As most of you know, the month of January I decided to do an autoimmune protocol, fruit-free whole 30.
I noticed most of the changes starting about a week in. All of these were present in my 2-week update and gained some momentum in the last couple of weeks.
Improvements:
- Better sleep. I was surprised at this one, but I have been averaging an hour more sleep than usual, and it isn’t for an earlier bedtime – I have been falling asleep right away instead of laying in bed awake for an hour or so. I am also the most energetic I have ever been when I wake up. I used to take my medication and then roll over and sleep for another hour – lately I have been getting out of bed and using that time to get work done, which has been great.
- My moods are much more stable and I have less tiredness in the afternoon. I know that this is a direct effect of taking sugar (even if just from fruit!) out of my diet.
- No more snacking. Since I stopped the fruit, my blood sugar is more stable and I am no longer hungry between meals. The sugar cravings were pretty intense for about a week, but then went away for the rest of the month.
- Digestion is improved. Nuts are hard on my system and it has been nice to remember what it is like without them in my diet.
- I generally have felt energetic, happy and in a really good place health-wise. This has been the best month I can remember as far as autoimmune symptoms. Like I said in my 2-week update, I changed medications in December which I am sure has something to do with it, but I know that eating well has had an effect on my autoimmunity.
Things that didn’t improve:
- My acne. A couple of weeks into the month I had the most horrible breakout and I knew it couldn’t be tied to food. I started researching tons about hormonal acne and I am pretty sure that hormone imbalance has to be driving mine – I only get it a couple of days before I ovulate, it happens around my mouth, and is the deep painful cystic kind. This month, it seemed worse than ever, and because my cycle was also off I am guessing it has to do with my body shifting because of the new thyroid medication – I have had the experience of my cycle being off for the first month of starting a new medication or changing doses before.
In conclusion, I am very happy I decided to do a whole 30 for the month of January. It felt like it started too soon after all of the holiday eating, but after about a week I found myself back in a groove, as stable and happy as I can remember. This is why I love doing elimination diets and clean eating trials – you only have to commit to a relatively small amount of time to adhere to a fixed set of rules. After the time is up, you can decide to keep what works and drop what doesn’t. In my case, I know I feel better not eating a lot of fruit, so I am going to try my best to continue. If I do eat some, I am going to try to eat low-sugar fruit like berries and kiwi instead of bananas and pears. I am also going to add nuts back in because I love them more than the digestive upset they cause me, but I will try harder to moderate them as to keep everything working smoothly.
If you were joining me on doing a Whole 30 in January, what were your results?
February 4, 2013 at 7:27 am
I had very similar results. I’ve been AI Paleo for 7 months now. January 1 I decided to Whole100 because I’d been feeling like I was heading toward a flare. Even though I was AI compliant, I eliminated nuts and fruits as well. I discovered that fruits and nuts both have enough sugar to trigger cravings and have me over-eating (even if the foods are all compliant…). And I found out that nuts *definitely* cause inflammation. Additionally since I eat so so so simply (AI Plan approved meats, vegetables and fats), it is now obvious that some/most spices trigger headaches, sinus problems and digestive stuff.
February 4, 2013 at 2:15 pm
Thats awesome! I kind of felt extreme going for no fruit and nuts, but I am glad someone else has had a similar experience. I love being able to get to a perfectly clean slate and then be able to scrutinize everything. Thanks for sharing your experience!
February 4, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Thank you too! Good luck to you!
February 4, 2013 at 8:18 am
I think I need to do another one with additional “beyond AIP” limitations, too. I’m not sure what those would be since I already don’t do fruit but I am definitely missing something — maybe just not eating enough in general, or not addressing my adrenals or sex hormones with supplements/herbs (which has been on my to-do list for months). Whatever your food-related bad habit, Whole 30 is a great way to try to get rid of it. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the new year and recover from the holidays!
February 4, 2013 at 2:17 pm
Christina – the next place I am going is addressing my hormones. I have always felt that there is something going on, but I haven’t been able to figure it out (I don’t have the classic estrogen dominance symptoms and just need to get tested). I just started taking some liver support because I have learned that the inability to detox hormones properly can lead to an imbalance. I’d be curious to know what you end up trying!
February 4, 2013 at 3:56 pm
I know I’m overdue for a test, too. At last count my testosterone was sky-high but everything else was “normal” — I wouldn’t call what I had then estrogen dominance, either. I know the testosterone is still a problem (and always has been; that one comes with pretty obvious symptoms) but that test was almost two years ago. I’ve been drinking spearmint but that hasn’t seemed to help so I’m moving on to nettles (pretty much the only other directly testosterone-lowering trick I can find); I’ve been thinking I might need to add a liver support item, too. I talked to Susan a little bit about herbal teas like milk thistle and dandelion; what are you using?
February 7, 2013 at 6:28 am
hmm that is interesting. I started taking livotrit which is an ayurvedic liver support (I believe it has milk thistle), but I am noticing that it is making my symptoms worse – more acne and night sweats while on my period. I am still going to give it a whole month. I think this is low estrogen (that would make sense that liver support would make it worse), but I need to ask my naturopath to test me. Why are hormones so complicated! Grr.
February 4, 2013 at 10:43 am
Wow, you had great results! Since I stuck to the AIP through the holidays, I didn’t really eliminate anything else this month, but I did add in a few things- more meat/bone broth and fermented veggies. I also started having kombucha and water kefir occasionally. One of these things isn’t agreeing with me though, I’ve been having a lot of skin issues lately. Maybe its the yeast or the histamines (I really hope it isn’t the latter, those seem so hard to avoid). So frustrating when things seem to be getting better, and then suddenly symptoms return with a vengeance! Oh well, I’ll figure it out. Glad to hear your whole 30 went so well
February 4, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Hayley – that is interesting that your skin is upset about the introduction of more ferments. I doubt it is the bone broth! Maybe you have been eating too much? I have heard Chris Kresser say that fermented veggies can definitely be overdone – anyways, just a thought! Let me know what it is when you figure it out…
February 4, 2013 at 4:32 pm
I have the acne around my mouth since going AIP. I was confused why this would start when eliminating foods. It’s easy to see I have greater mood stability and less brain fog when fruit is extremely limited. If I eat more than one piece, I start craving sweets and carbs. I love how I feel with meats, greens and bone broths. I got constipated quickly on AIP and my doctor suggested I was overdoing the probiotics. I was taking a heavy duty probiotic powder, eating my homemade kimchi and kraut and drinking kombucha. As soon as I took the probiotic powder out, it helped. Which I’m happy to save the money and put it toward the FCLO instead!
February 7, 2013 at 6:18 am
Kim – Thanks for sharing your experience, glad to know I am not alone on the acne front. I have heard that cystic acne around the mouth is usually hormonal, which makes sense that diet wouldn’t affect it much unless it is affecting hormone balance. Maybe that is what is going on in your case?
I have also overdone it on the probiotics – in my case I had SIBO, and my probiotic was making it much worse. I also just stick to my fermented foods now
February 5, 2013 at 3:29 pm
Is there a recipe most people follow for making bone broth? I tried to just boil a chicken carcus but it had no flavor, even though I did it on low for several hours.
February 7, 2013 at 6:20 am
I make mine in a pressure cooker with some salt, a bay leaf and a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This article from Balanced Bites is a nice primer on bone broth making
February 7, 2013 at 9:45 pm
thank you for both your replies Mickey.
February 5, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Mickey, have you found that you can tolerate certain nuts better than others? And are you able to eat them if they are soaked and dehydrated? I have just figured out that I can eat a small amount of dehydrated almonds every few days. But I “think” pecans bother me. I used to get horrible stomach aches from even a small amount of nuts previous to this discovery…counting every discovery a success, right?
February 7, 2013 at 6:23 am
Pamela – when I started eating nuts again, I could only tolerate a small amount of almonds that were soaked and then had the skins peeled off of them. I never dehydrated them. Eventually I would have them just soaked, and now I can tolerate them raw. I react very badly to cashews but not pecans or walnuts. I think everybody is different, and you have to keep trying things! Good luck