We have so many wars going on in this world that I thought to change the name of the diet to something more positive. Instead of being against inflammation, why don’t we just focus on balance. Besides being this buzz word in the new agey health community, it’s actually an ancient concept that constitutes the base of Chinese philosophy and medicine. Also, we don’t really want to eliminate all inflammation in the body; our immune system needs inflammation!

Being somewhat clumsy at times, I am no stranger to the process of inflammation in my body, which can be roughly translated as,”OMG, we’re down!! WE’RE BLEEDING! Let’s fix this NOW!!” The whole chemical message and inflammatory response starts at this point, and inflammation is used as a tool to heal the area, recruiting immune cells and promoting circulation. The same advantage can been seen when we mount a fever when we get an illness, or use a therapy to heal ligaments and tendons called prolotherapy.

When we have a body in balance, it knows when to produce inflammation and when to turn it off. Problems with chronic inflammation may occur when there is a heavy metal burden in the body, when we are eating foods we are sensitive to, or when anything is exogenously introduced in the body that doesn’t agree with us. There are other reasons for chronic inflammation, but I will focus on how we heal from potentially disagreeable foodstuffs we may unwittingly be eating.

There are a number of common food allergens in most of the foods we eat on a daily basis. We all know what an allergic reaction looks like: someone makes the international sign for choking and blows up like a balloon before being shipped to the nearest ER. What distinguishes an allergen from something we are intolerant of is simply the degree of reactivity. The delayed hypersensitivity reaction may produce a markedly less severe reaction, like gas, bloating, eczema, anxiety, acne, etc. While blood tests for food sensitivities are not 100% reliable, you can use an elimination diet to determine what your body does not agree with and just decrease or avoid the food.

A great resource that explains the diet can be found here. They do a wonderful job of putting the diet into a tiered system, depending on how many potential dietary allergens you wish to remove at once: http://www.womentowomen.com/detoxification/detoxdiet.aspx

These women also have links to many other well-written and informative articles.

The most important thing to remember when embarking on a new diet is to listen to your body. During the first few days of a new diet, there may be “cleansing” reactions, such as loose stools or headaches. Don’t fret. These should subside and increased mental focus and energy should be present by the end of the first week. Congratulations if you’ve decided to take this big step!!