What to Avoid and What to Eat

Growing awareness of gut health reflects a growing recognition that the gut microbiome and intestinal barrier influence digestion, immune function, metabolism, systemic inflammation, and processes associated with healthy aging and vitality. Imblances in the gut microbiome and intestinal environment—including increased intestinal permeability, commonly referred to as “leaky gut”—are increasingly being studied in gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticular disease and diverticulitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

These connections may extend beyond the digestive tract, as gut dysbiosis, intestinal-barrier dysfunction, and altered immune signaling are being investigated in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, as well as in relationships involving joint health. Although these relationships do not yet establish that gut dysfunction causes these diseases, they have contributed to growing interest in the gut–immune and gut–joint axes and in supporting a healthy intestinal environment as part of a broader approach to long-term health, healthy aging, and vitality.

This growing understanding of the relationship between diet, gut health, and systemic health provides the rationale for this protocol’s deliberately cautious approach. Rather than attempting to identify individual food triggers from the outset, it initially eliminates foods and food groups that may contribute to inflammation, allowing individual tolerance to be evaluated subsequently. Because susceptibility varies and multiple dietary factors may influence inflammatory signaling, this conservative approach removes potential triggers before gradually assessing which foods can be tolerated.

Contents

1. The Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Avoid Inflammatory Foods While Eating a Varied Diet
2. The Cheat Guide: How Much of Inflammatory Foods Can I Eat?
3. Weight loss and Portion Control On The Anti-Inflammatory Diet
4. Replacing Wheat, Oats. Corn, Soy, Rice: Healthy Grain Alternatives
5. Replacing Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes: Healthy Vegetable Alternatives
6. Replacing Cows Milk, Cheese, Egg Whites: Healthy Substitutes
7. Replacing Beef, Chicken and Soy: Healthy Protein Alternatives
8. Replacing Peanuts and Almonds: Healthy fat Alternatives
9. Replacing Garlic and Onions: Healthy Spice Alternatives
10. Replacing Soda, Fruit Juice and Oranges: Healthy Beverage Alternatives
11. Replacing Cane Sugar and Sweeteners: Healthy Sweet Alternatives
12. Replacing Caffeine and Chocolate: Healthy Alternatives
13. Meal Planning Ideas: Familiar Meals
14. Eating Out Strategies: Healthy Choices
15. Shopping for the Kitchen: Making Healthy Choices Easy
16. Daily 60 Second Food Recording Keeps You On Track

I. The Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Avoid Inflammatory Foods While Eating a Varied Diet

• As we age steady changes in our gut biome occur causing an increase in pathogenic bacteria.
• In particular levels of E-coli and Klebsiella on average grow more than 7times between the ages of 30 and 70.
• This increase in pathogenic bacteria acts to suppress immune function leading to further increases.

II. The Cheat Guide: How Much of Inflammatory Foods Can You Eat?

III. Weight Loss: Portion Control on the Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Many people eating a typical Western-style diet consume large portions of protein, potatoes, bread, chips, and rice, while eating comparatively small amounts, if any, of fruits and vegetables. The Simple Guidelines for Portion Control provide an easy way to visualize these proportion changes. Cut portions of protein and starch while increasing fruit, vegetables, greens, and healthy fats to improve nutrient density while supporting weight loss.

III. Replacing Bread, Wheat, Oats, Corn, Soy, and Rice: Healthy Alternatives

Grains provide a large share of the calories in most Western diets, so replacing familiar grains with unfamiliar grains and vegetable starches can be challenging. One of the easiest ways to make the transition is to use new foods in familiar ways—substituting them into dishes you already know and enjoy. The alternatives are surprisingly extensive. Although many may be unfamiliar at first, they provide a wide variety of foods that can take the place of familiar grains, breads, rice, potatoes, noodles, and snack foods.

Starchy and Root Vegetable Alternatives

• Sweet Potato
• Winter Squash
• Beets
• Rutabaga – potato substitute
• Green Plantain – potato substitute
• Cassava (Yucca) – potato substitute
• Exotic Root Vegetables: Parsnips, Radish, Daikon, Jicama, Celeriac, Taro, and others

Grain Alternatives

• Sorgum – rice and oatmeal substitute
• Buckwheat groats – rice and oatmeal substitute
• Teff Seed – rice and oatmeal substitute, similar in taste to cream of wheat
• Buckwheat pancakes and Buckwheat waffles – Bread alternative, breakfast, and used as shortbread for berry deserts. Consider buckwheat waffle sandwiches.

Alternatives for Spaghetti and Other Noodle Dishes

• Spaghetti Squash
• Bean Thread Noodles
• 100% Buckwheat Noodles (Soba)
• Sorghum Noodles
• Teff-Based Noodles
• Sweet Potato Starch Noodles — Often Called Glass Or Sweet-Potato Noodles
• Cassava Noodles
• Taro Noodles
• Konjac/Shirataki Noodles
• Chick Pea Or Lentil Pasta
• Spiralized Zucchini

Crunchy Alternatives

• Nut Crackers
• Quartered Buckwheat Waffles (make ahead & store)
• Plantain Chips (low fat if possible)
• Kale Chips

Alternatives to Beef, Chicken and Soy

• Animals: Pork, Lamb, Goat, Buffalo, Rabbit, Elk, Venison, & Other Wild Game
• Birds: Turkey, Duck, Goose, Ostrich, & Wild Fowl
• Fatty Fish: Salmon, Tuna, Sardines, Mackerel, Herring, Anchovies, Trout, & Arctic char
• Seafood: Non-fatty Fish, Shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Other Shellfish, Other Seafood, & Frog
• Vegetable Proteins: Beans, Lentils, Peas, & Mushrooms (Not Soy)
• Legume Preparation: For this diet, soak dried beans, lentils, & peas for approximately 24 hours, then cook until very soft in a pressure cooker. Thorough soaking and cooking substantially reduce lectins and other naturally occurring compounds that can interfere with digestion or nutrient absorption.

Summary of Research

Research provides some support for a relationship between higher meat intake and systemic inflammation. In a large UK Biobank study of more than 400,000 adults, each additional 50 g/day of unprocessed red meat was associated with a 14.4% higher CRP level, a blood marker of inflammation, while the same increase in poultry intake was associated with a 12.8% higher CRP level (Bradbury et al., 2022). Although the study did not separate individual meats such as beef and chicken, beef is a major component of red-meat consumption and chicken accounts for the great majority of poultry consumption in the UK, making these findings relevant to two commonly consumed proteins.

A more recent systematic review and meta-analysis of 22 randomized controlled trials found that higher total red-meat intake was associated with a significant increase in CRP, although the effect was not consistently observed for unprocessed red meat alone (Wang et al., 2026). These findings suggest that the inflammatory effect may be greater for processed red meats—such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, and sandwich meats—than for unprocessed red meat alone. These findings do not establish that beef or chicken will cause inflammation in every person, but they provide evidence that reducing reliance on commonly consumed protein sources may be reasonable as part of an individualized anti-inflammatory dietary approach.

Dinner Ideas

• Salmon
• Shrimp Sorghum Paella
• Turkey
• Pork Stir Fry
• Pork Chop
• Duck
• Buffalo steak