The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet

This New Year's Day was the start of "new beginnings". I'm not clear why, but a friend of mine did something with the date and year and it comes out to "1" and she says it's all about new beginnings. OK.

 

I have newly begun the AIP diet which supposedly reduces intestinal inflammation and helps put all your autoimmune misery in remission. It's very much like the GAPS diet and works by eliminating foods that are difficult to digest to ease your digestive system. After gorging on Paleo desserts for the last week, I'm actually really happy to have a reason to NOT eat more baked goods since most of them destroyed my digestive system. I also recently read if supplements make you ill, which they do, that is sign of a leaky gut. It's been four years since I did the GAPS diet, so it might be time to try something like that again.

I got the information of the website AIP Lifestyle which explains the details.

 

Here's what I have to avoid eating for six to eight weeks:

Grains
Legumes (except green beans and snow peas)
Alternative sweeteners
Dried fruits
Dairy
Processed foods (this would include sugars)
Alcohol
Chocolate
Vegetable oils (except olive, coconut, lard, cultured ghee)
Tapioca (which is a gluten cross-reactor)

Tapioca is the grossest food on the planet so I'm happy not to eat it.

That's pretty much the diet I'm on anyway, but these foods are also restricted:

Nuts and nut oils
Seeds
Eggs
Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, paprika, mustard seeds, all chili’s including spices)
Culinary herbs from seeds (mustard, cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom, fenugreek, caraway, nutmeg, dill seed)

I just recently stopped eating cumin due to advice based on my gene mutations. I do normally eat nuts for protein. Eggs...well, I eat a lot of eggs. Too many for any human to eat. I love eggs. And mayonnaise which is made with eggs.

What I can eat is:

Vegetables (except nightshades)
Fruits (limited to 20 grams per day)
Green beans
Snow peas
Bone broth
Coconut products
Olive oil
Avocados
Bacon fat
Cultured ghee
Fermented foods
Meats (grass-fed, no steroids)
Poultry (free-range, no steroids)
Seafood (wild-caught, even shellfish!)
Vinegars
Honey
Maple Syrup
Herbs from leaves or non-seeds
Gelatin
Arrowroot starch (unless you have adrenal issues)

The notes say some people are sensitive to onions, coconut, and nectarines. I've recently realized coconut might be problematic for me and I don't like nectarines. I may restrict onions, but I've not had a problem with them in the past and they add flavor to things I don't like (like vegetables...meats).

 

After the six to eight weeks, you should add foods back and see if they give you misery. Like I said, the GAPS diet was just like this and I didn't have a problem with eggs, nuts, seeds, or nightshades. We'll see. I'm just going to stay on my Hashimoto's diet so I still plan to avoid ALL sweeteners and I really hate fermented foods so that's not going to happen. I might cheat some with pork (bacon) which is restricted on the Hashimoto's diet, but not on this one. I won't eat much of it as it tastes like pig sweat to me and I can smell it on my skin after I eat it. (That's a clue!)

I just love a good experiment so I'll start 2015 with one for new beginnings.