A rotation diet is one where you 'rotate' your foods from one day to the next. For a strict rotation, you would allow one flour, one starch, one veggie, one fruit, one meat, one oil, per day [or every two days]. Then the next day you change to a different flour, different starch, different veggie, etc.

Another way is the rotating rotation , and here is an example using flours. Allow 2 or 3 days between the repeat of each food item for it to clear the system.Rotation diets are not only a tool for managing existing allergies, but may also may help prevent the development of allergies to new foods. In sensitive people, eating any food every day, or very frequently, may lead eventually to a full-blown intolerance. This is often the case with people suffering from 'leaky gut' syndrome.

This means that if you simply eliminate foods to which you are allergic, over-dependence on the replacement foods can cause new allergies. This is the value of the rotation diet approach. A rotation diet helps you pick out allergies to foods for which you were not tested and may not have suspected were problems. If you eat a food on Monday, for example, by Friday, when you eat it again, the 'masking' antibodies your body makes specifically for that food will be diminished. Therefore, you will realize you are reacting to it, even thoug h you did not have obvious symptoms when you ate it on a daily basis.

A rotation diet also allows you to eat foods to which you have a mild or borderline intolerance, and which you might not be able to handle if you ate them often. Sometimes your reaction to borderline foods may depend on your stress level, other illness or infection, lack of adequate rest, or the season of the year. (For example, grain allergies tend to be more pronounced when the grass is pollinating).

On a rotation diet each food is eaten only every fourth to fifth day or at even longer intervals. Depending on the severity of your problem , your nutritionist may sug gest that you eat a food only once during the rotation day. Or, if your allergies are not too severe, you may tolerate eating each food more than once during a 24-hour rotation day. Usually all of the members of a food family are eaten on the same day. However, some doctors may recommend that their less severely allergic patients 'split' food families for a more nutritious or more palatable diet. In this case, you eat different members of the same family on more than one day of the rotation cycle with a day off from that family between. (For example, you might eat apples on day 1 and pears on day 3

On a rotation diet, you eat members of the same biological food family on the same day because foods in the same family have similar antigens. The classification of the plants and animals we use for food is not an exact science; thus, various classification schemes differ on the level of relatedness they assign to some foods. What one botanist or zoologist calls a family, another may call a suborder, meaning that the foods are less closely related than on the family level.

Below you will find listed some basic rotation recipes/ideas that you can use as a starting point and to build your own programme on. You may find that if you are starting this regime from a background of poor diet generally, you may benefit from the supplementation of a baseline multivitamin and mineral supplement to help even out your nutrient levels prior to major dietary changes

Day 1

Breakfast:
Millet porridge with coconut milk; grated apple (mixed in)
1 tbsp ground seeds
Verbena tea
Morning snack:
Small handful of nuts, pear, fruit tea
Lunch:
Chicken, carrot cube, potato, and leek ring stew,
water.
Afternoon snack:
3-4 brazil nuts, pawpaw smoothie
Dinner:
Millet burgers
Beetroot and Golden Delicious apple lace salad
Water

Day 2

Breakfast:
Cornflakes with soya milk;
Kiwi wheels (on top)
1 tbsp ground seeds
Fennel tea
Morning snack:
Banana, diluted fresh apple juice or water
Lunch:
Polenta muffins, houmous spread, apple and banana
Glass of water
Afternoon snack:
Corn muffin with tahini
Dinner:
Baked potato chips
Green bean and cherry tomato salad
Water

Day 3

Breakfast:
Soft boiled egg with oat cakes
Fennel and apple juice
1 tbsp ground seeds
Morning snack:
Pineapple rings (fresh if possible)
Lunch:
Carrot sticks, small avocado
Chicken drumstick with steamed potato (in flask)
Afternoon snack:
Dates and macadamia nuts
Dinner:
green leaf and beetroot salad
Cream of oat soup with broccoli and red peppers

Day 4

Breakfast:
Rice flake porridge with rice milk and grated apple
1 tbsp ground seeds
Fennel tea
Morning snack:
Cashew nut butter on celery sticks
Lunch:
Rice cakes, sardines, carrot sticks
Afternoon snack:
Rice and seed treat bar from health food shop, low sugar.
Dinner:
Baked potato with baked beans
Carrot salad
Water

Day 5

Breakfast:
Rye toast with soya cheese
Mango and banana smoothie with soya milk
1 tbsp ground seeds
Morning snack:
Pear boats
lunch:
Tahini on rye with a pear and/or apple
Afternoon snack:
Dates and macadamia nuts
Dinner:
Lentil and pumpkin soup
Water

Day 6

Breakfast:
Buckwheat, hazelnut , banana, cinammon pancakes,
Pawpaw cubes, I tsp maple syrup
1 tbsp ground seeds
Peppermint tea
Morning snack:
Golden Delicious apple
lunch:
Buckwheat noodles, salmon and spinach (in flask)
Afternoon snack:
1 pancake with tahini and honey
Dinner:
Broccoli omelette
Water

Day 7

Breakfast:
Quinoa flakes with rice milk;
Grated golden delicious apple (mixed in) I tbsp ground seeds; Handful of raisins
Verbena tea
Morning snack:
Small handful of nuts, kiwi wheels, fruit tea
Lunch:
Smoked salmon
Peas and pumpkin cubes roasted
Baked quinoa balls
Water
Afternoon snack:
Plain soya bifidus yoghurt with banana wheels, fruit tea
Dinner:
Baked potato wedges
Houmous and avocado dips
Raw carrot and celery sticks
Water