Foods to Avoid With Autoimmune Disease: Gluten, Dairy, Sugar and Why Food Is One of Six Keys, with Palmer Kippola
Updated: Oct 21
Palmer Kippola names gluten, dairy and sugar as the three foods she sees harming people with autoimmunity most often, and she recommends a 30-day elimination diet to find which foods are a problem for your own body. She is just as clear that food is one of six areas to examine, because, in her words, "healing is so multifactorial and it's not just food and gut health."
Palmer was 19, home for the summer after her first year of college, when she woke up with tingling in the soles of her feet. Within a day it had climbed to her collarbones. Within five minutes, a neurologist at UCLA told her she was 99 percent certain it was multiple sclerosis, and that if she was right, there was nothing she could do except take medication. Palmer was numb from the neck down for six weeks.
During those weeks a family friend asked her a question she did not understand at the time: "Palmer, why do you think you've got the MS?" That question, she says, became her North Star for the next 30 years.
Palmer Kippola is a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach (FMCHC) and the author of Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health. In this conversation with Dr. Aimie Apigian, recorded live with an audience, she shares her story, the research that shaped her approach, and the three foods she asks people to look at first. Audience members then share their experiences with Hashimoto's, celiac disease and Sjögren's syndrome.
Palmer Kippola sees gluten, dairy and sugar as the most common food problems in autoimmunity, and recommends a 30-day elimination diet to find your own. She treats food as one of six keys (food, infections, gut health, hormone balance, toxins and stress) and points to leaky gut as part of how autoimmunity develops. Palmer reports that she reversed her MS, and a 2020 Cochrane review found research has not yet established whether diet changes the course of MS. Dr. Aimie adds the nervous system, since stress also affects the gut.
What foods should you avoid with autoimmune disease?
Palmer names three foods she sees causing the most harm: gluten, conventional animal dairy, and sugar in all its forms. She offers them as the most common clues, not a universal rule, and says, "You need to figure it out for yourself primarily, but I offer the most common clues."
Gluten. Palmer calls gluten the biggest problem food in autoimmunity, and says that research shows gluten creates a leaky gut in anyone who eats it. The study usually cited for this tested gluten on small samples of intestinal tissue in the lab and found it increased permeability in tissue from all four groups tested, including five people without celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. That is a laboratory finding in 23 people, not proof that gluten causes leaky gut in every person who eats it.
Dairy. Palmer singles out conventional animal dairy, such as cow dairy, and says the problem is the protein casein rather than lactose.
Sugar. Her third is sugar in all its forms, which she says can suppress immune function for hours after eating.
Beyond these three, Palmer describes "suspect foods," such as eggs, nuts and nightshades, that are a problem for some people and not for others. That is why she sends people back to their own bodies to find out.
Elimination diet: a period of removing specific foods and then reintroducing them one at a time, to see which ones the body reacts to.
How do you find out which foods are a problem for you?
Palmer recommends an elimination diet, which she calls a "30-day food vacation." For 30 days you step away from the foods you eat out of habit, remove the three most common problem foods, and try removing the suspect foods as well, so you can see how your body responds when they come back.
She did this herself in 2010 with a functional medicine nutritionist, who found that Palmer had non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Within two weeks of removing gluten, the stomach trouble she had after eating stopped. She had assumed everyone felt that way after meals, because she always had.
When people ask her which supplements will heal their gut, her answer is "remove, remove, remove." The first step is taking out what is causing harm.
Restriction can be hard, and one audience member described it. Three months into a diet stricter than the autoimmune protocol, after being diagnosed with three autoimmune conditions, she was having intense food cravings she had never had before. Somatic work helped her: she placed her hands on her belly and began, in her words, "creating a new relationship with my belly." Within days, she noticed less gut upset and better digestion.
What does leaky gut have to do with autoimmunity?
Leaky gut, or increased intestinal permeability, is one of three factors in what Palmer calls the autoimmune equation. In a 2012 review, gastroenterologist Dr. Alessio Fasano proposed that autoimmune disease involves three things together: genetic susceptibility, an environmental trigger, and a gut barrier that lets too much through. Palmer finds having an equation for autoimmunity "enormously empowering."
Fasano's review suggests the autoimmune process could be stopped if the gut barrier is restored, and cites animal models and early clinical evidence. This remains a hypothesis under study, not an established treatment.
The gut matters for the immune system because so much of the immune system lives there. Palmer puts it at about 80 percent. A widely cited review places it at almost 70 percent. Either way, as Palmer says, "Autoimmunity is not a body part problem, it's an immune system problem."
Intestinal permeability (leaky gut): a state in which the lining of the intestine lets more material pass into the body than it normally would.
What are Palmer's six keys for autoimmunity?
Palmer groups the environmental factors she found into six keys, spelled FIGHTS: food, infections, gut health, hormone balance, toxins and stress. She chose the word because it fit her father's encouragement when she was first diagnosed: "honey, you can beat this thing."
Food and gut health are the two she covers in depth in this episode. She also points to medications as worth reviewing, noting that drug-induced lupus is a recognized condition. And she names stress: "who knew that chronic stress also creates a leaky gut." Research supports that link. In a study of healthy volunteers, giving a public speech raised small-intestine permeability in those whose stress hormone rose.
What is epigenetics, and why does Palmer find it hopeful?
Epigenetics is the study of how environment and experience change which genes are switched on or off, without changing the genes themselves. Palmer describes it this way: "everything that you eat, drink, think, and do tells those genes whether or not to be expressed."
She points to research by Dr. Randy Jirtle's lab on agouti mice. Feeding mother mice extra folic acid, vitamin B12, choline and betaine changed the coat color of their offspring by changing how a gene was marked, not the gene itself.
Palmer describes having epigenetically switched off the expression of MS in her own body, while still carrying the genes for it.
Epigenetics: changes in how genes are read and expressed, shaped by environment and experience, without changes to the DNA sequence.
What part did stress play in Palmer's story?
When Palmer asked herself why she had MS, the first answer that came to her was chronic stress. She was adopted, and her birth mother was 14. Her adoptive parents were loving, and her father, a former fighter pilot, was also a man whose way "was invariably the right way." Lying on the couch at 19, she remembered herself at about age three to five, standing in the hallway with her fists up, yelling at her father to stop yelling at her mother.
She is careful to add, "Now I know there's a whole lot more to the story than that." She also notes that research has linked adverse childhood experiences to the later development of autoimmunity. Episode 133 explores how childhood trauma relates to autoimmunity.
Can diet reverse multiple sclerosis?
Research has not shown that any diet changes the course of MS. A 2020 Cochrane review of 30 trials found too little high-certainty evidence to say whether dietary changes affect relapses or disability in MS.
Palmer reports that she reversed her MS, and this is her account. Her MS first eased in time for her to return to college for her second year, and she learned she had the relapsing-remitting form, which is marked by relapses with stable periods between them. For the next 26 years she tried everything she could. In 2010, after removing gluten and working to heal her gut, she says, "within a month, I stopped having MS symptoms ever again, full stop." She adds that there is "a lot more to the story than just chronic stress and gluten," and that she wrote her book to share the stories of 12 other doctors and practitioners who describe recovering from autoimmune conditions.
Anyone living with MS or another autoimmune condition should make decisions about diet and medication with their own physician.
Where does the nervous system fit with food and the gut?
Dr. Aimie opens the conversation by saying that "so much of autoimmune is connected with trauma and it's an important piece to the puzzle." The gut has its own nervous system, the enteric nervous system, and it also houses much of the immune system, which is why Dr. Aimie sees the foods we eat mattering for both. Stress affects how the gut works, and one audience member in this episode describes somatic work calming her gut. As Dr. Aimie puts it, when we combine what we know about the nervous system with Palmer's information about the immune system, we have more tools.
Key Takeaways
Palmer Kippola names gluten, dairy and sugar as the foods she sees harming people with autoimmunity most often.
She calls these the most common clues, not a rule, and says each person needs to find their own.
Eggs, nuts and nightshades are "suspect foods" that trouble some people and not others.
A 30-day elimination diet, which she calls a "food vacation," is how she recommends finding your own.
Her first answer to "what can I take to heal my gut?" is "remove, remove, remove."
Leaky gut is one of three factors, with genetics and an environmental trigger, in a model proposed by Dr. Alessio Fasano.
Food is one of six keys: food, infections, gut health, hormone balance, toxins and stress.
Stress can increase intestinal permeability, which ties the nervous system to the gut.
Palmer reports that she reversed her MS. A 2020 Cochrane review found research has not yet established whether diet changes the course of MS.
Restrictive diets can be emotionally hard, and somatic work can support the body through them.
Notable Quotes
"One family friend came and she brought me a gift that I didn't realize was a gift until years later. She asked me the question, Palmer, why do you think you've got the MS?" - Palmer Kippola
"And so much of what is still kind of said about autoimmune and especially multiple sclerosis is that there's nothing that we can do." - Dr. Aimie Apigian
"It is not the end of the road. It's really just the beginning of what you can do to support your immune system and shift things around." - Dr. Aimie Apigian
"Within two weeks of eliminating gluten, I stopped having tummy trouble after eating. And we tend to normalize things." - Palmer Kippola
"I thought it was normal for people to have tummy trouble after eating because I did." - Palmer Kippola
"Healing is so multifactorial and it's not just food and gut health." - Palmer Kippola
"You need to figure it out for yourself primarily, but I offer the most common clues." - Palmer Kippola
"Autoimmunity is not a body part problem, it's an immune system problem." - Palmer Kippola
"People ask me all the time, well, you know, what can I take to heal my gut? How do I, what, what supplements? And my response is number one, two, and three, remove, remove, remove." - Palmer Kippola
"We treat our guts like garbage disposals." - Palmer Kippola
"And who knew that chronic stress also creates a leaky gut." - Palmer Kippola
Episode Takeaway
When Palmer described her neurologist telling her there was nothing she could do except take medication, I recognized that message. I did not get the message that there was something I could do at first either. So much of what is still said about autoimmunity, and especially about multiple sclerosis, is that there is nothing we can do.
What I value in Palmer's approach is that she does not hand people a list and stop there. She names the three foods she sees causing the most trouble, gluten, dairy and sugar, and then she sends you back to your own body to find out what is true for you. A well-run elimination diet does exactly that. It turns food from a set of rules into information about your own body.
She is also clear that food is one of six keys. Her word for them is FIGHTS: food, infections, gut health, hormone balance, toxins and stress. The last of those is where my work begins. Stress affects how the gut functions, and overwhelm, when the body crosses its critical line, has the greatest impact of all. Palmer said it plainly in this conversation: chronic stress also creates a leaky gut.
That is why changing what is on the plate can be harder than it looks. One woman in my class had been diagnosed with three autoimmune conditions and was three months into a very restricted diet. She was eating well and still having food cravings stronger than she had ever felt, and she was struggling emotionally with all of it. What helped was somatic work. She put her hands on her belly, talked to it, and started building a new relationship with it. Within a few days she noticed her whole system starting to calm down, with less gut upset and better digestion.
When we put what we know about the nervous system together with what Palmer teaches about the immune system, we have more tools. Food is one part of the biology. Somatic work helped this woman's body settle enough to stay with a hard change.
The gut is sensitive, so I do not recommend sudden changes. Make changes with information, and with a practitioner who knows your history, especially if you take medication. Palmer did hers with a functional medicine nutritionist.
I teach autoimmunity as one way a biology of trauma shows up in the body. The mind, the body and the biology all hold what happened, and repair needs all three. Food and the gut are part of the biology. The felt sense of safety in the nervous system is part of what lets the biology shift.
This is the Biology of Trauma®. If you want to know which pattern of stored trauma your body is running, start with the 2-Minute Assessment for Stored Trauma. When you are ready to build a biology of safety with guidance, the Foundational Journey is where I take people through the foundations, with daily somatic exercises and parts work.
FAQ
Is gluten bad for autoimmune disease?
Palmer Kippola calls gluten the biggest problem food in autoimmunity and recommends removing it. A small laboratory study found that gluten increased the permeability of intestinal tissue from people with and without celiac disease. Whether gluten affects a particular person's autoimmune condition is best tested with an elimination diet and a practitioner.
Should people with autoimmune disease avoid dairy?
Palmer recommends removing conventional animal dairy, such as cow dairy, and says the problem protein is casein rather than lactose. She presents this as one of the most common clues, to be tested in your own body.
What is a 30-day food vacation?
It is Palmer's name for an elimination diet: 30 days without the foods you eat out of habit, the most common problem foods and the suspect foods, so you can see how your body responds when each one returns.
What are suspect foods?
Palmer uses the term for foods such as eggs, nuts and nightshades that cause problems for some people and not for others.
Can stress cause leaky gut?
Research suggests it can. In healthy volunteers, the stress of giving a public speech increased small-intestine permeability in those whose cortisol rose. Palmer names stress as one of her six keys for this reason.
What does FIGHTS stand for in autoimmunity?
FIGHTS is Palmer Kippola's name for her six keys: food, infections, gut health, hormone balance, toxins and stress.
Can diet cure multiple sclerosis?
A 2020 Cochrane review found too little high-certainty evidence to say whether any diet changes the course of MS. Palmer Kippola reports that she reversed her MS after removing gluten and healing her gut, and shares that as her own account. Decisions about MS treatment belong with your neurologist.
In This Episode
3:32 Why does Dr. Aimie say there is so much people can do?
3:58 What happened when Palmer was diagnosed with MS at 19?
6:28 Why did a family friend’s question become Palmer’s North Star?
9:36 What did Palmer learn when she removed gluten?
13:00 What is epigenetics, and why does Palmer find it hopeful?
14:13 What is the autoimmune equation, and where does leaky gut fit?
17:11 What are the six keys Palmer calls FIGHTS?
18:06 Which three foods does Palmer see harming people most?
20:32 What is a 30-day food vacation?
22:36 How did somatic work help one woman on a restrictive diet?
26:19 What changed for an audience member with Hashimoto’s?
29:54 What changed for an audience member with celiac disease?
31:25 What happened for a client with Sjögren’s syndrome?
Resources and Guides
2-Minute Assessment for Stored Trauma (free): find out which pattern of stored trauma your body is running and where to begin.
The Foundational Journey: a 5-week program to build a biology of safety, with daily guided somatic exercises and parts work.
The Biology of Trauma by Dr. Aimie Apigian, with a foreword by Dr. Gabor Maté.
Palmer Kippola's website, with her book Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health.
Related Podcast Episodes
For when you wonder, as Palmer did, why autoimmunity happened to you.
For when your gut symptoms started long before any diagnosis.
For women whose autoimmune symptoms changed in their forties.
About the Guest
Palmer Kippola is an author, speaker and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach (FMCHC). She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 19 and has spent decades studying autoimmunity. She is the author of Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health, which shares her story and the stories of other practitioners with autoimmune conditions.
Your Host
Dr. Aimie Apigian, MD, MS, MPH, is a double board-certified physician in preventive medicine and addiction medicine and the author of The Biology of Trauma (foreword by Dr. Gabor Maté). She created the Biology of Trauma® framework and founded Trauma Healing Accelerated, where she trains practitioners and guides people working with stored trauma.
Research
Fasano A. Leaky gut and autoimmune diseases. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology. 2012;42(1):71-78.
Hollon J, Puppa EL, Greenwald B, Goldberg E, Guerrerio A, Fasano A. Effect of gliadin on permeability of intestinal biopsy explants from celiac disease patients and patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Nutrients. 2015;7(3):1565-1576.
Vighi G, Marcucci F, Sensi L, Di Cara G, Frati F. Allergy and the gastrointestinal system. Clinical and Experimental Immunology. 2008;153(Suppl 1):3-6.
Vanuytsel T, van Wanrooy S, Vanheel H, et al. Psychological stress and corticotropin-releasing hormone increase intestinal permeability in humans by a mast cell-dependent mechanism. Gut. 2014;63(8):1293-1299.
Waterland RA, Jirtle RL. Transposable elements: targets for early nutritional effects on epigenetic gene regulation. Molecular and Cellular Biology. 2003;23(15):5293-5300.
Parks NE, Jackson-Tarlton CS, Vacchi L, Merdad R, Johnston BC. Dietary interventions for multiple sclerosis-related outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2020;(5):CD004192.
McGinley MP, Goldschmidt CH, Rae-Grant AD. Diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis: a review. JAMA. 2021;325(8):765-779.
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