Nutrition and autoimmune diseases are intimately connected. Nutrition can have a huge impact on how severe your autoimmune disease is, and there are several major reasons for this.

First, about 70% of our entire immune system lies within our intestines (PubMed). Since autoimmune diseases are described as an overactive immune system, nutrition and the related field of gut health have a huge impact on how bad your symptoms are.

Second, a properly functioning immune system requires many nutrients in order to operate correctly. It's important to eat well enough to support the immune system, so it has all the tools it needs to complete its essential functions.

Being deficient in even one required nutrient can impair your immune system. The results from animal studies demonstrate that a deficiency in any of the following nutrient can alter immune responses:

• Zinc
• Selenium
• Iron
• Copper
• Folic acid
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D, and
• Vitamin E (Harvard School of Public Health)

Third, autoimmune diseases can come with a whole host of unpleasant symptoms and comorbid diseases. This includes painful inflammation, joint pain and damage, stomachaches and other gastrointestinal issues, higher risk of heart and liver disease, skin issues, unplanned weight changes, and more. Nutrition can play a huge role in reducing or even completely eliminating these symptoms.

How do you know if you are getting all of these nutrients? How can you tell if you're deficient? Our Autoimmune Disease Diet Beginner's Guide will walk you through the entire process.

There are several nutrients that are commonly deficient across many autoimmune diseases. It is important to address deficiencies first before attempting any other autoimmune disease diet interventions.

Nutrients that are commonly deficient in autoimmune disease include:

• Vitamin D
• Omega-3
• Selenium
• Magnesium
• Fiber
• Zinc

Vitamin D is a common nutrient deficiency across the entire US population, and people living with autoimmune disease are no different. Vitamin D is increasingly being recognized for its importance in proper immune system functioning (Pubmed).

In fact, a recent nationwide, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study of over 25,000 participants found that supplementing vitamin D may help to prevent the development of autoimmune disease (BMJ).

Deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids is also common across the entire US. Omega-3 deficiency may be connected to an overactive immune system, while adequate levels of omega-3 help to reduce inflammation across the body (Pubmed, Pubmed).

Selenium is an essential trace mineral that is critical for proper immune system functioning and has anti-inflammatory properties. In a review of 32 studies, a decrease in the level of selenium in the blood was found in patients with autoimmune diseases. Additionally, supplementing selenium helped to manage disease complications and improved survival rates (Pubmed).

Brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium, and eating just one a day will give you adequate selenium.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that plays a vital role in hundreds of bodily functions. It is estimated that about half of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Magnesium is involved in more than 300 chemical reactions in the body, including vitamin D metabolism (Pharmacy Times).

Magnesium is required for a strong immune system, muscle contraction (including keeping your heart beating), nerve signaling, bone health, metabolism, blood pressure, heart health, and more (Medical News Today).

Fiber is yet another nutrient essential to optimal health, however only 7% of adults consume enough fiber to meet the recommendation (American Society for Nutrition). Fiber helps to feed healthy microbes in our intestines, and these microbes then produce short chain fatty acids, which have been shown to stimulate immune cell activity (Harvard School of Public Health).

Zinc plays a key role in more than 300 enzymes, and also plays a role in regulating the immune system. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 62 medical studies found that those living with autoimmune disease had significantly lower serum zinc levels than controls.

This analysis found that the data is "extremely consistent" in connecting low zinc levels to autoimmune disease (PubMed).

Additionally, it's also important to consume adequate levels of nutrients that your immune system needs to properly function. Those nutrients include:

• Zinc
• Selenium
• Iron
• Copper
• Folic acid
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D, and
• Vitamin E (Harvard School of Public Health)

The best autoimmune disease diet is one that, first and foremost, corrects these nutrient deficiencies and ensures that they will not reoccur. Work with a dietitian and doctor to determine what deficiencies you may have, and how to go about correcting them.

Need more support sorting through all this information? Check out our free Autoimmune Disease Diet Beginner's Guide, which will walk you through the entire process.

Eating a diet full of nutrient-rich foods is great - unless you are having issues digesting or absorbing those nutrients. A top clue that you aren't absorbing nutrients well is if you have been supplementing a nutrient, yet your levels are still low in lab results like blood work.

People suffering from autoimmune diseases that mainly affect the intestines, like celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune gastritis, and autoimmune enteropathy are at a higher risk for malabsorption (PubMed, PubMed).

However, other autoimmune diseases not immediately associated with the gastrointestinal tract have been linked to gastrointestinal issues like malabsorption, as well. This includes diseases like lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, Behçet's disease, and more (PubMed).

Diagnosing malabsorption can be a lengthy process, utilizing multiple types of tests (Cleveland Clinic). Work with a dietitian and a gastroenterologist to support you through this process.

While eating well is crucial to improving the painful symptoms of autoimmune disease, it's also essential to understand that people with autoimmune diseases are more likely to also develop eating disorders (PubMed, PubMed, American Academy of Pediatrics).

Eating disorders are extremely serious medical conditions, characterized by a low recovery rate and a high death rate (Beat Eating Disorders, Eating Recovery Center, National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders). Any type of highly restrictive diet, including eliminating multiple foods at once with the plan to reintroduce them individually later, can promote an eating disorder.

In fact, 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (National Eating Disorders Association).

It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that eating disorders are characterized by a specific set of harmful behaviors or actions - but these disorders can also be much more complicated, elusive, and difficult to identify. There are many types of eating disorders, and the same eating disorder can look very different from person to person.

For those with autoimmune disease, it's common to see people suffering from orthorexia, which is an excessive obsession with eating "healthy".

While it's important to nourish yourself well, it's just as important to not obsess over it or morph the practice into something that is, paradoxically, unhealthy. Research is now beginning to shed light on this important topic (PubMed). Restrictive diets, even if they appear “healthy”, can lead to eating disorders like orthorexia.

Instead, the key is to find gentle ways to help yourself eat well a majority of the time, while still maintaining plenty of room to enjoy all your favorite foods, whether they are "healthy", "unhealthy", or something else altogether.

Building up healthy habits like cooking regularly, consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables, getting enough fiber, ingesting adequate protein, and correcting common nutrient deficiencies are essential building blocks to creating the best autoimmune disease diet. These healthy habits can and should be customized just for you, so they are sustainable for many years to come.

For many people, this is simply not the advice they want to hear. It can be very tempting to get caught up in the excitement of starting a strict diet, thinking it will cure all your pains. However, attempting a strict diet can cause even more serious health problems, and should be avoided at all costs.

Attempting a strict autoimmune disease diet is risky, because they are dangerous. Instead, building up healthy habits that will last a lifetime is truly the best path forward. For this same reason, it is also unethical for healthcare providers to recommend diets or dieting to treat autoimmune disease.

What can you do besides follow a strict diet? Our free Autoimmune Disease Diet Beginner's Guide explains it all.

You may have heard about the anti-inflammatory diet, and wonder if it can help you. If there is one autoimmune disease “diet” that is most likely to make you feel better, it is the anti-inflammatory diet. The most important thing to understand is that, unlike most other autoimmune disease diets, the anti-inflammatory diet is NOT a restrictive diet.

In fact, there is not one specific way to follow the anti-inflammatory diet. Instead, the recommended foods are flexible and can be adjusted to your liking, plus there is plenty of room to enjoy foods you enjoy that may or may not be “inflammatory”. Since folks living with autoimmune disease often experience high levels of inflammation, this way of eating can certainly be used to reduce inflammation and therefore improve symptoms.

RELATED: Fatigue & Autoimmune Disease: How Nutrition Can Help

While reducing inflammation is a great goal that nutrition can help you achieve, the anti-inflammatory diet does not address many of the problems that people living with autoimmune disease need help with. Autoimmune folks also need help fixing nutrient deficiencies, accessing and correcting any digestion issues, safely identifying food sensitivities, using targeted nutrition to combat specific symptoms, and more.

To learn more about anti-inflammatory diet, read Best Autoimmune Disease Diet: Anti-Inflammatory or AIP or …?.

Unfortunately, the popular Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet is a highly restrictive type of autoimmune disease diet. As discussed above, it is dangerous to attempt diets like this as they may promote an eating disorder, which can have extreme health consequences. The little research that has been done on the AIP diet demonstrated mediocre results at best, again indicating that it is a poor idea to attempt this restrictive diet.

The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet is what's known as an elimination diet. Elimination diets are an extremely strict type of diet where the dieter is instructed to avoid a long list of foods for 1-3 months in order to identify one or more food sensitivities. This is called the “elimination phase”. An improvement in symptoms is expected during this time, as supposedly the offending food is no longer being consumed.

The “reintroduction phase” is next, where the dieter is instructed to slowly reintroduce each food group while monitoring their symptoms. If symptoms worsen while reintroducing a food, then this may be a food sensitivity for that person. Consuming this food may make their symptoms worse. The entire process takes many months if not over a year of strictly monitoring your food intake.

RELATED: Lupus & Arthritis: How to Improve Lupus Joint Pain

This diet is exceedingly difficult or even near impossible to complete, and the scientific research is not in support of attempting such a drastic measure. In the decade I have worked as a dietitian-nutritionist, I have found that this extreme diet is simply too demanding and time consuming for most people.

Those who attempted the diet saw a nose dive in their mental health, relationship with food, and relationship with their body. There is a much easier and safer way to identify food sensitivities, if any exist.

The little research that has been done on the AIP diet still manages to demonstrate its lack of efficacy. None of the research evaluated the participants ability to accurately identify one or more of their food sensitivities, which is the purported intent of this diet. None of these studies lasted longer than 12 weeks, which is almost insignificant compared to a lifetime of living with a chronic autoimmune disease.

Additionally, each study had 18 participants or less, which is too small of a sample size to draw conclusions from. Each of these studies recommends further research be conducted with larger randomized controlled trials (PubMed, PubMed, Crohn's and Colitis, PubMed).

One of these studies did find improvement in inflammatory bowel disease during the elimination period, but they “did not formally examine reintroduction of food groups after the maintenance phase”. The reintroduction phase is generally where the biggest problems arise, as it becomes impossible to balance such a strict diet with real life.

Especially considering that the reintroduction part is key and also that these are chronic diseases that require lifelong management - not temporary relief - this research is rendered useless (PubMed).

Another study on 16 women with Hashimoto's hypothyroidism who followed the AIP diet for 10 weeks found no statistically significant changes in thyroid function or thyroid antibodies. Again, this study also failed to study the critical reintroduction phase.

RELATED: Hashimoto's And Gluten: What's the Best Hashimoto's Diet?

However, this study did find that the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) significantly decreased by 29% (PubMed). This sounds promising, until you learn that both fasting and calorie-restriction have been shown to lower CRP (Science Direct). It's very common for AIP dieters to struggle to find enough “allowed” foods to eat, and they often undereat or go hungry.

This indicates the lowered CRP may be simply correlation with the fact that the AIP diet often leaves people hungry and underfed, not a benefit of the actual dietary restrictions.

As a result, this research is insufficient to recommend such an intense diet. In addition, considering the increased risk for developing an eating disorder, the AIP diet remains unsupported and unethical for healthcare providers to recommend as treatment for autoimmune disease.

The best advice is to focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts and seeds regularly. This will naturally guide you towards the best foods to ease your autoimmune symptoms, while avoiding diets and dieting. Our free Autoimmune Disease Diet Beginner's Guide was designed to help you do exactly that.

It's important to focus on what you can eat more of, so you encourage yourself to actively seek out these foods and fill up on them first. This will naturally promote a reduction of less helpful foods, without unnecessarily eliminating them completely. Find nutrient-dense foods and ways to cook them that you love, so it's an enjoyable experience.

If you focus on "bad" or "unhealthy" foods, you are more likely to feel a sense of lack or deprivation. This is not a sustainable solution.

RELATED: What is the Best Psoriasis Diet? 9 Foods to Avoid, & More

If MyPlate isn't a helpful tool for you, then instead consider ensuring that each meal contains protein, fat, and fiber. Aim for 5 fistfuls of fruits and/or vegetables per day, ideally of different colors (National Eczema Association).

Additionally, some people find it helpful to aim to eat with health in mind 70-80% of the time, allowing 20-30% of their appetite to be reserved for cravings, parties, favorite foods, or whatever the heart desires. However, these structures may be harmful if you are struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating.

Furthermore, it's important to stay hydrated, which electrolytes can help achieve. This can be particularly important for those with autoimmune skin issues that need help hydrating areas of painful dry skin.

Getting adequate protein can be an important consideration especially for those with any type of autoimmune issue that could be considered a large wound. This includes skin with large coverage of eczema or psoriasis, or large areas of actively diseased intestines like with Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, or Celiac disease.

Good protein choices include lean meats (such as fish, chicken, and turkey), and plant-based options like beans, lentils, and tempeh (National Eczema Association).

RELATED: Foods That Cause Eczema: What to Eat & What Helps it Go Away

Begin your autoimmune disease diet journey by focusing on what to eat more - this is essential for maintaining your mental health, plus a safe relationship with food and your body. Once these foundational habits are in place and have been for some time, you can begin to explore more advanced topics.

Advanced topics include identifying if you have any food sensitivities, improving gut health, reducing toxin exposure, optimizing natural detoxification pathways, specific foods or nutrients still consumed in excess that may be limiting your progress (such as alcohol or sugar), and more.

Reducing your intake of specific foods or nutrients should only be attempted once a strong foundation including the above strategies is in place. For further instructions, please see the Foods to Reduce chapter of Gain Control Over Your Psoriasis, which can be used for any autoimmune disease.

Another advanced topic is fasting. You may want to consider exploring the potential benefits of fasting if, and only if, you have:

• Addressed all the above issues, including correcting nutrient deficiencies and digestive health
• Are eating regularly and in good amounts
• Are not actively struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating
• Are well attuned to your hunger and fullness cues

It is critical to follow your natural hunger cues to facilitate safe fasting with maximum results. For further instructions, please see the Meal Timing chapter of Gain Control Over Your Psoriasis, which can be used for any autoimmune disease.

There is so much that nutrition can do to help improve your autoimmune disease. The very first step is addressing nutrient deficiencies, and any digestive issues that may be preventing proper digestion therefore exacerbating deficiencies.

Next, focus on increasing foods that support good health in general and are anti-inflammatory. This is the foundation of an autoimmune disease diet that is supported by research and backed by science. Use our free Autoimmune Disease Diet Beginner's Guide to help support your autoimmune healing journey.

It's absolutely essential to steer clear of all strict or highly restrictive diets, at all times. These methods are unsafe because they can trigger a dangerous eating disorder, which people living with autoimmune disease are at higher risk of developing. The research does not support engaging in highly restrictive autoimmune disease diets.

If you suspect you are engaging in disordered eating or have an eating disorder, seek related medical attention soon as these conditions are considered very serious.

Once the above strategies have become habit and are relatively easy to maintain, it's time to explore more advanced topics, such as safely identifying food sensitivities.

Ultimately, it's important to remember that food is more than nutrition - food is joy, flavor, history, culture, a cause for celebration, a container for memories, and so much more. While an autoimmune disease diet can help relieve many of your symptoms and even support complete remission, your eating habits must remain loose and not become strict, so you can enjoy all of the benefits of food and eating beyond nutrition.