Aip diet/ update: Has anyone tried this diet or... - Thyroid UK

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Aip diet/ update

JennaShi profile image
16 Replies

Has anyone tried this diet or something similar? I see that we all are different and react differently to foods and environment etc.

for what its worth, I thought I would share somethings that have been going on with me which may or may not he helpful to you. And I wanted to say thank you for your support and for helping me out, I have learned so much more by reading posts and comments from this group.

i started doing this Auto immune protocol for my Hashimotos issues about 3 months ago and feel it has been helping alot. This “diet/ lifestyle change” is about cutting out possible inflamatory foods such as: gluten, dairy, refined sugars & night shades. I ordered Sarah Ballantyne’s books, the Aip informational book as well as the cook book which has alot of good information as well as recipes.

Im not sure if im allergic to all of these things that they call to eliminate but I think Im sure Ill find out eventually.

After eliminating these foods for 3 months (with 3 days that I cheated) I been less brain fogged, a little more energy, and the inflamation/ pain has gone down. This in combination with a all dose of t3 (5mcg) i have been able to get out of bed and get more things done. I am not quite 30 years old and am excited/ impatient for continual improvement.

The first couple months were very difficult. My took a long time to adjust without sugar and carbs etc. and figuring put what to cook was really hard with cery low energy. However my family and I adjusted and it was worth it for me. But there are still some symptoms i struggle with and think that although eliminating these foods help, i dont think it will heal everything, atleast right away. To name a few things for an example, I am struggling with horrible danruff and get itchy on my body (I’m think this is a candida issue) as well as still hard to fall asleep and my memory is still poor and brain can be slow. I think extra nutrients is required to get your body healed up more quickly.

Is anyone else going through something similar? Have you started looking more into your diet and or eliminated more food items than just gluten?

I recently did a hair analysis, adrenal, and allergy test and should be getting these back soon. Hopefully they will provide more details into what my body is lacking and reacting to.

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JennaShi profile image
JennaShi
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16 Replies
Kari55 profile image
Kari55

Hi JennaShi, my husband has got Graves’ disease and we are trying AIP. I’m still not fully on it as wanted to finish off grains and legumes from the cupboards but he has fully eliminated gluten, dairy, nightshades and sugars. It has been only 4 weeks and we are still learning what to cook and trying new ideas. It is to early to say if the diet helps him but since changing food he hasn’t suffered from reflux and his IBS symptoms improved. I hope to follow your journey and glad to hear the diet has been beneficial so far for you.

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toKari55

Thank you and thats wonderful to hear that his relux and Ibs symptoms are improving! I totally get it, we have quite a bit of food still as well.

I hope it will benefit you as well also. It would he interesting to hear if it has made a difference in your health as well. My husband is not fully aip nor is my daughter, but they do eat less sugar and dairy and gluten as well and he hasnt noticed any difference. But Im sure eating a healthier diet in general is nourishing to the body.

We did find out our daughter is allergic to dairy and has had quite the allergic response to it when are ice cream yesterday. Isn't that interesting how you eat something for so long and then try to eat it again after not having for a while and your body reacts so differently?

Also, may i ask how your husband was diagnosed with Graves? I was formerly diagnosed with graves (through tsh, t3, t4 etc and a huge goiter, not antibodies), but recieved the RAI treatment. And after quite a few years was diagnosed with Hashimotos.

Kari55 profile image
Kari55 in reply toJennaShi

My husband had underactive thyroid in his late 20s and was treated by his GP. He was never told he had Graves and we had no idea then about autoimmune illness. He was in remission for 9 years and had it regularly checked. He has changed his GP 5 years ago as we moved and he was always told that his thyroid is “fine”. He was told this as recently as Nov 2017. Unfortunately, he never took interest in his results and never seen what the numbers are. In Jan he started having heart palpitations so we went to the A&E where they thought he had a heart attack. Fortunately, he didn’t. The blood test revealed an overactive thyroid and he ended up going to endocrinologist privately as the wait on NHS was too long and his GP just referred him without giving him any medications. Further tests revealed Graves disease and also TED. To be honest he was complaining about his eyes for over a year at least and kept going to GP with frequent urination problem but got nowhere. We started researching and this is where we started linking all the dots. He had IBS and reflux since early 20s, his mother and sister have underactive thyroid. On top of this we have been trying to conceive for past 3 years and his sperm was always very low on morphology and borderline motility. He also has antisperm antibodies. His endocrinologist said that thyroid problems would make him infertile but should improve with the medication. We are really motivated to get him back on track and hopefully to conceive naturally or with IVF. So we have a lot going on :) May I ask you what you eat for breakfast on AIP? We have been eating oats for years and really struggling to stop that one. Sorry for a long post! :)

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi

Wow, sorry to hear all that has happened to him and to you both. That is interesting how he fluctuated between the two. I have heard other people talking about it but am not sure why. What is TED btw? I hope he feels better soon and that you will concieve💗. I hope to again one day!

That is a great question! I try to eat left overs which for us is often chicken soup and bone broth or some sort of meat and vegetables. You moght like this though, have you ever heard of farina? Well there is a Gluten free/ grain free Instant Farina by Pure Traditions made with Tigernut flour and Coconut. It is more floury than oats but if you add a sweet potato or two to it and some cinnamon, it is delicious! Also, they call for 1/2 cup of water but i think just adding a little bit at a time is better :).

Also you can make aip waffles and like a breakfast cake if you mix tigernut flour and cassava and sweet potato and some arrow root powder. My husband took the recipe online and modified it and it tastes alot better. I can ask him if you are interested. But making extra leftovers for breakfast has helped tremendously!

Kari55 profile image
Kari55 in reply toJennaShi

Thank you Jenna! The tip with farina is great, will look for it. :) We also should get into making our own broth. TED is thyroid eye disease, often walks together with Graves. Fortunately, his TED is in an early stage. It’s nice to hear that your family is trying to follow your diet too :)

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toKari55

I agree, I think making broth and even soups with the whole chicken/ or short ribs is a great idea. You get all the good nutrients in the broth and meat could even have left overs :)!

Ah got it, wow that is very fortunate! So glad you guys were able to catch it early and have the support of each other. When I had graves i had some pretty intense symptoms and thought it was normal. Support is so important.

Kari55 profile image
Kari55 in reply toJennaShi

Hi Jenna, do you buy farina in the UK? I went on the website but it seems to be US based.

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toKari55

Im sorry I do not, I do buy it us based. I am from US and have bought it on amazon. That is unfortunate that its not there. I am unsure how much the shipping is. Have you checked amazon? Maybe there is a similar brand or possibly not hard to make.

Kari55 profile image
Kari55 in reply toJennaShi

Nothing on Amazon UK. I might have a go to make it myself :)

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toKari55

Sorry 😞. I hope they do sell it in the future, I think alot of people would like it. I hope there is a recipe online somewhere. On this one it says that the imgredients are: Organic coconut, Organic Tigernut, Org. Cinnamon, konjac root, himalayan pink salt.

Dee8686 profile image
Dee8686 in reply toJennaShi

I didn’t think tiger nuts were aip..? They’re a legume right?

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toDee8686

They are from a sedge:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyper...

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27

I've been eliminating foods gradually since Jan, and started full blown AIP 2 weeks ago (except I'm still eating nightshades in moderation). I've seen a bit of an improvement, but I'm not better yet. I am off to Spain next week though, and think I'll reintroduce rice and wine for that :D but when I get back, I'm going to recommit for at least another 4 weeks.

I am getting a bit fed up with all the time spent making food. Some nights you just want to bung something in the oven and be done with it! It will be interesting to find out what my triggers are though (fingers crossed it's not dairy, as I'll miss cheese too much!)

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toCooper27

Sounds nice! Enjoy some wine and rice for me as well 😄!

I hear ya cooper27 food prep does take time, however I believe its totally worth it in the long run. And thats wonderful that you are noticing a difference already. Healing the body is not an over night kind of thing and take as well.

My husband And I have found it easier to buy some meat and break it up into smaller portions for the week and stir fry some veggies. Also soups have been really helpful!

NtombiSA profile image
NtombiSA

Hi JennaShi.......one thing I know for sure is that cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli (goitrogens), peanuts (butter), lentils are BIG no-nos for my thyroid!! I adore cabbage, but even a little cooked cabbage causes depression....which I avoid at all costs. I deducted this looong before I read up on foods that are not compatible with sick thyroids. But surprisingly, one thing that definitely helps me is raw tomato or tomato juice. I have recently started to drink tomato puree in water, and find it clears my head and lifts me up.

You can Google 'foods to avoid when suffering with thyroid disease' there are many Websites on the subject including Mary Shomon's site. Hope this helps.

JennaShi profile image
JennaShi in reply toNtombiSA

Wow, sorry to hear that but glad you figured it out and know to stay away from those things. Did you have an allergy test or did you rule them out yourself?

Ive never heard of tomato juice doing this, thats wonderful!

And thank you, I will!

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