How to Survive an Elimination Diet ; How to Survive the Repairvite Elimination Diet

How to Survive an Elimination Diet ; How to Survive the Repairvite Elimination Diet

There are lots of different ways to conduct an elimination diet whether it be as simple as eliminating one single food group such as dairy, or very strict eliminating multiple entire food groups. I have experience with both. In this post I am going to be explaining how to do a very specific diet plan that is used in conjunction with a supplement called Repairvite. Now you may have ended up here not knowing anything about Repairvite, or maybe you've just been prescribed this diet and supplement (or something similar) from your doctor. Either way the goal is health. No matter what reason you're trying to do an elimination, I can only assume it's to improve your health in some way. So let's move forward with that notion in mind.

The biggest challenge that I've faced with an elimination diet is giving up my favorite comfort foods. Those go to foods that I always crave and reach for when I need a quick meal or nights when I just want to eat something that tastes good. What I've learned from doing a strict elimination is that simplicity is the key to success. Making meals uncomplicated and quick to prepare takes a lot of the stress out of deciding what to eat. When you're hungry but can't figure out what to eat, cravings for those comfort foods can be really strong. Being prepared and knowing ahead of time what your meals and snacks are going to be will help keep the hunger and cravings away.

I'll provide you with the foods to eat and foods to avoid lists that I was given when I purchased the Repairvite supplement. You may have a different list depending on who you're working with or if you're doing this on your own. If you don't already have a list then I recommend using the one I am providing. The real focus should be on the foods to eat list. I have struggled myself with focusing too much on that dreaded foods to avoid list. It can make you feel like you can't eat "anything". The most important thing to remember is that you can eat so many things. And those things are all great for your body.

The first time I did the full Repairvite diet it was 30 days of hell. I've tried to do it multiple times over the past 2 years but I've failed time and time again. Why? Because I wasn't prepared. I just tried to jump into it with my pantry and fridge full of all the foods I wasn't going to allow myself to eat. At the end of the day this is voluntary. You have to make the choice of what you put into your body. Making those choices can be really difficult when you've got all those tempting foods at every turn.

1. Find a home for your unwanted food. Whether you decide to eat everything in your pantry before you do this diet or donate it, the first step is to get the food out of your reach.

2. Stock up. Now that you've cleaned out your kitchen it's time to stock it back up. With all the goodies to help heal your body. Start small with this step, don't go out and buy $300 worth of food hoping to make gourmet meals every night. Plan for a few days out and I highly suggest planning to eat left overs. This will save you lots of time and help keep you from being overly hungry. Cooking in batches and portioning out the food for several days will help you be prepared for success and to prevent over eating if that's an issue for you.

3. Plan. Plan your meals for at least 2 days but not more than 5. Don't overdo it and end up wasting a lot of food. I usually try to give myself about 3 days of eating the same things before I start to get tired of it and want to move on to something different. Depending on your preferences you can adjust how you do your cooking. If you have lots of free time each day to prepare fully fresh meals focus on that. If you're busy m-f but have plenty of time on the weekend to spend a few hours making large batches and storing it (freezing it even, if you like), then do that. Do what works best for you on this step. Just make sure you do have a plan so you don't find yourself scrambling for food and making a stop at the drive-thru on the way home, since you have nothing prepared for dinner. Keeping an inventory of the foods you have on hand can be really helpful. Once you've eaten all of an item then cross it off your list. And deciding what foods you'll be eating on certain days can take a lot of the guess work out of it.

This step is really important in the beginning as you get used to what foods you should and shouldn't be eating.  As you get used to knowing what to eat you'll stop focusing on what you can't eat and eventually it will become natural to just choose the good foods without thinking too long. Planning ahead will be less important and you can get back to your usual groove.

4. Prepare. Prepare your food. You can do this according to how you plan to cook through out the week. If you're going to be cooking daily then just decide what meals you'll have each day of the week and then plan to cook them on that day. You can chop veggies and meats ahead of time and portion them out for the day so cooking is a breeze.. If you're going to cook in batches get all your supplies together and cook those large batches of food, then portion them off for a few days worth of meals. This step is important to make sure you're not stranded without a safe meal. Make sure to try and overlap what you have left with preparing the next batch so you don't run out and get desparate.

5. Eat. Now that you've planned what you're eating, and you've prepared it, fresh or from that Tupperware container, it's time to eat. Eat your meal knowing that you're eating for health. Enjoy these foods because over time hopefully you'll forget about whatever food you eliminated. Your body will start to feel better and going back to those comfort foods won't be so comforting after all. You'll want to reach for that food that's going to make your body feel good and your mind will follow.

Now that you've got the steps for how to conduct this elimination you're probably interested in what to eat while you're doing it. Check out my next post for a detailed list of foods and some suggestions on how to make meals that are simple and satisfying.

Discovering a Leaky Gut - how my son's stubborn refusal to take a bottle changed my life, for the better.


In 2014 I was 9 years into my journey with joint pain, body aches, chronic fatigue and chronic diarrhea. I had some ups and downs along the way where I felt my best and felt my worst. But it was in 2013 that I had reached an all time low. My joint pain was so bad that I was forced to use crutches and was barely able to sleep from the constant pain in my knees. On top of that my daughter was an energetic 1 year old and I was newly pregnant. I saw doctors and pleaded for tests and any help they could give me but they wouldn't do anything but talk to me while I was pregnant. I was feeling like there was no hope and that I couldn't care for myself or my child and the life growing inside me.

I had such mixed feelings about being pregnant. I had wanted to be pregnant so badly. I had suffered a miscarriage in July 2013 and just weeks after became pregnant again with my now beautiful rainbow baby. The only thing that gave me hope was that I had a strong chance my symptoms would go into remission once the pregnancy was well established. The same had happened with my 1st pregnancy and I was banking on that to get me through the agony.

As expected my symptoms did go into remission within a couple of months and virtually disappeared through out the rest of my pregnancy. However, just a short 4-6 weeks after giving birth the pain started to return. I had an MRI and blood test done through a Rheumatologist (the 8th one I'd seen over the years). Conclusion was that I did have inflammation in my body and had Baker's cysts and a meniscus tear in my knees. It was recommended to me that I start right away taking Methotrexate again or something similar. Medications that you are required to be on birth control while taking and do blood tests every 4 weeks because they are so toxic. I declined.

When I explained to the Doc that I didn't want to effect my fertility or to stop breastfeeding she told me that I should give up on having any more children because, what good would I be to the children I already have if I was sick and not able to care for them. I was choking back tears that day in her office.

My last hope was to try hormonal birth control pills. I had success with them putting my joint pain into remission but they made me an emotional wreck. I met with my OB and he said we can try as many as it takes to find the right one for me. I got the pills but wanted to wait until I weaned my son from breastfeeding at 3 months when I returned to work.

I could make an entire post about how it went trying to get him to take a bottle of formula but long story short, he never took to it. It was an agonizing process that nearly broke me. But I knew that his needs were priority despite the worsening pain. I decided to give up on taking those pills. I decided that he was showing me there must be another way. His stubborn refusal to take a bottle of formula would change my life and the lives of our family.

After a lot of reading, and discussion with a family member who was also dealing with illness, I decided to try something that they had tried. Eliminating foods. I had to decide between gluten, dairy and meat. Those seemed like the best ones to try first. Cutting meat was easy but didn't seem to help any. So I cut out dairy, all of it down to the "may contain milk".

My relationship with cheese was a love hate. I couldn't go a day without cheese, I ate it with everything. But I knew sometimes it would give me the you know whats so I tried to avoid it in certain preparations. I really didn't think it could be the solution to it all but I sure was willing to try anything at this point, because medications were off the table.

To my surprise within days of having not a spec of dairy I started to feel different. My joints started to feel better, my digestion was improving and most notably I was losing weight. Fast. Within a few months of cutting dairy I lost roughly 30 lbs. When I gave birth to my son I was close to 80 lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with my daughter. It was life changing and I thought it could be the answer, but I knew it wasn't that easy.

After about 3 months of no dairy and lots of reading, I was onto something. Leaky Gut. Could that be the key to all the pain and the path to healing? A coworker who I spoke to regularly and discussed all of this with recommended I go and see her Chiropractor. I made the appointment and went in there with some ideas. Within minutes of talking to me the Dr threw out the words Leaky Gut. My next step was to see his brother who was also a Chiro and Nutritionist.

And so began the process of elimination. I was prescribed a very strict elimination diet with a supplement called Repairvite. You cut out all inflammatory foods and heal your gut. Then you add back the foods. After 30 days of doing that in 2014 I had lost the rest of the 80lbs and 3 extra. I eliminated my joint pain, fixed my digestion, gained energy and enthusiasm for life. And never had to give up breastfeeding. I was the picture of health and my blood tests proved it.

It's been a journey and I want to share it. But this is just the beginning. Follow me as I discuss where I'm at now. Why I'm doing Repairvite again. How I think it all started (when I was 14) and I'll provide tips on how to do an elimination diet. As well as recipes and suggestions for how to eat when you can't eat certain foods.