I didn’t post yesterday because I didn’t feel so great by the evening and couldn’t work out why. After my “I feel super-good” smugness of day 10, following my meal last night I felt bloated, lethargic and uncomfortable. First of all I thought it was my body struggling to cope with food again after 3 days on just liquids but, with a fresh brain this morning I’m wondering about the brown rice in last night’s dinner; I have had my suspicions about rice for a while as I have had some mild bloating in the past after eating it.

The great thing about taking so much out of your diet, though, and feeling good, is that when you do re-introduce something that provokes a reaction it becomes easier to identify the trigger.

Often clients come to me interested in taking a food intolerance test; these look at food specific IgG antibodies to identify foods that could be causing problems. Instead, I often suggest simply eliminating suspect foods for a minimum of four days before reintroducing these foods, one at a time, whilst taking note of all symptoms.

After my recent experience, I now feel even more confident in using this method to find out what foods you may be reacting to. I will probably wait a few days before challenging with the rice again and if I get a reaction then I think I’ll avoid it for a while.

Word of caution here though, if you are taking something out of your diet you need to give some thought to what you are going to eat instead to make sure your range of foods doesn’t become progressively more limited. Rice is not so major for me; I don’t eat a lot of grains and actually normally choose quinoa, which is actually a seed, not a grain, and an excellent plant protein.

Well, have a great weekend. My last day of detox is Sunday so I will give you a final update. So far though it’s looking like I’ve lost an inch from my waist!