Test Your Tolerance to Trigger Foods

It's time to test your sensitivities to the most common trigger foods which you have eliminated as part of the Supersafe and Safe diets.

Quick recap... the most common trigger foods are: gluten, dairy, soy products, eggs, nuts & seeds, corn, nightshades and refined sugar.

The goal is to be able to reintroduce as many of these foods as possible without symptoms... we want you to enjoy as varied a diet as possible, whilst also feeling as good as possible!

HOW TO TEST TRIGGER FOODS

1- Choose The Order

Choose which foods you would like to test first, to find out if they are indeed inflammatory 'triggers' for you.

The foods you will test are:

  • Nightshades (note that nightshades are also high in food chemicals)
  • Eggs
  • Corn
  • Dairy
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Soy

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • Gluten: Please note that we recommend waiting before reintroducing gluten as we believe it's inflammatory for everybody with gut issues, even if you don't 'react' to it. It's best to wait until you can tolerate most of the other trigger foods before trying gluten.
  • Refined sugar: We also recommend that you continue to avoid refined sugar. Once you have healed some more, you might be able to have a little bit of refined sugar here and there (like for your birthday) without problems, but it should NEVER be part of your daily diet.
  • Known allergies & sensitivities/intolerances: If you have a known allergy (IgE type allergy) to any of these foods, do not reintroduce them. However, if you have a known sensitivity/intolerance (delayed type sensitivity/ IgG) to some of these foods, you might find that you will be able to reintroduce some of them, either now or later on in the program. We'll explain more about this below.

Here are a few tips on choosing the order for food reintroduction:

  • Start with the food you miss the most
  • Start with the food that will make your life easier (such as eggs)
  • Start with the food that you intuitively feel is OK for you

Download the PDF below for more information about each of those foods and how to reintroduce them.

2- Make Up A Reintroduction Calendar

  • See example below and download the PDF.
  • Plan on reintroducing a new food every 3-4 days. The reason for this is that it can take up to 4 days for an immune reaction to occur and for symptoms to show up.
  • If a food causes a reaction, wait until you're back to feeling good before trying a new food again, to avoid any confusion.
  • Don't be tempted to go too fast.

Here is an example:

Download the PDF below and plan your food reintroduction for the next few weeks.

THE BEST WAY TO TEST EACH FOODS

We have found that once you've been avoiding a food you're sensitive to, the reaction to this food will often be much stronger once you reintroduce it (this is a way for your body to tell you it does not like that food).

For this reason, it's better to test a small amount first, and slowly increase the quantity over 2 days. Starting with a small amount will prevent you from feeling terrible for days if you do have a reaction!

If you do notice a reaction at any point, stop eating that new food. You have your answer, so no need to keep going.

Example: Testing eggs.

Start with a mouthful at breakfast. Watch for any reactions (see more info below on what to watch for). If you notice any negative reactions, stop eating eggs immediately. If no reaction occurs or you are not sure, double the amount for lunch, and have a full egg for dinner.

Next day: If you still feel ok, have 2 eggs for breakfast or lunch.

Third day: Stop eating eggs and continue paying attention to any reactions.

No reaction: Hooray!! You can now safely start eating eggs again.

Definite reaction (felt bloated and tired!): Stop eating eggs for 3 to 6 months and then retest.

Not sure: Sometimes it's not clear cut, or maybe something else happened while you were testing and you are not sure if you reacted or not. In this case, we recommend retesting in 1-2 weeks.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR WHEN TESTING NEW FOODS

Any symptoms you had before the elimination phase coming back is a good indication that you might be sensitive to that food. Anything from fatigue, headaches, pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, anxiety and/or any other mood changes, food cravings, skin rashes, etc.

A racing heart as soon as you put the food in your mouth, or shortly after eating is another sign that you might be sensitive to that food.

Another good indicator is if you put on weight quickly after eating a new food (which could be a sign of water retention). You can weigh yourself in the morning and then again in a few hours after eating the new food. If you gain weight, it's could be a sign you're sensitive to this food.

It’s important to note that symptoms can take up to 3 to 4 days to show up after eating a specific food. So if you try cheese, for instance, you might experience fatigue up to four days later.

It’s also important to realise that other things might influence the way you feel, not just the food you have reintroduced. Let's imagine you introduce dairy and then you have a very stressful day, you don’t sleep well and have a headache the next day… it might not be the dairy. You might have to test the same food a few times before you have a clear idea.

WHAT TO EAT DURING THE TESTING

In order to not confuse things, we recommend continuing with the Supersafe and Safe diets. The reason for this is that you know how you've been feeling so far on these diets, so it will be easier for you to identify any symptom changes as you reintroduce a new food.

You could simply test each new food away from your main meals, or add the food you're testing to any of the recipes, if suitable.

Once you've identified that a food is OK for you, you can continue eating this food during the reintroduction phase.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU CAN'T REINTRODUCE ANY NEW FOODS?

1- Read: What to do if you are not improving.

2- Do not despair!!

It can take time for your digestive tract to heal. You can estimate that it will take about 1 month for every year that you've been sick for your body to heal.

It also takes time for your immune system to stop reacting to a specific food. The immune system has a 'memory'. It's estimated that it can take up to 6 months of COMPLETE avoidance for the immune system to 'forget' a food and stop reacting to it. The good news is that if you do avoid a food for a long enough period AND heal your gut, you should be able to eat some of these foods again.

Keep healing your gut and try again in a few months.

WHAT NEXT?

If you haven't already.... it's time to:


Complete and Continue