The elimination diet theory

It’s been four weeks of lockdown now. I have been working remotely from home. My wife has too. My two eldest kids have been performing their school work online. The three-year-old has been running riot around us. 

To be honest, I have been stressed, frustrated, lethargic, grumpy, angry, sluggish, annoyed and more importantly, lacking energy. Physically I do not feel my usual self. 

I am not walking 10-12 miles a day anymore. I am not practising martial arts. I am doing very little. 

At the bank holiday weekend, I wasn’t working. I had the opportunity to do some work in the new house we moved in to. I spent most of the bank holiday Monday doing DIY. 3 hours pulling down fitted wardrobes, cupboards and drawers. 6 hours building new ones. 9 hours of DIY sounds a lot but to be honest I felt great. I had plenty of energy during and after the DIY marathon. 

I realised that perhaps I had eliminated exercise from my lifestyle. My new lockdown lifestyle. My lifestyle had then taken a turn for the worse. Once I put it back in again, I felt great. 

Were there other activities that I had taken out or put into my new routine that were making me feel so bad? 

Perhaps the Elimination diet theory could help 

Elimination diet 

In present times, there seem to be more and more people who suffer from food allergies and intolerances. Lactose, gluten, soy, nuts, citrus, refined sugars etc. 

Food allergies and intolerances present a problem for people because they are unpleasant. 

Intolerances are a non-immune system response. They are not life-threatening. They happen gradually over a few hours and often after eating a large amount of the food. Symptoms are tummy pain, bloating, wind, diarrhoea, skin rashes, itching etc. 

Food allergies are more extreme. They are an immune system response. They trigger allergy responses such as wheezing, rashes and itching. Even after eating a small amount of the food. The symptoms normally occur very quickly after eating the foods. Common food allergies are nuts, fish, shellfish, milk and eggs. More importantly, they can be life-threatening. 

People look to resolve this because they feel so unwell. Food allergies and intolerances can be debilitating. People want to feel better. To have more energy. To enjoy life. To not be crippled by pain and low energy. 

The elimination diet is a method of trying to resolve this unpleasantness. 

In its basic form, you eliminate a food, food group or range of food groups. You do this for a given period of time. Then you slowly, one at a time, reintroduce foods. You are trying to identify which foods make you feel good and which foods make you feel unwell. 

If you feel good when the food is reintroduced, then that food is fine. If you feel unwell when the food is re-introduced, then you need to cut that food out. 

This principle of continuing with what is good for you and stopping what is bad for you could be used for other areas of our lives. 

In these strange and uncertain times, could we use the same theory for our wellbeing? 

Wellbeing 

Wellness – is a state beyond the absence of illness but rather aims to optimize well-being. 

Wellbeing – ‘The state of being comfortable, happy or healthy’ 

Maybe this same ‘elimination diet’ theory can be applied to the rest of our normal lives. To our wellbeing. We eliminate certain activities from our daily lives for a period. Then re-introduce them. If they make you feel good then keep doing them, if they make you feel bad then cut them out. 

One theory suggests our wellbeing (Wellness) is made up of 8 different dimensions: 

1. Physical 

2. Intellectual 

3. Emotional 

4. Spiritual 

5. Social 

6. Environmental 

7. Occupational 

8. Financial 

In each of these dimensions, we perform activities. We have daily routines. The activities either make us feel good or feel bad. 

To notice if we feel good or feel bad, we need to become self-aware. We need to notice our emotions, our thoughts, and our energy levels. 

The typical type of activities in each dimension are: 

1. Physical – exercise, nutrition, sleep 

2. Intellectual – learning new skills and information, solving problems, creating new things 

3. Emotional – happiness, fear, sadness, stress, anxiety, joy, contentment 

4. Spiritual – meaning, purpose, connection to the world, values, belief, nature, yoga, meditation 

5. Social – friends, family, neighbours and community 

6. Environmental – the places where you live, work and relax 

7. Occupational – meaningful work, volunteering  

8. Financial – income, expenditure, savings and debts 

Feeling Better 

I realised during these four weeks in lockdown, I had cut certain things out. And I was missing them. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I should be doing them. In the past few days, I have managed to put them back in my routine. And I feel so much better for it. 

Manual labour 

I mentioned earlier how exercise had been cut out of my routine. No 10-12 mile walks. No martial arts classes. I managed to do 9 hours of DIY and felt great. The following day, I spent 2.5 hours filling a domestic skip with all the furniture and rubbish I had created. Again I felt great. One day, I had a long 40 min walk to a frozen foods supermarket and back again. I felt so much better in myself. 

Journalling 

I had been regularly journalling. Every morning with a cup of coffee when I first got up on a morning. But since Christmas, I have struggled to do it. I have prioritised other things. The past couple of days I have managed to prioritise it. Reminding myself of who I am and who I want to be. It makes me feel more aligned with who I want to be in life. 

Writing 

In May 2019, I committed to writing and posting one blog article a week for a year. During weeks one and three of lockdown, I failed to post. Other things became more important. I had that nagging feeling in the back of my mind. But this article, I hope, is me getting back on track. And I am enjoying doing my research again. Sharing my ideas on how the world works. In the hope, it helps others. 

Feeling Worse 

Other things, other activities, I had previously cut out of my life before lockdown. They have now crept back in during the last four weeks. I am feeling the worse for them (and trying to cut them back out again). 

Bread 

A long time ago, my wife followed the slimming world diet and I was supportive by trying out some of the rules. One of the big things slimming world does is cut out the amount of bread you eat. At first, it is a big thing to get your head around. What can I eat if I can’t have toast for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch? But you realise you can eat rice, salads, meat and vegetable. I have been good at cutting it out. In these strange times, ham and cheese sandwiches have crept back in. I am experiencing post-lunch slumps. I am cutting out the bread to help fight the slump. 

People and noise 

Normally I get a decent amount of time to myself. No noise. No questions. Just me and my thoughts. At work, my office is pretty quiet too. However, during the lockdown, when I tried working from home at the dining table, it wasn’t so quiet. I had my two eldest sons working either side of me. Constant questioning. Bickering. Singing. Getting up. Getting down. Eating. Drinking. 

It stressed me out. I couldn’t cope. I couldn’t work like that. I moved upstairs to my bedroom. It was quiet. No questions. And quite a nice view. 

I hadn’t realised how much noise and other people affected me. Especially when trying to work. But I cut it out, as best I can,  so I can think and focus. 

Takeaways 

During these strange times, if you aren’t feeling good, perhaps you could use the elimination diet theory to help you.  

Try putting back in things to your lifestyle that you have cut out. Things that make you feel good. Exercise, reading, writing, drawing, gardening etc. 

Trying cutting out things that have fallen back into your lifestyle. Things that make you feel bad. Eating unhealthy foods, drinking alcohol, lots of time on social media, YouTube etc. 

If you suspect something is good or bad for you, experiment. Try cutting it out. Try putting it back in. Be aware of how you feel. See if you feel better or worse. See what works and what doesn’t work. 

If you do nothing differently, nothing changes. 

Footnotes 

Elimination diet breakdown on Wikipedia here 

More information about the eight dimensions of Wellness here.