Nutrition & Autoimmunity pt 2

Welcome back to the blog! This is part 2 of the connection between autoimmune disease and diet. There have been quite a few breakthroughs in nutrition therapy for these conditions. A structured method called the autoimmune protocol diet, or AIP for short, has seen a lot of success in managing the symptoms of many different forms of the disease. In some cases patients may even experience remission since the diet is meant to get to the root cause of the issues.

Recall in the last post that it has been suggested by many that these two pathologies must be preexisting in order to fully develop autoimmunity: intestinal hyperpermeability, and disbiosis. To manage the symptoms of disease, we must address these two issues. The AIP diet is very good at just that. This diet focuses on nutrient dense foods like the paleo diet, but establishes much stricter guidelines for what foods must be eliminated throughout the duration of the protocol. This is based on current research on food and nutrient interactions with the immune system. 

Foods to avoid on the AIP:

All Grains:

Barley, corn, durum, millet, oats, rice, sorghum, spelt, teff, triticale, wheat.

All Pseudo-Grains:

Amaranth, buckwheat, chia, and quinoa.

All Dairy:

Butter, buttermilk, butter oil, ghee, cheese, cottage, cheese, cream, milk, curds, whey protein, casein protein, ice cream, kefir, sour cream, whipped cream, yogurt.

All Legumes:

Black beans, black-eyed peas, butter beans, chick-peas, fava beans, 

green beans, Italian beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung

beans, navy beans, pinto beans, peanuts, peas, split peas, soy beans and products from soy (edamame, tofu, tempeh, soy lecithin, soy protein).

All Industrial Grain/Seed Oils:

Canola oil, corn oil, palm kernel oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, grapeseed oil, almond oil, macadamia nut oil, hemp seed oil.

This is only the beginning. It’s intense, but it's meant to heal the deep underlying issues that can cause these conditions. Eventually certain foods can be reintroduced to see if they cause a reaction. But if someone is suffering from an autoimmune disease and really, really wants to change their livelihood, then this is something that needs to be followed without fault.

If you know someone, or you yourself are diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and want to add nutrition therapy, this is where you start. As always. Make sure you start a therapeutic diet under the supervision of a nutrition professional :)