Auto Immune Protocol Diet - More Information!

[Behcetstoo]

Hi Everyone, a few requests for more information on what I am doing with my diet and food intake so I put together a message with some web sites and a few recipes I find helpful. I am not a nutritionist nor am I an MD so please consult a professional - especially since a lot of our medications need to be taken with foods to prevent upset stomach! Adapt the diet to what best suits you.

Here is a bit about me and my journey so far...trying to reduce inflammation in my body...

I don't eat a lot of sweets or junk food so that wasn't a challenge for me to get rid of those things in my diet. I still drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. I don't drink alcohol (I suffer terrible stomach problems if I do) so again not much of a change there. So, I am not totally strict paleo or AIP but I have been pretty darn close for 22 days and have noticed a difference. Bread, rice, corn, night shade veg will probably stay out of my diet forever. I bought coconut oil (looks firm like butter until heated) and I must say it is awesome! I have used it in several recipes and my kids don't notice! Get a blender or food processor if you don't have one. Get freezer bags and use your freezer so you don't feel like you are cooking all the time! Fresh herbs are really tasty and make all the difference when you are changing your diet especially if you are used to eating processed or salty food. More satisfying!

Best of luck with it! Despite the little information given to me from my main doctors - I know what we eat makes a difference in how we feel. How could it not? Start with small changes so you don't feel overwhelmed. It isn't easy to change but so worth it. S.

NOTE: If you can afford to hire a nutritionist - please do. Research several and see who has experience with auto immune diseases, arthritis, etc. Someone familiar with anti-inflammatory foods.

Good basic info on what the AIP diet is.

thepaleomom.com/the-autoimm...

Healing through food:

phoenixhelix.com/2013/05/19...

She helps with Grocery List Ideas

phoenixhelix.com/2013/06/02...

No more night shades! They cause INFLAMMATION!

livestrong.com/article/3679...

Some Recipes (Make lots of soups and stews!)

Alternative to Mashed or Whipped Potato - honest!

Mashed or Whipped Cauliflower!

1 large cauliflower, core removed and cut into even pieces

1/4 cup olive oil or coconut oil (I prefer olive oil)

Black pepper to tase

1 tsp kosher or sea salt

roasted garlic or garlic powder to taste

Steam or boil for 12-15 minutes or until the florets are very tender and almost falling apart. Strain the cauliflower and put all ingredients into food processor (I use a hand held processor). Whip it up. Careful will be hot! Serve instead of mashed potatoes.

Creamy Avocado Dressing is very tasty and can be used as a dip for veg too.

tasty-yummies.com/2013/06/2...

Three-Herb Beef Breakfast Patties

Ingredients:

2lbs grass-fed ground beef, turkey, chicken
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, fresh herbs, and sea salt. Form into patties using the palms of your hands. Heat some of the coconut oil in a cast-iron skillet on medium heat. Cook the patties for about 5-8 minutes a side, until nicely browned on the outside and cooked throughout. Note: I put a bunch in a plastic bag in the freezer and pull out to re heat during the week.

Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Tea (adapted from my recipe over at Little Fig)

32 oz boiling water
1/2 Tbsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lemons, juiced
5 peppercorns, whole (if tolerated on AIP)
1 orange, juiced (or substitute 1 1/2 tbsp honey)

Put water on the stove to boil. Combine all ingredients in a strainer or teapot. Pour boiling water into the pot and steep for 10 minutes. Strain and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic “Mayo”

Ingredients for the “mayo”:

1⁄2 cup coconut cream, slightly warmed
1⁄2 cup warm filtered water
1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
1⁄4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the fries:

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thick fries
4 tablespoons solid cooking fat, melted
sea salt to taste

To make the mayo:

Place the coconut cream, warm water, olive oil, garlic cloves and salt in a blender and blend on high for a minute or two, until the sauce thickens. Let cool for an hour at room temperature – alternately, you can place it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. If you would like to use the sauce in a cold dish, thin with water until the desired consistency is reached.

Note: Keeps well in the refrigerator, but hardens. Let come to room-temperature or warm gently before using.

To make the fries:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the sweet potato fries into a large bowl and coat with the cooking fat and sea salt. Arrange on a series of baking sheets so that the fries have adequate space between them (this is how they come out crispy). Use 3-4 sheets if you need to! Add the sea salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes, remove from the oven, flip, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, watching at the end so that they don’t burn.

[magician]

Keep it up! Thanks for sharing!

Yes, we are what we eat. But it is a rather complex terrain. For instance, according to the book (Inflammation Free Diet Plan) published in 2006 by Monica REINAGEL, MS, CNS (creator of the Inflammation Factor rating system), wild salmon is good but farm raised salmon would be more inflammatory than many cuts of beef.

I have made very conscious efforts at Healthy eating most of my life, but got really serious when I was diagnosed in 2007. Going wheat free required the biggest change. I am now on my 240th day of going wheat free. I am on medication though, and so i cannot conclude that i feel good because of this. But i will continue - i am already used to it anyway, plus i can, at the very least say, that my condition is not worsening. My immunologist and ophthalmologist are both happy with my checkups. have not needed to consult a rheumy for the past 2 years.

Sweet is a taste that really makes me feel good - i indulge every now and then, mainly in the form of honey and dark chocolate. But i do feel guilty!

I was avoiding corn until 3 months ago, when i realised that corn in europe is gmo free - i have the impression that it is the gmo that pushed corn to the unhealthy side of the equation.

Nutrition wise, my biggest shocker came this year in the form of LECTINS in the foods that we eat. This made my larder even smaller. But expanded it to include white rice, which seems to have the lowest amount of lectins among the grains.

For health reasons, I ditched PLASTICS this year - also quite a major change.

I avoided microwave cooking all these years but finally bought one in 2013 - but I stopped using it after a few weeks - there are articles claiming that the molecular structure of foods change (and not for the good) with microwave cooking. ironically, I succumbed to microwave because I wanted to cook healthy foods in large batches for freezing and heating later on.

This year, I started avoiding the foods that are said to be bad for my blood type ( if interested, you can check out the foods for your blood type at the adamo website)

Looking back, 2013 is the year for major changes for me, in the name of striving for good health. It is quite constraining, but heck, I will do whatever i can to be healthy!

All the best to all of us. BD can be really cruel.

[SuenMike]

This is very strange, because at a meeting of our local vascullitis society we had a nutritionalist speaker who told us in no uncertain terms NEVER to touch coconut oil. It is, with palm oil, the most saturated unhelpful sort of fat you can ingest.

She was talking about anti-inflammatory foods in particular. In short, a well balanced diet with fresh vegetables and fruit, especially the onion family (onions, shallots, garlic etc) which are particularly anti-inflamitory, and leave out items which have caused problems to individuals in the past (some people had become lactose or wheat intolerant) and you should be ok.

A number of people there were worried about weight problems due to long term steroids, and she advocated getting a book of GI (glycemic index) units and assured those people that if they could follow a low GI diet, they would lose weight.

As a retired health professional, this all made sense.

I am glad you have found a diet which you find helpful, but like the drug regimes we all have, everyone is an individual, and what is sauce for the goose is not necesarily sauce for the gander, as the saying goes.

Please try to find an alternative to coconut oil. This will cause great harm to your blood vessels which are already under stress from Behcet's disease. Butter has no addatives apart from a little salt to stop it from going rancid quickly. Try blending equal amounts of butter with good quality olive oil (this is so much safer than coconut oil). You will then have something to use as a spread or cooking fat which is reasonable in it's cholesterol content, and will not clog up your arteries.

[earlybirdsarah]

Fantastic thanks! I've just found about this way of eating and intend to slowly adjust my diet to it.

Hope you are feeling better on it. When did you notice any changes?

Sarah

xxx

[earlybirdsarah]

Oh and I wouldn't avoid coconut oil. Apparently its not true that cholesterol causes heart disease. I have a book called The Great Cholesterol Con. drmalcolmkendrick.org/the-g...

very interesting reading.