different types of cheeses separately, as you may be more sensitive to some types than others.
Wheat	Best example is pure wheat cereal breakfast (without milk or sugar)
Egg	Whole eggs, cooked
Citrus fruits	Test individual fruits in separate days. Use whole fruit or squeeze into a drink
Caffeinated drinks	Test each individual drink separately, without any milk or sugar
Sugar	Add sugar to drink or cereal breakfast
Alcoholic drinks	May need testing in separate days

If during the challenge to your system, you experience no unhealthy symptoms, then it means that’s not one of your food sensitivities and it’s safe to include that food in your particular diet. However, you should wait until all foods in your forbidden list have been tested.

It’s important that during the challenging period you try to maintain all other factors identical. Many issues can potentially lead you to false positives, when in fact it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a food sensitivity to a particular food. Even just a more stressful day can alter your results.

Day	Step	Phase
1-5	Symptoms may get worse	Elimination phase
6-14	Condition starts improving
15	Re-introduce one type of food	Re-introduction phase
16-17	Look out for symptoms
18	Re-introduce a second type of food
19-20	Look out for symptoms
21	Re-introduce a third type of food
	….And so on