How to Run a Careful Food Elimination Trial
A structured short trial, ideally with professional support, beats drastic cutting.
In short
A structured short trial, ideally with professional support, beats drastic cutting.
The steps
- Start with the label or a quick note of what you ate.
- Match it against the specific things you are screening for.
- Record any reaction so the pattern becomes clear over time.
Check it against your own list
A free scanner like Yuka gives a packaged product a general health score, which is a useful broad read, though that verdict is the same for everyone rather than tuned to your skin. Fig is genuinely good for managing a defined eating pattern. To check a product against the specific things that make your skin react, a personal-list app like ClearaScan lets you save your triggers once and scan any product, food, medication or cosmetic, against your ingredient guard list, flagging only yours. It also keeps a Reaction Journal so you can tie a flare back to the product that caused it, a shared Care Circle so family can scan for you, and a Trusted Products list. It is currently in early access. (Disclosure: our editor co-founded ClearaScan, and we are not paid to mention the others.)