Do you have a food allergy, but are tired of avoiding the foods you love? Have you tried different diets but still have persistent symptoms?
Food allergy can be problematic to manage, but with the right diet protocols, that doesn’t need to be the case.
There’s no need for people with a food allergy to miss out on a variety of foods that are nutritious and even fun. Just by knowing which diets to follow, you can start feeling better without having to sacrifice taste.
What is the Autoimmune Protocol Diet?
The Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP) is a dietary protocol used to treat or reduce the symptoms of autoimmune diseases. It is an elimination diet consisting of natural, whole foods that are mostly plant-based and free from additives, toxins, and processed ingredients.
It eliminates common inflammatory and allergenic foods for people with food allergies like wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, peanuts, and other legumes. It also excludes nightshades such as tomatoes and peppers as well as certain vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and broccoli. Instead, it focuses on nutrient-dense foods – especially leafy greens like spinach and kale – along with healthy fats like coconut oil and avocado.
The AIP diet helps to manage inflammation in the body which can reduce symptoms for some people with food allergies. Additionally, it helps detoxify the body to reduce sensitivity to various allergens. It’s important to consult your healthcare provider before beginning any diet protocol as they will be able to provide professional medical advice tailored specifically to your individual needs.
How does it work?
A diet protocol for people with food allergies is an individually-tailored approach to managing food allergies that involves avoidance of certain foods and/or restriction of exposure to particular allergens.
The first step in establishing a diet protocol is getting tested for food allergies or a food allergy diagnosis. An allergist or other healthcare professional will learn about your medical history and then conduct skin prick tests, intradermal skin tests, or blood tests to determine which foods your body is allergic too. Depending on the severity of the reactions, your doctor may advise you to avoid that food entirely, or just limit your intake.
Once the allergenic foods have been identified, the next step is to design an individualized diet plan that restricts those specific items while still providing enough variety and nutrition. This could involve avoiding certain ingredients altogether or introducing substitutes for them as needed. You’ll want to also be mindful of cross-contamination when cooking and eating out as well. Lastly, it’s important to keep track of any changes in symptoms or reactions over time so you can make adjustments if necessary.
The elimination phase
The elimination phase is a very important step in a protocol to manage food allergies. It involves removing certain foods or ingredients from your diet, to see if they are causing the allergic reaction. This process can take several weeks; it’s important to be patient and methodical.
To start, you should determine which foods or ingredients may be causing the allergic reaction and eliminate those from your diet. You should also track any symptoms you experience before, during, and after removing the suspect food. This will help you see patterns or recurrences that will help you identify if this elimination was successful.
As part of the elimination phase, not only should you remove suspect foods from your diet but also look for hidden sources of these allergens in items such as oils, vinegar, flavoring agents, soups and broths, sauces, dressings, and even canned fruits. Also, look for derivatives and cross-contaminants that may be present in pre-packaged products.
These steps will help ensure that unseen sources of allergens are identified and avoid future issues with the ingestion of trigger foods. The elimination phase is crucial for managing food allergies successfully so take care to do it right!
The reintroduction phase
Once you have identified the suspect foods in your diet and removed them, it’s time to move on to the reintroduction phase. This is when you slowly reintroduce the suspected food allergies one at a time to figure out if they are triggers or not.
Before starting, it’s important to note that a person should only be reintroducing one allergen at a time. They should wait for three days in between each reintroduction of the allergen and only do a few allergen introductions per week.
Another point to keep in mind is that reactions can vary from mild to severe and jot down any reactions that occur immediately after consuming an allergen, as well as reactions over the following 24-48 hours. Keeping track of the symptoms experienced with each introduction will provide key information about which allergens should stay eliminated from your diet plan.
The reintroduction phase requires patience, commitment, and diligence- but it will help identify which allergens should stay away and create a short list of trigger foods that one should avoid when creating recipes or eating out!
Does the AIP diet work?
The AIP diet, or Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet, is a special kind of elimination diet designed specifically to address symptoms related to autoimmune diseases. It eliminates all processed and inflammatory food products such as grains, dairy products, legumes, nightshades, eggs, and certain nuts and seeds (which are considered common food allergens) from your diet.
The goal of the AIP Diet is to reduce inflammation in the body and improve overall health by completely cutting out inflammatory foods like dairy, gluten-free grains, processed sugars, and oils. The idea is that these foods cause inflammation in the body which can lead to autoimmune diseases like allergies, psoriasis, and lupus. The AIP diet plans to heal the gut so that the body can better absorb nutrients from food sources.
So does the AIP Diet work? By eliminating inflammatory foods from your diet you can reduce some of your symptoms related to autoimmune issues like skin rashes, fatigue, and digestive problems. However, it’s important to note that every person’s individual needs are different when it comes to diet protocols; what works for one person might not work as well for someone else. So if you’re considering trying out an AIP Diet it’s best to speak with a doctor or nutritionist first about your specific needs.
