Question everything!
Albert Einstein
While many of us started the AIP diet out of a real need to put our diseases in remission, most of us do wonder if this diet is really supported by studies and real science. Questioning everything makes us stronger and empowers us into finding the right solutions to our problems.
And a very legit question to ask ourselves is: Why do I need the AIP Diet? – because in spite of all the AIP positive feedback we see around us in real people, science has evolved so much lately and we all know that real experiments and studies are the ones proving the actual efficiency of a medical action. Here are some questions that I’ve asked myself before starting this diet:
💡 Why should I eat coconut products if I’ve never eaten them before the diet?
💡 Why should I let dairy go when I’ve been eating dairy my whole life and it was only recently that I got diagnosed?
💡 Why should I consume all these weird starches I’ve never eaten before in my life and how do I know they will bring me more benefits than the foods my body was used to?
Well, to answer all of these questions in short, the explanation is quite simple:
The foods allowed in the AIP diet are foods that have been tested by a scientist for anti-inflammatory reactions. The scientist's name is Dr. Loren Cordain and he was the doctor who introduced the Paleo Movement to the world in 2002. Inflammation may seem like a bit of unclear concept at first, however food sensitivities and body reactions are real and they are triggered by this exact reason - inflammation.
In my case, the body reaction has been the triggering of my Graves disease (my immune system attacking my thyroid and eyes). In other cases, the immune system attacks other organs of the body, triggering other autoimmune dysfunctions. So autoimmunity is the result of our body sensitivity to stress, inflammatory foods and other harmful factors – sensitivities that we were not aware of before getting diagnosed.
In my research to find scientific evidence for the AIP diet, I found these resourceful scientific articles that answer the following questions:
Why AIP Diet? – To answer the Why question, I found a comprehensive article from NextGen Medicine, where the author provides the scientific evidence behind the Autoimmune Protocol. The article is very well researched and includes personal experience as well as valuable scientific reference for the gut healing process.
Who discovered AIP? – This question is perhaps the easiest to answer, as the Autoimmune protocol was discovered by the same scientist who introduced the Paleo Movement to the world in 2002 – Dr. Loren Cordain. After testing the reactions of foods on various groups of patients, he came up with the AIP allowed foods list, which are the absolute anti-inflammatory foods that most patients can tolerate. This is how the Elimination Phase was created, through experimenting and studies.
Proof of AIP results? – Now this is the fun part, because I know I trust something when I see real numbers. So the studies conducted with AIP are of real interest for me, and here is what I found. Dr. Gauree G. Konjieti is a Primary doctor at Scripps Clinic in California – Division of Gastroenterology. He conducted this study of testing AIP on 15 patients with autoimmune conditions and noted down all the detailed results in the excerpt. The study is self-evoking and proves the efficiency of the diet if it is held as strictly as possible.
So this is my documented research on the scientific proof showing how the AIP diet was discovered in the first place, how it helped patients throughout time and how the gut healing mechanism works. I will not go into further scientific details in this article, but I invite you to access the links above and read through all the diet science and proof. This will definitely change your opinion on the diet if you’ve been on the skeptical side so far.
I also recommend reading Amy Meyers, the American endocrinologist who followed the Autoimmune Protocol and who also brought her own improvements to the diet, for the condition she was suffering from – Graves Disease.
If there’s one thing I slightly regret, it’s that I don’t have access to functional medicine here in my country. If I had, it would’ve probably been easier for me to make my diet plans under the strict guidance of a functional practitioner. However, research has always been my best friend so, with or without functional medicine, I am so glad I have you to share my AIP experiences with. For me this is more than any functional doctor! 🙂
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below or in our AIP and Paleo Facebook group.
Speedy healing everyone! ❤
Ruxandra's AIP and Paleo Diet 