Day 35: In which Sally offers advice

Dear readers, your response to my last post was overwhelming! I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate your support and enthusiasm. I knew that all of my Facebook friends were kind and generous people, but you have surprised me nonetheless. Thank you all.

Several of you have written or spoken to me about wanting to try the elimination diet, so I thought I’d use this post to impose some unsolicited advice:

1) The elimination diet I’ve been using is called the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), as described in Mickey’s book and in the Paleo Mom blog, among others. The point is to eliminate foods that are known to trigger inflammation and/or leaky gut, and then reintroduce them one at a time. It is an unpleasant and expensive way to eat and the sort of diet that will only work for you if you’re very, very motivated; such as if you happen to have an autoimmune disorder that is making your life difficult.

2) If you don’t have, or don’t suspect you might have, an inflammatory issue and you just want to lose some water weight or get rid of brain fog, you might try giving up just one or two things like sugar or gluten, and see if that helps. If you just like to torture yourself, then by all means carry on with the AIP program. I’m not here to judge.

 3) Dr. Blum’s dietary restrictions are a little different from the AIP. There are some negligible differences in what’s allowed and not allowed, and she divides the program into two separate diets, presumably for ease of use. I’ve been following the AIP for efficiency’s sake, and because I like to torture myself.

4) Mickey’s Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook can be a comforting companion for nervous AIP newbies. The 4-week meal plans and shopping lists make the overwhelming doable, and there are useful tips to boot. It won’t be available in hardback until March 31st, but the ebook is already available here. UPDATE: The hard copy is available now! Click here to check it out.

I should add that the ebook has some entertaining typos (Just how do you measure 24 hours of salmon? It might have been meant  to say ounces instead of hours, but who knows? Are we meant to put in as much salmon as we can eat in a day? Is it a salmon that’s 24 hours old? Given that a salmon occupies both space and time . . . Oh, never mind. My head hurts). Also, Mickey is very fond of salt. I halved, quartered, or even eliminated the salt in almost all of her recipes that I’ve used.

5) UPDATED: The companies that package and sell quinoa will have you believe that it is a “gluten-free grain,” and thus a safe bet on the AIP or Paleo diets. In fact, the part you eat is actually the seed, and as a seed, it is a no-no.  It’s also been suggested that some people have a hard time digesting quinoa, in the same way that they have trouble with gluten. I reintroduced quinoa after 3 weeks on the elimination diet, not realizing it was not allowed, and it’s worked great for me. But definitely wait to introduce it. Thanks to my cousin over at Shooting Yarn for the clarification!

Finally, I have discovered another lovely source for AIP recipes: Jessica Flanigan’s blog, AIP Lifestyle. Her recipes are less intimidating than some and her writing is lovely. I can personally vouch for the Sweet Potato Casserole, which we had for dinner tonight and which will make a nice accompaniment to my quinoa tomorrow morning.

There are also some naughty-looking but completely compliant dessert recipes. Will get back to you on those.

Thank you all again for your support. What a mad romp this is turning out to be!