Rotation, elimination diets can help control food allergies

Diet fads emerge routinely, presenting challenges to consumers who have food allergies or intolerances that require them to watch what they eat. But sometimes the simplest of tricks can help.

This is where the rotation diet comes in, and it works just like how it sounds. You keep changing up what you eat and eventually personalize and harmonize your diet so that your health may improve and your allergies become tolerable.

Now let’s turn the rotation diet into a real-life scenario: You go out for dinner and what do you order? A large plate of lasagna. Chances are you won’t eat the full meal, so you leave with a box of leftovers. According to the rotation diet, what should you do with your leftover lasagna? Instead of placing it into the refrigerator, you set it in the freezer and stay off that lasagna for at least four days.

By avoiding eating the same thing for several days, you are able to help expose any ingredients to which you may be allergic. Such foods may be so regularly consumed that your body has managed to develop a delayed immune response.

Another way to pinpoint food allergies is by implementing the elimination diet. This advanced cycle helps weed out foods that cause an intolerance or mild allergy. Following the elimination diet, the presumed food is deducted from the diet for a period ranging from four days to three weeks, until the symptoms subside. Once the body adjusts to the food’s absence, lowering the level of antibodies, the suspected food is added back in and any symptoms that reappear are noted in a trial-and-error process.

Please keep in mind that due to the complexity of this diet as well as the rotation diet, it is important to consult with your health care provider before you begin radically altering your diet to alleviate food allergies or intolerances.

Some of the most common food allergens include wheat, milk and dairy, eggs, corn and soy. Antigens, found in protein-based foods, can cause a wide range of immune related symptoms that can start off as mild sniffles and develop into hives or even cause anaphylactic shock. Such severe reactions are typically caused by peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. These reactions require immediate medical attention and administration of an epinephrine shot.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found an 18 percent increase in food allergies in a study that spanned a decade, ending in 2007. But it remains unclear why food allergies have increased. Some suspect environmental factors such as pollution, while others believe it could be the byproducts of the genetic modification of the everyday food we consume.

Time and again we go with our gut when it comes to the foods our body needs. So, listen to your body, rotate your food groups and meal menu; and always strive for good health 365 days a year.

Steve Bernardi is a registered compounding pharmacist and co-owner of Johnson Compounding and Wellness in Waltham (www.naturalcompounder.com). Readers with questions about natural or homeopathic medicine, compounded medications, or health in general can email steve@naturalcompounder.com or call 781-893-3870.