Autoimmunity

To quote National Institutes of Health: "An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders."

For some common conditions, traditional doctors often don't tell us we have an autoimmune disorder.  A list of many autoimmune disorders can be found here on Wikipedia.

Many people with autoimmune disorders are in great discomfort and are uncomfortable with taking medications that can have severe side effects. Some have found that tweaking their diet can cause the disorder to go into remission, lessen the pain, and/or reduce the amount of medication they have to take.  One popular way to address this is through the Autoimmune Protocol.  Some websites that have good explanations of it are:

• The Paleo Mom - most scientific and detailed.  Scroll down a bit.  Many great recipes on her site.
• phoenixhelix.com - awesome explanation, links and additional information 
• Paleo Zone - I like this one. Good info and explanations
• A more moderate approach paleoplan.com
• paleononpaleo.com - nice food chart of foods to avoid and add back

I have never stuck to the Autoimmune protocol for 30 days but have seen the benefits of it after two weeks or so.  Some social event or laziness often derails me.  Eating this way does require planning and forethought.  Traveling is a challenge.  Part of the reason for this blog is to keep me focused on my goal of using food as medicine.