ROTATION DIETS : How They Can Help Your Child

With the increasing prevalence of allergenic conditions in children, more researchers and clinicians are looking at how they might link with diet.  Rotation diets are diets that increase variety into one’s diet that may help alleviate or reduce allergenic tendencies in some children. 

Food allergies and food intolerances are believed to be caused by small percentages of food particles leaking across the gut lining to enter our bloodstream.  Our bodies then create an immune response to those allergenic foods that are eaten frequently.  North American diets typically have wheat, dairy, corn, eggs, and sugar especially as “hidden” ingredients in packaged foods.  These foods are often the main foods that cause allergic responses in children.

One way to help with the frequent exposure to the same foods is to do some kind of rotation diet.  This means to simply rotate the foods in some kind of way to allow for variety, and for the immune response to settle down in between exposures.  Some ways rotate foods include:

Eating seasonally.  Traditionally foods were not flown all over the world.  Eating seasonally is a natural rotation diet.  Stick to winter foods in the winter (persimmons, chestnuts, etc) and have summer produce in the summer (berries, peaches, tomatoes, etc). 

Rotate grains.  Instead of having wheat bread every day, try one loaf of wheat, then buy a loaf of rye, then try spelt or quinoa-barley bread.  Try couscous one day (made from wheat), then do quinoa or brown rice the next.

Rotate sources of dairy type foods.  Try rotating that cow milk and cow cheese with some sheep cheese, goat yogurt, almond milk, soy yogurt, and nut “cheese.”

If your child is very allergic to a certain food, avoidance for long term may be required before you can try a rotation diet.  As a naturopathic physician, I have seen in my practice various conditions clear up completely when food allergies are removed.  Some conditions I have seen clear are asthma, eczema, joint pain, skin conditions, chronic abdominal pain, ulcerative colitis, frequent croup infections, constipation, diarrhea, swollen eyes and chronic runny noses.