Results of AIP Diet and Experiments

I've been trying to sit down and write an update on the results of the AIP Diet and Exercise Experiment for a while.  The chaos of life has kept me from it.

Earlier this month I had my quarterly visit with the Rheumatologist.  It was probably the most amusing visit I have ever had to a doctor's office.

The nurse always asks if I can "do the walk".  This is a walk from a line to the end of the hall (touch the wall) and back that they time.  I imagine it helps keep track of whether there is a change in mobility over time.  She asked me this time and I said, "I can do the walk.  I can do the run.  Sure, why not?"  She looked at me kind of funny and then, after I jogged the "walk" she said, "Oh, that was goooood!"

My doctor had a couple of doctors in the office that day who are interning.  They came in and asked me the usual questions:  How is your pain?  Where is your pain?  How is the morning stiffness?

My answers to all were the same, "As long as I stay on AIP and get around 45 minutes of exercise each day, I have no pain and no morning stiffness."  They were quite surprised.  My doctor came in and wanted a full accounting so we went through it all again.  He was amazed that diet could reduce pain this much. 

He jokingly said, "You're cured!"  Well, not cured, but it's under control.

I am still working through the reintroduction of foods into my diet.  I have tried to go about this in the order indicated in The AutoImmune Paleo Cookbook.  There have been a few times where things outside of my control have led to reintroduction of some things out of order and I am ok with that. 

So far I have learned that items made with cow's milk and grains seem to affect me.  Items made with cow's milk (so far ice cream and cheese) either contribute to pain in my ankles or unpleasantness in my gut.  I still need to try cow's milk yogurt and, well, milk.  If I have grains, my pain ramps way up in all joints and I am back in the same pain place I was in August.

I will finish up the addition of the last few food items in the next couple of weeks while I completely remove all grain-based items from my cupboards.  :)

As for the exercise experiment, the literature I read said that 30+ minutes of moderate exercise per day was found to reduce the amount of arthritis pain.  I found that 30 minutes did very little but ramping that up to 45+ minutes clearly contributes to pain reduction. 

The longer walks make the dog very happy.... and the reduction in pain for me is exhilarating.  I feel like I have my life back.