Foods to Avoid
The first step of the elimination diet is to avoid all the foods that are known to cause allergies or intolerance in people. This elimination period should last 5-10 days. In order to find out if our body is indeed sensitive to each food groups, we reintroduce the food group into our diet separately and monitor our body for symptoms after the elimination period.
The below list contains foods that are commonly responsible:
- Soda
- Alcohol
- Peas, beans, and corn
- Peanuts
- Food colors and dyes
- Eggs
- Dairy products
- Citrus fruit
- Chocolate
- Wheat, barley, oats, and anything that has gluten
- Sugar and aspartame
- Caffeine
- Bacon, hot dogs, sausage, and lunch meats
- Anything that contains MSG (monosodium glutamate)
- Any food that you currently eat for more than twice a week
- All processed foods
Remember that eliminating these foods is only temporary. Some patients who have FMS and CFS have said that their fatigue and pain have dropped significantly after they have eliminated certain foods.
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I know that I cannot consume artificial sweeteners as well as MSG. I have known about the MSG for over 30 years. I learned about artificial sweeteners about 10 years ago. Eliminating gluten did not change my pain level at all. I tried for 6 months and no improvement. When I reintroduced, my pain level did not increase.