Diet is a popular topic among myHSteam members. One member said, “I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on diet. What causes your flares, and what helps?”

While there’s no official diet for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), some members have found that the Paleo diet offers several health benefits. “My husband and I are doing Paleo. It helps keep inflammation down and is helping us lose weight,” another member shared.

The Paleo (short for Paleolithic) diet has been around since the 1970s and gained popularity in 2014. Today, celebrity chefs, fitness influencers, and wellness bloggers promote this eating plan.

The Paleo diet, also known as the caveman diet, is based on the idea of eating like early humans did 10,000 to 2.5 million years ago. However, historians don’t agree on what early humans actually ate, and some health professionals question whether the Paleo diet is ideal or if it’s just what was available at the time. After all, cavemen rarely lived long enough to develop the diseases of aging that people experience today. Before reverting your diet to the Stone Age, here’s what you should know.

Understanding the Paleo Diet

The Paleo diet focuses on hunted foods (meat, fish, and eggs) and gathered foods (nuts, seeds, fruits, and veggies). Foods introduced by modern agriculture or food processing are avoided, including grains, legumes, dairy products, and packaged foods.

The diet emphasizes nonstarchy vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, spinach, kale, and cabbage over starchy options like potatoes and corn. For fruit, lower-sugar choices like blackberries, avocados, and citrus are recommended.

A Paleo breakfast might include eggs with sautéed spinach or a bowl of strawberries and walnuts. For lunch or dinner, you could have a leafy green salad topped with grilled chicken or wild-caught salmon. Paleo dieters can also pile on green beans, carrots, beets, sprouts, and other vegetables to fill their plates.

Health Benefits of the Paleo Diet

Following the Paleo diet means avoiding highly processed foods. Although processed foods can be tough to give up, studies consistently show that eating highly processed foods promotes unhealthy weight gain. Since excess body weight is a risk factor for HS, cutting out highly processed foods can be a positive change.

Small studies on people with HS have found that losing at least 15 percent of your body weight can clear up HS symptoms in 50 percent of people and reduce symptoms in another 20 percent. The Paleo diet may help with weight loss, which could benefit those with HS.

The Paleo diet is also dairy-free, meaning no cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, or butter. Some research suggests that dairy may worsen HS symptoms for some people. This could be because dairy products raise insulin and blood sugar levels, which promotes inflammation.

Potential Pitfalls of the Paleo Diet

The Paleo diet excludes grains and legumes, which are affordable sources of protein and fiber. While fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can provide fiber, and meat, eggs, and seeds can meet protein needs, this can be challenging for vegetarians.

Since dairy is a common source of calcium, avoiding it may lead to calcium deficiencies. Calcium supplements or careful meal planning can help you avoid deficiencies while following the Paleo diet. However, cutting out whole grains, legumes, or dairy isn’t guaranteed to improve HS symptoms for everyone.

As with any diet, eating out while on the Paleo diet can be tricky. It can also require giving up simple, nutritious foods like oatmeal and yogurt, which may not affect your HS symptoms.

Is the Paleo Diet Worth a Try?

Some members of myHSteam have found the Paleo diet helpful. One member shared, “My husband and I are doing Paleo (avoiding all grains in all forms). I’m lactose intolerant and learned that seed oils make me feel like crap. Avoiding those has helped a lot … My head feels clearer, and I have a lot less morning joint pain. So, I think I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing for now. The form of Paleo we’re doing is from the book ‘Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind.’ It has more rules than typical Paleo.”

The Paleo diet encourages eating fewer highly processed foods, which is generally a healthy choice for most people, with or without HS. However, it’s not clear if the extra effort is worth it for everyone. You can still reduce highly processed foods in your diet while keeping affordable staples like beans.

Other diets with more HS-specific research include the Mediterranean diet, plant-based eating, and diets that cut out sugar or dairy. If you think specific trigger foods may be linked to your HS flare-ups, consider trying an elimination diet. Elimination diets involve removing certain food groups from your diet completely and slowly adding them back to see how your body reacts.

There’s also growing interest in the autoimmune protocol diet (AIP), which focuses on reducing inflammation and improving HS symptoms. The AIP diet is a stricter elimination diet that drastically removes many foods and reintroduces them to create a long-term eating plan tailored to your needs.

If you’re unsure where to start, ask your healthcare provider to connect you with a registered dietitian nutritionist. They can help you find an eating plan that fits your health goals and lifestyle. Remember, it’s OK to try different diets to see what works for you as long as you’re including a variety of whole foods and enjoying your meals.

Talk With Others Who Understand

On myHSteam, the social network for people and their loved ones living with hidradenitis suppurativa, more than 46,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with this challenging skin condition.

Have you made dietary changes to manage HS? Have you tried the Paleo diet or other eating plans to reduce HS symptoms or to improve your overall health? Share your experience in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.