My Elimination Diet: A Practitioner’s Diary of Dieting

Posted by admin on May 4, 2010 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

After my pregnancy I developed mild psoriasis (a non-infectious skin condition). I went to the dermatologist and was offered a steroid injection – the only option I was given for psoriasis symptom control – but decided against it. Instead, in addition to regular exercise, acupuncture, meditation and tai chi – I added an elimination diet into my protocol for clearing my skin and (hopefully) shedding a few extra pounds left over from my pregnancy.

I have often recommended elimination diets to patients, but this was only the second time I tried it for myself. The first time I was living in Austin, TX., the home-base of Whole Foods and many other small and large natural food stores. My exploration of Pittsburgh’s offerings was new. Hopefully this blog will share some insights into places to go and yummy food to eat as well as my experience with the Elimination Diet.
First of all, I will be the first to admit that cutting out food staples like dairy, gluten, soy and sugar (OK maybe sugar isn’t a “staple” per say) is HARD! For me, cutting out eggs was the worst. I love eggs. When I went into labor I had poached eggs as my comfort protein meal. I love going out to breakfast too, and for me that means omelets or huevos rancheros. I will stop before I make myself hungry. Cutting out eggs was made worse by cutting out soy (hello! tofu scrambler = vegan egg like meal). In fact, I tried to hold onto soy at first, but found I was depending on it too much.

The places I found most helpful in meeting my new dietary needs was (in order) East End Coop, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. East End has a gluten free aisle and many yummy choices to make you think you’re eating glutenous products when you are not. Whole Foods does not have an aisle, but there are nice little green “Gluten Free” tags throughout the store. The nice thing about East End is you can get a Wheat grass shot while you’re there (does not contain gluten) or sometime get something warm and fulfilling from their food bar – although for elimination diet people the Whole Foods hot bar is much better. You’ll notice Giant Eagle is not on my list.

More later . . .