If you are new to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, my Tips for Transitioning to an AIP Diet will help make it easier & sustainable!
My top pointers get you ready for properly planning for the elimination phase by making it easier to gently transition into the protocol with a higher chance of success sticking to it.
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First, know what’s excluded and included on the AIP diet
Here is a quick look at the foods you will eliminate:
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Fruit-based spices (like black pepper and nutmeg)
- Gluten
- Grains
- Gums and additives
- Legumes / Beans
- Nightshade produce and spices (like cayenne, tomatoes, and eggplant)
- Nuts
- Industrialized, GMO cooking oils (corn, soy, sunflower, vegetable oils, etc)
- Processed, refined and fast foods
- Pseudogrians (quinoa, millet, amaranth, etc)
- Refined sugar
- Seeds
- Spices containing nightshades and seeds
- Soy
Here are some of the foods you will be eating:
- Bone broth
- Clean proteins (ie, wild caught fish; pastured pork, poultry, beef, and offal)
- Collagen
- Cultured foods
- Healthy fats
- Herbal teas
- Lots of vegetables
- Nourishing soups
Here is some more information on the AIP and what’s in and out.
You can also grab your free copy of my AIP Yes / No Foods list as well as your free 7-Day AIP Meal Plan. These are handy helpers that you can print out or save to your phone. You can bring your lists with you to the grocery store when you do your shopping so you know what’s in and what’s out on the protocol, and exactly what ingredients to buy for your meal plan that week.
Track Your Current Diet, then Eliminate Gradually
Before you begin to transition to the AIP elimination phase, it can be really helpful to take stock of what you currently eat. This helps because you know what foods you currently eat that are allowed on the AIP diet, and also brings to light what areas you struggle with the most dietarily.
If you find that you are eating cheese in about every meal, then you may want cheese to be the last food group to go.
By the way, this non-fortified nutritional yeast adds an AIP-compliant cheesy flavor to your foods without the dairy!
While a few people do okay with the “cold turkey” approach when switching from a standard American diet to the AIP elimination phase, this is usually not the case for most other people.
You might be better off with a more gradual transition. This could mean switching just one meal or snack a day from your current diet to the AIP diet. This could also mean simply eliminating one of the “no” foods every week or every few days until your diet is fully elimination compliant. At this time when you are fully compliant, you would begin your 30 days of 100% AIP.
An example of this would be to switch the burger and fries you eat once a week to a bunless burger topped with sliced cucumber, mango, lettuce then served with sweet potato chips that have been cooked in coconut oil. This would be a tasty meal swap!
Another example would be to switch the low-fat milk you have in your morning tea to additive-free coconut milk or if you are sensitive to coconut, you can use my homemade tigernut milk recipe. This would be an ingredient swap!
If you already eat a good amount of foods allowed on the AIP, you can probably transition to it a bit faster. Those who have been on a Paleo diet for a few months before trying the AIP tend to have a higher success rate of transitioning more quickly into the AIP. This is because a Paleo diet is already free of gluten, dairy, grains, beans, and toxic food-like substances found in fast food and processed grocery items.
Begin Gathering Recipes
Once you know what you can and can’t eat on the AIP, and once you’ve got a plan of action for easing into it, it’s time to begin compiling recipes that you think you’ll enjoy.
Fortunately I’ve got a huge cache of compliant recipes right here for you on my blog!
You can also find me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram where I share my newest recipes. I also love sharing my AIP blogger friends’ newest creations as well as my own in my weekly newsletter, which you can join here!
Curating an AIP cookbook library for yourself is another great way to get a ton of recipes made just for the AIP without having to do a lot of dogging or researching whether the recipe is actually compliant or not. There are even cookbooks, created with cooking time, cooking equipment, meal prep, and international flavors in mind!
Here are some of my favorite eBooks for the AIP written by experts in the community:
AIP Gatherings (my cookbook!)
AIP Sheet Pan Recipes Volume 2
Freezer Cooking for the Paleo AIP
30 Minute Meals for the Paleo AIP
Another good place for finding AIP recipes is by checking out blogs specifically dedicated to clean eating. Also keep in mind that while there are some differences, the Paleo diet and AIP diet are pretty close, so be sure that when you are checking out blogs for those diets that you carefully review the ingredients before making a new dish you found a website. This way you don’t accidentally create a non-compliant recipe.
Start Replacing White Refined Carbs
This is a fairly simple way to begin making the transition to the elimination phase of the AIP, since it is only a small change but makes a drastic difference. With AIP, you can certainly have some complex carbs, but you want to try and whittle down your refined carbs as much as possible.
To do this, begin by replacing any bread, rice, and wheat-based flour that you are eating with AIP versions:
- For bread, try this recipe instead of buying your usual loaf.
- Instead of white rice, brown rice, or quinoa, use riced cauliflower or grated yams instead.
- If you’re still having heavy hankerings for pasta or cookies, try this cassava flour pasta as well as this amazing cookie mix that is AIP compliant!
I hope my top Tips for Transitioning to an AIP Diet help you feel a little more at ease!
I totally get that this part of your journey can become really overwhelming super quickly. Just know that, like you, I have been there and know that while it may seem daunting now, there certainly are ways that you can make this part of your life more doable and even enjoyable!
Need more support? Join my free group on Facebook, the It’s All About AIP Community! We have nearly 1,000 autoimmune warriors and are growing strong. We are there for each other, sharing experiences and recipes to help make the AIP easier for busy people like you and me.
