The Diet I Said I Would Never Do Again

If you’re a long-time reader, you know that I struggled with ulcerative colitis for many years. If you’d like to read my story, you can check it out here, but the short of it is that I tried all sorts of diet and lifestyle changes with not one ounce of improvement in my symptoms – if anything, they just got worse and worse (probably because I was so darn stressed and obsessed with my illness). Included in those changes was a 4-month stint on the Autoimmune Paleo Diet. It was insanely restrictive, so, not surprisingly, for some who loves food, it made me pretty miserable. And, on top of that, I never got one bit better, so I vowed never to do the AIP diet again. (At the end of month 4 on the diet, I actually got pregnant and my immune system regulated itself, so I stopped the insansity.)

After reading that, I’m sure you’re wondering why now? Why the heck would I put myself though all of that misery again? Well, it’s pretty simple: I’m still a sick person, and I don’t want to be. Sure, Enytvio is doing a great job keeping me in remission (*knock on wood*), but by the time I get to the week right before my next infusion, things get a little wonky on the GI front. They’re not terrible by any means, but they’re a constant reminder that I need Entyvio to stay well, which, obviously, I know is a blessing, but also frustrating to think about at times.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

A few months ago, Kristin from Thrive by Food reach out to me about working together. We had a couple of phone calls and we realized we had quite a lot in common. She struggled with ulcerative colitis for many years to the point where certain drugs stopped working for her and surgery was her next option. She ultimately healed herself through food and lifestyle changes, and her approach was different from what I’ve done in the past with other practitioners, so I’m beyond excited for the opportunity to work with her. Kristin and I just started working together, so I’ll be sure to share updates about my progress over the next several months. But, so far, we’ve done some testing and created a protocol, so I’ll go more in depth about that all of that soon. The short story though is that I have some SERIOUS inflammation going on (I’m talking to my GI doctor about it on Thursday), and we found a parasite in my gut. Interesting, right? It’s hard to know if it caused the UC or is making it worse OR the UC made me more susceptible to getting a parasite, buttttttt we’re working to get rid of it over the next 4 months. I’m rambling, but I’ll share more once I make sense of everything.

I’m still waiting to receive some supplements in the mail to officially start the protocol, but I already started the AIP diet with (oh, yes) my LEAP food sensitivities in mind. I know that sounds insane, BUT I feel like I’m in a much better headspace now. When I first tried AIP, I was so sick and desperate to be better, my mental state made everything worse. Now that I’m in remission (*knock on wood*), it’s a good time to give it another whirl. Also, now that I have my LEAP results, I realize there were a number of foods that I frequently consumed during my first AIP trial that probably made my situation worse. Hopefully, avoiding them this time around will give me better results. Plus, I finally realize that not one single diet is going to make me better. I really need to figure it out for myself, so I’m combining the two and creating my own diet… and NOT stressing about it, which is definitely key!

More updates to come!

Question of the Day

Have you ever tried the AIP diet? If so, any advice, resources, favorite recipes to share? 

 

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