The 6th Annual AIP Summit kicks off on January 13, 2025 – make sure to register for this event right now, and scroll to the bottom of this post to hear a short podcast episode from the founder, Jaime Hartman!

The AIP Summit began in 2019 and is presented by AIP Certified Coaches from around the world, representing a broad array of practitioners from across the conventional and holistic medical spectrum. The mission of the AIP Summit is to provide accurate and reliable information to the general population so that more people are able to access the life-changing power of the Autoimmune Protocol on their own.

Over five days (January 13-17, 2025), sessions are presented live with the recordings available for free viewing for 24 hours post-broadcast, and then archived for members-only access.This year’s agenda includes AIP cooking demonstrations as well as discussions on self-care, lifestyle factors like sleep and stress, gut health, fitness, and much more.

If you are not able to attend during the summit week or wish to support the AIP Summit so that we can continue to spread about AIP to autoimmune patients and practitioners throughout the world, consider becoming a supporting member!

The post The 6th Annual AIP Summit! appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Good news! The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), an elimination and reintroduction protocol aimed at helping those with autoimmune disease identify food sensitivities and increase nutrient-density, continues to be the focus of medical research investigating its efficacy for specific autoimmune conditions. While AIP has been widely used in the autoimmune community since 2011 (see the History of the AIP Movement), medical research into its efficacy began around 2015, with results of the first pilot study published in 2017. Since then, studies have been conducted using AIP as an intervention for inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis), Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, and psoriasis. If you’d like to learn more about previous studies, including what interventions were used and the results, check out the AIP Medical Research Review. 

Today I’ll be highlighting the newest AIP medical study, Effects of Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet on changes in thyroid parameters in Hashimoto’s disease by a research team from Poland, Paulina Ihnatowicz, Jerzy Gębski, and Małgorzata Ewa Drywień [1]. This is the second study that has been conducted so far using AIP as an intervention to manage Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and certainly adds to our knowledge base of how to use the protocol for managing it [2]. Hashimoto’s is not only the most common autoimmune disease, but conventional treatment is rarely successful as many patients find that they continue to have symptoms even though their hormone levels have been “treated to target” [3]. 

For this study, 28 patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis were enrolled, with 20 of them completing the study. The average age was 35, with patients between 23-55 years old. Patients underwent initial testing, surveys, and dietary analysis, and then were prescribed individualized, 12-week dietary plans compliant with Core AIP Elimination. It should be noted that in contrast to prior studies using AIP, there was no use of a transition phase–participants made immediate transitions to the elimination diet [2]. 

In terms of testing completed at baseline and completion of the study, patients had their height and weight measured in a clinic, had lab draws for thyroid hormones (TSH, total and free hormones) and thyroid antibodies, an ultrasound of the thyroid, and they also completed surveys to capture symptom burden. Prior dietary intake was captured using a survey for analysis and comparison of prescribed AIP meal plans. 

After initial testing, each participant was prescribed an individualized, 12-week Core AIP meal plan based on their anthropometrics (height and weight). They were instructed to continue all prescribed medications and supplements as before, and no adjustments were made to doses. Support was offered via monthly group coaching calls. 

Energy and macronutrient intake

A comparison of prior diet and prescribed AIP diet showed that energy intake (calories) was roughly the same before and after the study (2,067 to 1,997 calories). In terms of macronutrient intake, protein increased from 16.77% to 24.9% of total calories, which is an increase of roughly 85 to 125 grams per day (based on a 2,000 calorie intake). The increase in protein came primarily from decreased fat intake. 

Micronutrient intake 

Analysis of nutrient intake via prescribed AIP diet showed there was a broad increase in nutrient density during the intervention. Specific nutrient intake increases included Beta-carotene (550%), fiber (162%), folates (198%), long-chain fatty acids (262%), potassium (196%), vitamin A (341%), vitamin C (886%), with other nutrients like B vitamins, iron, zinc, and magnesium with considerable increases. The authors noted that analysis of some nutrients was complicated by supplementation, specifically magnesium, vitamin C, and potassium. 

Biochemical thyroid changes 

Blood test analysis showed Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) significantly decreased from a mean of 3.72 to 2.69. Free T3 and T4 significantly decreased, although both stayed within reference ranges (3.31 to 2.88; 1.36 to 1.20). Mean anti-TPO antibodies increased (210 to 293) and anti-Tg decreased (317 to 300), although these results did not meet statistical significance. 

Physical thyroid changes

A comparison of thyroid ultrasounds before and after intervention showed the right lobe volume decreased by 5% and the left lobe volume decreased by 6%. 

Weight and body composition changes 

Anthropometric measurements taken before and after intervention showed that mean weight decreased from 69 kg to 65.5 kg (152 lbs to 144 lbs). Mean body fat percentage decreased from 33% to 29.5%, indicating that twice as much weight was lost from fat than muscle. 

Symptom burden

Analysis of questionnaires showed a broad improvement of symptoms commonly reported by Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patients. The largest decreases were seen in the following areas:

In addition to the above results, the authors provided an analysis of specific nutrient intake associations with all of the measures in the study. 

AIP is an incredibly nutrient-dense diet

This is the first study to provide a detailed analysis of the nutrient-density of Core AIP compared to a standard diet. The analysis showed that Core AIP is especially rich in beta-carotene, retinol, fiber, long-chain fatty acids, B vitamins, and minerals (like iron, magnesium, and potassium). It is important to note that the authors prescribed nutrient-dense foods like fermented foods, cold-water fatty fish, broth, and colorful fruits and vegetables in their meal plans, according to AIP guidelines. We know that these nutrients are essential to a healthy body and immune system, and it is possible that many of the anti-inflammatory and restorative benefits of AIP likely come from this increase in nutrient density. Takeaway: Don’t forget to apply nutrient density in your approach to AIP! 

Do we focus on thyroid hormones or symptoms to track progress with Hashimoto’s? 

The results of this study were a bit paradoxical in terms of thyroid hormones. It is important to note that patients coming into this study were considered euthyroid, or being within normal thyroid hormone reference ranges. As a functional medicine-trained nutritionist, my view is that this group actually could have been considered subclinical hypothyroid with a mean TSH of 3.72, as functional medicine uses a narrower reference range for TSH (.5 to 3 mU/L, compared to the 0.27 to 4.2 used in the study). By that standard, AIP did an excellent job of bringing TSH down under 3, with a decrease of the mean to 2.62. 

The part that is paradoxical are the thyroid hormone results. Free T4 and free T3 saw small but significant changes downward. Usually this would indicate that there is less thyroid hormone available to be used in the tissues and according to the conventional model of thyroid treatment, perhaps cause symptoms. But when we take a look at other indicators of thyroid health used in this study, this doesn’t seem to be a bad thing: 

When we take all of these results together, they seem to suggest an improvement in some of the core areas of concern for patients with Hashimoto’s (thyroid swelling, weight gain, and high symptom burden). The reduction in TSH, which is a signal from the brain indicating it needs the thyroid to produce more hormones, points to the body finding balance and having enough thyroid hormone for metabolic needs. In their own discussion, the study authors theorized that the paradoxical result could be due to an improved nutritional status increasing sensitivity to thyroid hormone in the tissues.

Before we get back to the question on what to focus on when gauging progress with Hashimoto’s, I want to share a couple of features of the disease. First, the only conventional treatment for Hashimoto’s is optimizing hormones with thyroid hormone replacement medication. Second, medical research shows that Hashimoto’s patients often continue to have symptoms even after their hormones are corrected to reference ranges [3]. 

As a Hashimoto’s patient myself, I find the results of this study incredibly validating that someone with this condition can see a drastic improvement in their symptoms without it being reflected in their hormone levels. While hormone levels are important for tracking and treatment, I’ve always been a proponent of equally valuing symptom burden as a major indicator for progress in managing this disease. Takeaway: Results in decreased thyroid volume, weight loss, and symptom management indicate improved thyroid status, despite paradoxical results in thyroid hormone parameters.

How do these results compare to the results of the first AIP Hashimoto’s pilot study?

There are two major differences between the interventions used in these studies. First, the original AIP Hashimoto’s study used a 6-week transition phase and a 4-week elimination phase [2]. This study did not use a transition phase and had a much longer elimination phase of 12-weeks. Second, the original AIP Hashimoto’s study implemented small changes in lifestyle areas like sleep, stress-management, movement, and connection. This study focused only on the dietary side of AIP. 

Both studies saw similar results in terms of symptom burden and improvement of quality of life for patients with Hashimoto’s. In the original AIP Hashimoto’s study, medications were titrated based on thyroid hormone levels and they did not see any changes in hormone or antibody levels, although they did see a trend for reduced medication need by the end of the study [2]. 

Measures tested between the two studies differed a little. The original AIP Hashimoto’s study did not test anthropometric changes, thyroid volume, or the nutrient comparison of the diets, but they did measure a marker of inflammation, hs-CRP (which decreased by 29%) [2]. This was not included in the Polish study. Takeaway: This new AIP Hashimoto’s study adds to our knowledge about AIP’s efficacy in terms of nutrient density, possibility to decrease thyroid volume, and weight loss. 

What about the changes in thyroid antibodies? 

Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease for which two antibodies are known. This study found an increase in anti-TPO and a decrease in anti-Tg, although these results did not meet statistical significance (meaning the result could not be differentiated from chance 1 out of 20 times). 

I want to share my personal view on antibodies based on review of research on this topic and my clinical experience working with Hashimoto’s patients. First, there is research associating antibodies with a higher symptom burden and lower quality of life for Hashimoto’s patients; there is also research showing that antibody levels are not correlated with symptoms. My observation as a clinician is that antibodies are helpful for diagnosis and in the early stages of healing, but do not always line up with symptom burden reported by the patient. I’m an advocate for having them tested and tracked, but not using them to gauge progress outside of other indicators of thyroid optimization (like symptoms or hormone levels). Takeaway: Antibodies should not be a primary marker of disease burden for patients with Hashimoto’s. 

This is the second quality study showing AIP is effective as a dietary intervention for managing symptoms that come with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I’m really impressed with the work of the Polish team that put this together, especially their attention to nutrient-density and customized meal plans. The addition of thyroid ultrasounds as well as the longer duration of the study are very helpful in understanding more about the physical changes possible as well as the timeline over which patients can expect to see results.

If you or a loved one has Hashimoto’s, I hope you learned some great takeaways from this review! 

References 

The post AIP Research Update: A Hashimoto’s AIP Study from Poland appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

In January, a new option for the elimination phase of the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)  was announced: Modified AIP Elimination. If you are looking for the exact details of which foods are included and avoided in both Core and Modified AIP, don’t miss What is AIP: The Definitive Guide which has been completely updated.

A quick summary of the reasons why Modified AIP was added as an elimination option:

If you’d like to read more about why AIP was updated, the research process behind making the update, be sure to read Announcing Modified AIP: A 2024 Update to the Autoimmune Protocol.

The founding mission here at Autoimmune Wellness has been to provide free resources for anyone who wants to embark on AIP. Since 2012, we’ve been delivering a resource library with food lists, meal plans, and other materials as a part of our AIP Quick Start Guide email series. Since inception, over 200,000 of you have downloaded these materials!

With the 2024 update to the Autoimmune Protocol, it was a prime opportunity to take a look at this resource library and give it a comprehensive update. Not only have all of the prior resources been edited and redesigned, but new materials have been added for the new Modified AIP elimination (including dedicated food lists, a meal plan, and reintroduction materials). 

Here is a list of what is included in the updated Autoimmune Wellness Resource Library:

All of these materials are presented as beautifully-designed .pdf files that you can read on your computer, e-reader, or other digital device. They can also be printed at home. 

1. If you are a subscriber to the Autoimmune Wellness newsletter, you should have an email in your inbox with download links to each resource in the library. 

2. If you are not yet a subscriber, you can sign up here and receive the AIP Quick Start email series, in which you will be sent the resources in a series of emails over the course of 6 days. 

3. If you only want specific resources, you can sign up to receive them individually by opting in using the following links: 

Are you a practitioner that uses AIP in your practice and would like an extended library of AIP resources to use with your patients or clients? Be sure to consider taking the AIP Certified Coach Practitioner Training Program, where you can learn best practices for implementing and personalizing AIP for the population you serve. Graduates are granted a license to use a collection of 50+ handouts directly with their clients, including assessments, journals, troubleshooting materials, and more. 

If you’d like to hear me talk through these materials, listen to the podcast below:

Thank you for being a member of the Autoimmune Wellness community, and I sincerely hope these resources help you, your friends, or your loved ones embark on AIP easily and successfully! 

The post Core & Modified AIP: An Updated AIP Resource Library! appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

I wanted to introduce you to the newest AIP cookbook on the scene, Meals You Deserve by Kris King!

Many of you likely recognize Kris as one of the recipe contributors for Autoimmune Wellness (you can view her impressive AIP library of recipes on the site here!). Since the blog has become an archive, Kris has put her talent to good use in creating an ebook of recipes for the AIP community to continue to enjoy.

I sat down with Kris to record a podcast to talk about her story of healing using AIP, the process of writing an ebook, her favorite AIP cooking hacks, and more! You can tune in by using the podcast player at the bottom of this post.

The post Introducing Meals You Deserve by Kris King appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Since inception in 2011, the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) has not undergone any major updates or changes and has existed as originally conceived by experts and used by the autoimmune community. Today, that is changing with the announcement of a new option: Modified AIP Elimination. This post serves to provide the rationale behind this change as well as provide links for learning more about the new protocol.

First, let’s discuss some AIP history and what led to these changes. Originally, Sarah Ballantyne, PhD. wrote extensively about and refined the protocol on her blog and in her books, which formed the foundations of the AIP protocol and movement. These foundations led to collaboration between leaders in the AIP community in the creation of the AIP Certified Coach Practitioner Training, serving to educate healthcare providers in best practices for using AIP with their clients and patients. 

Additionally, Sarah’s research and writing sparked interest from the medical community to formally study the efficacy of AIP for various autoimmune conditions, including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis. While medical research into the efficacy of AIP is still in its infancy, early results have shown promise at helping those with autoimmune disease achieve a higher quality of life, less symptom burden, and need less medication (you can read a review of all the results here). 

Now that there is an emerging body of research into the efficacy of AIP, as well as a large group of practitioners with many collective years of expertise in AIP implementation and customization, it is time for analysis to see what is working and what could be made better for the next wave of individuals looking to embark on the protocol. Here are the major reasons why the Autoimmune Protocol is being updated now:

In each of the AIP medical studies, a 6-week, gradual transition was used to ease patients into the elimination phase, which was then maintained for 4 more weeks. In the AIP IBD Study, 73% of patients achieved clinical remission at week 5, which was 1 week before the full elimination was complete. In this study, all of these patients then maintained clinical remission throughout the duration of the study and no additional patients reached clinical remission after this point. What this tells us is that it is likely the earliest eliminations, specifically, that were most responsible for the favorable results and that the full elimination phase may not have been necessary for all of them. 

The Autoimmune Protocol has now been in widespread use in the practitioner community for many years through AIP Certified Coach. Nearly 1,000 healthcare providers from all types of backgrounds and specialties have been trained and certified to implement AIP in their work. In surveying the graduate community, AIP Certified Coaches have told us that they often find the original protocol is more restrictive than necessary and they are often modifying the list of eliminations to suit their clients’ and patients’ needs. They also report that they continue to see good results using a modified or less restricted elimination protocol.

When AIP was conceived there was very little research into the efficacy of elimination diets to help manage autoimmune disease, especially conducted directly with humans. In the last decade, this has changed and many studies have been published using different elimination protocols for specific autoimmune conditions, especially gluten-free and dairy-free diets. The promising results from studies using fewer eliminations shows that for some patients and conditions, progress can be made with a simpler approach. 

Food access and budget have always been major barriers to individuals implementing the Autoimmune Protocol, both on their own or in working with a coach. Some patients are simply not able to source or afford the ingredients needed to implement a full elimination, and others don’t have the time to prepare the entirety of their meals from scratch. In this case, we’ve long recommended modifying the protocol to accommodate those facing these barriers, but providing an official version of the protocol that is more budget-friendly and accessible will allow even more people to find healing through AIP. 

Updating AIP in 2024 has come out of consultation with many key players in the AIP community over the course of a few months. We interviewed researchers who performed the AIP medical studies and research in other similar areas, as well as experts and writers in the area of autoimmune health. We also surveyed and interviewed key members of the AIP Certified Coach community who predominantly work with autoimmune patients or clients. Lastly, we considered recent scientific evidence for elimination diets, food allergies/sensitivities, and reintroduction protocols in the new approach. 

What we learned from this exploration was two-fold: first, that the original protocol still had high value and efficacy in both research and practice. And second, that many researchers and AIP Certified Coaches were confident that some patients would be best served by a less-restrictive option. This led to the creation of two separate options for the elimination phase which are detailed below.

Going forward, there are now two versions of the Elimination Phase, to be known as AIP Core Elimination and AIP Modified Elimination.

The original protocol, as used in the AIP medical studies and original AIP literature is not changing and will now be known as AIP Core Elimination. The intention is to preserve the original protocol for research comparison and to use with patients or clients who either need a stricter approach or can implement it easily (due to support, finances, or time). 

The new protocol, a less-strict and more accessible version will be known as AIP Modified Elimination. This new protocol incorporates what we’ve learned about foods that are well-tolerated in the autoimmune community, and is simplified for ease of implementation, budget, and accessibility.

You can read more about which foods are included and avoided in both Core AIP and Modified AIP Elimination protocols at the updated Definitive Guide to AIP. 

This then leads to the question of which protocol a person should choose when they embark on the Autoimmune Protocol. That depends! 

The goal of AIP has always been to discover the least-restrictive dietary approach that produces the best health for each person. With this in mind, Modified AIP is an ideal starting point for most people as it is more affordable, accessible, takes less time to implement, and still removes the most potentially-problematic foods. Ideally, modified AIP produces the desired result and then a person can move on to the reintroduction phase, sparing them a drawn-out elimination and reintroduction process. 

There are a few reasons why a person would choose Core AIP to begin with. They may have a condition, like IBD, where research indicates that the elimination phase has a good chance of producing results quickly. Or they may have another condition that is potentially serious and are highly motivated to transition and implement to find relief. Lastly, they may not experience some of the barriers that make Core AIP difficult to implement – like a lack of cooking skill, financial flexibility, or support at home. 

If you are looking for resources to start Core or Modified AIP, click here or on the image below to get our AIP Quicklstart Guide sent to your inbox, including food lists, meal plans, and more!

Is anything changing about the original AIP protocol?

No, the original protocol is now simply known as “Core AIP” for differentiation. All of the foods eliminated, included, timeline, and reintroduction procedure remain the same. See the updated Definitive Guide to AIP for food lists and more information.

Who has the right to update AIP? 

There is no one expert that owns the rights to determine what the AIP protocol entails, and Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, whose work formed the foundation of the AIP movement, has moved on from researching and working with the autoimmune community. This is why this update is coming by consensus from the leaders of the AIP Certified Coach community as well as researchers who have studied the protocol in medical studies.

What happens to all of the recipes and resources labeled AIP?

All of the recipes, meal plans, and other resources created for Core AIP also apply to Modified AIP, since Core AIP simply has more eliminations than Modified AIP. As more resources for Modified AIP are created, a distinction will emerge and each person navigating either protocol should be careful to check recipes for compliant ingredients. Be sure to bookmark the updated Definitive Guide to AIP for reference as it will always contain the most current protocol information and food lists.

How does this change the reintroduction protocol?

The reintroduction protocol following Core AIP is the same as it was originally, and the reintroduction protocol following Modified AIP simply starts further along in the process since many foods in various reintroduction stages are already included during the elimination phase. You can learn more at the updated Reintroduction Guide.

This is a big update, and one that is bound to increase the amount of people who are positively affected by embarking on the Autoimmune Protocol. If you have any questions that aren’t addressed here, feel free to post them in the comments! 

If you are looking to get started with AIP, you will want to sign up to get the AIP Quick Start Guide. Just pop your email in the box below and we will send you the following resources over the course of a week:

You will then be subscribed to our occasional newsletter, where we deliver free, exclusive content in the form of tips, articles, recipes, news, and more. By signing up, you will be the first to know about what is happening in the autoimmune community!

The post Announcing Modified AIP: A 2024 Update to the Autoimmune Protocol appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Hi Everyone! 

Mickey here… I hope this post finds you enjoying a peaceful and healthy New Year holiday! I wanted to take a moment to give you a heads up about an event coming up that is relevant to the AIP community as well as make an announcement about AIP Certified Coach.

First… The 2023 AIP Summit is scheduled for January 9-15! 

If you are looking to learn more about healing with the Autoimmune Protocol, directly from AIP Certified Coaches, the AIP Summit is for you! 

Each day starts at 10AM EST with a live welcome and then attendees can watch the day’s prepared presentations in any order and at whatever time works in their schedule for the following 24 hours. Each of the presentations features at least one AIP Certified Coach and the topic aligns with that coach’s expertise. 

So what types of presentations will you find at the AIP Summit? There are cooking demonstrations, deep dives into science or specific conditions, discussions about the impact of lifestyle factors, best practices for integrating AIP into life in the real world, and more. Additionally, attendees can submit questions after watching the presentations to be answered live during a Q&A panel the following day.

Since 2020, the AIP Summit has served over 15,000 people looking to learn more about AIP. Whether you are new to the protocol, or a seasoned traveler on the autoimmune journey, you are sure to learn some tips to help support your best health, straight from the experts! 

>> Sign up here to attend the AIP Summit! 

Second… a big announcement regarding AIP Certified Coach! 

I am honored to announce that Jaime Hartman, FNTP will be taking over as co-teacher and collaborator for AIP Certified Coach, the practitioner training program we founded in 2017 to help all types of healthcare providers integrate AIP into the work they do. 

This partnership should come as no surprise, since Jaime has been a pillar of the AIP community since the very beginning, was a part of the first cohort of AIP Certified Coach, and brings her rich clinical experience and educational background to the program. 

Together, Jaime and I are engaged in a ground-up remodel of the AIP Certified Coach, to be launched in time for the usual Spring enrollment in 2023. While the Autoimmune Protocol itself has not changed meaningfully since the program was created, we are re-writing and delivering all lectures to incorporate new information (like medical study results!) and additional perspectives we’ve gained. 

If you are a healthcare practitioner of any kind (we train health coaches, nutritional therapists, nutritionists, dietitians, physical therapists, fitness professionals, bodyworkers, nurses, physician’s assistants, medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, and more!), we would love to have you join us in the 2023 class, enrolling February 15 for a March 6 start date. 

>> Sign up to be notified of the details and enrollment opening for AIP Certified Coach here! 

In health, 

Mickey

The post AIP in 2023: An Announcement & an Invitation! appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Today I’m sharing that after 10 years helping build and lead this movement and seven years at Autoimmune Welln­­­ess and AIP Certified Coach with Mickey, I have decided to step away from my work in the AIP space.

In a general sense, I am making this decision because I believe that slowing down and practicing community care are the next right things for me. I am so proud of everything Mickey and I have built and all the ways we’ve been able to serve the AIP community, but I don’t believe that my leadership in this space is the most valuable way I can contribute at this point.

To clarify, I still believe AIP is an incredibly powerful tool in the autoimmune management toolbox. I think that the future of AIP is bright and has already changed the standard of healthcare for autoimmune patients. After a decade of this work, I’d love to contribute to different conversations about health and wellness and support new voices ready to lead with fresh approaches to the AIP movement and new takes on the autoimmune healing journey.

My personal vision for the work I did in the AIP community was always to empower others so they could courageously contribute their voices to a revolutionary shift in the standard of autoimmune healthcare. And it’s right in our tagline here at Autoimmune Wellness that together, Mickey and I had a vision to build community. There are many, many voices now and the community is thriving. I think those visions are realized and now I’m making space for new visions.

I’m not entirely certain about all the details of my next steps, but if you’d like to follow my writing or learn a little more about the personal aspects of the decision to step away, you can find me here on Substack.

After I shared my decision with Mickey this past summer, we started to consider the best way forward for Autoimmune Wellness. We decided that turning it into an archive was the right path.

As an archive, all the current Autoimmune Wellness content, from groundbreaking research to definitive guides on the AIP basics, from practical how-to articles to hopeful stories of recovery, from the podcast to the hundreds of recipes, will continue to exist as a kind of dependable digital library to serve the autoimmune community. The resources on the site itself and the email auto-responder which offers free downloadable tools will be available to anyone looking for support in their healing journey.

New content will be limited and focused on opportunities to leverage the site and subscriber list to amplify the work of others in the Autoimmune Protocol space or share new and relevant events or research for those utilizing nutrition and lifestyle approaches in their autoimmune disease management.

Autoimmune Wellness social media accounts will also continue but will be used to amplify information and events important to the AIP community, share the work of other AIP recipe creators, spotlight AIP Certified Coach alumni, or to occasionally broadcast live interviews with autoimmune experts.

In particular, Mickey is looking forward to ramping up on the AIP research front and will serve as curator and steward of the Autoimmune Wellness archive and social media presence going forward.

Mickey will continue to teach AIP Certified Coach and train new AIP coaches from across the health and wellness spectrum. Angie will be stepping away, but a dynamic new partnership is in the works and will be announced soon. If you are an AIP Certified Coach alum, look for emails with more details from Mickey soon.

If you are a provider interested in training, join the interest list here. If you are looking for AIP coaching support, find a coach at the directory here.

We had no idea what would happen when we started, but our intuition said to go for it. Thank you for also believing there was something here worth growing. We are deeply, sincerely grateful to all of you for being our readers and cheerleaders. For literally supporting us by clicking on this blog, buying our books, enrolling in our programs, and helping spread AIP.

We also want to acknowledge, with the deepest sense of gratitude, the team who helped grow and sustain Autoimmune Wellness over the years: Grace Heerman, Alicia Green, and Jordan Taylor.

We have also had an amazing core recipe and article team over the years who took the site to new levels with their contributions: Dr. Rob Abbott, Sarah Kolman, Sophie Van Tiggelen, Christina Feindel, Kate Jay, Alaena Haber, Kelsey McReynolds, Wendi Washington-Hunt, Beth Chen, Indira Pullidath, Kris King, and Erin Shearer.

It’s a privilege to have come this far and have a platform that now has long-term value for our fellow autoimmune patients. We know the legacy of our work represented in this archive, only possible because of your support and the work of our team, will continue to benefit and sustain the AIP movement well into the future.

If you’d like to listen to us discuss this decision, we uploaded a short episode of The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast that you can listen to below: 

The post A Special Message From Angie appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

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I have HUGE news today–I’m coming out with a brand-new AIP cookbook!

It’s called The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen and it releases March 2019 (details below on how you can order a signed, pre-release copy!).

Angie and I both know from personal experience that being successful on AIP is much more than simply eliminating foods. Healing is both quickened and deepened when you ensure that in addition to avoiding your food triggers, your make an effort to maximize nutrient density in the diet.

But what exactly is nutrient density? Simply put, it is the amount of micronutrients a food contains relative to the energy it provides. Not only does my new book teach you about getting good nutrition in an approachable way, but I have developed all of the recipes so you’ll be maximizing nutrient density with every bite.

In order to create a book I believe in and maintain complete control over the content, I am self-publishing The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen. By pre-ordering your copy directly from me, you get some awesome perks!

Be one of the first to get your hands on The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen! Only a limited number of books are available for pre-order so reserve your copy now!

The post Announcing The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen by Mickey Trescott! appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Welcome to The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast Season 3: Real Food on a Budget. We’re dedicating this season to discussing an aspect of natural healing that often gets left out of the conversation: affordability. We’ll be chatting with experts and peers from the AIP community about how to best balance money with your health priorities.

This season is brought to you by our title sponsor, The Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA), a holistic nutrition school that trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants with an emphasis on bioindividual nutrition. Learn more about them by visiting NutritionalTherapy.com, or read about our experiences going through their NTP and NTC programs in our comparison article.

Season 3 Episode 8 is our final episode of the season! In this episode, we’re giving the floor to five members of the autoimmune community to hear their number one piece of advice when it comes to saving money on the AIP.

Since these recommendations can be so individual, we wanted to see what was getting the AIP community actual mileage when they put it into practice. Scroll down for the full episode transcript!

If you’d like to have our podcasts sent directly to your device, subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher!

If you’d like to download the .mp3, you can do so by following this link.

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Mickey Trescott: Welcome to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast, a resource for those seeking to live well with chronic illness. I’m Mickey Trescott, a nutritional therapy practitioner living well with autoimmune disease in Oregon. I’m the author of The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, and I’m using diet and lifestyle to best manage both Hashimoto’s and Celiac disease.

Angie Alt: And I’m Angie Alt. I’m a certified health coach and nutritional therapy consultant, also living well with autoimmune disease in Maryland. I’m the author of The Alternative Autoimmune Cookbook, and I’m using diet and lifestyle to best manage my 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.AutoimmuneWellness.com, where our collective mission is seeking wellness and building community.

We also wrote a book called The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook together that serves as a do-it-yourself guidebook to living well with chronic illness.

Mickey Trescott: If you’re looking for more information about the autoimmune protocol, make sure to sign up for our newsletter at autoimmunewellness.com, so we can send you our free quick start guide. It contains printable AIP food lists, a 2-week food plan, a 90-minute batch cooking video, a mindset video, and food reintroduction guides.

This season of the podcast, real food on a budget is brought to you by our title sponsor, The Nutritional Therapy Association.

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. Onto the podcast!

Topics:

1. Mitch Hankins, Instinctual Wellbeing [3:46]

Angie Alt: Hi everyone! Angie here. Welcome back to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast, season 3. How are you doing, Mickey?

Mickey Trescott: I’m feeling a little bit sad because we’re almost done with this podcast series, and it’s been really fun.

Angie Alt: I know. This was a really new topic for us to explore so in-depth. And it’s been pretty rewarding to talk to all these folks.

Mickey Trescott: I agree.

Angie Alt: So today we have a really fun episode for you guys. As you know, with this season of the podcast we’ve been on a mission to dig into the nitty gritty of how to make eating a nourishing, real foods diet both affordable and sustainable.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. If you guys haven’t been following along, we covered the following topics in our previous episodes. We talked about sourcing affordable, highest quality meats, vegetables, and fats. Tips and tricks for effective meal planning, batch cooking, and minimizing food waste. Creative food sourcing options, like buying clubs and online shopping. How to minimize waste and reimagine leftovers. Creating a food budget and prioritizing your food spending. And also how to do AIP on an extremely low budget, like fixed income or food stamps.

I think we’ve done a really good job covering these bases. If you guys haven’t heard any of the episodes in this series, make sure to go back and listen to them. There’s a ton of really great info there. Info that I think is new territory for our movement our community. It’s been really fun.

Angie Alt: Right. We hope there’s something there for everybody. So, if there has been one recurring message this season, it has been that not every one of these recommendations is going to work for everyone, obviously. We’re all at different places with our health, our finances, our support systems and even our access based on the areas where we live. We thought it would be a good idea to round out this season of the podcast by devoting a whole episode to chatting with some of the members of the AIP blogging community about their number one money saving tip.

Since these recommendations can be so individual, we wanted to see what was getting the AIP community actual mileage when they put it into practice.

Mickey Trescott: Alright. So let’s move on and talk to our first guest.

So you guys; the first community member that we’re going to chat with today is Mitch Hankins from the blog Instinctual Wellbeing. Mitch, what is your number one tip for saving money on AIP?

Mitch Hankins: There are so many good ones. When my wife and I were kind of going through financial stuff a few years ago, we definitely had to get creative with sticking to an AIP and whole foods diet on a very limited budget. And very quickly, I think the thing we realized that was most helpful was not being afraid to grocery shop hop; or grocery store hop.

Basically, what we ended up doing is just taking note of maybe two or even three grocery stores in our area, and what products did we regularly use from each of those, and finding which store had the best prices for that particular item. Maybe we’d get a certain percentage of things from Whole Foods. And then for us, we’d drive down the road and hit up Trader Joe’s for 30 minutes and grab some things there. Sometimes we’d go to the Asian mart to pick up a few items there, like coconut milk and even some sweet potato noodles and things of that nature.

So, really just learning where we could get the best deals. And then taking advantage of that. One thing I would say; we did live in a pretty large metropolitan area, and I know some people don’t. So one thing you could do if you live in a more rural or smaller town, could be to do that same thing, but online.

I know there’s lots of great shops nowadays online where you can buy AIP products, and even meats. You could meet your local farmers in your area. But again, it all comes back to this putting pieces together of a puzzle, instead of just trying to get everything at one store, and fit that into your budget when it might not work as well.

Angie Alt: I love this tip, Mitch. Because actually my husband and I do it, too. And again, you know, we’re lucky to live in a kind of urban/suburban area. So we have Whole Foods and we have Trader Joe’s and we have all the places. So we can kind of hop around. But it really allows us to take advantage of the lowest price on an item in whatever store. So I totally agree that this is a smart one.

Mickey Trescott: And a lot of stores have rotating sales, too. So by going to multiple stores, you can actually see; you have a greater chance of being able to pick up some of the things they have on sale that are maybe time sensitive. And another thing, is that actually grocery stores make their money by putting certain things on sale, and then keeping other staples at a high price to basically round it out. It’s almost like; it’s not really cheating, but you’re paying for that convenience of getting every single thing at the same store. You’ll notice that certain things are marked down to kind of lure you to shop there, and then other staples are right at the highest price. That’s how they make their money. Great tip, Mitch.

Mitch Hankins: Absolutely. And just one other note on that; I’m glad you brought up the sales thing. Because some grocery stores will have regular, like weekly sales. For instance, during that period of our lives, we would go to our Whole Foods and have rotisserie chicken Wednesday. Because every Wednesday at our particular Whole Foods, rotisserie chickens were $2 off normal.

And then they had a lot of other things. I think for a while they were doing fresh salmon on Tuesdays was like $2 or $3 off per filet. So looking for those recurring deals as well. And maybe scheduling your meal plan, or scheduling your dinners around that can be helpful.

Angie Alt: Yeah. So smart. I did this even before AIP. I really would use; and Mickey and I talked about this in an earlier episode. But I would really use those flyers with the sales to plan my meals. Proactively around what stores were offering what discounts.

Mitch Hankins: Absolutely. That’s a great point.

Angie Alt: Mitch, will you let our listeners know where people can find you?

Mitch Hankins: Absolutely. My blog is InstinctualWellbeing.com. and similarly, uncreatively, my Instagram is also @InstinctualWellbeing. And Facebook is Instinctual Wellbeing. So you can find me and connect with me there. You can also shoot me an email if you really wanted to chat more about budget friendly tips, or anything, at [email protected]. That’s where you can connect with me.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. Thank you so much for chatting with us today, Mitch.

Mitch Hankins: Absolutely. Thank you!

Mickey Trescott: Next up, we’re going to chat with Sophie Van Tiggelen of A Squirrel in the Kitchen. Sophie, what is your number one tip for saving money on AIP?

Sophie Van Tiggelen: My very first tip I think that eating vegetables and fruit is very important. You need to eat as much vegetables and fruit as you can. Like, try to fill up your plate with at least three-quarters of vegetables. They are a great source of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. And the fiber content of vegetables is really important for healthy gut microflora.

So I’m always trying to eat a maximum of vegetables and fruit to have the full spectrum of nutrients. But then the problem is; how can you eat good quality vegetables and fruit on a budget without breaking the bank? So my first tip would be to eat seasonal. For example, there is no point wanting to eat delicious raspberries in the middle of winter. They are super expensive. I would advise you to try to eat fall and winter produce. Like apples, oranges, and pears. So that really helps to reduce your grocery bill.

Then I would say try to take advantage of promotions that you see in stores. And this is great, because it’s going to push you to expand your veggie repertoire, and try new things that you might now have thought about before.

I would also try to avoid fancy or exotic produce. I know that when I’m grocery shopping, I’m always attracted by those exotic and tropical fruits, because they’re all colorful and they look so good. But usually they are very expensive.

Also, I try to avoid special vegetables or unusual vegetables that come from far away. So I would advise here to eat local. It’s less expensive. They come from your neighborhood; the farmers around you. And it’s cheaper to produce them.

You can usually find local produce at your health food store. Here in Colorado, I like either Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. Or you can also try to find a farmer’s market in your area. That’s a very good way to eat local produce.

To keep your budget low, I would also advise to think about the food return you’re going to get when you buy something. Try to stretch your dollars, and stretch your meals. For example, I love to buy spaghetti squash because I know they will go a long way. And I will be able to use them for several meals. It’s the same for cabbage, collard greens, carrots, broccoli, or sweet potatoes. They are easy to prepare. They reheat well. And you can stretch them for several meals.

Another big one for me is to be smart and to avoid waste. I try to never, ever throw food away. And before I buy something new or start on a new vegetable, I will make sure that I eat everything I have prepared. All these little pieces that are left over in your fridge; every two to three days I will put everything together and reheat the plate and just eat it. Because we can lose a lot of money, also, in the long run by just throwing food away.

Angie Alt: Yeah, these are great tips, Sophie!

Sophie Van Tiggelen: And I have one last point about the quality of the food that you buy. Do you have to buy organic? Let’s face it; it’s not always possible to buy organic. We know it’s better for you because you want to avoid pesticides because they have a negative impact on your health and immune system. But it’s not always possible. So I would advise people to refer to the famous Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 lists, and try to do the best you can. And if you have to buy conventional, that’s just fine. It’s alright. It’s better to eat conventional vegetables than just go to fast food. So yeah, these are my tips.

Angie Alt: This is a lady after our own heart, Mickey.

Mickey Trescott: I know. I love it.

Angie Alt: They’re all so good, and I love the focus on budgeting around the veggies. You know, we tend to think of the meats in this diet as being the big hefty expenditure on the budget, and that’s true. But, you can really get out of control with the veggies, too. Like you were talking about, Sophie. Buying berries out of season. You could practically need a credit card for it!

Sophie Van Tiggelen: Yes, definitely.

Angie Alt: Sophie, will you let our listeners know where people can find you?

Sophie Van Tiggelen: Oh, yes, certainly. Everyone can find me first on my blog, which is A Squirrel in the Kitchen. I’m also very active on Instagram and Facebook. You can find me there. And I would like to mention that I’m very excited about my upcoming second cookbook, which is coming out June 12th. It’s called The Autoimmune Protocol Made Simple. And it’s a whole new set of fresh and appealing recipes for the autoimmune protocol.

Mickey Trescott: We’re so excited about it, Sophie. Thanks so much for talking with us today.

Sophie Van Tiggelen: Thank you.

Mickey Trescott: A final word from our title sponsor this season, the Nutritional Therapy Association. We wanted to take a moment to publicly thank NTA for graciously sponsoring this podcast season; real food on a budget. Producing, editing, and transcribing this podcast is a big job for both us and our team, and their support means we can offer all of this to you guys at no cost.

Angie Alt: We also want to thank them for the quality of both the NTP and the NTC programs that Mickey and I have benefited from, and the incredible community of coaches they have trained that are truly changing the world.

The NTP and NTC programs changed our lives, and we’re talking about more than career here, you guys. Of course, the training and education took us to a whole other level in our work; but the life-changing stuff is in feeling you’re part of a tribe who cares deeply about health and wellness. It’s in joining and association filled with intelligent people who are changing the way we do health care. And it’s in the pride that comes from knowing you and your classmates, soon to be colleagues, are part of a cutting-edge profession. So yeah; life-changing.

Mickey Trescott: And if any of you guys are looking into transforming your career, or simply learning more so that you can better help yourself and your community, check out everything the Nutritional Therapy Association has to offer at the website www.NutritionalTherapy.com.

Angie Alt: Next up, we are going to chat with Anne Marie Garland from Grass-fed Salsa. Anne Marie; what is your number one tip for saving money on AIP?

Anne Marie Garland: This is something that my husband and I have been doing for probably four years now. We try to do one meal a day that is vegetarian. And we do this for a couple of reasons, but primarily it started for budgetary reasons. And we found that it works best when we do it for dinner. So if we have protein with breakfast; like animal protein with breakfast and lunch. And then dinner ends up being entirely vegetarian.

And for us, it makes us feel more energized throughout the day to have protein with breakfast and lunch. I also feel like it helps support my adrenals better when I have protein with breakfast and lunch. But then at dinner, because we’re eating it later in the day and then we’re going to sleep shortly after. As long as we have enough protein and enough fat, we seem to be really satiated. And the bonus there is that we’re actually eating a ton of veggies during that meal.

We’ll make; I don’t even know. One or two pounds of beet fries. That’s one of our favorite ways to do this. And beet fries are something that I feel like most people kind of have a negative opinion about beets. But if you scrub them really well, they don’t taste as earthy as they do if you just kind of cook them right off; without washing and without scrubbing them.

So we scrub them really well, and then we coat them in bacon grease. And I think the bacon grease is the trick with this. It helps them get really crispy, and not feel really soggy. And we just kind of cut them into fries type shapes. And then we just bake them like that. So we coat them in bacon grease, put salt and maybe some chives on them. Chives is a really good addition. And then we can make that with an avocado mayo. I have an avocado mayo that’s egg-free on my recipes. So we’ll just use that. It’s kind of like an aioli dipping sauce for them. It’s really good. That’s pretty much our trick.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. I mean, Anne Marie, I think this is a super savvy hack. Because we all know, from talking about budgeting for AIP and food sourcing, that high quality meat is often the most expensive part about doing this diet. And we actually get a lot of confusion from people that think they need to be eating large amounts of protein every single meal.

I think for some people; like I was vegan for 10 years before I transitioned to AIP. So there was a phase where I felt like I was eating a lot of meat, because nutritionally I needed it. But after about a year of that, I really backed off a lot. And I did something similar to you. Having one meal a day meat free. For me, often it’s lunch. Different strokes for different folks. Whatever works for people. But just not having to have that meat prepared; either the energy to actually make it, and also not having to pay for the protein for that meal. And then getting all those veggies. I think it’s a win for all angles.

Angie Alt: My favorite part of this is the amount of veggies you’re going to get in. Right? You’re talking about one to two pounds of beets, along with other vegetables, in the form of avocado mayo or whatever you’re having at that particular meal. You’re winning the veggie contest.

Anne Marie Garland: Totally. And we usually do make it along side a nonstarchy veggie, as well. So maybe we’ll have it with a salad. Or we’ll sauté some greens. Green beans is also another one we like to bake along with the beet fries.

Mickey Trescott: Really cool. I like your suggestion, too, of kind of front loading the protein. Just because that’s actually a nice way to go with your digestive flow throughout the day, and also blood sugar. So a lot us find that more of the starchy carbs at the end of the day with dinner can actually help us sleep. And some people actually don’t really digest protein that well towards the end of the day, just because they’ve got so much food in their system and their body’s already kind of working on all that other stuff. So I can see why a lighter dinner without the protein might actually help there. I think I’m going to try it.

Anne Marie Garland: Yeah, that makes sense too, for me, since my diagnosis is celiac. Maybe just with my digestion, it works really well.

Mickey Trescott: Well thank you so much, Anne Marie, for sharing that tip with us. Will you let our listeners know where they can find you?

Anne Marie Garland: Yes. You can find me anywhere on social media and on the internet at Grass-fed Salsa. And on the website it’s just GrassfedSalsa.com.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. Thanks so much.

Anne Marie Garland: Thank you.

Angie Alt: Next up, we’re going to chat with Samantha Jo Teague of the Unskilled Cavewoman. Samantha Jo, what is your number one tip for saving money on AIP?

Samantha Jo Teague: I love using dried herbs. Instead of spending about $7 or so on a tiny little jar of organic dried parsley or basil, I can get a one-pound bulk bag from your various online venders from anywhere from $15-20.

Mickey Trescott: Where online are you shopping for your bulk herbs?

Samantha Jo Teague: I tend to bounce between either iHerb, VitaCost, and Amazon. I’m constantly price checking and comparing. Because if you’re going to buy a handful of spices, and as long as you meet their shipping requirement. Because I like to get the free shipping, too, otherwise it’s not really worth it. You bounce between those three vendors, and you can find really good prices.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. We talked a little bit earlier in this season about shopping for food online, but we didn’t mention iHerb or VitaCost, which I think both of those I’ve used a little bit in the past. And it’s awesome to see that you’re finding that they have really good prices on bulk spices.

Samantha Jo Teague: Definitely. It saves a ton of money. Especially when you season everything, and you’re cooking almost every day. Or doing bulk cooking every few days. You end up using a lot more of those dried spices than you would think you do. And having that extra, you just store it in an airtight bag while you fill up the tiny jar again. I like to reuse the jars, too. When that’s empty you just fill it on up.

And I also like to pull from the larger bag, and I’ll make blends. Like an Italian blend. Or an herbs de Provence. Or Greek seasoning. And you keep those on hand for when you need to make something even more quickly, and you don’t want to drag out #allthejars.

Angie Alt: I love it. I love the tip on reusing the jars, too. I was just about to ask you how you kind of store everything and if you had any tips there. So I love the reusing of the jars. And you’re totally right. On AIP, you really rely on these herbs for the real taste and pleasure of the food, right. So we go through a ton of it.

Samantha Jo Teague: Oh yes. Tons and tons. And I like using fresh herbs, and fresh ginger, and things like that. But if you’re going through a flare. Or even if you’re just forgetful or busy, quite often those tend to go bad quickly in the fridge and then you end up throwing it away. And with the dried herbs, those aren’t going to go bad for a long time.

Mickey Trescott: Thank you so much for that tip, Samantha Jo. Will you let our listeners know where people can find you?

Samantha Jo Teague: Yes ma’am. I blog over at theUnskilledCavewoman.com. I’m also on Instagram and Facebook as the Unskilled Cavewoman. And occasionally I do a little tweeting on over at Cavewoman Skills. It was too long to write the Unskilled Cavewoman on Twitter.

Mickey Trescott: Well thank you so much for having this chat with us.

Samantha Jo Teague: Thanks! It was fun talking to you ladies.

Mickey Trescott: Alright you guys, last up we’re going to be chatting with Kerry Jeffery of Emotional Autoimmunity. So Kerry, what is your number one tip for saving money on AIP?

Kerry Jeffery: My number one tip for everybody is that I use what is called minced meat, here in Australia. I think you guys call it ground meat. It’s really cheap. It’s really versatile for stir fries, one pan meals, burgers. All different sorts of things. And what I really love about using the minced meat, or the ground meat, is that if you’re marinating, like for doing a stir fry, and using things like ginger and garlic. If you massage that through the meat and leave that for a couple of hours, then the flavor really goes in so you get a big flavor bang for very little expense.

And the other thing I wanted to mention, too, is most supermarkets mark down their meat when it’s getting close to the use by date. So I have a couple of supermarkets that I stalk pretty regularly. Particularly if they’ve got things like organic chicken thighs or drumsticks or other cuts of meat. Then I buy a whole lot, put them in the freezer, and that keeps us going for a while.

One of the biggest tricks I found was, I was losing track of what was in my freezer. Especially if I got a big tray of steaks or meat or something, and I was wrapping it up individually to freeze. I would forget what it was. So now I’m really good at putting a little label on. You can even just write what the meat is on a piece of paper, sort of wrap that up in a layer of the Glad wrap or whatever you’re freezing it in, with the date. And that means you save a lot of waste. Because there’s nothing worse than going to the freezer and finding this mystery meat, and you don’t know how long it’s been there for. Or even what it is or how to use it. So there are the tips that I really recommend for everybody, if you want to save a bit of money on AIP.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome! Kerry, I can definitely resonate with that recommendation to just make sure that you’re labeling. I know a lot of us; we’ve talked a lot about the leftovers, and just making sure that we’re using up all of that before we buy more. But the same applies with the freezer. And I think sometimes people think that if you throw something in your freezer, it will last forever, so it doesn’t really matter if you’re not organized or aren’t tracking it. But things do go bad in the freezer, especially if they’ve been there for a while. If you pull it out, and you’re like; what is this? I don’t know how long it’s been here. You’re much more likely to be like; I think I might need to toss this. Right?

Kerry Jeffery: Exactly. And every now and then, just plan to go through your freezer, and just use everything before you buy everything else. Because the trap I fell into was, I kept buying this meat, and then putting it in the freezer on the top. And I lost track of what was down on the bottom. And then when I did decide to do a big clean out in the freezer; I had meat that had been there over a year! So it was a massive waste. So it’s just a really good idea to keep track of what you’ve got in the freezer. And use it all up, and then start again.

Angie Alt: Right. I imagine this helps you rotate the meat pretty quickly.

Kerry Jeffery: It does.

Angie Alt: Using the oldest stuff first. I also love the tip about the minced meat; AKA ground meat. Definitely way back, even before I started AIP, the ground meat was the lifesaver.

Kerry Jeffery: For sure. Another thing, a trap that I fell into earlier in the day was buying what I thought were the veggies and stuff that I had to eat, like kale, because it’s so nutritious. And I even do that now. I bought a big bunch of kale that I was going to make some juice with and do some other things. And when I went to use it, it had just gone off. Because it’s unfamiliar to me.

So for people first trying AIP, don’t automatically buy stuff just because we say it’s really nutritious or you should eat that. If it’s not something that you’re actually going to eat, or if it’s something you’ve got to learn a new way to cook with, or new recipes, you’re more likely to put it off and then it’s just going to go to that big graveyard in the sky of expired veggies in your vegetable crisper.

Angie Alt: The big graveyard in the sky. Love it. Kerry, will you let our listeners know where people can find you?

Kerry Jeffery: Yes! They can find me at www.EmotionalAutoimmunity.com for my website. I’m also on Facebook. I also run a free support group for anybody who is struggling with the emotional side of life with chronic illness. And that’s called Emotional Autoimmunity Recovery Support. You can just put that into the search on Facebook and find me.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. Thank you so much for chatting with us today, Kerry.

Kerry Jeffery: You’re so welcome.

Mickey Trescott: Alright you guys, that’s it for this episode, and season, of the Autoimmune Wellness podcast. We hope you guys have learned a lot from our fellow AIP bloggers, and from this season as a whole. As always, we appreciate your support. You guys are such an engaged and passionate community, and we love being able to collaborate with and support you guys on your journeys.

Although this season of the podcast has come to a close, we have some really great ideas brewing about how we can bring value to your lives in future seasons. So make sure to keep in touch with us by signing up for our newsletter, on the blog, and following us on social media. We’ll see you guys next time.

Angie Alt: Bye!

Angie Alt: Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Autoimmune Wellness podcast. We’re honored to have you as a listener, and we hope that you’ve gained some useful information.

Mickey Trescott: Did you know that we have dozens of informative articles about living well with autoimmune disease, and over 250 elimination phase compliant recipes on our website, updated multiple times per week? Make sure to click on over to AutoimmuneWellness.com. Follow us on social media. And sign up for our newsletter to find out about all of this new content.

We’re either at Autoimmune Paleo, or at Autoimmune Wellness on any of these channels. You can sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of any page on our website. Don’t forget to connect with the AIP community by using the hashtag #AutoimmuneWellness.

Angie Alt: If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave us a review in iTunes, as this helps others find us. See you next time!

If you enjoyed the podcast, would you mind leaving us a review in iTunes? This helps introduce our work to a new audience as we climb the ranks in their system.

For the full podcast archive, click here.

The post S3 E8 – Money-Saving Tips From The AIP Community appeared first on Autoimmune Wellness.

Welcome to The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast Season 3: Real Food on a Budget. We’re dedicating this season to discussing an aspect of natural healing that often gets left out of the conversation: affordability. We’ll be chatting with experts and peers from the AIP community about how to best balance money with your health priorities.

This season is brought to you by our title sponsor, The Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA), a holistic nutrition school that trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants with an emphasis on bioindividual nutrition. Learn more about them by visiting NutritionalTherapy.com, or read about our experiences going through their NTP and NTC programs in our comparison article.

Season 3 Episode 7 is focused on how to both prioritize your food choices, and make a budget for eating this way that is sustainable longterm. Angie and Mickey share their personal stories of budgeting and managing medical expenses and debt. They also chat with guest Jenny Harris about how to modify AIP for lower budgets, and how to find local assistance for food budgeting concerns.

This is a bit of a tricky topic but we hope sharing our experiences and ideas will help you feel supported wherever you find yourself in your journey. Scroll down for the full episode transcript!

If you’d like to have our podcasts sent directly to your device, subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher!

If you’d like to download the .mp3, you can do so by following this link.

If you’d like to play the episode right now in your browser, use the player below!

Mickey Trescott: Welcome to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast, a resource for those seeking to live well with chronic illness. I’m Mickey Trescott, a nutritional therapy practitioner living well with autoimmune disease in Oregon. I’m the author of The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, and I’m using diet and lifestyle to best manage both Hashimoto’s and Celiac disease.

Angie Alt: And I’m Angie Alt. I’m a certified health coach and nutritional therapy consultant, also living well with autoimmune disease in Maryland. I’m the author of The Alternative Autoimmune Cookbook, and I’m using diet and lifestyle to best manage my 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.AutoimmuneWellness.com, where our collective mission is seeking wellness and building community.

We also wrote a book called The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook together that serves as a do-it-yourself guidebook to living well with chronic illness.

Mickey Trescott: If you’re looking for more information about the autoimmune protocol, make sure to sign up for our newsletter at autoimmunewellness.com, so we can send you our free quick start guide. It contains printable AIP food lists, a 2-week food plan, a 90-minute batch cooking video, a mindset video, and food reintroduction guides.

This season of the podcast, real food on a budget is brought to you by our title sponsor, The Nutritional Therapy Association.

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. Onto the podcast!

Topics:

1. Different levels of budget concerns [2:19]

Mickey Trescott: Hey guys! Mickey here. Welcome back to the Autoimmune Wellness podcast, season 3. How are you doing today, Angie?

Angie Alt: I’m good. Hopefully there won’t be any puppy noise in the background. My puppy is being very naughty today, you guys.

Mickey Trescott: Sometimes it happens. You know, those animals.

Angie Alt: Mm-hmm.

Mickey Trescott: So today we are continuing our discussion related to the topic this season. Real food on a budget. This episode is going to be about how to both prioritize your food choices, and make a budget for eating this way. Today we’re tackling a little bit of a tricky topic, but we hope that sharing some of our experiences and ideas will help you guys feel supported wherever you find yourself in your journey.

Mickey Trescott: So first, let’s talk about the three main categories that people find themselves in when we talk about budgeting concerns. The first, of course, are people who are wealthy. They can afford anything. There really aren’t any barriers to getting what they want, because they can go to Whole Foods and get whatever they want. Or they can afford the functional medicine practitioner. Most of us, sadly, don’t find ourselves in this situation.

The middle is actually where most of us are probably at. That’s where people have resources to allocate towards maybe eating better or better medical care, but it means almost always you’re going to have to make some strategic planning. There is flexibility. So there’s a lot of choices sometimes. And maybe going without something so that you can get something else. There are those options to kind of move things around a little bit, and prioritize.

And then lastly there are people who are low income. So those are people who face significant challenges and stress around budgeting for food. And it involves fixed resources without flexibility. So that’s an important distinguishing characteristic between those who truly are low-income. I would say that a lot of people in the middle maybe think they’re a little more low-income than they really are. But the truth is, a lot of us have some flexibility. And that is where a lot of the difficulties come up.

Angie Alt: So in the second segment of the podcast, we’ll be talking a lot more about those in the lowest income group, and some strategies that they can use. We really believe everyone should have access to healing foods. And we want to talk about the ways to make that reality for those in that challenging circumstance.

But in this first segment, we want to focus on the middle category of folks. Because probably most of you guys listening to this podcast find yourselves here. It’s where Mickey and I ourselves land. So we just want to kind of take a stab at the topic that is probably most of us are facing.

We also want to acknowledge that having a chronic illness alone can be limiting to the budget. It’s expensive to be sick. And we totally get that.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. The different ways even just having an autoimmune disease before you get into some of the diet and lifestyle stuff that you might want to do. I mean, medical bills and medications are expensive. So a lot of that, if you’re someone who has just gone through a diagnosis, you know how front loaded those costs can be. So all at once, you might be going to see different doctors and specialists. Burning through maybe a high deductible, or something. Which is sadly very common these days. Getting through all of that testing, and some of those initial treatments.

Angie Alt: Right. And then there’s also the higher cost of insurance. Even though we have laws that guard against things like preexisting conditions with coinsurance and high deductibles, it means that usually folks with chronic illness do end up paying more.

Mickey Trescott: Yep. There’s also an income loss due to lack of ability to work. A lot of people don’t really realize this lack of opportunity cost. But really, sometimes it can involve the work of your partner or your spouse. Sometimes it can affect your ability to do childcare or household duties. Most autoimmune diseases come with some level of disability, and that can come through in either a lack of ability to actually hold a job at a certain amount of hours per week. It can also mean that you have to pay others or get help from other people in your family to do work around the house, which can be expensive. Both emotionally and financially.

Angie Alt: Right. And then there’s the cost of natural or alternative treatments. Which, unfortunately, means usually paying out of pocket. We don’t have good systems in place that allow proper reimbursement through our insurance system for most of those kinds of treatments. And the fact is that combining the best of those natural and alternative treatments with conventional and do-it-yourself methods means that this can be really; a no-brainer. Something you definitely want to take on so you can heal. But it can be really expensive. This includes things like paying for supplements, and paying for different kinds of therapies. Maybe massage, acupuncture, things of that nature.

Mickey Trescott: All these things considered, why those of us with autoimmune disease have a little more of a tricky time making a budget. Why should we do it in the first place? We have some reasons for you guys.

Budgeting really stops overspending and prevents debt. So when you know exactly how much money you have coming in, and you’ve planned to use that money in a variety of categories and predictably. Of course, you can’t control the future, and you never really know exactly what’s going to happen. But that act of actually planning helps you not to spend too much of your money, and prevents you from needing to go into debt.

How many of us have not made a plan and then unexpectedly, but then actually kind of expectedly being like; oh, this expense came up. And I kind of knew it was coming but I didn’t really plan for it. You might end up in a situation where you have to go into debt for that.

Angie Alt: Right. Also budgeting can help us reach our goals. For instance, proactively saving. Having that budgetary line item in place helps us kind of get there and reach those goals in reasonable timelines instead of haphazardly putting $10 in the savings account every couple of months.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. It also helps you stop worrying. So, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a lot of anxiety since my diagnosis and initial path with autoimmune disease. Just because, financially it was really difficult for me back then. And even though I’m healthy now, sometimes I worry that if I got sick again, I wouldn’t have the money to kind of figure it out. And I’m anticipating that stress.

So, being able to move towards and reach some of those savings goals might help you stop worrying and relieve some of that anxiety related to it.

Angie Alt: Right. And kind of along those same lines, it helps you have more flexibility. I think when you kind of have planned your expenses, and you have allocated pots of money that are there for certain kind of expenses, it just allows you to be a lot more flexible. And should something really large and unexpected come up, you have more leeway between those different budget line items to kind of move things around, if necessary.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. And lastly, it gives you more control over your money. You know exactly where it’s going, instead of feeling kind of like a passenger every month, paying all your bills and kind of not understanding where everything goes. You understand, actually, now that I have a budget, I know exactly where everything is going. And you can make changes and be informed in that way.

Angie Alt: Right. So, Mickey, maybe we can share a little bit about our personal approaches to budgeting and especially how things looked when we first started on this path.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. So I talked a little bit about my diagnosis, and how that financially impacted us. It was very stressful, understandably. Just the diagnosis in and of itself is really stressful. But at the time, my husband and I were both working minimum wage plus tips jobs in a major city. Living paycheck to paycheck. By all means, we were not poor. We were able to pay the bills that we had. We were able to have a great lifestyle that we were happy with.

But when I started to get sick and I wasn’t able to bring in that income, I lost my job. And then we added in all the medical stuff. Which, when I got diagnosed, I didn’t have insurance. So I was paying everything out of pocket. I ended up going into a lot of debt because I didn’t really have any savings, and I didn’t really have a budget, and I didn’t really plan. That kind of threw me for a loop, that six months of my life.

But coming out of it, I learned that I needed to make some big decisions. Like that flexibility piece we were talking about. My husband and I made some decisions that were able to help us pay back that debt just by choosing to go without certain things. For instance, we didn’t have a car. At one point we relied on just using the bus or riding our bike.

Another thing we did was we had roommates in a house that we rented instead of having the house to ourselves. Another thing we did was not go out to eat ever. And we didn’t go on any vacations. So I consider even making so little money in that phase of my life, I realized the position of privilege that I was in being able to be flexible in that way. And yes it was stressful. My husband was then the sole provider. We were taking on debt. We didn’t know how long I would be sick. And then the food budget was just increasing, increasing, increasing. Which is really what we’re going to be talking about today.

But in the end, it all worked out. We were able to pay off that debt. I was able to go back to work. And me feeling better was a really important part of that process; to realize that I was one day going to be able to recover enough to then go back to work and kind of get the cycle working out. So I kind of didn’t have a plan. And got caught in a little bit of a hard place. But that flexibility was really how we got unstuck. What about you, Angie?

Angie Alt: So, for me, the flexibility piece didn’t exist as much. When I started to get sick, we had already come into our marriage with pretty significant education debt. And we had good jobs. Especially my husband, had a great job. And we had really great insurance. We were very, very lucky to have such good insurance coverage. But it meant that I was really limited to pursue anything kind of outside of what was covered within our insurance situation, because we had a lot of debt already to deal with.

So it meant that I had to be really creative within the insurance; what was covered within the insurance. And I had to get really high mileage, basically, out of all of my appointments with my doctors, and be really, really well prepared, and be a really strong advocate for myself. I had to spend a lot of time working with the insurance company, trying to navigate that process. Which can be really frustrating and really difficult, especially when you’re sick. But I was limited in terms of the flexibility.

And later, when we decided that we would choose to take on some more debt for some of those treatments and some of that help that was outside of the insurance system, we really had to buckle down in other areas in order to be able to meet all of our responsibilities with that debt.

Over time, that has eased a lot. We’re not in quite the same situation as we were before. Especially because I was able to go back to work and make a better living than I did previously, when I wasn’t so sick anymore. That made a really big difference for us. But it was not a simple process.

Mickey Trescott: And a lot of these transitions, and during the diagnosis and kind of what followed. We’ve gone without a lot of things and made a lot of choices so that we could afford good food. Would you say that applies to you, Angie?

Angie Alt: Yeah, for sure. For instance, until only about three years ago, we only had one car. We drove an early 2000 Honda Civic, and that’s all we had. My husband commuted back and forth to his work in the city using the commuter buses, or the train. We were really just relying on that. We didn’t really take any significant vacations. Anything that was more than a weekend drive or something away. We also really kind of cut certain line items from our budget. Things like new clothes and those kinds of extras. We just made do the best we could with what was in front of us.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, something that really shifted for us, as far as that flexibility pieces. Before I got sick, I wouldn’t say we ate out an incredible amount. But we definitely were doing a lot of the quick, fast-ish food, but not quite fast food. Like Chipotle type eating out. Fairly often. And when I got sick and I had to change everything about what I ate, one of those unintended benefits was that we kind of wiped out the whole restaurants and eating out.

And like I said, we didn’t really have a lot of money to spend on eating out. But just transitioning that to the food budget actually ended up making it so that we were spending the same amount of money that we’ve always been spending on food. We’re just spending it on better, higher quality groceries, and cooking the food instead of going out to eat.

Angie Alt: Yeah, that’s absolutely true for us, as well. I mean, we probably went out four to five times a month on average, and that changed to four to five times, maybe, a year on average.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. And something else that happened for us, personally. We started to kind of take on and embrace minimalism. So we didn’t give away or sell everything that we owned and live in a tiny house, by any means. But we definitely made a conscious effort to buy durable and affordable products that last, and usually on sale. So actually some of them ended up not being that affordable.

But things like cast iron Dutch oven. I would know that would make cooking for AIP be so much easier. And yes, it’s a few hundred dollars for a really high quality one. But what I would do is save up, and wait until I got it, and then look at Sur La Table when they’re having their 40% off sale. Go in and grab that, knowing that I’m going to have it for maybe 10, 20 years.

And when you break down that few hundred-dollar cost by that amount of time; as long as you buy the right one, and it’s well made, and durable, and has a great warranty, and you’re actually going to use it. Those types of things; I still have a lot of those great cooking tools that I bought piece by piece in the beginning. Because of that minimalism thing. And then also with the clothes. Not shopping, not having too much stuff. Only having the stuff that we need. I think that relieves a lot of stress in a different way. Not having clutter and stuff. But that’s another topic.

Angie Alt: Yeah. I mean, we’ve done that probably to an extent that worked for our family at the time. And at different points, it was more a match to our lifestyle than others. It’s hard to go too minimalist with a child in the house. {laughs}

Mickey Trescott: {laughs}

Angie Alt: There’s all kinds of things that go along with that. But I mean, for instance. While we were living in Africa, that was definitely a part of our life. And for that very, very early part of me getting sick, it definitely made a difference.

We also minimized a lot of repeat expenses that add up. For instance, we didn’t go out for cocktails all the time. We didn’t go to the movies. We didn’t go to the salon. I didn’t get my nails done regularly. Honestly, probably I should have gotten my hair cut a little more often than I did. We minimized all that as much as possible.

I didn’t spend a lot on any beauty products. And you know, I really still don’t. That kind of became something that, even when my budget could maybe afford a bit more of that, I still didn’t really bring that on board. We weren’t running to the store and grabbing 8 bottles of kombucha a week. Things like that. Those little expenses seem very small in the moment, but it can add up to hundreds of dollars in a year.

Angie Alt: You can kind of comment here, too, Mickey and let them know if you feel this way. But I feel like investing up front in my healing meant that I could work more in the future. And I had more energy to give to my work. I had more ability to be pretty darned productive and very creative in ways that I wasn’t able to be before. So even though it was probably costing money that was really stretching us thin in the beginning. In the end, it has paid off because I was able to really start a whole new career and pour a lot of my life blood, basically, into it. That I couldn’t have done before, had I not put this much into my healing.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, I totally agree. And I definitely remember a time in my life and my recovery where I made the decision to continue the level of eating well and medical care, like natural treatments that were out of pocket. Even though that month to month period, we couldn’t afford it. We were going into debt every month. Just having faith that in three or six months, I would hopefully be on the same trajectory that I had experienced early with AIP, and that I would be able to go to work. So, that was definitely a conscious effort. And you know, definitely an act of faith.

We’re not saying you can just say, I’m going to pay for this and you’re guaranteed results. Definitely investing up front, I knew if the quality of the food went up and I did the right things, then hopefully that would give me more energy. And it did. I was able to go back to work part time, and then full time. And then also back to school, and all that stuff. And then I met this lady. We haven’t stopped since. {laughs}

Angie Alt: {laughs} But I guess, the thing for me too. In hindsight, I realize that I probably have more energy and ability and clear thought and creativity and all those things than I even did before I got sick. I’m not saying; just like you said. I’m not saying that this happens for everyone. And that it will supercharge you into some amazing career. Or you’ll go back to your former job and be like a rocket ship to the top, and get all these raises and promotions or anything like that.

I’m not saying that that necessarily happens to everybody. But it really transformed my ability. My baseline is totally different. I didn’t even consider before I got sick that I would ever work at the level that I do now. And I think that’s all down to that investment that I put into my health.

Mickey Trescott: Mm-hmm. And continued investment. I feel the same way, Angie. I feel like my brain works completely differently, like it did. Sometimes the body is a little far behind and that’s kind of a Hashi thing. But my brain works again. And I’m able to do a level of critical thinking and planning that I just wasn’t capable of for years.

Angie Alt: Right.

Mickey Trescott: And that’s very useful. That’s an asset.

Alright. So we know that there are situations where some of these simple, low-lying adjustments are not enough. We can’t speak for everyone. Our personal experience is what it is. But digging in to make AIP, or any healing dietary protocol work, for those with extremely limited incomes and other financial barriers to wellness is up next. So if you guys are kind of listening to us; and you’re like; man, that sounds nice. We’ve got some info for you in our next segment. See you soon.

Mickey Trescott: A quick work from our title sponsor this season, the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA is a holistic nutrition school that reconnects people to healing foods and vibrant health. They provide practical, affordable, and transformative nutrition education through their courses, empowering you to launch a new career and heal yourself, your community, and the world.

The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners; like me, I’m an NTP; and consultants, like Angie, she’s an NTC. Emphasizing a bioindividual nutrition. The NTC program is fully online, and the NTP program has workshops in the US, Canada, and Australia. There are scholarships, payment plans, and financial aid available to make both programs accessible to all who desire a comprehensive, holistic nutrition education.

To learn more, visit their website at www.NutritionalTherapy.com. Be sure to check out their free 7-day nutritional therapy 101 course.

Angie Alt: Hey everybody! We’re back. Today we are speaking to Jenny Harris, who is a registered dietician nutritionist and trained chef, living in Seattle, Washington. She received her masters of science in nutrition from Bastyr University. Her Bachelors degree of nutrition in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And completed her dietetic internship at Virginia Polytech Institute and State University.

She also holds an associates degree in culinary arts from the New England Culinary Institute. She’s a member of the dietitians in integrative and functional medicine and the food and culinary professional dietetic practice groups of the academy of nutrition and dietetics. And if that isn’t enough, for the last 10 years, Jenny has mainly worked in community health. Serving low income women and families through the WIC program in Seattle, Washington. Last year, she became one of our very first graduates of the AIP Certified Coach program, and that is how we found out about the awesome work she does.

Today, we’re going to go deep with Jenny about how to make healing protocols work, even on very low and fixed incomes. She’ll be sharing with us the specifics of government assistance programs in the US. The realities that people are facing when they need the assistance, and how eating a healing diet should not be exclusive. Welcome, Jenny.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. Yeah, welcome Jenny. Thanks so much for being here.

Jenny Harris: Thanks for having me.

Mickey Trescott: Awesome. So the first question, a lot of our audience like we talked about in the first half of this podcast. A lot of us find ourselves in the middle, and maybe not knowing a lot about these government assistant programs. Can you maybe give us a little bit more of a definition of some of these programs and kind of what they entail?

Jenny Harris: Sure, sure. My experience has mainly been working with the WIC program, as it’s mostly known. The full name is the supplemental nutrition program for women, children, and infants. And it is mainly geared towards anyone that’s pregnant, or postpartum, and then infants, and children under age 5. Specifically, you look at your gross income to meet guidelines for that program. And you’d be at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. In addition, you would have to meet a nutrition risk. Also have a proof of address, in a particular state where you are applying.

In addition to that, there is the SNAP program, which is the supplemental nutrition assistance program, known as food stamps. It was previously known as. You would go in and your income would be assessed as well. And for that program, you would be at or below 130%. There are some other qualifications for that program.

And then in addition, there’s social security. And that program, the lowest age you would need to be is 62. It’s based on the number of years that you’re working, and you receive credits that you would need to get retirement benefits.

Mickey Trescott: Great. And the difference maybe between WIC and SNAP and social security, as far as what people can get for food. My understanding is that WIC has the strictest list of maybe what people can buy with the money, and then food stamps is a little bit more lax. And then social security, people can use that money for whatever they want. Is that right?

Jenny Harris: Sure. Yes, that is correct. The WIC program has specific foods that have been chosen to meet certain nutrition requirements for those particular times in life. Whether you’re pregnant or postpartum, as a child or an infant. The SNAP benefits, it’s a little bit more broad range of items to choose from. And as far as social security goes, I’m not quite as familiar with that. But that sounds right.

Mickey Trescott: And as far as WIC, that might provide the most difficulty, I think, with working within a healing diet. Because they do have certain foods that you can buy. And then with food stamps, I think most programs; at least the ones that I know of here in Oregon where I live. As long as they’re buying food, it doesn’t matter what they’re buying.

Jenny Harris: Yeah, you would have to look at; WIC is evolving more and more. But they have, now, substitutions for different things. For example, if you’re a vegetarian you can choose to get soy milk now, instead of just regular milk, as an option. So there are different options you can look at within the program.

Mickey Trescott: OK. And I’m just kind of looking up some of these requirements. The gross income below 185% of poverty level for WIC, and 130%. The 2017 numbers are looking at $20,000 to $15,000 for food stamps. So those are pretty low-income levels. But just for anyone listening, if they’re thinking maybe they might qualify for that and they don’t know. That might be something to look into.

Jenny Harris: Definitely. And you can do that all online. You can go in and look at your eligibility.

Angie Alt: So, Jenny, we were talking in the last segment about some of the realities that come up for folks like us, who have autoimmune disease or chronic illness of some kind. And the challenges that that presents just all on its own, in terms of budget considerations when we’re getting ready to adopt a healing protocol. And I think there’s probably some special stressors and issues that come up for folks with a really limited income, or even no income. And maybe you can talk with us about that a little bit. I think it’s good for everybody to have a little bit of a reality check about the extra barriers we’re talking about here.

Jenny Harris: You know, looking at housing situation. With a special diet, and you’re living or you’re not knowing where you’re living. Moving from place to place, or possibly staying with friends. Or you have a large group of people living together. Even the possibility of being in a shelter. You have some limitations on what’s available to you, as far as a kitchen. Or how you can store your food, particularly. Depending on where you’re living.

I think some other things to think about would be just families that are working and possibly going to school at the same time. Which I know, a lot of people do. That just brings up some limited time for meal prep and shopping. And also thinking about the idea, now, of food deserts. Where just access to a grocery store, you may be looking at shopping at a convenience store, or possibly using a food bank for your grocery needs.

When you’re looking for a provider, just looking at your accessibility. And then I think, just something to think about, looking at cultural needs. Food needs related to religion. Think all of those can factor in with someone who is potentially wanting to do AIP or a healing diet.

Angie Alt: Thanks so much. I think that’s good for everybody to kind of think about that long list of extra barriers that might exist there.

Mickey Trescott: Can you tell us a little bit more about how people can become more aware of some local, low or no-cost healthcare resources? Because, like we talked about before. The healthcare part and the food budget part are usually competing. And sometimes if people can take advantage of some of these programs where they get assistance in the food side, if they can also make that happen in the healthcare side, that might help them have more access to all of this.

Jenny Harris: I do think that’s really important to consider. Making that first step, whether it’s connecting to a WIC clinic or a public health clinic. Your local community center. Those are great places to start. Anyone that’s in need of medical care, or needs a provider. A great place to start is to go into a public health clinic. All kinds of services there. Seeing a nurse. Many times these clinics also have medical clinics available. And they also have services where they can help you get signed up for health care.

Beyond that, there are programs out there. Even connected to your local hospital. I did some research, and actually didn’t even realize this. But I looked into a Swedish medical center, which is where I used to work in Seattle. They actually cover healthcare costs for anyone that would meet that profile.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah; Jenny, actually I have a personal story to talk about Swedish. Actually, when I was very sick, one of my ER visits was actually at Swedish when I lived in Seattle. And at that time, I didn’t make a lot of money. Angie and I talked about in the first section of this podcast. My husband and I both made minimum wage. And when I got that bill from the emergency room, I didn’t have insurance. And I talked to their billing department, and they said; oh, you should submit a request for financial assistance. And I did that. And they actually covered 90% of the bill.

At that time, I wasn’t below the federal poverty line. But I found their assistance was much more generous. And that actually ended up working out really well for me. And actually, my next two hospital visits, I had insurance, and financially it was much worse for me because of coinsurance and that kind of stuff. So yeah, definitely people should reach out to the different institutions that they’re getting health care from. Because you never really know what kind of programs they have in place.

Jenny Harris: It was exciting to see that, yes. They have such a generous beyond to help people. I think when I was looking; I looked up a few programs. Even just Googling in your local area. Low income, health care assistance. Along those lines. I was able to find, within the Seattle area, there are some organizations like Bastyr that have clinics. They actually go into different community clinic sites around the city and provide, in many cases, free health care services.

So, I think that depending on where you’re living. It would just be a matter of researching that. But I think reaching out to different clinics and just asking is a great place to start.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, and even some of these natural health care centers. I know Bastyr up in Washington state, and a lot of schools will offer acupuncture or massage therapy or whatever for a reduced rate for working with a student. I’ve known people that have seen doctors at the Bastyr clinic that are still in their training. Obviously supervised by licensed doctors. But those kinds of options too, are totally out there and available for people that need it.

Jenny Harris: Also looking into if you’re a senior or that age group, you can look at senior nutrition services that are out there.

Mickey Trescott: Sometimes for people, it’s a matter of pride and looking out for these resources and asking. But I’ve seen signs. My local dental clinic had a sign a couple of weeks ago that said; “Free community tooth check in.” So anyone could go in and see kind of what they’re dealing with in their mouth. A lot of practitioners offer charity work. Be on the look out for that. Because even my grandfather, who is a rheumatologist. He sees patients one day a week that are low income at no cost. So that can be really helpful.

Angie Alt: Ok. So, that’s a really interesting discussion about the healthcare side of it. And all the different possibilities for folks to explore out there. But let’s get into the meat of this discussion. How do we make AIP work for folks on very low budget? Jenny, we’d love to kind of dig into this with you and talk about some ideas. I think for Mickey and mine point of view, there are some smart modifications to make here. But we’d love to hear your ideas.

Jenny Harris: I think in thinking about this, I feel like I went back to thinking about how my grandmother used to cook.

Mickey Trescott: Right.

Jenny Harris: Thinking about ways that she would be efficient and save. Really, the things that you all highlight in your book, as far as the nutrient powerhouse foods, really are, for the most part, very affordable. When you’re looking at organ meats. If you’re using bones for broths. That was one thing that my grandmother always did. Depending on where you’re located or what’s available to you. Fish, whether you’re in the interior of the country, or the exterior. You can potentially find those, depending on the season, at a decent cost.

And then also looking at, if you have homemade fermented foods. And also just vegetables in season. But I think all of those things; if you’re working with AIP, I think it would be just a matter of cooking technique.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah. I think that’s really valid, Jenny. I know we kind of have a part to play in setting the framework of kind of what AIP is and what it isn’t. But I think this is kind of a great situation to modify the AIP template. And some of you guys listening might find it a little controversial. But I think if someone is faced with the decision of doing a healing diet that is heavily modified to fit their income and not doing it all. They should try to do that modification.

I definitely think things like white rice; which people can cook that in broth and fat. That might not even; just allowing it in the elimination diet for people that don’t have access to enough meet and vegetables to fill their diet. That could totally be possible. Even some properly prepared beans. So soaked, sprouted, that kind of thing. Which I know beans are included on WIC, so it’s one of those foods that might be hard for some people to figure out which foods qualify.

Eggs, too. A lot of people are very sensitive to them. What do you guys think?

Angie Alt: Right. I think if I was working with a client who was very low income, and they had the opportunity to get eggs. Either with their WIC benefits or food stamp benefits, I would be encouraging them to find the best quality that they can afford within that food budget. And give them a shot. Because they are so nutrient dense, and they are a good source of inexpensive protein.

Of course, if it turns out that they have some really obvious sensitivities, we might want to work around that. But I think they’re one of the potential modifications that are probably worth making.

Jenny Harris: I can agree with all of that. There’s definitely another source of protein that I think a lot of people have access to. I know through WIC you receive peanut butter. So that would be something also to think about.

Angie Alt: I remember, too. There was definitely a part of my life where I needed both WIC and SNAP benefits. And it was when my daughter was quite young. And I remember that there was a lot of canned seafood products that were available with the WIC checks. Tuna and things like that. If you just look carefully for brands without additives like soy and everything, I think that’s a great way to get in some inexpensive protein and stretch those benefits.

Jenny Harris: Yes, definitely. And I think that’s a great source of fish and those omega-3s that aren’t as easily accessible.

Angie Alt: I mean, if you’re trying to go to the fish counter and get wild-caught salmon filets, that almost blows my budget. So I can totally understand that. I think there’s also an important piece to raise here, you guys. Which is; conventionally raised meats, fruits, and vegetables are acceptable. I think we get a little too caught up in perfectionism when it comes to AIP. And there definitely are levels of good, better, and best.

And if you choose conventionally raised, because that’s the most affordable, and not organic, then go for it. It’s better that you’re eating some kind of protein, and you’re getting some kind of fruits and vegetables, then you’re totally avoiding them because they’re not perfectly grass-fed or organic or whatever.

If you’re going to go for conventionally raised meats, you’re going to want to trim the fat, and kind of try to avoid that fat. If you’re going to go for conventionally raised, non-organic fruits and vegetables, then whenever possible choose produce that can be peeled. A lot of the pesticides and other chemicals that we’re trying to avoid in non-organic fruits and vegetables are there with that peel. So if you can peel, that will help reduce your exposure to it.

But I think, if you can buy a bunch of non-organic carrots that are on sale and stretch your meals for a whole week, and contribute to your overall healing that way, it’s much better to do that than to hold out to save up enough money for the organic.

Jenny Harris: Sure. And I do think just learning, too, what fruits and vegetables are in season. And also, if you are using the SNAP benefits. Those are actually, in various programs across the country, you can use those at farmer’s markets. You can actually get double the amount. If you’re spending $10, you can actually get $20 worth of fruits and vegetables using those SNAP benefits.

Angie Alt: Yeah, that’s such a big change to the program from when I needed to access it. And I think it’s awesome, and so wonderful that we’re putting that opportunity out there.

You know, I saw another idea that I think is such a good one. I think you kind of pointed us out to a little bit earlier, Jenny. Looking for discount stores, or grocery outlets or shopping Asian or Hispanic markets. When I first started AIP, I was living in the Bay area in California, and I found some Hispanic and Asian markets that were incredible in terms of what I could get with the produce. I mean, I could go in there with like $50 and come out with so much produce. It was way more than I really thought I could get at a regular store. And it stretched our family’s food budget really far. And made a huge difference. So I don’t think folks should write off those stores.

Jenny Harris: In my experience with WIC, and working with a lot of families from different cultures, often I would be asking what they eat. A lot of cultures will eat just basically meat and vegetables, for the most part, with spices. I love going in and being kind of pushed to try new and different vegetables.

Mickey Trescott: Yeah, it’s really exciting, too, now that we have some different resources in the AIP community with different recipe developers that are kind of coming up with some of these more ethnically inspired meals that I think make people from those communities feel a little bit more like they can cook in the flavors that feel traditional and good to them without so much having to come up with it themselves, you know what I mean.

Jenny Harris: I feel similarly, Angie, when I go shopping at the Asian market here that’s close by my house. I do feel similarly, as far as feeling like I’m really getting a lot more for my money.

Angie Alt: Yeah, a lot of bang for your buck. Well, Jenny will you let our listeners know what your up to in your work currently, and where they can find you online?

Jenny Harris: Sure. Currently I’m transitioning. I have been a stay at home mom for a little over a year. And have now started up a website and a blog; FoodyNutrition.com. And I’m just starting there. I’m hoping to work with the public in the future. I’m excited and learning more about functional medicine.

Mickey Trescott: That’s awesome. We definitely need more functional medicine real food RDs. So we’re super excited about what you’re doing, Jenny.

Angie Alt: Yeah.

Jenny Harris: Thanks.

Angie Alt: Thanks again for agreeing to have this conversation with us today, Jenny. You guys, we’ll be back next week. Take care everyone.

Mickey Trescott: Bye!

Jenny Harris: Bye.

Angie Alt: Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Autoimmune Wellness podcast. We’re honored to have you as a listener, and we hope that you’ve gained some useful information.

Mickey Trescott: Did you know that we have dozens of informative articles about living well with autoimmune disease, and over 250 elimination phase compliant recipes on our website, updated multiple times per week? Make sure to click on over to AutoimmuneWellness.com. Follow us on social media. And sign up for our newsletter to find out about all of this new content.

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