A new year, a new plan, a new journey
Today is the first day of a new year, a time for new beginnings. For me, this means kicking my health into high gear, really taking control and finding healing. For me, this means a trial of AIP – autoimmune protocol diet, and here’s why.
I’ve mentioned in many of my previous posts about certain foods I’ve had to remove from my diet and my adventures with a more plant-based lifestyle, all due to health reasons, but it’s time to get a little more vulnerable here because I know many of you are the same shoes as I am.
Growing up, I was told I had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Basically, IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, whereby doctors cannot label your collection of gastrointestinal distresses with a textbook disease. In other words, there is not enough proven research to give doctors the confidence to diagnose an illness. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not have IBS symptoms; the illness in a way had robbed me of a normal childhood. I learned to simply manage my symptoms and just accept IBS as my cross to bear; but, what I did not realize was that my “diagnosis of exclusion,” was wreaking havoc inside my body. Doctor after doctor could not help me determine the root cause of my ailments, but rather they were too quick to prescribe medicine to mask my symptoms. I didn’t want Band-Aid fixes; I wanted true healing. I knew I needed to take my own health into my own hands.
In 2011, I was officially diagnosed with the early stages of Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease is an autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease, which can affect any part of the digestive tract, but most commonly the small intestines. Just like in any autoimmune disease, the body attacks itself, so with Crohn’s, all this chaos occurs in the digestive tract. Chronic inflammation begins to microscopically perforate the bowels, creating a permeable surface for any food to potentially seep into the bloodstream, thus causing an immune response. The vicious cycle continues: inflammation causes more permeability and more foods, even healthy foods, become intolerable.
I have always been a foodie (thanks to my parents!), and as my symptoms gradually grew more profound over the years, I began to further understand the connection of diet and gut health. I began doing my own research, keeping diligent food journals, and making changes in my lifestyle, and I was able significantly improvement my symptoms. I initially discovered eggs and shellfish triggered my symptoms, so I completely removed those ingredients from my diet. Furthermore, a genetic blood test confirmed I am a carrier of one of the two genes that makes one susceptible to celiac disease. So, a former lover of all things bread and gluten-laden, I completely eliminated gluten from my diet, and immediately noticed an incredible difference in how I felt. Next came dairy. After removing dairy from my diet, my sinuses cleared up significantly. This is when I really began to invest deeper in a plant-based diet.
Fast forward to April 2016. Almost two years ago, only having been married for about 8 months at the time, my health took a huge down spiral. I had to have my wisdom teeth removed – no big deal, right? This is just a common surgery most people undergo. My oral surgeon prescribed me some serious pain suppressants and an antibiotic as a precautionary for any infection that might arise. Surprisingly, I did not need the pain medication at all. I did, however, take the antibiotic, because I was afraid of developing an infection, which could become very serious. That little antibiotic, even just the half dose I took, changed my life forever.
Ignorance on my behalf, and on my surgeon’s behalf, rocked my health. Antibiotics, when not prescribed properly, are extremely dangerous, especially for those with inflammatory bowel diseases. Thanks to more modern research, doctors are now beginning to understand the role of gut flora and microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease. Within their gut, everyone has both bad and good bacteria. Issues arise when the bad bacteria proliferate, so much so that there are more bad bacteria than good, which is called SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth. A broad-spectrum antibiotic, such as amoxicillin, which I was given after my surgery, can kill off the good bacteria, creating a breeding ground for bad bacteria in the gut. This is what happened to me – I developed C.diff (clostridium difficile), a bacterial infection, which, if left untreated, could potentially become life-threatening. Ironically, the remedy for such a vicious infection is yet another antibiotic, so you can imagine the fear and skepticism I felt when my gastroenterologist told me I must take another antibiotic to kill the C.diff. The antibiotic did kill off the infection, but unfortunately, the C.diff caused such tremendous damage to my intestines, that I am still in active recovery. My “go-to, safe” foods, like rice, quinoa, oats, and even lentils, are no longer foods that I can easily digest.
My journey to find healing continues, so this is why I am trying the AIP diet – the autoimmune protocol. This diet is not a fad, and should not be followed by anyone who does not have an autoimmune disease. It is by all means a temporary eating plan, purposed for healing the gut from chronic inflammation. Several trusted friends have been encouraging me to try the AIP or even a paleo diet for quite some time now, so I have decided it’s time to take action. Because this diet is extremely limiting, it is not a sustainable way of life, so I plan to attempt to follow this protocol for the next 30 days in hopes of finding healing and being able to once again eat the foods I love.
I will be blogging about my AIP journey, sharing with you my wins and losses, recipes and meal plans. If you’ve ever read any of my blogs, you know I’m a lover of carbs – I eat my weight’s worth in rice and beans on a regular basis, but guess what? The AIP diet does not allow for any grains or legumes. Even more, the AIP diet excludes nuts, seeds, and nightshades (a family of vegetables that includes all peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and white potatoes). All of these foods are staples in my diet. Boy, this is going to be hard! There are other foods on the AIP-no-no list, which won’t be difficult for me because I’ve already had to eliminate them from my diet. These foods include eggs, dairy, and gluten. Following the AIP diet also means my plant-dominant diet won’t really work here, so I will have to eat more poultry and fish. Below are lists I grabbed from existing online resources that detail the green-light and red-light foods of the AIP diet.
The guiding principle behind autoimmune protocol is to remove any inflammatory foods from the diet, grains being a primary irritant since they can be difficult to digest, so as to create an environment of healing for the gut. After time, the goal is to slowly re-introduce certain foods back into the diet to see which foods can once again be tolerated.
I’m inviting you on this journey with me. The AIP diet will be extremely challenging for me, but I need to make a change in my life to achieve healing, and AIP is worth a try.
