Living with Autoimmune Illness: Why What You Eat Matters More Than You Think
If you live with an autoimmune condition, you know the frustration: the unpredictable flares, the fatigue nobody can see, the feeling that your own body has turned against you. What you may not have been told — at least not in enough depth — is how large a role nutrition can play in calming the fire beneath it all.
I'm not writing this only as a dietitian. I'm writing it as someone who has walked this road myself.
My Story
My diagnosis came in the hardest way imaginable: after my fourth miscarriage, I was told I have antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) — an autoimmune condition in which the immune system produces antibodies that attack proteins in the blood, making it far more prone to clotting. Those clots can block vessels anywhere in the body, and in pregnancy they can cut off the blood supply a baby depends on. It is one of the most common treatable causes of recurrent miscarriage — and yet so few women have ever heard of it before it finds them.
The diagnosis gave my losses a name, but it didn't give me a way to live. From that point on, it became a constant, quiet battle to keep my body in a state of balance. And as I approached perimenopause, that balance grew harder to hold — shifting hormones turned the volume up on every symptom, and my body felt less and less like territory I knew.
If you live with a condition like this, you'll know the routine: being sent from pillar to post through a healthcare system that views the body as a set of separate boxes. One specialist for your blood, another for your joints, another for your hormones — each well-meaning, each looking only at their own piece of the puzzle. But APS doesn't respect those boxes. It touches the joints, the organs, every part of the body — and it grows louder through menopause, precisely the moment when women are so often told their symptoms are "just that age." Nobody, it seemed, was looking at the whole of me. Nobody really had the answers.
Then came the turning point: a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in my lung. Lying in that hospital bed, I understood two things with total clarity. The first was how serious this condition is. The second was that the system treating me had exactly one tool to offer: blood thinners. Essential, yes — and I take my medical treatment seriously to this day — but not one word of guidance about food, about inflammation, about all the daily choices that shape the environment my immune system lives in. I was being managed, not helped to heal.
So I decided to take control of what was in my hands. I turned to the tools I had — my training, the research, and everything I knew about nutrition and the inflammatory processes beneath autoimmune illness — and I set about supporting my body alongside my medication, instead of leaving it to fight alone.
I won't tell you it made everything simple. But it changed my relationship with my condition: from bracing for the next blow to actively creating the conditions for balance. Fewer flares. Steadier energy. A body I could begin to trust again.
That experience is why I do what I do. I know what a flare feels like from the inside — and I know what it means to finally have tools that work.
Autoimmunity and Inflammation: The Connection
In an autoimmune condition, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissue. Whichever form it takes — and there are more than eighty recognised autoimmune conditions — one thread runs through nearly all of them: chronic inflammation.
Inflammation itself isn't the enemy. It's your body's natural defence and repair response — essential when you cut your finger or catch a virus. The problem arises when inflammation doesn't switch off. In autoimmune illness, the body sits in a state of persistent, low-grade inflammation, and this is what drives so many of the symptoms we struggle with: joint pain, fatigue, brain fog, skin problems, and digestive distress.
Worse, inflammation feeds itself. A stressful week, poor sleep, or a period of eating foods that stoke the inflammatory response can push an already-simmering system over the edge — and that's often when a flare hits. Understanding this cycle is the first step to interrupting it.
Where Nutrition Comes In
You cannot cure an autoimmune condition with food. But you can significantly influence the inflammatory environment your immune system operates in — and that can mean fewer flares, milder symptoms, more energy, and a better quality of life.
There are three main ways nutrition works for us:
1. Removing what fuels the fire. Certain dietary patterns are consistently linked with higher inflammation: ultra-processed foods, refined sugars, poor-quality fats, and excessive alcohol.
Poor-quality fats deserve special attention. Seed oils such as sunflower and rapeseed oil, when heated to high temperatures and industrially processed, are a common hidden source of inflammation. They are high in omega-6 fatty acids — and omega-6 competes with omega-3 for the very same enzymes your body needs to process them.¹ A diet flooded with omega-6 effectively crowds out the anti-inflammatory benefits of the omega-3s you're working so hard to eat. Look out for "vegetable oil" on the ingredients list of processed foods — biscuits, cakes, muffins, and ready meals are the usual suspects. This is one of the quietest but most widespread inflammatory pressures in the modern diet.
For some people, individual trigger foods also play a role — this is highly personal, which is why guided, systematic exploration works better than random elimination.
2. Adding what calms it. Just as some foods promote inflammation, others actively help resolve it. A diet rich in these foods gives your body the raw materials to regulate its own immune response.
3. Healing the gut. An estimated 70% of your immune system resides in and around your gut. A compromised gut barrier and an imbalanced gut flora are increasingly linked to autoimmune activity — which is why gut restoration sits at the heart of my approach.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods: Your Daily Allies
These are the foods I return to again and again, both in my own kitchen and in my clients' plans:
Oily fish — salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), among the best-researched natural inflammation modulators.¹ Aim for two portions a week.
Extra virgin olive oil — contains oleocanthal, a natural compound shown to act on the same inflammatory pathways as ibuprofen.² Make it your default fat for dressings and gentle cooking.
Colourful vegetables and berries — the deeper the colour, the richer the polyphenols and antioxidants. Leafy greens, beetroot, red cabbage, blueberries, blackberries.
Turmeric and ginger — culinary spices with well-studied anti-inflammatory compounds. Turmeric's curcumin is better absorbed with black pepper and a little fat — the piperine in black pepper can increase its bioavailability dramatically.³
Seeds — linseed (flaxseed), pumpkin, and sesame — a plant-based source of anti-inflammatory omega-3 (ALA), fibre, and minerals. Soak them in water overnight before use: this softens them, begins to break down the natural compounds that can hinder digestion, and makes their nutrients easier for your body to absorb. Stir into porridge, smoothies, or yoghurt.
Fermented foods — kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, live yoghurt. They support the gut flora that trains and regulates your immune system.
Green tea — rich in EGCG, a polyphenol studied for its immune-modulating effects.
Fibre-rich whole foods — vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains as tolerated. Fibre feeds the beneficial gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids — compounds with direct anti-inflammatory effects in the body.
Water — at body temperature, throughout the day — hydration is fundamental to every process above: digestion, nutrient transport, and the clearing of inflammatory by-products. Rather than large cold glasses gulped at once, sip steadily through the day, ideally at body temperature. In traditional systems such as Ayurveda, warm water is considered gentler on digestion — and many of my clients notice their gut simply feels calmer for it.
Supplements: Helpful, With Guidance
Supplements can play a valuable supporting role, but in autoimmune illness they should never be a solo experiment. The ones most often worth discussing:
Omega-3 (fish oil) — for those who don't eat oily fish regularly; research supports its role in reducing inflammatory markers.¹ A major five-year trial found that omega-3 supplementation, particularly alongside vitamin D, was associated with a lower rate of newly developing autoimmune disease.⁴
Vitamin D — low vitamin D status is common in autoimmune conditions, particularly in the Dutch climate. In the same large trial, vitamin D supplementation reduced the incidence of autoimmune disease by around 22%.⁴ Testing first is wise, so supplementation can be dosed properly.
Curcumin — concentrated turmeric extract, studied for inflammatory conditions;³ quality and formulation matter enormously for absorption.
Probiotics — strain-specific and situation-specific; what helps one person may do nothing for another, which is why I match them to your gut picture.
One essential caution: if you take immunosuppressant or other medication, always discuss supplements with your doctor or a qualified practitioner first — some can interact with treatment. This is exactly the kind of thing I coordinate within a personalised plan.
You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone
If there's one thing my own journey taught me, it's this: generic advice isn't enough for autoimmune illness. Your triggers, your gut, your history, and your life are yours alone — and your nutrition plan should be too.
If you're living with an autoimmune condition and wondering whether nutritional therapy could help you, let's talk. Book a complimentary 30-minute discovery call — no pressure, no obligation, just a conversation about where you are and what's possible.
References
Calder, P.C. (2017). Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes: from molecules to man. Biochemical Society Transactions, 45(5), 1105–1115.
Beauchamp, G.K. et al. (2005). Phytochemistry: ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil. Nature, 437, 45–46.
Hewlings, S.J. & Kalman, D.S. (2017). Curcumin: A Review of Its Effects on Human Health. Foods, 6(10), 92.
Hahn, J. et al. (2022). Vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and incident autoimmune disease: VITAL randomized controlled trial. BMJ, 376, e066452.
This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your doctor before changing medication or starting supplements, especially if you have an autoimmune condition.
