Week 6 on the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP): What to eat with an autoimmune disease! {What I ate}

I can't believe this starts my 6th week on the Autoimmune Protocol diet. It has been quite the learning curve and there have been times that I've felt like I was completely starting over with learning how to cook. Which in many ways, I guess I am. Because there are so many new ingredients involved in switching to AIP cooking, learning how to use them to their fullest potential has a bit of a learning curve. However, this is good news for you, because I've got 4 tips for you to make the switch easier when learning what to eat with an autoimmune disease.

After 5 weeks on the AIP, I've got 4 tips for you if you are getting ready to start! 

1. Don’t change your rhythm. If you are a batch cooker, keep batch cooking. If you are a spur of the moment cook, fly by the seat of your pants. Just don't try to change your rhythm. I tried to adjust my cooking scheduling initially and it felt all wrong and made it more difficult than necessary to adjust.
2. Look at your existing recipes and make easy changes. I've found more success enjoying meals by using recipes I have and making slight changes than trying a bunch of new recipes. Over the last 5 weeks, I've kept less than 1/3 of the recipes I've tried. Those aren't great odds. But by simply adapting my own recipes my success rate has gone up to 90%.
3. Check and double check ingredients. There is not much more frustrating than spending all of that money on AIP foods only to realize after you've ordered something online that it has things in it  you can't have. Or even worse, that you bought something that you thought was safe to eat, ate it for weeks, and then realized you have been eating something causing inflammation!
4. Buy in small quantities initially. If AIP is introducing you to a completely new food, buy it in a small quantity to be sure you really like it. Don't get me started on the salmon bars or the sushi wraps or the seaweed. I'm going to have those in my pantry for many weeks to come and not know quite what to do with them because no one of the 6 of us cares for them!

I hope sharing these lessons I've learned provides you with the support you need to get going with your own AIP journey! And now, what I ate on this 5th week on AIP.

Day 36

How I am feeling: I'm so tired today, but I woke up just after 6:30am and just couldn’t fall back to sleep. I was gassy and bloated in the evening. I did weightlifting today.

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 36:

Breakfast:

Berries and Cream Coconut “Oatmeal” from Nourish: The Paleo Healing Cookbook 

Lunch: 

Hearty Steak soup (my recipe, coming soon)

2 zucchini muffins (my recipe, coming soon)

Mango Coconut Gummies from The Healing Kitchen

Dinner:

Coconut Shrimp from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook 

Vegetable Fried “Rice” from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook

Strawberries

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for pink pumpkins and warty pumpkins and white pumpkins, too!

Day 37 

How I am feeling: I finally got some sleep last night, but I'm still very tired this morning. In the evening, my throat was burning. I was gassy and had bloating again in the evening. My exercise today was cardio (I chose a dance video from PopSugar).

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 37:

Breakfast:

Fall Harvest Hash from Sonara in Bold

Lunch:

Leftover Coconut Shrimp from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook 

Plum

LoveBird Cereal

Snack:

EPIC Bison Bar

Freeze Dried peaches

Dinner:

Mushroom Salsbury steak (my recipe, see below)

Mashed white sweet potatoes-peel 5 potatoes and chop. Add them to boiling water. Bring to low boil for about 8 minutes or until fork tender. Mash with about 1/2 cup bone broth, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon salt.

Mixed salad greens topped with raspberries

Greens

Mushroom Salsbury Steak

¼ cup arrowroot starch

15oz bone broth

8oz mushrooms

1  tablespoon AIP Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon basil

½ large onion, diced thin

½ teaspoon salt

2 lbs grass-fed, grass finished ground beef

Combine ground beef, salt, basil and onion. Shape into 6 patties. On medium, fry on one side until browned, and flip over.

Combine broth, AIP Worcestershire sauce, mushrroms, and arrowroot starch. Pour over burgers.

Cover and continue cooking 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

Serve over White Sweet Potato Mash.

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. We spent the better part of the day visiting a pumpkin patch and corn maze. We took a lunch and spent time running around having fun! Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for corn mazes to get lost in and grasshoppers almost as long as my hand!

Day 38

How I am feeling: I slept pretty well. I have faint pains here and there, but nothing sharp. Had some red blotches on my face pop up. Today is rest day for exercise.

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 38:

Breakfast:

Zucchini Raisin Muffins (my recipe, coming soon)

Coconut Milk and Protein Powder

Lunch: 

Creamy Zucchini-Basil Soup from The Autoimmune Solution

Zucchini Raisin Muffin

Leftover Salisbury Steak (my recipe above)

Mango Coconut Gummies from The Healing Kitchen

Snack

Love Bird Cereal

Raisins

Dinner:

Ultimate AIP BBQ Ribs 

Roasted Cauliflower -Drizzled with avocado oil, sprinkled with salt, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor. Baked 400 for 20 minutes.

Roast Butternut Squash (my recipe)

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. Took a sweat bath in Epsom salt, aluminum free baking soda, and my herbal bath mix. Completed my weekly self-care routine: dry brush, ayate cloth body exfoliation, charcoal face mask, pumice foot soak and scrub, and body moisturizing with oils and body butter (using all non-toxic or low-tox products). Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for the burst of 70 degree days we are having.

Day 39

How I am feeling:  I didn’t fall asleep until around 4:00am. I'm having some right wrist and thumb pain. Not as much bloating and gas. I did yoga (another minimal practice with Yoga with Kassandra).

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 39:

Breakfast:

Butternut Squash Breakfast Sausage from Real Food with Dana

Raspberries

Pink Lemonade Aloe Vera drink

Lunch: 

Leftover ribs

Garlic and Thyme Crackers from The Healing Kitchen

Raisins

Snack:

LoveBird Cereal

“Chocolate” Orange Truffles from Thriving on Paleo

Taste of AIP Carob Chips from Create Delicious (added ½ tsp cinnamon)

Dinner:

BBQ Burger Salad (used leftover BBQ sauce recipe from ribs)

Bacon-Herb Biscuit from The Healing Kitchen

White sweet potato fries

Okra

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. We sat around the fire. Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for quiet birthdays at home.

Day 40

How I am feeling:  I slept in this morning and woke feeling pretty well. I was a little tight in my right shoulder. Today was weightlifting.

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 40:

Breakfast:

Tigernut Waffles from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook

Raisins

Lunch: 

Anti-inflammatory Meatballs from The Healing Kitchen

2 Ingredient Chocolate Sauce from Our Sweetly Spiced Life

Pineapple

Apple

Grapes 

Raspberries

Dessert:

Cookie dough (my recipe, still working on making it great)

Dinner:

Leftover Pork

BBQ Sauce

White Sweet Potato Fries

Broccoli

Mixed Greens salad with dried apricot

Dessert

“Chocolate” Orange Truffles from Thriving on Paleo

Cookie dough (my recipe, still working on making it great)

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. We visited in the evening with friends. Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for bonfires and hay bales.

Day 41

How I am feeling:  Feeling okay. I’ve noticed I’m just mildly achy in my joints at times. Today is dance cardio.

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 41:

Breakfast:

LoveBird Cereal with freeze-dried strawberries and paleo protein

Lunch:

Roasted Veggie soup (just a bone broth with roasted veggies thrown in)

Pineapple

“Chocolate” Orange Truffles from Thriving on Paleo

Cookie ball (my recipe, I'm working on this one)

Mango Coconut Gummies from The Healing Kitchen

Dinner:

Rosemary and Prosciutto Stromboli with Sweet Marinara Sauce from The Healing Kitchen

Spaghetti Squash

Mixed green salad with Ranch Dressing from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook

Dessert:

Coconut with 2 Ingredient Chocolate Sauce from Our Sweetly Spiced Life on top

Hot chocolate (my recipe, coming soon)

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for a quiet day at home and a recipe that looked like it flopped turning out yummy.

Day 42

How I am feeling:  I slept well last night, I'm having no trouble falling to sleep or staying asleep now. I have so much energy today. My right thumb is hurting still and the lymph node behind my right ear is slightly swollen. I'm having some sinus draining after breakfast. And I felt a little queasy to my stomach before lunch. Later in the day my wrists were hurting and my left thumb has started. Today was yoga.

What I ate on AIP elimination phase day 42:

Breakfast:

Very Berry Smoothie from The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook

Lunch: 

Leftover Pork Loin with BBQ Sauce 

Mixed Green salad with blackberries and grapes

Coconut Mango Gummies from Nourish: The Paleo Healing Cookbook 

“Chocolate” Orange Truffles from Thriving on Paleo

Snack:

That’s It Bar Mango & Apple

Dinner:

Hamburger Stew from The Healing Kitchen

Dessert:

Lemon Bar-Crust from The Autoimmune Solution and Lemon filling from Unbound Wellness

Creating Balance: I made the bed and opened the curtains. Relaxation practice.

Gratitude: Today, I’m thankful for the sunset.

At the end of this sixth week:

I have lots of energy. I've been running all around from when I get up until bedtime with no trouble. I’ve got the zoommies as my kids would say.

A few food discoveries I've made over the last several weeks. I'm not a fan of plantain in breads or baked goods. It completely overpowers it for me. I'm only using banana when whatever I'm making is supposed to be banana flavored for the same reason. Wild Planet is the only canned salmon I will purchase. Dealing with the bones and fish bits in other canned salmon is just too much for me. And I'm not a fan of seaweed or sushi wraps!

Have you switched to AIP? What tips do you have for us?

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is not to offer medical advice. I am not in the medical field. My purpose is to share what decisions I’ve made in an attempt to improve my health and try to put my autoimmune disease into remission. Remember everyone’s body reacts differently to foods and supplements and you have to make the decisions that are best for you. Consult a trusted practitioner for medical advice. Our resource page details the books, articles, journals, and websites we've researched to put together our autoimmune articles. You can access our Autoimmune Research Resources by clicking.  

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