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Welcome to The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast Season 2! We’ve created this podcast as a free resource to accompany our book, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook: A DIY Guide to Living Well with Chronic Illness.

Season 2 Episode 5 takes us back to our Q+A style, where Mickey and Angie answer questions from listeners like you. In this episode, the ladies dig into how to address too much weight loss on AIP, how to navigate pregnancy while on AIP, good carb-y snacks for type 1 diabetics, and coffee replacements.

Plus, they start by chatting about common (and confounding) misconceptions about AIP, and the questions they wish they’d get asked more often. Scroll down for the full episode transcript.

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Mickey Trescott: Welcome to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast, a complimentary resource for those on the road to recovery. I’m Mickey Trescott, a nutritional therapy practitioner living well with autoimmune disease in Oregon. I’ve got both Hashimoto’s and Celiac disease.

Angie Alt: And I’m Angie Alt, a certified health coach and nutritional therapy consultant, also living well with autoimmune disease in Maryland. I have endometriosis, lichen sclerosis, and Celiac disease. After recovering our health by combining the best of conventional medicine with effective and natural dietary and lifestyle interventions, Mickey and I started blogging at www.Autimmune-Paleo.com, where our collective mission is seeking wellness and building community.

Mickey Trescott: This podcast is sponsored by The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook; our co-authored guide to living well with chronic illness. We saw the need for a comprehensive resource that goes beyond nutrition to connect savvy patients, just like you, to the resources they need to achieve vibrant health. Through the use of self assessments, checklists, handy guides and templates, you get to experience the joy of discovery; finding out which areas to prioritize on your healing journey. Pick up a copy wherever books are sold.

Angie Alt: A quick disclaimer: The content in this podcast is intended as general information only, and is not to be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. On to the podcast!

Topics:

Mickey Trescott: Hey everybody! Mickey here, and welcome back to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast. If you’re here, you know that we are right in the middle of our second season; sharing with you guys a series of Q&A and interview today, because we’ve got both Angie and I on the line. We are doing a Q&A episode. We’re going to answer some of you guys’ questions. But first, I’d love to hear from Angie, how she’s doing this week.

Angie Alt: Hey everybody. I am doing good. I just got done having a little timeout week. I put myself in timeout, and had to do a bunch of regrouping, so that I could keep my head on my shoulders, and figure out how to do all the things that I do. I’m actually feeling a lot better this week, for taking that time. How are you Mickey?

Mickey Trescott: I’m feeling a lot better now that you {laughs} had a timeout.

Angie Alt: Yeah, heads up everybody.

Mickey Trescott: Because I got a timeout, too. It was a really nice reminder that we both needed to slow down. And I wasn’t thinking about slowing down until you were like; I can’t this week. I was like, “You know what? I can’t either.” {laughs}

Angie Alt: Yeah. If you work in partnership; if one of you is losing it, the other one will be impacted. {laughs}

Mickey Trescott: Totally. Totally. So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty good after the weekend.

Angie Alt: Nice.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, so. Before we get to these listener questions, going on our theme that we started last time we did one of these, we’re going to ask each other a question. So Angie, my question for you this week, is what is one thing that we get asked all the time that sometimes you just can’t wrap your head around where all of the confusion comes from? {laughs}

Angie Alt: {laughs} Ok. Well, there’s probably a couple of areas to explore here. One that comes to the top of my mind right away is kind of the misconception that AIP is a no-sugar protocol. That comes up pretty often. I see it especially in my group program, because there’s high volume of people going through there. I get to be exposed to this really often. And you know, its’ a very low-sugar protocol, for sure. It’s nowhere near what a Standard American Diet has; not even in the same ballpark. Not even on the same continent in terms of sugar intake.

You know, people will say, “I thought I couldn’t eat any fruit, because there’s sugar.” You know. If they see a paleo treat recipe, they’re like, “I thought we couldn’t eat maple syrup!” Of course, we’re not encouraging everybody to go out and drink a gallon of it or anything, but a very small amount of sugar is totally within bounds for the protocol.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. And don’t you think sometimes when people ask this, they’re angry.

Angie Alt: Yeah.

Mickey Trescott: Like, they have; there are these anti-sugar people. Which, you know, sugar; especially if you’re someone who has a history of the blood sugar thing. We’re not saying sugar is the best thing ever. But sometimes when people write in, they’ll be like, “I am so disappointed. I thought this was sugar free. You should know better!” {laughs}

Angie Alt: Yeah.

Mickey Trescott: And it’s just like; uh, I mean, you know a little treat in moderation after dinner in the context of a balanced meal usually brings a lot of people happiness.

Angie Alt: Right. You know, the point. As always, I think we’ve said this many, many times now. But the point of this protocol is not to burden our hearts and minds; it’s to heal. And if you feel like you can never enjoy a small treat, and have a celebration with your family, or have something special over a holiday. If there is no option for that, it’s not going to be sustainable in real life. And you won’t be able to heal.

Mickey Trescott: Agreed.

Angie Alt: So, a little bit of balance there. Ok, so I have a question for you, Mickey. If there was one question that you wish we would be asked more often, what would it be? Do you think there are some under-explored facets of AIP?

Mickey Trescott: You know, one thing I haven’t really been asked very often that I actually think is a really interesting thing about my experience is just how my relationships with my friends and with my family, and even my relationship to the world; my career, what I do, how that has all changed as I undertook the autoimmune protocol. I mean, it’s kind of one of those things; defining moments in your life. I think when you have a health crisis and you decide to embark on something that is going to help you feel better, and empowered, and in control; I think that those changes kind of ripple out. And you know, people don’t really talk about it. There is bad; or hard parts about that.

When I was diagnosed, I had been vegan for a very long time. I had a lot of friends who were in the vegan/vegetarian community, and I had a lot of friends who weren’t vegan that I worked with. When I started eating different, and was sick all the time, and was kind of not that fun to be around because, you know, I needed a lot of support, a lot of these people just kind of disappeared out of my life. And it sounds kind of sad, but what ended up happening was I connected with a lot of incredible people, and made almost a whole new group of friends that I feel get me on a level, and we are close. Like, you and I, Angie, are close in a way that I don’t get that with a lot of people. So I don’t know. A lot of that has changed, and I think that’s something that I haven’t really been asked about.

Then changing your whole life, you just have a different outlook on life when you have one of those kind of lifechanging moments. It’s almost like going to college, or getting married. A big event in your life, but it’s unexpected, you know?

Angie Alt: Yeah. Mm-hmm. It’s a little bit of a come to Jesus moment.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, totally.

Angie Alt: In my world.

Mickey Trescott: And in that moment, you have the opportunity to change anything you want. And some things have to change, and some things that you never would have changed. Like, I probably would not have changed my career. But I was there, and there was the opportunity, and I went for it. And for a lot of people, that happens, you know.

Angie Alt: Yeah. Exactly. Good answer, Mickey.

Mickey Trescott: Sweet. So that was fun. Now, let’s get on to tackling some questions from our audience. We have a few different topics today. We’re going to talk a little bit about weight loss on the autoimmune protocol. Pregnancy, some macronutrients, and a question about coffee.

So, Tina asks, “I have been strict full AIP for 8 months. I have alopecia, and have been trying to heal this. The good news is my hair is growing back.”

Angie Alt: Woot, woot!

Mickey Trescott: Yay. Side note; Tina, that’s awesome to hear. “Bad news is I’m losing too much weight. Instead of white potatoes I eat sweet potatoes, swede, squash, plantains, and parsnips. But I’m still losing weight. I additionally eat one avocado each morning with my breakfast. I eat 3 large meals a day; and I mean large, but I’m still dropping weight. What do you think could be the cause, and how could I put some weight on?”

Angie Alt: It sounds to me like Tina is doing a lot of the things that we would probably recommend, right? She’s trying to get in some carbs, and she’s working on getting in more fat when she can. She’s having pretty big servings of food. I would be wondering if she could add in even still a little more fat? So that’s kind of the first step. Make sure you’re eating more fat. Ways to do this beyond the avocados are roasting your vegetables in coconut oil, maybe trying to drizzle a little olive oil on just about everything you’re eating. I drizzle olive oil on just about everything you can imagine. Maybe trying to work in some fat bombs or some full-fat coconut milk into things.

Then, of course, maybe going a little bit further with the carbs. Even getting into some of the high glucose fruits; because you need a little bit of insulin response to store fat in the body. So maybe bananas, pineapples, apricots, plums, prunes, grapes, raisins, figs, dates. These really sugary kinds of starchy carb sources. And she’s kind of already working on the starchy vegetables, it sounds like.

And then probably last is not to forget the protein. I would wonder how much protein she’s eating per day. If it’s not enough, maybe bumping that up a little bit. In terms of lifestyle, making sure she’s getting enough rest, and managing her stress. Unmanaged stress can be a problem here with weight.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, another thing that I would think of too; this is kind of the opposite that we tell anyone who is having trouble losing weight on AIP, or even general AIP advice. So for any of you who don’t want to gain weight or are a healthy weight, ignore this. But this is a case where smoothies may be helpful.

Angie Alt: Yeah. That’s where I was going with the full-fat coconut milk.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. Especially between meals, trying to get in some snacks. She says she’s eating 3 large meals a day. There have been periods where I really needed to gain weight, and I just couldn’t do it without a snack that had a lot of calories in it. And smoothies can actually trick your brain pretty well into getting some calories into your stomach without actually feeling like you’re too full; which is why a lot of people gain weight with them. But you can make smoothies with some of those higher glycemic fruits, and some coconut milk with some fat. And some collagen, and maybe throw some greens in there. That would be great.

The other thing I might thing is digestion. If her digestion isn’t great, things could be moving through too quick, and she might not actually be accessing those nutrients. So troubleshooting, maybe a reason for digestive issues.

Angie Alt: Yeah. Maybe even starting as simple as food hygiene. Like sitting down and having a very restful environment while you eat; chewing very, very thoroughly. Taking time to kind of concentrate on your food. The textures, the tastes, the smells. Just starting as simple as that, and seeing if it causes any changes. I’ve even recently experimented with this with my husband. And even after 5 years of having me live in his house, he has been shocked at how much it’s making a difference to take time for that.

Mickey Trescott: And it sounds like, too, if her hair is growing back, she might start thinking about reintroduction soon. Like, if she’s ready and she wants to start reintroducing food, something like white rice might be something to move up the stages, and maybe try that first. Because that’s a pretty good starchy carb that you can cook in some bone broth, and really cover it in some fat. And that might help it be another vehicle for getting some fat into her body.

Angie Alt: Right, she could even maybe try some butter pretty soon, and have another fat option in there.

Mickey Trescott: And the nuts and seeds.

Angie Alt: Yep. Yep. Congratulations Tina, on the hair regrowth! We’re happy for you.

Angie Alt: Alright, let’s see. So we have another question about weight loss, Mickey. Jules asks, “I have been doing AIP for 2 months now and have lost too much weight. I know that adding more starchy veggies will help, but I’m not sure if SIBO is a factor or not. Also, I have some yeast/bacteria that I am dealing with, so I’m trying to limit starches and sugars. Any advice on this would be great. Thank you.”

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. So, Jules, I think that what’s going on is you’re restricting too many categories of food in addition to the autoimmune protocol. So it sounds like you’re limiting starches and sugars; and those are actually really needed to create energy in your body when you’re eating on such a restricted diet.

So, it sounds like you’re not sure if it’s SIBO, and you maybe know about some yeast and bacteria. The best course of action for someone like you is actually to find a practitioner and get tested for all of these issues that are potentially there. Going online and looking at Candida symptoms, or SIBO symptoms, is not good enough. A lot of these things kind of manifest differently in different people. And you really need to get treated. So restricting these starches and sugars, in addition to AIP, in a lot of cases is not going to make these issues go away. You’re just going to end up really frustrated with like 5 foods to eat, and I’m not surprised that you’re losing too much weight.

So if SIBO is something that you’re suspecting. For those of you guys that SIBO is maybe a new word, that stands for small intestine bacterial overgrowth. It’s very common in people with autoimmune disease, but not everyone has it. If you suffer from bloating, gas, diarrhea, and/or constipation, and/or alternating both, you could have SIBO. So a low FODMAP; this is fermentable fibers in the diet. Low-FODMAP diet can help a lot of people with their symptoms with SIBO, because these fibers are what the bacteria actually eat. So that’s why you get the bloating and the gas. These are the byproducts of the fermentation in your gut.

You really need to be tested using a breath test. It’s a lactulose breath test. That’s the only way you can tell if you have SIBO, and it needs to be ordered by a licensed practitioner. I actually think a urine organic acids test also...