If you suspect that you have a food intolerance or sensitivity that is causing skin problems, digestive issues, headaches or other symptoms, your healthcare provider may suggest an elimination diet meal plan. This is where you remove the suspect foods in your diet for a particular period, then reintroduce later while observing the changes or reactions.
The aim of this diet plan is to eliminate some foods that are suspected to be causing your particular symptoms for about 2-3 weeks and to monitor the changes that happen when you eliminate certain foods and when you re-introduce them.
It’s important to note that elimination diets aren’t intended to be long-term lifestyle changes. If you suspect you have food intolerances or sensitivities, then this diet can help you to identify those foods that trigger reactions in your body. It’s also sometimes beneficial for people who have gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (001). However, it’s a short-term tool that should be used under the supervision of your healthcare provider to identify a particular problem – it is not in itself a cure.
What Is an Elimination Diet Meal Plan?
An elimination diet meal plan is a systematic or structured diet plan where you eliminate some foods from your diet that may be causing adverse symptoms to your skin or gut or causing other conditions or illnesses. After an elimination period is over, you then reintroduce the foods again and monitor the changes or the reactions to find out what’s specifically triggering your symptoms.
This diet plan is suitable for people who experience food intolerance or have sensitivities to certain foods that make them show adverse symptoms when they consume them. There’s so much to learn about an elimination diet as it happens in phases and stages. Here are the two phases:
- The Elimination Phase
This is the phase where you eliminate specific foods or groups of foods that you or your doctor suspect to be the cause of adverse symptoms that you usually experience. For example, if you often experience skin rashes or bloating and diarrhea, this could be a reaction or intolerance to some foods.
The elimination period could be somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on what your healthcare provider recommends. It may also depend on how fast you see a reduction in your symptoms.
While on elimination, you need to be careful not to accidentally eat the foods you need to avoid as that would mean needing to start the cycle afresh.
- Reintroduction Phase
After the period of elimination is over, you then re-introduce the foods you eliminated, but one at a time. Introducing them one at a time will help you pinpoint the specific food among the suspects that are triggering the symptoms.
For example, if you eliminated dairy in your diet and this helped alleviate bloating, but after re-introduction you start to experience it again, you may be intolerant to dairy.
It’s important to note that the elimination diet meal plan is an individual approach. This is because there’s no universal approach that works for everyone. What you’re eliminating could be good for someone else and what is good for you could be causing adverse symptoms to another individual. This is why it’s important to work closely with your healthcare provider to get individualized guidance and monitoring.
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What Do You Eat on an Elimination Diet?
During the elimination phase, there are foods that are safe to eat. What you need to avoid during your elimination phase may vary depending on what your healthcare provider suspects to be the problem. However, some foods that are commonly allowed during this stage include:
- Proteins – fish, chicken, turkey, lamb, lentils, and chickpeas.
- Non-starchy vegetables – spinach, broccoli, kale, and zucchini.
- Root vegetables – potatoes, parsnips, and sweet potatoes.
- Fruits – oranges, lemons, apples, pears, and berries.
- Gluten-free Grains – rice, millet, buckwheat, and quinoa.
- Healthy fats and oils – avocado oil, olive oil, canola, and other vegetable oils.
- Herbs and spices – turmeric, basil, cilantro, and parsley.
- Drinks – water, herbal tea, and some non-dairy milks.
While these are some of the foods that are commonly allowed while on the elimination phase, individual food tolerance varies. It’s important to follow your healthcare provider’s instructions, which are based on your individual situation and health history.
Read more: Healthy High-Protein Meal Plan | Beginners Guide
Common Culprits for Food Intolerance and Allergies (Foods to Eliminate)
As you already know the foods that are often safe, it’s also important to identify some of the foods that are generally considered culprits to food sensitivities and intolerance. Some of these foods include soy, shellfish, nuts, eggs, dairy products (animal milk), and gluten (wheat, rye, barley) (2).
What Are the Stages of an Elimination Diet?
The stages of an elimination diet include planning, avoidance, challenging, and maintenance. Therefore, for this diet plan to work effectively and to achieve its goals, you need to follow the following steps:
Step 1: Planning
Planning is laying out the blueprint that you’ll use on your entire meal plan journey. It involves the foods to eliminate in your diet and a food diary for the entire elimination period. What to eat vs what not to eat. It’s all about what, when, and how. After planning, you should be ready with everything to guide you through the journey.
Step 2: Avoidance
After creating the blueprint, it’s time to implement. This stage sets you in the real elimination phase where you stick to what to eat and what you need to avoid. You do this until you see improvement in your symptoms, usually for 2-3 weeks, then you can move to the next step. Here, you get a list of foods to avoid and ensure you don’t eat any of the foods on that list for the entire period.
Step 3: Challenging
After avoiding certain foods and seeing your symptoms improve, you should wait for about 5 days before you reintroduce the foods you eliminated. Introduce the foods gradually, one at a time, so you can clearly identify the foods that cause any of your symptoms to return.
Step 4: Maintenance
From the observations you’ve made, foods that cause symptoms to return are those you should avoid in your normal diet. You can eat everything else.
What Is a Meal Plan for An Elimination Diet?
If you’re planning for an elimination diet, you need to have a meal plan to help you stay organized and stick to a structured menu throughout your journey. Of course, you already know the foods that are usually safe for this diet, but your list may vary. Here’s an example of a 7-day elimination diet meal plan:
Day 1
- Breakfast – almond milk, spinach smoothie, chia seeds, blueberries.
- Lunch – olive oil dressing, cucumbers, grilled chicken salad.
- Dinner – steamed broccoli and quinoa with baked salmon.
Day 2
- Breakfast – gluten-free oatmeal, sliced apples, and almond milk.
- Lunch – celery, turmeric, and lentil soup with some carrots.
- Dinner – zucchini noodles with turkey meatballs and marinara sauce.
Day 3
- Breakfast – sweet potato hash with sautéed spinach.
- Lunch – chickpeas and quinoa salad with cucumbers.
- Dinner – roasted Brussels sprouts with grilled lamb chops.
Day 4
- Breakfast – coconut milk chia pudding and raspberries.
- Lunch – mixed greens with avocado salad and grilled shrimp salad.
- Dinner – steamed asparagus with wild rice and baked cod.
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Day 5
- Breakfast – coconut water smoothie with kale, flaxseeds, and pineapple.
- Lunch – avocado with shredded carrots and turkey lettuce wraps.
- Dinner – broccoli and chicken stir-fry with bell peppers and tamari sauce.
Day 6
- Breakfast – buckwheat pancakes with almond butter and some sliced bananas.
- Lunch – chickpeas salad and spinach with lemon dressing.
- Dinner – roasted sweet potatoes with baked chicken thighs and green beans.
Day 7
- Breakfast – smoothie almond milk, hemp seeds, and mixed berries.
- Lunch – dill dressing, cucumbers, and grilled salmon salad.
- Dinner – beef stew with parsnips and carrots and a lettuce wrap.
Without a plan, it’s easy to compromise and you may find it difficult to go for the entire period of 2-3 or more weeks without a plan. Therefore, use it to create your own meal plan. You may want to use it the way it is or to alter some foods to suit your individual needs.
What Snacks Can I Eat on an Elimination Diet?
There are plenty of nutritious snacks that are suitable for an elimination diet. These include the following categories:
- Fruits and Vegetables – apples, berries, pears, avocado slices, bananas, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, and watermelon.
- Nuts and Seeds – sunflower seeds, almonds, and walnuts.
- Others – rice cakes, smoothies, kale chips, coconut yogurt, and coconut flour pancakes.
We cannot name all the snack options you can try while on an elimination diet. Therefore, it’s important to check whether the snack of your choice is tolerated or not before you include it in your diet.
Do You Lose Weight on an Elimination Diet?
Elimination diets aren’t meant to help you lose weight. The purpose of an elimination diet is to identify the foods that are causing reactions or intolerance and leading to adverse symptoms and conditions. It’s not a diet that’s meant for losing weight, although its restrictive nature may result in you consuming fewer calories than usual, which can lead to inadvertent weight loss.
So, if it happens that you lose weight while on this diet plan, then that’s a side effect. If you don’t have food sensitivities and want to lose weight, then you need to embrace a more healthy, balanced diet. The Mediterranean diet, intermittent fasting, and high-protein diet plans are some of the options that can help you on your journey to weight loss.
Read more: How A Healthy Meal Planning App Can Change The Way You Eat Forever
Can You Have a Cheat Day on an Elimination Diet?
You shouldn’t have a cheat day while on an elimination diet. Therefore, you should strictly follow the blueprint while avoiding the foods you suspect are causing reactions and adverse symptoms. If it happens that you consume foods that you’re supposed to avoid, the best thing to do is start afresh.
Caffeine and alcohol are generally not allowed on an elimination diet as they can cause gastrointestinal irritation and other symptoms. Yes, you can usually eat bananas while on an elimination diet, but it depends. Some specific elimination diets, such as a low-FODMAP diet, may limit or eliminate ripe bananas. Yes, you can usually eat carrots on an elimination diet. They’re allowed because there’s a low likelihood that carrots would cause a food sensitivity reaction. It’s important to note that carrots are gut-friendly, easy to digest, and rich in nutrients. In addition, carrot allergies aren’t common, especially with cooked carrots (1). Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have coffee on an elimination diet?
Can you eat bananas on an elimination diet?
Can I eat carrots on an elimination diet?
The Bottom Line
The purpose of an elimination diet meal plan is to identify the potential culprit foods that usually cause sensitivity reactions or symptoms such as skin rash, bloating, and diarrhea.
As previously mentioned, there’s no one-fits-all elimination meal plan as people may react differently to different foods. While some foods can be safe for some people, they may not be safe for others, and so an individualized approach is important when designing a personal elimination meal plan.
It’s important to work closely with your healthcare provider throughout the entire process.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not serve to address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for making any kind of decision-making. Any action taken as a direct or indirect result of the information in this article is entirely at your own risk and is your sole responsibility.
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You should always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or your specific situation. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of BetterMe content. If you suspect or think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor.
SOURCES:
- Can carrots cause allergies? (2018, medicalnewstoday.com)
- Eliminating Diets (2024, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
