Could an elimination diet heal your hormone imbalance?

Food intolerances or sensitivities can wreak havoc on your hormones, says Marcelle Pick. Here’s how an elimination diet can get you back in balance

When I told Sandy that I thought an elimination diet was the best course of treatment for her symptoms, she cringed. “Elimination diet? Doesn’t that mean I can’t eat much of anything?”

The answer, of course, is no. There are so many delicious options on an elimination diet, and the best thing about it is that you can eat as much as you want of the foods that are allowed.

Still, it is far more restrictive than most people are used to. But the key to getting your head around an elimination diet is understanding that it’s not forever.

Unlike most diets, even those that are less restrictive, an elimination diet is really designed not just to help you lose weight and feel better but to also help you understand which foods are “right” and “wrong” for you.

The modern diet is full of things that can wreak havoc on your hormones, leading to imbalances that leave you feeling weak, irritable and exhausted—not to mention leaving you with the unwanted weight gain that often accompanies hormonal dysfunction.

Sandy, like many women, had been depending on convenience foods, vending machine snacks, caffeine and sugar to get her through her days. At night, she said, the only way she could wind down was with a glass of wine or two.

I listened to her fears and concerns about overhauling her diet, and then I told her what I tell all my patients: Trust me. I wasn’t going to throw her into deep water when she didn’t know how to swim. I’d be with her every step of the way. And, I assured her, there’s more than one way to do an elimination diet. We could start with baby steps.

An elimination diet is one of the best approaches to identifying things you may be consuming that lead to hormonal imbalance. And because many of the common symptoms women come to see me about result from hormonal dysfunction, I often recommend we start here.

What is hormonal imbalance?

Your body’s systems are regulated by hormones. These chemical messengers help cells communicate and prompt many critical biological functions. From reproduction to metabolism, from mood to body temperature, and much more, your hormones have a direct impact on the way your body functions.

When hormones aren’t in the proper ratios with one another, the messages they carry can become mixed up, prompting your body to produce more or less of a specific hormone, which only compounds the problem. Vital functions cease, and you end up with chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease and other conditions that leave you feeling miserable.

Certain times in your life lead to natural hormone fluctuations, such as puberty, pregnancy, menstruation and menopause. While not as serious as in chronic imbalances, a range of symptoms can accompany these natural fluctuations as well. So supporting your body all the time is a great way to keep your hormones as balanced as you can and keep your body working at optimal levels.

What leads to hormonal imbalance?

In addition to natural fluctuations, many lifestyle factors can lead to hormonal dysfunction. Medications, environmental toxins, dysfunction in one or more major body systems, processed foods, artificial sweeteners, poor sleep, lack of exercise—the list goes on and on.

Hormonal imbalance leads to symptoms like stubborn weight gain, headaches (including migraines), acne and other skin problems, bloating, stomach cramps and other gastrointestinal problems, Candida or other yeast infections, thyroid problems, extreme fatigue/exhaustion, and frequent colds, flu or infections, besides many more issues.

The diet fix

One of the most common root causes of hormonal imbalance (and one of the easiest to address) is food intolerances. I’m not talking about full-blown food allergies. If you have one of those, you already know it.

With food intolerances or sensitivities, you won’t land in the hospital immediately after ingesting the food; symptoms may appear slowly over time. And the more you eat the food you’re sensitive to, the more uncomfortable your symptoms may get.

These symptoms include chronic conditions and concerns you may never connect to the food you’re eating. This is why an elimination diet is so helpful—all your body’s functions are interlinked. Food sensitivity changes the messages your hormones give and receive, and ratios of these hormones can quickly become skewed.

The good news is that once you identify the foods you’re sensitive to, it’s easy to change your habits and heal your hormonal imbalance. And one of the best ways to identify these foods is to try an elimination diet for a few weeks.

What’s an elimination diet?

An elimination diet is exactly what it sounds like: You eliminate the most common food sensitivities from your diet completely to let your system clear out the toxins. Easy enough, right?

For most people, it isn’t as simple as it sounds. The most common foods that people are sensitive to are also some of the most common foods consumed. That means changing your habits, and we all know how difficult that can be.

If eliminating all potential sensitivities at once is too daunting, you can choose one to start with (I usually suggest gluten since so many women I’ve worked with have a gluten intolerance, though in some cases this may actually be a sensitivity to commercially processed wheat).

Getting rid of all the most common problems at once will reduce symptoms faster since you won’t be consuming the food that bothers you. You can still get good information by cutting out one category at a time; it just takes longer to gather all the pertinent information. Remember, you may be sensitive to more than one type of food, so it’s wise to experiment with them all if your symptoms don’t subside.

Foods to avoid

Several food groups cause issues for many people:

• Gluten (found in many grains)
• Dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese)
• Eggs
• Soy
• Corn
• Sugar
• Alcohol

For many people, eliminating the above six groups will do the trick. They’re certainly a great place to begin.

These are some other common foods that cause issues for some people:

• Nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant/aubergine, peppers, potatoes)
• Citrus fruit
• Nuts and seeds

I always suggest starting with the six most common, then moving on to the others if eliminating those doesn’t make a difference in how you feel.

How to do an elimination diet

You can do an elimination diet one of two ways—all at once, or one group at a time. Let’s take a quick look at how each method works.

The whole shebang. The fastest way to get the information you want and feel better sooner is to eliminate all six of the biggest potential sensitivities at once for two to three weeks. This can certainly be much more difficult than taking them one at a time, especially if your diet is heavy in packaged foods and simple carbs, like bread or pasta.

It takes a lot of preparation and commitment to rid your diet of all of these things at once. But for people who are ready to jump into the deep end, it can be a game-changer.

After two to three weeks of avoiding all six, choose one group to reintroduce. Eat small amounts of this food and observe for reactions. If symptoms return, you know that food is likely something you’re sensitive to.

After three days, introduce another group and follow the same process. Wait three days before introducing each new group to get the most accurate information about what your body is (or is not) reacting to.

Slow and steady. Many people won’t be ready to cut all six troublesome categories out of their diet in one fell swoop. That’s okay! It’s far better to start slowly and keep moving forward than to give up after a few days because you tried to do too much.

This type of elimination diet will take longer, but you’ll get the same information in the end. Select the first group to eliminate and stop eating it for two weeks. Then reintroduce that food and wait two days to see if you notice any reaction.

For many people, the symptoms are far more obvious once their body has cleared the buildup, so you should notice a difference fairly quickly if you have a sensitivity.

Take gluten, for instance, which is where I recommend you begin. For two weeks, read labels carefully and don’t eat anything that contains wheat or other grains with gluten. Then add a little gluten back in—maybe half a cup of pasta or a slice of toast with your breakfast.

Do you feel bloated soon after eating? Notice any stomach problems that haven’t been present in recent days? Does your skin start to itch? All of these are signs that you have a gluten sensitivity.

Identifying sensitivities

You’ll be able to tell if you have a food sensitivity in two ways:

1. You eliminate a food from your diet, and your symptoms begin to dissipate.
2. You notice improvement when avoiding the food, but your symptoms return after you reintroduce it.

If you choose to cut out all six major groups at once, you’re likely to feel a lot better after the initial two to three weeks. It’s crucial now to stay the course and reintroduce only one food at a time. That way, it’ll be clear which foods don’t agree with you.

If you go more slowly, eliminating one food group at a time, you may be able to identify your problem without having to eliminate all the groups. If you cut out gluten and feel fantastic after two or three weeks, you may not have to go any further.

However, you won’t always hit it on the first try, and it’s very possible that more than one of the groups is tough on your body. So unless you feel symptom free, I urge you to keep going with all of them.

Free yourself from reactions

Once you’ve gathered your information, it’s time to commit to permanent change. If you know gluten will make you balloon up with bloating, make your joints ache and stiffen, or cause skin problems, it’s much easier to make the decision to avoid it. It just isn’t worth it!

Remember Sandy? She took my advice and started eliminating problem groups one at a time. After the first two weeks, she realized that gluten was a real problem for her. She continued to avoid it as she moved through the other groups, eventually identifying soy as another no-go.

Even without those foods in her diet, she realized there were plenty of amazing options out there—she even told me that she’s started experimenting with spices and celebrating the flavor of real food.

Should you reintroduce everything?

I’ve mentioned eliminating a few specific foods and food groups, including gluten, dairy, eggs, alcohol and sugar. When it comes to reintroduction, it’s important to keep in mind that these categories aren’t exactly the same.

For example, even though many women I work with are sensitive to dairy, some are not—and for those women, dairy (in moderation) can definitely be a component of a healthy diet. Sugar, on the other hand, isn’t healthy for anyone. So the question is, should you even reintroduce sugar after your elimination period?

This is a valid question. And in an ideal world, I would say no—don’t go back to eating sugar. However, I believe in practicing moderation and not being overly hard on yourself. You don’t want to cause yourself even more stress. This disrupts your hormones and your weight too.

If you feel like you can keep sugar out of your life for good, I definitely won’t stop you. But if that seems a bit too daunting, I suggest doing whatever you can.

At the very least, use your elimination diet as an opportunity to update your relationship with sugar, be more conscious of where it’s creeping into your diet and where you can cut back, and set some manageable limits or replace it with healthier substitutes, such as dates or berries. The same goes for alcohol.

Listen to your body

Ultimately, what I really love about the elimination diet is that it puts you in charge. By listening to your body and paying attention to how it responds to specific foods, you get to take control of your own well-being from the inside out. What could be more powerful than that?

Simple recipes for your elimination diet

Getting started can be difficult, especially if you’re choosing to eliminate all the foods with the most potential to cause a reaction. To help you on your journey, here are a couple of great recipes adapted from my book The Core Balance Diet (Hay House, 2013) that don’t contain any of the potential triggers.

Quick and Easy Chicken with Edamame Mix

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 14.5 oz can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• ⅔ cup sliced black olives
• 1½ tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 cup shelled edamame
• ½ red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup yellow string beans, cut into thirds
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• ⅛ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat (Gas Mark 6) in a large skillet.
2. Cook the chicken breasts for several minutes on each side until lightly golden brown.
3. Add the tomatoes, olives and lemon zest and bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 18–20 minutes or until chicken registers 160°F (71°C) on a meat thermometer.
5. In a bowl, combine the edamame, bell pepper, beans, lime juice, oregano, salt and cayenne and stir until evenly seasoned.
6. Top each chicken breast with the edamame mix and serve.

Dilled Salmon and Asparagus with a Zing

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• Juice of one lemon
• 1½ Tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 4 salmon filets, about ¼ lb each
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 oz fresh asparagus spears
• ½ cup chopped white onion
• ¼ cup finely chopped celery
• ½ Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the broiler or grill.
2. In a small bowl, combine the butter, lemon juice and dill. Mix well and chill for 2–4 hours.
3. Rub each side of the salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper and set aside.
4. Steam the asparagus until almost completely cooked.
5. Transfer to a skillet and add the onion, celery, vinegar, cayenne, salt and pepper.
6. Mix well, cover and cook on medium heat until asparagus reaches desired doneness.
7. While the asparagus is cooking, broil or grill salmon on high heat for 5–6 minutes, or to desired doneness.
8. Serve salmon atop the asparagus. Top with the compound butter and garnish with fresh dill if desired.

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