Thoughts after 11 weeks on the Paleo AIP Diet…
I’ve been on the Paleo Autoimmunte Protocol (AIP) Diet for almost 3 months and I wanted to post some thoughts on it :).
First, what is the Paleo AIP diet? In the creator’s own words:
“This diet is appropriate for everyone with diagnosed autoimmune disorders or with suspected autoimmune diseases. It is very simply an extremely nutrient-dense diet that is devoid of foods that irritate the gut, cause gut dysbiosis and activate the immune system.”
Why would you want to avoid those types of foods?
“By removing the foods that contribute to a leaky gut, gut dysbiosis (the wrong numbers, relative quantities, or types of microorganisms typically growing in the wrong locations in your gut), hormone imbalance, and that stimulate inflammation and the immune system, you can create the opportunity for your body to heal.”
Basically if you are on this diet you can’t eat any grains, eggs, nuts, seeds, nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers etc), rice, sugar, alcohol, and a number of other things. It is easier to focus on what you can eat :). Which is good meats like beef, lamb, fish, and green veggies. Plus a little fruit.
I am on this diet because Doctor’s think I have crohn’s disease (an autoimmune disease). I am not sure I agree as they don’t seem to even know much about the disease. But, I do know my gut was inflamed last year, and I decided to follow this diet to give my gut a chance to heal naturally before my next checkup.
So what is this diet like after 11 weeks?
When I started the diet I was already doing a lite version of paleo so I didn’t have to go through the whole “paleo flu” thing. The paleo flu is this 2 to 3 week period where you feel lethargic and out of it while your body transitions off grains.
I’ve been on the Paleo AIP diet for about 11 weeks and I can say that it isn’t too bad from an eating perspective. I don’t require a lot of diversity in my food even though I enjoy it, and that is good since this diet doesn’t offer much diversity unless you put a lot of effort into it. I cook a lot of slow cooked meals and end up throwing sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and other veggies into a big pot along with different parts of beef/lamb/duck/ etc. Plus I eat a lot of fish and salads. I love vegetables and my diet was pretty good prior to this so I never really had crazy cravings for anything. I never ate much sugar either which made it easy.
Mentally this diet is very difficult though. It totally strips you of normalcy with a huge aspect of your life, and that makes it very hard.
What is the biggest shock?
The loss of normal, on this diet you can’t eat out and you have to prepare and think about every meal. It is exhausting :). I also miss the normalcy of drinking alcohol.
I am not a picky eater, I love trying everything. When I am out in the world and get hungry I can’t just grab something. And, given that I am a big traveler that is really hard as if you are going to be strict with this diet it totally changes your travel style. In fact it is impossible to travel in some places on this diet (ie rural china).
What were the other big shocks?
Meal Prep Time…
It takes a lot of time each day to prep a meal and that has really impacted my schedule. With a slow cooker or dutch oven I generally am chopping a lot of veggies to prep a meal, and my other meals require a lot more prep too. I was used to a bowl of granola with fruit on most morning, and now it takes a lot more time to get food done. And, you have to plan or you end up crazy hungry with nothing to eat.
Cost…
It cost a lot of money for meat, I am a pretty big / active guy and it cost a lot of money to fill me up. There are some ways to make it cheaper by eating a lot of offal but it is still expensive compared to my diet before.
Impact?
Unfortunately I can’t judge the impact of this diet yet because I wasn’t having any physical symptoms. I started this diet because they saw some ulcers during a medical check up and figured it couldn’t hurt to help my body heal along with some meds. I am going to circle back in July for a checkup and see how things look. For the first 2 months of this diet I was very strict, and now I’ll have a treat every so often.
I do trust the medical research the creator of this diet did though, and her book is fantastic. I highly recommend Sarah Ballantyne’s book on this diet and the research behind it. Amazing work!
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