The 6-food Elimination Diet

The 6-food elimination diet is used to identify which common allergic foods are causing adverse reactions in your body. Ninety percent of all food allergies are due to six foods: wheat, soy, eggs, nuts, fish and milk, according to MayoClinic.com. The 6-food elimination diet is not intended to diagnose a medical condition, and it needs to be implemented under a doctor's supervision. If you experience a severe allergic reaction while on the diet, you need to discontinue the diet and call your doctor immediately to prevent complications.

6-Food Elimination Diet

The 6-food elimination diet requires you to remove the six most common foods that trigger allergic reactions. This is challenging, because these six triggers are in so many foods. An elimination diet is typically performed for two weeks before you begin introducing the foods back into your diet. Before you begin, talk with your doctor about the diet plan for the next two weeks. To prevent malnutrition you need to be under the care of a doctor and nutritionist.

Elimination

The two-week elimination diet requires you to remove all six foods completely from your diet, including all foods that contain them. For example, a slice of bread often includes soy, wheat, egg and dairy ingredients. During these two weeks you can eat fruits, vegetables, rice flour foods and meats. Read the ingredients on every pre-packaged food you consume. During the two weeks, it will be easiest to prepare all your foods yourself to prevent consuming any allergic ingredient accidentally.

Reintroduction

At the completion of the two weeks, you will begin to introduce each food back into your diet, one at a time. During this process, keep a detailed food journal of what you eat, when you eat it, how much of it you eat and how it affects your body. On the first day introduce one food, such as wheat. Eat various wheat products throughout the day and record your body's reaction. Eliminate wheat again, wait three days and then introduce the next food on the list. Eat that food for one day and then eliminate it again. Wait three days and then challenge the next food.

Diagnosis

At the completion of the diet, your doctor will discuss her observations of your food journal. She may recommend allergy testing to confirm the diagnosis of which food is causing an allergic reaction. Allergy tests confirm and provide a clinical diagnosis of your food allergies.