So, I understand that the basic premise of rotation diet is, vary your foods. If you eat the same thing every day, you are more likely to develop an intolerance to it (and the last thing we need is more intolerances).

But, when cooking for my family, I always kinda did this anyways - i wouldnt do chicken 2 days in a row, or pasta 2 days in a row, I always tried to mix it up. Except for leftovers nights, or occasionally 2 very different meals w the same meat or something.

So, i'm wondering, now that i'm down to only a very limited selection of starches ( corn, buckwheat, millet, potato and sweet potato) and meats (turkey, chicken, lamb, and only 3 fish i've ever seen in the store), do I have to exactly rotate, day 1-2-3-4? Or is it ok if i do 2 days in a row of one thing and then dont do it for 5 days, or do like a 1-2-1-2-3-4-3-4? I mean, is there something magic about a 4-day rotation or is it ok to just keep varying it, but a more fluid way is allright?

I see that 52 people read my first post without responding - if this isnt the right place to post, PLEASE let me know, its just that with SO MANY foods I'm trying to avoid, this seemed like the best place.

Cara, 42, not dx'd - off gluten and dairy since 11/07 (better bms, lost the headache, fatigue and depression), and now trying to also get rid of rice and about 50 other things ... hopefully to lose the bloating and stomach-ache

I wouldn't worry way too much about it and I'd recommend just rotating foods as to the extent that is practical for you... there isn't a magic formula per se, it's just typically recommended to have 2 or 3 days in between foods so that you can pinpoint if you have a reaction, delayed or immediate, to one of the staple foods in your rotation diet...

from my experiences on an elimination diet, I had difficulties pinpointing reactions as I didn't really have an established day to day decent overall feeling to use as a basis for comparison as I was generally feeling off or some symptom... so it was mostly just making the best educated guesses for myself as to whether or not certain staple foods I was eating were causing or exacerbating any symptoms...

so I would say it's fine to eat something 2 days in a row at times and then not eat for a few days or eat something M, W, and then not again until the weekend... you could always try a couple weeks of being strict with the rotation aspect if you wanted and then be more flexible with it if you've pinpointed some foods you're suspicious of and feel more comfortable eating other foods...