I didn't get sick overnight. In fact, now that I have a better understand of autoimmunity, I can connect illnesses from when I was in college to the beginning of my autoimmune disorder. I have to remind myself that just as I didn't get sick overnight, complete healing will take some time as well. It can take months for the effects of food allergens to leave our bodies and it can take years for our cells to completely repair themselves. At my worst time of suffering, I had hearing problems, joint pain, brain fog, and severe fatigue. The first step in healing was to change my diet and I started with a Whole30 (basically Paleo). For 30 days, I followed this strict protocol: 1. Eat real food (organic and hormone free when possible) 2. No sugar of any kind, real or artificial 3.No alcohol, even for cooking 4. No grains of any kind including corn, oats, rice and ANY form of these modified into other foods (i.e rice bran oil, dextrose, etc.) 5. No legumes 6. No dairy 7. No preservatives, carrageenan, or sulfites 8. No baked goods or "desserts" Whole30 is a great place to start! After 30 days, I saw a huge improvement in my symptoms and even better, my ANA markers, which indicate the presence of an autoimmune disease, decreased! This bolstered my hope so much, but there were still some ways I needed help healing. That's when I came across AIP (autoimmune protocol). Autoimmune protocol is very similar to the Whole30, but it takes things a step further. I followed AIP for about 3 full months before I started integrating foods back in. This gave my body a major break from all of the inflammation that was causing pain and stress. Once my inflammation had calmed down, I started adding back in eggs, nuts, seeds, spices, caffeine, and some nightshades (interestingly, tomatoes are ok for me, eggplant is not). One great thing about AIP is that it really depends on each individual person. Some people will always react to nightshades or always react to caffeine. Some people are never able to add back in eggs. Also, my naturopath explained that autoimmunity is like a spectrum of high to low inflammation-- if you are stressed and exhausted, your inflammations levels may be high and eating a ton of nuts and seeds adds to that inflammatory load so your body can't handle it. Then another day, you might be well rested and a handful of nuts won't have any tangible effect. It is a balancing act AND it takes a long time to get to know what your own body can and can't handle.
Seriously, the AIP diet has helped me in so many ways that I can't recommend it enough for people suffering from autoimmune issues. In the past 12 months with AIP: 1. My symptoms are under control and I'm continually healing my body. By buying quality, real whole foods, I'm nourishing my body to heal itself. Furthermore, I feel like I am now aging in reverse. When my symptoms were at their worst, I felt way older than someone in her 30s. Now, I feel younger than I did in college!! I've learned so much about how real foods are healing my body on a cellular level and improving the health of my mitochondria (more on this later!). 2. My workouts are more effective AIP isn't just about eating. Even your exercise schedule should be about nourishing your body. I used to be THE cardio queen. Distance running was my addiction and I adhered to the misconception that more is always better. But actually, I've learned that chronic overexercising contributes to gut imbalances that lead to autoimmune disorders. Plus, I would always be so sore after my workouts it would take me a few days to recover. Now, I can do insane HIIT workouts and not be sore because my body is not wrecked with inflammation. I temper those HIIT workouts with long walks outside, yoga, and pilates. And even better, I am way more toned than I was during those years of running mile after mile. My body responds better to the training and the food I am eating is helping me build toned muscle. 3. My brain is back! Last spring during the worst of my symptoms, I had the hardest time focusing! I remember trying to read my students' essays and reading the same sentence over and over again. I felt like I had ADD. I couldn't remember things and I felt like I was losing my marbles. Now, my mental clarity is restored and again, I feel like my brain is aging in reverse. 4. Sleep is AMAZING Y'all, can I just say that I used to think I was a super light sleeper who just naturally woke up 2-3 times a night? And I don't even have kids or a small bladder to wake me up. My sleep pattern was inconsistent and rarely restful. I thought 6 hours of sleep was all I needed because that's how long I could stay asleep. My autonomic nervous system was just so taxed that I couldn't get into a restful state long enough to actually let sleep heal my body or brain (more on this later). Now, I can sleep 8 hours without waking up once and when I get up in the morning, I feel energized and rested. Overhauling my diet and lifestyle like this wasn't an easy transition, but there were several tools and resources I used to help me with my success. When people ask me questions about my diet, they often ask how I can adhere to such a strict plan. They ask if it is difficult to follow it or not cheat. Honestly, I cheated once. And when you cheat and wake up the next day feeling like a semi-truck repeated rolled over your body, extracted your brain and sucked out all of your blood, suddenly, cheating isn't that attractive or worth it any more. Committing to AIP is doable and there are a lot of sources out there to support you in your transition if you are struggling with an autoimmune disorder. Coming up, I'll post my favorite web resources, cookbooks, and how to travel and stick with AIP guidelines.
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Since sharing my "adventure" into the world of health with people, I'm really astonished at how many people aren't feeling well. And how much of it is related to autoimmunity. In the past year, I've had at least 4 friends adopt an autoimmune protocol lifestyle and seen tremendous results with improving their ailments. People suffering from debilitating migraines, eczema, PCOS, Hashimoto's, and more. I've talked with at least a dozen more people who have had symptoms of a beginning autoimmune disorder who have noticed the correlation between what they eat and how they feel. And I can't even begin to count the emerging cases of gluten-intolerance, allergies, and ADHD-diet related cases I've seen among all of the youth that I work with. The next generation seems to be feeling the effects of the SAD (standard American diet) even more than my own generation.
AND YET..... The more I've delved into the naturopathic world of alternative medicines, the more I am shocked at how little doctors actually know about the patients for whom they prescribe medication. They don't ask about patients' diets or lifestyles. They don't consider the connection between diet and illness (side note: I've found this to be true with the exception of people with diabetes. Generally, doctors have the common sense to tell them to stop eating sugar. But do they tell people with diabetes that sugar doesn't just come from baked goods and sweets?). For example, in the past year, I've learned that I have a dairy, corn, and gluten sensitivity. Well, there are a lot of prescription and over the counter medications that have ingredients derived from dairy, corn, or gluten. So if I doctor didn't know this about me, prescribing said medicine could actually cause further problems. One of the very helpful, but costly ways I've learned about healing is through tests. The tests I've taken in the past year have provided me and my naturopath with insight into how my body functions and I would highly recommend the following tests for anyone wanting to learn more about how to optimize their health: Cyrex Labs is a "Clinical Immunology Laboratory Specializing in Functional Immunology and Autoimmunity." There are a few other companies that do allergy testing, however, Cyrex, according to my naturopath, looks for all of the immune markers AND it repeats the blood testing several times to ensure the same results and accuracy. I used their tests to find out that I did have a gluten intolerance. It also showed I had heightened reactions to dairy. Cyrex also offers tests that can tell you how you react to over 200 different foods; one test will show you your reaction to types of vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts. In addition, they compare your reaction to the food in the raw state and in the cooked state, as you may react differently to each form. Two things to consider: first, you do need a functional medicine professional to order the labs for you and for me, my tests were not covered by my insurance. Secondly, no test is a better indicator of an intolerance or allergy than how you feel. For example, I've never been tested for a corn allergy. But every time I eat anything with corn in it, my hands get itchy, my joints swell, and I start to lose my hearing. I don't need a test to confirm my corn intolerance and if for some reason a test showed I "did not" have a corn intolerance, I would still avoid eating corn. Cyrex Labs I don't like to talk about bacteria. Good bacteria, bad bacteria. It just grosses me out. But at the basis of so many autoimmune disease, we find an imbalance of bacteria. So you gotta deal with it. Some people may suffer from Candida or SIBO. For me, I am treating H. Pylori. When I first went to see my naturopath, I was like "I want to take ALL the vitamins I can. I want to take ALL the supplements right now. Fix me now!" I didn't actually say that cause I didn't want her to think I was crazy. But it was something to that effect. Anyway, she recommended that first, I get tested for H. Pylori. She explained it this way-- if I need to improve my vitamin and mineral absorption and raise my white and red blood cell count (which have been chronically low), I need to make sure that I can actually absorb what I'm taking in. It is no good to take a bunch of supplements when my gut is a hostile environment that won't absorb anything. And H.Pylori, SIBO, or Candida can do that to your gut. They take it over and make it a hostile environment-- they have to be treated and quelled in order make progress. Now, getting tested and getting treated are two different things. Treating these imbalances is no easy or short task, so I'll do a separate post on that. But for now, if you feel like you are eating the salad bar at Whole Foods every day and still feeling crappy, ask yourself if there may be a reason your body isn't absorbing all that eat. You aren't what you eat-- you are what you absorb. Below are the links for H.Pylori and SIBO testing. H. Pylori SIBO The 23andme test has been advertised beyond the medical community, and while I think it has a lot of value, I plan to use the data I gain from it to be more preventative than anything. This test was the easiest to take-- you order it online and they ship you the box with a little tube. You just blow in the tube, seal it, and send it back with the prepaid shipping box. This test WILL NOT diagnose any illness or tell you any food allergies or intolerances or give you insight if you are suffering from autoimmune related issues, but my hope is that the more information I know about myself, the more proactive I can be in restoring my health. I plan to give my results to my naturopath to hopefully glean more information from the data. 23andme These are just a few of the tests I've taken in the past year. In a future post, I'll go over blood work tests that insurance DOES cover, mold testing, heavy metal tests, and my system for tracking my own data. The more I've delved into these tests, the more I've realized that people who chronically feel blah shouldn't accept the status quo. There's usually a reason behind why we feel poorly and tests are just one piece of the health puzzle. Disclaimer: The information I've provided is based on my personal experience and has not been peer-reviewed or evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on the internet. |
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January 2017
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