AIP Flours - The Ultimate Guide!! 

Thanks so much for this comment! I have to admit it's been hard the last few months with my kids home, etc to provide content and watch all the young, single people make tons and tons and it's made me feel a bit insecure that I can't keep up. But I really appreciate you letting me know this as it makes me feel that what I CAN do is helpful!

I'm so glad I can help! 💕

Aw, thanks! It took me DAYS to make, lol. But I know this one needed it - flours are a "dry" topic, lol! 😂

I'm so glad it helped!

You are so welcome!

Glad to help!

You are so welcome!! Glad I could save you the time! 💕

You are most welcome 💕

Glad it was helpful!

You are so welcome!

You're welcome! 💕

Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing! I haven't bought directly from them but will definitely check it out!!

I believe it's not AIP-friendly because it's a member of the legume family. I do know it's problematic for many with peanut and soy allergies, so even if it was "ok" for AIP I'd probably skip it during the elimination phase anyway because of that potential intolerance issue (even if you don't have peanut or soy issues). It's definitely an interesting flour though - I've used it a few times and it has such a strange mouthfeel to me - like it coats my tongue and feels super dry! I may not have used it correctly, lol, but I haven't been such a fan thus far. (by the way, don't make the first time using it be for breakfast when your sister-in-law comes to visit. That didn't turn out so well 😂)

Starting off was SLOW. But once I got the hang or it much faster. I cut the root into 2" or so sections. Muche easier to peel that way, I found. Taking out the core I used a small serrated knife. I cut the peeled sections into very thin slices, much easier than cutting through the whoe root. Since I live in So. Florida, I spread the slices on a cookie sheet and let them dry in the sun. A HIGH SPEED blender or the equivilent is required. I used Vitamix. Took less than 2 minutes.

Haha! Yep, that's me. It's hard to keep it all set so that people can make that connection (like decisions made 5 years ago for RU-vid channel names that didn't match my blog, etc... oh well, haha)

haha, no problem! I still laugh when I think about it 😂

@@MicheleSpring 🤣

Hmm, I'm not absolutely sure about baobab - but doing some quick research it looks like the powder *may* be from the seed? If so, then it wouldn't be AIP-friendly, at least during the elimination phase. I think it's mainly a concern because of the seed compounds. An article from Healthline says this (sourced from PubMed): "First, the seeds and pulp contain antinutrients, such as phytates, tannins and oxalic acid, that can reduce nutrient absorption and availability." So those alone would make it not AIP. Not saying it isn't a great superfood and wouldn't make a great addition to your diet after the elimination phase, because it certainly sounds like it has some amazing characteristics. But I'd just remove it for the elimination just to be on the safe side. That being said - if you're working with a practitioner and they recommend it, you can probably do it safely. Like I took maca successfully the entire time I did AIP the first time even though it's not "AIP", but my functional medicine practitioner worked with me on it.

No, sorry, they are not AIP compliant as they contain many of the same problematic compounds as grains and legumes. This isn't to say they're bad - but just should be removed during the elimination as they can aggravate an already leaky gut and prevent healing. Once you've healed though they can be reintroduced to see if they cause you issues.

haha, you're so right - almond flour is a darling Paleo flour for sure. Um, you can make sunflower seed flour by grinding up unsalted sunflower seeds and that usually is a great substitute (do note that a chemical reaction may turn your baked goods green, but they're totally fine). If you can tolerate any other nuts, flours made from them are also usually ok to substitute - like cashew flour for example. And then sometimes, but not always, cassava flour will work as well. But I'd really search for a specific cassava flour recipe vs just substituting because of the whole gumminess issue, etc. You can also search for coconut flour-based recipes as there are quite a few really good ones out there that realize people are sensitive to nuts and need a good nut-free recipe.

Same here. Personally I am having better luck combining the AIP diet along with the blood type diet. For example coconut is poison for blood type O. I don't feel torally great when I eat coconut flour, and I could just tell something wasn't right even though I wasn't having a huge reaction from it.. I use walnut flour, banana flour, and cassava flour. The first two are actually medicinal for type O blood. You really should learn your blood type. It's like giving the AIP diet Viagra! You heal at five times the rate and feel even more amazing! It's because certain blood types have certain antigens that will actually build antibodies to certain foods. So even though I wasn't reacting strongly to coconut flour, I was probably still having a small inflammatory response, or an antibody response. I know that bananas are poison for type A blood. Seriously, I have had great success combining the two. I also discovered I could eat some pretty good things that the AIP diet said would bother me. They did not bother me. They helped me because they were listed as medicine food for my blood type. They help feed and strengthen your microbiome.

Just making some random claim without backing it up with some research is a bit of fearmongering. I could only find that it is potentially high in oxalates which is not necessarily bad.

I have a few times and that's what I made - banana bread. But I think it was a regular Paleo banana bread recipe, not one that was AIP-friendly as it had eggs in it. It was ok, but I honestly liked regular banana bread made with other flours better, believe it or not. Just a weird texture for me compared to other flours.

Nah, I'm not really worried about it. I suffer from anemia on and off (mainly because I have ridiculously heavy periods during Hashi's flares) and it's never been an issue for either me nor any of my clients to replenish and get back to good levels while eating these. They may have some effect on absorption, but nothing to be worried about. Plus you shouldn't make these a large part of your diet anyway - flour-based foods should be viewed as more of a treat, consumed on occasion with the bulk of your meals being mainly veggies, meats or seafood, fats, and fruits. When you look at it that way if there is a slight amount of impairment in absorption of iron from eating them, it wouldn't matter much.

That's one reason I eat Anthony's brand because, to me at least, it was the less grainy of the brands. However, I think it's also a bit of a thing you need to get used to if coming from super soft, snowy-like wheat flour. I know when I first tried cassava flour I hated it - the texture, the taste, everything, but I then tried it several times and now I like it. It's just a matter of changing tastebuds/preferences that happens a lot when you switch from one way of eating to another. Kind of like how the sweet things we eat in a Standard American Diet seem normal and then you eat Paleo/AIP/grain-free for a few weeks and then try that sweet thing again and it tastes absolutely disgusting and you wonder how you ever liked it. I think we just get so used to things that it's hard to switch at first.

@@MicheleSpring I’m so glad I’m not the only one! This really helped thank you! I ended up buying the Anthony’s brand and will give that a try. It’s nice to have someone who talks about these things in a real way so I can understand the role of these replacement flours! 🤗

So I have to be honest in saying that I'm not 100% sure exactly how long-covid may play into this but that I know of several people who do have an autoimmune disease and long-covid that have regained their energy after doing AIP. That all being said - the usual common mechanisms behind fatigue are vitamin and mineral deficiencies (Vitamin B12 and iron being some of the biggest culrpits) and hormonal imbalances. Typically both can be caused by and exacerbated by leaky gut and inflammation throughout the body. AIP seeks to reduce inflammation and heal the leaky gut by removing the foods that are known to cause and/or exacerbate leaky gut and foods that research has shown cause more issues with the autoimmune population. By doing so, one is usually able to absorb vitamins and minerals much more readily instead of them just passing through (which is what is probably happening to you right now). Plus our immune systems and also hormonal systems in general need a lot of nutrients to regulate properly, so when you're in a autoimmune-active state, you're using a ton just to keep that going and there are none left over to help replenish your energy stores. It takes a lot of energy to run your immune system, brain, vital organs, etc. In addition, if you currently eat a higher-carb/high-sugar diet your hormones may not work correctly anymore to replenish energy stores, furthering fatigue. Insulin sensitivity is one of these examples - if you are no longer sensitive to it, it can cause a cascade of downstream ramifications like fatigue. And this isn't just in diabetics, this is for anyone. You of course could still eat this way in AIP if you were to just eat cassava flour baked goods and sugary treats, but generally it helps get you to a more moderate carb level with more quality carbs from fruits and veggies that help restore the nutrient balance and hormonal balance. AIP is not the only way to go about all of this either, there certainly other other ways. AIP just is a very efficient, quick way to reduce the inflammation and heal leaky gut, and then therefore replenish nutrients and get you going because it does focus on these specific aspects of healing (rather than things like weight loss or healing dysbiosis or whatnot that other diets focus on).

@@MicheleSpring thank you soo much for that information. I’m just scared AIP diet will make my fatigue WORSE. Has this happened before? Is it just in the beginning? Do I really have to not eat gluten dairy or soy for my entire life..? Thanks so much

Could you tell me how it turned out?

@@amara560 it works great!

@@katrienvh4289 Thank you so much for responding!

No, unfortunately it's considered to be a pseudo-grain so it's not included during the elimination phase.

Blood pressure typically lowers naturally because the bodily inflammation settles down. I had terrible blood pressure before I did AIP - like 145/95 but after the diet it's consistently been around the 115/75 - ish area. As for the cheating - planning definitely helps. If you can always have items in your freezer to take out for those family and work events, then you don't find as much of a need to satisfy cravings with the food in front of you. This video may help --ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9D7o9BSlzTI.html It talks about the holidays but really it can apply to any time.

@@MicheleSpring thank you. I find this whole process daunting. I feel like I’m mourning food. I’m Italian and I really feel excluded now. Love pastas, breads, etc. 😭

@@theawakening6323 Have you tried the Jovial foods cassava flour pasta? It's AIP-compliant and we still eat it as our main pasta even though we don't eat AIP anymore...

@@MicheleSpring I just bought it! When can you stop doing AIP? Or is it a forever thing?

@@theawakening6323 No, definitely not a forever thing - my latest video actually goes into the reintroduction of new foods: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qWxXg_xKHJo.html

yeah, I mention that at the end of the video - that there are a bunch of other flours like green banana flour that are available but I've not really explored them much and that there aren't a lot of recipes out there for them. So most people don't need to really worry about how to use them since they won't come across them much, but you definitely can use that if you prefer!

Michele Spring yes I saw. Thank you. It worked well for me. I have to order tigernuts and it’ll take 3 weeks I’m sure by the time I get it. I don’t live in US

They're from the same plant, but if you watch the video I explain the difference between the flours.