Charting the Course to Wellness: Embracing the Autoimmune Protocol with Dr. Damaris Maria Grossman

Unlock the secrets to a life free of chronic pain, severe eczema, and persistent rashes with the guidance of Damiris Maria Grossman on the Mindfully Integrative show. Navigating the treacherous waters of the Standard American Diet, we carve out a path to a nutrient-dense lifestyle, embracing the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) to bring about a profound change in your body's inflammatory response. This episode is your ticket to understanding how saying goodbye to grains, processed foods, and nightshades for just one month can set the stage for a health revolution. It's not just about removing what harms us; it's about filling our plates with what heals us, especially for those facing the daily battles of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease.

As we sail beyond the four-week mark, we chart the course of reintroducing foods like chickpeas and nuts, key players in nurturing a healthy gut and microbiome. Think of it as a paleo journey with a twist, where listening to your body becomes your north star. Discover the art of mindful eating, where each bite is an act of self-care, steering clear of discomfort and fostering natural portion control. With Damiris at the helm, we venture into a maintenance phase that's not just about food, but a holistic lifestyle complemented by movement therapy and the embrace of a supportive community. It's time to prioritize your health and well-being, and we're here to show you how.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:54

So today I'm talking about anti-inflammatory foods and is there a protocol and how does that work? Hi, how are you? This is Damiris Maria Grossman and I am Mindfully Integrative show and Mindfully Integrative office and just here online. So if you ever have any questions or just have some resources that you are looking for, reach out and we'll be glad to reach to you at mindfullyintegrativecom or at Tamiris at Mindfully Integrative.

Speaker 1: 1:21

So today's discussion is on anti-inflammatory protocol and how is that utilized for patients and what exactly is that so? Initially, for patients everyone in some manner I would want them to be on some sort of modified nutritional diet, meaning I want them to think about what they're putting into their body and what they've done prior has actually caused them some sort of inflammatory infection or what have you metabolic health issues or what have you metabolic health issues, and most patients would benefit from a modification of what they have put into their diet. So when I go more on the not necessarily extreme spectrum, but when someone has severe eczema, has severe rashes, or has severe pain or an illness and their immune system has been attacking itself, then they would benefit from a high anti-inflammatory protocol. So what does that entail? So that entails that you will be getting rid of the sad diet. So the sad American diet, the standard American diet. You're going to be getting rid of a lot of highly processed foods. So foods are processed, but highly processed foods, like the excess cheeses, the excess, like bulked potato chips and Doritos and fast foods and Doritos and fast foods, things that are more high omega-6, seed oils, corn, soybean. This anti-inflammatory is a lot stricter. So we call it an AIP protocol because initially you're going to do it for about four weeks. It's a little bit more advanced than an elimination but has similar components In this aspect.

Speaker 1: 3:21

You're going to be avoiding highly processed foods. As I said, you're going to do more processed, avoiding the grain feed in animals. You're going to be avoiding grains and carbs, refined sugars, sodas, alcohol, any foods that may be a sensitivity that you may know of prior and highly processed seed foods, seed oils, and that could mean anything from any sort of trans fats, corn oil, canola oil, anything of that range. Initially this is done for, like I said, for about four weeks Now. This protocol is not for everyone, but it's a very good indicator to start when your immune system has already been tacking itself and it needs to be modulated. We call it modulation, instead of just suppressing it with medication, modulation or balancing it. And you do that with food.

Speaker 1: 4:26

Food is medicine, you know. You do that by relieving the stressors in your life, work on your lifestyle management. But really when you work on this type of um, when you are in this chronic state and your body is really, really stressed and has a significant amount of inflammatory triggers, you would benefit from an autoimmune protocol. I just had it on for literally my husband and a good colleague that had severe arthritic problems and you know it does help a lot in the psoriatic arthritis. It helps a lot in rheumatoatic arthritis. It helps a lot in rheumatoid arthritis, celiac patients, type 1 diabetes. I mean it all kind of comes together in underlying metabolic health issues.

Speaker 1: 5:12

But in this scenario there are certain foods in our country and in wherever you are living that are really just processed and if you don't look what's in the ingredients, you really don't know. Every single piece of food that you consume has some sort of preservative or byproduct or natural something. It doesn't mean everything is bad, it's just that some things may trigger your body's inflammatory process and especially when you have a severe inflammatory or autoimmune response, it would benefit you for at least a four-week period to lower this. So in that retrospect it helps also heal your gut. It helps with dysbiosis and digestive health and in the long run the body is then, you know, eliminating things.

Speaker 1: 6:13

So it's a little bit more advanced than an elimination, because an elimination I do allow certain nightshades, tomatoes and onions and things, and in an AIP you're only allowed onions and garlic, but sometimes even that needs to be eliminated. So in the first phase it's literally four weeks. I do that also elimination in four weeks for patients. So those that are doing AIP protocol are going for elimination. They will be looking at what additives are in their diet. They're also looking at what's going on in, how much hydration, how much stress they have. So in that it will help.

Speaker 1: 6:53

So you're going to again be eliminating grains, beans, nightshade vegetables, which is tomatoes. Anything in the nightshades are considered also inflammatory. So it's tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, golden berries. Okay, initially. That doesn't mean this is forever. So I know that's hard for some dairy products, unless it has a probiotic nature, like a kefir or a high-dose probiotic in a yogurt, refined sugars, eggs, nuts, seeds, alcohol and coffee. Any sort of anti-inflammatory NSAID medication that can mess up the stomach. You're going to be replacing rice with cauliflower. You're going to be using honey in replace of sugar, if you are going to, or maple syrup, and that's what you're going to be using Now in this time.

Speaker 1: 7:51

It may seem a little taxing, but there's so many things you actually can consume and how many things that you can eat, and a lot of great soups can be made and broths. You can have, of course, cruciferous vegetables. You can have green leafy beans, berries. Tons of fruits are on completely cartilage branch. You can have as many cartilage branch, or is that I say I'm saying incorrectly, but basically you can have as many of that. You can have as many fruits like apples and cherries and grapes and limes and lemons. Now you can have brown rice. You can have some barley, but we recommend in the beginning, the first four weeks, to have no grains Now legumes, no legumes at all in this first section, because it has caused a lot of inflammatory process for some and you wouldn't start introducing things until the fifth week when your body is starting to be healing and you want to only introduce one kind of group at a time.

Speaker 1: 8:57

So if it's going to be nuts, then you do, maybe walnuts If you're going to do tomatoes and you just do tomatoes. So then that is introduced a little bit at a time. We do recommend a lot of fermented foods, like fermented yogurt, fermented like kind of sauerkraut or kimchi, and then some kombuchas. Those are also allowed. And tea-wise you can do a lot of herbal teas. All herbal teas are in Black tea, not recommended in coffee because of the caffeine. And then most recipes in this time frame.

Speaker 1: 9:39

For breakfast you can use instead of oatmeal you can use tiger nut. I will send in some links of options for AIP protocol in the show notes of what I recommend for autoimmune protocol options. So obviously all fruits, no nuts. But you can do. For breads you can use tiger nut or you can have a cassava flour and make that up. You can also use tiger nut for oatmeal.

Speaker 1: 10:06

At some point you can use chickpeas in like the fifth week and you can reintroduce nuts or legumes if that is comfortable for you. And like I said, this is only for patients that we find have been severe psoriasis, severe autoimmune problems. Response that they've been in so much pain that they really would benefit Now and then from there, then you know you would reintroduce slowly foods and then find out what works for you. Consider it more on like a paleo, more really, take away all the breads, meat, and you're doing veggies. So that's kind of that protocol. Overall it is doable.

Speaker 1: 10:47

And then on that fifth week you're going to be reintroducing things slowly and helping heal that gut and your microbiome and you know, portion by portion, don't overdo it. And then in the next third phase of the equation is you're going to maintenance. You're going to put yourself on a maintenance amounts of food and you'll notice for yourself you're going to want to eat less. You're going to avoid those things that used to cause you triggers and you know you're not going to want to feel sick and tired and exhausted and have rashes and headaches and what have you. The list goes on of the things that food can cause for individuals in addition to the stressors that they have in life. So during these times I would recommend, you know, like walking, getting some sort of movement therapy into your life and just kind of just putting a mindset of this is where my mindful life and mindful eating is going to be. If you have any questions, reach out to us at any time and we'd be glad to help. Have a wonderful day.