One month in

Sooooo... This has been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Of course, it didn't hurt that I was doing what one might call "loose AIP"; everything was technically AIP but it was higher in carbs, especially sugar, than I really should do. Part of this was because I had just done an incredibly restrictive diet - GAPS - and needed a mental break from all that "diet head", part of it was because half the month would be vacation and I was not going to diet during my vacation! So, there was lots of AIP treats and other questionable food choices (I think I cleaned my local grocery store of plantain chips last  month.)

And I got better! Not perfect; my left ankle is still a little wonky. The only time that went away and my feet felt NORMAL is the first two weeks of GAPS, when I was eating basically just meat and veg in bone broth. I'm hoping once I do button-down serious AIP that will change but we'll see about that. But it's much better than it was when I'd introduced eggs and nuts so there appears to be an autoimmune component to whatever is going on with me. I also did a 2 week herbal antibiotic protocol, which I will write about in another post. That was interesting, to say the least!

It's a challenge to stay mentally healthy while restricting your diet. I had very few problems last month, though. I'm not sure if it's because I had just gotten off Intro GAPS and by comparison loosey goosey AIP was positively bountiful in it's choices, or because AIP, while it's restrictive, doesn't restrict any macronutrients; while I couldn't have every carb or fat, I could have any amount of legal carbs and fats whenever I wanted. Possibly it was a combination of the two.

My plan is to spend two more months, doing slightly more restrictive AIP, to add up to a total of 3 months before attempting reintroductions. I went off the deep end with the carbs last month but I know that that isn't good for me. At the same time I don't want to negatively affect my gut bacteria so I will keep my carb intake around 100 grams a day, or one piece of fruit and one modest serving of AIP safe starch (sweet potato, plantain, yucca, stuff like that) per day.

Wish me luck!