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Food as Medicine & Vitiligo Update


Before I talk about food, a quick:

Vitiligo Update

It still pisses me off that the hyperactive immune system that attacks my own pigment cells just let cancer sail right on through. Enough rant.
Since my cancer diagnosis, my vitiligo has just exploded. It's spread from knees and elbows to legs, face and neck. It bothers me more now.

Vitiligo hands 2009
Picture from 2009
Vitiligo hands 2016
Hands now  2016

 

 

 

 

 

Vitiligo neck 2016
The growing spread of vitiligo

Treatments

Topical steroids weren't working and while Latisse (the eyelash drug) worked on one spot above one eye, it does not seem to be helping with the other spot above the other eye. There is a pulsed light treatment I have yet to try, but before I go that route, I want to try the food route.

Food as Medicine

I've blogged previously as viewing Food as Fuel, the next step is to view food as medicine with the potential to heal some ailments.

I've read a couple of books, It Starts with Food and The Paleo Approach, and reading more, but I am moving towards trying out the Whole30 diet, and then modifying into the Auto Immune Protocol (AIP).

I've been pretty good at eating healthy, but maybe it could be tweaked to also reduce or stop the spread of my vitiligo.  On the autoimmune protocol, in addition to going paleo (primarily meat, nuts, veggies) you eliminate additional foods that could be allergenic e.g. eggs and nuts - big challenge for me. You may choose to reintroduce foods if you really want to add something back in and assess impacts.

I'm willing to give it a try, as I do not relish having vitiligo spread to more places on my body.

Whole30 to AIP update

Preparation, preparation! That and gutting the pantry. Breakfast looks like this - vegetables with some form of protein (chopped chicken, salmon or canned tuna). I keep chopped vegetables in a container so I just add protein, and saute.

Breakfast Whole30 AutoImmune Protocol meal

Breakfast Whole30 AutoImmune Protocol meal
Breakfast - zucchini, onion, mushroom, carrots with salmon.

Lunch is some variation of vegetables and chicken or fish and occasionally beef. For more pictures you can see what else I've been eating on Pinterest whole30-autoimmuneprotocol-aip

Whole30 AutoImmune Protocol meal
Lunch - sweet potato, tilapia and brussel sprouts

I am still not working enough fats into the meal (did I really just say that??), GOOD fats that is, like avocado, but this is in progress. I've reset my Whole30 diet twice so far - once for evil coconut macaroons and most recently a friend's home-made short bread cookies, but we'll see! I'll be posting out more pictures and updates!
Do you have a paleo or Whole30 or autoimmune story? Feel free to share or comment on my blog and subscribe for new posts!

Want more to read? My original post on Vitiligo.
Is the autoimmune paleo diet legit?
The Whys behind the AIP



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