Elimination Diet-Week 2

This elimination diet meal plan is what I followed during the second week of my elimination diet.

If you haven’t checked out my post on Elimination Diet- Week 1, then go take a look before you continue to read this post. It will give you an idea of what an elimination diet is, and why I’m trying it out!

8 Week Elimination Diet Plan

After reading Dr. Will Cole’s Inflammation Spectrum book and taking the inflammation quiz, it showed I have inflammation in a slew of areas. The top two were in the brain/nervous system and the hormonal (endocrine) system. In order to see if food is at the core of these problems, I’ve decided to follow his 8 week plan.

What I’ll be eliminating for 8 weeks

1. grains
2. dairy
3. added sweeteners (all sugar)
4. inflammatory oils (vegetable oils)
5. legumes (lentils, beans, peanuts, soy)
6. nuts and seeds
7. eggs
8. nightshades (tomatoes, tomatillos, sweet and hot peppers, white potatoes, eggplant, goji berries)
9. coffee (sob)
10. alcohol

Week 2 Meals (eliminated everything)

Below are the meals I ate during week two of the elimination diet.

Morning tea (7:00am)

I start each morning with a large glass of water, then a Pique tea. This week I drank their Jasmine green tea each morning.

Breakfast (8:30am)

Green Avocado Smoothie (repeated all week).
**For the smoothie I replaced the chia seeds with psyllium husk powder (for fiber) and used water instead of the macadamia milk.

This was the same smoothie I had last week. Not sick of it yet!! I did add fresh mint to it a few of the days and it was delicious!!!

Morning Snack

(Same as last week!) The breakfast smoothie filled me up until lunch, so a morning snack wasn’t needed most days.

If I did get hungry, I grabbed roughly 1/4-1/2 cup fresh strawberries.

Lunch (between 11:30 and 12:30)

1. Monday– salad: romaine, roasted cauliflower, grilled chicken, avocado and homemade salad dressing.
2. Tuesday- salad: romaine, grilled chicken, avocado, strawberries, homemade salad dressing.
3. Wednesday- (same salad as Tuesday)
4. Thursday- salad: romaine, 1/4 green apple, cucumber, tuna mixed with homemade egg free mayo, leftover sweet potato chunks, topped with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.
5. Friday- leftover salmon, asparagus, sweet potatoes and pineapple salsa from last nights dinner.
6. Saturday- leftover taco skillet from last nights dinner.
7. Sunday- salad: romaine, tuna, celery, roasted carrots, red onion, homemade dressing

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Dinner (between 5:30 and 6:00)

1. Monday– meatballs with sauteed zucchini noodles flavored with extra virgin olive oil, salt, garlic, sweet onion and nutritional yeast.
2. Tuesday- white chicken chili soup. (This was really good!)
3. Wednesday- shredded chicken tacos with pineapple salsa (pineapple, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, red onion) with homemade cassava flour taco shells. Try the taco shell recipe! It was really easy and tasty!
4. Thursday- oven baked salmon, asparagus, sweet potato fries with leftover pineapple salsa and sauerkraut
5. Friday- taco skillet over romaine. This dinner was really good! I’ll be making it again!
6. Saturday- FOURTH OF JULY- baked chicken wings, sweet potato fries, mashed cauliflower, side salad. Snacked on fruit during the day, as well as homemade guacamole (omit cayenne) and Barre carrot chips.
7. Sunday- leftovers from last nights dinner

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Evening magnesium (7:30)

Every night before bed, I have warm lemon water with magnesium powder to help me sleep.

Other Snacks

I craved more snacks this week, but with limited options, I went with the following.

1. fresh strawberries
2. frozen mango
3. 2 dates (afternoon treat)- I think these are making me crave sweets more, so I’m cutting them out week 3.
4. Barre Carrot chips with homemade guacamole.

How I feel after week 2

(During this time I’ll be tracking energy levels, acne, bloating, cravings and sleep.)

1. Energy- My energy has been surprisingly pretty good. I gave up coffee this week and the first few days of it was hard. However, replacing it with green tea has given me the small kick of caffeine that was needed. I’m still pretty tired by around 3pm, so I’m hoping that changes in the next few weeks.
2. Acne- It’s a LITTLE better. I still have the small bumps all over my forehead and cheeks, but no new cystic acne this week. I’ve started using a vitamin C serum from CocoKind as well as BeautyCounter’s resurfacing peel, and am hoping it starts to lighten acne scaring and discoloration.
3. Bloating– the bloating is getting better! I’m seeing the most improvement in this area. I’m taking a digestive enzyme with my bigger meals during the day and it most definitely helps. However, although I am not bloated, I have become constipated… (sorry if TMI). I was very regular when I drank coffee, but now that the coffee is gone, being regular has become an issue. No pain, but not many BMs this week.
4. Cravings- still craving salty snacks and sweets!
5. Sleep- I’ve been having trouble falling asleep and keep waking up in the middle of the night. I’ve been working on my computer or watching TV right before bed, so for week 3 I’m going back to reading before bed to see if it helps.