I am coming out of my blogging hiatus because my health is in the process of turning around, and that's worth mentioning. It's also worth providing information to others who may be in need of the same answers. It's not an easy answer, but my goal is to make it simple and straightforward for you.
By you, I mean those of you who struggle with autoimmune disease. Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohns, Ulcerative Colitis, Lupus, MS, Hashimoto's or Grave's, Psoriasis, Type 1 Diabetes, and many, many other disorders that plague so many of the modern population. Those of you who have seen multiple doctors over a period of years and have had no answers or long-term solutions to the symptoms that cripple you. I know you well, because I'm one of you.
This has been my life since childhood. As an ophthalmologist told me several years ago when he saw me for a recurring case of iritis, "You have to be really careful, because your body wants to be in a constant state of inflammation." And it's true. No matter what I've done, from gluten free to paleo to THM to keto, I can't seem to stay on top of my health for long.
It's the most frustrating dilemma I've ever faced. I know what it's like to deny yourself most of the food everyone around you is eating, to walk and work out to the point of exhaustion, and still have the scale creep up on me or the symptoms return out of nowhere and knock me over again.
It would be easy to give up.
For years, I have had the recurring thought that this all must come from one place. All these symptoms, all these different diseases and syndromes must have a common source. That's why it frustrated me so much to go to doctors, because the current medical protocol for autoimmune disease is simply to visit many different doctors who prescribe medicine for the vast array of symptoms. Alternately, you might be offered immunosuppressant drugs which come with a whole new set of side-effects and concerns. Neither of these solutions were acceptable to me. But I didn't know where else to turn. I had even been seeing an integrative doctor for several years, but it was almost the opposite of the traditional medical approach. She overwhelmed me with information to the point where I couldn't wade through the mud to find the answers I was hoping she'd give. She definitely never told me simply that I have an out of control autoimmune response, and that there is a simple approach to heal it and move on with your life. An approach I can revisit anytime I need to do so.
I just happened to hear about Kelly Clarkson losing weight recently and claiming that she didn't do anything but eliminate a few foods from her diet, and that her autoimmune issues had been resolved. I didn't believe it was quite that easy, but I researched the book she had read, called The Plant Paradox.
It seemed a little fantastic, but I grabbed on to one aspect of it that made sense to my brain. Plants have chemicals that resist being eaten under certain conditions. And if your system is already a train wreck, this chemical (called a lectin) will easily send you spiraling. So I made a note of the things I was eating that would have a high amount of lectins, like tomatoes and peppers, and I stopped eating them to see what happened.
Never one to under-do anything, I kept researching and eventually came to the Autoimmune Protocol. It was somewhat related to Plant Paradox, only way more involved. I had heard of AIP before, but I'd never been willing to take a closer look because it sounded SO. HARD.
I'm not going to sugar coat it (because sugar is on the no list!) because you need to be prepared for the truth. Autoimmune Protocol IS hard. When you first start it, it seems impossible. Your body, while suffering under the effects of many foods, demands those very foods and craves them and makes your life miserable when you stop eating them.
Here's the thing. If you want to be able to live your life without autoimmune responses or the side-effects of drugs, this is the end of the road. It's this, or survival mode. And who really wants to live long-term in survival mode? And while it is hard at first, after two or three weeks, your body accepts it. Calms down. Starts to feel better. And at that point, you realize it wasn't really you saying you could never eliminate so many things from your diet. It was the addiction you had to foods that were hurting you. Consider this approach rehab. You will feel better eventually.
I'm planning a couple more posts. One will be an introduction to AIP. I intend to make these posts easy to follow. I'm not going to get into complicated science and explanation. From what I've found, that's the only information available on the subject. I will bring it home, and only tell you what you need to know. You're busy. You have a life. You don't want this to become all you think about or do. So I'll make it simple. What do you have to change? What do you need to eat?
The second post will be the recipes that have saved my life and helped me persevere through the hardest part. I will share the snacks and meals that have settled my cravings and helped me realize there is good food apart from junk and convenience food.
Bottom line - how does an average person survive AIP? Truth be told, we may start out average, but when you make a decision to go off the beaten path and do something very few are willing to do, you're making a choice that could benefit you for the rest of your life. Just like Robert Frost said:
