Episode 93: Beyond the Studies — Results from the New Autoimmune Protocol Community

What happens when people put the Autoimmune Protocol into practice—not in a clinical trial, but in real life?

To celebrate the launch of The New Autoimmune Protocol, hundreds of readers joined a guided online community where they worked through the new Transition Phase, completed 30 days of either Core or Modified AIP, tracked their symptoms, and supported one another along the way.

In this episode of the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast, Mickey Trescott shares the results from this unique community experience. While this wasn't a formal research study, the symptom improvements closely mirrored many of the findings from published AIP research—and the participant stories reveal the power of preparation, accountability, and community support.

Together, these survey results offer a real-world look at what implementing AIP can look like, what people struggled with, what surprised them, and why healing is often about much more than food alone.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Mickey created a guided community alongside The New Autoimmune Protocol
• What surprised her most about who joined the program
• Why the new Transition Phase helped participants feel more prepared for elimination
• How overall autoimmune symptom severity changed after 30 days
• Which symptoms improved the most, including digestion, energy, sleep, pain, and brain fog
• Three standout participant stories that illustrate the range of real-world experiences
• How these community results compare with published AIP research
• Why symptom tracking is one of the most valuable tools during AIP
• The importance of community support when implementing dietary change
• How to join the ongoing Autoimmune Protocol community

Resources:

• The New Autoimmune Protocol – Mickey Trescott's updated guide featuring the Transition Phase, Core and Modified AIP, and personalized reintroductions
• The Autoimmune Protocol Community
• Episode 59: The First Published AIP Study in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Episode 61: AIP and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis Research
• Episode 63: AIP IBD Gene Expression Study
• Episode 65: New Hashimoto's Research from Poland
• Episode 89: The First AIP Pilot Trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis with Julianne Taylor

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Introduction and overview of the community experience

02:39 – Why Mickey created The New Autoimmune Protocol community

06:38 – Who joined the community?

09:45 – The new Transition Phase in action

14:33 – What happened after 30 days?

17:16 – Overall autoimmune symptom improvements

19:12 – Energy and sleep results

20:03 – Digestive health improvements

21:53 – Joint pain and inflammation

22:42 – Brain fog, skin, and other symptom changes

23:59 – Three standout participant stories

28:58 – Comparing community results to published research

32:06 – Mickey's biggest takeaways

36:26 – An invitation to join the ongoing community

40:11 – Wrap-up and closing

What happens when hundreds of people come together to follow

the Autoimmune Protocol, not in a research study, but in real life?

Over the past few months, our community put the newly updated

Autoimmune Protocol into practice.

Together, we worked through the Transition Phase, completed 30 days of either Core

or Modified Elimination, tracked symptoms along the way, and shared experiences

through a series of community surveys, and the results were absolutely incredible.

While this wasn't a clinical study, many of the improvements our

community experienced closely mirrored what researchers have observed

in published studies about AIP.

But numbers only tell part of the story.

Behind every survey response was a person navigating fatigue, pain,

digestive issues, brain fog, or years of feeling like nothing else had worked.

So today, I am taking you behind the scenes to share what we learned, the

stories that stood out to me, and why I believe community might be the most

powerful and often overlooked ingredient in making lasting dietary change.

Welcome to the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast.

I'm your host, Mickey Trescott, and if you've been listening over the

last several months, you know that leading up to the release of my latest

book, The New Autoimmune Protocol, I invited readers who pre-ordered to

join a special community experience.

Together, we walked through the updated protocol exactly as it's outlined

in the book, beginning with the new Transition Phase before moving into 30

days of either Core or Modified AIP.

And along the way, participants completed surveys, they tracked their symptoms,

they joined live meetups, asked thoughtful questions in the group, celebrated wins

together, and supported one another through the inevitable challenges

that come with making dietary changes.

Today's episode is a reflection on that experience.

I'm going to share what these community surveys revealed, highlighting some

of the participant stories that moved me the most, comparing observations

to the published research on the Autoimmune Protocol, and discussing

what this experience taught me as both a practitioner and an educator.

And because this community became something much bigger and more

important than I expected, I'm also going to share how you can continue

to be a part of it going forward.

Before I dive into the survey results and everything that we learned over the

past few months, I want to tell you the story of how this community came to be.

So when I was planning the launch of The New Autoimmune Protocol, my

publisher asked me what I wanted to offer as a pre-order bonus.

Now, most authors do something pretty simple after writing a whole book, right?

Maybe it's a downloadable guide, or a bonus recipe collection, an

exclusive webinar, Q&A sessions.

But instead, I had this idea to personally guide my readers through

the transition and Elimination phases in an online community setting.

And when I explained this to them, they were like … Well, let's just say

they thought I was a little bit crazy, because what I was proposing wasn't

just, like, a webinar or a download.

It was going to be months of support directly from me.

And my vision was really to just welcome everybody into a private

online community before the book was even released, like two months before.

I wanted to guide everybody through the new Transition Phase together

before the book came out so that everybody was ready to start right

once they had it in their hand.

And then once everybody had their books, I wanted to be able to lead

everybody through 30 days of either Core or Modified Autoimmune Protocol.

My plan was to host live meetups with small groups every couple of

weeks so that everybody could get to know each other, answer each other's

questions, review progress, and create a space where everybody could learn

from one another, not just from me.

It was going to be a really big commitment, especially right in

the middle of a book launch, but I kept circling back to this thought.

And that's in the last 15 years, I have seen that one of the biggest predictors

of success with the Autoimmune Protocol isn't having all the information.

And this is coming from somebody who now has written four books on this topic.

It's having support while you're putting what you know into practice.

So with this community, I wanted to bridge that gap.

I also realized that this was a unique opportunity because the

book launch was going to hopefully have this big marketing moment.

Hundreds if not thousands of people would be implementing the updated

protocol at roughly the same time.

I wanted to give everybody starting around that book launch timing the

opportunity to do it together and see what we could learn from each other.

So in addition to the community, I had this idea to build community

surveys into the experience.

Participants completed one at baseline before they started

transition or made any changes.

They did another one after the Transition Phase, right as they entered Elimination,

and then one final survey after completing 30 days of either Core or Modified

AIP, marking that beginning, middle, and end of the community experience.

Now, I want to be really clear about something.

This was not a clinical study, not official.

I'm not presenting these findings as scientific research, but that doesn't

mean that this experience isn't valuable.

Real-world implementation teaches us things that clinical studies can't.

It helps us understand what people struggle with, what surprises them, what

motivates them to keep going, how they experience change in their everyday lives.

And as I started reviewing the survey responses, I realized there's so much

still to learn, not just from the numbers, but from the stories that people share

as they implement a dietary protocol.

And that's what I want to take you through today.

So the first thing we'll talk about is who joined this community experience.

Were these people who mostly were discovering AIP for the very first

time, or were they people who had experience and done this before?

And the answer actually surprised me.

On that baseline survey, I asked this question and learned that only 27%

of participants reported that they would be attempting the Autoimmune

Protocol for the very first time.

That means that nearly three out of every four people

already had experience with AIP.

From that, the further breakdown is that 59% reported having tried it before.

Another 14% were either in the Elimination or the Reintroduction

Phase when they joined the community.

That told me something really important.

People weren't necessarily looking for somebody to convince

them that AIP could help.

They already knew that.

They were looking for a better way to implement it.

In fact, a lot of them had a history of trying it in the past.

And as I read through the feedback from these onboarding surveys, I started seeing

that reflected in people's goals that they reported coming into the program.

So of course, everybody hopes to improve their symptoms, right?

This is why we are here.

People want less joint pain, better digestion, more energy,

clearer skin, fewer flares, and the ability to live your life and get

back to the activities you love.

But many of the comments went much deeper than that, and I'm just

going to read a few of them to you.

One participant wrote, "I want to feel more normal. I want to protect my body

as best I can from future problems." Another shared, "I'm tired of being tired.

I'm hoping AIP, along with medication adjustments, can help me get my energy

back and do the things that I love." Other members weren't starting from scratch.

They were hoping to learn from their previous experiences.

One person wrote, "I did AIP before, and I felt so great, but I rushed through

reintroductions. This time, I want to do it slowly and methodically so I

really understand my triggers." Another said, "I want better tracking of my

symptoms during reintroduction. I didn't really do an inventory the first time."

And one comment really captured why I wanted to build this community in the

first place, "I want the support. I feel the group approach will be really good

for me." Because again, over the last 15 years, I've learned that implementing

AIP isn't just about having the details.

You guys have all the details, right?

It's about having a plan, knowing what to do when life gets busy, and understanding

how to track your progress, when to move forward, and how to navigate setbacks

without feeling like you've failed.

And sometimes it's simply about knowing you're not doing it alone.

These responses reminded me exactly why I chose to pair this book

with a live community experience.

Next, we'll talk about the Transition Phase.

One of the biggest changes in my new book, The New Autoimmune Protocol, is

something that didn't exist in early guidance for AIP, the Transition Phase.

When I first started teaching about AIP many years ago, the common advice

was to just pick a day, clean out your pantry, go grocery shopping,

and jump straight into Elimination.

I did it myself.

A lot of others did it, too.

And for some people, that worked.

But over the years, myself and other leaders in the AIP community noticed that

the biggest barrier to success usually wasn't the Elimination diet itself.

It was everything that comes before it.

That's why for the new book, the Transition Phase got completely

updated now as a five-step process that thoughtfully sets each person

up for success in Elimination.

And for the community, we went through a guided Transition Phase

the month before the book came out.

I gave everybody weekly lessons with downloadable resources from the book.

I walked everyone step by step through all the exercises so that they'd be

fully ready to embark on Elimination together once the book was in their hands.

So this is when the second survey was captured, right at the end of

Transition as they were starting Elimination, and there are a few

questions about their experience walking through the Transition Phase.

I was really happy to read over and over again that people described feeling

prepared, supported, and empowered.

One participant wrote, "It's been good for me to prepare, especially as a

group. It's given me the opportunity to do this the right way this time. I

feel empowered to do it." Another shared something that really captured what

I hoped this phase would accomplish.

"This guided Transition Phase has been very supportive, enlightening, thoughtful,

and proactive, not reactive. I'm not entering AIP on the fly, but intentionally

prepared because this Transition Phase assesses roadblocks before they happen."

And yes, you guys, a real person wrote that.

I could not have summed up my hope for the Transition Phase in a better way.

I love the phrase proactive, not reactive.

And several participants talked about how simply tracking their

symptoms before making any changes gave them a new perspective.

One wrote, "Getting a solid baseline of my symptoms was super helpful, and

getting clear on my why was incredibly empowering. I've been in the trenches

so long that I'd forgotten my why, and I couldn't even see the progress that I'd

already made." Others realized the biggest obstacles weren't nutritional at all.

One participant reflected, "I didn't realize the nature of my psychological and

social obstacles for nutritional success." I think that is such a honest observation.

So often we think success with AIP comes down to willpower, but

many of the real challenges are actually emotional, logistical.

They're about habits and routines, family, work, travel, the fear

that if you have struggled before, you're going to struggle again.

The Transition Phase creates space to recognize those challenges before you're

trying to change everything that you eat.

Now, not everybody in the group loved moving more slowly.

A few participants who had done AIP before said that they were eager to get started.

They felt that the pace was a little too slow.

Others joined the community late, so really close to book launch.

There was a big promotional push, and everybody felt like

they were playing catch-up.

That's okay.

The Transition Phase isn't meant to be rigid.

It's actually a framework that's meant to be personalized so that each person can

move through at their own pace, depending on your experience and circumstances, and

we modified that for this group setting.

So most people got about 30 days, but in reality, some people might

actually need a couple weeks.

Others might actually need a couple of months.

What struck me the most was that even considering how the phase had

to be standardized for the group, how many people described feeling ready.

Now, not perfectly ready, not without fear, but they did feel ready, and

that is a really important point.

The goal of Transition is to help you begin the Elimination phase with more

confidence than you would have otherwise.

And right as the group was finalizing that transition, the book was released.

Everybody had their copies in hand, whether that's the hardcover or the

Kindle copy, and this happened one week before they officially started

the Elimination phase together.

And this is when we really saw what the group experience would yield.

So what happened after that 30 days?

I know you're waiting to hear about the results, but before we chat about that,

I just want to acknowledge something.

Doing AIP during the summer is not ideal.

As the timing of this group was determined by my book launch, I

didn't have a lot of control over when we would make this happen.

But I have observed over the years that summer holidays and winter holidays

are usually the most difficult times to make the Elimination phase work.

There are people out there that have done it, a lot of people in the group

did it, but I'm just telling you, we had participants from all over

the world, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, South Africa.

Most of our members lived in the Northern Hemisphere, making this

a particularly challenging season to take on a new health routine.

And as people implemented the protocol, there was a lot of troubleshooting around

summer travel, vacations, kids home from school, barbecues, weddings, camping

trips, and all of the things that tend to fill up the calendar this time of year.

I was incredibly impressed by the resilience of the group and how

everybody showed up, not just to ask questions, but share what was working

for them and encourage one another through these inevitable challenges.

Turns out there wasn't just one person camping, right?

That thread turned into a whole brainstorming session

for everybody who had a camping trip planned the whole summer.

And so at this point, those who felt ready after completing the

Transition Phase moved on to 30 days of either Core or Modified AIP.

Again, some of these people had already been in Elimination when

the community began, so they just continued on their plan.

Others decided that this timing wasn't quite right for them, and they stayed

focused on education and preparation, planning to begin Elimination later

when the timing made more sense.

And for those that did complete the 30 days of Elimination, I asked

them to complete one final survey to see how their symptoms had changed.

I also left plenty of room for written feedback, again, so that everybody could

tell their story in their own words.

And before I share those results, I want to repeat something I mentioned earlier.

This is not a clinical study.

These are self-reported survey responses from members of the community.

They provide a snapshot of what the group experienced after

implementing the protocol.

And overall, I found the results incredibly encouraging, and I

think we can learn a lot from them.

So let's start with the big picture.

Before beginning the program, participants rated their overall autoimmune symptom

severity at an average of 5.6 out of 10.

So for this measure, I asked them to rate on a 1 to 10 scale what they

would consider the collective of their autoimmune symptoms, even if they

experience multiple conditions together.

So if they have psoriasis, it might be skin lesions, rheumatoid arthritis,

joint pain, multiple sclerosis, the neurological symptoms, and so on.

Now, in 30 days, that average had dropped from 5.6 to 3.8

out of 10, which is amazing.

That's a 32% reduction from baseline in overall symptom

severity in just one month of AIP.

I find that to be incredibly encouraging.

I also asked participants to rate a long list of individual symptoms,

including fatigue, joint pain, bloating, headaches, skin issues, brain fog,

mood, digestive symptoms, and more.

And when I averaged out all of those symptom scores together, the overall

symptom burden dropped from 4.9 out of 10 to 3.0 out of 10, which

is a 39% reduction from baseline.

So again, I found it really meaningful that every symptom

we tracked improved on average.

Of course, that doesn't mean that everybody experienced dramatic changes.

Some people had subtle improvements.

A few didn't notice much change at all.

That's exactly what you would expect in a real-world group with

different diagnoses, medications, health histories, starting points.

But looking at this group as a whole, there was a very consistent

trend towards improvement.

So next let's take a look at some of those individual symptoms

a little bit more closely.

The first area I want to highlight is energy and sleep.

These were measured a little differently than the symptom scales.

Instead of asking people how severe the symptom was, I asked them to rate the

quality of their energy and sleep on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best.

Average energy increased from 5.5 at baseline to 7.0 out of 10.

That's a great improvement.

Sleep improved from 5.5 at baseline to 6.9 out of 10, also a great improvement.

They might not sound like huge changes at first glance, but when you're living

with autoimmune disease, having enough energy or even just a little bit more

energy to make it through your day or finally waking up feeling a little

bit more rested can make a tremendous difference in your quality of life.

Next, moving on to the individual symptom categories, digestive symptoms showed

some of the biggest improvements in the entire survey, and having done this for a

long time, I am not surprised by this one.

Bloating was the single largest improvement we measured,

decreasing by just over 30%.

Gas improved on average by 24%, abdominal pain by 22%, and bowel

irregularity by roughly 13%.

Those numbers match what people described in their written responses.

Again and again, community members talked about less bloating, less

gas, more comfortable digestion, and healthier bowel movements.

One participant wrote, "I am not bloated at all anymore, and my joint pain is

almost zero. These were the two symptoms I wanted to address, and they both went

away after two to three weeks." Amazing.

Another shared, "No heartburn, much less flatulence, reduction in overall

pain." And somebody else wrote, "The biggest change has been less bloating,

eating differently, learning to chew more slowly, and cooking with foods I

haven't used before." I also thought it was interesting that bloating had

already started improving for many people during the Transition Phase before they

even completed the Elimination phase.

In fact, that's really the only symptom category that improved

before people started Elimination, because I had those Baseline,

Transition, and Elimination surveys.

While we can't really draw conclusions from that alone, it does suggest

that even just slowing down, planning your meals, cooking more at home, and

making some of the gradual changes might have been helping people even

before they fully implemented AIP.

Moving on to other symptoms, pain and inflammation were another area

where we saw meaningful improvements.

General inflammation improved by about 23%, joint pain by nearly 19% muscle aches

by 16%, and fatigue by just over 20%.

In the written comments, people described those changes in

simple but meaningful ways.

"Less aches and pains," "Decreased joint swelling," and, "My RA-related symptoms

haven't been this low in years." Those statements might sound straightforward,

but if you've lived with chronic pain, you know how significant they really are.

Less pain means sleeping better, moving more comfortably, exercising again,

gardening, playing with your kids, or simply getting through the day without

constantly thinking about your joints.

The improvements weren't limited to just digestion and pain.

Brain fog improved by nearly 18%, as did skin symptoms.

Headaches improved by about 15%, sinus by 14%, and mood improved by about 12%.

What I found encouraging wasn't that one symptom improved more than another.

It was that nearly all of the areas that we measured moved in the right

direction, and seeing that improvement spread across so many different

systems was really encouraging.

One thing I wasn't expecting was how many participants described improvements

that weren't included in the survey.

One person shared that their endometriosis symptoms had improved dramatically, with

lighter periods and much less clotting.

Another noticed that their resting heart rate had dropped, and they were no

longer experiencing heart palpitations.

Someone else mentioned that friends had started commenting on how

good their skin and hair looked.

And one of my favorite responses was also one of the shortest.

"My overall wellbeing is much better than before I started AIP." I love this

because this is exactly why I do what I do, and what I hope that everybody

achieves when they implement this.

So after looking at the community survey averages, I thought it would

be interesting to zoom in and look at a few individual participant stories.

One of the advantages of collecting symptom scores from each person is

that I could actually see exactly how their symptoms changed over time.

Combined with the written feedback, it painted a much more complete

picture than numbers alone.

Even though they don't represent everybody's experience and were

better than average when looking at the group, I wanted to highlight

these three stories because they just illustrate what is possible.

Story one is about a participant who joined hoping to improve

bloating and joint pain.

When they started, they rated both bloating and abdominal pain as a

10 out of 10, so as bad as it gets.

Joint pain was a 9, inflammation was a 6, and they rated their

sleep at just 3 out of 10.

30 days after AIP, the picture looked completely different.

Bloating dropped from 10 to 1, abdominal pain went from 10 to 1,

joint pain improved from 9 to 1, inflammation dropped from 6 to 1,

and sleep improved from 3 to 7.

And when I read those numbers, I had to go back and double-check

them because they are really good.

Here is what this participant wrote, "I'm not bloated anymore.

My joint pain is almost 0%.

These were the two symptoms I wanted to address.

They both went away after about two to three weeks." They also mentioned one

thing that I thought was so insightful, "I made one decision at the start,

and that has been very liberating."

I thought that was such an interesting observation.

Sometimes one of the hardest parts of changing your diet is making

dozens of decisions every single day.

Once the decision is made to do AIP, some people often tell me they feel like

they can finally focus on healing instead of constantly debating what to eat.

So I love this, and I'm really happy for this person.

For story two, this participant came into the program dealing with

fatigue, brain fog, low energy, swelling, and mood changes.

They rated their energy at just 2 out of 10.

Fatigue and brain fog were both a 9.

By the end of the Elimination Phase, their energy had increased to 7 out

of 10, from 2, which is amazing.

Their fatigue had dropped to 3, their brain fog had improved to 2, and their

mood had also improved substantially.

They described it this way, "I'm less tired, less swollen overall. My watch

fits on a smaller hole, my ankles are less swollen, my stomach is flatter,

and I have less fatigue and brain fog." I love that they include the details

like their watch fitting differently.

It's the kind of thing that I can't really capture in a symptom questionnaire.

And this person also finished by saying, "The changes I feel when I'm

on AIP are almost magical." Now, as a researcher, I probably wouldn't

use that word to describe this, but I completely understand what they mean.

When you've lived with persistent symptoms for years, feeling this

noticeably better can be hard to believe.

Our third story really illustrates how interconnected our bodies can be.

This participant wasn't just dealing with one symptom.

They had eczema, fatigue, brain fog, low energy, digestive

symptoms, and chronic sinus issues.

After the 30 days of AIP, their skin symptoms improved from a 9 to a 2,

their fatigue improved from a 6 to a 1, brain fog improved from a 7 to a 1,

energy increased from 3 to 8, and those sinus symptoms improved from a 6 to a 1.

Here's what they wrote.

"Skin much less inflamed.

Eczema basically gone.

Energy much more stable.

Neurological symptoms basically gone." And then they added, "It feels so good

to have stable, consistent digestion, stable energy, and clear skin."

Obviously, these are three individual stories, they don't represent

everybody's experience, but I wanted to share them because I think they

bring the survey data to life.

The averages tell us what happened across the group, and these stories show us what

that looked like for individual people.

And as I read through all of the survey responses, I couldn't help

notice that many of these themes, improvements in digestion, energy,

pain, skin symptoms, and overall quality of life, they felt very familiar.

They're the same patterns we've been seeing in the published

research using the Autoimmune Protocol for specific conditions.

So next, let's do a quick comparison on what the community experienced with

what we've learned from the clinical studies using AIP as an intervention.

We've already discussed that the published AIP studies were designed as clinical

research with standardized protocols and carefully measured outcomes, and what I

collected here was a community survey.

People with wildly different diagnoses, medications, life

circumstances, and implementing AIP just out in the real world.

They are not directly comparable.

But I do think that they complement one each other, and they hone in on the

potential of AIP to help manage autoimmune symptoms and improve quality of life.

Clinical research tells us whether an intervention can work

under controlled conditions.

Real world implementation helps us understand what it looks like

when people actually try to fit it into their everyday life.

And I found it really fascinating how closely a lot of these themes overlapped.

The first AIP study, published in 2017, looked at people with Crohn's disease and

ulcerative colitis, and these researchers found that 73% of participants achieved

clinical remission by week six, with significant improvements in quality of

life, and their follow-up studies showed changes in intestinal gene expression

associated with reduced inflammation and tissue repair, as well as real world

survey data showing similar outcomes in people implementing AIP on their own.

If you want to listen to a deep dive into these studies, be sure to go back

to episode 59 and 63 of the podcast.

Similar research using AIP for Hashimoto's thyroiditis found significant reductions

in symptom burden and inflammatory markers, while a second study out

of Poland demonstrated improvements in nutrient intake, fatigue, brain

fog, skin symptoms, and even thyroid ultrasound findings after 12 weeks.

Again, if you want to listen to more about those studies,

check out episodes 61 and 65.

And just this year, the first peer-reviewed clinical study in

rheumatoid arthritis found improvements in disease activity, pain, fatigue,

sleep, and quality of life.

You can listen to my interview with the researcher of that study,

Julianne Taylor, in episode 88.

So when I compare those findings with what I saw in our community, of course,

there was a lot of overlap there.

Across both the research and our survey, people consistently reported

improvements in energy, digestion, pain, brain fog, sleep, skin

symptoms, and overall quality of life.

The Autoimmune Protocol is emerging as a framework for learning about your body.

Sometimes it leads to dramatic symptom improvement.

Sometimes it reveals that other pieces of the puzzle, sleep, stress, medications,

nutrient deficiencies, hormones, other factors still need attention.

All of those outcomes are valuable because they help you move

forward with more information.

I've always said that AIP is not the destination.

It's a tool.

And after reading every survey response, I think this community

demonstrated that beautifully.

So let's move on to talking about my biggest takeaways

from the group experiment.

Looking back on the experience, there were a few things that really surprised me.

The first was just how many people came into it having tried AIP before.

Nearly three-quarters of the participants weren't starting from scratch.

They had attempted AIP in the past or were already somewhere in the process

when they joined the community.

That tells me that something has shifted over the last 15 years.

The challenge isn't introducing people to AIP.

Most people can find the food lists or learn the basics online.

The challenge is still implementation, figuring out how to make it work

when you have a job, a family, travel, holidays, and everything

else that comes with real life.

And that was one of my biggest goals with the new book, The New Autoimmune

Protocol, to create a systematic process that is more practical, flexible, and

approachable, and I think this community reinforced just how important that is.

Another thing that stood out to me was how valuable it was to have a place

where people could ask questions.

Of course, some questions were about food, but a lot of them weren't.

A lot of people were needing help navigating vacations, their

motivation, their setbacks, reintroductions if they had come

through a little bit further along.

And I noticed that a lot of people weren't lacking information.

They just needed somebody to say, "Yes, that actually is a common experience, and

I felt that way before," or, "Here's what works for me." And a lot of the support

that was given in the group wasn't by me.

It was by seasoned members sharing with others what they had learned or everybody

collaborating to brainstorm ideas for a specific challenge for one member,

only to discover that those ideas were actually really helpful for others, too.

One thing I feel especially encouraged by is how well the new Transition

Phase was received and to see so many people put it into practice together.

That was probably the biggest unknown for me when I was writing this new book.

I knew from my years of coaching that slowing down and preparing first,

focusing on specific barriers would help people feel more confident

going into Elimination, but I didn't know how people would embrace it.

And reading through the feedback, it was clear that many did, and instead of

feeling rushed, a lot of community members described feeling actually organized.

They had time to get their pantries ready, stock the freezer, find

recipes they enjoyed, think through some of those potential obstacles,

and reconnect with why they were doing this in the first place.

Now, it didn't remove every challenge.

Those always come up.

I can tell you this for sure.

You're going to have challenges.

But it made those challenges feel so much more manageable.

I was also reminded how valuable symptom tracking can be.

Several participants told me that they wished they had tracked their

symptoms the first time they tried AIP.

Without a baseline, it's surprisingly easy to overlook gradual

improvements, so writing things down helps you recognize progress

that might otherwise go unnoticed.

And finally, this experience reinforced something I've believed for a long time.

There isn't one successful picture of what an AIP journey looks like.

Again, some of these participants experienced dramatic

improvements in just a month.

Others saw smaller but meaningful changes.

Some realized that food wasn't the only piece of the puzzle and that

those other pillars, sleep, stress, movement, medications, or other factors,

actually needed more of their attention.

And you guys know this already by now, but none of these outcomes represent failure.

They are all valuable because they move someone closer to

understanding more about their health.

And that's what The Autoimmune Protocol has always been about, not perfection

or guaranteeing a particular result, but creating a structured framework that helps

you learn how your own body responds.

And if there's one thing this community reminded me, it's that success

doesn't look the same for everyone.

The goal is for each person to come away with a clearer understanding

of what helps them feel their best, and I'm hoping that is what many

in the community walked away with.

So one of the unexpected things that came out of this experience was

realizing that community was something I had been missing in my own work.

So when I first started blogging and sharing my personal health journey

back in 2011, I felt incredibly connected to the online AIP community.

The comments on blog posts turned into conversations and often friendships.

Some of the longest friendships I've had in my adult life

now came out of that time.

Facebook groups were active.

You guys, I've been doing this since before Instagram even existed, but

when that began, it was just so much smaller and felt like a place where

people genuinely got to know each other.

It was really easy to connect with people who were walking a similar path.

And over the years, we all know how that's changed, right?

Social media has become so much less meaningful.

Algorithms have taken over.

Conversations are just bite-sized.

It's really hard to build real relationships in these spaces, and

honestly, I miss those early days.

So what surprised me about this community wasn't just the survey results.

It was the experience of being in the group, watching people

connect with each other.

During the program, we had these online meetups where we would spend time as

a whole group in discussion, doing Q&A, but then we'd break out into

smaller groups of three or four people.

These conversations ended up being everybody's favorite parts.

People shared what was working for them.

They talked through challenges.

They compared notes on recipes, upcoming travel, reintroductions,

their everyday life.

And they celebrated their wins together.

And what I heard over and over again was, "I do not know anybody in my life who

understands what this is like." There is just something so powerful about sitting

in a small group with your people.

You don't need to explain yourself.

They already get it.

And so all of that reminded me of something that we have

talked about on this podcast.

Healing is not just about food.

It's also about connection.

So when I was thinking about how I was going to close down this community

when the book launch ended, I got really sad because I realized what

a unique need it was filling in the autoimmune community, and how personally

fulfilling it was for me to facilitate.

So I have decided to run another experiment.

I'm going to open up the community to everyone for free as a place where the

AIP community can come together, discuss topics of interest, share resources and

recipes, and meet other people who are in various stages of implementing AIP.

Now, I won't be doing a guided program like I did for the book launch,

but I will be facilitating monthly meetups to answer your questions, post

updates on new research and podcast episodes, and talk through topics

that come up as people implement AIP.

But just as importantly, I will continue facilitating those small

group conversations because I don't want this just to be another place

where people go to consume information.

We have so much of that, right?

I want it to be a place where you can all get to know each other, learn from

each other, and build the kinds of connections that are so hard to find

on today's social media platforms.

So whether you are brand new to AIP, coming back to it after trying it

years ago, or you've been doing this for a long time, you just want to stay

connected to the community, I think you will find something valuable there.

If that sounds like something you would enjoy, I'd love to have you join us.

You can learn more at theautoimmuneprotocol.com/community,

and I will also include a link in the show notes.

Whew.

So that brings us to the end of today's episode.

I have a couple quick notes.

First, if you are one of my pre-order angels and joined me in The New Autoimmune

Protocol community over this past few months, thank you so much for showing

up, asking thoughtful questions, sharing your experiences, completing the surveys,

and just being a part of this community.

This episode truly would not have been possible without your willingness

to be a part of the process.

I hope you experienced success and took something away that helps

you feel your best going forward.

And if you have been listening and thinking about starting AIP, maybe

giving it another try, I hope today's conversation has given you both

practical information and encouragement.

Whether your progress is dramatic or gradual, every step you take teaches

you something about your health, and that is a worthwhile investment.

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you'd take a moment to

follow or subscribe to the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast wherever you listen.

And if you have a minute to leave a rating or review, it really does

help people discover the show.

And if you'd like to learn more about my new book, The New Autoimmune Protocol, or

join the community we talked about today, you'll find the links in the show notes.

Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you next time on

the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast.