THink we are going to do the Elimination Diet - any tips?

[BrightSparkles]

For getting started or making it easier?
I remember doing it YEARS ago when I lived at home and thats how I found my intolerance to salicilates. I need to try something with DD - ANYTHING before I start pulling my hair out and losing the plot.

How did you go about starting it? Were your experiences positive or negative? Whats the differenece between this and the failsafe stuff?

[Cherished]

Hi sunshine, I did an elimination diet as such but I knew what I was eliminating before I started because I got tested 1st. I got tested on an avatar machine which is some kind of machine where I held 2 rods in my hands and the lady tested for intolerances etc on a huge list of foods and she can even do it for substances too like shampoos etc or certain perservatives which are triggering bad behavior etc it can really be used to find any substance which is creating your body to be imbalanced in any way, even hormonally. Anyway her machine tells you what level of tolerance your body has to the thing she is testing and you end up knowing what to avoid etc There are heaps of different machines like this out there but they are called different things, if you call a natroupath or kinesiologist they will be able to point you in the right direction if you want to try that.

I went to get rid of my eczema which I have had since birth, it was so bad that I was literary at my wits end! I found out certain foods and drinks which were major triggers and even the mild ones and came out with a list of foods which were bad for me and ones which were healing for me. I eliminated the bad ones and with in about 3 months I was totally clear Now I can have those foods in moderation (some I have every day) and I've had the eczema under control for 18 months.

[SJL]

I have been doing an elimination diet with my daughter. We keep having to stop due to other complication with her needs and I wasn't able to tell what was pain/illness or food related behaviours.

If you havent done it yet I think it is well worth it. We started with finding a dietician who gave us the relevent info to start (you need a dietician who specialises in it, the first dietician we went to wanted my daughter on a vitamin supplement which contained artificial colourings????go figure???
My understanding is FAILSAFE /low chemical diets and elimination diets are basically the same.

You should know within the first 2-3 weeks of detox if your child is allergic to anything and looking at the big picture, The tests should take no more than 3-4 months to get through which isnt a big price to pay if it means a better life for your child and your family.

Good luck


Sjl

[Yael]

We are also about to try the failsafe diet after reading the book "fed up" - mainly to improve my son's behaviour more than anything, before considering other things like medication.

Cherished - I don't mean this in a rude way at all, but what scientific backing is there to the process you went through to find out what to avoid? What is the science behind this machine? The thing i liked about the Fed Up book was that it was based on studies and scientific research, and the process of eliminating a food to look for an improvement, and then a challenge in which the substance is put back in and it should give a reaction follows scientific logic.. I'm just trying to understand how the system you propose works (I'm from a science background so it makes me a bit of a cynic).

DH is away for work at the moment, and I sent along the book with him, because I feel to do this I really need his support 110% and a lot of forward planning for meals etc.

The thing I am the most worried about eliminating is salicilates - it seems so hard as we have a lot of tomato and garlic etc in our food. I was thinking of eliminating everything but, but the book says that is what most kids react to and basically not to bother otherwise.

[Salad]

Hi Sunshine,
We havent done an elimination diet as such, but we have eliminated many additives and preservative etc, even ones that are supposed to be natural such as 160B or better known as Annatto, this has been linked to headbanging/butting in children, my DD was reacting to this terribly.
Go to the fedupwithfoodadditives website and you will find heaps of information on there which may help you. I agree that if you want to do the proper elimination diet then you really need to see a dietician one that is supportive or specialises in the food additives side of things.
DD also had reactions to grapes and strawberries very bad reactions, we are not sure if this is due to salicilates or another matter which we are working on at the moment.
My best advice to you is if you think its not working or making a difference give it a bit longer, with my DD some improvement was noticed straight away but with other things she seemed to be worse, after a couple more weeks the improvement was amazing.
We had a little girl who would not sleep past 4 hours at night then wake screaming throwing herself around her cot, slapping kicking us and biting us, headbutting walls and floors etc after taking out the main baddies and reducing her huge fruit intake we now have a beautiful calm little girl who has 2.5 hours day sleep and sleeps 10-12 hours over night. We had 10 weeks straight of the above mentioned behaviour it was so bad I was a sobbing mess on the floor most days and nights.
Anyway I will stop raving on as I am no expert but if you have any questions or need to talk feel free to contact me
Bug hugs to you and good luck with it all.
xoxox

[SJL]

Yael,
The low chemical/elimination diets are based on the same research as Failsafe, the research was completed through RPA in Sydney.

Hope that answers your question and good luck with what ever you decide.

Sjl