Best Foods For Autoimmune Diseases

We just talked about the best diet for autoimmune disease, which I think is a fresh, healthy, natural diet. Avoid junk. Let’s look now at some specific foods. I’ve got an interesting sheet here from the AIP, the autoimmune… is that AIP? Autoimmune Paleo diet. So some of the points I really like in it, some of the points I don’t like in it. I’ll talk more about this as well. So as I mentioned, the primary meats, I feel, would be free range. I think fatty fish is one of my favorites for autoimmune people, but a lot of people don’t like that kind of stuff like sardines. That’s why they need to take usually between 2000 to 3000 milligrams of fish oil capsules per day, which is a smart move if you got autoimmunity.

But fish, eggs, lamb, free range chicken. These are all good proteins. I put red meat right on the back burner. It’s not a good one for autoimmunity at all. I used to have red meat in the diet. Vegetables, but I can’t work out why they have this known nightshade thing. They keep beating this no nightshade drum. Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes. They say, no, no, no. It’s almost like they’ve just completely eliminated this whole category of vegetables. I just can’t buy it, people. I’ve worked too many people I’ve worked with over the years who thrive on tomatoes and nightshades, even autoimmune patients. So I’m not going to draw down a line and say no nightshade because you’ve got this condition. To me, that’s just a dumb thing to say. Some people may or may not do well with nightshades, but I don’t believe it’s the majority at all. All right?

Sweet potatoes, fantastic food for all autoimmunity. Why? Because they’ve got some of the best fibers in and for building really good levels of bifidobacteria and beneficial bacteria. So I like sweet potatoes and I think that they’re a welcome addition to the diet. Now remember, sweet potatoes are not a potato. Okay? They’re a different kind of family altogether, all right? Fruits, the berries. The pinnacle fruits are the berries. Of course, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, black currents are very good and red currents. Excellent fruits. And of course avocados are fruits that I think are really good to eat one per day. If you can eat one per day.

Don’t forget also the vegetables, the brassica vegetables. Okay? So some of my favorites to recommend would be broccoli, kale, cauliflower, collards, all of these are fantastic vegetables to eat for autoimmunity. Because they aid in liver detoxification. Particularly good for females. I used to eat a lot more brassicas because they allow the body also to break down more hormones and assist in that excretion of toxic bile. So bitter foods are great for autoimmunity. Grapefruits, maybe some olives, the brassicas, lemons, foods like that. Coconut products for some people are really good. Others make them sick of when they just don’t like them, they feel queasy or sick on them. Particularly relevant if you’ve got a yeast problem, because of the high amounts of the caprylic acid and capric acid in the coconut. So yeah, coconut is a good one to add in there.

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Now the fermented food. Just be careful because in my experience, many people when they start on fermented foods can get really sick and need an adjustment period. They don’t just jump into eating everyday kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt. You don’t do that. Some people eat all those three every day. It’s way too much. Start with something small, like a bit of yogurt, and then gradually build up from there. All right? Watch your bowel motions and your gut comfort when you start a fermented food. That will be a good indicator for you too. But don’t do too many things at once like this all at once. To me that’s like saying, well, why are you doing CrossFit plus weights plus you’re going, you’re doing this, you’re doing five different sports all at the one time. You don’t do that. You do one thing. So it’s the same of these fermented foods. Don’t do three all in the one day. It’s overwhelming for the gut, all right?

They’re saying honey or maple syrup and the AIP to be used in small quantities. I find honey, now that I’ve got more experience with recommending honey because I’m a bee keeper, I found honey in most cases to be perfectly acceptable for the wide range in gut conditions (specially bee pollen) without affecting the person. Honey’s not a normal type of sugar. So many people can experience good digestive comfort and immune boosting from having honey. But people tend to freak out and say, “Well, my candida is going to get worse.” But try a little bit of honey in your diet. It works quite well.

Green teas. Of course, bone broth. I mean, everyone beats the bone broth drum to death now. I mean, people like me who have bone broth since you were babies, we never saw it as a fad back then. It was a normal part of our diet. But now everyone talks about it. So chicken soup or chicken broth. If you’re watching this in the States, now it’s winter time, so now’s a good time to get casserole pot out and have those nice cooked meals.

Vinegars they talk about here as well, and I like vinegars in the diet. We eat lots of balsamic vinegar. Now eight different types of vinegars. Apple cider vinegar from Braggs I find quite nice. So yeah, there you have it. When you’ve got autoimmune disease, you want to always focus on fresh foods. So if you’ve got a diagnosed condition, I can’t highly recommend enough that you grow some of your own foods. Like I really want to motivate people to get into this culture of at least growing some tomatoes and lettuce, some green stuff at home. You’ll really notice a difference in your health and you will enjoy eating to a much higher degree. So there you have it. Try and keep away from takeaway places. Peter’s no good. Stick with fresh stuff.