Allergies? Maybe. We Shall See.

Hey Ya'll,
So last week I mentioned a potential allergy to the meal replacement shakes that I was taking last month. Well, I decided to attempt an elimination diet to try to identify any negative reactions to specific foods. This diet is rather intense, but it is only for a short period of time (2-4 weeks) so no long term deficiency are to be expected from this. Because this diet is so restrictive I am going to be either very creative with my meals or very repetitive. This list I found in an article explaining Elimination diets, and because I agreed with much of what was said I chose this technique. The far right column is the exclude list and the middle column is the include list (my title line shifted for some reason)

Foods to include	Foods to exclude
Fruits	Almost all fresh fruit	Citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, etc)
Vegetables	Almost all fresh raw, steamed, sautéed, or roasted vegetables	Tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes (sweet potato and yams are okay)
Starch	Rice*, buckwheat*	Wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, oats, all gluten-containing products
Legumes		Soybeans, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, all beans, peas, lentils
Nuts and seeds		All seeds and nuts
Meat and fish	Fish, turkey, lamb, wild game	Beef, chicken, pork, cold cuts, bacon, hotdogs, canned meat, sausage, shellfish, meat substitutes made from soy
Dairy products and milk substitutes	Unsweetened rice milk*, almond milk, coconut milk	Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, non-dairy creamers, eggs
Fats	Cold-expeller pressed olive oil, flaxseed oil, coconut oil	Margarine, butter, processed and hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, spreads
Beverages	Drink plenty of fresh water, herbal teas (e.g. rooibos, peppermint, etc.)	Alcohol, caffeine (coffee, black tea, green tea, soda)
Spices and condiments	Sea salt, fresh pepper, fresh herbs and spices (i.e. garlic, cumin, dill, ginger, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, turmeric)	Chocolate, ketchup, mustard, relish, chutney, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, vinegar
Sweeteners	Stevia (if needed)	White or brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, desserts

Since I not only have to feed myself, but my family as well, I am going to have to be creative more often than not. So I say, challenge accepted. I forgot to take a pic of my lunch yesterday or my breakfast shakes but I do have what was for dinner yesterday and today. (My lunch today was leftovers from dinner last night)

Roasted turkey breast with wild rice cooked in mushroom broth and roasted broccoli with carrots
Dinner last night and leftovers for lunch

Rice noodles with tuna and roasted veggies (mushrooms, peppers, carrots, celery, asparagus, scallions,  garlic) in a mushroom broth with fish sauce & red pepper flakes. Dinner tonight (leftovers for lunch tomorrow)

Today is only day 2 of the elimination but the primary difference I have noticed is my digestion. Of course eating more veggies and less meat, dairy, and gluten allows things to move more freely. That's always a plus. I'm hoping to see some significant changes in my skin soon. That way when I'm testing my excluded foods one at a time if I have an eczema flair up I will be able to identify the food that aggravate my condition. We shall soon see. Well I'm off to complete my yoga for the night, have to keep the 108 day challenge going strong!

Namaste Ya'll, Peace to You