Yesterday on Buffalostyle (Hometown 1230 WECK 9am), my guest was Sylvia Regalla, MD, MSCN ABIHM. Dr. Regalla is a functional medicine physician who shared her wisdom about the importance of healthy eating habits and good nutrition. (www.nutrishealthworks.meta-ehealth.co)
Dr. Regalla’s appearance on my show stimulated much conversation among my family about better eating habits. As one discussion led to another, my son (James) and his girlfriend (Amanda) presented me with a Buffalostyle diet challenge. They would undertake an elimination diet during the month of February that we could document and track each Saturday during the show.
Never one to be left out of a family challenge, I decided to join in their diet dedication. So, as of Monday, February 1st, James, Amanda and I will be radically modifying our eating habits for 28 days, with the intention of becoming healthier and leaner.
Amanda and I will be following an elimination diet used by Dr. Regalla with her patients. It is a program developed by the Institute for Functional Medicine (http://www.functionalmedicine.org/.) It focuses on eliminating certain foods from the diet in order to allow the body’s detixification machinery (your digestive tract and your liver), which may be overburdened with toxins, to begin to function efficiently again.
These dietary changes help the body eliminate or “clear” various toxins that may have accumulated due to environmental exposure, foods, beverages, drugs, alcohol or cigarette smoking. At the end of the 28 days, Amanda and I will begin to add these foods back into our diet, one at a time, in order to discover which if any of these foods cause inflammation and the potential for chronic disease to grow in our bodies.
As for my son……now that’s a whole different story. He is following his own elimination diet based on the fact that he eats red meat as his main source of protein, eats few vegetables or fruits and smokes/chews tobacco. His ideal is to eliminate all meat, all alcohol and all tobacco by the end of the 28 days, with his ultimate goal to be a vegan by the end of the month.
Dr. Regalla has assesed our vitals and recorded our weight, hydration and body muscle vs fat ratio. She will also continue to monitor us and advise each week on Buffalostyle.
To share in the experience, I am going to blog each day of this 28 elimination diet….to share the challenges, the results, even some of the new foods and recipes that we incorporate into this diet challenge.
I invite you to check in each day and become part of the fun…and let me know if you are trying any special “get healthy” habits of your own~