The AIP Diet : What is it and what foods should you eat and avoid?
The AIP diet is a protocol designed for those with autoimmune disease to lower inflammation and nourish the body! But what can you eat? How do you manage it?
What is the AIP Diet or Autoimmune Protocol Diet?
The AIP diet stands for Autoimmune Protocol, and it’s designed for those with autoimmune disease to reduce inflammation to allow their bodies the opportunity to heal. It removes inflammatory foods, gut irritants, and immune stimulants for a minimum of 30 days. After the elimination period, foods are reintroduced one by one to see if the body has healed and can tolerate them again.
Many continue to follow an AIP template even after their autoimmune symptoms have reduced. This can be a preventative measure to stop symptoms from flaring again, or it may just be that you feel better eating more of an AIP template.
Regardless of how long you follow it, AIP is meant to be a short-term healing solution and not a long-term way of life.
What can you eat on the AIP diet?
- All animal proteins (excluding eggs)
- All vegetables (excluding nightshades)
- Fruits in moderation
- Healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, animal fats, etc.)
- Bone broth, organ meats
- Grain-free baking flours (cassava, tigernut, tapioca, coconut, etc.)
Find a more extensive AIP food list with PDF downloads here!
What food do you avoid on the AIP diet?
- All grains (wheat, oats, rice, corn, etc.)
- All dairy (all dairy of all types)
- All legumes (all beans such as lentils, black beans, chickpeas, and vegetables like green beans as well as peanuts)
- Nightshade vegetables and spices (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, all peppers, red spices)
- All nuts and seeds
- Seed based spices (mustard, cumin, sesame, etc.)
- Eggs
- Soy
- Thickeners, gums, and food additives
- Poor quality seed oils (sunflower oil, canola oil, soybean oil, etc.)
Click To Download This AIP Diet Wallet Sized Cheat Sheet!
What should you eat for breakfast on the AIP diet?
You don’t need eggs and grain for a hearty breakfast! Here are some ideas…
What can you eat for lunch and dinner?
The possibilities for how you can combine protein, vegetables, and fats are endless, but here are some of my favorite recipes…
“What if I don’t have issues with “x” food?”
There’s a common misconception that if you don’t have a noticeable reaction to a certain, you don’t have to avoid it. However, that’s not always the case. All too often our body can be so inflamed that we don’t even notice reactions to certain foods.
For example, I ate tomatoes pretty much every day of my life for over 20 years. It got to the point where I didn’t even feel a reaction because I was constantly in a reactive state. Once I eliminated the food from my diet and added it back in, I was able to calm down the inflammation to where I could see a reaction.
Giving your body the time to heal and taking a break from the foods listed here can be incredibly eye-opening. There may be some foods on this list that you never really have any long term issues with, but giving the elimination diet at least 30 days to gauge your reaction is necessary for understanding what you can and cannot tolerate.
How long do you follow the AIP diet
No, you do not have to follow it forever! The point of the autoimmune protocol is to allow your body time to heal and then reintroduce foods one by one.
I know it’s confusing to see bloggers like myself who seem to follow the autoimmune protocol permanently, but we don’t. Though many bloggers serve the AIP community, the majority of them have reintroduced foods. I myself still follow and AIP template, but have reintroduced foods like rice, almonds, coffee, chocolate, and more.
Many follow the AIP diet for 30 days to a few months before they start reintroducing foods.
How do AIP food reintroductions work?
When you’re trying to gauge your reaction to foods, adding them all back in at once is the opposite of what you want to do. You want to go slowly, and mindfully to avoid overloading your body, and to allow yourself the time to see a reaction.
Here is the step by step process for reintroducing foods…
- Follow the protocol for a minimum of 30 days, until you get to a point where you’ve noticed a significant amount of healing.
- Start with the level 1 reintroduction schedule.
- Eat the food in isolation (don’t do multiple new foods at once) and wait 3 days to gauge a reaction.
- Track your reactions with a food journal. You’re looking for things like headaches, mood swings, skin changes, fatigue, bloating, etc.
- Add foods that work to your rotation, and table the foods that don’t work.
- Repeat the process.
So what does the AIP reintroduction schedule look like? Here is a brief outline of how the levels of reintroduction are phased… Click to Download the PDF
For more resources on reintroductions, check out this e-book and this blog post
How do you know you’re healing and are ready for reintroductions?
This answer varies for everyone. Here are the two ways that I would gauge whether or not you’re healing…
- A change in your labs/blood work.
- A noticeable reduction in your symptoms.
The details of that are different for everyone and need to be addressed on an individual basis. Talk to your own doctor or practitioner about what healing may look like for you personally.
Does the AIP diet really work?
Everyone is different. Many with autoimmune disease find success with an AIP diet, while others do not. There’s no way to guarantee that this approach will work for you, but here are some stories of encouragement of those who healed with the AIP diet..
I know what you may be thinking… “Stories are all anecdotal. Where’s the science?” I’ve got you covered! There was a recent medical study on the autoimmune protocol diet that you’ll find here. The results are astounding and encouraging!
When it comes to living well with autoimmunity, what else should you consider other than diet alone?
Healing is about so much more than just diet alone. Here are some other factors to consider…
- Stress reduction
- Sleep
- Home and body care products
- Movement
- Community Support
- Underlying infections
- Working with a doctor (check out this post)
… just to name a few!
AIP Diet & Lifestyle Resources
The list of AIP resources is growing by the day! This community is vibrant and flourishing, and there are so many amazing blogs, books, and influencers to follow. Here are just some of my favorite resources…
Books-
Blogs-
- UnboundWellness.com… AKA me… hiiiiii!
- ThePaleoMom.com
- PhoenixHelix.com
- AutoimmuneWellness.com
- GrazedandEnthused.com
- ASquirrelinthekitchen.com
- …and many more!
AIP Diet Plan
Where do you start? First is more research and some soul searching. Making sure that this is the right step for you right here, and right now. Just because this isn’t a good fit today doesn’t mean that there aren’t elements that you can take and start applying until you’re ready for the next step down the line.
The resources above are all amazing next steps for more research as is my e-book, the 30 Day Autoimmune Protocol Makeover which lays out a 30 day guide to the AIP diet complete with lifestyle plans, meal plans, shopping lists, recipes, and more! You can check it out here!
Regardless of where you choose to go after reading this, I hope it was helpful in answering some questions and guiding you towards your next steps.
Is lyme disease an autoimmune disease, and will the AIP diet help?
Yes
No, Lyme disease is NOT an autoimmune disease it is an infection caused by a spirochete. Though I have not doubt that a low inflammatory diet could benefit.
I have started the AIP, it’s been 12 days, it’s going well, I’m in the groove of cooking and prepping and no longer have the desire to snack on chips at night. When will I start to notice a change in my fatigue? I have no Known allergies to foods. I have Hashimoto’s. My main issue is debilitating fatigue. I used to enjoy running, Crossfit competitions, and tennis and it takes too much out of me. It’s all I can do to manage to get to my part time job and home again.
It’s hard to say, as everyone is so different and there could be a lot of factors. I would for sure look into working with someone one on one to really assess other factors.
Does AIP work to resolve gut issues? I haven’t been diagnosed with any specific issues, but I have been having severe bloating and upper abdominal pain for a few weeks now. My gastroenterologist is going to be doing an ultrasound and another procedure to check for gastroparesis (sp?), but in the meantime, I am trying to eat the best diet I can to reduce bloating and inflammation.
AIP can potentially help for sure. It’s designed to cut out inflammatory foods, and for me, it really helps with gut issues.
I have recently been diagnosed with Hashimotos. I never had any symptoms and was diagnosed after labs drawn. Except maybe fatigue- which could be hard to distinguish as I am a mom of 3 who works nights. I have been eating AIP for 6 weeks and am starting to reintroduce foods. Since I don’t have symptoms, I am wondering how I will know if I am reacting to these foods. Also, do you find some people can tolerate all of these foods?
Removing the foods and reintroducing them will help you realize whether or not you tolerate them. 🙂
I see many of your recipes use ingredients from different re-introduction levels of the AIP diet. For example, some of your recipes use almond flour. Given I am allergic to almonds, how can I quickly access recipes that are truly AIP? Thanks!
95%+ of the recipes on my blog are AIP and list the AIP swaps if applicable. The recipe will say in the title if it’s AIP 🙂 I’m working on getting my website redesigned this summer that will allow for more sorting in the future.
Very informative! Thank you for your hard work, its greatly appreciated.
I’ve been struggling with an undiagnosed AI issue and am hoping the protocol will help with my inflammation.
Frank
So glad it was helpful, Frank 🙂
Ive heard that you can only eat at specific times of day as well as following the food guidelines. Is this correct? I have yet to find that in writing that I trust. Thanks for being a great source
There are a lot of diets that are this way, but AIP doesn’t follow a structure like this.
Hi! Thanks for the information! This helps a lot as I am trying to reintroduce food again:) I have a question though, about liquorice. I thought it was a seedbased spice and reintroduced it as such, but recently i heard that liquorice is actually a legume. If so, does it classify as a legume with edible pods which can be reintroduced early on or should i wait until reintroducing lentils and bean way long in the future? I have tried googling this but came up with nothing.. Kind regards, Ebba
My understanding is that licorice is an immune stimulant so it can be tricky to reintroduce for some.
Are there other protein sources (except animal/fish) for vegetarians to eat on this diet? Chia Seeds ok for the aminos?
Hi, Alia. AIP is really very compatible with a vegetarian diet.
When would someone incorporate low-carb to AIP diet? Is there benefits to low-carb if not trying to lose weight?
I would work 1:1 with a practitioner to make sure you’re still getting everything you need 🙂
I have Hashimoto’s and I will be starting this diet. Will my children be ok having these meals with all the exclusions or should I make sure I add things to their diet that I cab’t have (EX: BEANS, TOMATOES, ETC)
I would talk to your pediatrician to get their thoughts on your children’s diet specifically.
Are there any scientific studies that support this program? I would really like to read them.
There are! Here’s one for IBD and for Hashimoto’s 🙂
Hi! I really enjoy reading your information and recipes and was curious if you might be able to help me. My daughter has seborrheic dermatitis and has struggled for sometime with it. We are looking at the AIP diet to see if this will help. So, my question is: she is allergic to eggs and feathers and believes that even eating poultry with the skin off bothers her as well. What should I substitute for chicken? She eats fish and beef, however, she stays away from pork as she believes that bothers her too.
Thank you for any help you can give!
~ Angela
Hi Angela, Sorry to hear what our daughter is going through! Unfortunately, I cannot legally or ethically answer health related questions. I highly recommend seeking out a functional medicine doctor to address this one on one.
When reintroducing foods do you eat 1 food for 3 days and look for reactions within those days or eat 1 food once and then wait 3 days and look for reactions? Hope that makes sense:)
I always follow it as eat it on day 1 and then wait, but others will do it the other way
My mother in law has fibromyalgia and scleroderma…..I’m telling her about this website. Just hope she will try it