Abs are Made in the Kitchen Step 2: The Elimination Diet

A while ago, I talked to you about how I’ve been working out smarter, not harder, and then a couple weeks ago, I talked about the first step in how to make your abs in the kitchen. This is a fun series for me because I know it works—I’d show you my abs and my kitchen habits, but I’m going to have to put that off until I have a week that’s a little less busy (next week, maybe!).

Anyway, the next step is… The Elimination Diet!

And hey, I know you don’t want to do it… Don’t Skip It!

Here’s the basic list of foods you should eliminate when you do an elimination diet. Note: If you suspect any other food is not working well in your body, add it to your list!

dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, corn, beef, pork, chicken, nuts, beans, lentils, coffee, citrus, and nightshade veggies

Once you’ve come to terms with the fact that you’ll be going 3-4 weeks without these items (if you’re relatively healthy, go with 3 weeks… if you have a lot of health issues or annoyances, go with 4 weeks), then come up with a plan of what you’ll eat. I know, at first glance it looks like you’ll have nothing to eat! Possibly, you will also experience some detox symptoms on this diet. My recommendation is to eat plenty of cooked veggies, fats (coconut oil!), and fish. This isn’t a diet for calorie restriction, so have a plan–you don’t want to go hungry. It will make you feel any detox symptoms you have more severely, and that’s not what we’re trying to do here!

When you’ve completed the 3-4 weeks of elimination, add one food back in at a time for one day. Wait 2 days, document how you feel (mentally, physically, sleep, etc). If you feel good, repeat the process with another food. If you feel bad or have any symptoms, you can explore a little more. Try a different version of the food or a different source. Then move forward in the same way.

If something makes you feel bad or have symptoms, take it back out of your diet, wait 2 days and add something else. If you had no symptoms at all, you can leave that food in and try another one. So… each food test takes a minimum of 3 days to add back in (1 day of eating the food and 2 days waiting to see what happens).

Please check out this site for more info and a lot of great details about Elimination Diets. This is my favorite source for this topic!

In a week or so, I’ll post the third step in making your abs in the kitchen!

News/Notes: The Nutrition and Yoga for Pregnancy course is currently being uploaded. I didn’t realize how long it would take… but I had to convert video files and all sorts of fun things, so I decided not to stay up all night just to get it done yesterday. I suppose I should have known it would take this long—17 video lessons, 3 yoga practices, and several video check-ins… I didn’t count how many hours of content it is (yet), but it’s a lot! Pilar and I are meeting tomorrow to discuss our next project—she’s about to hit her 6-week mark after giving birth, so we’re going to develop our next course to match her journey with post-partum yoga and nutrition. I believe it will be 6 weeks long, with a new yoga practice each week and specific nutrition for recovering from pregnancy and breast feeding. I’ll keep you posted!

The weather is starting to be amazing in Santa Monica… not that it was bad all winter, but it wasn’t as warm as it is now. I’m looking forward to getting back to my hang-out-on-the-beach happy hours (with a book, not alcohol!), and living in flip flops!

I have some new recipes I’m going to try later this week and over the weekend… so I’ll share. And I’ll also share my gelatin update. Plus, I may or may not have a couple dates this week. I wish I had the guts to be totally unprofessional and tell you what a guy said to me last week—people can be unbelievable! Let’s just leave it that… Dating is not really fun most of the time…but it sure can be funny 🙂

3 thoughts on “Abs are Made in the Kitchen Step 2: The Elimination Diet”

  1. The Candid RD

    This is super tough, but so important. I find that most people find the elimination diet to be difficult, but worth it in the end. Very helpful Lisa.

  2. Hey Lisa, I think I could benefit from an elmination diet. But am very inactive, underweight, and binging. But severely low energy + IBS. Stressed. This is ongoing for years. I need meal plans for elmination that are not intimidating (I’ve dealt with orthorexia in past and current still eat same things daily, then binge at night, no exercise). I’m lost and not sure how to do a meal plan, especially after the binge (Ibs alternates C and D…not good…I’m literally full of waste and toxins). Books or websites with sample meal plans? Something that will turn around my body and clean me out without frightening me or making me lose more weight or binging? Thnaks!!!

  3. Hi! My favorite person for this task is Dr. Mark Hyman. If you google him, you’ll find his website and books.
    Side note: I’ve found with a lot of people that much of what we view as “character flaws” (i.e. binging and/or not controlling our food actions) can be attributed to sensitivities. Have you ever explored going low carb, grain free, and/or sugar free? Some people react to these carbs as if they were crack… it’s not a mental problem, but a physiology issue. Obviously I don’t actually know you so I can’t tell you if this is the case for you. But it might be worth exploring? Good luck.

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