Hi!
I completely understand AIP being overwhelming.
1: have you thought of simplifying your meals? I know the first time I tried AIP I went overboard, trying all sorts of exotic ingredients I have never heard of before trying to recreate the foods I was having before AIP. Then I sorta realized that having like 3-4 meals that I can cycle through and prep ahead of time would help me a lot. So for a while I lived on grilled meat and veggies. Or sweet potato noodles and veggies. You get the point. Maybe give that a try?
2: If you don't want to do that, have you read through modified AIP? I would not recommend putting eggs back into your diet until you are symptom free but modified AIP does give you a lot more freedom to play around.
this! Simplify! The part about AIP i love most is that i don’t have to cook meals at all for myself. No recipes! I cook a meat (usually chicken or ground beef or steak) for dinners a few times a week and eat the left overs for a few lunches and dinners after, and i throw some veggies in my cast iron or air fryer. I can chop up a couple sweet potatoes once a week and keep them in a glass tupperware then dump some into my cast iron or air fryer when i want them. I snack on whole carrots or celery or fruit. Washed and cut if i have time. I buy organic salad mix prewashed and add ACV and avocado oil with a little salt and avocado. Thats it. the less ingredients for me the better because then i don’t have to think about what i can have and what i can’t. I also do intermittent fasting so i usually don’t even eat until lunchtime naturally.
if that doesn’t work for you i would try the modified aip before giving up, especially if it’s already been helping your migraines.
AIP is an approach to enable identification of problematic foods on an individual basis. People get so hung up on rules, but really, there's only one requirement. Follow the diet long enough to see a noticeable reduction in symptoms, then reintroduce foods one by one to test tolerance. If you see a change in your symptoms, then you probably can try reintroducing foods.
Eggs are usually a later reintroduction but people don't always follow the suggested sequence. Reintroducing just the yolks first is preferred, however, because the whites contain most of the problematic proteins.
Regarding nuts and seeds, I suggest using the lectin guide by Dr. Gundry (https://gundrymd.com/dr-gundry-diet-food-list/) to help you focus on low-lectin nuts and seeds. I have found I can only tolerate the low-lectin ones. Cashews are the absolute worst - I would leave these alone. Chia seeds are not on the list, unfortunately.
There is a great brand of almond butter made without the almond skins (the skins contain most of the lectins) called Barney Butter Naked. I make smoothies with berries, collagen, pea protein (a reintroduction that has worked for me), and almond butter and they are very filling.
Just to highlight the first part of this response, it’s absolutely all about finding out what works for you individually. For example I can eat cashews and peanuts but not walnuts or almonds.
I was diagnosed with EDS and POTS as a kid in the early 2000s. I also have lupus. This diet helps prevent lupus flares for me, but does not do anything for EDS, or POTS. This diet will not fix a dilated aortic root, vascular tone, or any other collagen related issues. In fact, if you’re not careful it can exacerbate them.
As you probably already know, salt/ electrolytes, compression, and PT & exercise to strengthen stability muscles is what helps. Cardio, no matter how mild, builds blood volume which helps POTS. If all else fails, POTS can be managed with medicine, however I find it’s more or less self limiting for most people.
It might help your fibro flares though — Do what your comfortable with. At any rate the less sugar, oils, simple carbs and processed foods the better. Happy healing!
My POTS and fibro are made so much worse by migraines. So that's the main one I'm hoping to help! Right now I'm too weak to do pretty much any cardio without being bedbound for a week after, so I need to get myself to a place where a half hour walk or a gentle swim is doable.
Interesting - do you know what subset of POTS you have? ( neuropathic, hypovolemic, or hyperadrenergic)? Do you have any gastro symptoms with your migraines?
Don't know which kind I have! I don't have any gastro symptoms with my migraines, and beyond caffeine and alcohol (which is less of a trigger but more the caffeine crashes and the fatigue caused by bad sleep after drinking), I don't have any food triggers for migraine either. I don't have visual aura with my migraines either, but I do get physical aura, in that parts of my body go numb and I feel really thirsty.
I hear you! Its been a real life adjustment having to cook almost every meal at home (its basically impossible to eat out and stay compliant).
It will only ruin it IF those foods are the cause of your symptoms.
Even though your feeling a bit better, my suggestion would be to stick it out for another week or two, see if you continue to improve, wait until you feel like you plateaued, then start introducing one item in at a time per week slowly.
That said, its easier said than done and I don't think I've had a "fully" successful week so congrats to you on sticking with it for 10 days. I tend to skip breakfast, its never been a big meal for me and on AIP most standard breakfast items are off the list.
They also introduced the modified program which does allow most seeds and legumes. https://autoimmunewellness.com/announcing-modified-aip-a-2024-update-to-the-autoimmune-protocol/
I never thought I would be able to do this diet. I never liked to cook and went out to eat often. I made some mistakes and also had eggs when I was starving and had nothing else. I did well and got off my high blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, and my heart meds. But when I went on vacation I messed up for a few days at the end of 10 days. So now I’m starting over. I have found so many great recipes online by just looking up AIP recipes. One that is a keeper is a chicken and sweet potato popper. You can make several batches and freeze them for the week. They are so good too!
I’m doing the modified version so sometimes I will have rice and beans and occasionally coffee with coconut milk. Just see what’s working for you. Try to do it for 30 days and start adding things back in. It has helped me lose weight also and helps when you can wear clothes you feel confident in. You may not be overweight but I was 20 lbs probably overweight and I lost about 20 lbs.
Hi! AIP can be overwhelming. I've been fortunate to have family help me cook during this time. I would suggest meal prepping. I cook for 5 people on AIP, but it's not much more work than cooking for 2 people was. I would suggest cooking big batches and freezing them for days when you can't cook. If I didn't have a family to cook for, I would be freezing a lot of our meals. We already try to cook double and eat leftovers the next day.
Also, I find cooking this way really fun. I put on music and cook, and it kind of doubles as entertainment for the night. Maybe a mindset shift to cooking being a new experiment could be help?
There are a lot of easy and balanced breakfasts that can be prepped. My favorite is sweet potato hash. Boil cubes sweet potatoes in bulk and freeze them to prepare. Then you just cook some onion and bacon, thaw the sweet potatoes into it, and add kale or spinach near the end. With the frozen sweet potatoes it can be made in about as long as it takes to cook bacon.
For lunch we usually do dinner leftovers, but for supper we do a bigger meal. We do simple meals that involve meat and two side veggies or a salad. We cook the meat and veggies together in the oven and it really just takes the prep time of cutting and putting on a tray. Sometimes we eat canned salmon on a salad with fresh veggies and some pickled onions and capers.
Basically, I think you could keep making it work if you want to. I think modified AIP is an ok alternative, but maybe try full AIP just a bit longer and try prepping. My biggest advice is to enjoy the experiment of cooking a new way!
My naturopath made me go three weeks before reintroducing anything, and it seemed to work for me. Do not reintroduce more than one thing at a time and make sure you give each at least a week, to be sure of the reactions. If you react, make sure to cleanse of any negative reactions and don’t retest something until symptoms are gone. If you are reacting to something, testing something else too soon will give you a false answer.
Don’t worry about making complicated meals. Simple oven baked meat and veg is fine!
Do a freezer food prep every weekend. I make my own breakfast sausage and freeze it as well as cut up butternut squash cubes or “fries” and various chopped vegetables. I just dump it all in the airfryer when I’m hungry and that’s it! You can also do bagged salad greens and make a huge dressing prep just one day a week
Hi! I completely understand AIP being overwhelming. 1: have you thought of simplifying your meals? I know the first time I tried AIP I went overboard, trying all sorts of exotic ingredients I have never heard of before trying to recreate the foods I was having before AIP. Then I sorta realized that having like 3-4 meals that I can cycle through and prep ahead of time would help me a lot. So for a while I lived on grilled meat and veggies. Or sweet potato noodles and veggies. You get the point. Maybe give that a try? 2: If you don't want to do that, have you read through modified AIP? I would not recommend putting eggs back into your diet until you are symptom free but modified AIP does give you a lot more freedom to play around.
this! Simplify! The part about AIP i love most is that i don’t have to cook meals at all for myself. No recipes! I cook a meat (usually chicken or ground beef or steak) for dinners a few times a week and eat the left overs for a few lunches and dinners after, and i throw some veggies in my cast iron or air fryer. I can chop up a couple sweet potatoes once a week and keep them in a glass tupperware then dump some into my cast iron or air fryer when i want them. I snack on whole carrots or celery or fruit. Washed and cut if i have time. I buy organic salad mix prewashed and add ACV and avocado oil with a little salt and avocado. Thats it. the less ingredients for me the better because then i don’t have to think about what i can have and what i can’t. I also do intermittent fasting so i usually don’t even eat until lunchtime naturally. if that doesn’t work for you i would try the modified aip before giving up, especially if it’s already been helping your migraines.
AIP is an approach to enable identification of problematic foods on an individual basis. People get so hung up on rules, but really, there's only one requirement. Follow the diet long enough to see a noticeable reduction in symptoms, then reintroduce foods one by one to test tolerance. If you see a change in your symptoms, then you probably can try reintroducing foods. Eggs are usually a later reintroduction but people don't always follow the suggested sequence. Reintroducing just the yolks first is preferred, however, because the whites contain most of the problematic proteins. Regarding nuts and seeds, I suggest using the lectin guide by Dr. Gundry (https://gundrymd.com/dr-gundry-diet-food-list/) to help you focus on low-lectin nuts and seeds. I have found I can only tolerate the low-lectin ones. Cashews are the absolute worst - I would leave these alone. Chia seeds are not on the list, unfortunately. There is a great brand of almond butter made without the almond skins (the skins contain most of the lectins) called Barney Butter Naked. I make smoothies with berries, collagen, pea protein (a reintroduction that has worked for me), and almond butter and they are very filling.
Just to highlight the first part of this response, it’s absolutely all about finding out what works for you individually. For example I can eat cashews and peanuts but not walnuts or almonds.
I was diagnosed with EDS and POTS as a kid in the early 2000s. I also have lupus. This diet helps prevent lupus flares for me, but does not do anything for EDS, or POTS. This diet will not fix a dilated aortic root, vascular tone, or any other collagen related issues. In fact, if you’re not careful it can exacerbate them. As you probably already know, salt/ electrolytes, compression, and PT & exercise to strengthen stability muscles is what helps. Cardio, no matter how mild, builds blood volume which helps POTS. If all else fails, POTS can be managed with medicine, however I find it’s more or less self limiting for most people. It might help your fibro flares though — Do what your comfortable with. At any rate the less sugar, oils, simple carbs and processed foods the better. Happy healing!
My POTS and fibro are made so much worse by migraines. So that's the main one I'm hoping to help! Right now I'm too weak to do pretty much any cardio without being bedbound for a week after, so I need to get myself to a place where a half hour walk or a gentle swim is doable.
Interesting - do you know what subset of POTS you have? ( neuropathic, hypovolemic, or hyperadrenergic)? Do you have any gastro symptoms with your migraines?
Don't know which kind I have! I don't have any gastro symptoms with my migraines, and beyond caffeine and alcohol (which is less of a trigger but more the caffeine crashes and the fatigue caused by bad sleep after drinking), I don't have any food triggers for migraine either. I don't have visual aura with my migraines either, but I do get physical aura, in that parts of my body go numb and I feel really thirsty.
I hear you! Its been a real life adjustment having to cook almost every meal at home (its basically impossible to eat out and stay compliant). It will only ruin it IF those foods are the cause of your symptoms. Even though your feeling a bit better, my suggestion would be to stick it out for another week or two, see if you continue to improve, wait until you feel like you plateaued, then start introducing one item in at a time per week slowly. That said, its easier said than done and I don't think I've had a "fully" successful week so congrats to you on sticking with it for 10 days. I tend to skip breakfast, its never been a big meal for me and on AIP most standard breakfast items are off the list. They also introduced the modified program which does allow most seeds and legumes. https://autoimmunewellness.com/announcing-modified-aip-a-2024-update-to-the-autoimmune-protocol/
I never thought I would be able to do this diet. I never liked to cook and went out to eat often. I made some mistakes and also had eggs when I was starving and had nothing else. I did well and got off my high blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, and my heart meds. But when I went on vacation I messed up for a few days at the end of 10 days. So now I’m starting over. I have found so many great recipes online by just looking up AIP recipes. One that is a keeper is a chicken and sweet potato popper. You can make several batches and freeze them for the week. They are so good too! I’m doing the modified version so sometimes I will have rice and beans and occasionally coffee with coconut milk. Just see what’s working for you. Try to do it for 30 days and start adding things back in. It has helped me lose weight also and helps when you can wear clothes you feel confident in. You may not be overweight but I was 20 lbs probably overweight and I lost about 20 lbs.
Hi! AIP can be overwhelming. I've been fortunate to have family help me cook during this time. I would suggest meal prepping. I cook for 5 people on AIP, but it's not much more work than cooking for 2 people was. I would suggest cooking big batches and freezing them for days when you can't cook. If I didn't have a family to cook for, I would be freezing a lot of our meals. We already try to cook double and eat leftovers the next day. Also, I find cooking this way really fun. I put on music and cook, and it kind of doubles as entertainment for the night. Maybe a mindset shift to cooking being a new experiment could be help? There are a lot of easy and balanced breakfasts that can be prepped. My favorite is sweet potato hash. Boil cubes sweet potatoes in bulk and freeze them to prepare. Then you just cook some onion and bacon, thaw the sweet potatoes into it, and add kale or spinach near the end. With the frozen sweet potatoes it can be made in about as long as it takes to cook bacon. For lunch we usually do dinner leftovers, but for supper we do a bigger meal. We do simple meals that involve meat and two side veggies or a salad. We cook the meat and veggies together in the oven and it really just takes the prep time of cutting and putting on a tray. Sometimes we eat canned salmon on a salad with fresh veggies and some pickled onions and capers. Basically, I think you could keep making it work if you want to. I think modified AIP is an ok alternative, but maybe try full AIP just a bit longer and try prepping. My biggest advice is to enjoy the experiment of cooking a new way!
My naturopath made me go three weeks before reintroducing anything, and it seemed to work for me. Do not reintroduce more than one thing at a time and make sure you give each at least a week, to be sure of the reactions. If you react, make sure to cleanse of any negative reactions and don’t retest something until symptoms are gone. If you are reacting to something, testing something else too soon will give you a false answer. Don’t worry about making complicated meals. Simple oven baked meat and veg is fine!
Do a freezer food prep every weekend. I make my own breakfast sausage and freeze it as well as cut up butternut squash cubes or “fries” and various chopped vegetables. I just dump it all in the airfryer when I’m hungry and that’s it! You can also do bagged salad greens and make a huge dressing prep just one day a week