The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook: A DIY Guide to Living Well with Chronic Illness

The epitome of a proactive approach for all with autoimmune disease!
I cannot say enough about how informative, enlightening, and helpful this book is and will be. I have several other AIP resources that were purchased and put aside because either the material was too technical, the recipes were overwhelming to prepare, or the book just wasn’t much of a guide. This book was what I needed all along – so well organized and it helps you get to the root of your issues and provides guidance for healing as a whole. I’ve already purchased one for a close friend starting her path to autoimmune healing – it will be incredibly helpful to her. I’m just so thankful that these girls wrote this book. I feel more confident going forward with this guide, that I will be able to comprehensively assess my own health issues and tackle them proactively with the suggestions, informational resources, questionnaires, and recipes they’ve provided in this book. If you have autoimmune disease or think you do, get this book! It’s going to help you figure things out and get on the path of healing!

How-to for AIP (or any chronic illness and other things like life)
I think this book is fantastic! and am only giving 4 stars because of these few, somewhat petty irks…As another reviewer wrote, The pumpkin and butternut squash are missing from the week 2 shopping list. I write a lot of notes in my cookbooks and the paper this is printed on isn’t great for that. So if you take notes, expect a messy book or test an ink pen in the back first. Also, I wish this wasn’t pigeonholed to “autoimmune” as these are the steps that anyone with chronic illness might want to follow, and are really just a strong solid foundation for anyone to have good health.Other than that, I am finding this to be an excellent step by step workbook. Perhaps because my brain puts information in as the order it was written by the authors, or they just made it accessible. I have the mothership book by Sarah Ballantyne, The Paleo Approach, that the authors of AWH referenced for their book. This book puts the textbook-like writing of Dr. Ballantyne’s into an approachable step by step… at least I think so, I have some serious mental fog so keep that in mind, ha!I can tell that it is well thought out as I have to retrace things many times to process and this book is fluid for me, which I need right now. I get the why but stumbled putting together the how. I also love that it starts with sleep and meditation. So many well meaning people start with a big push on the movement, really not understanding that it can take all day to make a pot of soup when you are ill. Which brings up something else about this book I appreciated: the cooking wasn’t overwhelming, but I couldn’t have started without a hand that first week. My stamina has been improving since then (probably because of the “permission” to rest, be still and silent). When I add in the local market that has online ordering that can be picked up by anyone (which saves days when I consider all it takes to get there, shop, home, put away and then recover for a day or three) and I don’t have to wait for the delivery window and delivery person in the house. {side note: I can’t manage a butternut squash yet, some days carrots are a lot, so I do have bags of frozen on hand instead (it saves a lot of kitchen & recovery time). Seems like 2 10oz bags of frozen butternut equal one fresh and a bag of sliced carrots is usually what goes well in soups, stews, and the like. Also, I look for any kale, chard, etc. already washed and prepped. It’s worth the extra pocket change to spare the kitchen time; I had to let go over my penny-pinching tendencies}The recipes are good and the portions are generous. We eased in the first week and just did the meal plan as written (which is for 1 person) With my husband eating leftovers from the week before and transitioning the last of our fresh produce, we had plenty of food for the 2 of us. I have a lot of nausea and I found the meals easy on my gut and I can always manage to eat at least 1/2 because they smell so tantalizing. Having leftovers planned in the meal plan is perfect! Thank you for not turning leftovers into something else and having to basically recook something. So many meal plans try to make things glamorous and I simply need fast, easy, clean, and tasty. That they freeze well and say how long they keep is great! I don’t have to watch my husband play leftover roulette trying to remember when he made something (I don’t participate in this bizarre game of his.) Also, I sort of blew up our oven like a Molotov cocktail and have been using an Instapot instead of baking the recipes. I find a similar recipe in an instapot cookbook and just adapt the time and pressure to the AWH recipes (then make a messy note of it in the book for next time). Any liquid gets simmered down into a sauce. I’m looking forward to trying these in an oven when it is back online.I’m honestly surprised that I was able to take a shower from start to finish, drying hair, the full gig, without feeling like I was going to pass out for the first time in over a year. I’m so skeptical and jaded after giving so many promises a go but it has only been a few weeks and that’s a big shift. I’m also not feeling exhausted today after such a wild ride that most people don’t give thought to every morning. I’m looking forward to making exciting progress, like a shower and checking the mail in the same day… maybe a walk around a park (to dream!). Snark aside, I am very appreciative to the authors for putting together the workbook that I needed and getting me started when I wasn’t able to think and plan.

its not a bad book, but not what i was looking for, in gives very general advice so its informative but to general for my taste.Un libro informativo de manera genearl como para conocer sobre las condiciones autoinmunes.

I have autoimmune issues and decided to try this diet in order to heal. After the 3d week on this diet I got very sick, because my body could not bear complete cut on carbohydrates. You can read about low carb flu. There are NO carbohydrates in this diet.One more advice, if you have autoimmune issues, do NOT think it comes ONLY from your gut or the food you eat, and don’t think you can always fix it through the diet, despite all the hype. Trauma destroys immunity and you may have it undiagnosed. Rest, sleep, calm down may NOT be enough for you to heal. Look into your brain and into your past.These are the comments published about this diet on an AIP pracitioner Facebook page: For the last 3 years, at least 75% of the emails in my inbox say this:”I am writing you because I don’t know where else to go. I have been strict AIP for over a year, with no reintroductions, and no cheating. My digestion has gotten worse, and I cannot reintroduce foods.”You can fill in the blanks after that…maybe that they work with a FMD or ND who has told them to stay on the diet or to come off AIP and yet they can’t. They are losing hope. They are histamine intolerant now. They have lost too much weight. They have lost the love for food. But the bottom line is that they have no where to turn. If this is you, I want you to know that I hear you, and you are not alone. (why I moderate the Beyond AIP FB page now)The part that stands out to me in their words is that they mention they are strict AIP with ‘no cheating’ which is very worrisome to me.If you are having this kind of experience, I am so sorry, and I hear you. It is not what AIP is meant to be, and yet somehow for large numbers of people, it is.