So I have to confess, I’m having more trouble with this elimination diet than I thought I would. While I’m finding and trying great recipes, that’s only a small part of making a restrictive diet like this work for you. I was reminded of this when reader Tiffany shared her troubles earlier this week on An Elimination Diet Adventure. My advice to her was given based on my previous experience with cleansing, and while the principals are the same and the tricks will work, two weeks into my elimination diet and I’m still cheating.

The great thing is that I’ve identified the main source of my problems: stress. Right now, I’m experiencing both internal and external types of stress. Internally, any major change in diet or routine is going to stress your body whether you realize it or not. Your body will adjust, it just needs time. You can make this adjustment phase easier with several healthy lifestyle tricks, including the attempt to control as much external stress as possible.

This means clearing your schedule! I’m especially struggling here as I’m still dealing with the effects of my bathroom accident from 6 weeks ago and desperately trying to maintain my pre-accident life. Between my responsibilities and commitments as a 30 hour per week employee, freelance writer, Live Lighter sole contributor, lover, friend, daughter and cousin, PLUS the tests, procedures and visits required by my oral surgeon, dentist, MD, Gynecologist, Naturopathic Doc and all their tests and multiple visits – my time is super strained! What if I had kids!? LOL…?

I’m sharing this information not to complain or make excuses but to express my pain and frustrations. The life I just described could be yours, could be anyone’s! ANY major life change is difficult and it helps to talk it out with others who’re going through similar circumstances. Not only does an ear help ease the burden, but suggestions could mean a huge difference in how long you stay on the bumpy road. The fastest way to results, I know because I’ve done it, is finding a way to make challenges easier.

So while I get organized and keep trying to make this elimination diet work for me, I’ll continue to share yummy elimination diet-friendly recipes. And I also promise that when I find a way to make this elimination diet easier, I’ll post my results in a future article on diet hacks.

Do you have some diet challenges and/or solutions that you’d like to share?