Ulcerative Colitis and Elimination Diet

A food elimination diet can help to rule out any food allergies or sensitivities that might exacerbate a person's symptoms. This can be done with the help of a nutritionist, health coach, practitioner or if you feel up to it, you can absolutely do it own you own. Dairy and gluten are hot topic foods, suspected to cause some people digestive issues (even those without ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease.) A full elimination diet includes these in the most common (or “sensitive seven”) food sensitivities: Dairy, gluten, sugar, corn, soy, eggs, and peanuts.

Simply start by eliminating each of the foods to which you wish to determine your sensitivity in consecutive three to five day increments. After all foods have been eliminated, add each one back into your diet in the same time frame. For example, if you first eliminate dairy, do this for three days and move on to sugar while still keeping dairy eliminated as well. When it comes time to add the foods back into your diet, you will be able to see the symptoms much more clearly having given your body extended breaks from each of the potential sensitive foods.

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Elimination diets are for testing yourself for food sensitivities, not food allergies. Some food allergies can be life-threatening, so do not experiment with foods that you know or suspect you might have a severe reaction to.