What is an autoimmune disease?
An autoimmune disease is when a person’s own immune system mistakenly attacks their body similar to how it might attack a foreign virus invading the body.
These are more common than ever before and encompass a wide range of diseases including type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.
Diet and autoimmune disease
New research suggests they all autoimmune diseases may have the same root cause – a combination of imbalances in gut bacteria (gut dysbiosis) and low-grade inflammation (inflammation in our cells) (1, 2).
The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) is an elimination diet which may improve symptoms for those with an autoimmune disease.
The AIP is simply an extremely nutrient-dense diet that excludes all known or suspected gut irritants, and is said to help eliminate certain food chemicals and compounds that cause gut dysbiosis and low-grade inflammation in sensitive individuals.
Cutting out these foods (in theory) reduces inflammation and gives your body the opportunity to recover and “reset”, although more research is needed to prove this.
