Has anyone tried an elimination diet? [View all]

After searching just about everywhere for answers to my health problems, I recently visited a naturopathic doctor. He's recommending that I go on an elimination diet for 2-4 weeks to see if some of my chronic conditions (migraine, sinus congestion, joint pain, IBS/GERD) are caused by food intolerances.

He gave me a handy-dandy list of foods to avoid, and being curious, I started reading about elimination diets from other sources as well. So far I've read a handful of books and quite a few web sites on Elimination Diets and I'm eager to get started but I'm confused! Some of the books say no nuts, and some of them use nuts as a pretty significant source of protein. (No nuts on my doc's list.) Some of them say avoid nightshade veggies, and some don't. My doctor's diet allows potatoes and also corn and soy, but the books all say soy and corn are no-nos. My doctor's list allows turkey and fish but no chicken. All the other diets I've seen include chicken.

He seems like a great doctor, very knowledgeable, so I want to trust him and just be glad I can eat potatoes (my favorite food in the world) and corn, etc., but after reading the various books I'm a little worried about including these foods. I wonder why they're on his list or if their being GMO or organic makes a difference? (His list specifies corn, soy and potatoes must be organic.) I see the doc again on Thursday, but was just curious to hear from someone else who's done this and might have a little more experience and insight and could maybe even offer some tips. Also, I'd love to hear if this diet helped anyone find an answer to their health problems.