Elimination Diets: Lose Weight and Change Your Diet for Life – Ep. 166
Download Our Free Elimination Diet
Food Shopping List!
“The more strict you are with the elimination diet, the better. If you’re not quite sure if something should be on your list of things to eat, then don’t eat it during this time period.” – Rob Dionne
What is an Elimination Diet?
“A lot of people see diets as something that they have to do for the rest of their lives and that’s a really daunting thought for them. However, with the elimination diet, it allows you to figure out everything that you need to eat in order for your body to function properly and it only takes 6-8 weeks.” – Rob Dionne
On this week’s episode, Devon and I are giving you the full 411 on elimination diets. But what even is an elimination diet? For starters, it’s actually not much of a diet. It’s more of a short reset period during which you can discover which foods you should eat and which ones you should avoid.
In a nutshell, you eliminate any foods that can potentially cause problems with your body and then add them back in one at a time to assess the issues that occur or don’t occur.
While you do an elimination diet, you’ll want to make sure your health is good shape: no stress, easy workouts, spend time with friends and family, and get plenty of sleep.
Discover which foods you can digest, ones that cause allergies, or what foods are sensitive to your body.
How Long Does and Elimination Diet Take?
An elimination diet typically takes 6-8 weeks to fully complete, but it may take some people more than 8 weeks. On the bright side, you’ll have so much great information about your body by the time you wrap up the diet.
Which Types of Elimination Diets Exist?
There are different kinds of elimination diets that are more strict while others are more easy going. Some elimination diets include:
- Low FODMAP Diet
- Paleo
- Whole 30
Why Do an Elimination Diet?
“You don’t have to be unwell to do an elimination diet. You can be totally healthy, but you feel there’s some improvement you can make with your health. If you’re having a hard time losing weight, this could be good for you.” – Rob Dionne
If you have the following reoccurring symptoms that just don’t seem right or normal, it could be a sign of poor nutrition health:
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Gas
- Bloating
- Stomach pain
- Acid Refulx
- Foggy mind
- Irritabilty
- Chronic migraines
- Chronic fatigue
- Uncontrollable weight gain
- Difficulty losing weight
- Insomnia
- Exhaustion
- Can’t sleep well
- IBS
- Skin problems:
- Acne
- Eczema
If you ignore them, they can lead to worse problems like autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s Disease, or a leaky gut.
How to Start an Elimination Diet
“You can spend so much money on blood, genetic, or allergy tests, but the elimination diet is a really simple, inexpensive way to find out what works for you. It’s less scientific, but more detailed for the individual.” – Devon Dionne
Begin an elimination diet by getting rid of any potential foods that can harm your body for 3-5 weeks. If there are any foods that you suspect are giving you health problems, be sure to include those.
It might sound strange, but there can even be different fruits or vegetables like night shades that can also be causing you to have individual health problems. In general, night shades do have a lot of great benefits, but they can also cause health problems for some people.
Reintroducing Foods Back Into Your Diet
After 3 weeks, you can begin to reintroduce foods one at a time. Choose one food, eat a serving of it and then wait for 3 days to see any side effects before adding that food back into your diet.
If you experience any side effects, that’s a sign that your body doesn’t like that particular food and we don’t recommend you continue to eat them.
Add back in foods that were the most important to you first or foods that provide the most nutrition the quickest:
- Seeds
- Nuts
- Eggs
- Nightshades
- Shellfish
- Dairy
- Legumes
- Grain
- Caffeine
Any Downsides or Risks?
There shouldn’t be any downsides or risks, but there can be if you have diabetes. When in doubt, you should go see a doctor or even a naturopathic doctor who’s familiar with elimination diets.
Don’t do it with your children because it could affect their growth and development. Also, certain people might have extreme reactions once they’ve reintroduced these foods back into your diet. Allergies, migraines, and acne for example.
Contact an expert or a dietitian that specializes in elimination diets if you’re worried about it.
Share Your Healthy Recipes With Us!
From breakfast to dessert, send us your favorite healthy recipes in the Open Sky Fitness Facebook Group
We thought it would be a fun idea to gather all of our favorite recipes simply for the sake of sharing them with each other. We won’t be selling this book of recipes. Rather, we just want to compile a list of them to share with each other.
All you have to do is:
- Choose your favorite recipes
- Send it to us in the Facebook group and include:
- The source where you found the recipe i.e. book, online, magazine
- A couple of sentences about yourself.
- Use the hashtag: #OSFcookbook to help us easily find your submission!
Join The Open Sky Fitness Podcast Group!
That’s right! We have a closed Open Sky Fitness Podcast group on Facebook where you and everyone have the opportunity to talk about your health and fitness goals in a safe environment. We post workouts and start discussions about how to be strategic around finding a healthier you. Check it out!
Start Building Your Own Workouts and Meal Plan!
Download Results Tracker here!
Click To Download Home Workout Templates or text the word, “lifting,” to 33444 to download the templates.
Download the OSF Food Journal Now!
Have a Question or Review for Rob or Devon?
We love answering questions and getting feedback from you, our listener! If you have any questions to ask us, want to share a review of the show, or tell us any suggestions for guests/topics that you think would be great to have on the show, just email Rob at rob@openskyfitness.com or Devon at devon@openskyfitness.com or you can also leave us a review at www.openskyfitness.com/review, ask a question in the closed Open Sky Fitness Facebook Group and even text OSFreview to 33444 to get the link.
What You’ll Hear on This Episode
00:00 Open Sky Fitness Introduction
1:15 Opening comments with Rob and Devon
3:35 Check out last week’s episode – OSF 165 – Nagina Abudllah: How Spices Can Kick Start Your Weight Loss
5:00 Send us your favorite healthy recipes in the Open Sky Fitness Facebook Group
6:40 Sign up to do one-on-one coaching with either Rob and Devon!
8:20 Today’s topic: The Elimination Diet
10:20 Why should someone consider doing an elimination diet?
18:00 How to Start an Elimination Diet
23:10 Elimination Diets for Vegetarians
23:45 A Paleo Approach to the Elimination Diet
30:00 Foods that you should avoid for the elimination diet
36:00 The process of reintroducing foods back into your diet
39:35 Adjusting your lifestyle along with the elimination diet
43:00 Any downsides or risks to the elimination diet?
45:30 Shopping and meal prepping for the elimination diet
47:00 Final tips and advice for the elimination diet
48:50 Closing comments with Rob and Devon
49:55 Open Sky Fitness Closing
RESOURCES MENTIONED DURING THE SHOW:
- Leave us an iTunes review
- Join the The Open Sky Fitness Podcast Group on Facebook
- Contact Rob and Devon to apply for One-On-One Coaching Sessions
- Check out last week’s episode for OSF 165 – Nagina Abudllah: How Spices Can Kick Start Your Weight Loss
- Learn more about next week’s guest, Bradley Goldman of Be Strong Stay Fit
- Listen to the following OSF Podcasts for more great info on nutrition and gut health!
- Episode 49 with T.C. Hale – Kicking Your Fat in the Nuts
- OSF 121 – Keys to a Healthy Gut
- Episode 163 with Dr. Michael Ruscio: Gut Health – Healing Autoimmune Disease
- OSF 156 with Dr. David Perlmutter – The Inflammation Connection of Brain & Gut Health
- Episode 144 with Cristina Curp: Heal Your Autoimmune Disease with the Paleo Diet
- OSF 23 With Sarah Ballantyne: Eating Bugs and Organ Meat
- Get your own copy of The Paleo Approach Cookbook by Sarah Ballantyne
Get Fit with Free Downloads!
To Download Rob’s FREE workout templates click below**
Ask Rob a Question or tell him what is working for you: Email Rob@OpenSkyFitness.com
Support This Podcast
To leave a Review for Rob and the Open Sky Fitness Podcast CLICK NOW! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.
Contact our amazing sound engineer Ryan? Send him an e-mail here: info@stellarsoundsstudio.com
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.
Do you have any questions (and would like to hear yourself on the Open Sky Fitness Podcast)? Click on the link on the right side of any page on our website that says “Send Voicemail.”
And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!
Thanks for listening/reading Episode 166 – Elimination Diets: Lose Weight and Change Your Diet for Life! We hope you have gained more knowledge on how to be a healthier you.