When Joanna Frankham sat down to write her guest post for this blog in April 2016, she had already spent over a year navigating the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) with a level of precision that many of us only aspire to. Her kitchen was a laboratory of reintroduction experiments, her symptom diary a thick notebook filled with cross-referenced entries. What made her contribution stand out was not a dramatic healing story, but the quiet, methodical way she documented the small variables that can derail an elimination diet — from the starch content of a single plantain to the subtle difference between organic and conventionally grown ginger.
Who Is Joanna Frankham?
Joanna is a writer, recipe developer, and long-time advocate of nutrient-dense, ancestral eating. By 2016 she had already built a reputation for thorough, evidence-informed content on her own platform, Paleo-ish. Her guest post here focused on the practical realities of following the AIP while living in a region where specialty ingredients are not always easy to find, and where social expectations around food can be intense. She did not promise quick fixes. Instead, she offered a framework for thinking about the protocol as an experiment in self-knowledge rather than a rigid set of rules.
What Her Guest Post Covered
The core of Joanna's article was a walkthrough of her personal reintroduction strategy. She explained that after a strict 30-day elimination phase, she did not rush to test foods. She waited until her baseline symptoms — mild joint stiffness and afternoon fatigue — had been stable for at least two weeks. Then she introduced one food every five days, eating it three times in one day and then waiting. She tracked not only digestive responses but also sleep quality, skin clarity, and mood. This level of detail may sound tedious, but Joanna argued that it is the only way to distinguish a true reaction from background noise.
Reintroduction Order: A Surprising Choice
Most AIP resources recommend reintroducing egg yolks first, then seeds, then nuts, and finally nightshades. Joanna took a different path. She started with seed spices — cumin, coriander, and fennel — because she missed the flavour depth they added to her cooking. She passed all three without issue. Then she moved to ghee, which also went well. Her first failure came with sesame seeds, which triggered mild bloating and a return of the afternoon fatigue. She documented this carefully and noted that she would retest sesame after another month of healing.
Her approach highlights an important principle: there is no one-size-fits-all reintroduction ladder. The order should be guided by your personal cravings, cooking habits, and the likelihood of tolerance. Joanna recommended keeping a dedicated notebook for each reintroduction trial, with columns for date, food, amount, and symptoms at 2 hours, 6 hours, and 24 hours post-ingestion.
Kitchen Strategies for AIP Success
Joanna devoted a significant portion of her guest post to the practicalities of stocking and organising an AIP-friendly kitchen. She emphasised that the elimination phase is far easier when you remove temptation and confusion simultaneously. Her top tips included:
- Batch-cook compliant broths and sauces — she made a large pot of bone broth and a batch of fermented ginger carrots (similar to the Fermented Rainbow Ginger Carrots recipe shared on this blog the previous year) every weekend, so that even on low-energy days she had a flavourful base for meals.
- Label everything with dates — she used masking tape and a marker to note when each container was opened or prepared, preventing the guesswork that can lead to food waste or accidental consumption of spoiled items.
- Create a “no-go” shelf — a designated spot in the pantry for non-compliant foods that other household members eat, clearly marked so that she never reached for them by habit.
The Role of Nutrient Density in Her Protocol
Joanna was careful to point out that AIP is not just about removing inflammatory foods; it is equally about crowding the diet with nutrients that support tissue repair and immune regulation. She calculated the approximate nutrient density of her daily meals using a combination of the ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) scores and her own experience. Her typical day included at least three servings of dark leafy greens, two servings of organ meat (usually liver or heart, prepared in ways that masked the strong flavour), and a variety of colourful vegetables. She argued that a strict elimination diet that is low in calories or variety can backfire by stressing the body further.
One of her most practical suggestions was to use a simple spreadsheet to track five key nutrients over a week: vitamin A (from liver and sweet potatoes), vitamin C (from citrus and bell peppers, though peppers are eliminated on AIP — she used berries and sauerkraut instead), zinc (from oysters and red meat), magnesium (from dark leafy greens and bone broth), and omega-3s (from small fish and flaxseeds, though flax is not AIP-compliant — she relied on fish and seaweed). By monitoring these, she ensured she was not inadvertently creating a deficiency while avoiding allergens.
Lessons from Her Symptom Diary
Joanna shared excerpts from her symptom diary that illustrated how subtle reactions can be. For example, she noted that after reintroducing black pepper (not AIP-compliant in the elimination phase, but sometimes tolerated later), she experienced a slight increase in sinus congestion that she had previously attributed to seasonal allergies. The diary entry read: “Day 3 of pepper — woke up with stuffy nose. No other change. Will retest in two weeks.” This kind of meticulous observation is what separates a successful AIP journey from a frustrating one. She recommended using a simple 1–10 scale for each symptom, and graphing the results over time to see patterns that the memory alone might miss.
Her guest post also touched on the emotional side of elimination diets. She admitted that the first two weeks were the hardest, not because of cravings, but because of the social isolation that comes from not being able to share meals with friends. She found that preparing and bringing her own food to gatherings — rather than expecting hosts to accommodate her — reduced anxiety and allowed her to stay compliant. She also stressed the importance of having at least one person who understands the protocol, whether a partner, a friend, or an online community. The Autoimmune Connection post from early 2015 had already shown how international readers were finding each other for support, and Joanna’s experience echoed that need for connection.
Why This Guest Post Still Matters
Rereading Joanna Frankham’s contribution from April 2016, what stands out is its refusal to oversimplify. She did not claim that the AIP would cure her condition or guarantee perfect digestion. Instead, she presented the protocol as a tool for gathering information — information that only the individual can interpret. Her emphasis on careful reintroduction, nutrient density, and emotional resilience remains relevant for anyone starting an elimination diet today. If you are planning your own reintroduction phase, consider adopting her five-day wait period and her detailed symptom tracking. It is not the fastest path, but it is the one most likely to yield clear, actionable answers.
