For individuals grappling with autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), or Crohn's disease, managing inflammation and promoting gut health are paramount. The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet offers a strategic approach to achieve these goals. This article delves into the world of AIP diet meal delivery services, exploring their benefits, key considerations, and top providers.
Understanding the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet
The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) is a medically recommended diet designed to reduce inflammation and promote healing from certain diseases. It works to reduce inflammation in the intestines. One of the factors contributing to symptoms in autoimmune disease is intestinal permeability or “leaky gut”. The term “Autoimmune” essentially means “attacking self”. Many “clean eating” programs or elimination diets are not complete enough to remove immune triggers that promote inflammation in the gut.
Following any diet is tough, but the AIP diet is more challenging than most as it excludes popular ingredients like grains, nuts, nightshade vegetables, and dairy products. Autoimmune recipes follow strict AIP standards to avoid inflammatory ingredients. Nightshades, legumes, grains, gluten, seed-based spices, industrial seed and vegetable oils, caffeine, and alcohol are excluded.
The AIP diet is more restrictive than the Paleo diet, excluding Paleo-friendly foods like nuts and seeds, certain herbs and spices, and eggs. Paleo might work for an AIP diet’s reintroduction phase, but not the elimination phase.
The elimination phase of the AIP diet can last anywhere from 30 to 90 days, depending on what your healthcare professional determines is necessary for you. For some, an initial AIP protocol of 6-12 weeks (along with digestive support including probiotics and enzymes) allows for sufficient healing to return to eating a more inclusive diet, even on occasion. For others, it can be years, or even a lifetime commitment as certain foods may continue to provoke an inflammatory response. Every case is individual and each person is different.
Read also: The Carnivore Diet: An Autoimmune Solution?
Benefits of AIP Meal Delivery Services
For those with auto-immune diseases, an Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) meal delivery service can be really helpful. AIP cooking can be challenging and many following an AIP diet end up eating a lot of the same foods, over and over again. It is easiest to figure out a few “safe” foods and meals and stick to it than the hassle of learning and experimenting with new recipes and ideas.
AIP meal delivery services offer a convenient solution, delivering chef-prepared, nutritionist-designed, organic, toxin-free Autoimmune Paleo food right to your door. These services aim to bring convenience to the Autoimmune Protocol, take the stress off your plate, and gift you time to implement wellness strategies, restore your health, and thrive beyond your diagnosis.
Here's how AIP meal delivery can ease the journey:
- Convenience: Simplifies meal planning and preparation, saving time and reducing stress.
- Compliance: Ensures adherence to AIP guidelines by providing meals crafted with compliant ingredients. The prepared meals are crafted specifically for AIP dieters.
- Variety: Introduces a wider range of AIP-friendly foods and dishes, preventing dietary boredom. With Autoimmune meals, you'll be exposed to more foods and dishes. Chef Pete has put time into creating unique and exciting meals to keep things fresh and interesting. Meals are rotated seasonally to provide even more variety!
- Reduced Temptation: Minimizes trips to the grocery store, decreasing exposure to non-AIP-compliant foods and potential cravings. When you sign up for our autoimmune meal delivery options, you will greatly reduce the number of trips you take to the grocery store. This not only gives you more time to spend doing things you love, but means fewer instances of temptation and the associated stress.
- Quality Ingredients: Often prioritize organic, sustainably sourced ingredients, minimizing exposure to harmful additives and toxins.
- Nutrient Density: Focuses on providing meals rich in essential nutrients to support healing and overall well-being.
- Time-Saving: Frees up time for other essential aspects of wellness, such as implementing wellness strategies, stress reduction, and self-care.
- Peace of Mind: You don't have to spend the time researching and questioning things each time you eat.
Key Considerations When Choosing an AIP Meal Delivery Service
Choosing the right AIP meal delivery service requires careful consideration of several factors:
- Ingredient Quality: Prioritize services that use high-quality, whole foods, preferably organic and non-GMO. Look for humanely sourced proteins raised without hormones or antibiotics and organic and non-GMO veggies. Eating organic can be an important health choice for people with ingredient sensitivities. Organic meals don’t just taste better, they’re free of harmful additives.
- AIP Compliance: Ensure the service strictly adheres to AIP guidelines, excluding all non-compliant ingredients. Ideally, choosing a meal delivery service with a fully compliant AIP menu is best.
- Menu Variety: Opt for a service that offers a diverse menu with seasonal rotations to prevent dietary monotony.
- Ingredient List Availability: Verify that ingredient lists are readily available for each recipe to ensure transparency and informed choices. Ensure that ingredient lists are visible for each recipe. You may want to double-check with customer service that recipes are updated and aligned with the AIP standards you need to follow.
- Preparation Method: Decide whether you prefer prepared meals for maximum convenience or meal kits for a more hands-on cooking experience. Prepared meals are the best way to guarantee AIP diet compliance. The prepared meals on my list are crafted specifically for AIP dieters. If your needs are more flexible, a customizable meal kit helps you cook for yourself. Meal kits will always take a little longer (30 minutes on average), but you will have more control over what goes into each meal.
- Dietary Needs: Consider any additional dietary restrictions or preferences, such as vegan, keto, or specific allergies.
- Customer Reviews: Research customer reviews to gain insights into the service's quality, taste, and reliability. You can see customer reviews of recipes on the menu, making it easier to choose which meals to include in your AIP regimen.
Top AIP Meal Delivery Services
While specific offerings and availability may vary, here are some of the top AIP meal delivery services, known for their commitment to quality, compliance, and customer satisfaction:
Read also: Understanding the AIP Diet
- Green Chef: A certified organic meal delivery service that offers high-quality meal kits. All Green Chef’s produce is organic, all seafood is sustainably harvested, and all meats are humanely raised without antibiotics or growth hormones. With Green Chef’s meal kits, you prepare and cook your meals yourself. This makes it easy for you to swap out ingredients and customize your meal to make it AIP-friendly. The organic produce Green Chef uses in its meals is grown using natural fertilizers and is never exposed to the harmful toxins used in factory-farmed food. And if you’re sensitive to gluten, Green Chef’s Gluten Free plan is free from barley, wheat, rye, and triticale. Each Green Chef recipe features healthy fats, lean proteins, and nutrient-dense vegetables.
- Pete's Real Food: Offers seasonally fresh, AIP-friendly breakfasts, lunches, and dinners every week. To view AIP-friendly recipes, simply select the AIP-friendly filter on the Dietary Preferences on the main menu. All Pete’s Real Food meals are gluten-, dairy-, and GMO-free, so you don’t have to worry about the most common inflammatory ingredients. When you enter your reintroduction phase, you can mix and match recipes from PRF’s super clean, high-quality recipes on its Vegan, Keto, or Paleo menus.
- Eat Clean: Delivers organic and minimally processed meals. As you move into the reintroduction phase of the AIP diet, you need to stay focused on clean eating. Its focus on fitness means that it designs meals with workouts and macros in mind.
Spotlight on Urban AIP
Urban AIP is another service that stands out for its commitment to providing convenient, delicious, and AIP-compliant meals. Urban AIP fills a need in functional medicine for Autoimmune Paleo meals, to help my clients be successful with their health goals. Eliminates the food and lifestyle obstacle which hinders many individuals.
Paleo On The Go: Healing Through Food
Paleo On The Go (POTG) emphasizes healing through carefully crafted paleo and autoimmune protocol meals. At Paleo On The Go, there are no shortcuts. At Paleo On The Go, we take everything a step further. For us, this isn’t just a food fad or trendy diet. This is about healing. We understand the struggle of sitting down for a meal with family and friends, and not being able to eat anything on the table. We also understand how tricky it can be to make healthy meals that you actually enjoy. That’s why we work hard to create paleo and autoimmune protocol meals that you wouldn’t think you’d be allowed to eat. We handcraft them with love and deliver them directly to you, from our kitchen to yours.
With Paleo On The Go, you can add more time to your day while adding the joy back into eating. CHOOSE YOUR MEALS Choose from our menu of chef-created, real food dishes. Everything is 100% Paleo & AIP-friendly. HEAT & ENJOY! Just a few minutes on the stovetop or in the microwave to enjoy!
POTG offers a Welcome Offer and a diverse menu, including:
- Coq Au Vin with Herb Mashed Japanese White Sweet Potatoes: A reinvented French classic featuring free-range chicken breast and thighs in a "sherry" sauce with bone broth, herbs, and balsamic vinegar, served with creamy Japanese White Sweet Potatoes.
- Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit with AIP Tortillas: A Chinese-inspired dish with slow-cooked pastured pork, fresh vegetables, ginger, and garlic.
- Chicken Breakfast Sausage with Brussels Sprouts Hash: A high-protein dish with chicken sausage and assorted vegetables.
- Grass-Fed Beef Bolognese with Butternut Squash Noodles and Roasted Brussels Sprouts: A take on the Italian classic, adapted for paleo and AIP diets.
- Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Onion Confit Cauliflower Mash: A nostalgic comfort food made with grass-fed beef and clean ingredients.
- Chicken "Pozole" Verde: An AIP twist on Mexican cuisine, using riced cauliflower instead of hominy or corn.
- Pesto Shrimp with Broccoli: A flavorful dish promoting thyroid function and gut health with wild-caught shrimp and fresh broccoli.
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins: Made with real food ingredients, perfect for breakfast or a snack.
- Peachberry Cobbler: A nutrient-dense dessert with peaches and raspberries.
Paleo On The Go makes great food and makes eating Paleo easy and affordable. The quality is superb. I highly recommend it! I received my first order this week and I am very impressed with the food quality and taste! I've been on an AIP diet for a while and it's been so amazing being able to eat food that tastes so good again that doesn't bother me. I will definitely be ordering again. Paleo on the Go made it so simple when I decided to start my paleo journey a few months ago. Their meals are amazing and the variety is incredible as well. In fact, the meals are so good that the kids ask for them. Keep up the good work!
Read also: The Vegan Autoimmune Protocol
Tips for Choosing the Best AIP Meal Delivery Service
Here are some key points to keep in mind when choosing an AIP-friendly meal delivery service.
Consider ingredient quality: AIP diets prioritize nutrient-dense, whole foods that are as close to their original form as possible and that exclude preservatives, artificial ingredients, or artificial means that increase size or speed growth. You want to choose a meal delivery service with clean growing and treatment processes like humanely sourced proteins raised without hormones or antibiotics and organic and non-GMO veggies. Green Chef’s meals use certified organic ingredients.
Consider the service’s meal-prep ingredients: Some meal delivery services might use canola, vegetable, and other highly processed oils, seasonings, and spice mixes during their meal-prep processes that aren’t AIP-compliant.
Consider ingredient list availability: Some meal delivery services claim they have AIP-compliant options but actually follow the Primal or Paleo diets.
Consider at-home meal prep time: Meal kits will always take a little longer (30 minutes on average), but you will have more control over what goes into each meal.
How to Choose the Right AIP Meal Delivery Service for Your Needs
Determine your specific needs: With such a strict and specific diet, you don’t want to take any chances. Discuss your specific concerns with your doctor to determine how strictly you should stick to an AIP diet.
Decide on a prep method: Prepared meals are the best way to guarantee AIP diet compliance. The prepared meals on my list are crafted specifically for AIP dieters. If your needs are more flexible, a customizable meal kit helps you cook for yourself.
Consider your budget: Meal delivery services for specialized diets can come at a premium.
The Importance of Mindset
When taking on the challenge of an AIP diet, mindset is particularly important but incredibly challenging.
Navigating the Reintroduction Phase
As you move into the reintroduction phase of the AIP diet, you need to stay focused on clean eating. Depending on what your healthcare professional determines is necessary, a paleo diet like that offered by Pete’s Real Food might work for your reintroduction phase.
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