Understanding the Anti-Autoimmune Diet
The more I learn about diet and the immune system –and hear from thousands of patients — the more I’m convinced that food really is medicine. More and more studies are linking a healthy diet to a better chance of doing well with autoimmune disease. Recent studies show that when immigrants from South Asian countries move to Western countries and begin to eat processed food diets, they show an increase of autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Likewise, research has shown that when people with diseases like Crohn’s and rheumatoid arthritis switch to what experts call an anti-inflammatory diet — largely a diet based on whole, natural foods — their symptoms improve. And yet more research shows that boys and girls on a similar whole foods diet were at a lower risk for developing Crohn’s disease, while those on a highly processed Western diet were at a higher risk.
Such an Anti-Autoimmune Diet focuses on lamb, chicken and turkey; fish with low mercury content such as flounder or tilapia; hormone-free eggs; vegetables; fresh fruits; and gluten free grains. What have your experiences been with diet and recovery? I’d love to hear.
Donna Jackson Nakazawa is a nationally acclaimed researcher, writer and public speaker on health and family issues. She is the author of the recent book, The Autoimmune Epidemic.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Hello Donna - Your site was passed on to me by a friend. We happen to share the same interest and beliefs on diet.
My mom has been suffering with rheumatoid arthritis for many many years now. My husband has been suffering from colitis over the last few years. I own my own business who has partnered with Dr. Shari Lieberman who teaches people to eat low glycemic and stay away from processed foods. My mom has experienced eating gluten free grains, and while doing so, she has felt less achy. I had put my husband on a Transistions Lifestyle program for 3 months, and after eating natural fruits, veggies, non-processed foods, his stomach had improved and he felt incredible!
I am a true believer of all garbage you take in will impact your body and contribute towards cronic disease overtime.
I would have loved to have met you in Natick.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Looking forward to reading your book.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Hi, I have never posted to an online forum but I have been diagnosed with Crohn’s due to a very small obstruction/stricture and came across your site in my own crusade to understand the link between food and inflammation. Because I don’t have any other symptoms of Crohn’s, I am skeptical of the diagnosis AND extremely interested the underlying cause of the inflammation/obstructions in my small bowel. In a world where gastroenterologists (western ones in particular!) seem to deny any link to food and push drugs that they (and I ) know won’t change the course of the disease and that also cause horrible side effects, I am trying to get to the root cause.
I have thus far realised my obstructions occur after dairy intake so I have cut out dairy. Having read enough about potential gluten inflammation, I have cut that out too although my celiac test was negative. I recently found out my ASCA antibody was extremely elevated. The Dr. simply noted this meant I had Crohn’s, but I researched it and learned (via non Western journals) that the ASCA antibody reacts to YEAST. I had already suspected yeast as an issue due to my history of antibiotics and facial perioral dermatitis that erupted when my stomach issues began.
I am at the two week point on an anti-yeast/candida free diet but have not seen many changes and am finding it hard to decipher if it is a useful exercise and what the minimum time to do it is. It is extremely limiting without any sugar or fruit, so I am curious if you have any thoughts on the role of anti-candida diet autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s and how long I should stick with the diet?
Thank you.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I learn something new every time I visit. Thanks for the great post.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Considering that most autoimmune diseases are also inflammatory diseases and diet can make inflammation worse… yes diet matters to us!
From reasearch I have done on diet, I found that the typical American/Western diet has a level of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid that is far too high. Omega-6 needs to be no more than three times greater than omega-3, one is no ‘better’ than the other they simply need to be in balance. It has been shown that our typical diet has a ratio of 20 to even 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3. The reason? Processed grains.
When we eat animals that eat omega-6 rich foods (grain fed animals) and when we eat plant oils rich in omega-6 (corn, safflower, sunflower, canola, soy) our bodies convert those fatty acids into hormone-like subtances (called eicosanoids or prostaglandins) that control inflammation… they control inflammation to increase it. The omega-3 fatty acid is converte to eicosanoids that reduce inflammation.
It is much more than a matter of “take your fish oils,” it is also a matter of reducing consumption of refined grains and animal fat from grain fed animals. The consumption of refined grains contributes to insulin resistance also so there is more that one good reason to avoid them and chose whole, real, micronutrient dense foods.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:23 am
The worst thing for me that triggers lupus flares is casein (the protein found in milk). Ice cream, sour cream, and cream cheese are the biggest offenders, as well as non-dairy creamer (which ironically, contains lots of the dairy-based casein). The next worse thing for flares is beef. I’d love to try an elimination diet to see what other antigen-forming foods are causing me problems.
When my joint pain gets really bad, I do a juice fast with nothing but fresh pressed organic fruits and vegetables. The joint pain usually subsides by day 4. I suspect similar results could occur by just eating fruits and veggies, but I think the juice fast “accelerates” things a bit.
Bless you for writing this book. I’ve been studying the “whys” of my autoimmunity the past few years, and your book contains a wealth of information.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
17 months ago I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and a week later I was in the hospital because I developed a hole in my small intestine. I was 26 years old and it was the first and only flare up I have had. Shortly after I got home from the hospital I researched Crohn’s to find out that nobody knew anything about it. The very first thing my doctors told me was that diet had nothing to do with it. What??!!
I did not find it logical that diet had nothing to do with it. When I was weighing my treatment options I did not find my doctor very credible. The last thing I wanted to do was poison myself with extremely potent and powerful prescription drugs which had a side effect list longer and more severe than the disease itself. So I opted to see a naturopathic physician. I completely changed my diet and lifestyle. I eat organic fruits and veggies, whole grains, and no meat and no processed foods.
It has been 17 months since my surgery and I feel fantastic. I feel healthier than I have ever been. So I was ecstatic when I found your book I can’t wait to read it.
During my diet and lifestyle transformation I also changed the kids diet. My daughter had severe asthma where she had to take daily steroid inhaler along with her occasional rescue inhaler. Immediately after changing her diet she broke out in incredible rashes all over her body. For about 6 months the rashes would come and go until they just stopped along with her need of her inhalers. Now she will have a slight attack every 3-4 months.
I believe that diet has everything to do with my auto-immune disorder and now I have also linked it to asthma. It is so exciting that I have found that I am now not the only one to believe that we are poisoning ourselves.
August 31st, 2008 at 7:26 am
I began developing autoimmune symptoms about 8 years ago with severe digestive problems that were linked to my small intestine. These digestive problems were accompanied by extreme fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, migraines, asthma and the usual litany of problems with which autoimmune sufferers contend.
I eliminated gluten and sugar from my diet, which helped somewhat, but never obtained complete relief. Then about a year ago I discovered the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), which is an eating program recommended for those suffering from a whole host of autoimmune diseases including celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, autism and diverticulitis.
Following this diet over the past year has produced positively miraculous results in me and thousands of others. I would urge anyone suffering from an autoimmune disease to pick up Breaking the Vicious Cycle by the late Elaine Gottschall. There are plenty of resources on the web as well. The plan may seem difficult to follow at first, but it gets easier over time and it has helped me achieve complete remission from my symptoms, which I never thought possible.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Hi Donna,
As director of an outpatient eating disorder treatment program that specializes in the treatmet of people with emotional overeating and binge eating disorder, I am always interested in sound dietary information that might help our clients. Many of our clients have auto-immune challenges. I’m hoping you will be willing to comment on some information I am finding confusing. You suggest chicken and turkey among foods best for an anti-inflammatory diet. I just finished reading Monica Reinagel’s book, The Inflammation Free Diet Plan. In it (p. 31) she says”… Chicken and turkey rank as moderately inflammatory—more inflammatory than many cuts of beef and pork. A high concentration of arachidonic acid is the primary reason for this, along with an unfavorable omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.”
Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Ellen Shuman
Director Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment
A Weigh Out Life Coaching
AED “Health at Every Size” SIG Co-Chair
Binge Eating Disorder Association, Board Member
(513) 321-4242
December 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hello, this email is to Kathy , hope you read it.
My 30 year old sis suffers from undiagnosed autoimmune condition. It’s a cross between lupus and rheumatoid arthritis very agressive, but no firm diagnosis has been made so far ( a year and a half of continuous tests and specialist visits).
A friend of mine who is a nutritionist recommended diet based on beef and fatty chicken only using coconut oil to kill of fungus and yeast in her body and heal the gut.
She has been on pure beef for six weeks now and we all can see improvement. No flares so far, no crippling pain in her joints, and amazingly for the first time in 12 months she had a period ( she also suffers from advanced polycystic ovarian syndrome). The most recent change is that she started getting itchy rash on her eyes and in between fingers, looks like eczema and the skin peels off.
But she can walk again and started reducing steroids.
This diet is definitely working for her.
This is why I was surprised to read in Kathy’s post that beef triggers her lupus flares. If anyone has similar experience please email me m_pasieka@hotmail.com
would be great if we could exchange information and share the progress.
All the best to you and lots of health. Mag
December 17th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease back in 1999, and I was given two options: radiation to kill my thyroid and then hormone supplements for the rest of my life or Tapazole, which I was told only 10% of people ever went into remission by taking. I chose the Tapazole, but I also did some research. Though I had been told by doctors that no one knew why some people got autoimmune diseases while others didn’t, I had a feeling that what I was experiencing was some sort of extreme allergic reaction and decided to see if I could reboot my immune system through a change in my diet. I found an easy one-week detoxification fast and did that, then slowly reintroduced only whole, organic foods into my diet. I cut out all processed foods and sugar and drank only filtered water. I also begun to meditate and do visualization exercises while exercising as best I could. Now, one could say that the Tapazole was what did the trick, but I believe that the 9 years of remission I’ve experienced was due in much larger part to the changes I made to my diet and lifestyle. I have since become a vegan and have gone completely gluten-free. I have more energy than I have ever had and am actually more often happy than not. I don’t know why doctors and patients are so resistant to the idea that diet really does make a difference. I think a lot of people are needlessly suffering (and you know what? eating this way really isn’t all that hard!)
March 26th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Hello I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease Stilles. I would like to know what kind of diet I should be on. The type of foods to avoid.
March 29th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I am currently a 54 year women who was recently diagnosed with MS. Doctors quickly prescribed Betaferon injections. However, my heartache stems from my daughter’s disease! She is a lovely young women (20-years old) who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 10. She has tried most everything, SCD diet, etc., along with conventional medicines. She had an almost fatal reaction to Remicade, and most recently, with Humiera. I would like to contact Dr. Mullin who you mention in the your book. Does he still practice out of John Hopkins Hospital? Even the best doctors do no address how diet or environmental toxics can cause Crohn’s disease, and want to prescribe dangerous drugs instead of working with her to determine what is causing the disease. Crohn’s has stolen 10 years of her life, and is damaging now her precious optimism and vitality.
Thank you! Patty
March 30th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I think that more and more doctors are aware of the role that diet plays in autoimmune disease but many of them don’t have the background — given that medical school barely touches on nutrition — to give in-depth advice. And the average doctor’s visit is very short, rarely allowing for a heart to heart about day to day dietary choices and habits and possible connections to flares. (See my blog posting on What Patients Want.) However, a growing group of physicians are focusing on what is called “food as medicine.” And a whole new area of medicine called “functional medicine,” which is based on finding the underlying cause for disease, is gaining momentum. (http://www.functionalmedicine.org/about/whatis.asp)
But the bottom line is this: patients often have to work with both a specialist in their disease and a nutritionist or functional medicine specialist — someone who is experienced with autoimmune disease. Sometimes it is a mater of building your own unique team. Many people have success with elimination diets (as many who’ve commented above have noted) and learning all they can about diet and their own personal reactions to food by trial and error. I think it’s safest (especially given the nature of Crohn’s) to work with a nutritionist or specialist as you try to figure out the best diet for your daughter. Dr. Mullin is still at Hopkins! I hope you are able to see him or another specialist who, hopefully, can help your daughter toward recovery.
All the best to you!
Donna
April 8th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Last June I was hospitalized and treated for a pulmonary embolism. The doctors figured out I have anitphospholipid antibody syndrome APS. I was put on blood thinners and told I will be on them forever - given a half sheet printout from the internet about APS and sent home. Since then I have asked questions but the doctors don’t have any answers.
I started looking in to raw and vegetarian diets. We have since gone vegan and 50% raw. We have eliminated all processed foods, dairy, meat, sugar, white flour and eggs. We have added organic fruits & veggies, nuts and grains to our diet. My doctor won’t tell me if this will do anything for us, but says as long as it doesn’t hurt anything, then go for it. We have given our children choices and not forced our diet on them. They have made these choices themselves and eat what we eat. We work extra hard to make sure our children are getting enough protein, fiber etc into their daily diet. My 11 year old son who used to suffer from migraines does not get them anymore. My teenage daughters skin has cleared up. My husband who was diagnosed with diabetes last May is not on insulin and doing really well.
My question for anyone is - what do you know about herbal remedies and APS? I have always tried boosting my families immune system in order to stay healthy with various herbs. But if my immune system is already attacking my healthy blood cells, wouldn’t that be bad? Also, if I am supposed to stay away from Vitamin K - (since my body is over actively clotting my blood) but also eat warming foods, will that even things out? Any information or websites would be greatly appreciated.
Donnas book The Autoimmune Epidemic is an excellent book and is a must read for everyone.
Thank you!