By now you know my story…I was on hormonal birth control for five years to keep my endometriosis in check after a laparoscopic excision. Then I decided that going au natural was more my style, so I stopped taking birth control and began relying on diet, supplements, and lifestyle changes to manage my symptoms instead.
After seeing a functional nutritionist, we decided together that my best strategy was to combat inflammation in any and all ways possible. Insert the Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) diet.
The AIP diet is a protocol that removes all foods that people are commonly sensitive to in order to decrease underlying gut inflammation. These are eliminated for a certain period of time to promote gut microbial balance, then slowly reintroduced as you watch for signs and symptoms of foods that are inflammatory to you specifically. This includes bloating, rash, diarrhea, and an upset stomach.
I went AIP for 30 days.
No nuts or seeds (this includes coffee…gasp!), beans, grains, dairy, eggs, or nightshades. No processed foods or sweeteners, and I personally took this a step further and eliminated honey and syrup as well.
What could I have? Quality meat, fruit, and veggies, ALL THINGS FERMENTED (I drank kombucha on a regular), and a few oils and fats.
If you want a more complete list of the “yes” and “no” foods, this was my favorite resource with a comprehensive and easy-to-understand list. And don’t forget Pinterest, because you can find EVERYTHING on Pinterest.
Let me toot my horn here for a second and say that I did pretty darn well. I had one day where I had a nibble of cheese while hosting a baby shower…because #priorities…but it really wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be! While I did lose a little weight, that really was not the goal. My ultimate findings were that I was less bloated, not as tired after eating, and my poops were way more regular (remember…no TMI here!).
At 30 days, I started reintroducing foods. You pick a new food every three days and then wait to see how your body reacts. Coffee, eggs, and cashews were the first three I tried. You can’t add in multi-ingredient things right away (like cookies), because if your body responds negatively, you won’t know if it’s the sugar, flour, or eggs giving you the problems. Make sense?
I found out that bread products (specifically wheat and gluten) were my no-go foods.
Do I still eat these things? Sure! Pizza night is a bi-monthly event in the Davis house and you know your girl will never turn down the homemade stuff when it’s fresh out of the oven. But I’ve found a way to make healthier versions of the things I love most, and I probably only break my wheat/gluten boycott a few times a month.
Now let me tell you…I’m someone who needs variety. I can’t eat chicken and broccoli every day for dinner. If you are this person, then AIP would be no problem for you! I personally cook about four times a week and my meals range from salads to grilling to pasta to thai in a seven day span. The good news is that there are so many amazing resources online for recipe ideas, and scouring the web for the best basically became my second job.
I discovered some amazing recipes that had me asking “are you sure I can have this?!”, and they are still in my monthly meal rotation to this day. So, I had to share them with you!
BREAKFAST
Unless you want to drink a smoothie every morning (which I practically do now, ironically), breakfast is HARD! Eggs…nope. All pancake/waffle/french toast options…nope. And trust me on this one, I tried at least 5 different AIP friendly pancake recipes and they were all flops.
But all the angels sang when I discovered spaghetti squash oatmeal.
Seriously, this one totally exceeded my expectations, especially since I was fully prepared to throw the whole pan away. The base is made with spaghetti squash, bananas, coconuts, and dates, and I added in apples and cinnamon with the perfect ratio that even Quaker can’t compete with!
It’s warm and filling and the texture is so close to regular oatmeal that you’ll question if this is actually better than the real thing. 10/10 in my book and this is still my go-to on weekend mornings.
SALAD
So salads are definitely a staple during AIP, but grilled chicken over greens with limited dressing options only goes so far. Then I found ginger meatballs with asian citrus slaw and my dinner (and lunch the next day) game was elevated to a whole new level.
I love meatballs and these are maybe (and magically) the most flavorful I have ever had. Pair them with the fresh and zesty dressing over crunchy cabbage and you’ve got yourself a winner. The only thing I did different was omit the peppers and sesame seeds from the slaw due to AIP restrictions. But let me tell you…still amazing!
We still have these at least once a month and you know they’re easy when you can throw them together on a week night after work. I made these my first week on AIP and it’s after I took a bite of THIS that I thought…holy $#%& this is good! I can totally do this!
SOUP
In the fall and winter I challenge myself to make soup one night a week, and it’s my goal to never repeat a soup. Well…I broke that rule with this coconut chicken soup because 1. the hubs asked for it again, and 2. if making this soup twice is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.
Despite the minimal (and healthy) ingredient list, this soup packs all the feel-good flavor that you crave on a chilly night. It’s salty but sweet but hearty and I literally had to tell Bob to put the soup in the fridge so I wouldn’t pour myself another bowl.
Did I want a buttered roll with it? You bet I did!! But it was easy to forget with how seriously good this soup is. Honestly, we’ve made it again even in the warmer months and it’s just as amazing as I remember it.
TACOS
Yes, tacos are their own food group in my opinion. And while meat with veggies on top seems simple enough, it’s the seasoning that truly makes tacos amazing, in my opinion. Remember…on AIP there are a lot of herbs and spices you can’t have, and taco seasoning is basically a beautiful mixture of all the “no-no” ones.
I’ll be honest; this taco seasoning mix is NOT an exact replica of the MSG filled packets you buy at the grocery store. So if that’s what you’re looking for, this one may not be for you. But if you like the smokiness of turmeric and you want it to dance in your mouth with your meat of choice topped with avocados and olives, then sister…make this and never look back on the packaged stuff again!!
SNACK
Raise your hand if you could be happy snacking through every meal for the rest of your life! I’m an appetizer fanatic. Want to have a girl’s night at a tapas joint? I’m your gal! When I was on AIP I knew that I needed to have something that I could pull out of the fridge and munch on between meals.
This salmon dip was the perfect go-to and was super easy to make. I ate mine with cucumber slices, or at times with just my fingers #sorrynotsorry. I also brought this to any get-togethers that I attended while on AIP because I knew I had something I could count on to be good for me AND that others would enjoy as well.
And that is pretty much how I successfully survived the AIP protocol.
I found that eating out was nearly impossible while on AIP, but the money we saved from not going to restaurants made me feel better about splurging on fancier ingredients and higher quality meat. It was also a lot of fun to try so many new recipes and be creative in the kitchen.
For anyone considering trying AIP, I could not recommend it enough. I learned so much about my body and my food tolerances in a month’s time and now what I choose to put in my mouth is based on more than calories or if it’s going to make me gain weight.
If you’d like even more insight into what I ate while on AIP, you can see all the recipes I tried and liked on Pinterest here. The ones that didn’t work? Well…they’ve been deleted because nobody has time for that.
