Certain foods, even healthy ones, can trigger inflammation that leads to symptoms such as allergies, joint/muscle pain, weight gain, headaches and many more. The hard part is doing the detective work to identify the food allergens that are causing the problem. Lyn-Genet Recitas, a holistic health practitioner, has developed an eating plan to help make your detective work easier.

Recitas is the author of the The Plan: Eliminating the Surprising "Healthy" Foods that are Making You Fat---and Lose Weight Fast.. The Plan includes a three-day anti-inflammatory cleanse which is the beginning of your investigative efforts to pinpoint troubling food allergens.

During the cleanse, you only eat low-reactive foods. Recitas has ranked foods from the least reactive (meaning it causes symptoms in five percent or less of the population) to most reactive (95 percent or more have problems). Once you are finished with the cleanse, you begin adding one food item per day in hopes of isolating which ones cause symptoms.

The information in Recitas' book challenges beliefs about popular healthy foods (which are healthy) but not for everyone because of the way they interact with each person’s unique body chemistry. Some of the least reactive ones are apples, avocadoes, organic spinach, chicken, pears, berries (except strawberries) and zucchini. Some that are highly reactive include salmon, asparagus, cauliflower, black beans, peppers and tomatoes.

I would recommend trying The Plan to anyone who wants to reduce their allergy symptoms or is seeking answers to perplexing health problems that may be tied to certain foods. The Plan goes a giant step farther than traditional elimination diets where one cuts out the top food allergens, such as dairy, gluten, seafood, soy, nuts, eggs, fish and peanuts.

One of my favorite breakfast recipes from The Plan is the no-grain flax cereal. It's simple to make and tasty too. It uses whole flax but is digestible because the flax is soaked overnight.

No-Grain Flax Cereal
(makes three one-half cup servings)

Here's what you need:

1 cup whole flax seed
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. cinnamon, allspice and whatever else you choose
Seeds, nuts
1/2 cup blueberries
Coconut milk
Sweetener of choice

Here's what you do:

Add the flax, spices and water to a container. Place in the fridge to soak overnight. In the a.m., heat the oven to 275 degrees. Spread the flax in a thin layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 50-60+ minutes until dry and crispy. During the last 10 minutes, add your seeds/nuts of choice.

When ready, break the flax into small pieces. Add to a bowl with coconut milk, sweetener of choice and blueberries.