Comfort food to help your autoimmune condition
Intuitive eating
We tend to feel at our best when we are at ease with our environment. That goes for food too. We want to feel in tune with the season and our surroundings.
But it can be hard to follow our instincts when parts of autoimmune nutrition advice can feel at odds with nature.
One of our main aims is to eat as many plant foods as possible, because this helps with increasing the resilience of our guts against pathogens, as well as promoting immune tolerance.
Yet certain foods that we might think of as healthy or natural are deemed to be problematic in autoimmunity. Gluten or nightshades, for example, or foods like kefir or banana that contain high amounts of histamine can contribute to inflammation.
Sometimes, when we are feeling tired, burnt out, or sad, we just want to know what we can eat to calm our nervous systems and give us that warm glow inside, without adding to our autoimmune symptoms.
Here is a loose framework that you can use as a guide.
The autoimmune nutritional framework
eat a high ratio of whole, minimally processed foods and a low ratio of ultra processed foods (see why here);
consider avoiding gluten and avoiding or reducing dairy for a time to reduce inflammation levels (more info here);
consider reducing high histamine foods during a flare (click here to find out what these are);
be aware of gut irritants such as nightshades and pulses, but mitigate their impact by changing how they are prepared, rather than avoiding them (see more here);
stabilise your blood sugar levels (find out how to do this here).
Don’t aim for perfection, just understand where your meal lies on the spectrum so you can make informed decisions.
The last thing we want to do is aim for ridiculously nutritious meals that no one wants to eat. It will make us miserable and will be counter productive; if we don’t want to eat the food in front of us, we won’t be making the necessary digestive enzymes. Poorly digested foods exacerbate autoimmune symptoms.
We want to find comfort foods that hit the spot, yet don’t completely fly in the face of the framework!
If we can shift a pattern of going straight for the sugary, ultra processed food that provides only a moment’s comfort before actually making us feel worse than we did before, then we will be making a positive impact.
Dispel the myth that comfort food needs to be instantaneous.
These take a bit of time to prepare, but that’s really part of why they work. Dispel the myth that comfort food needs to be instantaneous. The smells, sight, sounds, touch and tastes of the whole experience is what provides the comfort. Change the lighting, listen to something good, and enjoy!
Here are some ideas…
Sometimes it’s about combining a couple of options - maybe a hot drink and a snack?
Or maybe having something that has baked in the oven is what you are craving.
But sometimes only a sweet treat will do. In which case, eat something high in protein, fat and fibre first to mitigate the impact on your blood sugar levels. And think about reducing the sugar quantity in the recipe!
