What Your Body Needs

Today I got an email from a friend who has rheumatoid issues and at the suggestion of her doctor has been following an autoimmune protocol diet which follow closely to the paleo diet. My friend says that cutting out grains and gluten does make her feel better and greatly reduces her need for medication. She was reaching out to me for recipe ideas.
First, I had no idea she had been suffering from any ailments and I am sorry I was unaware. Second, I had a very limited knowledge of exactly what the Paleo diet included and more importantly what was excluded. Third, I had not even heard of the autoimmune protocol diet. I started researching to see what I could learn so I could suggest some different recipes to her, but quickly realized it was not a quick study to find out the answers.
This in someway reminds me of what my sister-in-law has gone through in the last ten months of trying to feed her husband heart healthy food. After his heart attack the amount of salt he was permitted dropped to a level that is practically impossible to reach since salt appears naturally in so many foods, not just processed foods.
More and more people are realizing that food is medicine. Yes we all need to eat to live, but to live our best you need to eat the best foods. What are best for one of us is not necessarily the same for another. I know for instance that refined sugar really makes me tired. The catch is once I start eating it I crave it, I eat it get tired and then my defenses are down so I give into the cravings more. I still have not gotten over my Christmas sugar.  
Now my need to not eat sugar is nothing compared to someone who needs to stay way from gluten so she can walk, but knowing what you should not eat and doing it everyday are very hard. That is why having delicious options that fit in your own personal regime are important.  
My friend is looking for new recipes for sweet potatoes, since that is something she can eat. She said the coconut and plantains are good too. Since these are foods I tend to stay away from for caloric reasons I am not necessarily cooking new and different recipes that might help her. If you follow the Paleo or AIP diet and have any good ideas I would love to pass them on to my friend.  
I wish there was some magical nutrition test that could give us a print out of exactly what our own bodies needed and what we should stay away from. All this testing ourselves by removing foods from our diets and adding things back is a life’s work. I have so many more interesting things to do than figure out if my body works better on chicken or an apple, I already know it does it work well on Oreos.