The Autoimmune Protocol Diet

As promised, today I will be looking at the AIP diet, also known as Autoimmune Protocol or Autoimmune Paleo.  But first, let's look at the word "diet", its definition, and how it will be used in this post. This is from the Oxford American Dictionary:

diet 

noun 1. The kinds of food a person, animal or community routinely eats;                               2. A special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons. 

verb 1. Restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.

For the purpose of this post, I will be using the word "diet"  in the noun form.  Most people who follow the Autoimmune Protocol diet are doing so for long-term health enhancement and not weight loss goals, although, I was not fat, sick, (at least not symptomatic), or nearly dead when I watched the movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and it exposed me to the poisons contained in processed foods and the benefits of juicing. Juicing, a topic I will cover in a later post, is a great way to detox, jump-start your metabolism, emphasize and perhaps rid yourself of unhealthy eating habits, among many other benefits.  My point, if you missed it, is if someone wants to try the AIP to lose weight and they discover all of the other benefits that come along with it, who am I to argue what got them in the door, you know what I mean, jellybean? (Fun fact: Jellybeans are NOT ALLOWED on the AIP diet. ≧w≦)

There are a lot of great websites, blogs, and articles that have already been written about AIP and I am no expert, so I am going to copy what is written on the AIP Lifestyle site.
This is a very comprehensive site which includes recipes, videos, and links to other helpful sites, plus it gives a great description of AIP:

"The Autoimmune Protocol is a diet that helps heal the immune system and gut mucosa. It is applicable to any inflammatory disease.

We have a problem in this country with how we eat, treat disease and heal disease. AIP addresses inflammation in the gut that causes Autoimmune Disease. Autoimmune disease is a condition where the body cannot tell the difference between healthy tissue and foreign invaders and a hypersensitive reaction occurs. The body starts self-tissue attack. For months or perhaps years, this self-tissue attack can occur silently until full blown autoimmune disease develops. There are more than 80 types of “official” autoimmune disorders (and MANY more being discovered daily), but all autoimmune disease have in common is tissue self-attacking in places like the thyroid gland, brain tissue or salivary glands to name a few.

The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet works to reduce inflammation in the intestines. Many elimination diets are not complete enough and often do not remove immune triggers that promote inflammation in the gut. AIP works to calm inflammation in the gut, and also calm inflammation in the body. And while autoimmune disease can never be cured, it can be put into remission. The AIP diet is geared toward healing the intestinal mucosa and supporting low inflammation in the body that can temper the fires of an autoimmune flare-up. First I would like to say that this is our interpretation. There is more than one interpretations of how to “follow” the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet. I call it a lifestyle because in a modified form it is how I eat and live my life. It is also how I recommend my autoimmune clients to eat in their own modified form long term as well."

So what does this diet consist of?

NOT ALLOWED

• Nuts (including nut oils like walnut and sesame seed oils)
• Seeds (including flax, chia, and culinary herb seeds like cumin and coriander)
• Beans/Legumes (this includes all beans like kidney, pinto, black as well as Soy in all its forms)
• Grains (Corn, Wheat, Millet, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Amaranth, Rye, Spelt, Teff, Kamut, Oats etc)
• Alternative sweeteners like xylitol and stevia
• Dried fruits and/or over-consumption of fructose (I recommend up to 2 pieces of fruit a day)
• Dairy Products
• All Processed Foods
• Alcohol
• Chocolate
• Eggs
• Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, mustard seeds, all chili’s including spices)
• No vegetable oils (olive oil and coconut oil is permitted)
• Culinary herbs from seeds (mustard, cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom, fenugreek, caraway, nutmeg, dill seed)

ALLOWED:

• Vegetables (except nightshades)
• Fruits (limit to 15-20 grams fructose/day)
• Coconut products including coconut oil, manna, creamed coconut, coconut aminos, canned coconut milk (with no additives like guar gum and carageen or bpa lined cans) shredded coconut (this list does not include coconut sugar and nectar)
• Fats: olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, lard, bacon fat, cultured ghee (certified to be free of casein and lactose)
• Fermented Foods (coconut yogurt, kombucha, water and coconut kefir, fermented vegetables)
• Bone Broth
• Grass Fed Meats, Poultry and Seafood
• Non-Seed Herbal Teas
• Green Tea
• Vinegars: Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic (that has no added sugar)
• Sweeteners: occasional and sparse use of honey and maple syrup (1 tsp/day)
• Herbs: all fresh and non-seed herbs are allowed (basil tarragon, thyme, mint, oregano, rosemary, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, savory, edible flowers)  (COPYRIGHT AIP LIFESTYLE)

There are other considerations that the author, Jessica Flannigan, discusses, including medical conditions, lab testing, supplements and so forth, so as informative as websites are, we should all remember that our bodies are our temples for the time being, so if something doesn't feel right, we should get a scan done or something. Eating well and exercising and all that is great, but if you've got a brain tumor, you might wanna get that sucker cut out!  

Gluten, why you gotta hate?

One of the first things I discovered in my research of lifestyle changes that could help heal the thyroid, was that gluten and autoimmune diseases were not friends. According to pharmacist and Hashimoto's expert Izabella Wentz in her book,  Hashimoto's Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause, gluten sensitivity is a major factor in the progression of not only Hashimoto's, but a host of other autoimmune diseases, particularly Celiac. Integrative medicine practitioner Chris Kresser describes gluten's specific threat to the thyroid gland thusly: 

"It’s a case of mistaken identity. The molecular structure of gliadin, the protein portion of gluten, closely resembles that of the thyroid gland. When gliadin breaches the protective barrier of the gut, and enters the bloodstream, the immune system tags it for destruction. These antibodies to gliadin also cause the body to attack thyroid tissue. This means if you have AITD and you eat foods containing gluten, your immune system will attack your thyroid."

So, goodbye gluten. Now there are many schools of thought as to the degree to which one ought to change their diets, but since my symptoms were fairly mild, I chose to eliminate gluten, cow dairy, soy and sugar, (mostly, as it is a terrible weakness), to start. Many of my fellow Hashimoto's sufferers  swear by Paleo or AIP diets, but it is just too much restriction for me at this point. And if I feel I need to make further changes, I am free to do that! 

After just one week of eliminating gluten from my diet, I lost three pounds. I don't necessarily need to lose weight, so this was sort of frustrating.  I went on a search for some healthy fat options at my local Sprouts Farmer's Market, my oldest son's former employer, and found some fun stuff that I had never tried before. I got a jar of Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil, some goat cheese, including a mini round of Montchevre Brie, which is delicious!  I am using these in place of butter and cow cheese, respectively. I don't know how many other food sensitivities I have, but since I have never used these products before, it's more likely that I am not sensitive to them. Let's hope that remains the case!