AIP Paleo — results?

tiptoppy

Has anyone been through the first 30 days of AIP Paleo? I’ve been hearing a lot recently about the importance of gut health and going through this 30-day eating program is supposed to help heal the gut. Can anyone comment on the effectiveness? Also roughly how far into the 30 days do you start noticing a difference in the way you feel or look?

kommodevaran

What's wrong with your gut, and how will you know that your gut has healed? There are easier and more effective methods to lose weight, and if you're sick, you should talk to your doctor and get proper treatment.

Unknown

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Hamsibian

I'm on AIP. Do you have an autoimmune disease? That's who it's meant for.

PaulaWallaDingDong

AIP-anything is supposed to help manage a disease. You can try cutting out foods to see if it helps clear certain symptoms, but that doesn't mean it's healing your gut.

sillyrichie

Agree with everything here. I'm only in the "considering AIP" stages because I have a few diagnosed autoimmune disorders that are flaring up, and I have had difficulties with certain foods in the past. I would probably recommend simply opting for a plan of clean eating (fruits/veggies/lean proteins/clean fats like olive oil or avocado/nuts and seeds and legumes, and reduced dairy but still eating SOME dairy because yogurt is delicious). Truthfully, that may still be the route I take too - AIP is a big step with real consequences. Researching even a little bit has revealed that some people have even had to remove more foods than the protocol requires after a full cycle of AIP because their bodies simply won't tolerate any other foods after a certain point.

If you want to do paleo or any other diet plan, do paleo or any other diet plan - but AIP restricts foods and nutrients that you probably don't need to. Also, given the evidence I've read about regarding problems with food reintroduction after the AIP cycle is done, I seriously wouldn't do it if I didn't need to and could avoid it at all. Paleo and other eating plans offer benefits to appearance and weight that can help you a lot!

shaumom

kommodevaran wrote: »

if you're sick, you should talk to your doctor and get proper treatment.

While I support the idea of this, unfortunately for many folks with gut issues, it doesn't do a lot of good. Mostly because medical knowledge of gut issues is a weird combination of advanced and low level, depending on what topic area. And when it comes to foods and/or gut health, it's on the low level end of the scale

I mean, we are still researching what gut bacteria DOES, and what many auto-immune disorders do, or even what they are. We are only now starting to realize just how much importance not only gut bacteria has, but how much importance each STRAIN has...and we don't even know what most of the strains do, or how they interact with our bodies as a whole, yet. But we're starting to get clues, and they are the type that just show you how little we know, after all.

So for many folks who have gut issues, many of our doctors are of use only to the extent of eliminating the possibility of certain known conditions or diseases (sometimes), and after that, we're pretty much on our own in terms of figuring out what can help.


I don't say this to try and be nasty about it or anything, but just to point out that, while recommending seeing one's doctor is not a bad idea, I think it's good to remember that they are not, hmm, all-knowing, I suppose is the way to say it. They don't always have the proper treatment, or know what you have, more often than one might think. Which is sometimes why folks ask in places like this, you know?

shaumom

tiptoppy wrote: »

H I’ve been hearing a lot recently about the importance of gut health and going through this 30-day eating program is supposed to help heal the gut. Can anyone comment on the effectiveness? Also roughly how far into the 30 days do you start noticing a difference in the way you feel or look?

First, as to how effective this is for gut health - to my knowledge there have been no studies of any kind on this, so no one is going to be able to tell you definitively, you know? And I don't think we know enough about gut health, period, to be able to say that this would help or not, frankly.

However, here's a few things I could say.

Research has shown that the gut bacteria strains in your body 'eat' different things, so will change a little, in type and numbers, if you change foods, as it changes what's available to them. So if you change what food you eat, you'll alter your gut bacteria a bit.

Eating less processed foods and refined carbs, plus more veggies, seems to change gut bacteria in what researchers think is a positive direction. AS the AIP diet changes to this type of diet, it could potentially do this.

Eating lower carb seems to lower inflammatory markers somewhat, which could be good if you have inflammation in the gut. AIP diet is a low carb diet, as I recall.

There has been one small study showing that wheat does seem to cause a slight rise in inflammatory response, and that this did have an impact on RA and MS symptoms. Speculation was that it might have impact on other auto-immune symptoms, but those haven't been studied. AIP has no wheat, so that could have an impact due to that, if you have anything with inflammation involved.

Allergies (and possibly intolerances) are on the rise. Doctors do not typically send you to get tested for food allergies unless they are severe enough to cause hives and rashes, except low level allergies can cause inflammation, gut problems, and congestion. The AIP diet has few of the 8 major allergens, and avoids nightshades as well (another food group with higher incidences of reactions), and you have to cook everything from scratch which avoids a lot of fillers and extraneous added ingredients, so you have a better chance of avoiding, or noticing, any low level allergies you could potentially have that haven't been diagnosed, if any.

So for these reasons, it can be helpful.

On the negative side, you want to be really careful to make sure you get the nutrients that are usually added to wheat, because you won't be getting them any more, and you want to be careful about vitamin E, because the AIP eliminates some of the major sources of them (like nuts).

And of course it takes a lot of time to cook, and it'll be hard.


That said, I ended up having to go on an elimination diet, for medical reasons, that had me on a diet like this, only a little more strict. It was hard and frustrating. And I felt better than I have in my entire life, once I got it figured out so I got enough calories.

For me, I turned out to have, among other things, very many low level allergic reactions or intolerances that this diet helped me with, as well as an auto-immune disorder. I have spoken to others who have had similar results, for similar reasons. Many, if not most, had no idea that certain foods actually make them feel bad. Some had stomach issues for years, and now they don't, all from simply changing their diet.

One other thing we all have in common, though, is that I don't personally know anyone who STAYS on the entire diet. More, they try the diet, and then they slowly add in foods, and if a food starts to cause trouble (and they try it for a couple weeks, in large amounts, to be sure), then they keep it off. So most folks I know end up continuing to eliminate some of the foods, and bringing some back in, if that makes sense?

IMHO, if you don't mind the work, and you don't have other serious health issues you need to pay attention to that diet will impact, it is absolutely worth trying out. Because seriously, what did you lose? Some time, and a month worth of eating completely differently. What did you gain? Maybe nothing except appreciation for what some folks have to go through who have medically restricted diets. But you might also gain better health. No way to know until you try, especially because we don't even have TESTS for many food intolerances, and food allergy prick tests are not as accurate for allergies that don't cause hives and rashes (at least according to my allergist, they aren't). So an elimination diet can be very helpful, and is unlikely to be harmful, so why not, you know?

Wishing you good luck.

tiptoppy

Thanks for this thoughtful response. It’s very insightful!