Paleo Success Stories

A guest post from John Redfern recounting his experience following a reverse elimination AIP style diet to help him heal from psoriasis As part of our series on personal experiences dealing with autoimmune disease, today's post is was contributed by John Redfern. Psoriasis is one of the most common autoimmune disorders today, and the severity of this chronic condition can have a huge impact on the daily lives of the people affected. By following an elimination diet, I was able to finally control my psoriasis for the first time in 14 years, but the even better part was not having to adhere to a strict diet for the rest of my life. I achieved this by starting a reverse elimination diet for my autoimmune disorder. Today my daily routine to keep my autoimmune symptoms at bay consists of managing my stress levels, ensuring I keep adequate vitamin d levels, and sticking to a psoriasis friendly diet (sculpted from my full elimination diet and reverse elimination diet personal experiments). How Many People Are Affected By Autoimmune Disorders According to a report by the National Institute of health, autoimmune disorders affect more than twenty-three million people in the United States and 5% of the population in Western countries. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no medically confirmed curative treatment for these conditions. The medications and treatments available are only able to manage the symptoms alone. In this article, we will explore how to start a reverse elimination diet for autoimmune disorders, what the AIP diet is, what foods a patient should eat and which ones they should avoid if they want to follow the diet. What are Autoimmune Problems? Your immune system is your body’s defense against invaders like infections, allergens, toxins and negative responses to stress. Autoimmunity occurs when your immune system is unable to differentiate between the cells that belong to your own body and those that belong to foreign invaders like bacteria, parasites or virus. Hence, it redirects the attack towards your body tissues like your joints, skin, brain among other parts. The buildup of damaged cells/tissues or organs in the body is what causes the symptoms you experience. For instance, in psoriasis, your autoimmune system attacks the proteins within the layers of cells that make up your skin. The more cells that are being attacked, the more severe your skin condition. Other examples of autoimmune disorders include: ● Thyroiditis- an attack on the thyroid gland ● Crohn's disease- an attack on the gastrointestinal system ● Lupus- an attack on the kidneys ● Multiple sclerosis- attacks the nervous system ● Psoriasis - attacks the skin Causes of autoimmune issues Some of the main causes of autoimmune problems include • Genetic predisposition • Diet • Lifestyle • Exposure to toxins • Hormone • Weight • Infections • Gut health problems While you cannot control your genetics, you have immense control over your diet and lifestyle and the extent to which they affect your hormones, gut health problems, and weight. By eliminating foods that cause gut health problems, hormone imbalance and those that stimulate inflammation and your autoimmune system, you can create an opportunity for your body to heal. What is the AIP? AIP, also known as the Autoimmune protocol, is a diet that emphasizes the intake of a nutrient-dense diet and the elimination of allergenic and inflammatory foods to aid the body in controlling the immune system. Foods are deemed to have two kinds of components within them: ● Foods that promote health ● Foods that undermine health This diet is quite strict as it only incorporates foods that offer more health-promoting compounds and eliminating foods that can be detrimental to your health. The goal of the AIP is to flood the body with nutrients while simultaneously avoiding those that hold back your health. How Does The Autoimmune Protocol Work? The AIP diet works by addressing four key areas which are known to be chronic and autoimmune diseases contributors. This diet and lifestyle change explicitly targets: Nutrient density The foods you eat play a significant role in the two main components of the autoimmune condition which includes inflammation and gut health. Unfortunately, most of the foods on the market today contain substances that aggravate the two. These foods include junk and processed foods, and pseudo-health foods like gluten-free and low-fat packaged foods that are often loaded with additives, preservatives, and sugar. Focusing on eating nutrient-dense foods while eliminating inflammatory foods from your diet can dramatically moderate your inflammatory markers while easing, or even eliminating the symptoms of the autoimmune condition. It also provides the building blocks that enable the healing of damaged tissues. Gut health Your gut is your gateway to optimal health. It is home to over 80% of your immune system. Without a healthy gut, you cannot have a healthy immune system. The foods provided in the AIP diet supports the development of healthy levels and a variety of healthy microorganisms while avoiding foods that might damage the lining of the gut. Hormone regulation What you eat, when you eat it and how much you eat affects certain hormones that interact with your immune system. For instance, consuming too much sugar or grazing as opposed to eating more substantial meals that are spaced further apart deregulates your hormones directly affecting your immune system. AIP is designed to promote the regulation of these hormones, hence, regulating your immune system indirectly. These hormones are also affected by lifestyle choices like how much sleep you get, the kind of activities you engage in and how well you manage stress. Immune system regulation This can be achieved by restoring healthy quantities of gut microorganism, and healthy diversity. This restores the gut ’s barrier function, providing your immune system with the adequate amount of micronutrients it requires to function optimally as well as regulating the main hormones that regulate your immune system. Where to start This diet involves consuming more healthy, nutrient-dense foods while eliminating foods that might trigger your autoimmune disease. What you need to eat; • Organ meat • Fish and shellfish • Vegetables • Herbs and spices • Quality Meats • Quality fats • Fruits • Probiotic/fermented foods • Glycine-rich foods Foods to avoid • Grains • Dairy • Eggs • Nuts • Legumes • Seeds • Nightshades • Refines and processed oils and sugars • Gluten cross-reactive foods • Non-nutritive sweeteners • Emulsifiers, thickeners and any other food additives • NSAIDS • Alcohol Elimination and Reintroduction Phase The AIP diet is an elimination diet that is designed to cut out the most likely food culprits while feeding the body with nutrient-dense foods. The best part about the AIP elimination diet is that you get to reintroduce some of the foods that you have been avoiding. Ideally, you are expected to reintroduce these foods after you have fully recovered. However, if you see significant improvement, thanks to this diet, you can reintroduce some foods after three to four weeks, however from personal experience, I recommend waiting a minimum of 8 weeks. The general rule is to reintroduce one food every seven days, however if suffering from psoriasis, I like to wait 21 days before reintroducing a food type as sometimes psoriasis flare ups through bad diet take a bit longer to manifest. If you are going through a stressful period, then you can expect the flareup to happen quicker and more aggressive. It is vital that you are using a journal to track not only the foods you are reintroducing but also to track stress levels. A recent survey of the Smart Psoriasis Diet audience revealed that 84% of psoriasis sufferers experienced a psoriasis flare-up after a prolonged period of stress. Therefore, all personal diet-related experiments become null and void if you have ongoing stress related issues. During this period, spend some time monitoring yourself for the symptoms and noting the results in your journal. The symptoms of a reaction are not always visible at first, so keep an eye out for: • The symptoms of your autoimmune disease returning or worsening • Cravings for sugar, caffeine or fat • Headaches • Dizziness • Gastrointestinal symptoms like a tummy ache, nausea, constipation, heartburn, diarrhea, bloating, undigested or partly undigested food particles in your stool or a change in the frequency of your bowel movements • Coughing • Sneezing • Itchy mouth or eyes • Mood swings • Anxiety • Increased mucus production Of course if you have psoriasis, then a worsening of your skin with regards to scaling, redness, or itchiness will indicate that you have an issue. Similarly, if it starts to spread to new unaffected areas, you know you have found a huge red flag trigger food. By journaling daily and keep track of the food you eat and your stress levels along with rating how your condition is performing, you can easily see a correlation of what is good for you and what is a danger flag and should be avoided at all costs. As part of my reintroduction process, I now know the following about myself: 1. Beer (especially Guinness) is my most significant single "diet" trigger 2. Overconsumption of sugary items triggers a flare up 3. Poor general diet and unhealthy lifestyle choices led to a slow worsening of the condition 4. Smoking makes facial and scalp psoriasis worse The great news I learned from my reverse elimination diet is that ● Gluten products in moderation cause me no issue ● I can tolerate a gin and slimline tonic in moderation ● Some people have trouble with nightshades but I can eat them in abundance with no adverse effects The main thing I also learned about my autoimmune disorder is that stress is my number one trigger and I believe this is often overlooked in the autoimmune disorder community as a whole. Final Words: The Problem with a Conventional-Medicine Approach The main problem with conventional medicine approach is that it deploys powerful immunosuppressive drugs that put the patient at a higher risk of infection and severe cases, death. These drugs approach the autoimmune condition by suppressing, blocking, covering and even interfering with the body’s biology, which might have adverse effects in the long run. Before I started an elimination diet, I was on Methotrexate for 9 months. It make me feel very unwell but by concentrating on diet, stress and vitamin D3, I was able to reduce my psoriasis by over 80%+. All I know is that psoriasis cannot survive in a healthy body and in my opinion that applies to all autoimmune disorders. If I can control my autoimmune disorder, what’s stopping you from doing the same? John Redfern is the founder of smartpsoriasisdiet.com where he blogs weekly about how to control psoriasis through diet, stress management and sunshine/vitamin d!