When should I eliminate foods?

Posted on 29 June, 2016

Nutrition and health has become a saturated and confusing online market.

It seems like every second food blogger also happens to be an ‘expert’ on health and nutrition with many of them (unqualified) and very black and white about what you SHOULD and SHOULDN’T eat.

I’ve heard everything from not eating dairy because the industry is brainwashing you to the fact that big business is trying to make you sick with low grade inflammation so you can’t rise up against them, to my personal favourite: this food is difficult to digest and you shouldn’t put too much strain on your digestive system. Last time I checked, I don’t think we’re caught in an industry conspiracy theory and food thats difficult to digest (i.e. fibre) is really good for your digestive system. Show me the (good) evidence that our digestive system needs a rest from breaking down food — a job that it was created to do?

I get it. It can be confusing and I understand that many people are struggling with less than 100% health. Maybe you’re feeling constantly bloated. Maybe that bloating is accompanied by pain. Maybe you haven’t been to the toilet in days and when you do go you have to strain. Maybe it’s the opposite for you. Maybe you have such urgency to poop that you don’t like being out in public. Maybe it’s diarrhoea city constantly for you and there’s just no relief. Maybe your skin is red and battles hives.  Maybe you’re feeling fatigued and run-down. Food does play a part in your ongoing health and wellbeing, but unfortunately it’s never as black and white as perhaps you’re hoping it is.

Food intolerances are varied and complex and they’re different from allergies. Allergies (including celiac disease) are an immune response related to proteins. Intolerances have nothing to do with the immune system and more to do with your capacity to digest certain types and amounts of nutrients, namely different types of carbohydrates and sugar. Most people have a threshold of a particular nutrient that they can tolerate before they’re tipped over the edge and get symptoms. Have you ever heard someone say that they can have small amounts of gluten containing foods and they’re fine but a whole plate of pasta or a binge session on french sourdough (who wouldn’t?) and they’re feeling rubbish? It’s a very common scenario.

I’m actually not an expert in this area of nutrition (I play in the healthy lifestyle space) but my colleagues at The Healthy Eating Hub are. With their help, lets have a dig into the main culprits of food intolerances and help you answer the question: When is it a good time to start eliminating foods?

Why eliminate? You may need to add foods in!

Many gut issues can be rectified by looking at three main elements of your lifestyle: Fluid, fibre and activity. You may need to increase the amount of water you drink, up your fibre intake and increase the amount of physical activity you do.

Many people don’t bother with this aspect of gut health. It’s nowhere near as exciting as being told to remove gluten or quit sugar. The truth is, however, the large majority of clients who present at The Healthy Eating Hub with stomach issues can achieve a drastic improvement in their gut health with a few simple tweaks to their diet. The dietitians at The Hub will teach you how to increase fibre without eating more food. They’ll help you know how much water you should be drinking each day and they’ll encourage you to find creative ways to increase your exercise.

Don’t be deceived by yourself, understand the difference between your intentions and your reality. I’ve had clients who claim they’re getting enough fibre and drink enough water each day. Boring boring boring. They want to move onto the part where they get to cut out foods. However, upon adding up the fibre in a food diary or tracking water into over time, we find that they’re not meeting their daily needs at all.

Also, when you start to add in whole, fresh, nutrient rich foods, you’ll naturally eat less of other foods that are not so helpful (high in sugar and fat and low in nutrition and fibre).

I actually believe that focussing on what to eat, rather than what not to eat is much more productive way for building healthy relationships with food.

Reducing FODMAPs

The acronym FODMAPs refers to four groups of carbohydrates. It stands for:

Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols.

These carbohydrates (FODMAPs) are not absorbed by the body as well as others. The ability to digest FODMAPs differs from person to person, as do the symptoms caused by poor absorption. Because FODMAPs are poorly absorbed, they remain in the large bowel, where they are fermented by the bacteria naturally living there. The result? The production of gases, which can cause bloating, abdominal pain and wind.

This gas production may slow movement through the bowel, leading to constipation. Due to their small size, when FODMAPs are malabsorbed they can also draw water into the bowel. This can lead to diarrhoea in some people. The collective term for these symptoms is Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS.

If you’ve nailed your fibre, fluid and exercise but still struggling with ongoing symptoms than this might be your next port of call. Before embarking on the process yourself, you’re best to do two things:

1. See you GP and rule out any gastro-intestinal disease. Have a good checkup with a doctor that you trust and one who is willing to take the time to chat and listen.

2. Book in to see a dietitian. Experts at this stuff, they can help you find the best approach for you. The low FODMAP diet is not supposed to be followed long term but a tool to help you identify YOUR main culprits for tummy troubles and help you learn your threshold for tolerating them.

Most people who think they’re intolerant to gluten (non-celiacs) are actually more likely to be intolerant to FODMAPs that are in gluten containing foods.

Food Chemicals

This is not just about packaged food and additives. So before you rush off to ‘clean up’ your diet, keep reading. Avoiding food because of its chemicals and/or your fear of chemicals is a really poor decision making model when it comes to food. That’s because every single food item contains chemicals. In fact, fresh fruit and vegetables are often your biggest contributors.

I’m not talking about the trace amounts of pesticides that some of them may contain. No. I’m talking about the naturally occurring chemicals that exist in plants and found in all foods, in varying degrees.

If we’re going to get super nerdy and technical, you can’t be biased against chemicals because you’re one big mixture of them. We all are. Nature is made up of chemicals and just because they naturally occur doesn’t mean they’re safe or unsafe. For example, snake venom is a naturally occurring chemical that will kill you and chlorophyll (the chemical in plants that converts carbon dioxide into sugar via photosynthesis) is a naturally occurring chemical that won’t kill you.

Ok, enough with the chemistry lesson, let’s look at food chemicals more closely.

Some people have lower thresholds for food chemicals (for a variety of different reasons that I won’t get into) known as: glutamates, amines, salicylates and others. These chemicals build up over time and the accumulative effect of a number of high chemical foods, consumed over time, tips an individual over their threshold leading to symptoms. These symptoms include: recurrent hives and swellings, stomach and bowel irritation and headaches. Some people also feel vague flu-like symptoms and get run-down, tired or moody.

It’s impossible to completely eliminate food chemicals, nor do you have to. Under the supervision of a dietitian here’s how the process works: you eliminate certain foods to bring your chemical levels back under your threshold and reduce your symptoms. After the elimination diet, you systematically challenge your body on each chemical type so you can gauge an idea of how much of each food you can tolerate. That way you can still enjoy the things you love but have an idea of how much is too much – for you!

Get help and be systematic

The worst thing you can do is change lots of different things about your diet all at once. If you cut out wheat, dairy, legumes, sugar, alcohol and caffeine (things you used to eat regularly) all at once, and feel better, how do you know what was causing your symptoms? In most cases you don’t need to completely cut out certain foods, but achieve a more balanced intake of them.

It can also be difficult to be objective when it comes to your own symptoms. Getting professional help from a dietitian is the best way to systematically find the answer to your tummy troubles or recurring symptoms. Let them get all ‘sciency’ on you and make a clear cut plan of finding the nutritional intake thats right for you!