Making Auto Immune Paleo Easier
Whether you’ve come across Autoimmune Paleo in your own research or advised to do it for health reasons, AIP is a great option to help your body heal.
We understand, for some people, it can be a little tricky to get your head around at first.
So we’re here to help!
AIP promotes long-term healing for many kinds of autoimmune or inflammatory conditions.
Anything from Hashimoto’s & Graves, Endometriosis, NK cell elevation, gut issues, psoriasis, and eczema will all do very well on AIP.
How does Auto Immune Paleo help you heal?
Whilst eating foods like tomatoes is NOT the original cause of your inflammatory/AI issue, everyone has foods that they don’t tolerate very well.
When your body is dealing with chronic inflammation, it needs the foods coming in to be very agreeable and not adding fuel to the inflammatory fire.
What we do every day counts.
Is what you’re eating helping or harming your body? It might be mild but if it’s every day then the effects really add up.
Cutting the common inflammatory foods, giving your gut time to heal, and then reintroducing foods slowly will take time but it’s information for life lovely people.
PLUS when you do AIP, not only eliminate foods that are bad for you but the ones that are bad for everyone.
AIP is Just Eat Real Food (JERF) but tailored to you!
More and more research correlates autoimmunity with gut issues.
It makes sense that eating well for your body is the best way to help you heal long-term.
(bonus! your body will need fewer herbs and supplements to help it run in the future, making this a cost-effective health solution)
10 tips for AIP!
You can do this!
We are creatures of habit and making diet changes is a whole lot easier with some simple hacks.
First ask, what if this works?? What if this helps your condition/symptoms long term? That’s more of a long lasting solution than any drugs can offer!
Decide your end date of full AIP (reintro foods will take a bit longer but that’s the fun bit!).
Decide if you’re doing the quick 6 week version or the 12 week challenge before reintroducing foods (recommended for deeper healing)
Get a paper calendar or diary and mark when you’re finishing the elimination phase. It’s ok if there are one or two pre-scheduled fun dates like a wedding or birthday (keep it to the minimum though!)Preschedule positive reminders on your phone or write nice encouraging notes in your calendar for when you think you might need them! I’m not going to lie, stickers on the calendar for days of full AIP is weirdly motivating and almost free!
Get rid of all the non-AIP foods. Donate or offload to some friends or family or donate to charities (libraries usually have food boxes).
If it’s not in your house, you’re less likely to consume it.
Chowing down all the foods before you start will only make you sicker.Let everyone know you’re making your health a priority until x date and doing AIP. Telling others helps them support you and keeps you accountable! If no one but you knows, then it’s oh so easy to give up.
6. Know when your period is going to be! Up your prepared snack game
7. Identify what might be your trickiest time to stick to AIP. Is it breakfast ideas excluding toast? Is it what to eat when out for brunch? For lunch? For dinner? A quick treat on Friday nights?
8. Sorry loves, this will take some planning and cooking.
There are hacks and you don’t need to quit your job to be a home cook. Having enough time to make food and eat it is part of being a healthy human. Skipping this step is what leads to so much poor health.
9. Our favourite resources are autoimmunewellness.com including their 30 min recipes.
Want to make meal planning even easier? Try Real Plans. For about the cost of Netflix you can get customisable recipes, a synced app that includes shopping lists. As you change the recipes or quantities, the shopping list changes!
We’ve got printable lists of foods to include or avoid here
10. Modifications:
- Everyone = add white rice. Carbs are needed for your thyroid health
- Vegetarian = add good quality dairy for essential protein
- Pescetarian = your body will do so well on this!
A quick guide to Auto Immune Paleo foods
Oils for cooking - olive oil, coconut oil
Oats - Get the wheat-free ones in major supermarkets to be AIP OK!
Milk alternative - coconut milk in the long life milk section of the supermarket
Flour alternative - coconut flour. Found in Terra Madre and other health stores.
Soy sauce alternative - coconut aminos - available in the health food shops and Woolworths!
Fruit is in!
Honey and maple syrup are in too - yay!
Flavourings - salt, pepper, lemon, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, fresh herbs are all in
Green, orange & white veggies are all in (except capsicums and potatoes)
Favourite Snacks
small tins of tuna (olive oil or spring water only)
poached & shredded chicken breast (my fave!!) to grab handfuls of as-needed
grilled halloumi with finely sliced apple (for vegos)
fruit!
Out and about
Sweet potato fries (especially from Grilled) are so good!
Sushi - avo, cucumber, meat or fish - add pickled ginger but hold the soy
Grilled salmon & salad (minus tomato) are a fab Friday night treat
Having brunch? All cafes can do bacon + heaps of avo, mushrooms, spinach (or halloumi if vego)
Dining out? Meat or fish done with fresh herbs + olive oil + lemon and veggies is an easy AIP option. Greek, Italian and Vietnamese (no chilli) generally have great AIP options too
If the meal is almost totally AIP, but not quite - put a note in your phone about which ingredients weren’t AIP & see how you feel in the next two days. If there are issues, this is a clue as to what’s flaring up your inflammation! If it’s fine, you may be able to bring this back quickly
Breakfast options
There are so many recipes on autoimmunewellness.com!
Even Sunday funday ones.
These are my personal faves that can be made in bulk:
Blueberry Pork Patties (sounds weird but these are so quick and yum!)
Banana Pancakes - hell yes!
Need some more AIP info/inspo?
Like an appointment?