The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast

Episode 76: AIP in Real Life — Eating Differently Without Making It a Big Deal
Eating differently can feel like a much bigger deal than it actually is.
Not because of the food itself—but because of the social dynamics around it. Dinner parties. Work lunches. Family holidays. First dates. Travel. The subtle pressure to explain. The awkwardness of declining. The internal negotiation about how much to share and how much to keep private.
In Episode 76 of the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast, Mickey Trescott begins a new Small Bite series called AIP in Real Life—conversations about what it actually looks like to live this way long-term. Not just the food lists or the science, but the social navigation, mindset shifts, and emotional maturity that develop over time.
Drawing on 15 years of personal experience living with AIP, Mickey shares practical strategies for eating differently without turning every gathering into a conversation about your health. This episode is about learning how to communicate clearly, hold boundaries calmly, and participate fully—without overexplaining, apologizing, or making your food choices the headline of the room. AIP in Real Life_ Eating Differ…
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why eating differently feels relational—not just logistical
How to reduce social stress by deciding before you arrive
Practical strategies for restaurants, dinner parties, holidays, and travel
Why short explanations build more confidence than long ones
The difference between gratitude and apology
How to participate socially without compromising your health
What to say when someone pressures you to “just have a little”
Why consistency speaks louder than debate
How identity shifts over time when living with AIP
How to integrate dietary boundaries without making them your identity

Resources
The New Autoimmune Protocol – Pre-Order

Episode Timeline
00:00 – Why eating differently feels bigger than it is
02:34 – Why this feels so hard (belonging & communication)
04:01 – Decide before you arrive
08:57 – Keep explanations short
11:04 – Gratitude is not the same as apology
12:36 – Participation over perfection
15:25 – Accept that not everyone will understand
17:19 – Identity shifts & long-term integration
18:57 – Wrap-up & book mention

Episode 75: Life After AIP — Building Your Long-Term Maintenance Plan | Deep Dive
What does life actually look like after you complete the Autoimmune Protocol?
Once you’ve moved through Transition, Elimination, and Reintroduction, it’s natural to ask: Now what? Are you supposed to eat this way forever? What happens if your health shifts? And how do you apply what you’ve learned to real-life situations like stress, travel, celebrations, or aging?
In this Deep Dive episode, Mickey explains what it really means to “finish” AIP and how to build a long-term maintenance plan that is flexible, sustainable, and personalized. Rather than viewing AIP as something you complete and leave behind, this episode reframes it as a framework you carry forward—one that helps you move up and down the spectrum of structure and flexibility as your health evolves.
Mickey shares how to think about post-AIP eating, what a return to AIP can look like during a flare, how to use AIP principles beyond food, and why combining medical care with dietary strategy is essential for long-term autoimmune management.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
What it really means to “finish” AIP
How to transition from rules to a personalized dietary philosophy
Why post-AIP eating is hyper-personalized—not a single universal diet
How to think about returning to AIP without all-or-nothing thinking
The “batten down the hatches vs. unfurl the sails” framework
How to apply AIP principles beyond food
Why medical care and AIP should always work together
How to build a long-term approach that fits your real life
What life after AIP can look like 15 years into an autoimmune journey

Resources:
Referenced Episodes:
Episode 51: The Autoimmune Protocol in 2026 (Full Overview)
Episode 52: Transition Phase | Deep Dive
Episode 53: Elimination Phase | Deep Dive
Episode 54: Reintroduction Phase | Deep Dive
Episode 55: Nutrient Density & Lifestyle Foundations
Episode 56: Healing Update

AIP Foundation Series – Free 5-day email course with printable food lists, meal plans, reintroduction charts, and beginner tools.
The New Autoimmune Protocol (Book) – The updated, flexible, and realistic guide to implementing AIP in real life.
Episode Timeline:
00:00 – What does life after AIP look like?
03:18 – What does it mean to “finish” AIP?
06:58 – A post-AIP dietary philosophy (personalized eating)
10:33 – What a return to AIP can look like
13:11 – Batten down the hatches vs. unfurl the sails
17:41 – Using AIP principles beyond food
20:11 – Combining medical care with AIP (both-and approach)
22:36 – Building a sustainable long-term life
24:23 – Life after AIP, 15 years in
26:18 – Wrap-up & encouragement

Episode 74: Beyond the Recipe — Magic Chili with Marie-Noelle of Urban AIP (Small Bite)
If you’ve ever thought starting AIP meant saying goodbye to your favorite comfort foods forever, this episode is for you.
In this Beyond the Recipe Small Bite episode of the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast, Mickey Trescott continues the mini-series exploring how AIP recipes actually work in real life—not just on paper. These conversations go deeper than ingredients and instructions to unpack why certain recipes succeed, how to adapt them, and what makes them sustainable long-term.
Mickey is joined by Marie-Noelle Marquis, Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, AIP Certified Coach, and founder of Urban AIP, to talk through one of the most surprising comfort food wins in the AIP world: Magic Chili.
This isn’t just a tomato-free chili. It’s a deeply savory, rich, red, nightshade-free meal that delivers comfort without beans, paprika, chili powder, or tomatoes—and somehow no one misses them.
Together, they explore how this recipe works from both a home kitchen perspective and at production scale through Urban AIP’s therapeutic meal delivery service, and why this chili has become a customer favorite.
This episode is about abundance over restriction: how to recreate nostalgic flavors, build depth without nightshades, and turn a single recipe into a flexible template for real-life healing.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why comfort foods don’t have to disappear on AIP
How grated beet creates rich color and depth without tasting “beet-y”
The flavor architecture behind a nightshade-free chili
How caramelized onions, bone broth, oregano, and cinnamon build complexity
Why visual cues (like deep red color) matter in satisfaction
What changes when scaling a recipe from 6 servings to 100
How Urban AIP maintains quality and flavor at production level
Why chili is such a powerful comfort food during elimination
Easy protein swaps (turkey, bison, venison, lamb)
How to use the chili base as a template for other nightshade-free meals
What makes Urban AIP’s therapeutic meal delivery unique

Resources:
Magic Chili Recipe – Full recipe from The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen
The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen Cookbook by Mickey Trescott
Urban AIP Meal Delivery by Marie-Noelle Marquis
Urban AIP on Instagram
Episode Timeline:
00:00 – Rethinking chili without tomatoes, beans, or nightshades
01:19 – Introducing Marie-Noelle Marquis of Urban AIP
02:13 – Why Magic Chili belongs on the Urban AIP menu
05:02 – The beet base and building depth without tomatoes
07:36 – Scaling from home kitchen to commercial production
10:51 – Protein swaps and recipe versatility
11:49 – Urban AIP’s therapeutic meal delivery approach
17:42 – Final reflections on abundance and creativity in AIP cooking

Episode 73: What I’d Do Differently If Starting AIP Today
If Mickey were starting the Autoimmune Protocol today—not in 2011 during the middle of a health crisis, but now with more than a decade of lived experience, research, and clinical insight—there are several things she would approach differently.
Not because AIP doesn’t work, and not because she regrets the path she took. In fact, AIP was the turning point that helped her regain her health after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and celiac disease. But over the years, her understanding of healing has evolved. The science around AIP has matured, the community has grown, and the tools available to people starting today are far more structured and supportive than they were in the early days.
In this reflective episode, Mickey shares the biggest shifts she would make if she were beginning AIP today—from how she would track symptoms and approach nutrient density to how she would think about fatigue, identity, community, and the long timeline of healing.
Rather than focusing only on food elimination, this episode reframes AIP as a broader process of rebuilding health—one that includes nourishment, medical partnership, emotional adaptation, and long-term sustainability.
Mickey also shares how these lessons informed her upcoming book, The New Autoimmune Protocol, and explains the new community experience she’s launching to guide people through the transition phase before beginning elimination together as a group.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Mickey would start tracking symptoms from day one
Why focusing on nutrient repletion can be more important than restriction
The key nutrient-dense foods that made the biggest difference in her healing
Why continuing to advocate for proper medical care matters alongside diet
How medication and lifestyle changes can work together in autoimmune recovery
The emotional identity shift that often comes with chronic illness
How AIP can remain a tool without becoming your identity
Why community support can dramatically improve the healing process
How to set realistic expectations for recovery timelines
Why progress is best measured in months and years—not weeks

Resources:
Episode 52: How to Track Symptoms on AIP
Episode 56: Mickey’s Healing Update
The New Autoimmune Protocol (Book) – A modern guide to implementing AIP today, including transition strategies, personalization, and sustainable long-term healing. Available for pre-order wherever books are sold.
Pre-Order Community – When you pre-order the book and submit your receipt at theautoimmuneprotocol.com/preorder, you’ll gain access to a private community, exclusive recipes, live Q&A sessions, and a guided Transition Phase in May leading up to a coordinated AIP start on June 1.
Episode Timeline:
00:00 – Why Mickey would approach AIP differently today
01:08 – Introduction and context for this reflection
03:22 – Why journaling from day one matters
06:16 – Nutrient repletion before restriction
08:31 – Advocating medically and personalizing care sooner
10:36 – Grieving the identity shift of chronic illness
12:41 – Respecting fatigue instead of pushing through
14:05 – Why AIP shouldn’t become your identity
16:06 – The importance of finding community support
18:11 – Measuring progress in months and years
20:07 – The bigger mindset shift around long-term healing
22:00 – The New Autoimmune Protocol pre-order community announcement
24:59 – Closing reflections and invitation to join the community

Episode 73: Mind-Body Minute — Beginner Meditation with Michele Spring
Meditation is one of those practices that almost everyone recommends—especially in the autoimmune world. We know nervous system regulation matters. We know stress impacts inflammation. We know slowing down is important.
And yet, actually sitting down to meditate can feel surprisingly difficult. Instead of calm, you might feel restless. Instead of clarity, your thoughts get louder. Instead of relaxation, your body feels uncomfortable.
For many women living with autoimmune disease, this makes perfect sense. When your nervous system has been on high alert for a long time—monitoring symptoms, managing flares, juggling responsibilities—stillness can feel unfamiliar, even unsafe.
In this Mind-Body Minute, Mickey is joined by AIP Certified Coach, Qigong and yoga teacher Michele Spring to talk about why meditation feels hard, what’s actually happening in the nervous system when we try to slow down, and how to begin in a way that feels supportive instead of frustrating.
This conversation reframes meditation as a practice of building safety and awareness—rather than clearing your mind or doing it “perfectly.”
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
Why meditation can trigger anxiety instead of calm
How nervous system dysregulation makes stillness feel unsafe
What meditation actually is (and what it isn’t)
Why you don’t need to clear your mind to meditate
How moving meditation (like Qigong) can be more accessible than sitting still
A simple way to start with just 30 seconds
How to structure a meditation habit so it actually sticks

Resources:
Free Guided Meditation – Michele’s calming nervous system meditation
Michele on Instagram – @ThrivingAutoimmune
Michele on YouTube – Michele Spring (Thriving Autoimmune)

Episode Timeline:
00:00 – Why meditation feels so hard
01:26 – Meet Michele Spring
02:34 – Nervous system dysregulation and stillness
06:27 – What meditation really is (and common misconceptions)
10:13 – How to get started if meditation hasn’t stuck
11:57 – Structuring a sustainable practice
13:34 – Free guided meditation invitation
14:39 – Where to connect with Michele