Elimination Diet

So, I guess I'm out for detoxing and cleansing for another year +, because toxins are eliminated in breast milk which would harm the baby. I just signed up for a gym membership to do saunas, which I can do while breastfeeding (but not pregnant), but I don't know how useful they'll be without detoxing.

While detoxing is out (for over a year! :(), the elimination diet may be our next adventure. Many people have food sensitivities, allergies, or diseases. Celiac's disease is a genetic intolerance of gluten which is very rare and will never be cured. Many people may claim to have Celiac's disease but are really just gluten intolerant. A food allergy is an auto-immune response which can result in hives, rashes, asthma, and other serious symptoms. Food sensitivities are common (we all have them), and are just reactions to food we eat. Symptoms may include headaches, gas, abdominal pain, moodiness, ADHD, hyperactivity, etc. Symptoms to all these three conditions, I believe, can be physical or neurological. Some reactions are very subtle, and many people do not even realize their food allergies or sensitivities. (read here)

The most accurate way to diagnose a food sensitivity or allergy is by using an elimination diet. This article from the Encyclopedia of Children's Health briefly describes an elimination diet. One basically needs to discontinue eating the food for a period of time so the body can be cleaned out of what it is reacting to, and then (if its not a horrible allergy that could send them to the hospital) reintroduced into the diet. Once the body has been cleaned out and it is reintroduced, the reaction will be more pronounced than before, and you will "know" if you're sensitive or allergic. It is important to keep a food diary, though, to record your daily mood, feelings, and mental and physical symptoms. Multiple foods can be eliminated, and reintroduced one food at a time every three days.

I had originally made a plan to reintroduce in the following order: eggs, gluten, corn, wheat, yeast, dairy, which seemed most logical because... wheat contains gluten, but so do many grains; yeast products usually contain wheat, and dairy often harbors yeast. So, someone with a yeast allergy may reintroduce dairy and think they are reacting to dairy when they are actually reacting to yeast.

I'm pretty concerned about my son having a food allergy or food sensitivity. The good news is, these can be reversed! For children, because their bodies are growing and healing so fast, it may take 2-6 months to clear up, whereas for adults it takes 1 - 1 1/2 year as our bodies are slower to heal. It simply requires eliminating the offending food, and the sensitivity or allergy may heal itself and it can be reintroduced with no reaction. (All this and above info. come from my Certified Naturopath/Midwife)


One downside to a new diet is: you don't know what to eat! So, I found two diets with menus:

• The Whole Life Nutrition Elimination Diet 28-day detox (see phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, and challenge phase. Recipes are compiled in the Whole Life Nutrition cookbook available through Sno-Isle libraries) or

• Another option is this elimination diet with a 7-day menu plan.

Rotating Your Diet

The main thing to be learned is that we need to vary our diets! Food intolerances can be to anything we're eating too much. Common food allergies are to wheat, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, staple foods. Anything we're eating as a staple is likely to become a problem. You could even become allergic to garlic if you're eating it everyday. A good rule of thumb is to not eat any one kind of food more than once for at least every four days. For example, limiting wheat and fish to Monday, oats and pork to Tuesday, Barley and Beef to Wednesday...it all seems kind of challenging to me, so this will be an adventure. Its kind of against the conventional wisdom "eat 48 grams whole grains, 4 glasses of milk, a day."

We'll be trying an elimination diet soon, hopefully, after the New Year, so the holidays don't interrupt. It will be challenging, relieving to know that my family is eating food that doesn't give them reactions.

Behavior and Nutrition

Watch Behavior and Nutrition by Dr. Russell Blaylock, M.D. neurosurgeon

Highlights of this video:

Pregnant women can influence the life of their child to the point of determining their hypertension or breast cancer risk, by their diet in utero.

Relation of sugar and hyperactivity. The two biggest food sources that contribute to our sugar consumption are sodas and fruit juices.

The brain is constantly rebuilding itself. Some parts of the brain rebuild in decades, some as fast as two weeks. DHA fatty acid is essential for brain function, and if the brain has a deficiency of DHA for two weeks, it has an affect on how the brain rebuilds itself.

Hypoglycemia can imitate neurosis, hysteria, neurasthenia, and even psychosis. Associated with anxiety schizophrenia.

Crime and nutrition: change diet, probation violations decreased 86%. The more violent offenders, the more deficient the diet. Even marginal deficiencies in nutrition can lead to behavioral problems. Change the diet, and behaviors and drug use are dramatically reduced.

Consuming high calorie, high sugar diets, results in lots of free radicals= every cell in your body will age faster. Leads to Alzheimer's.

Treat an alcoholic for hypoglycemia, and get a 71% rate of recovery from alcoholism. Treat an alcoholic with Alcoholics Anonymous and get a 25% rate of recovery. Ninety-seven percent of alcoholics are hypoglycemic, vs. 18% for controls. Most of the crimes, most of the auto accidents in U.S. are connected to alcohol.

SSR drugs for depression are supposed to make serotonin levels go up, but in some people it makes serotonin levels go down, and these are kids that end up getting suicidal.

A study removed food dyes and had dramatic results. The biggest behavioral reactions to food dyes are to Yellow 5 and sodium benzoate. Another common behavioral reaction is to soy.

People are consuming lots of soy, thinking it prevents breast cancer, and it doesn't.

Serotonin helps repress aggressive acts, controls suicide and depression. Corn is very low in tryptophan (serotonin).

National Nutritional Survey of Adolescents
60% deficient in iron
57% in vitamin A
43% in vitamin C
39% in vitamin B1
30% in protein
16% in riboflavin

Niacin has a lot to do with mental illness. Other nutrients associated with behavior are vitamins C, D, E, K, A, B, and carotenoids.

Food allergies affecting the brain. Many symptoms are subtle or purely neurological and people don't even know they have them. Lists many symptoms. (Lethargy, stupor, disorientation, paranoia, delusions, hallucination, agitation, rage, panic attacks, criminal behavior, and even seizures) Also lists common food allergens.

Schizophrenic study:
88% schizophrenics allergic to wheat
60% to milk
50% to corn
100% to either gliaden or gluten
As long as they avoided gliaden or gluten they were normal. When they got back on it, even a small amount, all their schizophrenic symptoms came back and they had to be hospitalized.

Vaccinations. Create an immune reaction that will not subside for years. Create an inflamed brain. Causes autism, etc.

Animal saturated fat impairs brain function; omega 3-fatty acids, DHA, and arachidonic acid improve brain function.

Rage and violence occurs with deficient levels of DHA, with MSG, or even very small amounts of lead.

We're getting way too many omega 6 fats and not enough omega 3 fats, but the ratio between the two is very important. At the turn of the century our diet ratio was about 1:2, and now its about 1:46. Omega 6 comes from corn oil, canola, peanut, safflower, etc. Omega 3 from walnuts, flax, fish.

Artificial estrogen is a brain toxin.

Toxins: Aluminum, Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Fluoride, MSG, Aspartame, Pesticides, Herbicides, Industrial Solvents, Food Dyes, Excessive Vaccinations

You'll just feel so smart after finishing this video, and feel there's so much more to learn! He's a great speaker, knows what he's talking about, and a well-researched brain neurosurgeon. He has a short sum-up at the end.

He has also written a book Health and Nutrition Secrets, and I don't know what parts of that book play here in this video.

Eat what you store, store what you eat

It is quite sad to throw food away that's gone bad, or that you find you don't like, especially a years supply of it. The following excerpt is from survival-center.com

"An unfortunate number of people in our society have developed allergies to one kind of food or another. One of the more common food allergens is wheat. Even more unfortunate is the fact that of those with an allergy to this most common of grains, many of them are not even aware of it. They won't become aware of it until they try to live with wheat as a large part of their diet. This is the reason you should store what you eat and eat what you store: So that ugly surprises such as this don't come up when it's too late to easily avoid them.

A second reason to think about providing a variety of grains in your food storage is appetite fatigue. There are many people who think providing variety in the diet is relatively unimportant and that if and when the time comes they'll eat what they've got and that will be that. For healthy, well-adjusted adults under ordinary circumstances this might be possible without too much difficulty. However, the entire reason for having a long term food storage program is for when circumstances aren't ordinary. Times of crisis produce stress -- possibly physical, but always mental. If you are suddenly forced to eat a diet that is both alien and monotonous, it is going to add just that much more stress on top of what you are already dealing with. If your planning includes the elderly, young children and infants they might just quit eating or refuse to eat sufficient amounts and become unable to survive. This is not a trivial problem and should be given serious consideration. Consider the positive aspects of adding some "comfort foods".

In his book, Making the Best of Basics, James Stevens mentions a post WWII study by Dr. Norman Wright, of the British Food Ministry, which found that people in England and Europe were more likely to reject unfamiliar or distasteful foods during times of stress than under normal conditions. When it's wheat, day in and day out, then wheat's going to start becoming distasteful pretty fast. Far better to have a variety of foods on hand to forestall appetite fatigue and, more importantly, to use those storable foods in your everyday diet so that you'll be accustomed to them."

So, to keep grandma and the kids from "failure to thrive" in an emergency, be sure to have foods they'll eat! And remember that may be one of the more stressful times to find out you don't know how to cook using food storage, or have to try something new like cooking over a fire. This is one of the reasons to go with methods 2-4 of starting a food storage post because it incorporates foods the family is eating.

Food Allergens: Sulfites