RIGHT Diet for Autoimmunity

I am an American wife and mother, originally born in Mumbai, India. I was previously living in Indonesia for my husband’s temporary work assignment. After a year of living in Jakarta, I realized and accepted there was a drastic difference in my energy levels. Over the next several months I noticed my productivity was being robbed by my fatigue. My doctor ran routine blood tests which showed no abnormalities. Over the next several months, I began napping in the day to adjust to a new “normal”. Next I realized and accepted I was having increased gastric upsets, which including gas, bloating, burping, flatulence, constipation, and diarrhea. This is not really uncommon for expatriates, so I hadn’t been alarmed and had just accepted it… until they were more frequent and I began skipping meals to avoid further gastric complications. Others began to ask why my clothes had become so large for my body size. I rationalized the new washing and drying machines in Indonesia must be stretching my clothes – but that was not the case. My family was complaining that I was very moody and irritable, which I wasn’t taking very well either. But at some point I had to come to terms with all the changes that were occurring and realize this strange illness that was taking over my life and impacting everyone around me. I reached out to my local and international medical communities searching for answers to my questions, namely “Why me?” or “What now?” I wasn’t completely satisfied with the different answers I was given. Each of my doctors had a different perspective of what it could be. The symptoms were so multi-faceted that there could have been so many explanations. I didn’t have a unanimous path forward to recovery. Medicine is not an exact science. I was given options, differing approaches, and prescription medications to supposedly manage the abnormal symptoms. My doctors were all respectable medical experts, but they all had varying approaches and protocols for my different symptoms. This left me at the center of alarm and confusion because I didn’t know how to decide which path, which doctor, which approach, and which medicines would be ideal for me. And the longer I took to make that decision, the worse my illness became. Taking control of your health involves making a decision, but I didn’t think I was equipped well to make this decision. I was confused and didn’t want to make a mistake. …At this lowest point of my illness, I had so many questions and no clear answers. I thought I was alone in my struggle to live a normal life while hoping for more good days than bad. I didn’t realize there were so many other sufferers out there. I didn’t realize how bad things could get, or how long the recovery would take. All I knew was the longer I was sick, the more hopeless I was getting. …At the suggestion of my nutritionist, I reluctantly began elimination diets, which means going without a certain ingredient for a specified time, to see if a trigger food could be causing some symptoms. I didn’t believe this was the case; and I had never had any food allergies in the past. But I followed her suggestions. Over the next few months I performed a number of elimination diets, all proving that I was equally symptomatic regardless of dietary changes. Then my nutritionist asked me to eliminate a combination of ingredients – firstly removing both gluten and dairy simultaneously. I began the elimination diet a true non-believer but as the days progressed I began to stabilize. This fueled hope over the next few weeks. At the end of 6 weeks, I concluded that my symptoms seemed to be reducing. I continued the course over the next 6 months, accidentally making dietary mistakes every now and then, but always starting again more determined to get it right. I was motivated to get it right because I was finally feeling my old self when I was gluten free and dairy free. Does any of this story sound familiar? If you are going through a rough time with autoimmunity issues, I know how you feel. I understand the struggle to want to be normal. I’ve experienced the depression that autoimmunity can bring. I have experienced the isolation and growing fears of health woes and the confusion on what path to take for your specific autoimmunity, or body type, or genetic vulnerability, or metabolism, or intolerances, or age, or even a specific ancestry. Actually no one can tell you what path forward to take for your illness; it is a complicated decision that you alone must make. However, I hope this book may empower you with awareness and confidence to supplement your journey back to great health.