The principles of rotation diets are as follows:

1. Eat non-processed natural foods - preferably organically grown. Avoid spices, dressings, condiments, etc., as much as possible, but not entirely, as there must be some variety. Avoid composite foods containing several ingredients, such as sausages, packet soups, tinned meats, etc.

2. Vary your diet as much as possible. This can be achieved by looking to other cultures for food ideas. Chinese, Indian and Indonesian cooking contain some varied and harmless foods. These foods may cost a little more, but without health, what is money?

3. The main aim of a rotation diet is to allow your body to recover from the effects of a food, before eating it again. As it takes three days to pass through the intestine, it is important not to eat any food more often than every four days. Otherwise, allergies to previously safe foods can develop. There can be some flexibility to this approach, however, depending on the degree, or severity, of the allergy problem.

4. As well as the food, the food family itself should be rotated. According to Dr Theron Randolph, who is the acknowledged world leader in this field, three main points apply. These are:

I. Any food, whether allergenic or not, should be eaten only once every four days.

II. Foods are established in families, and only one food of any food family from any of these groups should be eaten during a single day.

III. There should be a separation of one day, between any two members of the same food family. For example, wheat could be eaten on the first day and then oats, another member of the cereal-grain family, could be safety eaten on the third day, but not the second day.
If the food family is not rotated in this way, it is likely that sensitivity, to another member of the same family, will quickly develop. For example, potatoes and tomatoes should be eaten a full day apart, as they both belong to the 'potato family'.

5. A rotation diet must, initially, consist only of foods to which you are not allergic. It is usually at least four to six months, before your immune system has recovered to the point where reintroduction of allergenic foods can commence. The important thing is to be flexible. If you find that after a four-day break you get a reaction when you eat the food again, then increase the time delay to seven or eight days. Eventually, you will determine a suitable rotation for that particular food. In most cases, a four-day rotation has proven itself to be adequate for the great majority of food allergies. With extremely sensitive people, who have been sick for a long time, it may be necessary to use a seven-day rotation. The principle is the same, however, and, eventually, it should be possible to reduce to a four-day rotation, once the immune system has regained some resilience.

Dr Randolph points out that, the smaller the number of foods eaten at anyone meal, the less the likelihood of an allergy reaction. However, this usually applies only in severe cases of multiple food allergies.

As we are already aware, allergies may be either 'cyclical', 'transient' or 'fixed'. In the case of the first two, avoidance, followed by a diversified rotation diet will eventually solve the problem. A 'fixed' allergy however, such as some forms of milk intolerance or sensitivity to gluten, is totally incurable. Complete and lifelong avoidance in these cases is the only way to maintain good health. We are fortunate today, to have access to such a wide range of foodstuffs, that even total avoidance of a particular type of food should not prevent us from enjoying our diet and receiving a good level of nourishment. As Dr Kenyon says, the individual's. involvement in the treatment of allergy illness, is essential in order to obtain any degree of success. A sensible person should be able to apply the principles of the rotation diet and then work out the rest for himself.

Remember, sensitivity to common staple foods is generally applicable to most people with food allergy problems. Thus, it is a sound idea at first, to avoid them, even if you are not convinced of your allergy to them.

The article The Principles of Rotation Diets for Allergy was Submitted by Krishan Bakhru through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Author's Sites: Home Remedies , Home Remedies Blog and Natural Skin Care