As a practicing functional medicine physician, I always start with the basics: food.
If you are suffering from:
- digestive issues – bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux
- chronic pain
- fatigue
- joint and muscle aches and pain
- chronic sinus congestion
- generally “not feeling well”
An elimination of certain foods from your diet can help you begin the healing process. Most of my patients have some improvement in their symptoms BEFORE their first visit when they follow the food plan, and a few have COMPLETE disappearances of their troublesome symptoms.
Food sensitivities are often overlooked as the cause of chronic disease. If you are allergic to a food, you will usually have an immediate reaction: hives, swelling of the mouth, lips, eyes. But, many people have delayed food reactions so if you continually eat the same foods, you may not be aware that what you are eating is actually causing or making your symptoms worse.
The Elimination Diet is the gold standard of Functional Medicine and frequently helps to uncover food(s) that may the culprits. After a few weeks on the program, each food will be re-introduced one at a time to see if there is any reaction.
What does the Elimination do?
First, we need to understand that food is information. In Functional Medicine, there are 2 basic questions:
- Does this person need to be rid of something (toxic, allergic, infectious, poor diet, stress)?
- Does this person have some unmet individual need required for optimal function and greater health?
That seems pretty simple: Remove what may be causing a problem. Restore what the body is asking for.
The key features of the Elimination diet:
- reduces inflammation
- repairs intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”)
- identifies food triggers
- reduces toxic burden
- promotes body awareness of foods
- supplies phytonutrients to heal the gut
- is a personalized diet approach
- involves no calorie restriction
As a new patient with Dr. Bedinghaus, you will receive all the written materials needed to start your elimination food plan and begin your healing journey.
