Finding out which foods cause me problems. The Gold Standard.

This is the gold standard protocol for discovering which foods we might be intolerant, sensitive or allergic to. It's simple with clearly articulated steps and support when needed.

Artwork by Hartmut Michael Günther ©2009 Not Ai.

by Hartmut Michael Günther, B.Sc Hons Biochemistry, Grad Dip Nutrition Medicine, Grad Diploma Psychology | hart@hartgood.com | 0439 54 7788

This is the gold standard for discovering what foods you might be intolerant or sensitive to. Allergies to foods are different and can simply be determined through a blood test which we can organise through our clinic. This is a 1-3 week elimination protocol that has over the last 20 years in our clinic consistently demonstrated a marked reduction in clients symptoms while revealing previously unknown (but suspected) food intolerances.

Food intolerances (and food allergies) can activate our immune system and depending on the degree of exposure to the triggering foods, cause unwanted symptoms like fatigue, brain fog and gut issues, to name a few.

Furthermore, triggering the immune system can provoke prolonged and escalating inflammation and in some people activate auto-immune responses from the immune system. We are currently investigating this in situations of antibodies directed at the thyroid gland’s key enzymes. Stay tuned.

This protocol is inspired by the work of Alejandro Junger, MD and his books Clean and Clean Gut. While this protocol helps us discover what foods we might be intolerant or sensitive to, its benefits are multiple. The benefits felt and experienced by participants over the 3 weeks include some weight loss (if needed), enhanced detoxification and palpable reduction in overall symptoms. We have confirmed this often dramatic overall symptom reduction by using our MSQ (Multi Symptom Questionnaire) before and after the protocol. Note that people can also experience an increase in symptoms in the first week, mostly due to detoxification mechanisms at work and the gut and its microbiome experiencing adaptations and adjustments.

This is not calorie restriction or a weight loss diet. It’s not a diet. It’s more of a short term discovery protocol to get you clear and informed, on all levels. While many people loose some weight you can focus on that at another time if you need to. It is not a long term diet, and again, it is not a diet. It is primarily about discovering what foods you might be intolerant or sensitive to while also being a superb cleansing and detoxifying experience.

Additionally, this protocol has the potential to reset & optimise cellular metabolism so that it is concordant with feelings of health in both body and mind. It is useful to consider doing it once a year.

Next is a basic guide to get you going. If you fall off the bike, get back on. For one-one help through our clinic (hartgood.com) or simply to ask a question, make a comment or give feedback, make an appointment, reach out to the author by leaving a comment at the end, Direct Message on this substack platform (DM) or hart@hartgood.com | +61 439 54 7788

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Time Frame

About a week for preparations, 1-3 weeks for elimination phase and 1-2 weeks for reintroduction phase. A 3 week elimination phase is recommended.

Parts involved

Note: ALL parts are important

• Understanding - Why am I doing this. What do I hope to find out. What will I get out of this. Leave a comment or reach out to get more clarity if needed.

• Preparation
  Shopping for ingredients, minimising stress in immediate environment, communication to family, colleagues and friends.

• MSQ
  Multi Symptom Questionnaire - Used to monitor symptoms. Do it before you start. Takes about 2-5mins. See hartgood.com or direct link to MSQ

• Start
  Set the start date and commit.

• Monitor and ask for help if needed.
  Crucial for learnings and tracking progress.Ask for help if needed by expressing concerns, severe symptoms etc.

• End
  One-three weeks after start date. Three weeks is best as some people experience detoxification reactions in the first week that then subside.

• MSQ
  Multi Symptom Questionnaire - Used to monitor symptom changes over time. Done at end to see what has changed. We do this because no one has demonstrated that they remember what their symptom severity and frequency were at the start.

• Reintroduce suspected foods sequentially
  Very important part - we now find out if there are any reactions to foods. Importantly, during this sequential reintroduction phase we stay on the elimination protocol. Suspected triggering foodsare reintroduced one at a time with generous amounts for 1 day, stop, wait another day, then reintroduce another food, all the while staying on the elimination protocol until all poteional trigger foods have been tested.

• Monitor
  Crucial for learnings and discovering which foods may be problematic.

• Finish
  Discussion of learning and next steps.

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  Ingredients needed and allowed on this protocol.

You don’t have to eat all of these. This is not a diet - eat freely from this list.

• Fruits & Vegetables
  Fresh or frozen allowed whole fruits and vegetables. Sea vegetables (seaweeds), avocados, olives are OK. Cooked, steamed and roasted OK. Specific fruits and vegetable are avoided as seen below. Individually you can avoid fruits and vegetables that you already know you are are allergic or intolerant to, or have trouble digesting.

• Drinks
  Lots of filtered water is best with some judicious non-caffeine tea like Rooibos, mineral water, coconut water (watch the added sugar), fresh green juice.

• Dairy Substitutes
  Hemp, rice, and nut milks, coconut milk, coconut oil/butter - read the labels to check no sugar or other rubbish ingredients are used therein i.e. numbers and colours and preservatives.

• Non-Gluten Grains & Starch
  Rice - preferably organic. Also millet, amaranth, teff, buckwheat

• Animal Protein
  Small local fresh fish (trout, halibut, snapper sardines, pike, kippers etc), wild game (rabbit, pheasant, venison, etc.), organic lamb, duck, chicken or turkey. Make sure the turkey is non cured (has chemicals). Canned sardines or wild caught salmon in olive oil only.

• Vegetable Protein
  Legumes correctly prepared (article coming here shortly). Organic and careful selected protein powders - see below in smoothie recipe.

• Nuts and Seeds
  Hemp, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, cashews, macadamia, pistachios, brazil, nut and tahini. Organic if possible. Grind in coffee grinder if eating seeds like Hemp, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds.

• Sweeteners and Condiments
  Whole/fresh fruit, organic molasses - limit to one or two teaspoons per day and best to be organic where you can.
  Organic vinegar, spices, herbs, Himalayan salt, black pepper, carob.

• Oils and Fats
  Cold-pressed olive, avocado or coconut oil. Local country of origin, organic if possible. If you are in the land of OZ (Australia), these are highly recommended.

  

  Two Local Victorian, Australian incredible olive oils. Cockatoo Grove is currently sold out till later in year 2025

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  What to avoid

Don’t starve yourself. This is not a fast. It’s only for a few weeks

• Fear and doubt. Be gentle with yourself. If you fall of the bike, get back on.

• Foods that you already know you are allergic or intolerant to.
  Can be anything. We might reintroduce some of these after the three weeks.
  Additionally, if there are any foods you know that will cause issues due to chronic health conditions, medications or known food issues you know you have like FODMAP foods, then definitely avoid these also during this elimination protocol.

• Deep frying or over cooking
  Be gentle when cooking food - slow and lower heat is best

• Avoid supplements unless absolutely necessary
  They can mask the effects we want to reveal during the 3 week elimination.

• ALL processed foods
  Most things in packaging that contains preservatives, colours, flavours and numbers on the label that most humans wouldn’t recognise.

• If possible avoid non-organic food.
  Not always possible but give it your best shot.

• Takeaways and cafe/restaurant foods. It’s only for a few weeks. Having been a Chef many years ago, I know what goes into these foods. Avoid.

• Fruits & Vegetables
  Oranges, orange juice, grapefruit, bananas, strawberries, grapes, corn, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes)

• Dairy and Eggs
  Dairy and all eggs: including milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, non- dairy creamers, ghee

• Grains
  Wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, triticale, oats (often contaminated with gluten residues)

• Animal Protein
  Pork (bacon), beef, veal, sausage, cold cuts, canned meats, frankfurters (hot dogs), shellfish, any raw meats and fish.

• Vegetable Protein
  Soybeans and sauces containing soybeans.

• Nuts and Seeds
  Peanuts and peanut butter

• Oils & Fats
  Butter, margarine, shortening, ALL vegetable oils, processed oils, canola oil, salad dressings, mayonnaise, spreads

• Drinks
  Alcohol, coffee (yes it can be brutal for a few days, but it too shall pass), caffeinated beverages, soft drinks, canned fruit juice (unless fresh pressed)

• Sweeteners and Condiments
  Refined sugar, white/brown sugars, maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, Splenda®, Equal®, Sweet’N Low®, juice concentrate, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, honey, Regular chocolate (with dairy and sugar), tomato sauce, relish, chutney, traditional soy sauce, barbecue sauce, teriyaki, breath mints - you get the picture.

This protocol is a jump-start if you will, to feeling less encumbered. Be creative and go where you have never gone before. Keep things very simple.

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Ideas and Recipes during this elimination protocol

Be brave, spontaneous and creative. Focus on getting the ingredients as fresh, clean and local as you can. This will also pay off in the long term as you will learn new things about food, how to prepare and store it and where to get the good stuff.

A few of my favourite recipes follow.

PLUS a new service we are offering for people who book a one-one consultation with Hartmut -

Send us a list of foods you have purchased from the list of Ingredients Needed and Allowed in the above section and we will send you 3 breakfast, 3 lunch and 3 dinner ideas/recipes. In effect having you own personal Chef give you tailer-made recipe suggestions. See hartgood.com to book.

A few of Hartmut’s nutrient dense recipe Ideas to get you going…

Baseline Smoothie

1. Water (pure distilled or filtered water) - 1 to 2 cups

2. Organic coconut cream – 2-5 tables spoons

3. Freshly Ground (in coffee grinder) organic Flaxseed or Chia seed– 1-2 teaspoons. Don’t put whole seeds in smoothie. And ONLY add if you know you are not allergic to these seeds.

4. Protein Powder - some suggestions see below – 2-3 heaped tablespoons - Organic/Biodynamic is BEST
   
   

   

   Some suggestions for high quality vegetarian/vegan protein powder

5. Organic Berries (handful of blue berries, raspberries) AND/OR handful of organic greens (spinach, kale, chard etc)

6. Hartmut’s nut butter 1 to 2 tablespoons – see recipe below

7. BLEND until smooth in blender.

More Options Make a juice out of vegetables and some fruits and add to smoothie instead of water (i.e. capsicum, greens, cucumber, apple, celery, beetroot, pear). Avocado – thickens it up. Even more peeled cucumber, honeydew melon, pawpaw.

Hartmut’s Super-Cali-Fragilistic Nut Butter recipe

This is absolutely a SUPERFOOD. There are 14 essential nutrients that supply greater than 5% of the RDI and 12 greater than 10% and 6 that supply 30% or more - just from a 50gr serving of this nutter butter.

Recipe

Should make about 6-7 jars that will last for months in the fridge. I have also frozen jars for even longer storage times. The rationale for making larger amounts is that making this recipe is labour intensive.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams almonds

• 250 grams walnuts

• 100 grams Brazil nuts

• 100 grams chia seeds

• 50 grams pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

• 50 grams sunflower seeds

• 800 ml extra virgin olive oil

• 400 ml flaxseed oil

Method:

1. Preparation:

   • Assemble all the ingredients around the Food Processor and the coffee Grinder. Have jars ready to store the final amazing blend. I have recycled cheese and honey jars over the years - they are strong and lids shut nice and tight.

   • The ingredients list above is more about the approximate ratios of the individual ingredients. These ratios help establish the final nutrient concentrations in the final product as seen in the table above for a 50gr serving of nutter butter. You can of course add other nuts to your taste and preference. Other nuts may need more or less Olive Oil depending on their fat/oil content and resultant “creaminess” after blending. More nuts may require more Omega 3 ingredients like walnuts and/or Flaxseed oil and/or ground chia, hemp and flax seeds. Note that Chia and Hemp seed oil is available but still to expensive.

   • Roast any seeds or nuts like sunflower, pumpkin seed or almonds.Because nutrients are depleted when nuts and seeds are roasted, it is recommended to only roast about 5-10% of them. This is usually enough to impart that lovely roasted flavour into nut butter while maintaining the nutrient integrity of the other nuts and seeds.

   • If the nuts are clean and fresh proceed to add them to the blender. However, recently we have experimented with slight boiling the nuts for a few minutes with the view to clean them from dust and other external contaminates. Surprisingly, upon doing this, especially for the almonds (Woolworths 500gr Australian Organic Almonds), after a minute or so a buildup of scumminess on the water surface appeared. It’s up to you which method to use. The pre-boiling method takes more time and work - after the nuts are briefly boiled and rinsed, they need to be gently dried (80 degrees or less in the oven for a few hours). This extended the final nut butter’s shelf life and offers some protection from mould.

   • Gently grind any of the seeds you have in the coffee grinder careful not to overheat them, especially the omega 3 rich seeds like chia, hemp and flax seeds.

2. Mixing:

   • Combine all the prepared dry nuts and ground seeds into the food processor mixing bowl. You may have to do this in 2 stages if you have a lots of nuts or the bowl is small. Begin blending before you add the oils.
     

     

3. Blending:

   • Once the dry nuts and seed are significantly smaller and finer, start drizzling the oils into the mix, beginning with the flax seed oil until it is all in. Then begin adding the olive oil. The amount of olive oil you end up adding depends to some degree on the power of your blender (how much oil it can release from the nuts) and how liquid you want your nut butter. My preference is slightly runny - then you don’t need to use ordinary butter and if placing on bread, the bread soaks it up nicely giving a soft and moist texture to what you are eating!

   • Ensure the mixture is well combined and homogenous.

4. Storage:

   • Store the mixture in any jars you have.

   • Keep it in the refrigerator to maintain freshness.

5. Usage:

   • This nutrient-dense nut butter can be used as a spread on bread, added to smoothies, combined into hot porridge on cold days, smeared on banana (YUMMY), apple or celery or consumed on its own as a teaspoon or tablespoon full as a high-energy snack.

Best to obtain the oils (and Nuts and Seeds) locally when possible. If you are in Australia, the Flaxseed Oil and the Olive Oil I use are below. They are so fresh and delicious and packed with omega 3s and polyphenols. They are available online in Australia.

Notes
Go biodynamic or organic as much as possible.

nutrient breakdown of a 50 grams serving…

Nutrient Values for a 50-gram Serving

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Hartmut’s Baseline Hummus

Another superb superfood! Eat it with pieces of apple or celery or dropped on a salad for extra oomph and protein.

Chickpeas (either 2 cans organic or 3 cups self pre-sprouted and cooked biodynamic chickpeas) Tahini (sesame seed paste UN-HULLED and organic from health food store) – 1⁄2 cup

Lemons - 3 or 5 or to taste
Garlic - 5 large cloves or more to taste

Salt about 1 teaspoon to taste (use only nutrient rich Himalayan Salt or likewise)

1 teaspoon of ground Flax or Chia seeds
Olive oil – about 1/3 cup to adjust thickness

Few tablespoons of filtered water to adjust thickness – need to be smooth but not sloppy.
More olive drizzled on top at end

NOTE: be generous with the lemon, garlic and salt – this intensifies the flavour of the chickpeas and tahini and you will not be able to stop eating it – YUM

Options
Cumin seed ground (1/2 teaspoon) – more flavour Cayenne pepper sprinkled on top at end

Method

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add the tahini in the food processor. Add lemon juice, salt and garlic and cumin. Blend until smooth. Add olive oil and water to desired texture. Place in bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Cayenne pepper

Eating

Dip carrot, celery, cucumber, apple, organic corn chips or a finger in this taste extravaganza and eat. (not the finger)

Notes
Go biodynamic or organic as much as possible.

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Lastly, a few reminders…

Make sure you keep pooing.

Daily bowel movements will help make sure that toxins aren’t reabsorbed into your system from the gut - leading to hepatic (liver) recirculation i.e. toxic waste going round and round in the body.

A few solutions to constipation in general or onset during the elimination protocol and detox.

Stay hydrated: Drink enough clean filtered water so your toilet sees you every hour or so.

Movement and gentle exercise. Walking in the evening after dinner (15-20 mins) really helps.

If things get really clogged consider magnesium citrate, vitamin C and/or cascara supplement. Book a consult with Hartmut if needed or concerned.

Leave at least 12 hours between last meal a night and next meal the following day.

Contact Us: Book a one-one consult if needed hart@hartgood.com | +61 439 54 7788

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