Any luck with Autoimmune Paleo Diet and PBC?

[youaremysunshine]

Hi,

I am recently diagnosed unfortunately. I have started an autoimmune paleo diet. Has anyone done this and had good results over time? Im trying to make all positive changes possible. Thanks in advance.

[teddybear7]

Don't see the point in this, it's not my intestines that has an autoimmune problem, a probiotic every morning is enough for me. Eat low fat & healthy, should be all that's needed.

[Hidden in reply to teddybear7]

Out of interest teddybear7 what probiotic do you take?

I recently saw a programme on our UK BBC2 (I'll pop the link on to the website as the info is still on there) where several adults took various foods/supplements to find out what was apparently the better. Interestingly it was found that the probiotic yogurt type drinks (I've usually bought these, supermarket brand, cheapest) got more of the friendly bacteria into the intestines than a supplement. From memory think it was kaffir that was found to be the best. Think kaffir is some leaf but would have to look that one up or re-watch the programme online.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/articl...

Scroll down to the features in episode 6, the first one.

[YvonneGS in reply to Hidden]

Kefir is a fermented beverage, made from milk, either dairy or non-dairy. It has far more probiotic content than yogurt. It is easy to make at home too, if you find someone in your area who can share the grains. Grains can also be purchased online. Kombucha is very healthy too, as are fermented veggies.

[Juamcc in reply to Hidden]

Keffar is some kind of ferment milk. They have it at Russian and Jewish food stores. I think I saw some at Kroger.

[Jlruggie]

Paleo is meat and vegetables, no sugar, no salt, no additives, no gluten, right? If you can cut down on fats too I think Paleo Is a great idea but I'd keep pestering pbc specialist hepatologist nutritionists (if you can find one) for exact parameters like I've been doing for years.

Jlruggie

[Hidden]

Hello KristinPelletier.

Never heard of a paleo diet. I've never been a fad of diets myself. (I am considered normal weight. Lost a bit just before and after diagnosis of PBC (December 2010) but have held steady for several years. Never really been over 9 and half stone my adult life anyway.

I know diets can be for health as well as losing weight (even gaining) but I am not so sure certain diets are a good idea with certain conditions. In the case of PBC and it being liver-related, I would be very cautious myself.

If you were to check out the British Liver Trust website there is a good leaflet on there about diet with a liver disorder. I re-read it myself recently.

I have watched several programmes on tv here in the UK in the last couple years and one specialist in gastro-enterology who is based in one of the bigger well-known hospital (I cannot recall the name at the moment) has been on more than one programme and he ahs stated the same thing each time. He says that no-one should really embark on a gluten-free diet unless they are diagnosed with coeliac disease. Reckons there is no need to do so. He explained all about gluten, what it is, what it does. Another programme recently did a bit of their own research into gluten-free but a couple featured not only cut out this but other things too and it looked like they went vegan for a time.

My philosophy is to try to reduce as much in the way of additives as possible. Sugar can be difficult especially if you add a teaspoon of honey for eg to your morning porridge but I don't think it is a big baddie. I try to cook my meals from scratch and anything I was to buy I'd check ingredients. Organic can be good if you can afford (I buy the odd organic, too expensive to buy completely), you tend to find it is usually additive-free.

I do eat meat but not a lot in the case of red meat. I tend to eat a lot of chicken myself and also buy different types of fish that I tend to have once or twice a week. (I put between 2 plates with a teaspoon of butter, a squeeze of lemon/lime and ground pepper and cook for 5mins. Salmon I poach in a little milk in a pan.) I wonder about the majority of meat and even chicken these days due to all the antibiotics, drugs, etc that tend to be given to cattle and livestock. But at the end of the day I think if I was to sit down and think even more about a lot of foods, I'd not probably eat anything!

[Lindymarie in reply to Hidden]

Just checking Peridot. Do you mean honey is a baddie??

[Hidden in reply to Lindymarie]

Hello again Lindymarie.

What I meant is that honey is a sugar. To me it is a natural form of sugar but I think it is utilised the same in the digestive system.

I did buy a special offer at supermarket before the end of 2016 and that is a bottle of something called agar nectar. I then saw on a tv programme notso long ago that this nectar (natural sugar form, apparently from a plant and out of interest I've just found out it is used to make tequila!), it is worse to have than sugar! Oh well, we'll continue to use a teaspoon on home-made rice pudding (I use very little sugar to do nearly all my baking, beauty of baking for yourself) or porridge when we fancy it).

I prefer using a natural sugar myself. There is sugar present in lots of foods naturally. Fructose in fruit (I eat a lot of fruit), lactose in milk, etc.

[Lindymarie in reply to Hidden]

I use honey every day on my porridge not a large amount , as I don't take sugar in coffee/tea so I don't like sugar on my porridge but I also don't like it with no sweetener and this is why I like a little on my cereal. I am a firm believer that if you eat what you like in small quantities you can't go wrong. It really concerns me about these so called health nutritionist peeps that come up with ideas that too much of this and not enough of that are not good for your health!!! If we all took notice of their advice we wouldn't be eating much of anything and in my eyes this is so wrong!! Life is too short to cut out the nice foods in life!! And I will be eating all the foods I like in small, healthy quantities!!! 😂😂😂 but that is just my opinion. 😉

[Ktltel]

Ditto to what JLruggie said, but I'll add watch salt, and the amount of protein you eat too. No more than 70-80gm in a day. That's from pbcers meals and menu.

Stella

[JaneIng]

Hi Kristin, this is Jane from USA. I tried the AIP diet for a while but eventually quit because it is too difficult and I can't afford losing more weight. I still avoid gluten, dairy and night shade though. AIP diet did help lowering my blood sugar and GI problem. My LFT went back to normal when stopped taking Synthroid (I am on Armour now). However the AMA(M2) is still elevated, even went up a little bit. Recently I started taking DHEA and some herb medicine for cortisol support and I noticed the LFT start going up again. I do think what we take in, food, supplement or medicine, has a lot of impact to our liver.

Good luck and please let me know if AIP diet helps you.

[LindyRich]

They say that 80% of your immune system is in your gut so if the gut is sick so is the rest of you. I took out gluten 3 years ago, long before i knew i had pbc. I knew there was something wrong but not what. Recently i stopped eating dairy also and i feel so much better. Hopefully that will show in my LFT's next month. It has taken time and patience to adjust my diet but worth it. It does not have to be expensive. I keep it simple and i really enjoy my food now.

The upshot is i think you have to do your own research and decide for yourself. What works for one person may not work for another.

I just wanted to share my experience. I hope it helps someone

Best wishes

[Hidden in reply to LindyRich]

Out of interest LIndyRich, how do you get certain vitamin and mineral intakes if you have cut out various food groups? Given in PBC we can be lacking in certain vitamins like D for eg and this vitamin is needed for bone health along with calcium, makes me wonder.

Personally I'd not want to to switch to a certain diet that leaves out certain food groups to then find myself having to top up my supplies with health supplements as to me that would be defeating the object.

[JanineNZ]

Hi KristinPelletier. Since I found out last year that I have PBC I've done a lot of reading. Many educated people believe that a leaky gut is a big factor in causing autoimmune conditions to appear and that an antinflammatory diet can help heal the gut and prevent more autoimmune conditions from developing. I don't know whether this is true but many features of this diet create a generally healthy diet and I figure that can only be positive for my health and it makes me feel as though I'm doing something positive. I've cut right back on sugars and additives, and am trying to eat lots of fresh veges, only a little fruit, and healthy oils. I do struggle with not eating nightshade veges esp tomatoes and do have the occasional wine.

I saw a naturopath and her advice agreed with this thinking. I had a test done that showed my gut was was lacking in beneficial bacteria and had yeasts which shouldn't be there. So, I've started making sauerkraut which is said to contain vastly more probiotics than a simple pill does. It's easy to make, and I added the contents of a couple of probiotoc capsules to ensure the bacteria I was lacking would be in the sauerkraut. I have a small quantity daily and I figure this is more natural and vastly cheaper than taking a probiotic pill each day. I've also started making kombucha and am really enjoying this as a drink. Apparently most of the sugar is used up by the fermentation process and it also contains lots of beneficial bacteria. It's super cheap to make compared with buying it and easy to do.

I wish you all the best with your lifestyle changes.

[youaremysunshine in reply to JanineNZ]

Thank you for your response. Have you seen positive changes in your labs? I just started ursodiol yesterday. I'm praying that in combination with medication and a healthy lifestyle I can keep this at stage 1. I'm 34 and in good health otherwise. I'm just scared and overwhelmed by the diagnosis.

[JanineNZ in reply to youaremysunshine]

I've only been doing this for a couple of months and, because I'm on Urso, I don't know if any changes to results will be from the Urso or the diet. I don't really expect the diet to change the PBC now I have it, more to improve my immune system to prevent more autoimmune conditions from developing. I'll never really know if it works or not which makes it harder to commit to the sacrifices needed to be on the diet.