Exciting Nutrition Research for Autoimmune Disease
Something super exciting happened recently in the real food community that I wanted to be sure you all heard about! It's great news for anyone who believes in or has experienced the healing power of food. There was research done on the efficacy of the autoimmune protocol, also known as the AIP diet, and it was a success! If you don’t know what the AIP diet is, it’s a more modified version of Paleo. Sometimes I work with my clients to start Paleo first, see how they feel and then progress to the Autoimmune Protocol. Not all clients with autoimmunity need to go full AIP, so we modify based on symptoms and progress.
In this study, a total of 15 individuals with autoimmune diseases followed the autoimmune protocol. By week 6, 11 out of 15 of them had achieved clinical remission. They maintained remission throughout the remainder of the study as well. You can read more about the study itself in the link above.
This is only the first of many studies to come, but it's really encouraging to see evidence building around this healing lifestyle. There are thousands of people who suffered for years before discovering AIP and finding relief. The more evidence we have to show that healing diets are working, the sooner we'll hear doctors recommending special diets as a way of healing disease over medicine.
Many of my clients have autoimmune diseases and follow AIP to reduce inflammation and remove common food allergens until their guts heal. It's pretty rare to find a standard medical doctor who has studied nutrition and knows the healing power food can have. Autoimmune diseases are often treated with a variety of medicines that don't bring any relief for some people, don't bring lasting relief for many others, and others still are left with symptoms they can't get relief from. I've seen people start to get results in a matter of days after starting AIP. That's how powerful food can be!
It's all about getting to the root cause of the problem instead of masking the symptoms with medication. This is exactly what we do at Thrive Nutrition. Once we figure out why the autoimmune disease, or any other adverse health condition, has happened in the first place, we can treat the root cause and work to alleviate the symptoms that stem from it.
If you have an autoimmune disease or digestive issues, Thrive Nutrition is here to help. When you schedule your free 30 minute consultation, we can discuss your symptoms and what an approach to healing might look like for you.