Healing from chronic disease- with food 

Scientific studies have established that you can become symptom-free from chronic autoimmune diseases, allergies and IBS problems by eating an elimination diet called the autoimmune protocol (AIP).

As a guest writer here at Food Pharmacy, I will be sharing new research and facts about AIP, and I will present plenty of mouthwatering AIP recipes as well.

Great public interest

Knowledge about the autoimmune diet is spreading rapidly across the globe right now. New cookbooks with recipes based on AIP are being published in the USA, Germany, Italy, the UK – and in Sweden.  I have just started to write my fifth cookbook myself. 

You can gain qualifications and become an AIP nutritionist yourself and a numbers of clinicians, especially functional medicine specialists, are recommending the AIP to their patients. 

This growing interest, I believe, is due to an increased public awareness about how food can help you to recover from all kinds of illnesses. Thousands upon thousands of people testify that it is working.

You may hear people talking about the autoimmune diet at work or at the gym and you can read about it on hundreds of websites. Accounts of people’s personal experience are simply unbeatable when it comes to spreading the word about a new diet plan.

When I tried the autoimmune diet just over six years ago, I was both hopeful and skeptical. Were the claims of health not just too good to be true and a bit exaggerated? How could I overcome psoriasis, asthma, many allergies, IBS, Hashimotos and psoriatic arthritis – with just ordinary foods (?!).

Today, I’m a living example that it really works, and I find myself  to be one of those happy people talking about how diet changed my life. 

I’m so happy to be pain-free , that I ‘ve been able to chuck away my asthma spray and all my medicines and drugs. I can enjoy life outdoors as a normal person (pollen allergy), and I can eat stone fruits like peaches, plums, and cherries (food allergy). My psoriasis is completely gone and so are all my symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease.

After my recovery,  I decided to change my career from a TV journalist to become a health consultant full time, with focus on the autoimmune protocol.

This is AIP

So what is the autoimmune protocol? Well the best way to describe it is that it is a food-based approach to eliminating inflammation in your body.

The AIP diet is a mix of balanced nutrition while avoiding processed and refined foods. The aim is to help heal your gut.

The AIP is an elimination diet strategy. After a period of time, cutting out the foods that can cause inflammation, many of the excluded foods can be reintroduced. 

Autoimmune diet is a toolbox full of strategies that you follow for a period of  around 3 months. This way you help your body to heal from inflammation, the gut becomes balanced and above all, you get a normal functioning immune system again.

After all, autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system has been disrupted and attacks the various tissues of the body. Our primary goal is to calm down the immune system and get it back to normal. 

It is important to stress that you can get rid of the symptoms, you do not get a cure. But without symptoms you can live a pain-free life, and that’s the thing that matters in the end.

 In order to maintain your newly acquired health, it is also important to spend extra time on healthy food and active lifestyle in the future.

Whole foods

What you eat during the elimination period is a nutrient-dense diet to support the body’s healing. Consuming the most nutrient-dense whole foods available enables a swift healing process. 

On an AIP diet, shopping includes green leafy vegetables, sauerkraut, root vegetables of all kinds, kombucha, berries, collagen powder, fruits, seafood, grass-fed meet, , game , coconut oil, olive oil, anti-inflammatory herbs, and spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic and parsley.

Sticking to the diet and being 100% strict may not seem difficult, but it can be challenging because of the large amount of food you need to eliminate.: sugar, gluten grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, eggs, potato plants (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, chili), coffee, cocoa, alcohol and all milk products like cheese and yoghurt. 

New scientific studies

In recent years a few clinical studies have been conducted and AIP is now supported by clinical trial evidence. AIP hashimotos medical study and AIP IBD study (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases)

The results from two medical studies are very promising and hopeful for the future. The majority of the participants experienced quantifiable improvement in disease activity. 

Right now, another clinical study is underway in the US:  the first-ever medical study on the efficacy of AIP for eczema and psoriasis.

It is expected to be completed later this year.

Become your own expert

As I mentioned before, you can start reintroducing food into your diet after an elimination period. This includes legumes, nuts, gluten free grains, coffee, potato plants and eggs.

By reintroducing one food at a time you can feel if there’s something that you are extra sensitive to. This way you can become your own expert on your gut.

But you should never go back to eating exactly like you did before. If you do that  you can slip back to square one and illness again. My recommendation is that you continue to exclude at least sugar and gluten. A lot of people also benefit from a completely dairy-free diet.