Day "I don't know": Accepting Defeat

Okay, so I have no idea what day today would have been in my AIP diet…maybe like day 55 or something…who knows? I lost count and frankly, I don’t care. It’s not to say that I didn’t like AIP, but I found much of it hard to incorporate into my everyday life. So I’m choosing the parts of it I liked and not looking back.

The Auto-Immune Protocol is a very strict diet with very little room for error. This is your body and the food you put into it matters. But...when you have zero will power, those Friday morning bagels in the office are so tempting. Before you know it, you’re slathering on cream cheese and telling yourself it’s okay.

I knew that AIP wouldn’t be a forever thing and when I first started I had really high hopes for how much it could help me, until it really wasn’t helping me any. My Rheumatoid Arthritis is mild, I have days where my hands feel stiff and I’m completely exhausted, but I’ve worked through it pretty well. The amount of energy and time I was devoting to my diet was just making me more stressed and more tired. That doesn’t mean I didn’t learn a few things along the way...

What I learned:

1) Dairy isn’t really THAT great

I was once someone who wouldn’t drink my morning coffee without a splash of milk and all of my food had some form of cheese on it. When I started AIP, I got dairy out cold-turkey. It wasn’t all that hard to give up. I’ve reintroduced cheese and the occasional splash of milk, but my in take is limited or I try to use a AIP milk alternative, like coconut milk.

2) Breakfast is king

For almost a year I ate eggs for breakfast. Two eggs with a side of toast. You know what that resulted in??!! Me being hungry two hours later. I’ve found a lot of great breakfast dishes on AIP and I still plan to use them. My absolute favorite is sweet potato, red cabbage and ground turkey. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to throw out the conventional idea of breakfast and embrace non-traditional breakfasts. I feel fuller longer and definitely maintain energy better.

3) Pasta and bread aren’t required eating

Most of my meals prior to AIP consisted of some kind of pasta or bread, maybe even both. Like dairy, I quit cold-turkey and I quickly realized I didn’t miss it. I missed chocolate more, that’s why I brought it back real quick. I have severely limited my gluten intake and plan on keeping things that way. I’ve found that my energy is better if I haven’t eaten gluten.

4) Know yourself and your limits

The biggest issue I had with AIP is the limitations. I love to cook and bake and suddenly, I felt restricted and couldn’t do something I loved so much. Being in the kitchen is sort of like my therapy and self-care. I can get lost in a recipe, decorating a cake, and being focused on something that isn’t my day to day life. I probably could have embraced AIP and discovered new recipes, but I stopped being inspired and that was truly when I lost any desire for commitment.

5) It’s not a failure

I failed when it came to AIP and I have read about so many people doing so well on it. I’m lucky that my autoimmune disease isn’t so bad that I can’t eat a “normal American diet”. I learned a lot through the process and have definitely gained tools moving forward in the event my RA does get worse. But we have to learn from our failures.

Now it’s back to my regular blogging, which I have seriously neglected…