Well, I am just about finished with the first week of my AIP reset and its been interesting.
On the one hand, it was easier than expected. I did full elimination AIP for 6 months when I first started and had very limited reintroductions for the first full year, so a lot of my old cooking habits and go-to recipes came back like old habits. My primary struggle was with snacks. I have been relying pretty heavily on Larabars, almond butter, and other nut-based snacks lately, especially while breastfeeding, so finding quick, filling snacks to replace those has been hard. The only other unforeseen complication was my children being unhappy that I was eating different food from them. They follow a paleo template diet with some added rice on occasion and I’m not interested in removing nutrient dense foods like eggs and nuts from their diet for no reason so they are eating a lot of the foods that I have removed. This has mostly caused some confusion at breakfast when they decide that they want sweet potatoes right after I make them eggs, but that is pretty much the nature of having a one and a two-year-old I suppose.
My menu this past week looked something like this:
Breakfast:
Sweet potato, apple and sausage hash with spinach and sauerkraut (Similar to THIS RECIPE)
AM Snack:
Smoothie with coconut water, collagen, banana and frozen fruit (Similar to THIS RECIPE)
Lunch:
Chicken and vegetable soup (omit the black pepper) with roasted plantains
PM Snack:
Plantain chips and guacamole or nothing
Dinner:
We had BBQ, tacos, plantain waffles, grilled salmon, burgers and obviously lots of yummy vegetables.
Results:
The first few days my digestive system seemed a little shocked at the increase in fruits, vegetables and ferments and I was a little gassy and bloated, but around day 3 or 4 that went away and my digestion has been pretty perfect since then. Overall, I feel like my energy levels have been much more level, I’ve noticed fewer crash feelings throughout the day. However, I had two days where I woke up with a headache and just felt really really tired all day, maybe from a decrease in sugar, I don’t know. I’ve still had a little bit of joint pain this week off and on and I had one day of some inflammatory type skin pain.
Goals for Next Week:
DRINK. MORE. WATER. I guess taking out the coffee and the snacks has made me aware of how little water I actually drink. That being said, being aware that I wasn’t drinking enough wasn’t enough to actually cause me to drink more this week, so that is my big goal for next week.
Liver. It is probably the part of AIP that I approach most begrudgingly. I’m not a huge fan, but I do feel good when I eat it, it is an important part of a healing diet, and the last time I got blood work done my ferritin levels were sub-optimal so I need to be intentional about increasing my dietary iron. I am planning to make THIS paté recipe and eat it as my afternoon snack in the coming week.
So, here’s to week two of the reset and a lifetime of health and healing! What are your goals for this week?
