Many chronic health problems, from weight gain to fatigue, are related to inflammation. The Will Cole Anti-Inflammatory Diet Program offers a strategic approach to identifying and eliminating foods that trigger inflammation, while emphasizing foods that promote well-being. This program, rooted in functional medicine principles, aims to help individuals discover a personalized "food-as-medicine" plan.
Understanding the Elimination Diet
In functional medicine, a strategic elimination diet is the gold standard for discovering the foods that don’t agree with you, as well as the foods that make you feel awesome. The elimination diet is all about identifying what foods are making you sick so you can keep them out of your life and start feeling well every day. If you have any of these symptoms, it could be your body’s allergic reaction to a food trigger.
The core of the program involves an elimination diet followed by a careful reintroduction process. This allows individuals to pinpoint specific food sensitivities and tailor their diet accordingly.
The Elimination Phase
This phase involves removing common inflammatory foods from your diet. Common foods excluded during this phase include dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, and nightshade vegetables, among others. The goal is to clear your system of potential triggers and observe whether symptoms improve without these foods. This elimination period typically lasts for 2 to 8 weeks.
The Reintroduction Phase
Following the elimination phase, foods are reintroduced one at a time to monitor their effect on the body. The reintroduction phase can vary in length, typically lasting from 3 to 8 weeks, depending on the number of foods being reintroduced and the individual's reactions.
Read also: Troubleshooting Carnivore Diet Diarrhea
Benefits of an Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Following an elimination diet meal plan allows you to know definitively which foods work for your body. I’ve followed an elimination diet meal plan myself and saw amazing results. I discovered increased energy, better digestion, deeper sleep, and clearer skin.
- Reduced Inflammation: Because the elimination diet removes inflammatory foods, your body gets finally a chance to combat and reduce inflammation.
- Increased Energy Levels: When your body isn’t fighting food triggers, all that energy is freed up for better living!
- Improved Digestion: Maybe you notice that sometimes you get bloated, fatigued, or experience brain fog after a meal. With the elimination diet, there’s no more second-guessing about which foods make you feel lousy.
- Personalized Nutrition: With this invaluable intel, you can design a food-as-medicine plan custom to your body.
- Enhanced Gut Health: “All disease begins in the gut,” Hippocrates (the father of medicine) said thousands of years ago. Today, science is catching up, with research now suggesting that the majority of chronic health problems have at least a level of gut component to them.
- Strengthened Immunity: Just as a food allergy can aggravate your gut, it can also put a damper on your immune system. The anti-inflammatory foods you enjoy during the elimination diet will also help strengthen your immunity.
- Reduced Processed Food Intake: Processed foods have been formulated to be addictive to your tastebuds. Meanwhile, they are mostly devoid of nutrients, and some are even linked to cancer.
- Self-Care: An elimination diet meal plan is all about self-care. “Dieting,” in the sense of deprivation for weight loss, represents a dead, unsustainable relationship with food.
- Nutrient-Rich Diet: Your body needs nutrients to function the way it was intended.
- Delicious and Satisfying Meals: You don’t have to eat like a rabbit and go hungry to eat healthy. The elimination diet is filled with hearty, whole food sources like sweet potato fries in coconut oil and grass-fed steak.
- Simplified Cooking: One common concern about healthy eating is that cooking is going to take forever. However, eating on an elimination diet meal plan is very simple.
Foods to Enjoy
One of the biggest misconceptions people have about following an elimination diet meal plan is that they won’t be able to eat any delicious foods.
- Organic meat, poultry, and fish: I recommend enjoying lots of wild-caught fish, like salmon and albacore tuna.
- Healthy fats: Cook liberally with natural fats from grass-fed organic meats, like tallow, and clarified butter or ghee.
- Grain-free flours: Cassava, coconut, and plantain flours are great alternatives for baking.
- Coconut: Coconut products are all kinds of delicious.
Now that you know all the great stuff you can eat, you know you won’t be deprived.
Foods to Avoid
Below are the foods most likely to cause intolerances and be inflammatory.
- Refined and artificial sugars: Cutting out sugar probably won’t come as a surprise, but “refined sugar” means more than those white crystals. You should also avoid cane sugar, such as turbinado or raw sugar, and even agave.
- Grains: This includes all grains, even the gluten-free ones such as white or brown rice, quinoa, oats, and corn.
- Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds can be rough on some people’s digestion because of their natural roughage.
- Nightshades: This is a plant group that includes white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and some spices. These nightshade plants are fine for some people, but for others, they can trigger autoimmune diseases.
- FODMAPs: FODMAPs is an acronym for the long and almost unpronounceable names of a group of fermentable sugars found in foods like legumes, onions, garlic, dairy products, and fruit. People with digestive issues like IBS should eliminate them to see how they feel.
- Alcohol and caffeine: Eliminating alcohol will give your liver a break so it can focus on detoxing the rest of you. I also recommend limiting your caffeine intake to a few cups of green or white tea daily.
Sample Meal
- Lunch: Organic sweet butter lettuce topped with grass-fed skirt steak, sliced organic avocado and organic cucumber. Drizzle in old-pressed extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar.
- Dessert: Clementine sorbet, made by throwing frozen clementine segments into a blender or food processor.
Alternative Diet Plans
- Low FODMAP diet: Developed to manage symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other digestive disorders, this diet involves restricting foods high in certain fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPs) that are difficult to digest.
- Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet: Aimed at reducing inflammation and symptoms of autoimmune diseases, the AIP diet is a stricter version of the Whole30 diet. It excludes grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, nightshade vegetables, dairy, eggs, coffee, alcohol, sugar, and food additives.
- Whole30 diet: A 30-day diet plan designed to reset your eating habits and help you identify food sensitivities. It involves eliminating sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, soy, dairy, and food additives.
- Gluten-free diet: Crucial for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, this diet involves avoiding all foods containing gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.
- Lactose-free diet: Aimed at individuals who are lactose intolerant, this diet eliminates dairy products that contain lactose, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt.
- Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD): Designed for people with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, and IBS, the SCD focuses on removing complex carbohydrates that are difficult to digest.
- The Carnivore diet: The carnivore diet is an all-meat and animal products diet that eliminates all plant-based foods.
Is an Elimination Diet Right for You?
- Mostly A's: Sounds like an elimination diet could be very beneficial for you.
- Mostly B's: You could go either way.
- Mostly C's: An elimination diet may not be necessary for you at this time.
If you determine that an elimination diet is right for you, please remember that it is meant to last a short period of time to help identify food sensitivities.
Read also: Weight Loss with Ozempic and Cigna
The Personalization Phase
Now that you’ve learned which foods trigger inflammation for you (and which don’t), you can settle into a longer term eating plan that makes you feel your best. Note that our bodies are always changing, and you may want to repeat the elimination diet process in the future if you find that you’re feeling “off” again.
Key Considerations
- Bioindividuality: One of the most important components to consider when planning your anti-inflammatory diet is your own individuality. If you come across a food that is listed as anti-inflammatory but you know you don’t feel well when you eat it, listen to what your body is telling you. What’s inflammatory for you might not be for somebody else.
- Gut Health: One of the best things you can do to reduce chronic inflammation overall is to support your gut.
- Professional Guidance: If you don’t notice significant symptomatic improvement during the elimination phase, you may want to try a different diet template, or speak with a functional medicine practitioner about what might be blocking you from feeling better.
- Holistic Approach: In functional medicine, we realize that there is more to health than diet alone.
Dr. Will Cole's Expertise
Dr. Will Cole is a leading functional-medicine expert and a Doctor of Chiropractic. Dr. Cole specializes in clinically investigating underlying factors of chronic disease and customizing a functional- medicine approach for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and brain problems. Dr. Cole was named one of the top 50 functional-medicine and integrative doctors in the nation and is a health expert and course instructor for the world’s largest wellness brands such as mindbodygreen and goop.
Inflammation: The Root Cause
Dr. Cole emphasizes that many health issues, including chronic diseases and mental health problems, share a common link: chronic inflammation. He explains that inflammation itself isn't inherently bad, but an imbalance can lead to various health problems.
Identifying Inflammatory Triggers
Dr. Cole highlights several food groups that can contribute to gut inflammation:
- Gluten-containing grains
- Added sugar
- High omega-6 oils (vegetable oil, canola oil)
- Conventional dairy
He also notes that non-food factors like glyphosate, stress, toxins, and medications can impact gut health.
Read also: Dietary Habits of Whip-poor-wills
Symptoms of Inflammation
Dr. Cole identifies common symptoms associated with inflammation:
- Low energy levels, fatigue
- Background anxiety
- Digestive problems (bloating, irregular bowel movements)
- Hair loss
- Skin and nail issues
- Weight loss resistance
- Muscle joint soreness, tightness
- Brain fog
- Depression
The Gut-Brain Connection
Dr. Cole emphasizes the critical link between gut health and overall well-being, referencing the gut as the "second brain." He explains how gut inflammation can disrupt the gut-brain axis, impacting hormonal balance and contributing to weight gain or difficulty losing weight.
Bioindividuality
Dr. Cole stresses the importance of bioindividuality, acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all diet. Foods considered healthy may not be beneficial for everyone, depending on their gut health, genetics, and current health status.
Lifestyle Factors
Dr. Cole highlights the importance of taking breaks from eating, managing stress, and incorporating physical touch to lower inflammation levels.