Millions of people grapple with autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, and inflammatory bowel disease. These conditions often manifest in disruptive symptoms like persistent fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes, digestive problems, and brain fog. Dr. Amy Myers, a functional medicine physician and two-time New York Times Bestselling Author, offers a revolutionary approach called The Myers Way® to relieve and even reverse these symptoms by addressing the root causes of autoimmune diseases.
Understanding the Myers Way®
The Myers Way® is a medical approach that views the body holistically, promoting optimal wellness throughout. It's rooted in functional medicine principles, focusing on how all the body's systems interact and aiming to get them functioning optimally. This approach aims to relieve symptoms, help individuals reduce or eliminate harsh medications, and enable a healthy, energetic, and pain-free life. The Myers Way® rests on four pillars, tested and proven through extensive research and the experiences of thousands of patients.
Pillar I: Heal Your Gut
The gut is the foundation of overall health, housing 80% of the immune system. A compromised gut leads to a compromised immune system, making individuals susceptible to infections, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. Leaky gut, a condition where harmful substances escape the intestines and travel through the bloodstream, triggers the immune system to attack these "foreign invaders," resulting in inflammation. This imbalance can lead to hormonal imbalances and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, diabetes, and fibromyalgia, as well as mood disorders like anxiety and depression.
The 4R approach is a proven method for healing the gut:
- Remove the Bad: Eliminate factors that negatively affect the gut environment, including inflammatory and toxic foods, intestinal infections like yeast overgrowth and SIBO, with Gut ImmunIGⓇ.
- Restore What’s Missing: Support optimal digestion and nutrient absorption by adding digestive enzymes and Gut Restore with Betaine HCL to the daily regimen.
- Reinoculate with Healthy Bacteria: Restore beneficial bacteria to the gut to re-establish a healthy gut environment.
- Repair the Gut: Provide necessary nutrients, such as L-glutamine and collagen from bone broth, to support gut lining repair.
Healing the gut is the first pillar of The Myers Way®, addressing the Autoimmune Spectrum®.
Read also: Myers' Cocktail: A comprehensive guide
Pillar II: Eliminate Inflammatory Foods
Diet plays a crucial role in managing inflammation and autoimmune conditions. Eliminating foods that trigger inflammation prevents damage to the intestinal tract.
Foods to Avoid:
- Gluten: A group of proteins found in grains like wheat, rye, and barley, gluten can contribute to inflammation and disease in many people. While not found in rice, millet, corn, or quinoa, oats often risk cross-contamination and are generally avoided.
- Grains: The seeds of starchy plants, such as wheat, rye, barley, rice, millet, and oats, contain chemicals that can be damaging to those with autoimmune diseases. Corn and quinoa, while technically not grains, contain similar proteins.
- Legumes: Plants that grow their edible seeds in long cases, including lentils, chickpeas, peas, green beans, and other beans, also contain chemicals that can irritate the gut.
- Nightshades: Vegetables in the nightshade family, such as tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes, can damage the gut lining and enter the bloodstream, triggering an immune response.
While some foods may need to be permanently removed, others can be reintroduced after following an elimination diet.
Pillar III: Reduce Toxin Exposure
Toxins are ubiquitous, found in the air, water, food, cosmetics, cleaning products, and cookware. Exposure to toxins can overwhelm the body's natural detoxification processes, contributing to inflammation and autoimmune symptoms.
How Toxins Enter the Body:
- Breathing: Indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air.
- Eating: The Standard American Diet is full of pesticide-treated produce and animals grown with artificial growth hormones and antibiotics.
- Drinking: Water can contain heavy metals, chemicals from plastic, and other pollutants.
- Absorption through Skin: Personal care products often contain harmful chemicals.
Toxin-Taming Strategies:
- Prevention:
- Clean the air with HEPA filters.
- Purify water with whole-house purifiers or filters.
- Buy clean food, eating organic whenever possible, including grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and wild-caught seafood.
- Use clean body products, replacing items one at a time.
- Detoxification:
- Flush toxins through urination, defecation, and sweating.
- Support the liver with nutrients from The Myers Way® diet.
- Supplement with glutathione, a master detoxifier.
Pillar IV: Heal Infections and Relieve Stress
Viruses, bacterial infections, and stress can all contribute to inflammation and autoimmune disease. Viruses like herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can trigger inflammatory immune responses. Bacterial infections like Lyme disease share similarities with autoimmune diseases and can be misdiagnosed.
Stress, whether emotional, mental, or physical, triggers the release of cortisol, which can lead to chronic inflammation and a weakened immune system.
Read also: The Career of Violet Myers
Strategies to Address Infections and Relieve Stress:
- Address underlying infections with appropriate medical care.
- Practice stress-relieving strategies such as:
- Breathing exercises
- Gentle exercise in natural settings
The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet
The AIP diet is a science-based elimination diet rooted in functional medicine, focusing on removing inflammatory foods and reintroducing them in a structured way to uncover triggers. It supports immune balance, gut repair, and a healthy inflammatory response. It is a more specific version of the Paleo diet, eliminating additional foods that may provoke the immune system or disrupt gut health.
The Three Phases of the AIP Diet:
- Elimination Phase: Remove foods known to contribute to inflammation and immune activation, including grains, dairy, legumes, nightshades, nuts, seeds, eggs, and processed ingredients.
- Reintroduction Phase: After symptoms have stabilized, reintroduce foods one at a time in a systematic way to observe whether certain foods trigger a recurrence of symptoms.
- Maintenance Phase: After identifying individual food triggers, build a personalized, long-term nutrition plan.
Foods to Include in the AIP Diet:
- Colorful Vegetables: Leafy greens, carrots, zucchini, beets, and winter squash.
- High-Quality Animal Protein: Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised chicken and turkey, and wild-caught fish such as salmon and sardines.
- Healthy Fats: Coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and animal fats from grass-fed sources.
- Herbs and AIP-Friendly Spices: Fresh basil, oregano, cilantro, rosemary, parsley, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, garlic powder, and clove.
- Low-Sugar Fruits: Berries, apples, pears, and mangoes.
- Bone Broth: Homemade or clean, store-bought versions free of additives and preservatives.
- Coconut Products: Coconut milk, coconut cream, shredded coconut, and coconut flour.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet Plan
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease characterized by pain, inflammation, and stiffness in the joints. A rheumatoid arthritis diet plan focuses on reducing inflammation and supporting overall health.
Foods to Avoid:
- Gluten and Dairy: These are common inflammatory triggers.
- Sugary Beverages and Processed Foods: These contribute to inflammation and leaky gut syndrome.
- Grilled, Broiled, or Fried Meats: High in Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs), which cause an inflammatory response.
- Excessive Omega-6 Fatty Acids: Found in many processed foods.
- Refined Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners: Inflammatory foods that can lead to leaky gut syndrome.
- Processed Foods: Contain preservatives and artificial flavors that can trigger inflammation.
- Alcohol: Can cause leaky gut.
Foods to Include:
- Red Superfoods: Raspberries, beets, and cherries are packed with free radical scavengers and phytonutrients.
- Blueberries: Rich in vitamin C and anthocyanins, which support a healthy immune system response.
- Ginger: An anti-inflammatory powerhouse.
- Salmon: Full of Omega-3s, which supports a healthy immune system response.
- Avocados: High in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), which are linked to reduced inflammation.
- Leafy Greens: Rich in fiber, vitamins, and phytonutrients that support the immune system.
- Bone Broth: A natural source of glucosamine and amino acids that support joint health.
- Turmeric: Contains curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties.
The Elimination Diet
An elimination diet is a short-term eating plan to pinpoint exactly which foods are causing problems. It involves removing specific foods from the diet for a relatively short period, then reintroducing these foods one by one while monitoring the body’s reactions and symptoms.
The Elimination Phase:
- Remove all toxic and inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, and any other suspected triggers.
- Stick to the regimen strictly, as even a tiny amount of a triggering food can set off an immune response.
Managing Die-Off Symptoms:
When starting an elimination diet, the body may experience “die-off” symptoms due to the release of endotoxins. To mitigate these symptoms:
- Take charcoal detox with meals.
- Supplement with glutathione.
- Consider a Leaky Gut Maintenance Bundle.
The Reintroduction Phase:
- Reintroduce foods one at a time, eating the chosen food three times a day for three days.
- Monitor for any symptoms or reactions.
- If a food causes inflammation, return to the elimination phase for three days before reintroducing a new food.
Practical Tips for Following the Myers Way® and AIP Diet
- Plan Ahead: When traveling or eating out, prepare homemade snacks and meals to avoid unhealthy options.
- Know Your "No" Foods: Identify foods that are absolute triggers and avoid them at all costs.
- Choose Accommodations Wisely: Stay in hotels or rentals with kitchen facilities to prepare your own meals.
- Utilize the Internet: Research restaurant menus online and call ahead to inquire about special requests.
- Be Mindful of Sauces and Dressings: Request simply grilled or broiled meats and fish with olive oil.
- Cook at Home: Prepare meals from scratch using AIP-friendly recipes.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet