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!  

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

Hashimoto's was named after Hakaru Hashimoto, the physician who first published his findings regarding lymphomatous thyroid tumors in Japan in 1912. 

It is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, effecting 1 to 1.5 out of 1000 people, and women are 7 times as likely to get it as men. The average age of diagnosis is between 40-60.  

I learned very quickly, by availing myself to sources like, Stop the Thyroid Madness and Hashimoto's 411, that mainstream medicine does not treat Hashimoto's. Mainstream medicine treats hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism with synthetic hormones and sometimes, with natural hormones made from the thyroids of dissected pigs.  

Because most symptoms of Hashimoto's do not show up in labs, like fatigue, heart palpitations, anxiety, tremor, low blood pressure, low body temperature, joint and muscle pain, they are largely ignored, or attributed to mental illness.  Yes, even Dr. X suggested that I was suffering from anxiety and that I just needed to relax.  While this is partially true, I am also in chronic discomfort, I am not firing on all cylinders, and most importantly, my thyroid is under attack! 

Thyroid Peroxidase Autoantibodies 1452?

Five vials of blood and a few days later and Dr. Hite called me to recommend I see a Rheumatologist to go over my labs and get some sort of treatment.  I asked her to send me a copy of the labs so I could look them over and see what I was dealing with, which she kindly did.  

The main thing that seemed to jump out, (on account of Dr. Hite circling it), was something called Thyroid Peroxidase Autoantibodies, also known as TPO.  The lab results indicated that my TPO was at an astonishing 1452, where as normal range is less than 61. This was alarming, needless to say, so I began to research what this number represented.

According to the Mayo Clinic , 

Thyroid peroxidase (TPO), an enzyme normally found in the thyroid gland, plays an important role in the production of thyroid hormones. A TPO test detects antibodies against TPO in the blood. If you've been diagnosed with thyroid disease, your doctor may recommend a TPO antibody test — in addition to other thyroid tests — to help determine the cause.

The presence of TPO antibodies in your blood suggests that the cause of thyroid disease is an autoimmune disorder, such as Hashimoto's disease or Graves' disease. In autoimmune disorders, your immune system makes antibodies that mistakenly attack normal tissue. Antibodies that attack the thyroid gland cause inflammation and impaired function of the thyroid.

Your doctor may also order a TPO antibody test if you are pregnant and have an autoimmune disease, especially one that involves the thyroid, such as Hashimoto's disease or Graves' disease. In such cases, the TPO antibody test early in pregnancy and possibly again near the end of the pregnancy can help determine whether your baby is at risk of thyroid dysfunction.

Some people with TPO antibodies may not have thyroid disease. However, the presence of TPO antibodies may increase the risk of future thyroid disorders. If you have normal thyroid function with TPO antibodies, your doctor may recommend periodic checkups to watch for future thyroid problems.

So, I might have Hashimoto's, an autoimmune disease, which would explain the rashes. Next step, find a Rheumatologist.