The Elimination Diet for Your Life

When Life Puts You on an Elimination Diet

Have you ever tried an elimination diet? It’s a diet where you remove one food at a time to identify food allergies and sensitivities. Sometimes it’s a necessity. 

A few months ago my husband and I were in the middle of remodeling a house we were selling. Every day was crammed full of projects from sunup to sundown. Still, we had to eat. We tried to eat as healthy as possible, so we had our go-to places we frequented.  

One evening, Chris picked up a salmon bowl from one of our go-to eateries. I was talking to my mom as I ate, relaying all the things we had accomplished that day. About four bites in I knew something was off. “Mom, I think I feel itchy,” I said as I scratched my head. Was my scalp dry? Then, my hands started to itch. Perhaps a family of mosquitoes had feasted on me. I looked at my palms. Blood red. “That’s odd,” I thought. A few seconds later, my face felt itchy. And my torso. And my legs. Then, feet. “Mom, I’m really, really itchy! Oh my gosh, I can’t stand it! It’s bad!” 

I started to panic. I ran to the bathroom. I looked like a topographical heat map. My body was covered from the top of my head to the soles of my feet in hooved up welts. I became congested and swollen. A cool shower changed nothing. 

I called Chris and he rushed me to a med clinic where they administered a shot to stop my body's overproduction of histamines. Sweet relief ensued!

This was something I had eaten several times before but, needless to say, I haven’t eaten it since. I felt like it was the spice (there was a lot on it), not the salmon. I may never know the trigger. Also, I have never in my life had an allergic reaction like that. Annoying seasonal allergies? Yes. Head-to-toe craziness? Never!

There are some foods (certain cheeses) that are slightly irritating, and I still eat them. However, I know I will deal with the consequences, if I do. I keep a mental catalog of every food (hello, eggplant, I see you) that makes my histamines kick up a fuss.

I suppose I do an informal elimination diet - bringing possible culprits into my diet in different forms, then removing them to see if my body is happier without them. 

I wondered if my body accumulated allergens, and then had an outburst? Maybe the stress I was encountering at the time of my emergency contributed to my body’s reaction.

Listen to your body, right? The same applies to life, in general. 

When you are constantly accumulating things in your life - people, mental stories, possessions, poor habits - it forms blockages in your life. Eventually, these accumulations overwhelm one part of your life. That overwhelm then starts to creep into other parts of your life.

I’m talking about mindLESS accumulation.

You’ve heard me say it before, “The more you have, the more you have to manage.”

If you can’t manage the small things in your life, how can you manage more? 

I’m not saying you need to be an uber minimalist living out of a backpack with 21 items. What I am suggesting is being mindful (and considerate) of what you bring into your life. ‘Cause, once something is established, it’s hard to remove.

Take a moment to think of one thing that you accrue too much of in your life. It can be anything, friends.

Here are some examples:

• Pets

• Food

• Friends

• Clothing

Before anyone thinks I’m a troll of a person for giving things like pets as examples, let me explain. 

Do you know of someone who has a pet (or many), but they tend to neglect them? I have a person that comes to mind. This person is loving and kind to a fault, but her life is maxed out. She owns a business and works insane hours. She barely has time to eat a meal before going to bed and repeating the day before. Her pet, though not intended, is an afterthought. 

I love animals. I have two fur babies, and they are spoiled. I can meet all their needs, like taking them to the vet without fear of financial stress. Admittedly, there was a time in my life that I had pets, and I shouldn’t have. I wasn’t meeting my needs, so I definitely was not meeting their needs. 

Food is a trigger for most people. When I was at the height of my burnout I was not eating well, if I ate at all. I bought cups of yogurt for breakfast (full of sugar), and consumed fast food for lunch every single day. I was stressed, and my body’s response was to crave fatty foods.

I knew I needed healthier choices, but life was just too busy to make it happen.

Do your food choices support the type of life you want to enjoy? Do you have health goals? This is basic self-care - food, shelter, clothing.

Friends. There are friends, and then there are “friends.” You have tried and true friends, the ones you can depend on for anything. Then, you have people in your life who are more like acquaintances, but you call them friends. 

People don’t make the distinction anymore. You aren’t really involved in one another’s lives, but you feel compelled to stay connected. You don’t even know why, but you meet for lunch or coffee sometimes and catch up on what’s happened over the last several months since you last met for lunch or coffee. 

Sometimes you hold onto people to fill a void in your life. Maybe they are a connection to your past, so you struggle to let the relationship go. Maybe you were close friends at some point, but distance has eroded the relationship.

Maybe you are the one always reaching out and making plans, while the other person never reciprocates. 

And  listen, I have my own things I need to eliminate. Over the course of multiple moves and the death of my MIL, I have accumulated a mountain of things - my husband’s things, my things, his mother’s things, things my mom has “gifted” to me (aka, she didn’t want them). It’s a process.

We ALL have things that knock our lives out of alignment.  

It’s no problem if you can get things back on track. The issues begin when you start layering (accumulating) more and more and more. Personal neglect sets in. Then, that personal neglect spills into other areas of your life. For me, this resulted in extreme burnout. 

All these things add up. They create stress. Maybe just a little, but all the little stresses and added responsibilities in our lives create mounds, then hills, then mountains.

When you keep things in your life that you know aren’t physically, mentally, or spiritually healthy or necessary, you have to ask WHY. 

First precept of tackling anything: Everything starts with self-awareness.

Why do you need to do an elimination diet for your life? 

Anything you bring into your life takes up space. It may inhabit physical space, mental space, spiritual space, or any combination of the three. 

How to Do an Elimination Diet for Your Life

1. Take time to visualize the life you want. How do you want to show up in the world?

2. Be aware of the things you need to eliminate or limit, because they don’t support the life you desire.

3. Pick one thing at a time to tackle.

4. Identify WHY you think you need to eliminate or limit that thing. 

5. WHAT do you think you will get from removing or limiting that thing?

Doing an elimination diet for your life is not actually about eliminating things. 

Remember, CONNECT is all about life harmony. You want life to flow. 

I underlined sentences in the examples I gave above. Did you notice any patterns? Everything comes down to placing yourself first. Not in a self-centered way, but in a loving way. When you take care of yourself first, then you can show up fully for everything and everyone else in life.

Doing an elimination diet for your life means mindfully creating space for what you want more of in your life by removing or limiting what you want less of in your life. 

That’s it. Keep it simple.

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