Review: Reintroducing Foods On The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol

When I heard about Eileen Laird's eBook Reintroducing Foods On The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, A Step-By-Step Guide With Recipes my first thought was that I would have really needed this book a couple of months ago. Then I read it and I know now for sure I would have needed it.

See, I started the autoimmune paleo diet without finishing my research, like I do with most things. I studied very carefully everything I could eat and what I couldn't eat but I didn't give much thought to the life after the original elimination period. It seemed very far in the future and I thought I will just wing it. It took me a long time to combine all the info from different sources (Eileen Laird's website Phoenix Helix was one of them!) to get started with the diet and I guess I was too overwhelmed by all of it. Also, all this information wasn't then to be found in one place. This eBook is great because it will also summarize the foods you eliminate and then go to the most important part - reintroduction.

The elimination period is important because it will kind of reset your body and by then introducing things one by one back you can see what triggers your body. So rushing things will work against the whole purpose you went on the diet.

This guide makes you understand that reintroducing is good to be done slowly, one by one, and in a certain order. I had no idea about this order thing so I introduced back wine first (not good according to this manual) and white rice so I could eat sushi. Oh well. But my body was actually fine with those and I haven't really introduced back much else as I haven't felt I am ready. Or even the need to, I like this diet and I am scared to start introducing too many things back. Oh, I did try a sip of coffee the first thing after the 30 day elimination period when my husband came back from his coffee roasting class. It didn't go well at all so I gave up coffee. Oh, and I have snatched a few pieces of chocolate from the kids too... Oops. But the point is that it is good to introduce foods that are least likely to trigger a reaction first and tricky foods last and give enough time in between. I introduced chocolate, coffee, rice and wine all in the same time I think... I did the mistake #1 Eileen Laird lists on page 13. I rushed. I was impatient. Don't do as I did and get this guide to do things properly. Read it before you start the diet so you are prepared. On the 30 day elimination diet you are busy learning to cook AIP foods.

This reintroduction guide will tell you exactly how to do the reintroductions. I know now. Thanks Eileen! I think I will after the summer vacation take a step back and go again on the strictest version of the diet for a few weeks, no occassional white rice or wine, and start over with all my new knowledge.

The book has also delicious looking recipes for when you are ready to introduce foods back so it makes it pretty easy. They made me miss night shades so much! I haven't eaten peppers or tomatoes in years.

The best part of the book maybe was after all that it is so supportive. Reading Eileen's story and her encouraging comments throughout the book made me feel like I am on the right path. The support of the AIP community has been huge help. I do feel good with my modified diet too but I would like the information my body would tell me if I actually took time to do this properly, now I have the tools. Thanks for providing us all this information, in the book and also on your website, Phoenix Helix, Eileen!

If you want to buy this book, you can do so from here.

Do We Need Substitutions for Foods We Gave Up?

I have considered this question at two very different times of my life. First when I became vegetarian at the age of sixteen and now as an adult when I have been on a gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free and then grain free journey that some describe with the word "paleo".

Zucchini noodles taste good but they taste
 nothing like wheat pasta. They are probably better.
But do they have to be in the noodle shape?

When I became vegetarian I cooked vegetarian versions of common meat foods, came up with clever replacements for the meat in recipes and used soy based meat substitutions. I enjoyed tricking my dinner guests, especially the ones who were suspicious about vegetarian diet.

After a few years I realized that I can just come up with vegetarian foods that are delicious on their own and not because I have managed to mimic the meat with some vegetarian source. That was a great and relieving realization. It took away the great burden that the vegetarian diet would be just a shadow of the diet containing meat.

Then our family discovered food allergies and I have gone through a similar path. I gave up vegetarianism as meat became the only protein source we could tolerate. I have cooked gluten free and dairy free versions of common grain and dairy foods, I have come up with clever replacements for the grains and dairy in recipes and bought gluten free processed crackers and pastas. I have enjoyed tricking people to think the grain free and vegan cupcake is the "real thing".

I have tried to make gluten free breads, pizza crusts and cakes that would taste just like the ones made of wheat. Frostings, puddings and pancakes without eggs, dairy and wheat or corn. Sometimes they turn out good, sometimes they are disappointing because they are not like the favorite food from our past. Sometimes they turn better and still they taste different.

I see it everywhere - people post recipes of paleo muffins, paleo cupcakes, paleo pancakes, 100 ways to replace the junk food you miss with healthier foods replicating them, nomato sauce, the perfect grain free hamburger bun, pizza crusts made of cauliflower. 

We are obsessing over coming up with recipes to replicate the foods we miss. Do we really miss them so badly? Or do we just think we miss them? Are they just foods that represent the cultural norms of our days? There are probably some people on this planet who do not eat pizza, hamburgers or cupcakes and are perfectly happy. Do we just want to blend in even though we chose a path different from others by eating the same foods as they? Why do we miss food we call "junk food" so much we try to replicate it with other ingredients? Why do we put it on a pedestal above healthier real foods?

Why not glorify organic fresh vegetables instead of junk food?
This food is the food that really makes you feel good.

Doesn't the effort we use in trying to find and make the replicates for breads and cakes give those products we have chosen not to eat an unnecessary glorification? Why not just eat real food that makes us feel good? Why not come up with recipes that just taste good even though they don't remind us of our old comfort foods? They were comfort foods probably because they were feeding the bad bacteria and we were addicted to them. The grain free and sugar free version is not going to ever make us feel the same. In the long run it will make us feel better!

I think the pretty limited autoimmune paleo diet helped me debunk the glory of the junk food replacements. I felt so good on just real foods not trying to replicate anything. Like soup. I have come to a point on my path where I don't care about the substitution recipes so much anymore (they have even started to irritate me a little bit, I am in the black and white phase of this and will soon move to the grey area and become more accepting ;)). I mean ok, I admit that the plantain pancakes are good (I had two this morning with maple syrup) and the raw chocolate pudding made with avocado. And I put coconut milk in my tea because it reminds me of the cow milk I used to put in my tea. But those foods taste delicious just because of their own ingredients, not because of the nostalgic memory of the foods they replicate. They are special treats I don't eat every day.

I think making the nomato sauce was the turning point. It didn't even taste like tomato sauce and I went through so much trouble making it. I even realized that I didn't like even the real tomato sauce that much anyway. It gave me heart burn for heaven's sake. Why am I trying to imitate it with a sauce made of beets and carrots? Sure, if the sauce would taste delicious. But it was just ok. I am not going to make the beet and carrot sauce with meat balls again unless the kids request it. 

Finnish cabbage soup is comfort food for me.

I am ok eating foods that are good on their own like traditional Finnish cabbage soup made with homemade broth. THAT is a comfort food for me. I will still probably make plantain pancakes and dairy free ice cream because they taste good. I might even make the 3 ingredient strawberry shake I have threatened to make this weekend to show that I can make a just as good if not better strawberry milkshake without the 59 ingredients in the industrial one (is one of them at least strawberry?). But I am stopping my desperate search for the perfect grain free and sugar free junk food substitutions here and just enjoy food that tastes good and makes me feel good. I think it is a good message for our kids too. Glorifying the junk food is not. I feel like this is a

What to Eat on Autoimmune Paleo? How to combine it with low-FODMAP diet?

There are many lists and directions online for what to eat and what not to eat on paleo or autoimmune paleo diet. It is quite a jungle when trying to figure out what to eat and what not to eat! Take a deep breath, it is just food after all and listen to your body. There is no one diet. We are all different. But I have been trying to figure out the Autoimmune paleo diet (AIP) last few weeks so I thought I'd share some resources. I also made a chart what to eat if also FODMAP's bother you. read on to find out more.

AIP is a stricter elimination diet where you eliminate a lot of possible gut irritants for 30 days and then slowly introduce foods back to see if any of them triggers something. New food should be eaten for three days before introducing a new one. It might sometimes be a good idea to wait even longer in between new foods. Especially if it causes a reaction I would withdraw the food again and wait a week or two before introducing something new to get the other stuff out of your system.

There is already so much information online that I am not going to research it and write it down all over again. But I will tell you where to look. Here are some sources of information, food lists, shopping lists and meal plans and ideas.

If you are not quite ready for AIP yet, try first paleo diet that allows more foods than AIP. If you are not ready for paleo diet, try going partially paleo. Switch some foods to paleo friendly foods. Or start with one paleo meal a week. Or "paleo" because can we really eat in modern days like the people in paleolithic era did? Or is it even necessary? That is another blog post but just wanted to make a point that we shouldn't get too hung up on the word. Paleo for me means eating one ingredient real foods that make you feel good. It can vary a little from person to person. But there are some general guidelines that work out for most people.

Here is what to eat on paleo diet:

What to eat on paleo diet?
The Ultimate Paleo Diet Food List

An excellent place to start learning about the autoimmune paleo protocol (Phoenix Helix, a blogger who is healing her rheumatoid arthritis with AIP):
What is autoimmune protocol?

Article from Paleospirit: "What is the autoimmune paleo protocol?"

Lots of information about autoimmune protocol by Paleomom

A great detailed grocery list for Paleo AIP by Phoenix Helix 

A wonderfully clear shopping list for autoimmune paleo. I will print several copies of this.

Autoimmune Paleo Print Out Guides

Meal ideas (by me)

All autoimmune paleo labeled posts with recipes on this blog.

And what about FODMAPs? What are they?

FODMAP means "fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols". They are carbohydrates and sugar alcohols found in grains, beans, some vegetables and fruit (check full list of FODMAP's here). They don't absorb well and feed gut bacteria that start fermenting them and this can cause bloating, stomach pain, gas, diarrhea, constipation or both and other gastro-intestinal symptoms.

What has this to do with the paleo diet? When we remove grains from our diet we often increase the amount of vegetables and fruit. Instead of feeling better on our brand new diet that was supposed to heal us, we get more stomach issues. The FODMAPs, that some vegetables and fruits are higher in, could be the bad guys!

But there is a solution. A low-FODMAP diet. You don't have to leave all vegetables and fruit, just some of them. But there will be plenty left to eat. And it can be combined to the autoimmune paleo diet!

It sounded like too much to me first. But after getting comfortable with the autoimmune paleo diet and noticing that on days I overdid FODMAPs my stomach hurt in the evening, I decided to try this.

It seems overwhelming first if you are just mourning after the foods you'll leave on autoimmune paleo or paleo diet, I know. My suggestion is not to do it all at once. Baby steps. Baby steps.

I couldn't find a list of foods that would take into consideration both AIP and low-FODMAP diet so I made one! I looked at many lists and they all had a little bit different views about what is ok and what is not so listen to your body too. Keep a food diary if you still have symptoms.

More information about FODMAP's by Chris Kresser

A list of foods to eat and avoid if you follow both Autoimmune paleo and low-FODMAP diets.

Surviving Day 6 on Autoimmune Paleo Diet Experiment

Today despite of feeling still good in my body I am feeling tired and desperate. Planning meals, grocery lists is tiresome! Lunches for kids, snacks for the go, dinners for slow cookers for days you won't be home until dinner time. Phew! But I think the planning is still the key. And cooking lots of food ahead of time so that there is always leftovers or something to eat when you get hungry. If you make a wrap in collard greens for breakfast as we did today - make another as you have the stuff out for lunch and put it in the fridge. My tips for myself and anyone else starting this or any paleo diet are:

1. Plan several days ahead before you start the diet.
2. Keep planning ahead as you proceed so that you can keep one step ahead.
3. Cook big batches so that you always have leftovers.
4. Buy a lot of food at once so you don't have to run to the store and the Farmers market constantly.
5. Get enough rest.
6. Get others in your household to help. Do not try to do it all by yourself.
7. Don't stress, it is just food. You'll be fine. It doesn't have to be perfect.

As a side note: Just to see I have eliminated garlic and onions now as well (and asparagus as it is in their family) as asparagus has showed up in my IgG food allergy test.  I feel the sweet potatoes don't agree with me so well so I will eliminate those as well. And since we now are eliminating I might try eliminating coconut for a while and tea to see how I feel. I have always been curious about it. And on the days I have had a lot of coconut my stomach has felt weird. It could be just too much fructose. But one thing at a time!

Apple crumb

Apples, apples and apples. We love apples. I got some from a friend's tree (thanks Christina!) and from our weekly Farm Fresh to You organic produce box and although we eat a lot of apples, I have had to get to work to use all these delicious apples. I have been baking apple cupcakes, making apple sauce and today I made apple crumb. The recipe is inspired by a recipe from The Allergen Free Bakers Handbook by Cybele Pascal but I made some slight changes.

Fruit filling:
5 apples, peeled, cored and cut in small pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup maple/agave/coconut or similar syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp tapioca or potato starch

Crumb topping:
3/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch/potato starch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (optional, was in the original recipe)
1 cup quinoa flakes (I had the flour out first accidentally if it confuses you in the photo)
3/4 cup coconut crystals (or brown sugar)
1 cup palm shortening
1 tsp vanilla sugar or powder
some alternative milk or juice if it is too dry

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix the fruit filling and pour it in a greased 8 x 8 inch pan. Mix the crumb topping and crumble it over the fruit. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling up around the sides and the top is golden. let rest a while before serving (difficult, I know!).

The end result was really yummy but slightly dry so I poured some thick vanilla hemp milk on it and it tasted a lot like vanilla sauce. Delicious.

Coconut vanilla pancakes

Coconut pancakes/crepes
Dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, soy free, corn free

2 cups coconut flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp corn free and gluten free baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp flax seed meal/ground chia seeds
3 cups hemp milk or coconut milk
1-2 cups water until the consistency is right (more water/try sparkling water for crepes like pancakes)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sunflower oil for frying

For variations: sprinkle blueberries, dried pineapple pieces or chocolate chips on the pancake right after pouring the batter in the pan.

Fry on low to medium heat until golden brown. I used a Scandinavian pancake pan to make little pancakes (bought one from Amazon). They were a little hard to get to stay together so next time I will maybe add a little more starch instead of so much coconut flour.

Pancakes were eaten before I managed to get a photo. The reviews from the eaters: Best pancakes ever! I served them with agave nectar and fresh raspberries.

This is a good cooking project to get your little ones to help.

A new way of thinking. And baking (blueberry coconut cakes).

So last year we found out my son is sensitive to gluten. Then to dairy. And soy. And some other foods. Then I had another baby and went on elimination diet because he seemed to react through my breast milk to a lot of foods. This is the way I found out that many of those foods weren't good for me either (or my husband). We also did a gene test to my son and found out he has got two genes related to gluten sensitivity, one from each parent. So our family is now gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free and mostly egg free (little experiments done with my son) and my husband might not completely follow my program ;). I am also trying to be grain free since I noticed that the last grain in my diet, rice, doesn't make me feel that good in large quantities either. My diet starts to resemble paleo diet!

I have had to learn a whole new way of cooking and baking. And thinking. I guess at first I thought of our new diet as limiting. But then I noticed that actually it opened a whole new world for me. I have tried so many different recipes, ways to prepare food and bake and new foods even that i would have never maybe tried if I had continued on our old diet. I have also been eating healthier than ever. And felt healthier. I realized that our new diet is not limiting but vice versa. It makes us feel better! I will start sharing my experiences on this journey with the food sensitivities (or allergies if you wish) here too I hope.

Today I made these little blueberry cakes. I baked them in the toaster oven in little cute Finnish Arabia baking dishes. They are ceramic. Four of them fit in the toaster oven perfectly. You could also use four muffin cups. I have been contemplating on buying those muffin cups made of silicone? Any experiences or thoughts about them anyone? Are they safe? No toxins leaching out?


Blueberry coconut cake
gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, soy free, no refined sugars

1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 flour potato starch
1/2 tbsp Ener-G egg replacer
1/2 tsp flax seed
1 tsp gluten and corn free baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
1/3 cup pineapple juice (or any other light unsweetened fruit juice)
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Mix dry ingredients together and add the rest. Mix, pour into ceramic little dishes or muffin cups and bake at 350 Fahrenheit (175 C) for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.