Can I Cheat On the AIP?

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This is a super common question when folks start (or are thinking about starting) the AIP. Let me help clear up any myths and misconceptions so you can make informed choices on your healing journey.

First of all, as you may know by now, the AIP is not a diet that’s about weight loss. It’s a healing protocol designed specifically for those with autoimmune diseases. This means it should be taken far more seriously than dietary guidelines that folks may follow to lose a few pounds or inches. With traditional weight-loss diets, there’s a common idea that being compliant 80% of the time is sufficient and that occasional cheat days or treats won’t derail your progress. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the AIP.

The elimination phase requires consistency, and the “80% rule” just doesn’t apply here. The AIP elimination diet is intended to reduce potential dietary triggers consistently enough that you can identify them, assess what’s helping and what’s hindering and conduct meaningful reintroductions.

First, Let’s Define “Cheating”

So what do you mean by “cheat”? Are you talking about scheduling days where you’re given carte blanche to eat whatever suits your fancy? If so, I suggest dismissing that idea immediately and remembering your “why.”

Why did you decide to start the AIP in the first place? Most likely, it’s because you want to feel better. Cheats like this are counterproductive and can set you back significantly. One cheat day could re-trigger inflammation, disrupt your gut microbiome, and destabilize blood sugar and hormones—all of which can undo weeks of progress for some.

On the other hand, if a cheat means indulging in an AIP treat, that’s generally okay in moderation. The focus of the AIP is nutrient density, and overindulgence in treats—even compliant ones—can lead to poor eating habits. For instance, dried fruit is high in sugar and can become as addictive as conventional sugary snacks (I encourage you to read my posts on fruit and natural sugars as well). Be mindful of how often you’re indulging, and remember that the goal is to fuel your body with healing foods.

But before diving into specifics, let’s ask a key question: Why are you thinking about cheating?

Why Do You Want To Cheat?

Are you asking because you don’t think you have the willpower to keep going? Do you have a special event coming up that you’re worried about keeping to the protocol? Maybe you just feel you need a treat? Maybe you think it’s too hard?

These questions bring up a lot of other topics. And yes, the AIP can be hard, but my response is: “Choose Your Hard!” Yes, it’s hard to give up foods you love, but it’s also hard living with autoimmune disease. You have to decide which hard is worth it.

Willpower alone won’t carry you through the entire protocol. While it can work for a short time, long-term success requires thoughtful strategies. These might include a transitional program, coaching, or joining a supportive community (check out my coaching page for more on this). I also talk about willpower in my post – “When Should You Start Your AIP Healing Journey” – be sure to check it out.

Social situations can also present challenges. Many consider cheating because they feel they deserve a break from the restrictions or don’t want to inconvenience others because of their dietary needs. For help navigating these scenarios, I’ve got you covered with tips in my post “Surviving Social Life on the AIP.”

If it’s simply a matter of feeling deprived of foods you used to love, I highly recommend you join my AIP Recipe Collection Facebook Group, it’s a HUGE data base of AIP Elimination Stage recipes and there are MORE than a few amazing treats you can enjoy without compromising your new AIP lifestyle – check it out here. You can also find lots of amazing premade options on the market these days! Delicious coffee substitutes, AIP baking mixes, premade snacks and meals! We’re actually spoiled for choice and are fortunate to be doing the AIP when we are. Check out some of these resources on my Food Sourcing page – click here – and don’t miss clicking on the Coupons page for lots of great savings!

When Do You Want To Cheat?

By when, I don’t mean what day or date, but rather at what stage of the AIP you are currently in.

Transition Stage

The transition stage is the beginning of your journey, this is the time you’ll use to assess whether you’re ready to start AIP eliminations—and whether the Core or Modified approach is sustainable for you.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s to make changes gradually and build habits that you can maintain. If you feel you constantly feel deprived or tempted to “cheat,” a slower transition or Modified AIP approach may be the better fit for you.

For a complete guide to the current AIP framework, including Transition, Elimination, Reintroductions, and Maintenance, I recommend The New Autoimmune Protocol by Mickey Trescott.

Elimination Stage

If you’re in the elimination stage this is not the ideal time to be thinking about cheats. Yes, this is likely the hardest time that you’ll go through on your AIP journey, but it’s going to be worth it! Keep reminding yourself “WHY” you started in the first place and try to remember that nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. Cliché? Maybe a little, but it’s so very true.

The purpose of the elimination stage of the AIP is to remove all of the scientifically proven, commonly know problematic foods from your diet so your body can rest and begin the healing process. It’s difficult to know which foods are our triggers without first calming the body and its inflammatory response, so this is a completely necessary step. 

Remember, a reaction isn’t necessarily over by the time the meal is. Depending on the food and your individual response, symptoms can linger for days or longer. If you’ve accidentally been exposed to gluten, I’ve written more about what to expect and how to support yourself in Glutened?

What if you don’t feel like you react to certain foods or a food sensitivity test doesn’t show it’s a problem for you?

1. First of all, science simply has not come far enough with food sensitivity testing to be 100% accurate, and the gold standard for identifying food triggers is STILL an elimination diet (with the caveat of course being oral testing in those with actual food IgE-mediated food allergies).
   What’s worse, foods you eat regularly can sometimes show up on a food sensitivity test as something you’re sensitive to—even when they may not actually be a problem for you! This is unfortunately a shortfall of the testing methods currently available.
   So, when I say skip the food sensitivity testing as your only means to identify your triggers, you should be thanking me … because you don’t want to have to eliminate something you love!
   (Read more about food test here – Can Blood Tests Detect Food Sensitivity?)
2. As for thinking or feeling you don’t react to a food, it’s actually difficult to have a good sense of food reactions unless you’ve first calmed the inflammatory response, so without having removed the potential triggers first, your body may not be sending you accurate signals.
   Unfortunately this takes time – 30-90 days in the elimination stage of the AIP is typically necessary to give your body time to quiet and heal. You should really be seeing marked improvement in symptoms before you start the reintroduction process
   (NOTE: This does not mean that you will stay in the elimination stage indefinitely if you don’t start feeling better, it simply means you need to start troubleshooting to find out if you have other underlying causes to your disease and discomfort – I write more about that in my posts on troubleshooting and finding your root cause. WHAT EVER YOU DO – do not stay in the elimination stage forever, this is not healthy and can lead to more problems. Please seek medical help as mentioned in my root cause post.)

As hard as it may be, try  to look at the elimination stage as short-term pain for long-term (free of pain) gain – the AIP diet is often the fastest way for autoimmune sufferers to see improvement. Cheating early on in the game usually only causes delays in healing, and of course delays you in getting to the next stage of the process where you can start enjoying more of your old favorites. 

Reintroduction Stage

If you’ve already moved on to the reintroduction stage of the AIP and you’re considering having a wee cheat, I encourage you to remember the effort that you’ve put in so far. Don’t throw it all away and get too willy-nilly with a cheat here and there, don’t stop tracking, don’t stop being diligent about nutrient density, you’re just getting to the exciting bit!

At this point you’re starting to systematically reintroduce foods that you’ve possibly been longing for, like nuts and seeds, chocolate and coffee! Am I right? In this stage a lot more options are going to start opening up to you, so “cheats” may not be cheats at all!

The beauty of this stage of the AIP is that your body is starting to give you cues and tell your own personal what’s in and what’s out for your personalized AIP journey. Things that may be “compliant” may simply not be for you … and that’s what this journey is all about! When you react to something, don’t despair, celebrate it! You’ve just discovered an important piece to your puzzle (a food that’s a hard no for you), and you’re armed with more information!

During this stage I suggest using your reintroduction trials as your “cheats” where possible, but make sure to do so in a controlled environment, this is not the time to throw caution to the wind and head for the gluten free bakery or your favorite restaurant to test a reintroduction. Remember the time you’ve put in and be sure to approach reintroductions methodically – it’s worth it! (Be sure to read more on reintroductions in my post – click here.)

Maintenance Stage

At this stage you’re on your own personalized AIP diet! Woohoo – Congratulations! You’ve been through reintroduction stage and used careful tracking to identify your “yes” foods (those that you tolerate well, easily digest and feel good on), your “currently hard no” foods (those that cause a flare of symptoms, acute or chronic pain or that cause digestive upset) and your “maybe” or “worth it” foods – these are the ones that you’d now be considering as a cheat food (they may cause minor symptoms but are not going to disrupt your quality of life or send you into a major autoimmune flare). 

Your “hard no” foods that you discovered during the reintroduction phase are currently foods you wouldn’t want to consider as a cheat. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re off the table forever. As your health improves, your tolerance to some foods may change, and you may choose to revisit a food through a careful reintroduction at some point in the future. NOTE, however, gluten is one food that many AIP experts and Functional Medicine Practitioners recommend you NEVER add back to your diet, not even as a cheat. 

Summary – What Are The Repercussions?

Let’s say you decide to ignore everything I’ve said – ask yourself, what are the repercussions going to be if I cheat? How are you going to feel physically and mentally? 

This is where the rubber meets the road as they say, and you get to make the decision for yourself!

Physically, you may experience symptoms ranging from fatigue and brain fog to digestive upset and flare-ups. Mentally, you might feel guilt or frustration, which can compound the stress on your body.

If you’re in the elimination stage of the AIP and making progress but haven’t given your body 30-90 days to see an improvement in your symptoms yet, ask yourself: Are you willing to throw away the effort you’ve made? Is the cheat you’re considering potentially going to be a slippery slope to throwing in the towel? If you want to “cheat” at this point, I suggest you make sure it’s a small one and that it’s a cheat with a compliant treat that won’t set you back. Ultimately the decision is yours if you decide to indulge in a non-AIP treat, and no, you don’t have to start counting back at “Day 1” of your eliminations, but remember, you could potentially be delaying when you will start feeling better, meaning you’re delaying reintroductions.

Same thing goes for the reintroduction stage, you don’t want to waste all of the time and energy you’ve put in to your journey. Be mindful of what you cheat with and how much. If you’re following the process using the AIP Reintroduction Cookbook, you likely won’t feel the need to cheat at all, as the process is very gentle and helps you reintroduce the foods you love as quickly as possible. Be sure to check out my review of the book and grab your copy – click here.

In the maintenance phase, or when you’re on your personalized AIP, your health has likely improved considerably. At this point you’re highly in-tune with your body and the signals and you’ve added a lot more options back to your diet. At this point you shouldn’t be feeling too deprived and hopefully you’ll not often consider needing a cheat. Either way, you’ll be in a better place to decide if that “cheat” is worth it and you’ll likely choose more wisely.

Gave In To Temptation & Ate Something Non-Compliant?

Don’t freak out! What ever you do, DO NOT stress about it! Stress can take a toll on your body, so there’s no benefit to beating yourself up over it.

Trust me, everyone slips up from time to time, whether intentionally or by accident. Now is the time to show self-compassion, be kind to yourself and move on. Be sure to drink plenty of water and enjoy a cup of ginger or peppermint tea to help your tummy. Over the next days, be sure to focus on nutrient density and gut healing foods like bone broth and soups that are gentle on digestion. Get plenty of rest and listen to you body. Please be sure to read my blog post – “Gultened?” to learn more about how to support your body at this time.

Looking for tummy taming recipes – click this handy link to the search result for that in my AIP Recipe Collection Facebook Group (you can also search there for “tummy tamer” or “under the weather”).