The Elimination Diet – The Completion

Going in to the Elimination Diet program, I knew I had an alarming amount of reactions and bloating to foods that shouldn’t have bothered me, to the point where most people didn’t believe me when I told them and even I thought it was in my head.  Without question, some of my sensitivities were related to stress and some were “fake” allergies because of my gluten intolerance. 

I’ve been more in control of the bloating related to stress since I’ve started practicing mindful eating and it’s been better than it has ever been.  I’ve also eliminated other stress factors in my life that have contributed to my healing.  The improved changes to my diet, like being able to eat pineapple, garlic and onion has had such a large impact for me.

Then there were the foods that I knew I had genuine reactions to like citrus, gluten and dairy.  The hardest part of the program was the volatile, mini stresses from all the trial and error.  Before this diet, I was used to a constant stream of pain and I just lived with it.  On this diet, I had a moment where my body was my own again and all my food stress disappeared.  Slowly, as I added categories back to my diet, I was sick and then feeling better and getting sick and then feeling better.  It was almost worse than just being sick because at least I was always prepared to feel sick.  This time, I didn’t know when it was going to hit.

When I got to the point of testing sesame, my reaction and genuine allergy through me over the edge.  It was terrible and I felt like I was treating my body like a punching bag.  All my motivation, determination and drive towards this diet evaporated.  At the time this happened though, I didn’t realize that that was the cause.  I actually equated my pause to how productive my work was going and I recently moved house which took up a lot of time.  But, those were just excuses, I stopped because I couldn’t handle the roller coaster.

Once I reconnected to my body again, I was ready to finish off the diet.  I did it with trepidation and I was still quite nervous but I persevered.  I chose to stop blogging because it was an added pressure that distracted me from just focusing on making my body healthy.  I stopped being concerned about documenting my every movement and instead, embraced the remaining roller coaster of the program.

Here is a recap on my successes, stresses and remaining allergies:

It turns out I have sensitivities to brown rice, apple cider vinegar, all citrus except for lemons, excess spice, tomatoes and sesame.  This is way better than I expected and a lot less to deal with then the first time I attempted the program but still a lot to deal with.

I really was disappointed in how many times I made pauses, alterations and how long I extended the program.  I wanted my perseverance to be a little stronger but the fact that it was my first attempt at such a huge life exercise, I did well.

There were a few times I cheated where it was mindful cheating and I was 100% okay with it, but I also cheated a couple of times out of sabotage and rebellion but rebellion against what?  My own success?  It’s one of my weaknesses that I was confronted with on this journey that I’m still working on.  I think I’m holding on to some “I don’t deserve to be successful at this” emotions and I need to let go but it’s a work in progress…

I’m so proud that I attempted this program and learnt so much about myself.  I paid attention to and positively responded to my body’s needs the best I could.  For the couple of weeks I’ve been off the program, a couple of small old habits have slipped back in to my diet but they are minor.  Mainly, I have adopted a much healthier life style that I can actually manage.  It’s not perfect, but it works for my life.

I have lost weight, learnt how to cook healthier food, I’m more body confident, I say no to foods that hurt and exercise is easier.  Most importantly, I’ve shown myself some respect that was seriously lacking.  I taught myself to respect myself the way I respect the people around me.  This is my most cherished win and, without question, will have a lasting effect.