AIP Diet...

About a month ago, I finally started using Reddit. Now, I know Reddit has been around for quite some time and I've even had a profile for a little over a year, but I never really knew how to participate in the Reddit community until recently. [Attribute that to it being super low on my priority list and my getting older, I suppose] Once I discovered how to subscribe to subreddits and interact in those communities, I started looking for more subreddits to join! [I started off with joining the r/90DayFiance/ page...that show is one of my guilty pleasures] Shortly after, I found and joined the subreddit for the r/Hidradenitis/ community.

So, hidradenitis suppurativa [HS, for short] is the illness that I've been alluding to in my last two posts. It's a chronic, not contagious, auto-immune disorder that causes sufferers to develop skin lesions as a result of inflammation. It's a hidden disease, meaning that most non-sufferers don't even know about it! [We hide it pretty well!] Because it's not well known and very commonly misunderstood, a lot of us just don't talk about it. Not even with our physicians. Hidradenitis is going to be one of the main, recurring topics of my blog, so I will revisit it in depth in another post. 

So! I mention all of that just to get bring you all up to speed with my decision to start the AIP diet. 

While browsing through the HS subreddit, I realized that I was finally connecting with other sufferers and able to get information on how they handle daily life with the illness. Diet was a topic that kept popping up when redditors were talking about how they attempt to manage symptoms and flare-ups. As with anything, there is mixed feedback on how efficient dietary changes are when it comes to HS management, but I've reached a point where I am almost desperate to try anything to get some relief!

So, using knowledge I've gained from other HS sufferers, I've decided that the Autoimmune Protocol Diet [AIP] has one of the best track records for controlling HS symptoms. It's basically a modified version of the Paleo diet...lots of meat and veggies, no processed foods, no grains, no dairy. But the AIP diet is even more restrictive: no nightshades [tomato and eggplant], no eggs, and several sauces and seasonings are also excluded.

Basically, I'm going to die.

Okay, probably not. But still!! I'm definitely not looking forward to having to ditch practically everything that I'm accustomed to eating. And woe to my family who is going to have to endure me giving up my Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi!

Thankfully, the list of allowed foods is fairly long. Almost as long as the list of what's not allowed!

Dreading this diet as I am, I am trying to keep focused on the benefits of such a dietary overhaul...I was telling my husband that I can't even remember what it's like to have days where my HS flares aren't some degree of painful...so maybe, just maybe, the AIP diet will be the key to changing that! And I might just be okay with giving up carbs for more 'normal' skin!

I plan on chronicling my journey into the world of AIP dieting on my blog. Feel free to follow me as I ditch all of my culinary comforts and strive towards beating back HS!

Edit: I forgot to add my start date! I plan on starting my journey to wellness on January 7, 2019! I didn't start earlier because of the upcoming holidays...no one wants to suffer through a Thanksgiving just days after giving up carbs!