The AIP (autoimmune protocol) diet aims to reduce symptoms that come from autoimmune diseases, like lupus, psoriasis, or celiac disease. How? The AIP diet is an elimination diet that removes foods that could potentially cause inflammation or contribute to other symptoms of autoimmune diseases. In this guide, we will dive deeper into the AIP diet and how you can stick to it.

About Autoimmune Diseases

Before we jump into AIP, let’s take a closer look at autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases cause the body’s immune system to attack healthy cells by mistake. Normally, the immune system only attacks foreign bodies, like harmful bacteria that could make you sick. But an autoimmune disease causes the immune system to get confused and identify healthy tissue as harmful to the body.

The immune system sends out antibodies that fight the healthy tissue. As the immune system damages cells, individuals may experience fatigue, inflammation, pain, swelling, fever, and other symptoms. However, Loren Cordain, PhD discovered that certain foods could trigger inflammation and make some symptoms worse. While AIP cannot cure an autoimmune disease, it could help ease the symptoms of autoimmune diseases.

The Rules of AIP

As we mentioned, the AIP diet is an elimination diet that removes foods that could cause inflammation or contribute to the symptoms of an autoimmune disease. But the diet is not designed to be a long-term diet. It is designed with a short elimination phase that is followed by a reintroduction phase. During the reintroduction phase, individuals reintroduce foods they cut out to see how their body reacts. With this knowledge, they can make better choices about their diet.

Let’s take a deeper dive at each of these phases.

Elimination

During the elimination phase, the AIP diet recommends cutting out the following foods:

  • Grains (wheat, oats, rice, corn, etc.)
  • Legumes (lentils, black beans, chickpeas, green beans, etc.)
  • Nuts, seeds, and seed-based spices (like mustard, cumin, sesame, etc.)
  • Nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes)
  • Eggs
  • Dairy
  • Tobacco
  • Alcohol
  • Coffee
  • Oils (with the exception of coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil)
  • Food additives
  • Butter and ghee
  • Refined and processed sugars (this includes chocolate…)
  • Thickeners and gums
  • Soy

You should also avoid certain medications during this phase, namely non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen.

So what should you eat? The diet focuses on eating fresh produce. You can also eat meat and fish, bone broth, avocado, honey, vinegars, fresh herbs, sweet potatoes, and more.

And how long do you have to cut out these foods? The length of the elimination phase of AIP can vary, depending on how an individual feels. Usually, people start to notice results within the first 3 weeks. On average, the elimination phase lasts from 30 to 90 days.

Reintroduction

After the elimination phase, individuals should reintroduce eliminated foods one at a time. This can help you identify foods that might trigger inflammation or pain, teaching you what your body can and cannot handle.

When reintroducing a food, you should designate a testing day when you reintroduce the food and eat it a few times a day. Then avoid it for a period of time, like 5 or 6 days. During this time, pay attention to your body. Do you feel any differently? Have any of your symptoms gotten worse? If you do have symptoms, then you know that this food might need to be permanently removed from your diet. If you don’t have any symptoms, then you can fully reintroduce the food into your diet.

To obtain the best results, you should wait about a week before reintroducing a new food. This period of time between reintroducing foods lets you get a clear understanding of how your body reacts to each food item. By introducing foods too quickly, you might not be able to tell which foods are causing your symptoms to flare up.

Difference between AIP, Paleo & Whole30

You might be thinking that this diet sounds a lot like Whole30 or that the foods you eliminate closely align with the Paleo diet. And you’re right. These diets are all very similar and all focus on eating whole foods. But there are distinct differences.

AIP and Whole30 are both short-term, elimination diets with a reintroduction phase. They are designed to help heal the body by removing foods that might be contributing to unpleasant symptoms. Neither of them is meant to be adopted long term. The Paleo diet, on the other hand, is meant to be a long-term diet.

Paleo also has a very different ideology. It is based on the idea that you should eat like your ancestors ate. So, you should opt for whole foods and remove processed foods.

The elimination phase of Whole30 is 30 days (hence the name Whole30), while the timeline is more flexible for AIP. Individuals may be in the elimination phase for 30 days or 90 days, depending on their preference. During Whole30, there are some foods that are okay to eat that are excluded from AIP — like nightshades and coffee.

Candidates for AIP

Now that you understand what AIP is, let’s discuss some individuals who might particularly benefit from this type of diet. This diet is designed for individuals with autoimmune conditions, including but not limited to the following:

  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Hashimoto’s disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Lupus
  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Adrenal fatigue
  • PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome)
  • Psoriasis
  • Multiple sclerosis

However, not everyone with an autoimmune disease should try the AIP diet. Autoimmune diseases are often very complex, and it’s important for individuals with these conditions to talk to a health professional before trying any new diet.

Looking for a dietitian who can help? We have a network of dietitians, some of whom specialize in autoimmune diseases. Reach out to us at support@eatlove.is and we can put you in touch with a professional.

Sticking to AIP

Because AIP is so strict, it may seem impossible to integrate into your life. But you can make it work! EatLove does not have a specific AIP diet in our platform, but we do have Whole30. You can easily adapt our Whole30 diet to AIP. Just add the additional foods that you need to avoid within your food preferences. These foods include nightshades, eggs, nuts, seeds, additives, seed oils, and coffee.

Our nutrition intelligence can provide personalized AIP-compliant meal and snack recommendations while you are on AIP. And all of our meal recommendations can be tailored to your preferences. So if you’re not in the mood for chicken, swap out a recipe for a vegetarian option!

When you’re ready to reintroduce foods, we can help you add the food groups back in one at a time, making the reintroduction phase smooth and seamless. Our platform will do all the guesswork for you, so you don’t even have to think about what you can and can’t eat. All you have to do is pick out the meals that sound good!

Here are some recipes that are AIP compliant:

Find main dishes, sides, and desserts that meet your nutritional needs. Our recipes range across a wide variety of cuisines and cooking skills, so there’s something for everyone. Try our platform for FREE to unlock AIP-compliant meals.