How to Self-Test for Allergies

The following procedure must be followed without cheating, or you will have a lot of inconvenience, but without useful information. This method only works if, when you eliminate foods, you eliminate all traces of the food all the time for the full duration of the test.
The following procedure refers to the list of foods to avoid. This is the list of foods you will be eliminating from your diet. Initially, it will include all of the foods you are testing. As you re-introduce foods into your diet, you can refine the list of foods to avoid, striking off those foods which do not cause problems, and leaving on foods that do.

1. Eliminate all traces of every food listed in the most common food allergens list. Initially, this will be your list of foods to avoid. You must eliminate these foods for at least one full month for a truly valid test.
   
2. Note how you feel over this period of time. Keep a daily journal of your symptoms and energy level to track your progress (or lack there of).
3. If you are allergic to any of the foods on the list of foods to avoid, you should feel better by the time one month has passed.
4. Introduce just one of the foods from the list of foods to avoid. We will call it the test food, the single food you are testing for allergy symptoms.
   Eat a very small amount of the food – about one tenth of what you would normally consider a serving.
5. Wait up to three full days to see if there is a reaction. If you get any symptoms, you should highly suspect this test food food.
   Keep in mind that other factors may cause symptoms, such as allergens that are not on your list of foods to avoid, or even fear that this food will cause problems. If you experience symptoms, put the test food on your tentative list of foods to avoid.
6. If you do not experience symptoms, eat more of the test food: double your intake from the previous test amount.
7. If you find you have fully reintroduced the test food into your diet, and you still feel fine, you can consider it to be OK (at least for now). Add it to your tentative list of allowed foods.
8. If you experienced symptoms from the food you just tested, allow your body to recover. Wait several weeks (it may take a month) for your body to feel good and relatively symptom free, before moving on to the next test food.
9. Test the next food on the list of foods to avoid. This becomes your new test food.
10. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each food on the list of foods to avoid.
    You now have a tentative list of allowed foods and a tentative list of foods to avoid. If you feel fine and have been eating all the foods listed on your list of allowed foods, chances are you now know what foods are OK, and what foods are not. It is now time to retest the items listed on your list of foods to avoid.
11. Start the test over again for any items on your list of foods to avoid about which you are unsure.