For my own elimination diet, I focused on migraine trigger foods and foods commonly attributed to being correlated with inflammation. Please note that foods included in MY foundational foods list might be excluded from yours. I was able to get the majority of my nutrition through these foods to do a multi-month extension of this restricted diet. You should speak with a professional about constructing yours if you are advised to go this route. Although the foods on my list are considered safe for most people, be sure to verify that these are appropriate for your elimination diet.
I ate other foods in addition to these, but I ate these foods or nutritionally similar foods every day of my elimination diet:
![](https://www.findmyfoodtriggers.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Elimination-Diet-Foundational-Foods-Recipes.png)
Planning out a group of foods that you can know are on your safe list and will provide you complete nutrition makes elimination diets much easier. I used Cronometer and Google to figure out what foods and what quantities I needed.
As months went on and I didn’t feel like eating fish every day, I started using some supplements here and there. But for the most part, I ate these core foods – often mostly at lunch, and didn’t need to add any vitamins or minerals after.
If your recommended diet permits, seeds, fish and dark green leafy and cruciferous vegetables are excellent options to include on your foundational foods list. Having a list of things you can just always keep on hand and eat without thinking about it – helps a lot. It takes the mental work out of really having to think deeply about each meal – what’s allowed and what isn’t on your diet.
I also recommend making sauces and using approved seasonings/vinegars to help bring flavor variety to your plate. Eating the same food every day didn’t feel as taxing for me if I ate most of it over breakfast & lunch. It got the basics out of the way so I could find something interesting for dinner and not worry about making sure I was getting substantial nutrition at that time.