The Autoimmune Protocol Diet
By Luci Phillips
What is the #autoimmune protocol diet? That was my question when I saw this after I was diagnosed with #MCTD or sharps disease. When you are diagnosed with #lupus or any #autoimmune disease it forces you to think about changes that you can make in your personal life to improve the pain, brain fog, and other symptoms that we face. At least one can control what you eat and how you respond to these diseases. In this difficult time there is so much misinformation and conflicting information. Make sure that before you undertake any changes you always check with your doctor first. Don't believe the cure-all drugs and diets out there. There is no cure out there. What is out there are the changes that you make in exercising, eating right, and a lot of patience with yourself. The #autoimmune protocol diet is one in which you eliminate processed food and certain foods that are known to cause inflammation in your body. After you remove a lot of these foods for thirty days you reintroduce them back into the diet one at a time. Another thing that is important is keeping a food diary when you add them back. If they cause symptoms you may eliminate them or only have them occasionally. There are several diets out there that work well for afterwards. The Mediterranean or the Paleo diet are both good examples of these.
The AIP diet have you focus on good nutritious food. It does ask for you to temporarily eliminate these foods.
grains
dairy
coffee
legumes
nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant,spices made from peppers)
alfalfa
alcohol
nuts and seeds
refined or processed oil, processed sugar
food additives
After four to eight weeks start adding the foods back one at a time. Keep the food journal to see how you feel after adding each food. There are over a hundred autoimmune diseases that this can help. #Rheumatoid arthritis, #MCTD, #Lupus, #psoriatic arthritis, #inflammatory bowel disease to name a few.
Experts don't know what causes these anti-inflammatory although mine is genetic. One theory is that the inflammatory foods contribute to flare-ups. Reach out to a dietician to make sure the decision is a good one for you. You may also need to take vitamins while on this diet. I am trying this diet and will be posting recipes on my blog as well as continuing to write about these diseases in the hope that I can help people like me who have this disease. If you want to reach out to me feel free to do so at Stayinspiredwithme@gmail.com.
