Elimination Diet for Food Allergies

I wrote a while back about Buddy Bear's allergic symptoms.  Since then I have been doing a ton of research, both online and from the library.  We tried eliminating dairy at the suggestion of our Nurse Practitioner, but that didn't help.  We eliminated food preservatives and dyes and it made a difference for Ally, but not for Bear.  After about two months we finally realized that he's allergic to eggs.  But still even with treating his eczema with ointment it still wasn't improving.  In fact some spots kept getting worse, and he was breaking out in more places.  So, with no further help coming from out NP, we decided to do a full elimination diet.  We decided not only for Bear, but for the last five years I have struggled with eczema as well; and Matt has problems with arthritis (which can also be food related).

There are many Elimination Diets online.  Some of the more comprehensive and helpful sites are:
      Elimination Diet by Dr. Cranton 
      Comprehensive Elimination Diet from Functional Medicine.org
      28 day Elimination and Detox diet from Whole Life Nutrition 
         (also see their blog here)

We chose to go with the diet from Whole Life Nutrition because of the details and the "support" network (Facebook and their blog) and their cookbook that has more details and Elimination diet recipes.  The Whole Life Nutrition diet is also a good detox diet to flush your body of toxins and get your immune system working well. 

So far we are on day 12, and I am pleased with the results.  Our eczema is clearing up, and Matt's arthritis is much better (he used to be able to tell if it was going to rain, but even with all the heavy rain we've had this last week he hasn't complain of any stiffness)!  As an added bonus, and since this is a high nutrient, low fat diet, Matt has last over 10 lbs and I have lost 8 lbs! 

Soon we will enter Phase 2, when we begin to add back foods.  I will be glad to Finally know what our problem foods are!