Jaime Hartman (00:07):
Welcome to the AIP Summit Podcast, your go-to resource for taking control of your autoimmune health, presented by AIP Certified Coaches. Hi, I'm Jaime Hartman.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:18):
And I'm Marie-Noelle Marquis. And we are here to equip you with the tools knowledge and support you need to effectively use the autoimmune protocol.
Jaime Hartman (00:25):
And today we are answering more of the common questions that we hear as AIP Certified Coaches.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:37):
All right, before we get started, we just want to make sure listeners know that this is the third Q and a style episode that we've recorded for you. And we are jumping in today with the assumption that listeners already have knowledge about what AIP is and who we are. But if you are new to AIP or you need a refresher, we would suggest that you pause now and go back to listen to episode one, the ABCs of AIP, and then you might want to listen to episode six and 14, either before or after listening to this one as those are the previous Q and A episodes,
Jaime Hartman (01:10):
And I'll be sure to put links to those in the show notes so they're easy to find. Also, if you don't know who Marie-Noelle and I are yet, you might also want to go back and listen to episodes four and five to hear our stories. And I'll also put links to those in the show notes as well as links to our profiles on the AIP Certified Coach directory and to our individual business websites. Now, let's get started with those questions. Marie-Noelle, would you read the first one on our list?
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:38):
Absolutely. I started the AIP elimination and I found out I also have histamine issues. Now the list of what I can eat is so restricted. Do you have any advice on navigating AIP combined with histamine intolerance?
Jaime Hartman (01:53):
I'm going to answer this with the assumption that the person who's asking it and anybody else who's listening knows what histamine intolerance already is. We could spend some time talking about the causes of it, but I think we're going to just go forward assuming that they're asking this question. They know this already. So if you have been diagnosed with histamine intolerance by a doctor or from some other practitioner, you'll probably get a list of foods to avoid. And then you combine these two lists and it's like what is left? So what you really want to be zeroing in as on what you can still have, which really are fresh foods, foods that are you're cooking fresh. And then if you just think also most, not all, but mostly whole foods are still going to be available to you. So you'll still be able to eat meat, you'll still be able to eat a lot of vegetables and a lot of fruit.
(02:41):
There's a lot of things that are still available to you. But the key is going to be that you're going to be cooking things mostly from scratch. You really can't rely on leftovers. If you have some histamine issues, you could perhaps batch cook and then freeze the extra portions because that does help minimize that histamine buildup. But the leftovers get to be a big problem. And then the biggest area of concern for histamine is going to come from fermented foods and also from long cooked bone broth that will really have a buildup of histamine. And those are things that we always recommend on AIP. So somebody who's got a histamine intolerance issue is going to need to focus on or is going to need to just ignore that part of the recommendations they'll hear for people in general from AIP. So probably no fermented foods, probably bone broth might, maybe they're better off with a less cooked broth.
(03:38):
And then I think it's important too that you are aware of what's driving that histamine intolerance rather than just stopping there and saying, oh, I have this now I need to eat this way. But exploring what is the cause of it if you haven't already done that and working with your practitioner or practitioners and how to manage and to treat that so that it isn't just a matter of eliminating more and more foods from your diet. So that's basically in a nutshell how I respond to that question. I'm curious to hear what you have to say on this. Marie-Noelle.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (04:13):
Yeah, I mean, ditto. I agree with you completely. I think one thing that's important too is when you get a diagnosis that is a little different, right? Okay, now there's histamine, it's different than autoimmune. It's easy I guess to think about it as like, okay, there's separate thing. Here's another thing I have another thing I have, but I think it's really important to remember that everything is connected. So just like you mentioned, finding or getting to that root cause if you haven't already, I guess I call it, we use functional medicine tools with a nutrient density and holistic approach to food and lifestyle. And to be careful not to have a sort of conventional medicine mentality through that, right? As long as I eat the food or I take a supplement, it's like that quick fix, right? It's really important to apply that holistic mentality throughout. So the histamine issue is one of the symptoms that is weaved in with the autoimmunity that that person is experiencing. So really getting to that root cause, I think it's really important.
(05:22):
And yes, doing adjustment with the gut health. That was my thought too. Like, oh, bone broth is so prominent that we recommend all the time, but maybe using the L-glutamine powder that's just more neutral and still very beneficial in healing, things like that. And if you want to do prepared meals, one of the reasons for Urban AIP, why we do flash freezing for all of our meals is so we can support people with histamine issues as well. So as soon as food comes out, it is flash frozen right there, so all the nutrients are locked in, but it also doesn't have the time for that histamine issues to form. So that's something we absolutely do recommend. And then you can just take the food directly from the freezer and warm it up that way so that you're avoiding any reaction. But, and then working with a professional for sure, I think it's really important. There's a lot of misinformation online, so I definitely recommend when you start piling up those different conditions to make sure you have a good team around you.
Jaime Hartman (06:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And one thing I was going to add that I didn't say at the beginning is that when you're thinking about starting out in the elimination phase, you might want to look at the modified AIP as your starting point because there are some things that you get to eat in the modified AIP option that are low histamine that maybe just help you just build out that base of your meal. So that would be specifically rice, quinoa, GH is actually a low histamine option for people if they tolerate that refined form of dairy. Chia seeds are low histamine, so if you were really figuring out how am I going to do this? Maybe you'd do the modified AIP protocol, you plan on cooking some of those things fresh yourself, you get some frozen meals from urban AIP, maybe you do some of your own batch cooking and free some of that.
(07:13):
There's ways that you can pull this together, thinking about all these different principles there. And definitely paying attention to where you're getting your information from because like you said, marwell, there's a lot of misinformation out there. And I think some of it's, I think there's just a lot of clarity about what foods really are high histamine. And so you'll see lists that are just totally contradict each other. And I don't know that anybody's trying to give you bad information. It's just we don't know which one is going to be the one that's right for you. So that can be tricky also. Yeah. Alright, I think we can move on to the next question. This one I know came from a customer of yours who's using your meals, and so hopefully this person will hear their question answered and I think it'll apply to other people as well. And it was, I've been doing AIP for 30 days and I still have joint pain and I'm underweight and losing more weight. What am I doing
Marie-Noelle Marquis (08:15):
Wrong? Obviously if you're already underweight and then you're losing more weight, it's just so, there's so many aspects basically that are alarming. You're dealing with this health conditions and then it's like nothing's getting better. I would say, first of all, are you eating enough? That was my first thought because especially if we're transitioning from a more standard American diet to AIP, there's actually a lot of calories in a bag of chips and it feels like, so if you just have a little snack, but that, that's a silly example, but I had two carrots. You have a lot less calorie, basically that same size portions of nutrient density of whole foods. So I think making sure, I tend to not be an advocate of counting your calories because I feel like people look at it as like, how do I restrict my food intake? Let me count my calories. But I think if you're in a situation where you are actually losing weight, tracking your calories and making sure you're getting plenty, I think would be definitely important.
(09:25):
I would say, I know it's difficult, but trying to apply the lifestyle and then giving yourself that self-care, making sure you're sleeping enough, making sure that your stress is well managed because as stressful as it is to be checking the scale every day, that that's also going to impact your metabolism and your ability to heal. And then I would say, and also I want to address, I don't think you're not doing anything wrong. It takes everybody's different and 30 days is not that long. And I feel like even the studies, all the studies are seeing improvements, but most of them start to see improvement at week six and it can take longer. So 30 days is sort of the minimum that we say to apply the omission diet, but you might need longer, you might. So it's so individual that I wouldn't just go, I've been doing this 30 days and I don't feel better.
(10:27):
And also how are we tracking which, how are we tracking how we feel? Which I think is one reason it's so great to work with an AIP Certified Coach or a practitioner because it's hard to measure when we just feel crappy to measure the level of crappiness can be really hard. So I think as nutritional therapy practitioners, we will use these symptom questionnaires. You actually see sort of a graph of how you're doing, and then you can redo it again 30 days later and you just see maybe like, oh, you're just not feeling as, you're not seeing all the results that you've hoped for yet, but maybe you are sleeping a little better. Remember you're not, your blood sugar isn't crashing, midday, all those are little winds, right? There are signs that your body is healing and the body has a mind of its own and it heals in layers. So I think we have to respect that too. So I would say as long as you're making sure that you're getting enough calories, you're going to be okay. And then also exploring what else can be going on. Is there another trigger? Is environmental, is it mold exposure or chemicals or is there something else that is a trigger to your body other than food?
Jaime Hartman (11:50):
Yeah, it's so complex and I really am glad we're answering this question because I know this is meaningful to both of us in terms of our own experience as well. When I started AIP, I was underweight and I lost even more weight. And I, for me, what it really was was like I was not eating enough food, but I felt like I was, I was thinking about food all of the time. So it just seemed like impossible that I wasn't getting enough because I was just completely focused on this. It got almost obsessive. And I think that's stress that was building up also was making it harder for me because I felt like everything I had, every eating opportunity had all this stress packaged into it. So when I'm working with clients and this is something that's happening to them, one of the first things I'll just be real straightforward that I'll look for is first of all just are how many carbohydrates are they eating during the day?
(12:50):
Because you talked about the bag of chips, but think about if somebody's cut out grains and they've cut out potatoes. For a lot of people, that's going to mean they've cut out a lot of the sources of carbohydrate in their diet. And so instantly they're missing an opportunity there for some energy if they're not making a point of adding back in some vegetables that are really starchy and are going to provide that. So that's always the first thing that I look at. And then I'll also look to see are they getting enough fat and healthy fat in their diet? That's a little less likely to happen because people will still be eating like avocados and they'll cook things. But if they were eating a lot of dairy before and then they cut that out and they didn't compensate that they also could have really dramatically reduced their calorie intake.
(13:36):
So it's really important to just make sure you're eating enough. And then I would also wonder too if their appetite is a problem, because again, I talked about myself, I felt so much stress around eating that I thought, for sure I'm eating enough because I'm thinking about it constantly and I'm worrying about every single meal. But I wasn't really tuned into my body's cues either. So that's the step that I take when I'm looking at clients in terms of what are they actually eating? And then you mentioned what are some of the other things I'll ask them about their sleep? Because if you're not sleeping well, that's going to be impacting your body's ability to digest the food if you are really, really stressed or if your movement is way out of whack. If somebody's trying to exercise just as hard as they had before, maybe they're actually the calorie issue here is more on their burning too many calories. Or if they're not moving at all, maybe their appetite's really suppressed because their body's kind of thinking like, oh, we're in this really sedentary place now, and so they don't really feel like eating. So there's a lot that can go on there. And I want to echo too, what you said is about the question of what am I doing wrong? You're not doing anything wrong, you're doing the best you can, but we could maybe offer some suggestions here for how they might be able to address this.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (15:06):
And you mentioned with carbohydrates too, that could be a good point with the modified AIP too, maybe bringing in rice if you tolerate it, that can be also a way to bring those star cheese.
Jaime Hartman (15:22):
And it doesn't have to be that if somebody really doesn't, maybe that isn't something they want to do. The other thing you can do is make sure you're having the starchy vegetables that you can have in every meal. So are you making sure you're eating some sweet potatoes, plantains, cassava? There's a lot of things to look at there, but it, it's really easy to unintentionally start AIP as a low carb diet. And that's where I think people will also struggle. And another, just thinking, you think about that as we're talking. One of the other symptoms of having a dramatic carb decrease in your diet is your mood. So if you are feeling this way and you're also feeling, especially down, feeling kind of depressed, feeling sadder than you might normally for the situation that you're in, that can be another indication that you're not consuming an enough carbohydrate because that's going to be the building block for the serotonin that'll help you feel good, and then that can impact your appetite. So these things can really cycle together, and it's important to get ahead of it and give your body what it needs to rebuild. You need to be consuming enough so that it can go through the healing process.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (16:39):
Right. Okay. Next question. Is there science behind the AIP diet? Jimmy, you want to answer that one?
Jaime Hartman (16:51):
Yes. So there definitely is science behind the AIP diet, and if you really want to go back and learn all about it, you can go find the book, the Paleo Approach, which was written by Sarah Valentine. I want to say she published that in 2013 ish, somewhere in there, 2012, somewhere around there. So it's been a while, but it came out in the middle of the paleo movement, the paleo diet movement, when a lot of people who were using paleo in some way we're using it really focused on aesthetics and weight loss. But her perspective on it was that, hey, this same diet, but with some additional sort of additional eliminations, let's be clear as well as attention to nutrient density could also be really helpful for people with autoimmune disease. And so that book's premise was how can this be helpful and why? So what the paleo approach did was outline the rationale and the proposed mechanisms behind that original version of what we now call AIP.
(17:53):
Most of them were based on animal models though, so we didn't really have a lot of human evidence at that point in terms of, and we had no human evidence of the diet as a whole at that point. But the individual components of it were mechanistic and it were to explain that hypothesis behind it. Then we started to get some medical studies and medical studies have been done. Now, the first one was published in 2017, and there've been several more in the years since then. And there are more in the works, and they are focused on specific conditions, and those are actually in humans, and they're actually looking at the diet and the lifestyle pieces in total as a protocol. So there's that science as well, which is really exciting because we've gone from just this mechanistic theory to now having evidence in humans. And then there have been some additional human studies on other, but similar but different elimination diets and autoimmune disease as well as food sensitivities and more recent research and food allergies. And that has informed the recommendations in the modified AIP elimination that is now endorsed by AIP Certified Coaches. So short answer to the question would be, yeah, there's science, bunch of different science, and we can provide some links in the show notes to some of those places where you can see that all grouped together. So anybody listening who wants to really dig into that can go find all of this information.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (19:16):
That's great. Thank you. Yeah, I think it's really exciting, something that's really important to point out because we live in a world with so many fad diets and to be like, no, no, no, actually there is science behind it. There is a why. I think it's really exciting.
Jaime Hartman (19:36):
Yeah. Alright, so now we're going to talk about going beyond the diet. And this question was about skincare products. So the question specifically was do I need to avoid products that have non AIP ingredients in them if I'm just putting them on my skin, if I'm not actually going to eat them? And this is a common conversation that people have in the AIP world, and I know that Marino Wells got some really good information for answering this before I turn it over to her though, I'll just say, in my work with my clients and they're starting out on AIP and somebody asks me this, I'll say, let's not worry about that right away. Because what I don't want people to do is to feel like, oh, I have to not only overhaul my diet, but I've got to overhaul everything I'm putting on my body. And that's just so much to do all at once. And you may not need to even change anything with your skincare, but it still could matter. So I wanted to preface that before Marie-Noelle gives her answer, which is just so that anybody who's listening who's just about to start or is just getting started, doesn't start to feel like this is something else they have to worry about at the beginning. So with that preamble, I'm going to let Marino let you share your answer to this question. I know you've got some really good experience here.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (20:50):
Well, I think that's a really good point, Jaime, because I think it's when you're working with a client, it's just all that personal approach. So if I feel like someone is going to be like, this is too much, I'm not doing anything, I'm going to cater what my recommendations are so I can support that person and not just overwhelm them and then go like, this is it. But I do think it matters because it gets absorbed. So I was just listening an interview with Charlotte, which was saying, if you're not willing to eat it, don't put it on your skin. So we absorb it. So I think it can definitely have an impact. I started losing my hair by chunks, and at first I was like, oh, well I have Hashimoto's. And I was like, that must be a thyroid thing. But it was just like, I'm like, oh my gosh, it's falling off.
(21:47):
And then I started developing this rash on my skull and I just couldn't figure out what it was. And then again, telling the story, I'm like, I don't even know how come I didn't look at that first. But then when I looked at my shampoo, there was oat in the shampoo that were not certified. And anyway, I personally react to oats regardless, so I stay away. So anyway, once I removed the shampoo, it just was super fast and everything went back to normal-ish, as normal as I am. So I do, and now I am really careful. I read all the ingredients. If there's anything like that, I stay away. I feel like the gluten, maybe dairy products, soy things like the big ones that most people that have food sensitivities will react to, I would encourage you to look at those whenever it feels comfortable. But as soon as possible, you might be doing everything in your diet and then you're like, I'm not feeling better, but there's gluten in your shampoo and you have celiac and you're still reacting. So I think there is, or I had a celiac client that had gluten in her lip balm,
(23:00):
So she's obviously eating it too. So yeah, I think it is important, but again, it doesn't have to be rigid. So if right now it feels like too much then that I always recommend slowly integrating, you don't have to do all the lifestyles at once. You'll be like, okay, right now I'm going to pick one. So just add that to your to-do list.
Jaime Hartman (23:29):
And I have people, one advice you might take if you don't feel like you, you're just looking at your skincare products with an air of concern, but not necessarily going at something like your shampoo, for example, that you might just be aware of in your products. And as you use them up, phase them out for something you feel like is just going to be more health supportive. You don't have, like you said, you don't have to do it all at once, and yet one change could make a huge difference as your example was. So be open to the possibility, but maybe don't get obsessive about every single thing being a potential problem.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (24:09):
Yeah, there's a company, it's called Bomb of Gilead. Gilead reminds me of the show. Yeah, they do AIP compliant products too. And I think there's this whole tallow fad right now going on, which is not a fad, but I'm just saying it's just such, I'm not saying that derogatory. Well, that's AIP. You can definitely use that skin. Right?
Jaime Hartman (24:32):
Yeah. And there also, we should also add too, there can be things in skin products that you would put on your skin that could be problematic for you that it isn't because they are AIP or non AIP, they're sort of outside the purview of it. So there can be a lot of things to explore there, and I would never claim to be an expert in that area, but I think it's worth exploring that when you feel ready for it to go into that world and look at what you're putting on your skin because it absolutely does matter. I'm not sure I would go as far as say, if you wouldn't eat it, you wouldn't put it on your skin. I can think of a lot of things that probably wouldn't taste very good, but I would still on my skin, but I get the idea behind it all. Yeah, I get the idea.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (25:14):
All right. Okay, next question. What are the most common mistakes people make during the reintroduction phase? I love that one.
Jaime Hartman (25:23):
Yes. Alright, so I thought maybe we could go back and forth on this one. So one of the first most common mistakes that I see is timing. People wait a really, really long time or they really rush into 'em super quickly. And really neither one of those is going to be a great situation. So I think if you are thinking, I'm going to wait until I've been on AIP until I have forever and ever and ever, and then finally I'll do reintroductions, that's going to be hard. And so is thinking that I'm going to start them the second I hit that 30 day mark. So that's timing. That's one common mistake that I see. And in both cases, they're not really setting themselves up for success. What's another one that you see, Elle?
Marie-Noelle Marquis (26:02):
I think getting emotionally attached to an outcome
(26:06):
And seeing it. Yeah. Oh, I really thought I could get eggs. And then they try to reintroduce it and it doesn't work, and then it's just like I'm never going to eat eggs again. And then maybe now I screwed up my body and I have to start from scratch and just the weight of it, I'm not getting better. Try not to go there. And it doesn't mean because you had it still a reaction to let's say eggs today that in a month and a year, again, the body heals and layers at some point there's still memory cells that are like, Nope, we don't like this one. But
Jaime Hartman (26:47):
Yeah, I think what happens when people get really emotionally attached to an outcome is that they just feel devastated if it doesn't work out for them or they miss the cue. I'm so determined to be able to eat this food that they're hiding from themselves. The fact that it's not working.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (27:03):
Yeah, the other side, yeah, you're right. It's like, no, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm okay. I'm fine.
Jaime Hartman (27:10):
I think on the other side of that coin, so the next one I wanted to share was that when people are approaching reintroductions with a ton of fear, if they start to think that I'm really, really afraid that every little thing I eat is going to just send me all the way back to where I started, especially if they're one of those fortunate people who had a really dramatic improvement in the elimination phase and they're just feeling so much better than they were before they started. I can see where you'd get really fearful about a food thinking that I really just, I don't want to go all the way back. And so the important thing to remember if you find yourself thinking that way is that if you do the reintroductions in the way that you should, which is to eat a little bit first and give yourself just a chance to see how you respond to it, that if you do have a serious reaction to a food, that you will have noticed it right away before you've eaten even a full serving, before you've started adding it to your diet every day. And so you'll get that awareness and there's nothing to be afraid of. We can do it. We can do it. Even if you have a reaction and you don't feel good for a day or two, the knowledge that you gain from that experience is so valuable that you'll just, I hope look back at that with gratitude and be like, I am just really glad I learned that. So now I know that it's really important. I avoid that food. So try to think none of it is anything to be afraid of.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (28:35):
And then not throwing the baby with the bath water. So let's say you've reintroduced five different things and then thing six, you have a reaction to your body. You've built that resilience and the elimination phase, and then you've successfully reintroduced those five other foods, and those are all part of like, okay, your body is good with that. Reacting to food six doesn't mean you have to forget the other five and go back to elimination.
(29:01):
And I think one point, the diet mentality, there's two things. It's like, oh my gosh, I wasn't supposed to eat any sugar. I cheated now. I ate whatever. I miss my weight watcher count or whatever diet, those various diet, diet. So it's sort of ingrained in us that if we do something that, oh, this one thing didn't work, I need to start from scratch, and it's AIP is a different thing. So not that it doesn't matter, but okay, so you tried food six, you tried a little bit like you said Jaime, and then you, okay, then let's not have that right now. And then just give yourself a few days and once you start feeling good again and back to the normal you've established for yourself, then let's try something else. And it's not like what happened when you reacted, your immune system had a reaction, right? It doesn't mean that it's now destroying your joints. What's really happening inside is your body telling you, I don't like this. Okay, great, we're going to stay away. But it's not undoing the healing or the progress. So I think it's important to realize that and just move away from that punishment mentality of, I know I messed up
Jaime Hartman (30:24):
And it all boils down to another note I had written down here before we started recording was just mindset. And all of this plays into that, but that mindset of what does it mean when you have a reaction to a food as well as the mindset of what does it mean when you start reintroductions? A lot of people get the idea that that's the end of their AIP experience, and so they won't continue feeling better. And in fact, so that's just one more phase. I know I can say for myself, I've had improvements at various times in my life and my journey that didn't have anything to do with the reintroduction process. They kind of went alongside it or they had something to do with it or not to do with it. So it's not necessarily starting reintroductions means that it's the end of anything.
(31:11):
And it's also, I think another mistake I'll see is that people will feel like it's the end of them needing to be strict about what they eat and getting kind of sloppy instead. And that's not going to help you either. So I know we say a lot of things that kind of sound like contradictions to each other, but this isn't a place where it's important to find that middle ground. If you think, oh, well now I'm in reintroductions, anything goes, you probably will end up getting back to where you were when you were feeling before. But if you think, well, I'm in reintroductions now, and so this is the time when I really need to control variables, making sure that I really know what I'm eating every day so that when I test a food, I'm really pretty confident that that's the only thing that changed. And so that's an important mindset to have, and when you don't have that, it gets really hard to tell what's happening with the foods that you're testing.
(32:08):
And our next question is also regarding reintroductions, and it's a specific one. This one actually came from the context for this question was that it came in from the webinar that I did with the other AIP Certified Coaches for the AIP Summit a couple months back, and it was a question we didn't have time to answer, so I thought we'd answer it here. And this person wrote in saying, A number of my symptoms don't happen when I've had a food once, but after the second or third time eating it, and then in this person wrote, having eggs two mornings in a row, watch for these foods, should they be relegated to the avoid category? Noelle, what do you say to that?
Marie-Noelle Marquis (32:49):
We're not designed to eat the same thing all the time, so I think that's okay. I completely relate to that question. I'm the exact same way. If I have eggs, if I go somewhere and I have conventional eggs, I'm going to have that egg once and then it's going to be at least a month, a month and a half before I can have another egg. If I go somewhere and I have a organic pasture raised bright orange yogurt, good quality egg, I can probably do that once a week and I'm not going to have a reaction. So that's okay. I think when I eat, maybe there's a little bit like, Ooh, there's a little bit of alert in my body when I eat it, but nothing that's damaging, nothing, that means I need to avoid it. Absolutely. And I think it's actually, there might, I don't know, but there might be something positive as far as building resilience.
(33:47):
If you're having something once in a while and it's a apathic mentality, a little dose, and that's okay and that's it. You may not be able, I know if I have eggs three days in a row, I'm not going to feel good If I have, I can have organic almonds, but again, it's very sporadic, very occasional. So same thing if I do that a few days in a row, not going to feel good. So I don't think those foods mean that they need to be avoided. Again, it's not like a good and bad black and white. It's this journey. It constantly evolves. So the key is reconnecting with your body and knowing and being one, your body's not against you. So listening to those cues and going, okay, all right, I'm going to have eggs once in a while and you'll see maybe eventually two days in a row is going to be okay, but not three.
Jaime Hartman (34:50):
To illustrate here that we're all really unique for me, I could have eggs every day and I would never notice any difference. So I'm totally fine with them. So we're all different, and I mean I love getting those really great bright orange yolk ones, the best quality. I like also knowing the chickens we're well cared for, but I don't see any difference honestly in my body when I eat the conventional ones. So we're so different. We're all unique, and this is about knowing these things. But for me, there are some foods, and one, the most obvious one for me is tomatoes. I'm really pleased to be able to eat tomatoes occasionally, but it really has to be occasional. If I have tomatoes on a single day, I'll be fine, I won't feel anything. But if I have them the next day or I have a really huge portion I how I'm like, God, three or four days in a row, delicious and it's summer, or I made really amazing dish with tomatoes in it and I want to eat all the leftovers, I will definitely start to have joint pain and not just joint pain, but muscle pain, all body pain and stuff.
(35:48):
It's a clear indication that my body is telling me there's something that's not great about you eating this food over and over. So my approach to that is that when I do eat tomatoes, it's a one-time thing. I will not have them the next day, I won't have the leftovers, and I'm going to make sure that I'm not just eating,
(36:09):
I am going to make a burgers at home and I'm not going to put a slice of tomato on my burger. That's a waste of a tomato. You don't even taste it. I'm going to only have tomatoes when they're going to be delicious and I'm going to really enjoy 'em because I'm not going to have 'em again for a while. And that's fine. I don't have any problem with that, and I don't think that that is anything anybody else have a problem with. So the real specific question was should they be relegated to the avoid category? No, they should be relegated to the occasional category, and you get to decide what that means for you. I would also say that you have every right to eat whatever you want. So even if a food made you have a reaction and you wanted to eat it anyway, that was your choice and you get to decide to do that.
(36:54):
And I think that's another thing we should free ourselves from. Any of these should kind of words of like, oh, I shouldn't eat that food. You should do what makes you feel good, and that's always your call. I'd also add too, while I'm on that topic, but remember that your body's always changing. So a food that you can only eat occasionally today, may one day become a food you could eat every day, or it could be the reverse. I mean, we don't really know. So just stay in tune with your body and be flexible and be willing to understand that, okay, this food that I thought I didn't tolerate very well, I seem to now be tolerating it. This food that I thought I was tolerating really well, maybe now for at least this season I'm not, and I'm going to shift my thinking about that food and that's totally fine.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (37:40):
I think that is really important what you just said too, because that reverse, right? I've been eating this and then now I don't feel good on it. And to again, not go to what is wrong with me, I need to go back to full elimination, right? It's like have that nice best friend conversation with your body, right? Okay, I'm acknowledging that I've been eating this all the time and now I'm feeling something when I eat it. The answer is I'm just going to put it aside for now. You don't have to. I'm a failure. Jump there just, okay, I'm not going to eat that, but I'm being
Jaime Hartman (38:20):
Alright. Last
Marie-Noelle Marquis (38:21):
Question. Last question, yes. Regarding stress. Okay. And the question is, the longer I've had autoimmune disease, the more medical appointments, even labs or dental visits, the more my body reacts to these stressors to that, all the calming techniques I have in my toolbox don't seem to work anymore. How can I tell my body it's safe?
Jaime Hartman (38:43):
Right? So for this question, I thought what we would do is just share some of the things in Marie-Noelle and our toolbox since we don't know what's already in the question. Writers toolbox, and I'll start. One of the things that's in my toolbox is I have a regular yoga practice, so it's not something I just pull out of my toolbox when I'm in the situation, but it's preventive. I have this regular yoga practice and I know that there's nothing that's for everybody, but I really do believe that within the big umbrella of yoga, there is something in there for everyone. So I don't mean just go to whatever yoga studio you see on your corner and just go in and do that. It might not be appropriate for you, but perhaps you want to look into yoga therapy. We did an interview in just last week, the last podcast, the one right before this with one of our colleagues who's a yoga therapist.
(39:35):
So you might go back in the archives and look at that, or maybe it's a restorative yoga kind of thing. But my experience is that that is really helpful for me because the more, as long as I keep my yoga practice up, I'm able to tap into that, get back into my body, get to feeling grounded. And even in a doctor's office, I'm not going to get down into down dog, but I can stand up and be in mountain pose and it just looks like standing a really kind of straight up and down. But if I go through my mind, how does that feel? Getting grounded, getting established. It feels like I've come back into my body and that I'm okay and I'm safe in my body. So that's one of my big tools. What's one of yours, Reno? What's in your toolbox?
Marie-Noelle Marquis (40:23):
I think creating small, meaningful self-care ritual. So something that I used to think self-care had to be like, I'm going to take a whole day and go to the spa or something. And then I've learned that no, even when you just described, I think that connection, being able to connect to your body, that yoga pose, that's a way of doing self-care. Maybe it's just going to, I have an appointment coming tomorrow, I'm going take a hot bath the night before or
(41:04):
An extra time in the morning to go for a little walk or just finding a spot in your day that before or after and after is also really important. One of the things that I've applied when I started working as an actor my past life in la, I had a manager that's a teacher, I think actually credit is a teacher that said, it's really important after you do an audition to do something nice, to avoid falling in that cycle of you've had something really stressful. And then example was like, I'm going to go to the bar and have a drink, and you start developing a bad habit. So I started doing these joyful things afterwards and I feel like that's sort of a similar place where you can apply it, you have your stress, you have a doctor appointment, and it's just like, ugh. After the fact, do something joyful. And maybe that's something that you can look forward to as well. You go to the appointment, it's like, yeah, but after I'm going to go to the beach or wherever you live or something. Yeah, simple.
Jaime Hartman (42:10):
But yeah,
(42:12):
I love that. I do that a little bit myself when I go to get blood drawn is that afterwards I'll tell myself there's this special thing that I get to do on the way home, whether that's co to Trader Joe's and buy myself a little treat I wouldn't have otherwise. I don't know really simple, but something that will just even before I get home from that blood draw will be a little bit of self-care for me. And so that can help because if you know that's already coming up, you can go there already maybe in your mind. Another one that I always recommend to people is finding some way to tap into meditation. And I know that that's such a, we all say that, and what does that mean? How do you do it? If that's something that you already have in your toolbox, that's awesome, tap into that more.
(43:01):
If it's something that you've never done or that you feel like is too woo woo out there, I would say look into something called mindfulness based stress reduction, MBSR training. The classic courses like an eight week course. A lot of times they're done in conjunction with hospitals, medical centers, people who are dealing with all kinds of conditions will take these. That's where it comes from. But it can also be something that you can anybody can do, but you really learn a lot of the tradition, the techniques that come out of Buddhism, but are really applied to just a secular life. And so it's open to everyone and it is really, really powerful and can help a lot. I know that meditation is hard. What I like about mindfulness based stress reduction is that it acknowledges that it's hard, yet it helps you learn how to apply that and help you believe that you can do it, that you can do this hard thing and it can help you. So I'll, I have a lot of links in the show notes, but I'll put a link in the show notes to a resource for that as well for anybody who wants to look into that.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (44:16):
And it reminds me of the exercise too. That was it, episode 21, the yoga?
Jaime Hartman (44:22):
Yeah, it was. Yeah. The same one with Leslie Ann.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (44:26):
Yeah, with Leslie Ann. So Leslie Ann was talking about this exercise of name. What do you see around you? What makes you feel like that exercise, I think can be a really good meditative things that you can do while you're on your way to the appointment where you're not just like, maybe you don't have time to sit down and close your eyes and meditate, but that can be another form of it. I definitely recommend checking episode 21. I use tools like nutraceuticals a lot in my life. Honestly, I love Altheine works really well for me. They used to make these L-theanine based drink called, oh my gosh, I don't even remember, but it was like a great de-stressor. But I'll use L-theanine and adaptogenic herbs that are a SW on to free. So on the go, if I feel stressed, I will get in the drink form or capsule form, but I find a lot of efficacy coming from adapted egg herbs and altheine personally.
Jaime Hartman (45:42):
Let's see, one more thing in my toolbox that I can share. It does come from some of the same places in my yoga training, but that is to tap into your breath. And I know there are, I'll just preface this by saying there are lots of breathing techniques out there that people will have, but the one that I personally like and that I try to teach my yoga students and people I work with first is super simple and it's really just breathing slowly in and out. The way that I started is by when I'm feeling activated and I need to use this breath technique to calm down, is that I will just start by inhaling slowly as slowly as I feel comfortable. When I get to the top at the end, inhale, I feel like I'm full, then exhaling fully, and then one more time inhaling.
(46:33):
And then the second time that you start to inhale, I start to count. I just count to four or five, whatever number feels like the right amount, and then exhale and try to match the time. Now there's tons of things that you can do here after you've sort of gotten comfortable with that, where you can add holds, where you can extend the exhale. People talk about box breathing. I personally find if I'm super stressed and activated in those kinds of situations that our question writer described the hold, just make it worse. Holding my breath is what I'm doing anyway, and I need to not do that. And so I'll just count and it's whatever number feels comfortable, usually free me. It's like five. So exhale, counting slowly in my head to five, inhaling to five, exhaling to five, inhaling to five until I feel either like I want to extend the exhales and slow that down even further, or I just don't need to do it anymore, and I just let go and I'm just breathe normally. And so it's another beautiful thing about it is that it doesn't look like you're doing anything. So if you're in a situation where you don't want to look like you're doing some kind of a technique, you're just breathing and nobody knows that you're counting inside of your head and it can feel really calming and soothing from the inside
Marie-Noelle Marquis (47:53):
Breath work. I agree. Yeah, I have similar breathwork tool in my toolbox. Yeah, I think another thing I'll do, which if I'm feeling really, really stressed or even feeling kind of panicky, really putting a cold pack on your chest on the breastplates is really effective. At 10, 15 minutes even, I've seen full on panic attacks coming down because it actually forces your vagus nerve to go into the parasympathetic side. So cold right there on the chest I find really helpful. So I'll be like, okay, do I have a cold, even a cold water bottle or something that will actually help calm
Jaime Hartman (48:39):
Down? And I would think too, if you're, you're at the dentist, they should be able to get you something like that and just tell them, I need a cold compress, and then instead of putting it on your head, you put it on your chest and they can get that for you. I like that. I was thinking too, a lot of times in those offices, my hands are really cold, so you slip your hand. Exactly. Yeah. Nice tip. I like that a lot. Well, that wraps up the questions that we wanted to answer today. If you've not yet listened to episodes six and 14, which were our earlier q and a episodes or episode one, which laid out the basics of AIP, you will find links to these in the show notes. We welcome your specific or your general questions for us to answer in a future episode as well, and you'll find a link to a submission form in the show notes for that. Also, our aim in creating this podcast with our fellow AIP Certified Coaches is to bring you resources so that you can always feel confident about doing AIP on your own, but with the knowledge that you aren't actually doing it alone,
Marie-Noelle Marquis (49:44):
We'll be back with another episode in two weeks. So make sure you subscribe to the AIP Summit Podcast and your favorite podcast player if you have not already.
Jaime Hartman (49:53):
And if you'd like to leave us a rating and a review, it will help others find this podcast where we are committed to helping you use the power of the autoimmune protocol to elevate your wellness journey to new heights. The AIP Summit Podcast is a Gutsy By Nature production. Content presented is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
