EP072 | The 3 Biggest Food Triggers for Autoimmune Flares (and What to Do Instead)

Have you ever wondered why your autoimmune flares seem to happen no matter how healthy you eat?

Most women believe it’s about following the “right” diet, but the truth is, it’s usually just a few hidden food triggers that are fueling your flare-ups. Gluten, dairy, and nightshades are often the culprits—and the good news is, you can swap them for foods that nourish and calm your body instead.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE, YOU'LL DISCOVER:

• How to uncover which foods are causing inflammation and discomfort in your body.
• The surprising link between gut health and autoimmune symptoms, and what to do about it.
• How to stop fearing food and trust your body to heal when you make the right swaps.

Ready to take the next step in your healing journey? 

Start by downloading the free Chronic Healing Scorecard and uncover the blind spots keeping you from healing.

👉 Download it here →

OTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

E25 | Leaky gut and autoimmune disease: How to heal your gut naturally

E05 | A step-by-step guide towards addressing your gut health

Write to me at anindita@aninditarungta.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Transcript

Do you ever feel like one bite of a wrong food can set off a storm in your body? Most women I work with think that it's about following the right diet strictly, and they are not doing that properly. But it's usually just three powerful food triggers and can set off your autoimmune flares. And when you learn how to swap these foods, you can finally feel calmer in your body. You can feel the energy improving. And in this episode, I'll share those three biggest food triggers for autoimmune flares and exactly what to do. Um, welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate their illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty, and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you're ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then this show is for you. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine Certified Health Coach, deliver tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more. Before I get going with this episode, I wanted to share something. I work with women with autoimmune conditions because I want to save them to the best of my ability, a lifetime of unnecessary suffering and pain. And this is something that I see all around me. Are women needlessly suffering because they have not been told how they can listen to their body signals, uh, understand how the symptoms are messages from their body. And, you know, even especially when it comes to autoimmune conditions, even the common uh, uh, conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's multiple sclerosis or any, any, any, any autoimmune condition, and there's more than 120 of them currently. We can't just focus on symptoms of that one disease. That's not how it works. We need to understand the importance of stepping in as early as possible, not only to prevent the current disease from progressing, but also to protect themselves against the tertiary secondary follow on autoimmune conditions and other complications that can arise in the future. So what you need to understand that autoimmunity is not just about flare ups, it's about protecting your tissues. It's about about your energy and your future from, uh, you know, from the disease progressing or becoming, you know, or going into getting into some other condition which can be even more serious. This is what happens when the immune system is left unchecked. And it, you know, it stays unregulated, dysregulated for long periods of time. And that is why uncovering these food triggers are so much more important than you may realize. I remember when this client first started working with me. She had recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called rheumatoid arthritis, and she was doing everything that she knew. Uh, you know, she knew how to do her home cooked meals, lots of vegetables and fruits. And yet something was wrong. Once in a while she would eat something and it would just set off her, you know, her symptoms. And she had no idea why. She tried going off gluten, but it never seemed to work for her. But she didn't realize that gluten is hiding in many foods, many processed foods, many packaged foods. Things like soy sauce, many different dressings, even personal care products have gluten hidden in them, including medicines. So she was also unknowingly exposing herself to dairy on a regular basis. You know, she had tried going off dairy, but again, it's the same thing. You know, it is hidden in many things. And specifically for rheumatoid arthritis, nightshades are a big trigger. So, uh, you know, these were foods that she loved. Potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants. They were also fueling her flare ups. And she had no idea. And when we put it all together, that's when it all clicked. She wasn't failing her body. Her body was giving her the signals. And once she learned the right swaps, immune system calmed down and her flares and symptoms, uh, you know, receded. So when you're in the middle of a flare, it can feel like your body has turned against you, for you might look like getting up in the morning with stiff, swollen joints with a lot of pain that you can't even hold a cup of tea in your hand. Or it might be excessive fatigue that no amount of sleep can help you with, and you wake up feeling exhausted instead of refreshed. Or it can be brain fog so heavy that you can't remember. You know, you stop, uh, mid-sentence and you've forgotten what you were saying. Uh, bloating, pain or running to the bathroom after a meal. And even, you know, when even when you think you're eating healthy. And maybe just like so many women I work with, you start wondering, what did I do wrong? Right? Why can't I figure this out? And here's what I want you to know. These symptoms are not your body betraying you. It's not something that you are doing wrong there. You are not being taught how to, uh, communicate with your body. These are symptoms. Are your body waving a red flag? Saying that something I'm exposed to is confusing the immune system and making it, you know, hypervigilant, pushing it into overdrive. And you need to figure out what is that. And more often than not, these three very common food triggers are, you know, what is at the root of it. And this is just to help you ease the symptoms. Of course, you will still have to dig deep underneath to address the root cause, which is at the, uh, you know, at the bottom of, uh, autoimmunity and autoimmune disease progressing. And I've talked about that in, uh, earlier episodes. I'll be, uh, linking them to the show notes below. You've probably been told that your symptoms are just random, that you know that your immune system has suddenly decided to attack your own tissues. And when you flare, it's easy to assume that you are not disciplined enough to, uh, you know, follow a particular diet or lifestyle. But here's the truth. The real problem is not that your body is broken, it's that your gut barrier, your first line of defense, has been compromised, and that is something that you need to focus on. And I've explored this connection, uh, in details in earlier episode and I think is episode 25. Uh, and I've talked about and it's because the gut lining has become too leaky. But, you know, in other words, you know, it's supposed to be selectively permeable and it's supposed to allow certain, uh, food particles, digested food particles, etc. to pass through and be transported to every cell in our body. Instead, when it becomes enhanced, when there is enhanced, uh, permeability, it allows undigested food particles, toxins, and even bits of bacteria to pass through. And it's not supposed to be in the bloodstream where they don't belong. And your immune system is doing its best to best to protect you. And it goes into hypervigilance because it doesn't really understand what these are and it deems them to be a threat. Right. Rightly so, because your immune system is sworn to protect you. Instead, it is actually now, unfortunately, working against you because it's it's destroyed and it becomes dysregulated over time when this continues. So it's fast firing of danger signals, secreting inflammatory chemicals, and sometimes even starts mistaking food particles or your own tissues as a threat. Right. That's that's what dysregulation is all about. And this is what we also call molecular mimicry. So immune system can confuse something like gluten or casein. Gluten is a protein found in grains like wheat, rye, barley, and casein is the protein found in dairy. It can actually confuse it with your thyroid, your skin, and even your nerves. And depending on which area or which tissue in your body is getting affected, that's what the autoimmunity, you know, that's how the diagnosis comes in really. And once it starts attacking, you can start feeling different symptoms like fatigue, pain energy, brain fog, joint pain, symptoms that seem to come out of nowhere. But now you know what is at the root. You've likely tried many things already. You probably cut out all the junk food, and you're having a lot of fruits and vegetables, and you're doing your best to follow every new diet trend that you come across. Maybe you've experimented with gluten free foods and you didn't realize that gluten is actually, you know, found in many things hidden in sauces, dressings, medicines, supplements, and even a little bit of exposure can set off your immune system. Perhaps you've even tried going dairy free, but you've not seen much results. And you know, and you didn't realize that casein is a protein found in dairy can linger in your body for, you know, many weeks after you've been exposed to it. And typically about three weeks or so is, you know, as you know, that's how that's how long the effect actually can last. Or you've read about nightshades, but you you know, you thought that surely tomatoes can't be a problem for me, right? Because you've been having it in a very, very organic form. You've been making homemade curry with it or some sources with it, but actually it is when you are having these nightshades, like potatoes, tomatoes, uh, you know, eggplants that when you feel your pain creeping in. And of course, there are the endless supplements, elimination diets, cleanses, you know, all these promise quick fix, but they leave you feeling more restricted, more overwhelmed and unwell. So it's really something is not working. You're trying so hard, but something is not right. And because your body doesn't, but your body doesn't need more rules, actually it needs, you know, it doesn't need more restriction. It needs clarity on which foods are currently causing the immune system to, uh, respond right, and become hyper vigilant and stay hyper vigilant. And again, it is not the point is not to be off these foods for the rest of your life. I want to make it clear right now, uh, it's about taking out foods for a limited period of time to make, to bring down inflammation, to bring down your pain levels, to manage your symptoms. And you might need to be on medications at the same time. It's never an either or situation. I've talked about this earlier. Uh, conventional medicine and functional medicine, which is what we are talking about, addressing root causes. They often have to go hand in hand. That's when you see the best results. But this is a kind of a short to medium term measure so that you can bring inflammation levels down and then continue to work on repairing your gut lining, which is, and reversing that gut damage. So instead of blaming yourself or trying to follow yet another impossible list of rules, I want you to think of this as an experiment in listening to your body. So what you can do is, number one, make gluten and dairy non-negotiables. That means you remove them for a while. And I always recommend to my clients at least a month. And 3 to 6 months is actually a good time frame, depending on the severity of symptoms, depending on the frequency of flares, of course it has to be customized by taking them out 100%, you are giving your gut a chance to repair. And then if you add in other layers like different foods, healing food supplements, then it you know, this can really quicken the process. Number two is experiment with removing nightshades for about 30 days, especially if you have already been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis or you're having joint pain, bloating, unexpected flares in spite of having removed gluten and dairy. Maybe you know you can try removing nightshades from your diet for a month, and then slowly reintroduce them one at a time, and let your body let you tell you whether it's working or not. The other layer that I'm not going to be touching about here, but maybe I'll do another episode, is going grain free for a while in, in, you know, in some cases some, you know, it does help to go off all grains as well. Uh, that's another layer I prefer to add these as layers with for my clients in their diet plans, rather than try and do everything all at once. Right. And a lot of times with some of these basic things itself, we see a huge amount of improvement. And the last point I want to make here is add in healing foods. It's not about elimination. So much. So many of us get stuck of stuck on only eliminating those foods, taking out foods which we know are not really suiting us, but we forget. But we also need to crowd in all the foods that are really good for us, like omega three, like the probiotic foods. And they nourish our gut bacteria, which is so important for what we call the microbiome, which is so important for our overall health. And, you know, this is the thing, it's not about perfection, but and it's not about never enjoying food again, but it's about creating space for your body to reset, for your gut lining to repair itself. And as I said, foods can play a role. So can supplements. And usually a combination works the best. And when you focus on clarity and nourishment, your meals can stop feeling like landmines, right? You can stop playing the guessing game. And because you know now what is working for you and what is not. And here's a quick win that I want you to try out. Keep a simple food and flair journal like just for 3 to 7 days. I mean, you can of course do it for longer, but write down what you eat and how you are feeling two hours after your meal, right? Most women discover that one of these three triggers gluten, dairy, and nightshades are showing up in ways they would have never figured it out. Right? When you write it down, when you actually uncover the links, you start uncovering the links. Otherwise, you know it's all in your head and you don't ever connect these dots. So I would highly recommend this. And within a week you should be able to notice some pattern, some connections, and this itself can save you weeks of frustration and give you start giving you back trust in your body. That's really, really important. Now you might be wondering, what does it really matter if you find and address these food triggers, right? I mean, how does it how does it make any difference? Uh, but the thing is, if you don't. Immune system continues to be stuck in hypervigilant mode. And it keeps firing, keeps creating more inflammation, more pain, and more Confusion, like inflammation by itself is not is not a problem. The immune system protects us by secreting inflammatory chemicals, which keeps us alive. It's a survival mechanism. The problem is chronic inflammation, because over time, that same inflammation can ripple out, showing up in other symptoms. They might be skin issues, skin rashes, joints and even nervous system. So when you are able to identify and address this trigger, everything changes. And you are not just preventing today's flares. I want you to understand this. It's not just about what's happening today. You're actually lowering the load on the immune system so that it does not, you know, uh, turn into something even more serious down the line. That's typically what happens with people with 1 or 2 mint condition. They can go on to develop 2 or 3 more conditions down the line, especially because the immune system stays dysregulated. They are not really told this, you know, and they are not really told that they need to take care of this so that they don't develop multiple autoimmune condition. And I want you to imagine waking up without the stiffness, without the pain, and wondering and without wondering, what did I eat, you know, yesterday that led me to this? What did I do wrong? Imagine trusting your body down and sitting your meal without being scared of the food. Imagine knowing that you are not just managing one condition, but you are protecting your whole future, right? You are preventing secondary and tertiary autoimmune conditions and maybe other health issues down the line. And that's why this matters. This is not about restriction. It's about reclaiming your power, your confidence, and most importantly, your trust in your body. Because when you finally uncover and remove these three triggers gluten, dairy and nightshades, it's not, you know, you don't just end up having fewer symptoms. You, as I said, you, you know, meals stop feeling like a gamble. You're not scared of food anymore. You are, you know, not living in constant fear of food. And your energy feels steady and your mood also lifts. And here's the thing that most women don't expect by lowering in immune systems constant hypervigilance. You are calming yourself today and you're protecting your future self, right? And this is something that is so, so important. So here's the body wise. Wrap up the summary. The key points for today. 

Number one the three biggest autoimmune that food triggers for human flesh is gluten dairy and nightshades. This is the three biggest and the most common. 

Number two why do these foods matter so much? As we have discussed, the gluten actually trigger can trigger leaky gut, which is one of the three factors underlying autoimmune conditions. Dairy. Dairy products have casein, which is a protein content they can often cross, react with gluten, and inflame your system. And nightshades can actually, you know, turn, uh, turn out to be accelerators of inflammation. 

Number three, what you have probably tried by cutting out junk food and dabbling in gluten free products, dairy free products, but they may keep your symptoms, may keep flaring because it's not you have not been able to eliminate them 100% or some other. Trigger was missed. 

Number four what you can what you need to do is cut out dairy and gluten 100% for at least a month, if not more. And you can maybe try a 30 day nightshade, uh, free diet as well if, you know, if things don't improve. And, uh, yeah, and adding healing foods, it's also about what foods you're actually consuming. 

And number five, uh, you know, the unexpected gift when you do this is that meal. Stop feeling like landmines. You're not guessing at food anymore. You're not scared of them anymore, and you are trusting your body more. So this is something that I want you to remember as we end this episode that that, you know, these symptoms, these flares are not random. The three biggest and the most common contributors to flares are these food. As far as food is concerned gluten, dairy and nightshades. They can cause discomfort, but they also keep your immune system stuck in a hypervigilant mode. And that is immune system dysregulation, which is at the root of autoimmunity. So once you know how to identify and swap them, you can stop fearing food and start feeling safe in your body once again. And that's I'm you know, that's something that all of us want. And if you're ready to go deeper, you can start here. You can take the free Chronic Healing Scorecard, and you can uncover the blind spots that you are not able to see. Right now. I'm sharing the link below. You will get instant clarity on what's working, what's missing in your healing plan, and what are the next steps to finally start feeling better. So it's a series of questions and there is a scale and you can, you know, figure out what are the missing gaps. Like what is really missing. Why is it that you are doing everything and still you are not feeling well and you still are, you know, are stuck somewhere in what I call a disease Merry-Go-Round. So thank you so much for tuning in to embrace your healing journey. If this episode helped you in some way, feel free to share it with a friend who needs to hear this today. And until next time, remember that your body is not broken. It is always on your side.