Everything You Need To Know About The Elimination Diet + A Meal Plan

Finding the perfect nutrition plan is like dating: It takes time, effort, a lot of trial and error (and sometimes leaves your stomach reeling)—but it's ultimately worth the struggle when you find your match.

In all seriousness, it's essential to take note of the foods you're eating because how you nourish your body has an impact on so many aspects of your health. Just as some foods allow you to feel your best, others may be to blame for bloating, a bad mood, and even headaches or skin flare-ups. Ever notice how processed foods make you feel a bit off? That's the perfect example of certain ingredients not optimally fueling your body.

One of the most important things to remember is there's no one-size-fits-all approach to eating that will benefit everyone. Some foods that may cause you discomfort can leave someone else feeling energized and fulfilled, so finding what serves your own body can make a major impact on your general well-being and comfort.

This is the crux of the elimination diet: cutting out foods that are known to cause issues in the stomach in order to mitigate pain and discomfort over time. 

"It involves eliminating certain foods for a period of time, say three weeks, and then reintroducing each food, one at a time, to see which food causes symptoms and discomfort," explains registered dietitian and personal trainer Gabriela Barreto, M.S., R.D., CDN, CSSD, CFSC.

It's first important to note that this eating plan is not intended to be a long-term solution or something you should follow for an extended period of time. Rather, the elimination diet should simply be used to determine which foods are causing you discomfort so you can remove those ingredients from your life rather than nix entire food groups from your eating plan.

You should also be aware that this is a restrictive diet by nature, and may lead to nutrient deficiencies in the future if followed for longer durations.

The process of following an elimination diet is relatively simple. "You want to remove all the foods that you are going to remove at the same time, not one by one. This is necessary to remove all the possible instigating foods for the same period of time," explains integrative immunologist Heather Moday, M.D. Then, generally two to six weeks later, "you want to reintroduce one food at a time every 36 to 48 hours to assess whether you have a negative reaction," she says.

This is one eating plan that is highly personalized, so it depends on your body's sensitivities to determine what you can and cannot eat. "A very common elimination diet would be the removal of inflammatory foods, common food allergies, along with some common autoimmune instigators," notes Moday. "Removing processed foods, industrial seed oils, alcohol, sugar, wheat, dairy, soy, peanuts, and corn is a simple [way] to start."

The elimination diet is not a long-term eating plan and should not be followed for the sake of weight loss. By nature, it is a highly restrictive plan, so if you have a history of disordered eating, it's even more important to discuss a safe approach with your health care professional. 

"Individuals with no clinical symptoms related to diet and food consumption do not need to follow an elimination diet," notes Barreto. "Individuals going through treatments or on medications should consult with the medical team before trying an elimination diet."

Moday also adds that those who struggle with vitamin and mineral deficiencies or are presently underweight should avoid following this eating plan. 

It's also worth noting that eliminating foods that don't need to be removed from your diet may actually have a negative effect on your body over time, as you deprive yourself of vital nutrients. "Recent studies have found that people who eliminate gluten when they don't need to increase their risk of heart disease," integrative gastroenterologist Will Bulsiewicz, M.D., MSCI, previously shared with mindbodygreen. Eliminating any and all grains can also be harmful to the gut, he adds.

The elimination diet is not intended to help change your physical appearance or make it easier to fall into restrictive eating habits. Instead, this plan is designed to help you identify foods that may be causing GI distress or triggering other health concerns such as eczema, migraines, and more.