Before I can break that down for you, you have to know how to figure out the amount of sugar in your food. That’s the most complicated part of this process.

You’ve probably noticed that all of the nutrition information is listed in grams. But do you even know what a gram of sugar looks like or what it means for your health?

Probably not. Most people don’t have any idea.

That’s because a gram isn’t a tangible real-life measurement that you use within the cooking world (unless you’re weighing your ingredients).

In the previous podcast (LISTEN HERE), I shared that you are exposed to 17 weeks of sugar conditioning from Labor Day to the week of Christmas here in the US.

A big piece of the problem is that information on food labels is intentionally unclear or confusing. It leaves you unsure of what’s healthy and often misleads savvy shoppers into believing something is healthier than it is.

One of the biggest “unhealthy” foods includes dried cranberries that have been marketed heavily as a healthy alternative. In reality, they’re a sneaky way to increase sugar content to your food.

How To Translate Grams Of Sugar To Something You Understand

So let’s go back to my point about what a gram looks like!

First of all, ingredient lists are created by ranking ingredients in a product. The list is written in descending order starting with the ingredient that the product contains the most of.

Sometimes companies will use several different types of sweeteners so that they show up lower in the list. This is one of the misleading tactics to make you think that there’s not that much sugar in the product.

If you have any hopes of outsmarting crafty marketing, here’s what you need to do…

Start by finding the total grams of sugar in a single serving.

Take the total number of grams of sugar and divide it by 4.

That will tell you the number of teaspoons of sugar in a single serving.

Because you know what a teaspoon of sugar is.

Discovering that your favorite drink or snack or dessert has way more sugar in it than you thought is, frankly, upsetting.

Especially when you thought that you were making a healthier choice.

And FYI — more natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup used in Paleo products and baked goods aren’t necessarily better. They’re still sugar.

They may not be as processed, but they certainly have an effect on your body, its hormones, your gut, and other systems.

Don’t be shocked if you discover that even the “natural sweeteners” can trigger your sweet tooth.

I’ve worked with a lot of clients who were misled into thinking that they could eat all of the paleo brownies and cookies they wanted because they used natural sweeteners.

How Much Sugar Is Too Much In Your Diet?

Wondering how much sugar is too much is a great question. It means you’re aware and concerned about the effects that excess sugar has on your health.

First, you should know that the answer to this question is largely based on added sugar in your diet.

That means, health organizations don’t care how much fruit you consume in a day. The sugars that naturally occur in them would be considered natural sugars… not added.

However, they would consider fruit juice crystals, honey, maple syrup, or coconut palm sugar in a food product to be added since those sugars were not naturally occurring, but clearly added (which you can verify on the ingredient list or a recipe).

According to the American Heart Association, they keep a pretty tight leash on added sugar.

Women should not exceed 6 teaspoons of added sugar, while men should not exceed 9 teaspoons per day.

(Isn’t it funny that they specifically list this information on their site in teaspoons, but know darn well that you probably don’t know the grams-to-teaspoons conversion that I just shared with you.)

I’d recommend tracking the amount of added sugar to your diet for three days.

Each day, tally the total grams of sugar you’ve eaten (remember to account for serving sizes!!!). Then divide that number by four so you know the number of teaspoons.

Check out your favorite bars and other products that you buy and see how they stack up!

Do Carbs Count Into Your Sugar Intake?

The short answer is YES… carbs count.

I want to be clear that in no way am I suggesting that carbs are bad and that you should avoid them.

But this will explain to you why diabetics can’t have something like brown rice pasta even though there isn’t any sugar present.

If you pick up a box of pasta or something with a decent carb load, take a look at the Total Carbohydrate section. Underneath, you’ll then see dietary fiber and sugar content.

It could look something like this (pulling this directly from a box of gluten free pancake mix):

Total carbohydrates: 41g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 3g

If you looked at this purely from a sugar content perspective, you’d say that each serving has ¾ tsp of sugar in it. And that it wasn’t too bad!

However, this product has a lot of starchy carbs in it.

To find out how much in it in, you’ll subtract the grams of dietary fiber and sugars from total carbohydrates.

In this particular case, 41g – 1g – 3g = 37g.

So when you eat a single serving of this particular product, your digestive system will break down that remaining 37g of carbs into their smallest units before they are absorbed.

The smallest biochemical unit is glucose.

AKA. Sugar.

That’s why a product like this would be off limits to someone with blood sugar issues even though it technically has very little sugar included in it from an ingredients perspective.

Why Your Sugar Addiction Isn’t Your Fault

Do you see the problem now?

This is one of the reasons why people who go gluten free often end up with a ridiculous sugar addiction.

In fact, after working with clients for the past eight years on this, it’s pretty common to notice a significant uptick in sugar cravings after going gluten free.

That 17 weeks of the constant influx of sugar (and potentially way too many carbs) skews your microbiome to favor bugs that aren’t so friendly to you.

And it rewires your brain and taste buds to expect it.

So much so that every meal isn’t complete without dessert.

And before you know it, your cravings have taken over to a point where you can’t control how much sugar you eat.

If you’re thinking… “gosh, I really don’t want to know all of this… ignorance is such bliss”… Trust me – you definitely want to know.

What’s not blissful are painful skin rashes that keep you awake all night long itching.

Or having diarrhea so much that you can’t go out without knowing exactly where all of the bathrooms are (and hoping that none are occupied when you need to make a mad dash).

Or even dealing with painful constipation that makes you feel like your body is bloated and sluggish. Or your already struggling thyroid that can’t keep up with the ups and downs of your blood sugar.

Or the brain fog, mood swings, the “I can’t keep my eyes open” fatigue all day long, and any other number of symptoms that you wish every day would just disappear.

I know you’re listening to this with every intention of becoming educated to make the best decisions for yourself… so here are a few more tips to help you over the holiday season.

More Tips To Keep Your Sweet Tooth In Check During The Holidays

Eat before you go to a party and bring a healthier dessert that you will eat.

Put a cap on how much alcohol you’ll drink. I typically will stick with one glass of wine and then afterward, just stick with club soda or water with lemon or lime in it.

Eat more protein! I often find that clients are skimping on the protein and rely too much on quick carbs to keep them going. During the holidays, get more protein in your diet even if it’s through protein shakes.

Choose healthier sweeteners to bake with. Yes, things may taste different, but you’ll get used to it. Swap out coconut palm sugar for cane sugar. Or try some of the alternatives like Swerve (erythritol-based making it a high FODMAP option), stevia, or monk fruit.

Stop saying that you’re being “bad” if you eat something with sugar. It’s ultimately your choice whether you choose to indulge or not. It’s not about being “bad” or “good”. I realize that we’ve had many years of conditioning with diet, but that “bad” vs “good” mentality is actually very unhelpful.

I’d argue that it actually creates more problems that lead to binging on sugar and dessert foods.

Self-punishment only leads to a vicious cycle of feeling awful and then seeking comfort — both of which drive you to eat more sugar.

If you’re ready for some help, check out this webinar I’m hosting:

Kiss Your Sugar Cravings Good-bye (And Ditch The Inflammation Driving Your Symptoms)

JOIN ME FOR THIS LIVE FREE TRAINING (I ONLY OFFER 1X PER YEAR)

I’ll be diving deep on the problems that sugar addiction creates and why the results can be so hard to break if you don’t know the three steps I’ve discovered over the years. I want to share them with you and hope to see you there!

And I’d love to hear in the comments what’s the most eye-opening snack or favorite food you’ve found that’s loaded with more sugar than you ever thought!

Pin this Post and Save it for Later

The post How Much Sugar Is Too Much? (Here’s How To Tell): GFS Podcast 101 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

You’re trying so hard to be healthy this holiday season… doing your best to make better choices and eat less junk even though you’re addicted to sugar.

With the hopes that after the holidays, you’ll simply start fresh.

But I know you have your doubts about whether you can actually follow through with that in January.

Last year probably didn’t go as planned (especially if you were one of the many who got sick). You didn’t get as far as you had hoped.

But this year’s gotta be better, right?

Well, that all depends on a number of factors that you may be blind to right now.

I’ve discovered in my clinical practice is that once you’re aware of what’s causing the problem, you can then take action.

You can make better choices. And ultimately that’s what this conversation is all about.

Over the next two episodes, we’ll explore how the “Season Of Sugar” as I call it has become twisted to glorify sugar and desserts at nearly every single turn.

Addicted To Sugar? Blame The 17-Week Sugar Binge

I’d argue that in the US, we don’t get a break from desserts even after Labor Day which tends to be around the beginning of September.

What used to be a significantly shorter 5-week holiday season loaded with treats has bloated to an astronomical 17-week period of sugar overload!

That’s right… 17 weeks of sweets where stores stock their shelves with Halloween candy nearly 2 months before that big day.

Take a moment and really think about that… 17 weeks of palette-shifting, tastebud-twisting, Dopamine-overloading, skin-triggering and gut-wrecking.

That’s a long time.

Basic training that gets you in fighting shape to serve in the military only lasts 9 weeks.

They know that in 9 weeks, they can mold you into a soldier ready to start more advanced training.

And yet, somehow after 17 weeks of conditioning, you’re just supposed to drop sugar like it’s a hot potato?

Yeah right.

I want to be clear… I’m not here to shame you or make you feel like a failure.

Those feelings of inadequacy are a distraction from the bigger conversation about why you’re even in this boat in the first place.

And what caused to ultimately become addicted to sugar.

If you want to make better choices, you’ve got to know HOW you’re being played, right?

This conversation also isn’t about judging your mindful indulgences like a piece of chocolate or a teaspoon of honey in your morning tea.

My main concern today is with the excessive overindulgences that hijack your brain, gut, and taste buds to expect something so unnaturally sweet.

ALL. THE. TIME.

And then you’re faced with the utterly unrealistic reality that you are supposed to drop sugar cold turkey without any issue come January 1.

After 17+ weeks of conditioning.

Sure…

It should be easy peasy… right?

Yeah… NO.

10 Ways Your Self Control Is Bamboozled By Sugar

Here’s how your taste-buds and biology are tricked by the food industry and holiday consumerism to fuel your addiction to sugar…

1. As I already mentioned, your palate is inundated with sugar starting around the end of August (long before Halloween)!

2. It’s pretty normal to crave more carb-heavy and sweet foods in the cooler months of Autumn and Winter.

3. Politics has gotten incredibly divisive and polarizing which frankly can trigger a ton of stress. The most common way to deal with stress is… sugar!

4. Stress… going to parties, seeing family, dealing with shopping, feeling overscheduled, and end of year stuff.

5. Many Thanksgiving dishes have added sugar to them… even the vegetable like carrots, sweet potatoes, and brussels sprouts.

6. Gluten free food products tend to have even more added sugar to them to make up on flavor. This also can be a hidden reason why you’re now addicted to sugar.

7. And let’s be honest… No one has just ONE gluten free cookie.

8. Sugar is in pretty much every hot drink from here until springtime — hot apple cider, hot chocolate, honey or sugar (or syrup) in your teas and coffee.

9. People bring in cookies and treats to the office to pawn them off on you (and the co-workers) so they don’t have to eat them all at home.

10. Food companies know that YOU don’t know how to read their food labels. They use healthy ingredients like dried fruit to make you think that it must be healthy when it’s actually not.

Hidden Sugar In Healthy Food Like Dried Fruit

One of the biggest offenders is dried fruit!

Oh yes… you read that correctly.

While dried fruit’s higher sugar content can come from its natural sugars, that doesn’t excuse eating it in large quantities.

It’s easier to eat a bag of dried apricots.

But no one would likely eat that many fresh apricots in one sitting!

And to make matters worse, it’s not uncommon for food companies to add even more sugar!

That’s the case with dried cranberries (for the record, they are very tart, but not naturally sweet).

If you’re an “I need to see the numbers” type of person, I’ve got you covered! (They are truth-be-told quite sobering.)

That’s why I created a great cheat sheet to help you see exactly how much sugar naturally occurs and is typically added to all your favorite dried fruit.

>>> GET MY Sugar Content In Dried Fruit Cheat Sheet HERE 

In the next episode, I’m going to share with you my favorite simple strategies to outsmart sugar this holiday season. This way you can start to break free from feeling addicted to sugar and out of control of your cravings.

What’s really neat is that while these tips are perfect for reigning in your sweet tooth now, they also still apply all year round!

In the meantime, I’d love if you dropped a comment on this episode’s podcast sharing what YOUR biggest sugar downfall is during the holidays?

We all have at least one.

(Mine is pretty much anything with cherries or peanut butter.)

Pin This Post And Save It For Later

The post Addicted To Sugar? It’s Not Your Fault (And Here’s Why): GFS Podcast 100 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Wait… did you just say post birth control syndrome?

What the heck is that?!?!

It’s a very real issue that results from being currently on or having taken birth control pills (BCPs) — even if it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago!

What most people don’t know is that hormones (like estrogen) are detoxified by your liver to be removed from active circulation.

They also don’t realize that BCPs essentially shut down communication between your brain and your ovaries.

Because your body is ONE system, that single statement alone should grab your attention.

No doctor ever told me for the ten years that I took BCPs that I was effectively shutting down that very powerful and necessary hormonal feedback loop!

Since hormones aren’t my area of expertise, I reached out to my close friend — Dr. Jolene Brighten.

She knows her stuff and can go toe-to-toe (because she’s a total research geek) on all things hormones.

Before we head into the podcast, make sure to subscribe to my podcast on iTunes!!! 

And if you love everything you hear, I’d seriously love if you headed over there to leave a review on iTunes so that new listeners see just how valuable this conversation is!

How Post Birth Control Syndrome Affects Liver Detoxification Years Later with Dr. Jolene Brighten

SHOW NOTES:

Dr. Jolene’s Website

Dr. Jolene’s Post-Birth Control Awareness Week (REGISTER NOW)

Beyond The Pill BOOK (coming in January 2019)

TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: I have a very special episode for you today.

I know you are used to me talking all by myself, but I felt incredibly compelled today to have a guest join me.

In breaking the tradition of season four, I would love the opportunity to welcome Dr. Jolene Brighten. This is her first time ever to the Gluten Free School Podcast.

She is a functional medicine naturopathic medical doctor and the founder of Rubus Health, a women’s medical clinic that specializes in women’s hormones.

She is the number one expert in a condition called Post Birth Control Syndrome.

She also talks a lot about the long-term side effects associated with hormonal contraceptives.

Now here’s the thing — If you’re a man and you’re listening to this and you’re like, “What, post birth control syndrome? I’m out.”

You know what? You probably know a woman in your life who is experiencing this, and this could be really good information for her, and just also in general. There’s a lot of stuff going on with birth control that we need to be aware of, and the consequences down the road even when it’s long been in your rearview mirror.

But today I want to talk about how that directly affects estrogen metabolism. So Dr. Jolene, thank you so much for joining us!

Dr. Jolene: Hey there. Thanks so much for having me!

Jennifer: I don’t consider myself a hormone expert. I know that because you’re dealing with all of these issues, and birth control is essentially a way of shutting off the connection between your brain and your ovaries, correct?

Dr. Jolene: Totally. That’s the number one mechanism of action is to flood the system with so many hormones that your brain says, “Hey ovaries, we’re all good, so let’s not signal to them.”

So your brain and your ovaries stop talking. This means that there is no ovulation, which seems like a perfect solution if you don’t want to get pregnant. That’s until you find out that there’s a whole lot more to this story.

Lesser Known Liver Side Effects From Post Birth Control Syndrome

Jennifer: We know that birth control may be a factor for a lot of women. I have a lot of clients who they’ve either taken it in the past. Or they are still taking it now because they don’t want to get pregnant, but they’re in that committed relationship. So for anybody listening to this who’s like, “Are we talking about things that not might be cool for me?”

A lot of the women I work with are married, they’re in committed relationships, but they were told that having children now might not be a good idea because of having previous traumatic births in the past and other reasons.

But here’s the thing — How we metabolize estrogen is really important. Birth control pills especially mess with that, so can you talk to us a little bit about the role that estrogen plays and how the pill can really screw that up?

Dr. Jolene: I do want to say that if you’re a woman who’s using hormonal birth control, it’s not my aim to shame you or freak you out. But I think that you deserve all the information so you can care for your body.

It’s very much my philosophy that it’s not my body, it’s your body.

Whatever you choose, it’s my job as a physician to support that. And so here’s the really important thing to understand, and I thank you for starting this conversation, Jen. You said, “I want to talk about the liver” and here we are!

We did not diagnose liver tumors in women to the extent that we do now, not until the hormonal birth control was introduced did we start seeing lots of lumps on your liver, so benign liver tumors are actually very common. That’s a structural change happening to the liver because of being on hormonal contraceptives.

Now, your liver does so many wonderful things, and one of those things is detoxification, so your natural estrogen has to go through liver detoxification. Phase one and phase two detoxification, and there’s methylation required for all of that as well.

And so when you’re on hormonal birth control, any oral estrogen also has to pass through the same detox mechanisms. The problem is not their structural alterations — yes, these liver tumors are benign. We do see an increase in liver cancer, but, for the most part, the liver tumors are benign.

But, keep in mind, a structural change means this tissue is no longer working the way that it once was, so now we’ve inhibited detox capacity in that way.

In addition to that, these liver tumors rupture very easily.

Your liver is pumping so much blood that while a doctor may say it’s benign as in you don’t have cancer, it’s certainly not benign if you’re walking around taking the pill, you don’t know you have a liver tumor, you end up in a motor vehicle accident, or maybe you’re playing football.

But you have some kind of trauma to the abdomen, they can rupture and lead to a bleed.

Nutritional Concerns Resulting Even Though You Stopped The Pill

So that’s one way that the birth control can impact your liver, but in addition to that, you have to take enough estrogen to shut down the brain from talking to the ovaries. When you do that, you’re going to overwhelm the system with estrogen.

As you do that, the liver is going to struggle in other ways to be able to detoxify environmental toxins. So think about it. You’re walking around an environment that you don’t have full control over.

You already have xenoestrogens hitting you left and right. These are chemical compounds that are in our environment. They’re toxins that alter your hormonal function as it is, but also make extra work for your liver. These come in personal care products and receipts, and just about everywhere.

In addition to that, hormonal birth control is depleting nutrients.

The very nutrients you need to run your phase one and phase two liver detox, as well as run the COMT pathway which is a gene that helps with estrogen methylation.

Specifically, if you’re lacking magnesium, which just about everybody’s diet is lacking magnesium, hormonal birth control depletes magnesium, you can be in big trouble when it comes to that liver detoxification. I know that is a lot of information there, but does that make sense?

Jennifer: It does. And fortunately, I have recently shared in a podcast, I believe it’s one or two before this, so if you guys are listening sequentially, you have already heard all about the liver detoxification pathways — phase one and phase two — so you are familiar with what we are talking about. I’m really glad this is able to overlap.

I’m a little taken back, to be honest with you. I was on birth control pills for 10 years. I never knew that you could have these structural changes within your liver. That’s actually really alarming, and so anybody who’s listening to this, that’s, I guess that’s something really pretty serious you have to consider.

So if you go off the birth control, do they go away?

Dr. Jolene: I did the pill for 10 years too, by the way, that’s why I’m like, “Let’s not be shaming anybody.” But the thing about the liver is those hepatocytes, so the liver cells, they are amazing. They can regenerate themselves. It depends on underlying conditions, individualized factors like are you still having exposure to other elements, but yes, some of these tumors can go away.

The body over time can break them down and can heal. Things like milk thistle can certainly help. That’s an herb that helps the hepatocytes regenerate. We see that milk thistle can help in conditions like cirrhosis, which is due to alcoholism, so it is something that is very startling.

Why We Need More Research On How Birth Control Pills Affect Women

The research for women after stopping birth control pills isn’t the greatest. Researchers are not really looking at it like, “Oh, how long do these tumors take to resolve?” They’re more just documenting what happened.

We also have to understand that research is done through the lens of a healthy woman… not those who are sick.

Hormonal birth control was never designed for a diseased state to begin with. It was the first pharmaceutical introduced that you didn’t have to have a diagnosis. It was just you just had to be fertile.

With that, it was really designed for a healthy, fertile female, however we know that not everybody is made exactly the same.

Our genetics vary.  We live in different environments.

And so that’s the other thing we have to respect and understand with regards to the literature, is that research studies will come out and they’ll say things like, “Oh this is a minimal risk,” or “Oh, it’s a low risk,” but is it true for you?

For example, the breast cancer risk association… they’re like, “Oh, it’s just a mild increase.” Yeah maybe, unless you’re somebody who has some genetic variations, you live in a very toxic environment, you have issues with your detox capacity.

There are other confounding variables that we really have to stand back and look at the individual.

The way it’s dispensed these days, you’re more likely someone will pass you the birth control pill over candy. Sugar is more of a villain than the birth control pill. I’m not saying that birth control pills or birth control is a villain, but it is a medication.

We have somehow lost sight that this is a medical intervention that’s designed to shut down your entire reproductive system. And P.S. — what affects your reproductive system affects everything in your body.

I just have to giggle that in medicine…  the way that we teach medicine and learn medicine is a way that we can digest it as humans. But it’s like you have your rheumatologists, your endocrinologists, your gastroenterologists, and everybody’s separate and every system is separate.

But you know who doesn’t care? Your body. Your body does not care.

Your body doesn’t care whether the gastroenterologist thinks your gut is separate from your ovary. And it doesn’t get why the GI doc wants to send you over to the endocrinologist for your thyroid.

Your body knows, “I need these hormones in order to function optimally, and I need my gut. I need my liver. I need my skin. I need all of these things working in harmony if I’m going to be optimal.”

How Long Can Symptoms From Post Birth Control Syndrome Last?

Jennifer: If a woman, say, was on birth control 10 years ago, got off of it, is it possible that even now the effects could be lasting? Like you may still feel the repercussions of having been on birth control 10, 15 years ago?

Dr. Jolene: Oh absolutely. This is the thing that I have seen some people saying, like, “Post birth control syndrome only lasts about 6-12 months.”

And I’m like, “Well clinically, what I have seen and documented is that the side effects on hormonal birth control or a result of coming off, if you don’t do something about them. They don’t just go away.”

So since we’re keeping this conversation very liver focused because your people are in the know, there’s another change that happens within the genetics of your liver.

When you take hormonal birth control, it changes the genetic expression of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin. This is why you lose your libido on birth control, and it doesn’t come back when you stop.

That is something that research has looked at and said even five years after stopping hormonal birth control, the genetic alterations persist and that woman has higher levels of sex hormone binding globulin than a woman who has never used hormonal birth control.

This is really important to understand. It alters the genetics in your liver. This much we know. The question remains — what other genetics are birth control pills altering?

Because we don’t know as much as we would think we do in medicine. Clinically, I found this to be true.

I’ve had women who were on the pill for 10 years. And even for like 30, 40 years, which is crazy because it’s not how they were designed to be used.

If you think about shutting down your reproductive tract for 30-40 years, that’s gonna have some impacts.

But I’ve seen these women come in and I’ve had women off of hormones for five years, 10 years, 15 years, and their sex hormone binding globulin, sure enough, is elevated.

But with the things that I’m sharing with you, my Birth Control Quick Start Guide, and with the things that I’ve outlined in my protocols and my book Beyond The Pill, I am the Sherpa.

These women have done the work in bringing down their sex hormone binding globulin and bringing their libido back. It speaks volumes to epigenetics and what you can do with the right supplements, the right food, and the right lifestyle factors.

I want to see so much more research on women’s medicine altogether, but this is something that I wonder in these studies, were these women eating a standard American diet? What was going on for them that that sex hormone binding globulin persisted?

I have seen women who are “eating a clean diet and they’re doing everything right” and they’re still having these issues years later after being off of hormonal birth control.

A lot of that comes down to that’s where you need the medical Sherpa because we don’t fix people. I think it’s so disempowering to act like, “Oh I’m a doctor. I fix people.”

The reality is that I solve people’s puzzles. I outline the path and I basically am like, I mean I’m old enough to remember maps, like legit maps that you drew on and been like “This is how we’re gonna get from point A to point B.”

That’s my job — to show YOU that.

But it’s really our patients and our clients who do the work, who take the step every day.

The most powerful thing you can do is choose wisely with what you put at the end of your fork, and your doctor is not there doing that with you, so that’s just my little soapbox moment, to be like, “Women heal themselves, okay?”

Diving Deeper Into Post Birth Control Syndrome

Jennifer: I agree with you wholeheartedly. Okay, so first everybody, you can check out Dr. Jolene’s amazing guide on her website.

Number two, her book coming out called Beyond The Pill is amazing. It’s a really worthwhile read and I would encourage all of you to go grab a copy. It is available to purchase right now. It’s not out yet. It will be out in January 2019. I am so excited for this book.

Then she also has an amazing event coming up that … Tell us a little bit about it because it’s a BIG deal (and YES, I’m a part of it which is such a deep honor)!

Dr. Jolene: Yeah, so we are launching the first ever Post-Birth Control Syndrome Awareness Week.

We are aiming to raise awareness around hormonal contraceptives and the impacts that they have on women’s bodies, and help them stay safe and understand how they can safeguard against some of these negative side effects.

For every woman who has come into my medical practice and said, “My doctor laughed at me. My doctor said I was in my head. My doctor told me just to go back on birth control, that I was broken, that I would never fix my period, I would never be able to fix my mood or any of this without hormonal birth control.”I really want to raise awareness that this condition is real. It is not in your head, and there’s a whole lot that you can do about it.

We’re bringing in a myriad of experts which are really the trailblazers and the thought leaders together because of this Awareness Week.

You’re actually gonna get access to information that’s not even in medical textbooks yet! And it’s also for the clinicians who are on the ground, doing the work, reading the research, and working with people one on one, bringing the most practical and tangible information.

We don’t wanna just bombard everybody with, “Here’s a whole lot of problems,” but we also want to offer those solutions.

It is now at this time 2018, and I feel like everybody’s just starting to catch on to what women have been complaining about forever which is medical gender bias.

We know that it’s us ladies who are dismissed at a higher rate.

We are told that symptoms are in our head and we’re given very few options in medicine in terms of what do you get, hormonal birth control, IVF, hysterectomies, and all those things have a time and a place, but it’s time that we transform women’s medicine for the better.

The way that I see that we’re going to do that is by taking the medicine and putting it in the patient’s hand so that they can go to their provider and they can ask for better and they can make that partnership with their provider. I think we’re gonna make some big changes in women’s medicine.

Jennifer: HERE is the link to sign up for this event! It’s completely free to attend.

It is going to be an incredible opportunity for you to really dive into this whole area and get information. I just want to thank you so much for your time in joining us on the podcast. You’re my first guest ever for season four and I’m really glad to have you here.

Dr. Jolene: I’m so honored. You broke your streak and brought me in…

Jennifer: I know. I had to! You’re too brilliant of a guest! I just had to do it.

Dr. Jolene: Well thank you, I appreciate that. No one can see me blushing except you right now.

Jennifer: All right, well thank you for tuning in. I will put all those links in the show notes, and I will see you the next time.

The post How Post Birth Control Syndrome Affects Liver Detoxification Years Later with Dr. Jolene Brighten: GFS Podcast 099 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

It seems like every other product released into the marketplace is detoxing something.

Your skin…

Your gut…

Your liver…

Your blood…

Your lymphatic system…

The list goes on and on.

But one thing has become quite clear to me → the general public has no idea what it really means to detoxify anything. Nor are most people aware of their body’s innate capability to detoxify on its own.

Two questions come to my mind!

Why are we so obsessed with pushing the detoxification process harder?

And is forcing detoxification faster even a good thing?

Let’s take a deeper look!

Detoxing — Why It Might Be Overkill

I think we can all agree that the world we live in is filled with too many harsh chemicals to count. And you’re constantly bombarded by fuels, off-gassing, hidden toxins, xenohormones, byproducts, heavy metals, all sorts of drugs, and the list goes on.

I understand your concern… I truly do.

And I know what it’s like to have a personal mandate about reclaiming your sense of wellness.

But in the hurry to jump on the next detox bandwagon, you should ask yourself → is it appropriate for me to push my body harder right now?

For most people listening, the answer is likely a resounding NO.

The process of detoxifying your body can add even more stress that may leave you feeling worse off than before.

What most of us don’t need is MORE stress heaped on top of everything else that’s going on.

There are other paths back to wellness that don’t involve the need to detoxify anything. I say this because I’ve seen the effects of how doing detoxes can totally backfire.

Recently I’ve had a number of chronic skin rash clients confide that they did some candida detox available online and ended up getting much worse.

Naturally, they felt embarrassed and upset that in making the choice to detox, they caused more harm than good (and are now living with the consequences).

So that’s why I personally believe that it is often wiser (and kinder) to support your natural detoxification pathways rather than push them harder.

Understanding Your Liver Detox Pathways

If you’ve been sick (or even just moderately unwell) for some time, detoxing is probably not the next best step.

First of all, it fails to truly pinpoint what is actually going wrong. Thus it is not a root cause approach. (While this totally is.)

Second, I’d argue that forcing your body to detox isn’t taking care of your best self. Nor is it some act of self-love (no matter what all the Instagram gurus say).

Third, it fails to acknowledge the science and biology of your liver’s detox system.

So let’s take a moment and break your natural liver detoxification system down. That way, you can make better choices moving forward.

Before we go any further, here are some things that liver detox is responsible for…

• It helps activate and deactivate certain hormones (ie. Vitamin D, estrogen).
• It makes toxic chemicals less toxic and easier to remove through urine.
• It metabolizes drugs that you’re exposed to and can determine how long those drugs last in your system.

So you can see from this short and incomplete list that your liver does more than you probably realize.

And not everything your liver deals with is toxic.

In order for your liver to move substances through its natural detox system, your body must have certain ingredients on hand (like glycine) to keep the process going. Without a supply of those ingredients, your liver’s actual detoxification capacity drops.

That creates a situation where your liver becomes overwhelmed and you begin to feel not so hot.

How Your Liver Detox Pathways Work

I think now is a good time to explain how the liver detox pathways work.

You’ll see exactly how your liver can become overwhelmed when detoxification is pushed too hard. And why I believe that supporting your liver should be your first priority.

I recently shared the role that your mitochondria play in producing energy and that they need an ample supply of certain nutrients or else they can’t function optimally. (Read more about it here.)

The same is true for your liver.

These detoxification pathways require specific non-negotiable “ingredients” in order to handle whatever is going on. Should you be exposed to more of something (like a pesticide, drug, or toxin), your liver’s need for said ingredients will increase in order to detoxify properly.

Your liver detox system is broken into two phases →

• Phase 1 (also known as the P450 Cytochrome Detoxification)
• Phase 2 (which includes multiple pathways)

Phase 1 happens before Phase 2, but not all things headed for your liver require Phase 1 detox.

Some can head straight through to Phase 2 as they are.

The purpose of Phase 1 is to prepare chemicals for Phase 2 detoxification, but often the products of Phase 1 are more toxic than they were beforehand. And this is an important point that I’ll explain more of in a moment.

Lastly, Phase 1 detox can be increased (or upregulated) by certain exposures like caffeine, alcohol, hormones, high protein diets, high intake of cruciferous veggies, and acetaminophen (or Tylenol).

Increasing Phase 1 means you increase the amount of products that are spit out on the other side waiting to go through Phase 2.

Phase 2 detoxification has different pathways that require ingredients like glycine (an amino acid), glutathione, and other biochemical ingredients that you’ve probably not heard of.

I don’t want to get too nerdy here… so the point is that for Phase 2 to detox properly, your liver MUST have the necessary ingredients available to get the job done.

Learning About Liver Detox From “I Love Lucy”

To make this incredibly simple for you to understand, I want you to think back to the episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy and Ethel go to work in the chocolate factory.

Their funny skit is something very similar to Phase 1 and Phase 2 liver detox!

Phase 1 would be when the chocolates are being made.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 is illustrated by the failed attempt on Lucy and Ethel’s part to wrap all of the chocolates coming down the conveyor belt.

Initially, the ladies are able to keep up with the flow. But when the chocolate line speeds up, we witness a huge back up of chocolates filling their mouths and blouses!

The point is when Phase 1 detox is pushed too hard OR if Phase 2 doesn’t have enough ingredients to move things through, a backup of toxic material will occur.

And that’s why it’s important to properly support your liver rather than fixate on detoxifying it (especially if you’re not working with a practitioner). It also underscores the deep connection that your liver has to other systems in your body.

No matter what type of protocol I create, I always have to consider if the client’s liver needs support.

This explains why people often have heightened reactions and feel lousy doing detoxes and cleanses! Some call it a Herxheimer reaction or even a “die off” reaction.

The bottom line is that if you feel awful, your liver isn’t properly supported to handle the added toxic burden.

And yes, this certainly can happen when you attempt one of those DIY candida cleanses.

The amplified symptoms you experience aren’t necessarily something to muscle through. Often it’s your liver’s way of saying (or maybe screaming) that it needs more support and possibly a slower pace.

If you’ve got any questions, please leave them below as I’m happy to answer them!

The post Demystifying Liver Detox (And What To Do Instead): GFS Podcast 098 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

While I certainly believe in adrenal fatigue (and even had it myself back in 2009), most of my clients who swear they have this issue end up with something else.

It typically comes as a big surprise because everything they’ve read has convinced them that their exhaustion is due to pooped adrenals.

But what I’m going to say will fly in the face of adrenal fatigue.

The reason is that a chronic energy deficit can be due to dysfunction that goes deeper than your adrenals. Because your adrenals don’t produce energy… I like to think about their job more as managing the energy that you have.

So if you’re literally not making enough energy at a very basic biochemical level, it’s no wonder why you’re so tired.

What Actually Makes Energy In Your Body?

Okay… so then you’re probably wondering → what makes energy in your body (or, to be more specific, within your cells)?

Mitochondria.

I know… it’s a funny word. Maybe you remember it from high school biology.

Well, I like to think of mitochondria as a power plant that generates the energy currency of your body known as ATP.

ATP is short for Adenosine TriPhosphate.

Generally speaking, your mitochondria ideally “burn” fat (lipids) and carbs to make ATP (though on occasion they can be supported with a few amino acids).

These little power plants exist in many of the cells of your body, but are heavily concentrated in muscle tissue (especially your heart), liver, and brain (because they require so much energy to function properly).

If your mitochondrion can’t keep up with ATP demands, then you won’t have enough energy to use. And you also won’t have the energy necessary for biochemical reactions requiring energy to happen efficiently.

In case you’re like “OMG, Jen. What’s a biochemical reaction?”

It’s pretty much just a recipe. It requires ingredients just like a bread recipe.

Why You Think Having No Energy Means You Have Adrenal Fatigue

Alright… so when mitochondria don’t have enough raw ingredients to function, they can’t effectively produce ATP.

And means you have an energy deficit problem, my friend.

If you’re not driving, take a moment to close your eyes and imagine a smoggy, dirty power plant.

There’s soot in the air. Acid rain drenches the ground. And the stream running beside the plant is a bright, unnatural shade of orange… maybe with two-headed toads!

It’s not a healthy situation, right?

No… totally not good at all.

Without specific and necessary raw ingredients to operate efficiently, mitochondria are like smoggy power plants spewing free radicals everywhere.

Those free radicals can damage tissue, cell membranes, and even your DNA.

And of course, let’s not forget that your mitochondria aren’t producing ATP like they should.

In essence, this is a form of mitochondrial dysfunction. (1)

It means that your cells (and thus your body) are left to function without an adequate supply of ATP. It’s like trying to bake bread with your oven set to 175 degrees F. Normally you’d bake it between 350 and 400.

This causes necessary biochemical reactions to sloooow down… just as it would take a long time for that bread to bake at such a low temperature.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Symptoms (That You Assume Are Adrenal Fatigue)

When your power plants aren’t operating well, you will feel a variety of symptoms. And there is a lot of overlap here with Adrenal Fatigue (which is why it can be easy to confuse them).

Not making enough ATP causes… (2)

• Slower cellular turnover
• Slower biochemical reactions
• Wasting of glutathione (an important antioxidant) which should normally be recycled
• Chronic fatigue
• Brain fog
• Mood issues
• Effects on various autoimmune diseases
• Skin rashes
• Ongoing gut issues (more about how this also contributes to the problem in a moment)
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Heart issues (especially if you’re on a statin that depletes Coenzyme Q10)

The most common reason I’ve discovered for sluggish mitochondria in my clinical nutrition practice is most often due to nutritional insufficiencies and deficiencies.

They often result from issues in your gut.

Poor digestion and absorption of nutrients mean your body has a hard time refilling its stores. Eventually it struggles to meet the incredible demand for these nutrients when intake drops.

This can happen for a number of reasons that range from:

• Chronic diarrhea (where nutrition is essentially “flushed” out of your body)
• GI inflammation (due to chronic gut dysbiosis and/or gut infections)
• Leaky gut syndrome (that triggers inflammation and motility issues)
• GI infections (wherein certain unfriendly “gut bugs” steal the nutrition before you can absorb it)
• An overly restrictive diet resulting from what appears to be an increasing number of food sensitivities (and even sometimes orthorexia)

Critical nutrients to make energy include Coenzyme Q10, Iron, Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamin, Vitamin B5, Carnitine, Lipoic acid, and Magnesium.

What To Do If You Think You Have Adrenal Fatigue

The moral of this podcast is to make you aware that A) not everyone has adrenal fatigue even if you have the symptoms of it and B) get tested.

Testing is really the only way to know for sure if your issue is hormonal (aka. Adrenal fatigue or some other endocrine disruption) or mitochondrial.

I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve had who are on all these adrenal supplements that don’t really make them feel better. And what’s worse is that they didn’t have adrenal issues!

We tested and discovered that they really needed to support their mitochondria and then BOOM… energy.

The best way to see what’s up with your mitochondria is by taking a urine test that looks at your levels of specific organic acids.

I personally like the Organix Comprehensive Profile from Genova (you can order it here). It’s super easy and you can do it at home.

BUT… you will need to get help to understand the results.

They aren’t in plain English and which mitochondrial support you choose (should you need it) depends on other factors like your vitamin B12 level.

So if you’ve assumed you have adrenal fatigue and you’re just doing all this stuff to support your adrenals and it’s not working, this could be why.

Getting your mitochondria fired up and functioning again can mean the difference between unending exhaustion and getting back out exercising and living an active life.

If this totally hits home and helps you, share this podcast with friends who live a life ruled by fatigue.

It could be their game changer!

Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye bye!

REFERENCES

1. Mitochondrial dysfunction is the root cause of many diseases. ScienceDaily. January 26, 2017.

2. Nicolson GL. Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Chronic Disease: Treatment With Natural Supplements. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal. 2014;13(4):35-43.

The post What If It Isn’t Adrenal Fatigue? (The Hidden Reason Why You’re Still Tired): GFS Podcast 097 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

There’s a lot of controversy around food sensitivities and if they’re even real!

If you want to know more about what they are (and what they aren’t), I have a great post you can read (HERE).

The reason I bring this topic up today is that in my clinical experience, food sensitivities have been overemphasized. And that ultimately causes some pretty alarming issues, which I hope you can avoid.

Even though tons of articles online as well as functional medicine practitioners act like you can just take these foods out and you’ll get better, that’s not REALLY true.

Removing trigger foods doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

Yes… you may certainly feel better.

But you won’t necessarily BE better.

And that’s the issue here.

With the exception of gluten which has the capacity to alter your gut’s permeability or leakiness, food sensitivities are not a root cause.

They are a symptom.

{Don’t yet know your trigger foods? CLICK HERE to order the at-home food sensitivity test I use in my practice.}

Do food sensitivities make you sick?

While you’re so focused on what food sensitivities make you sick, another question gets lost in the mix.

You should (but may not have even thought to) ask “WHY did I end up with these food sensitivities in the first place?”

Removing them from your diet is a lot like being allergic to poison ivy. It makes sense that you would avoid the wretched plant like the plague.

Just because you aren’t exposed to it on a regular basis and don’t have any rashes right now doesn’t mean that you’re no longer allergic to it.

I highly doubt that you’d go rolling around in a giant patch of it!

The point of functional medicine, as well as functional nutrition, is to ask the questions that ultimately lead to the underlying (root cause) WHY…

Why did this happen?

What caused this system go out of balance?

My experience has shown me that few people (and few practitioners) ask WHY you became sensitive to certain foods in the first place.

And maybe you’ll say “Come on Jen… I’m sensitive to these foods because I have leaky gut.”

Right… but WHY did you end up with a leaky gut in the first place?

That’s the question that must be asked and answered.

It was the leaky gut after all that allowed you to become increasingly sensitive to additional foods. Ignoring this question means that the other triggers contributing to your gut’s ongoing leakiness are still there.

And it’s one of the biggest reasons why “leaky gut” kits available online don’t work.

You’ve got to consider the three different gut issues that can potentially answer that question…

1. Gut dysfunction (ie. low stomach acid, slow gut motility)

2. Gut infections (even low-level infections)

3. Gut dysbiosis (ie. candida, SIBO)

And this list is by no means complete.

There can certainly be involvement of other systems that play a role in your gut issues along with lifestyle choices. Excessive stress increases gut permeability as does frequent use of NSAIDs like ibuprofen.

I go more in-depth on the many reasons for leaky gut and causes of food sensitivities in this interview with my friend Pat Flynn who wanted to talk about whether those issues are bogus. It’s a bit more technical of an interview, but if you like to geek out on this stuff, it would be right up your alley!

Are elimination diets making you sick?

If you know that food sensitivities make you sick, then it makes total sense to avoid them. But merely avoiding them (even being 100% strict) won’t fix the issue.

What concerns me as a clinical nutritionist is the number of clients I’ve met with over the past couple of years who have taken elimination diets too far.

Their diet has become increasingly limited and they’ve been unable to reintroduce anything successfully. Some practitioners call this “disappearing iceberg diet” syndrome.

And it also contributes to an incredible amount of food fear and shame (because you can’t seem to figure “this” out).

I do believe that elimination diets have a place, but in my experience, they are incredibly overused (and often used for too long) because the underlying problem isn’t always food.

You typically can’t solve non-food problems with diet.

As an example, it’s why the anti-candida diet alone is not effective in helping you beat candida.

You actually need to use anti-fungal agents, support your gut to reseal, and make sure your liver’s natural detoxification systems can actually handle the process so you don’t experience “die off”.

Because the goal should always be to get back to the most varied and diverse diet possible. And that’s why ongoing food sensitivities (especially a situation where they are increasing in number) are begging for you to dig deeper.

Restrictive elimination diets used for a long time can increase the likelihood of nutritional deficiencies making it even harder for your gut to heal.

But what if it’s NOT food sensitivities?

But not all symptoms that indicate a potential food sensitivity mean that you are in fact sensitive to that food.

I’ve had clients swear that they’re sensitive to different foods.

For this example, let’s pick cane sugar.

While you can be sensitive to anything, most of my previous clients who thought cane sugar was an issue actually had unfriendly gut bugs that were the root of the symptoms.

Diarrhea, gas, bloating, skin rashes, headaches, brain fog — they’re all non-specific symptoms that could be triggered by unfriendly gut bugs or a food trigger.

So if you ever find yourself utterly frustrated… not knowing what to eat because you seem to react to “everything”…

Step back and ask questions to dive deeper so that you can get to those root causes. And when you’ve done all you can do… ask for help.

Addressing your problem and ongoing symptoms from there is like stacking the deck in your favor.

Finally, you can give your body a real shot to return to a state of healthy balance so you can get back to living.

The post Do Food Sensitivities Make You Sick? (Unconventional advice) – GFS Podcast 096 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I love protein shakes.  Every morning, I indulge and start my day with a protein shake that is both delicious and packed full of amazing nutrition. But not everyone enjoys starting their day with the same thing in the morning.

I often get asked how to make a protein shake that won’t get boring. And that’s a great question!

Today, I’d like to break it down for you so that you know how to make a protein shake every single morning that’s delicious, full of flavor and different. Plus, I’ll share some of my favorite products that I personally use and recommend to clients.

Before I go through the rules of how to make a protein shake, let’s talk about the philosophy of making enjoyable food.

To have variety in your meals or protein shakes means that you need to have flavor options to play around with.

For example, imagine you were a painter. Your palette only consisted of the same four colors. You’d probably get bored of painting after a certain point.

But what if you had access to twenty colors.

Or thirty!

Wouldn’t that offer you more variety?

The same concept applies to food. You’ll quickly tire of meals using the same four ingredients.

BUT if you set yourself up to have more option and flavor combinations, then you’ve hit gold.

How To Make A Protein Shake (That You Won’t Get Bored Of)

So let’s talk first about my rules for making a protein shake.

Rule number one is to start your shake with a cup and a quarter of filtered cool water.

I know a lot of people feel like they need to make a shake using juice, milk, or dairy-free milk, but that’s actually very unnecessary.

Water blends up just fine and costs way less. I promise you won’t have any idea that you used water.

It also allows you to get your calories from the food you include rather than from a liquid source.

Next, you want to balance your macronutrients. Those are protein, fat, and carbs.

Your carbs can come from some sort of healthy fruit or starch sources like sweet potato or pumpkin puree.

My favorite low glycemic carb sources include berries like wild blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries. Sometimes I use sweeter fruits like bananas, cherries, figs, peaches, kiwi, orange, pear, and apple.

Your fat can come from any number of items like avocado, coconut oil, a coconut oil/ghee mix, ghee, nuts, seeds, or MCT oil. And don’t forget about nut butters and seed butters as an easy way to a distinct flavor in your protein shake.

As for how much you can use, try ¼ of an avocado or 1 tablespoon of any oils and butters. If you use whole nuts or seeds, typically a handful is good enough.

And next, you need a healthy dose of protein. Since this is a protein shake, you’ll be getting it from protein powder. There are many different types of protein powder out there including those made from hemp, rice, pea, vegan blends, egg whites, whey, and even beef.

This is a great bone broth protein powder that I personally use + recommend in my clinical practice.

There has been recent controversy about vegan protein powders from Vega and Garden of Life containing elevated levels of heavy metals. Toxic metals like lead and arsenic from the ground where the plants grow end up in the plant. And so eating a concentrated source of protein from them increases the toxic burden that you’ll be exposed to.

I personally do a mix of protein powders so that my shake ends up being half beef protein isolate and half of a vegan formula.

This is the vegan protein powder that I love that’s free of grittiness so you don’t feel like you’re drinking sand.

I generally recommend that your protein shake should have somewhere between 20 to 25 grams of protein coming from the protein powder itself. If your current protein powder only has 14 grams per scoop or serving, you’ll need to increase how much you use. In this example, I’d add another half serving or scoop to your shake.

This is especially important if you are still on a healing journey and your body is in a state where more protein is required in order to correct and rebalance your health. You can read more about this here.

Don’t Forget About Adding Fiber To Your Protein Shake

And the last piece to this is fiber.

I typically encourage clients to add more fiber to their shakes than what’s in the powder. Sometimes there isn’t any fiber at all as is the case with most beef protein isolate formulas.

My personal opinion on fiber is that having some is wonderful, but having too much can be overkill. As a general rule of thumb, 1 tablespoon of added fiber is a perfect boost to a protein shake.

If you’re wondering what type of fiber will work best for you, I like to pick the type based on what’s up with your pooping situation. My experience as a clinical nutritionist has demonstrated to me that it actually makes a big difference.

Healthy pooping means that you poop one to three times every day.

On the Bristol Stool Chart, your poop should look likes a 3 or 4. You don’t strain or have to sit on the toilet for a long time in order to get the job done.

So if you’re pooping less than once every day, I’d consider you to be more constipated. Opt for ground flaxseed as your fiber source assuming you don’t have a known allergy or sensitivity.

On the flipside, if you struggle with loose stools or flat out diarrhea, you’re probably better off using Acacia fiber. (Here’s my favorite type.)

Nutrition Boosters You Can Add To Your Protein Shake

Taking this all a step further, there are extra ingredients that you can add your protein shake that increase the nutritional value.

Greens powders are an easy way to add flavor while increasing your intake of antioxidants. Plus they’re helpful for people (and kids) who are picky and struggle to get enough plant foods in their diet. It’s not an exact fix, but every little bit does help.

Make sure that any greens you buy are clearly marked gluten-free. Many greens powders contain grasses from wheat, barley, and other grains that could be contaminated.

My favorite Greens powders come from Rado Nutrition. They make four absolutely delicious flavors (chocolate, mocha, strawberry-kiwi, and mint) that take your protein shake to a whole new level.

You can use one at a time, or mix half of one with half of a scoop of another. They don’t taste like that grassy, green or earthy flavor that can be off-putting to some people.

Another favorite nutrient-boosting addition is collagen powder!

Collagen powder can be added directly to the mix before you blend. It’s completely tasteless and good for your skin, gut, and joints. I include collagen in every skin healing and gut healing protocol assuming that someone isn’t sensitive to histamines.

A good rule of thumb is to use one tablespoon of collagen powder in your daily protein shake. My personal favorite collagen peptide products come from Great Lakes Collagen.

I should mention that there is no such thing as a vegan collagen powder. Typically collagen is derived from cows or chickens. If that doesn’t float your boat, you can always get collagen that’s derived from fish.

Adding Veggies And Spices To your Protein Shake

Now if you want to get in more veggies, here’s how to make a protein shake without tasting them.

Believe it or not, frozen cauliflower or frozen zucchini are great options to start with. Zucchini literally is flavorless so you won’t even know it’s in there. Cauliflower again doesn’t impart any weird flavor at all and actually adds the froth that most people like about bananas!

Typically, I will pick one and add about ¼ to ½ cup to my shake. You could probably use fresh veggies, but I typically just buy them frozen since it’s less prep and they last longer.

What about having fun with even more flavors?

Well, why not add spices directly to your protein shakes! 

It’s an easy and quick way to vary the flavor and keep them interesting.

Some fantastic spices to add to your protein shakes include sea salt, cloves, cardamom, pumpkin pie spice, and ginger.

Vanilla extract isn’t the best option especially if it’s got alcohol in it, but vanilla powder is certainly great. (Don’t be stunned by the price tag. Vanilla has recently become quite expensive due to a shortage of vanilla beans.)

Cayenne adds a kick that can be fun mixed with cherries or blueberries.

This list of spices is by no means complete. And don’t forget to verify that the spices you purchase are free from gluten since there’s a high rate of contamination. Plus any type of vanilla extract you buy, much be clearly marked to say that it’s gluten free.

Typically I’ll pick one or two options and then do three or four small dashes or a pinch or two of those particular spices into the protein shake.

And believe it or not… but balsamic vinegar (just one tablespoon) adds a really delicious punch to fruit based-protein shakes!

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Making Protein Shakes

Are you new to making protein shakes at home? It’s not uncommon to wonder how to make a protein shake that isn’t all chunky and unevenly blended.

The key to how to make a protein shake that’s creamy is this — always add the water and then the fruit and veggies to the blender first. That way, they’re more likely to get fully processed.

Then you add the rest of your ingredients. And that’s when you finally blend.

Sometimes you might need to scrape down the sides of the blender and blend again. That’s typically the case with beef protein isolate powders since they stick to the sides.

Just a word to the wise — all blenders are not created equal.

A cheap $25 blender may struggle to get everything to a consistency that you’ll enjoy. There are plenty of options on the market at different price points. So find something that works for your budget and consider it an investment in your health.

And finally, do not guzzle down your shake in under 5 minutes! If you do, you’ll discover that you don’t feel anywhere near full and will end up eating more food.

To avoid this from happening, I recommend to my clients and you (the lovely listeners) to slowly sip your protein shake over a 20 to 30 minute period.

This way, your body has time to recognize the food entering it and ultimately release the hormones of satiety so that you feel full.

I hope you realize that there’s more to a protein shake than just liquid, protein powder, and fruit. You’ve got so many other options to truly make this nutritious morning meal your own.

All you need to do is start experimenting!

Homemade Protein Shake Ideas

To see how I put it all together, check out the following recipes:

Vegan Spiced Banana (aka. Eggnog) Smoothie

Dairy Free Shamrock Minty Protein Shake

My favorite Skin Rash-Smoothie Shakes great for anyone with chronic eczema and other skin rash conditions!

And hey, got some suggestions I didn’t even mention? Share them below in the comments!

The post How To Make A Protein Shake (That You Won’t Get Bored Of): GFS Podcast 095 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I get it… I’ve got plenty of clients who do that daily.

Heck, I’ve used that method myself for many years in the past.

But it really doesn’t help long-term… all it really does is run up a metaphorical loan made of anger, resentment, and frustration that eventually comes due.

And we’re often never prepared for when that happens.

It’s usually at the most inconvenient time when you feel like your body and health are betraying you.

Slowly, you lose your ability to be resilient.

The smallest things set you off or overwhelm you.

You can’t make decisions, and you live moment to moment feeling like everything is getting away from you.

I’ll tell you this much from my own personal experience with stress as well as that working with clients in my clinical nutrition practice… no one escapes the Stress Landslide unscathed.

There are no pills to fix your stress problem (that affect your gut & skin)

And if your idea of trying to outrun it is a pill, allow me to be the first to tell you that it’s not the best fix.

See – digestive, fatigue, autoimmune, and skin issues require something more potent.

For the record, that something doesn’t come in the shape of a capsule nor a powder you can add to your morning protein shake routine.

It a prescription that requires effort and commitment on your part.

And it’s one of the least followed recommendations that I (and my fellow practitioners) give.

I’d tell you to meditate, but for most people… that just seems like too big of a commitment.

Then I’ll suggest mindfulness practices… and you’ll tell me that you feel like that’s too “woo-woo”.

So lastly I come to my favorite option → Breathing practices.

“Two minutes a day. That’s all I’m asking. Can you do that?”

“Um… isn’t there a supplement that I could take? I just feel like I’d be more compliant with that and it’s just easier.”

*SIGH*

I totally get that doing new things is uncomfortable. But making integrative changes doesn’t just mean swapping pharmaceutical pills for those packed with amino acids or herbs.

It amazes me the lengths people will go to eliminate all sorts of foods from their diets and buy expensive programs to solve their health problems.

But they are most resistant to spending two minutes each day breathing even though I’d argue that breathing exercises, meditation, and even mindfulness practices can have just as strong of an effect as a pill.

It has been proven time and again the serious, detrimental effect that stress has on your health, gut, skin, energy, immunity, and beyond.

You literally have a second brain in your gut thanks to the interconnection of gut to brain tissue via the vagus nerve.

So it makes sense that stress plays a direct role in how leaky your gut, how flared up your skin is, or how overwhelmed you feel.

And that’s why I contend that if you put aside just two minutes each day to focus on your breath, you’ll realize that you can manage your stress better, improve your resiliency, and decrease your symptoms and flares.

Your breath is directly connected to your state of mind… and if you don’t believe me, do you ever recall taking deep, slow breaths when you’re super stressed or panicked?

Nope… you’re breathing is short, fast, and rushed which is all part of the fight or flight mechanism.

That’s why spending two minutes each day practicing breathing exercises to reduce stress matters.

Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress For Gut & Skin Health

My three big reasons why I believe you should start using breathing exercises every day:

1. Breathing as a means to calm stress levels becomes routine when you practice it daily.

2. You’ll discover areas of your body that you hold tension you weren’t even aware of and can start releasing.

3. You’re carving out valuable real estate in your day to relax and check in with yourself.

This is important because while doing nice things for yourself monthly — like going for a massage — is certainly helpful, it will not make up for the two minutes daily breathing that you’re NOT doing.

And if you think about it for a minute… why don’t you have two minutes a day to do this? If you’re committed as heck to doing what it takes to resolve your health… why haven’t you jumped on board yet?

I’m going to share my favorite breathing practices that I teach my clients that include the 4-7-8 breath, belly breathing, and the 5-count breath. (The video tutorials are below!!)

None of them are rocket science and they do not have anything to do with religion. Instead, they offer you a moment of peace and calm. An opportunity to tell your mind as well as your body that you are safe and can relax.

I’ve used these breathing exercises personally when I’ve been under excessive amounts of stress or have experienced a sense of panic triggered by PTSD from when I lived in New York City during 9/11. So I know the power that a simple two minutes breathing practice to reduce stress can have.

I hope that, if anything, you take a moment to consider why something so powerful, yet free seems to be the most overlooked self-care practice you can do. You are more than worth the two minutes this costs especially considering the massive benefits it can yield that no pill, supplement, or food can honestly replicate.

If you’ve started a breathing or meditation practice, I’d love to hear more about how you got started and what type of practice you do along with any benefits you’ve personally experienced. Sharing what’s helped you is always the best way to encourage and inspire others to give something new like this a try!

And when you give one of these breathing practices a try, I’d equally love to know how you felt afterward, and if you’d keep it up!

Alright… thanks for tuning in and I look forward to our next chat!

Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress For Gut & Skin Health: 4-7-8 Breath

Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress For Gut & Skin Health: Belly Breathing

Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress For Gut & Skin Health: 5-Count Breathing

The post Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress For Gut & Skin Health: GFS Podcast 094 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

And for that very reason, today’s podcast is one of the most personal I’ve ever recorded. If I’d heeded the cruel words of my own inner critic, I likely wouldn’t be here today… not just as a clinical nutritionist, but as a healthy person.

I listened to an inner voice… and I’m sharing what I heard that changed the course of my life and helped me win.

And hey, if you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes! 

Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from tuning in!

How to Silence Your Inner Critic, Get Answers & Take Action: GFS Podcast 093

In the following podcast, I’m going to talk about:

– How I found a way to pay for expensive health care even though we’d suddenly lost 2/3 of our income.

– The philosophy that I’ve come to believe in (that actually works)

– Six reasons why you SHOULD adopt it too (if you feel really overwhelmed by your health or life)

– The exact steps I took to get my life in order and start making changes that changed everything

– Why you should embrace your inner underdog

– and much more…

Complete Transcript

“Everything is figureoutable.”

In 2009, I was ready to quit life as an adult. Not literally… but my life wasn’t headed in the direction I thought it should be.

Early in the year, my then-fiance and now husband was suddenly laid off from a fantastic job.

This meant we instantly lost ⅔ of our income.

Mind you, this was about a year before we were getting married. My husband had become very depressed and was unable to find steady work (which we didn’t know at the time would actually last for about 4 years!).

During the summer of 2009, I noticed some really intense health problems capped off by terrible fatigue. After trying to figure out what was going on through my diet and failing, I hired a functional nutritionist. That’s when I was diagnosed with severe candida overgrowth and adrenal fatigue which I’ve talked about before HERE.

Lest we forget that I was on a really tight budget, this process was quite costly. Seeing a practitioner outside of insurance can be expensive. Supplements can be also expensive. Having to buy all organic gluten-free food is expensive.

I know that some people say that one’s concept of what’s expensive is tied to their priorities, but when you’ve lost ⅔ of your income, yeah… it’s going to feel expensive and overwhelming as the bills pile up.

So rather than crawl into a hole and give up, I looked at my situation as a challenge. And somehow I came to the realization that my problem existed simply because I didn’t have a viable solution to it YET.

My Inner Critic or My Health

And that’s where the phrase “Everything is figureoutable” comes in.

I can’t take credit for this saying. I first heard it from business coach Marie Forleo.

I realize that I could have taken a much different path.

I could have played the victim and convinced myself that someone put the evil eye on me (or that God was punishing me). Then I’d probably have spent my time complaining to everyone I knew about it.

Or I could have succumbed to my own inner critic that kept saying “you can’t afford this. You’re stupid and foolish for wasting money on this.” And then just whined that I couldn’t afford to do anything to care for my health and done absolutely nothing.

But I didn’t end up choosing either of those paths…

I can’t quite say why I didn’t, but I recall thinking to myself at the time that if this was a challenge, then a solution must exist. And that’s when I started digging.

The Savvy Gluten-Free Shopper: How to Eat Healthy Without Breaking the Bank

As a result of a relentless pursuit of a solution, I found answers… and plenty of them.

Not only did I overcome my adrenal fatigue and candida, but I went on to turn what I discovered into my book “The Savvy Gluten-Free Shopper: How To Eat Healthy Without Breaking The Bank”. It was so popular after being released that it became an Amazon best-selling book that made it all the way to the top 5 of the Gluten-Free Diet list (which is very competitive). 

The point of this podcast is to show you that there is always a way forward.

There’s always an answer.

But you have to be willing and hungry enough (and one could argue that you must be sick enough) to want to change. That the discomfort of making the change and seeking a solution is less painful than continuing to do the same thing or doing nothing at all.

I realized that seeing the problem in front of me as a challenge and finding a solution is a mindset shift. But it’s one that’s infinitely worthwhile in the long haul for six reasons.

Six reasons to adopt the “Everything is figureoutable” mindset

1. It gets you out of a victim mentality. You’re no longer beaten down by life or your health issues.

2. It helps you define what your health philosophy is and what you’re okay with (and what you’re not) in order to get better.

Maybe you’re no longer content eating meat from animals exposed to antibiotics. Maybe you want to find more natural ways of addressing your health through herbs or vitamins rather than pharmaceutical drugs. Or maybe you want to focus on meditation and affirmations to help you heal.

The truth is, your health philosophy is key to deciding what steps you’ll take in the pursuit of your own answers.

3. It also encourages personal responsibility. You acknowledge what you’re doing to sabotage yourself. And you also identify what is and is not in alignment with your health philosophy.

4. It helps you find the inspiration to take steps and give things a try that may be outside of your comfort zone.

5. It breeds tenacity that helps feed your drive to see the pursuit of a solution through to the end.

6. And lastly, it oftentimes changes you for the better.

I do believe that adversity breeds character. Who I am today as well as the clients I’ve worked with searching for their own health answers have all changed in measurable ways that allow us to better enjoy and be present to life.

How to get started making this mindset shift

To get started, clearly identify the problem in front of you.

List what you’ve tried (even if it didn’t work), what you believe is holding you back (maybe it’s fear or money or judgment from others), and what excuses you make to avoid getting started.

Get clear on your pain. What are you missing out on now? And then imagine what you will miss out on if this situation continues to get worse?

Extrapolate on this… maybe it means you’ll be so sick that you’ll no longer be able to work and your marriage will deteriorate. You’ll miss out on helping care for your kids or grandkids.

Brainstorm what a perfect, but reasonable solution would be for you.

Identify what you are and aren’t willing to do to get there. Be honest with yourself (and this is really important). That includes seeking help when you’ve gone beyond your scope of knowledge and know-how. Someone who knows more than you can help you be more efficient and effective when you hit a wall. If you’re not seeing significant progress after a couple of months, it’s time to call in an expert.

Make a list of steps that you can work on each week and organize them in a way that makes sense for you to see change. Each week, work on 2 or 3 of those steps. By putting them slowly into practice, they come to feel more natural and less like you’re just juggling a lot of “things to do”.

And then get started. Baby steps are key. They don’t need to be perfect. And they most certainly add up… especially over the weeks and months ahead.

Embrace Your Underdog Status To Beat Your Inner Critic

Along the way, you may hear your own inner critic whispering horrible nothings in your ear that are meant to get you to stop making changes.

To stop looking for answers.

To stop trusting that a solution is not only out there, but possible for you.

At that moment, take a step back from all the self-judgment and see yourself as an underdog.

More specifically, you’re an underdog to your own inner critic.

Your inner critic has spent years… maybe even decades detailing all of the many ways you suck or fail at life. It doesn’t want you to make changes. It wants you to stay exactly where you are… comfortably suffering.

In the wise words of Jason Kelce, Eagles’ center who dressed as a Mummer and spoke during their 2018 Super Bowl Champion parade — “An underdog is a hungry dog.”

You have to be hungry for that change and the answers that come with it. Hungrier than your inner critic.

Ready to let go of that inner perfectionist and just get started (no matter how messy the path forward is).

And ultimately committed to believing deeply that there is a solution to whatever is facing you… you just haven’t found it yet.

I hope this insight is helpful no matter where you on your journey!

Leave a comment on this podcast about what resonates with you!

The post How to Silence Your Inner Critic, Get Answers & Take Action: GFS Podcast 093 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Back in 2007, I felt like I was an elderly person. I didn’t feel like myself and knew inside that something was very wrong. Doctors told me that I was fine. Maybe I needed some B vitamins or to work out less…

But none of that answered the question about why I had this hodge-podge of symptoms that didn’t make any sense.

My before and after photo is pretty stunning for most to see because I had so much inflammation in my face before figuring out what was going wrong.

Years later, I’m often asked questions about my own healing journey.

“Jennifer, how long does it take for ______ to get better?”

And I intentionally approach this question with caution for one specific reason — the person asking usually wants to assume that my underlying root causes and healing timeline will be the same for them.

That’s not the right way to go about looking at your health and subsequent healing. And frankly, it’s potentially detrimental to your long-term success.

People can have the same symptoms, but have very different underlying root causes.

You can also have the same underlying root causes, but heal at very different rates.

I say this to point out that this is where someone who is chronically ill can get into trouble. It sets an unhealthy expectation based on an unfair comparison.

See, I had no idea where the former sick me would end up. I didn’t have any expectations of weight loss or stopping my daily headaches. I just wanted to have more energy and not constantly be so sick to my stomach that I would be moments from crapping my pants.

It took me 3 months to lose 10 pounds of inflammation weight… and another 3 to lose almost another 10.

By no means would I categorize that as fast.

Sure, I noticed a big improvement in my urgency to use the bathroom because I’d removed the food triggers. But beyond that, it took months to see the many scaly rashes disappear.

So if you want to know what the lesson here is…  be unrelentingly cautious in how you manage your expectations.

How long does it take to heal your leaky gut?

Resolving leaky gut means you know all the factors that are compromising gut health in the first place.

Do not assume that just because your symptoms are identical to someone else that you have the same exact issues.

If your case isn’t too complicated, the average time to resolve leaky gut is 6 to 8 weeks.

If you’re not getting better, you’ve probably missed something.

That’s why those DIY leaky gut programs often don’t work. I’ve talked about this on the blog before (HERE). They aren’t set up to address gut infections.

If you’ve got SIBO, it can take a long time to heal and many different trial and error treatments.

One factor that’s key to know is if you have hydrogen or methane-dominate SIBO. Here’s another excellent piece walking you through the many possibilities to consider.

How long does it take to rebuild healthier skin when you’ve got eczema?

Skin is a low priority organ. So your body will steal nutrients away from it in order to maintain other parts of your body.

Skin is formed from the innermost layers slowly working themselves out. It takes 4 weeks on average just for that newest layer to make it to the top.

If triggers still exist in the gut or you’ve got nutrient insufficiencies, you have to be on a serious road to recovery before healthy new skin is going to be formed.

You’ve got to have a higher protein intake than normal because your body is doing the heavy lifting to rebuild what’s been historically compromised.

I didn’t see a significant improvement in my skin until about 3 months into my healing protocol. At 6 months, the flares cycle stopped. At about 9 months, I noticed the skin becoming much more normal and calm. And after about 12 months, I had the skin at about 85% healed.

I used THESE RECIPES to help me start my day with the right nutrition while avoiding some of the most common trigger foods!

How long does it take to lose weight?

You cannot fight your thyroid.

If that’s out of balance, you’ll need to address that first. So if you’re struggling with hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s, you really need to get that under control first.

Your thyroid is in charge of regulating weight loss and weight gain.

You cannot out-exercise and out-diet your thyroid.

If you’re overweight, the average healthy weight loss is between .5 and 1lb per week.

If you’re obese, the average healthy weight loss is 1 to 2lbs per week.

You may see an initial weight loss drop due to the removal of inflammatory foods or exposures. After that, don’t be surprised if weight loss slows to the average healthy pace I’ve just mentioned.

Things to keep in mind…

1. Your body will heal at its own pace based on the unique factors that make up who you are.
2. You should never compare your healing journey to someone else’s.
3. When you feel disappointment, find out first if your reaction is reasonable. (Oftentimes, it’s not.)
4. For every year that you’ve been sick, it can take one month’s worth of healing (but this is not a hard rule). So if you’ve been sick for 10 years, you should expect to be working hard for at least 10 months.
5. Every step has to be taken in an intelligent way.
6. You have to be consistent with the actions that you take.
7. And if you’re still struggling, reach out for help so that you can get on the path to feeling better sooner.

The post How Long Does It Take To Get Better?: GFS Podcast 092 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I’m not advocating for you to do nothing. Instead, I think there’s something much more powerful that will actually get the job done.

Allow me a moment to explain…

Many years ago, I was living in a tiny tropical town by the Caribbean sea in Costa Rica. I found this surf shop to rent a bike from while I was there and got into a conversation about surfing with the owner.

The owner taught surf lessons to people like me with no experience whatsoever.

But I always thought that surfing was dangerous. Living over an hour from a large city in a country where I couldn’t speak the language, I could imagine many ways that surfing could totally go awry.

Every day I’d pass the surf shop. The owner would ask me if I was ready for a surf lesson. I said no and had some excuse.

“I’m not strong enough to get up off the board.”

“I don’t want to get all scraped up if I fall and hit the reef.”

This went on for 2 weeks. I had just about every excuse in the book.

Each time, he’d address and counter my excuse so that I couldn’t use it anymore.

Finally, I ran out of excuses and went for a surfing lesson.

Balancing on the board as I surf towards the beach on a small wave, I realized that I was having some of the most fun in my life.

It was an amazing feeling and I wish I’d not wasted all that time allowing excuses to have more of a say over what I did than me.

Why You Shouldn’t Make New Years Resolutions

I share this because every year people feel compelled to make new years resolutions with the hope that maybe… just maybe THIS year this list will help them change.

Well, the reality is that most people don’t accomplish very much.

It’s estimated that a whopping 80% of resolutions are a total bust for various reasons. Take the gym… come January it will be packed! Around 3 to 4 weeks into the new year, the enthusiasm dies off, life goes back to “being too busy”, and the gym becomes a monthly expense on your credit card rather than a place you go to workout.

So if you know that your resolutions won’t help you make changes, then why write them out? Why spend even a moment thinking about them?

Because everyone loves a clean slate and that’s ultimately what New Year’s Day is.

A new chapter to begin.

I gave up on new years resolutions years ago because they’re pointless.

They’re always well-intentioned, but the act of writing them down isn’t the reason you’ll change at all.

A resolution is defined as a “firm decision to do or not to do something.” That’s all well and good, but what a resolution doesn’t address is the stuff that gets in your way.

You know what I’m talking about — those things called “excuses”.

How can you seriously make a firm decision to do or not do something and then just do the opposite like it wasn’t that important in the first place?

Because the excuses bear more importance and more weight than the firm decision itself.

They’re easier to go along with than dealing with the discomfort of sticking with your resolution.

Don’t Make New Years Resolutions (And Do THIS Instead)

That’s why I’m saying this year — don’t make new years resolutions.

Instead, make an excuse list and start busting it one by one just like my surf instructor did for me.

Until you identify the excuses that act as mountains in your life that totally impede progress, it’s entirely unlikely that you’ll stick with any resolution for more than a day or two.

Take sugar — since that’s the biggest resolution that I hear about in my line of work as a clinical nutritionist.

Sugar’s a big resolution for many people because they want to get healthy.

“I’m going to give up sugar this year”, you say to yourself… except when it’s someone’s birthday or you got a promotion or you had a bad day. Or any number of reasons why it’s okay to cheat.

And for the record, all of those “reasons” you tell yourself to justify not following a resolution or goal — they’re all excuses.

That’s where you need to start if you honestly want to see and feel real change in your life.

How To Actually Change (By Making An Excuses List)

So if you want to make a New Year’s Excuses (To Tackle) list… here’s how to do it!

First, pick 3 big things you want to change. Maybe these are the points that you’d normally write down as your new years resolutions.

Then under each one, start writing out every conceivable excuse you’ve made in the past or could imagine yourself using.

When you’re done, take a moment to marvel at that list because it’s usually pretty long.

Then go through and ask yourself line by line how true each excuse is.

Notice how much control each excuse has over you… and how you allow it to alter your behavior overriding what you know is best for yourself.

Post the list somewhere visible and easy to see so that you see it all of the time.

Each week tackle 1 or 2 excuses. Once you’ve busted them, cross them off of your list.

As you go deeper and deeper into the list, you’ll find that sticking to the resolution becomes a lot less difficult.

This is ultimately about taking back your control in life. Excuses render you feeling incredibly safe and (unbeknownst to you) powerless.

How To Stop Eating Sugar In The New Year

Back to the bit about sugar for a moment… if you know you went way overboard with sugar over the holidays (or maybe that is pretty normal for you), then breaking your sugar habit might be on your resolutions list, right?

But I’m willing to bet that you’ve tried to break up with your love of sugar before and it hasn’t gone so well. You’re good for a few days… maybe even a couple of weeks, but then something happens and you fall right back off the wagon.

A whole year goes by and you’re back to “I really need to stop eating all of this sugar”. This pattern is sort of like a broken record.

But I want you to know that there is a way to make it stop. I know that it’s possible thanks to my many years of experience both as a clinical nutritionist and personally ditching sugar.

I’m actually teaching a super interesting webinar on sugar addiction soon.

Part of what makes it so difficult to break free from is that YOU aren’t at fault for your addiction to sugar

You heard me right… it’s not your fault.

Yes, sure… you chose to eat all of those sugary items, but the reality is that food companies have done a lot of things to put you in the position that you’re in. They’ve used science against you and learned how to override your willpower so you can’t ever say no.

I think you’ll really enjoy this webinar –> REGISTER HERE … it’s totally free to join me!

I call it the “Gluten-Free Sugar Addict’s Guide to Break Up With Sugar… For Good.”

It kicks off at 7pm ET on Tuesday, January 9, 2018.

(To be entirely clear, I won’t hold this webinar again this year, so now is the only chance to tune in!)

When you get your hands on simple tools like what I’ll share, it makes beating back those excuses around why you eat sugar so much easier.

That’s all for now… so forget about the resolutions and this year, tackle your excuses. I’ll bet you’ll be light-years ahead by the end of this new year compared to where you’re starting now.

Wishing you a lovely and action-packed new year filled with lots of excuse-busting! Who knows… maybe you’ll finally do something you’ve always wanted to do, but were afraid to!

Thanks for joining me and I’ll see you the next time! Bye bye!

Make New Years Resolutions Podcast SHOW NOTES

Gluten-Free Sugar Addict’s Guide to Break Up With Sugar… For Good → Grab your FREE seat here

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe to the podcast through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well.

The post Make New Years Resolutions That Stick (So You Nail Your Goals): GFS Podcast 091 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Yes, I was embarrassed by a relative who mocked my diet change.

No, I totally failed to tell the host that I had food restrictions and that I was now gluten free.

No, I didn’t bother to bring any side dishes or desserts that I could eat. I don’t even think I packed a snack in my bag!

I’m not sure what I expected (back in 2008) to be honest especially considering that my family is Italian and we do pasta no matter what the holiday.

But somehow it all worked out despite a few scrapes that taught me a lot for the next time.

And those pearls of wisdom are what I’d like to share with you today (and go beyond just being gluten free).

If you find the holidays to be THE WORST, then you’ll want to tune in!

Today’s podcast kicks off Season 4 of the Gluten-Free School Podcast. (I know… Season 4!!!)

The tone will be different… more focused on stories and action steps.

More to the point.

More real.

Some will be short (today’s is only about 10 minutes long) while others may be longer if I have a guest.

Let’s take a step together forward so that you stop feeling paralyzed by fear or overwhelm. That better, healthier life is waiting 🙂

Oh, and if you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe to the podcast through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well.

5 Tips To Survive A Gluten-Free Holiday

Please stop fearing the holidays!

That’s why I want to share with you 5 of the most practical tips that have totally changed how I experience the holidays for the better.

In this episode…

– When to approach the host of the meal

– How to phrase your situation so that the host isn’t offended by your food restrictions

– Why you should leave your soapbox at home from any holiday event

– Boundaries you need to set up front so family members know up front to be on better behavior

– What you should always offer any time you go to someone’s home for a holiday meal

– and much more…

I know these tips work… check out this note passed on to me from Gluten Free School reader April Jensen…

I have to tell you, I followed your advice on how to deal with family, especially on holidays. This was the first Thanksgiving where my parents put a lot of thought and effort into accommodating my diet needs. I was surprised and extremely happy! It alleviated a lot of stress.

Got any other great tips or strategies to share?

Maybe a mis-step you took and what happened during a holiday?

Leave your comments below!!!

Gluten Free Holiday Tips SHOW NOTES

70+ Best Gluten Free Thanksgiving Meal Ideas

120 Best Gluten Free Christmas Recipes

10 Tips to Avoid Getting Glutened During The Holidays

How to Swap Out Dairy In Holiday Dishes

The post 5 Tips To Survive A Gluten-Free Holiday appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Methylation and Hashimoto’s are two big topics on their own, but I wanted to know if some sort of connection exists. If so, then hypothyroid suffers should know because methylation challenges should really be addressed as part of the underlying reasons for feeling sick.

Though I’ve certainly covered Hashimoto’s with several guests (most recently Dr. Izabella Wentz), I too have talked about Methylation and why it can trigger so many different symptoms.

But the two worlds never collided until now. Because each issue on their own can make you feel terrible, I knew that you’d want to know if there was overlap.

And yes, there certainly is!

Because thyroid issues can take years to develop, you may not know exactly what’s going on with your thyroid right now. And it can be a real challenge to get some doctors to run all the correct testing (ahem… a full thyroid panel).

It’s my hope that this interview will help you better grasp some serious problems with conventional treatment methods for Hashimoto’s along with how (and why) to spot methylation challenges. Both need to be addressed in order to support your best health moving forward!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

MTHFR, Methylation & Hashimoto’s with Dr. Eric Balcavage

This can be a challenging topic to address in such a short period of time! But somehow, we managed to tackle it in a way that is new and refreshing to listeners.

Dr. Balcavage has a different perspective than many do who focus on thyroid health. His professional experience spans topics like MTHFR, methylation, and Hashimoto’s. And that’s what I asked him to join me.

I’ve known him for several years since he works in the greater Philadelphia area. His work is impressive and he lectures all over the US.

In this episode…

– Understanding methylation from a different perspective (great for the patient)

– Could Melatonin be the wrong choice for poor sleep? (Here’s what to consider instead…)

– Do you really need to get genetic testing done to address methylation issues properly?

– Connections between MTHFR, methylation and Hashimoto’s challenges

– Why TSH and free T4 values look normal, but you still don’t feel better (and why T4 replacement drugs don’t work so well)

– and much more…

MTHFR, Methylation & Hashimoto’s SHOW NOTES

Organix Comprehensive Profile Test (aka – Organic Acid testing) we discussed that you can order

Dr. Eric Balcavage’s website

Thyroid Problems Doctor website

Methylation Doctor website

Thyroid Answers Podcast

The post MTHFR, Methylation & Hashimoto’s with Dr. Eric Balcavage: GFS Podcast 089 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Linda is my client and we began working together in January 2017 because she wanted to try to reduce the chronic muscle tremors and muscle weakness that had plagued her for years.

Things had gotten so bad that she could barely leave her home, couldn’t help out with her precious grandchildren, and had really withdrawn from being social.

She couldn’t stand in line at the grocery store without the aide of a walker. (And she’s only in her early 60s!)

And Linda found me and decided that a functional nutrition approach might be helpful after listening to so many health experts talk about the importance of diet.

Her transformation in six months has been astounding and she’s reclaimed her life as the gut issues, mood swings, muscle tremors and weakness, and anxiety have subsided.

For the first time ever, she’s able to hold and care for her baby grandson (which she couldn’t do with the previous two)! And that’s just one of the many ways her health has completely turned around.

In this podcast, you’ll meet Linda who was excited to share her story with you with the hopes of inspiring you to keep on going. We’ll talk about her symptoms, testing, and how we worked together that brought about such tremendous improvements in her daily quality of life.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

CASE STUDY: How Functional Nutrition Stopped Linda’s Muscle Tremors & Weakness

In this episode…

– The daily struggles that Linda encountered because her health had gotten so bad between thyroid, gut, mood, and muscle issues

– What test we used to figure out what her body need as well as what was throwing it off balance

– How we worked together to create a functional nutrition program for Linda that she could follow

– The ways her life has completely changed as her symptoms have resolved after 35+ years of looking for answers

Jennifer Fugo, MSc: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast! Today I have a really exciting and, I would say, interesting treat for you.

I have a guest that I believe will provide you with hope… and a rekindled belief that it is possible to overcome really stressful health challenges especially when they’ve become chronic.

Together we uncover answers to your health and see results through a process called functional nutrition. It’s not just like you lose 10 lbs., but that your day-to-day quality of your life can be so improved that it’s literally a night-and-day difference!

I want to introduce you to a client of mine. Her name is Linda Anders.

I have had the pleasure of working with her for the past six months. She agreed to come and talk to you today and share with you her story in the hope. Our intention is to inspire you to keep on looking for answers especially if you’re at the beginning of your journey.

Consider that if you don’t feel like you’re getting the right answers or the straight answers or the best answer that really resonate with you, that it is possible to look elsewhere and give something like functional nutrition a try. That may change everything for you.

Linda, thank you so much for joining us today!

Linda Anders: Thank you. I’m glad to be here.

Jennifer: Linda, you and I have gotten to know one another over the last six months. And I think it would be helpful for people to understand where you were before we met. And you have shared with me that this journey for you of your health not really going right began back when you were like 18. So can you just recap for everybody what’s been the downward spiral like for you that got you to a point where you’re like, “I’ve had enough! I need to look for answers.”

Linda: I started on thyroid medicine when I was 18. I was on it for very long. Eventually doctors took me off of it because the numbers were “normal”, or at least where they thought they should be. And so through my 20’s, I didn’t take any medication.

Linda Anders — Overcoming chronic muscle tremors and weakness with functional nutrition.

And then in my 30’s, I was given some medicine over periods of time, but I still never really felt well a lot of the time.

Eventually I developed goiter and I had two scans on it. The second scan showed that I might have cancer, so I went to a surgeon and he did surgery to remove my thyroid.

It turns out that it wasn’t cancer after all. And then I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.

After all that, it just seemed like I just couldn’t get better. I just kept going downhill more and more with more aches and pains. And I had so much bloating all of my life. It just seemed to be getting worse and worse. 

So, I started going to doctors to find out what could be done. They tested me for everything and found nothing. I tried doing some functional medicine which helped me for a while. But it wasn’t really followed up on and I ended up feeling worse.

I’ve been chiropractors, neurologists, and plenty of family practitioners.

And at my very worst, I was using a walker about three years ago. I didn’t use it all the time, but only when I was in situations where I immediately needed a place to sit down because as soon as I stopped walking, I couldn’t stand it anymore. My leg shook so bad.

I got a little bit better before I found Jennifer, but not good enough. The tremors and shakiness in my muscles just kept getting worse again. I wanted to try something else and trusted your straight-forwardness and commonsense approach.

Jennifer: And Linda, I wanted to add to this too. Would you say you were pretty fatigued and didn’t feel like yourself a lot of the time?

Linda: Yes, I didn’t feel like myself at all. I didn’t have the energy to do anything. I was isolated in my house. Most of my time was just spent sitting in front of the TV.

I was so bad that I didn’t even leave my house because the anxiety of somebody seeing me that way. And so the shakes and the tremors made it so I didn’t go out with friends and really… I didn’t leave the house.

Jennifer: And as it’s natural to be social, you want to be engaged in society. One of the really beautiful things about you was, when we started working on your goals, you weren’t like, “I want to be like I was when I was 18.” You had a really legitimate goal—or a few of them. But would you mind sharing what was your goal around when I said like, “What do you want to be like if you were actually to feel better?”

Linda: I want to be able to travel with my husband. I want to be able to play with my grandchildren. I want to just be able to do the things that a normal woman in her 60’s does.

Jennifer: So, you weren’t like, “I want to go surf in Hawaii” or anything.

Linda: [laughing] No.

Jennifer: These little things, they meant a lot. And I know now, because we know one another pretty well, I know how big of a deal they are to you. And that’s why quality of life is so important in the process of trying to reclaim your health.

We want to be practical, but in truth, it’s about the little things, right? It’s about, like you said, being able to hold your grandson. That’s a really big deal for you, to be able to hold a baby and be able to care for a child which was really hard for you energetically before.

Linda: Yes. I have three grandsons. And the last grandchild is the only one that I have really felt safe enough to take care of because of the dramatic improvements I’ve had with my health. He is the first one that I can hold him while I’m standing. I’m able to give him his bath, put him in his high chair, and actually do things for him.

I have missed out on so much of my life.

Jennifer: Well, we’ve changed a lot of that now after working together for six months. Before that you were looking to give something else a try, right?

Linda: Yes.

Jennifer: You were feeling like there was probably—I must say, you are eternal hope in my mind. You represent that. In all the years that you have struggled and gone through what you’ve gone through, the one thing you have shared with me is that you’ve never, ever, ever given up hope, and how important hope was for you.

Let’s talk about that in a moment. But first, I’d really like for you to share with everyone—we realized that you have a lot of symptoms, some of which were neurologic in a sense, like the muscle fatigue and the tremors. You had a lot of just general fatigue overall.

Did you have any digestive issues that you’d be comfortable sharing with anybody?

Linda: Oh, yes! As I’ve said before, I had a bunch of gut issues like bloating, constipation and diarrhea. I had pains in my stomach that I didn’t think I could bear. And that is gone now!

Jennifer: So, Linda, you’ve probably had a lot of tests done, correct, all sorts of crazy medical tests and labs and such?

Linda: Oh, I’ve had all the lab work. I’ve had MRI’s and CAT scans. I’ve had needles stuck in my muscles to see how they react. I mean, I have had a brain scan. I’ve had everything.

Jennifer: And like I said, this is one reason why I feel really lucky that Linda was willing to share her story with you because it was literally—I would say, Linda, the one test that we ran, the Organix Comprehensive Profile urine test—so simple, non-invasive—was what really helped change everything for you.

What we discovered on the test was that you likely had some bugs in your gut that were potentially causing issues that increased leakiness and inflammation. We also found that your mitochondria or the power plants of every cell needed appropriate nutritional support to make sure that they were producing energy appropriately.

And so, you and I were together developed a plan that you agreed that you could follow. I think that’s important, that you’re able to actually follow the plan and that we do it together. Did you feel like you were a part of the process of creating the protocol that you ended up going on?

Linda: Oh, definitely, I was. You explained the whole test for me. You told me why I was taking each supplement, and what it would do. And I agreed with everything that you have suggested for me to do. And it worked for me perfectly!

Jennifer: Yeah, and you actually followed through with everything too. You were very communicative. You let me know every week how things were going along. We touched based weekly, which was really wonderful. And it allowed us too to make any minute changes as things progressed.

And now, after like two months of working very closely together, after this test, it’s like things have really changed.

So, did you want to share with everybody after following through—you followed the protocol—what is life like for you now as far as your health is concerned?

Linda: Well I gave you 10 symptoms, and all of them are gone or greatly improved.

Now because of functional nutrition, I can go places out of my house. I can stand in a line at a store. I can take care of my grandchildren.

I can live! That’s what I can do, is I can live.

Jennifer: And your husband also mentioned to you your mood has really changed a lot too and your anxiety levels. Do you mind sharing a little bit about that?

Linda: Oh, my moods were horrible! Any little thing that happened, I just blew up.

And my husband knew that I hadn’t always been that way. He knew something was wrong—the anxiety and the shaking as I tried to go out the front door and just couldn’t make it. I mean, I have had a responsible job during my life. I have raised two children. I’ve taken care of my parents through bad times. And I just changed. I totally changed.

My anxiety level is so much better now. I don’t have mood swings. Everything just keeps getting better.

What’s a Functional Nutrition approach like?

Jennifer: It’s been such a pleasure to work with you and to be able to share in your journey with you. I like to think of it as like a co-pilot because I’m not just the one directing the ship. We do the work together in functional nutrition so you feel truly supported on your journey.

You mentioned a moment ago—and I said you are like my beacon of hope. You represent hope to me because you have this eternal sense of never giving up. You really never have through all these years.

Can you share with people who have struggled for a really long time—and I can’t count how many years. What would you say, about 40 years that you were really going through them? You really dealt with things for a long time.

Linda: For a long time…

Jennifer: What would you say to somebody who’s like, “I’m ready to throw in the towel and give up”?

Linda: Don’t give up. There is always something else that you can try and that you can do. And some people will tell you that what you’re doing, there’s nothing about it, it’s not going to work. I believe that you find the right person, and you will get better. You need to look for that person.

Jennifer: And do you think that the way we work together—because it’s a lot different than when you went to say like a conventional doctor or a more conventional practitioner?

And again, what we did doesn’t take the place of a doctor. As a functional nutritionist, I always defer to doctors especially when it’s necessary or the case is incredibly complex.

But the way we worked within the system of functional nutrition was likely a lot different than what you’ve probably experienced in the past.

First of all … we meet on time. And I respond to your e-mails and your questions in a timely fashion. That’s why clients enjoy the process with me because they don’t feel like they’re simply a number in a line.

How was our working relationship different from what you’ve had in the past with other practitioners?

Linda: I was told by other practitioners that the pain I experienced daily is just a part of life. I just needed to suffer. I was dismissed more times than I can count. They would try to send me to a different kind of doctor because they didn’t know what was going on. They would tell me that this just can’t be happening the way it was.

And when I started working with you, you didn’t make me ridiculous promises. You told me that you were going to try to help me by looking at the puzzle of my health from a different perspective. I trusted you because I knew that you were really trying to help me.

Jennifer, you are kind and knowledgeable. And like you say, every e-mail was answered within a very short time. And any symptom that wasn’t getting better, you made suggestion on tweaks we could make that would move things along.

I have so much trust in you, Jennifer.

But I feel like I was failed by so many doctors that didn’t really listen to me.

Jennifer: And I think that it’s a shame that so often people in our community feel so blown off and ignored by conventional medicine. After years of being given the run around, they almost feel like they’re in a big rat race, and it’s really hard to get good answers, clear answers.

To even have somebody to explain things to you clearly is important. I remember you said that I was one of the first people ever to actually explain to you what some of the things on your labs meant. And that’s a much different experience than someone who is just going to see somebody and say, “Oh, you look fine. Everything looks normal” even though you know you don’t feel normal.

Your story is just so amazing because our work has completely changed how you experience life on a day-to-day basis.

Do you have any parting words for anybody that if they were wondering if functional nutrition is worthwhile to try? To work with somebody that will really listen to you and go the distance and be a part of your team, not just dictate to you?

Linda: I believe if someone tells you that you cannot feel a certain way, and you know you do, you need to go to somebody else. You need to try something different. And you need to really feel like you can trust the practitioner that you’re working with. And it is important to find someone who is a kind and knowledgeable person.

Jennifer: Yeah, that is important. The personality does matter a lot.

And actually, I have one last question, Linda. Obviously, the things we’ve worked on together is a personal investment in your health.

Do you think that all the work that we did together that included changing your diet and using supplements… Do you feel at this point looking back at where you were to where you are now, was the process worth it for you?

Linda: Oh, it was well worth it. When you’ve suffered for so long, all you have to go with is hope. And the investment in you and functional nutrition that’s allowed me to get my life back is worth it.

Jennifer: Thank you, Linda. I really appreciate you sharing your story. I know that you’re not used to being interviewed.

We were talking at our last session and I thought how powerful your story is. And how it could give hope to listeners if you were willing to share it with people. It is beautiful and inspiring testimony to looking at a health problem from a much different perspective.

I know how passionate you are because you said that if you could help just one person, it would make all the difference. And you and I both share that idea, that if we could just help one person, then we’ve made this world a better place.

I just want to thank you so much for your willingness to give something else a try and to walk with me and employ me on this journey with you. And for also being willing to share your story to help inspire and encourage others. So thank you so much for joining us!

Linda: Thank you. I appreciate all you’ve done for me.

Jennifer: You’re very welcome. I’m glad to have you as a functional nutrition client and also to know you personally, Linda. It’s been a real pleasure.

I know this is a very different type of podcast as usually I’m interviewing an expert.

But I hope that this offers you a glimpse into what is possible with functional nutrition. This model allows us to look at your health circumstance from a different perspective by seeking out the root cause. You start to find what area of your body is really compromised and how we can bring that area back into balance in a way that makes sense for you.

It also doesn’t make you feel like you are doing something that you’re against. A lot of people don’t want to take antibiotics. We all have these different boundaries now with our health that we don’t like to cross.

And it’s one of the reasons of why I decided to become a functional nutritionist… to be a copilot on your journey that identifies the root cause and work together with you to bring your health (and life) back into balance.

I’m so glad that Linda was here to be able to share her inspiring story with you of how functional nutrition changed her life!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. I’m happy to answer them!

Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye bye!

The post How Functional Nutrition Stopped Linda’s Muscle Tremors & Weakness: GFS Podcast 088 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Many people do because you may have more options available to you than what your conventional doctor offers.

While I admit that thyroid care is in a terrible state, there is hopeful research in the works. And, there are new approaches to healing available to you right now.

I know this because 85% of my clients with gut issues also have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, thyroid nodules, or subclinical hypothyroidism. And they all have gotten blown off at one point or another by providers who acted like their thyroid issues were no big deal.

If you’ve got thyroid problems, you know that it IS a very big deal. And that’s why finding solutions for Hashimoto’s is critical for you to get back to feeling much more like yourself.

Sometimes diet can be a solution (HERE’S a two-week meal plan to test out).

Other times, the path to healing is more complex requiring several months of hard work and focused strategies to rectify various imbalances that drive Hashimoto’s.

Whatever you do… keep on believing that a solution to your unique health puzzle is out there. Never give up!

May this truly insightful conversation (CLICK HERE to download the complete transcript) on the Solutions for Hashimoto’s give you a helping hand.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Solutions for Hashimoto’s (backed by science) with Izabella Wentz: GFS Podcast 087

The stats for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis are astonishing — it’s 7 times more likely to affect women than men.

It can also show up in those who already have celiac disease, vitiligo (and other skin issues), rheumatoid arthritis, pernicious anemia, lupus, and other autoimmune diseases.

Unfortunately, it goes ignored or undiagnosed because the symptoms can look like other common problems.

Can’t lose weight? Your doctor could think that you have “fork-to-mouth” issues. (I seriously didn’t make that term up… it’s an unfortunate phrase used by doctors who assume their overweight patient is just eating too much.)

Can’t get up in the AM and you need to take naps? Some may say that you’re just lazy.

Your hair is falling out? Some may just tell you to take more biotin.

And this list goes on and on with symptoms that look like something else, but are actually symptoms of Hashimoto’s.

Because women (and some men) suffer for years, it’s no wonder that they begin looking for solutions to Hashimoto’s that are outside of the conventional norm.

That’s what my guest Dr. Izabella Wentz had to do… take matters into her own hands.

It’s my hope that the following podcast will provide you with insight you’ve never heard or read anywhere else before!

In this episode…

– The progression of Hashimoto’s based on a 5-part scale

– Common misconceptions about Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

– Why liver detoxification is critical to improving (and possibly resolving) symptoms

– What & where to look for infections that can trigger (or exacerbate) Hashimoto’s

– New solutions for Hashimoto’s that are coming down the pipeline

– Get a 2-week AIP diet protocol created by Izabella just for you

– and much more…

Solutions for Hashimoto’s SHOW NOTES

Izabella Wentz’s website

Izabella’s FREE 2 week AIP meal plan

Izabella’s books -–>

CLICK HERE to get your copy of Hashimoto’s Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back

CLICK HERE to get your copy of Izabella’s first book Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause

The post Solutions for Hashimoto’s (backed by science) with Izabella Wentz: GFS Podcast 087 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Rambling in the doctor’s chair isn’t usually to your benefit.

And that’s why it’s frustrating to realize that you forgot to share certain details you knew were important. Once the doctor leaves, it may be months before you get the chance to share what was overlooked.

That’s why keeping your health journey straight and on point during exams is crucial.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably struggled (if not outright suffered) for a long time. And I’d like to see you be better prepared moving forward for every doctor’s appointment you have. It’s my goal to help you get answers more quickly.

When I’ve talked about patient advocacy in the past, creating lists came up. The reason is that it can help you stay focused despite being nervous or anxious about and during your appointment. And they offer you the ability to prevent vital health data from getting lost in the shuffle.

Why Lists Are Key To Organize Your Health (REAL LIFE EXAMPLE)

When my mom had open-heart surgery for a congenital defect in 2016, I was her advocate. The thought of having this massive surgery was incredibly stressful for her. So much so that she literally zoned out after the doctor told her surgery was necessary and failed to hear just about everything else he said after that.

If I’d not been in the room taking notes and asking questions, she may have pushed off the surgery for several months thinking it wasn’t urgent.

Every single time we attended appointments pre- and post-surgery, I had lists of questions, symptoms, medication changes, and such right in front of me. And boy, did it help!

This is why I believe in power of lists in order to organize your health. They keep you on track and help meaningfully move the process forward much more than simply relying on your memory.

I hope you will listen so that you too can discover the value of lists to organize your health (and your life)!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How to Organize Your Health Like a Pro with Paula Rizzo

You might think that list making is boring or dull. But if you’re here, reading this article and following Gluten Free School, you may want to rethink that.

Lists are key to seeing results. They are a way to organize your health so that nothing gets overlooked.

You know what to say and ask the moment the doctor (or practitioner) enters the room.

You won’t kick yourself afterwards for forgetting a question.

But the doctor’s office isn’t the only place they come in handy! I use lists all of the time when it comes to groceries and weekly menu planning.

That’s why I asked my dear friend Paula Rizzo of ListProducer.com to join me and share some of her top tips to organize your health (and life) with lists.

Paula and I met because she discovered that a gluten sensitivity after going through a traumatic health experience. So she knows first-hand how valuable lists can be both on a daily basis as a TV producer for cable news as well as for your health.

In this episode…

– Why lists can be your greatest asset to organize your health

– Different type of lists that you can make that help in the kitchen or in the exam room

– The best apps to use to organize your health, symptom, and food lists on mobile devices

– The most critical (and most often overlooked) steps people make when using a list to convey their health story to a doctor

– How lists can benefit you especially when you’re brain feels foggy, you have difficulty remembering things, or you’re just down right exhausted all of the time

– and much more…

How to Organize Your Health Like a Pro SHOW NOTES

Paula Rizzo’s website

Paula’s book -–>  CLICK HERE to get your copy of Listful Thinking: Using Lists to be More Productive, Highly Successful and Less Stressed

The post How to Organize Your Health Like a Pro with Paula Rizzo: GFS Podcast 086 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Before you think you’ve found your silver bullet, know that taking the dietary and lifestyle change route is a long game. It’s certainly possible to feel improvements within days, but it doesn’t mean that your thyroid will kick back into full gear instantly or that your gut will work perfectly the very next week.

With the state of autoimmunity on the rise to such a significant degree, women (and even men) faced with what feels like a super bitter, hopeless pill are willing to give something else a try.

What do you have to lose, right?

As my guest on today’s podcast Mickey Trescott puts it — you’ve got many symptoms of your illness to lose.

And that’s the ultimate bright side here… That you have an option to try that offers you hope after discovering a progressively worsening autoimmune disease without much hope for remission. While many in the conventional model of health might think you’re nuts, there are many out there who can testify of the power and possibility to reverse autoimmune disease with diet and lifestyle changes.

It might not be the most glamorous way to change your life and reclaim your health, but it’s certainly better than no options at all. And (most importantly), it can work.

That’s why I wanted to talk to my two guests today who’ve authored a brilliant new book called The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook. Between them both they share five autoimmune diseases and have a positive attitude that’s completely infectious. I know you’ll learn a lot, so please listen in!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How to Reverse Autoimmune Disease With Diet with Mickey Trescott and Angie Alt

No matter where you are at on your journey with autoimmunity, your life has probably become more challenging. People in your life may not believe that you are really sick and some may struggle to know how exactly to help you.

Perhaps you’ve even met resistance from your health professionals which only adds to your frustration.

That’s why it’s not entirely surprising that you have considered (or are in the process) of taking steps on your own. To try something different that gives you more hope than what you’re experiencing at your doctor’s.

The “natural route” of addressing the myriad of symptoms you face isn’t novel anymore (even if your doctor claims to never had heard that it’s possible). There are countless stories of triumphs and reversals of autoimmunity all over the web.

To be clear, this isn’t going to work for everyone and not everyone will see the same results as others. However I believe that trying something different (whatever it might be) is worth a shot. My friends Mickey Trescott and Angie Alt have written a powerful new book (it’s actually a best-seller now on Amazon) on how to take the food and lifestyle steps to reversing autoimmunity a step further.

We’ll dive into some really powerful nougats here on how to reverse autoimmune disease with diet and lifestyle… so please, dive in!

In this episode…

– Why autoimmunity is so often blown off even if there are labs to confirm an actual diagnosis

– How to change your doctor’s skeptical mind that diet can be helpful (without arguing with them)

– Beyond food, what else is critical to reversing autoimmunity (that’s way harder to implement)

– Why you should tap into the autoimmune community for support

– How long is too long to be on a strict AIP elimination diet especially if you aren’t feeling better (and what you need to do next)

– What’s the best way to track your symptoms to identify the small wins (especially if you’re healing journey is a long process)

– and much more…

SHOW NOTES

Mickey & Angie’s Website

Get the book -–>  CLICK HERE to get your copy of The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook

The post How to Reverse Autoimmune Disease With Diet: GFS Podcast 085 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

If you’ve wondered how to beat fibromyalgia, you’re not alone. Over 5 million Americans suffer with you daily of which 80% to 90% are women. Talk about a woman’s issue, right?

One of the biggest misconceptions about finally getting a fibromyalgia diagnosis happen to cause a lot of confusion which I intend to unpack for you today. First of all, fibromyalgia isn’t an autoimmune disease. Before you writing me arguing that I’m wrong on this, listen to today’s interview.

Secondly, doctors don’t often follow the correct fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria that allows them to officially (and correctly) confirm that you even have it. And this is key because there are other illnesses that are often confused for fibromyalgia. By failing to correctly nail the diagnosis, you’re likely to go on and on for years wondering why you (and your doctors) have been unable to that reverse fibromyalgia diagnosis.

And yes, all these questions and points will be covered today by my guest Dr. David Brady. His years of work as a physician working with chronic fibromyalgia (as well as those who suspect they have it) provide an incredible insight into what you need to know in order to start feeling more like your old self again.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How to Reverse Fibromyalgia with Dr. David Brady

It was a special treat to sit down with David Brady, ND today to discussing his unique and effective way to reverse fibromyalgia. Not only is Dr. Brady a super nice, down-to-earth physician, but he also happens to be in charge of my Master’s program in functional nutrition.

So yes, I was a bit star-struck. 🙂

But that didn’t hold me back from having a conversation that will hopefully inform, but also surprise you at times.

A lot of what is conventionally thought or said about chronic fibromyalgia is based on ideas that don’t hold water. An example of this would include the claim that it’s an autoimmune disease (when it’s not).

He also shares why every fibromyalgia patient should have a full thyroid workup — especially if you don’t have a diagnosis yet. For more information on thyroid information, I did a fantastic interview last podcast all about it.

The point that I was left with after reviewing Dr. Brady’s book (FibroFix — which I highly recommend!) and his interview is this…

If you get the diagnosis wrong, then you’re pretty much left feeling like you’ll never reverse fibromyalgia. Only then will you resolve the symptoms by effectively dealing with the root causes in the first place.

In this episode…

– Why fibromyalgia is so often misdiagnosed

– Is fibromyalgia an autoimmune disease?

– What needs to happen in order to get an accurate diagnosis for fibromyalgia that’s often overlooked

– What very common condition could look and feel like fibromyalgia, but isn’t it at all (and drastically varies in how you’d treat it)

– Testing important to get an accurate diagnosis (so you know what to treat) in order to reverse fibromyalgia symptoms

– and much more…

SHOW NOTES

Dr. David Brady’s website

Dr. Brady’s book -–>  CLICK HERE to get your copy of FibroFix

The post How to Reverse Fibromyalgia with Dr. David Brady: GFS Podcast 084 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Maybe you’ve heard of something called a “full thyroid panel,” but your doctor will only run your TSH. Perhaps you’ve read that some foods are optimal for thyroid function while others (like gluten) don’t make the cut. The thing is, you don’t know the reasons behind why these points are important. And you’re likely tired of hearing about scary medical terms that make you want to throw in the towel.

To be clear, thyroid dysfunction is not a deficiency of Synthroid.

Nor should all types of hypothyroidism be treated in the same way. A pill will not fully solve your problems and make you feel like your old self again. If that were the case, then there wouldn’t be so many women out there complaining about how they simply aren’t getting better despite religiously taking meds. And it frankly flies in the face of more current research and work from trailblazers in the functional medicine world who have patients experiencing tangible results.

Medicine is meant to evolve with new research, not to be stuck in the mud.

In today’s episode, we’ll take a look at the thyroid connection and how there are more options out there for you to address subclinical hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and Grave’s Disease.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Thyroid Connection – Practical Solutions to Feel Better with Amy Myers, MD

Dr. Amy Myers is a long time friend of Gluten Free School and this is her second time as a guest on the Gluten Free Podcast. We’ve previously chatted about Leaky Gut and how to address it from her years of experience helping patients.

The thing about this podcast is that the topic of thyroid dysfunction isn’t just something that Dr. Myers deals with in her clinic daily… it’s personal. That’s why she uniquely understands what you’re going through from the frustration to the fear that you’ll never get better.

Since I’ve had several other guests on the podcast to talk about thyroid health, I didn’t want this conversation to be another “beginner’s lesson.” Instead, we dove into questions I often get asked and even some of my own concerns about the thyroid, patient advocacy, and diet.

We certainly touched on topics that she’s extrapolated on in her new book — The Thyroid Connection and her upcoming Thyroid-focused Summit.

I hope that you’ll enjoy the conversation as well as find it to be enlightening!

In this episode…

– How a protocol for Hashimoto’s and Grave’s is similar (and where they diverge)

– The tests to ask for to get the full picture of what’s up with your thyroid

– Why sugar is on the “no no” list for optimum thyroid health

– Key minerals beyond just iodine that your body needs in order to make and convert thyroid hormone

– Smoothies and concerns about collagen

– More thyroid resources

– and much more…

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Amy Myers’ website

The Thyroid Connection Summit — It’s FREE to tune during the week of Monday 10/24/2016 and 10/31/2016!

Dr. Myers’ books -–>

CLICK HERE to get your copy of The Thyroid Connection

Once you purchase the book, head over to www.thethyroidconnection.com, enter your receipt number, and get access to lots of additional goodies to support your journey! If you order more than 5 copies, you’ll get entered to win an amazing opportunity to visit Dr. Myers at her clinic.

Haven’t gotten her first New York Times bestseller? CLICK HERE to get her first book, The Autoimmune Solution.

The post Thyroid Connection – Practical Solutions to Feel Better with Amy Myers, MD: GFS Podcast 083 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Of maybe the better question is… have you ever lied to your doctor?

It might be a little white lie (“no, I don’t take any supplements” when you actually do) or a lie by omission.

Heck, maybe it’s your first visit and you don’t feel comfortable yet disclosing every little detail of your health. It’s natural to worry that you’ll be silently judged as the practitioner scribbles something down with a “Uh huh.”

Or maybe you’re the practitioner who’s failed to go deeper with clients. To question them further when things don’t add up. Or give them the space and time to share their entire story (because you aren’t sure how restless legs every night could possibly be connected to something like skin rashes).

The client doesn’t feel like you’re listening and that you don’t have time for them… so they hurry. They hustle past important details. They gloss over what’s really keeping them up at night. And then they don’t really get better because what’s underneath the health problem fails to see any light.

No matter what side of the client-practitioner equation you sit on, there’s a problem (especially with conventional medicine).

Today’s podcast is here to help bridge that gap so that you are heard (without judgment) and practitioners have enough information to find the root cause. 

On a personal note,  this interview completely turned my own thoughts on this subject completely on its head. Dr. Aviva Romm joined me again on the podcast to share her incredible and insightful wisdom. Just like she did when she was first on the podcast, she opened my eyes to so much and I think she’ll likely do the same for you.

This episode — #82 — marks the end of the “How to be a Better Patient” series (Season 2 of the Gluten Free School Podcast). For many reasons, I’ve left Dr. Aviva’s podcast here in it’s entirety. It was too good to trim down to the 15 to 20 minute limit I’d initially set for all interviews in this series.

It’s my hope that you’ll not only enjoy and learn from this conversation, but that you will share it with others so that everyone else can learn how to be a better patient.

The GFS Podcast will transition to a Season 3 — coming this September. I am calling it “The Bright Side of Your Health” so that you can be reminded of the blessings that can come even in what feel like the darkest times. So that you can feel inspired in a world unfortunately so fixated on negativity and victimization. I hope that you’ll join me for this new season with all new guests!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How To Talk To Your Doctor So They Know Enough To Help You with Aviva Romm, MD

In this enlightening interview, Dr. Aviva Romm shares the power of the story behind your health journey. I wanted to make sure that you know how to talk to your doctor (or practitioner) so that you can ultimately get the best care.

And of course find the root cause of what’s going wrong with your health.

In my 10+ years experience working directly under an MD, I found that too many patients failed to share key details. Unless I asked or probed, I would never have gotten information that the doctor needed.

But here’s the problematic flip side that practitioners have some control over – the 10-minute appointments (so common in conventional medicine).

You know, the ones that fail to provide the time and space for patients like you to be as forthright as possible.

In this episode…

– How to talk to your doctor so that they can help you find the root cause of your major health complaint

– What one key thing you should always tell your practitioner even if you fear they’ll judge you for it

– What practitioners can model in how they interact with patients to build trust

– How to get the most of out your sessions with practitioners

– and much more…

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Aviva Romm’s website

Dr. Aviva’s books -–> ‘The Natural Pregnancy Book”, “Naturally Healthy Babies and Children”, & “Botanical Medicine For Women’s Health”

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! This bed has given me back pain-free living after a serious injury to my neck. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post How To Talk To Your Doctor So They Know Enough To Help You with Aviva Romm: GFS Podcast 082 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Skeptically, clients (and even readers) will ask “can meditation help you heal faster?”

The answer is yes and it can have a host of benefits that have been scientifically proven to improve one’s health even if they are sick with a disease (say, Type 2 Diabetes for example). Stress is one of the most common triggers of chronic illness and can exacerbate your symptoms.

But while you might talk about how much you need to reduce stress, have you actually taken action on it?

For everyone who is still on the fence or failing to prioritize tapping into this free tool, today’s podcast is for you. It’s my hope that you’ll give a second chance and add meditation and/or mindfulness into your treatment protocol.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Can Meditation Can Help You Heal Faster with Dr. Diane Mueller

One of the most common questions I’ve asked practitioners interviewed on my podcast is why patients don’t meditate. The answers tend to be mixed. Most comment that people would rather pay massive amounts of money on pills because they’re perceived as the epitome of convenience.

That’s why I asked Dr. Diane Mueller to join me on today’s podcast. Her treatment protocols specifically revolve around meditation and other forms of mindfulness. I figured that she would be the perfect person to ask “can meditation help you heal faster?”

In this episode…

– How stress hormones are positively impacted (in a very short period of time) by daily meditation or mindfulness

– Why you likely can’t seem to sit still for more than 20 seconds when you try to meditate

– If a sitting meditation is difficult for you to do, what to do instead

– Why this should needs to be a part of your health protocol especially if you’ve experienced chronic stress (I mean… who hasn’t?)

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Diane’s website

Master Li talking about Qigong

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post Can Meditation Help You Heal Faster with Dr. Diane Mueller: GFS Podcast 081 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

We can probably agree that your body is an amazing work of brilliance and will do whatever it can to see you thrive. Subtle imbalances or issues may not be immediately noticeable. It could take you years to realize that your Vitamin D level is low, for example. And you might only become aware of it because a doctor thought to test for it… not because you felt particularly bad.

The point here is to underscore that a state of disease (or a body that’s at dis-ease) doesn’t typically happen overnight. It’s not like likely that you woke up one morning with an autoimmune disease… in fact research suggests that it was slowly brewing for years unchecked. That’s why it’s important to do this one thing I’ll talk on the podcast today about that will give you more hardcore data so that you can more accurately and honestly answer that question.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How Do You Know If You Are Healthy with Pearl Thomas

Pearl Thomas, the co-founder and co-creative director of Hashimoto’s Awareness joins me to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart — taking your health seriously.

In this episode…

– Why you shouldn’t assume you’re healthy because you feel fine

– The simplest way to figure out if something is going wrong even though you might still be symptom-free

– The amazing support group Hashimoto’s Awareness

– An upcoming online event for everyone struggling with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis to get support, inspiration and clarity about what to in order to thrive despite their disease

SHOW NOTES

Healing Hashimoto’s Summit –> CLICK HERE to grab a FREE seat

Hashimoto’s Awareness website

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post How Do You Know If You Are Healthy with Pearl Thomas: GFS Podcast 080 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

That said, there is a specific way that you as a client/patient show up to your appointments that can truly make or break the progress that’s ultimately possible. Today’s podcast with Jen Wittman, CHHC, of Thyroid Loving Care highlights this very critical problem.

I often wonder if clients who’ve previously done this while seeing me were aware of how detrimental this one thing they were doing was. Jen has had the same experience and she decided to sit down with me to talk about this so that you can take a look at your own attitude when headed in to work with someone and ultimately stop doing this.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Why You Aren’t Feeling Better After Seeing Your Practitioner with Jen Wittman, CHHC

I’ve known Jen for several years now. She’s one of the sweetest and most caring people in the wellness world. While her expertise lies in food and thyroid health, she’s been a real advocate for those struggling to get results with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

We were chatting one day about how we could help clients realize the potential in every session or visit they have with us or any other practitioner. And so, our discussion in this podcast is a direct result from that chat.

In this episode…

– What’s the number one thing you may be doing as a patient or client to totally sabotage your progress before you even finish with your appointment

– The mindset that makes it easier for you as a client to actually get results and not fight with every practitioner you meet

– One of the best Thyroid resources out there (that’s free!)

– Why you must speak up if you’re feeling overwhelmed with what a practitioner asks of you

SHOW NOTES

Jen’s Website

CLICK HERE to get your Thyroid Report! Learn what your thyroid healing type is and what tests you need to request from your doctor.

Check out Jen’s Common Thyroid Myths Online Workshop (it’s free to attend)

Grab a copy of Jen’s book “Healing Hashimoto’s Naturally” HERE

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post Why You Aren’t Feeling Better After Seeing Your Practitioner with Jen Wittman: GFS Podcast 079 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Why?

Because you don’t necessarily have to rely on expensive labs to tell you whether or not a protocol is working after a reasonable period of time. And also because the goals you come into their office with might not be appropriate or realistic for you. To proceed forward with goals that aren’t a good fit is setting yourself up for failure from the start.

I’ve heard countless stories of women who’ve spent TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS working with practitioners who have very little to show for it except a bunch of labs that look like gibberish to them and a cabinet full of supplements. That’s not okay in my book.

One problem is that “objective” markers are easily measurable through outside devices. For example, the glucose level of your blood can be measured by a machine and your weight can be measured by a scale.

But “subjective” markers such as feeling more energetic become tricky to know for sure that progress is being made. Since there’s no clear test to measure how much energy you have, it’s easy to lose sight on changes that happen especially when the changes occur in small steps over a drawn out period of time. So saying something like “I want more energy” is not very clear.

How much energy would be better or enough? And how would you know if you had more energy? Lastly, is your expectation around the amount of energy you want to have realistic? Wishing for the boundless energy of a 15 year old at age 47 isn’t practical and may not even be attainable considering all of your health concerns.

Today’s episode is here to help you understand why clear, smart health goals can work in your favor not just to make sure that you can measure those subjective goals, but also that you’re actually working on the right thing for you.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Smart Health Goal Setting For Measuring Progress With Practitioners with Laura Schoenfeld, RD

It’s very possible to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on your health with absolutely nothing to show for it.

That’s why my friend Laura Schoenfeld, RD joined me today — to provide you with a sense of perspective that you might not currently have about whether or not a protocol is working.

In this episode…

– Why creating clear health goals allows you to measure success with practitioners beyond just labwork

– How to create smart health goals so that you can check in on parts of your health without requiring more labs

– The downside to being a perfectionist with your health

– Why acceptance of certain realities around your health is necessary

SHOW NOTES

Laura Schoenfeld’s Website

Laura’s Instagram

Laura’s Facebook Page

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post Smart Health Goal Setting For Measuring Progress With Practitioners: GFS Podcast 078 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am a fan of Functional Medicine. But what I see online and hear from readers of my newsletter seems like there are some real misconceptions about how this type of medicine can help you (as well as how long it will take to actually feel better). Managing expectations is important no matter what you do.

Remember, there are no magic pills nor any silver bullets when it comes to your health. The longer you put off seeking help, the longer it may take to get better and somethings may not improve. While Functional Medicine is a beacon of hope for many (including myself), it’s important to keep a realistic view of what it can do so that you don’t inadvertently find yourself disappointed.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Managing Patient Expectations: What Functional Medicine Can and Can’t Do For You with Kara Fitzgerald ND

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald is one of the most brilliant minds when it comes to Functional Medicine. Today she joins me to dispel some serious misconceptions that patients often have about what it can and can’t do for their health.

With many years of experience under her belt, Dr. Kara knows what it takes to help patients finally feel better, but as you’ll hear in this episode, managing patient expectations is key.

In this episode…

– Does Functional Medicine have magical powers to heal or cure any ailment?

– Reasonable timeframes to expect for treatment when seeing a Functional Medicine practitioner

– The type of relationship you should expect from a good Functional Medicine practitioner

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s Website

Podcast on I did with Dr. Kara on How to Do An Elimination Diet on a Budget

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post Managing Patient Expectations: What Functional Medicine Can and Can’t Do: GFS Podcast 077 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

There certainly are and that’s what today’s conversation is focused around… what red flags you can look out for so that you don’t end up kicking yourself… wishing you never stepped foot in their office. Michael Roesslein from the Rebel Health Tribe joins me to chat about what you need to keep an eye out for before and during your visits. Plus we touch on some critical components of what you should keep in mind about what’s really going to make a difference on your end that doesn’t cost you anything (except maybe a bit of effort).

Remember that each episode of the Gluten Free School Podcast Season 2 will focus on one particular issue or solution that you can easily implement. Some may take more time than others, but all are highly worthwhile. In an effort to be efficient, each podcast will be as to-the-point as possible because I know that your time is valuable. So I’m packing in as much detail as I can to hand you the tips, tools, hacks, and ideas to help you be a better patient from here on out.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How to Spot Red Flags Bad Practitioners Have with Michael Roesslein

Michael Roesslein is a good friend of mine and the co-founder of the Rebel Health Tribe which seeks to empower people to reach towards their best health. It’s a wonderful community (and I’ve certainly been a guest on a webinar they hosted) and I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with them for quite some time now.

That’s why I invited Michael to talk about this important topic because… well, there are sharks in the water, my friends. I do truly believe that most practitioners have a good heart as well as good intentions, but there are sharks out there who peddle scams and false hope. I’d like to see you avoid them and hopefully the info we share today will help you!

In this episode…

– Michael and I talk about why you’ve got to ask for referrals and look around before going to see a practitioner you randomly found online

– The easiest way to get a sense of what that practitioner is into or about as far as health and healing is concerned

– Why a consumeristic mentality is bad when it comes to your health

– The free changes you can make that will actually make a bigger impact than just taking a ton of supplements

SHOW NOTES

Rebel Health Tribe Website

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post How to Spot Red Flags Bad Practitioners Have with Michael Roesslein: GFS Podcast 076 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I know the antidepressant battle all too well. Back in my early 20s, I was prescribed antidepressants to treat obsessive compulsive disorder. My first prescription came and went in one dose because I went into an angry, sobbing rage that I barely remember. The second prescription triggered depression (yes… I was taking an antidepressant and becoming more depressed), a deep sense of isolation and an inability to function socially and complete college assignments. Before failing out of school, I reached out for help to get off of the medication.

This conversation today is what I wished I’d know before taking antidepressants. It’s not about gluten… but instead about a staggering trend of antidepressant use in people who might not really need them and were never told of alternatives nor advised of the side effects.

It’s not my intention to say that prescription medications don’t serve a purpose (as there certainly is a time and place for them), but what I hope to provide you with greater insight on antidepressants. While I’ve certainly talked in the past about gluten’s affect on mental health, the fact that 1 in 4 women in their 40s and 50s are on psychiatric drugs is incredibly alarming. It’s further disheartening that these drugs may not resolve the problems at hand and can lead to issues such as nutritional deficiencies. And there is research out there demonstrating that deficiencies are commonly seen in those who experience depression, but rarely addressed during a medical or mental health examination.

Remember that each episode of the Gluten Free School Podcast Season 2 will focus on one particular issue or solution that you can easily implement. Some may take more time than others, but all are highly worthwhile. In an effort to be efficient, each podcast will be as to-the-point as possible because I know that your time is valuable. So I’m packing in as much detail as I can to hand you the tips, tools, hacks, and ideas to help you be a better patient from here on out.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

Before Taking Antidepressants, Consider This with Kelly Brogan MD

This week’s episode on “How to be a Better Patient” features special guest Kelly Brogan, MD, author of A Mind of Your Own. Dr. Brogan is a long time friend of GFS and was formerly on the podcast about 2 years ago. She and I share a deep love and appreciation for empowering patients to make wise and purposeful choices with their health.

Since Dr. Brogan’s book comes out today, I thought she’d have some powerful insight into important considerations around the use of antidepressants. And of course, she did share some sobering realities about them that is worth listening to even if antidepressants are no where on your horizon. Plus she’s got some really great freebies to grab HERE.

Currently A Mind of Your Own is #1 on Amazon’s Holistic Medicine and #2 in Depression categories. I was lucky enough to get an early release copy and have been blown away reading this book. I can’t recommend it enough. If you or someone you know is really struggling with mental health issues, this is an excellent resource to start helping you turn things around.

In this episode…

– Dr. Brogan and I talk about why you’ve got to believe in and be open-minded about whatever treatment you try in order to see results

– The incredibly shocking stats on unnecessary antidepressant use

– What you need to consider before taking antidepressants

– Why getting off of antidepressants can be more challenging (and at times impossible) than certain illicit drugs

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Kelly Brogan’s website

Get Dr. Brogan’s “Better Than Xanax” guide + freebies + an fantastic giveaway to celebrate her book release

CLICK HERE to get Dr. Brogan’s book A Mind of Your Own!

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post Before Taking Antidepressants, Consider This with Kelly Brogan MD: GFSP 075 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I actually got this idea from a podcast I recorded on patient advocacy back in 2015. It was one of many favorite interviews because even though it isn’t loaded with all sorts of juicy health details, it provides you some basic steps to make sure that doctors (and practitioners) hear you and work with you on your road back to good health.

Each episode will focus on one particular issue or solution that you can easily implement. Some may take more time than others, but all are highly worthwhile. In an effort to be efficient, each podcast will be as to-the-point as possible because I know that your time is valuable. So I’m packing in as much detail as I can to hand you the tips, tools, hacks, and ideas to help you be a better patient from here on out.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!! Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from listening in as well!

How to Be a Better Patient with Amie Valpone

This week’s episode on “How to be a Better Patient” features special guest Amie Valpone of The Healthy Apple. I’ve known Amie since 2012 when we met at a Gluten-Free event in Philadelphia.

While she has been featured and published in big name magazines like Martha Stewart, Shape, Clean Eating, Cooking Light, the Food Network and Prevention (just to name a few!), she’s experienced some incredible health challenges that drove her to see over 500 doctors in order to figure out what the heck was going wrong.

Today she joins me to talk about one of the single most important steps she took that helped her (and her doctors) figure out why she was so sick.

Amie also talks about her upcoming book Eating Clean: The 21-Day Plan to Detox, Fight Inflammation, and Reset Your Body that’s currently #1 in Vegetarian Diets on Amazon a week before its release! I was honored to get a pre-release copy from the publisher and was very impressed. Creative, healthy and clean recipes as well as a lot of wonderful information that Amie learned while trying to fix her health. She boils it all down to hand to you so that you hopefully won’t have to learn the hard way (like she did).

In this episode…

– Amie and I talk about what to do with your health records that helps keep the puzzle pieces together

– Why detoxing is more than just some juice cleanse

– And a few other tidbits that you don’t want to miss!

SHOW NOTES

CLICK HERE to get Amie’s new book!

Check out the GFS Podcast sponsor — Intellibed! They’ve helped to change my daily experience with sleeping and moving around without pain. Since I’m such a big fan, they’re helping to make this season of the GFS Podcast possible. If you’re looking for a new mattress, definitely give them a call. Use coupon code GFREESCHOOL to get 10% off your entire purchase!

The post How to Be a Better Patient with Amie Valpone: GFS Podcast 074 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I recall having a friend in grade school who contracted Lyme disease, but I honestly didn’t understand what the big deal was. Considering that Lyme disease is “the fifth most nationally notifiable disease“ according to the CDC, it’s a mystery why there isn’t more public education about how it’s contracted and treatment options out there.

Until recording this interview, I always got freaked out by ticks. Now I realize how incredibly serious they are and worry that we are dropping the ball to something that could be a major reason why people don’t feel well, especially when they just aren’t getting any better. This was pointed out in a webinar I hosted with Dr. Jill Carnahan where she mentioned that undiagnosed lyme disease is a big potential factor for those who have adrenal fatigue if they’ve taken all of the diet and lifestyle steps and still aren’t getting better.

YES, this podcast interview is long. It is filled with so much detailed information that I didn’t have the heart to cut it down to the typical 30-minute format because if it helps just one person, then I’m glad it’s all here.

I urge you to share this post with friends and family, especially those who have been diagnosed with lyme disease or even those who are incredibly sick and just can’t seem to get better. Perhaps this critical information will help them get back on the road to feeling better sooner.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease with Kevin Passero, ND

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, we are going to talk about Lyme disease.

I have a guest back with me. Actually he was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts. His name is Dr. Kevin Passero. He’s a licensed naturopathic doctor whose mission it is to bring cutting edge natural and holistic therapies to the Washington DC Metro area and to educate people on the value of naturopathic medicine across the country.

His practice focuses on an individualized approach to medicine with his goal to help people uncover the answers as to why their body is in distress and find the solutions necessary to restore optimal health.

Dr. Passero completed four years of post-graduate naturopathic medical education at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado. He is a former president of the Maryland Naturopathic Doctors Association and is an active member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Welcome back to the podcast, Dr. Passero!

Dr. Passero: Thank you, Jennifer! Thanks for having me. I am glad you enjoyed my previous podcast so much.

Jennifer: I did! I learned so much about GERD and now you’ve got your own book out about that now. We can mention that at the end for sure.

But I feel like this issue of Lyme disease (I really appreciate, before we even get into anything) that you’re willing to sit down and talk to us all about this because I feel like so many people are now getting this diagnosis of Lyme disease. They just don’t even what it is.

I think of Lyme disease as being bitten by a tick. But maybe that’s not the correct association. Could you just describe to us a little bit about what exactly Lyme disease is?

Dr. Passero: Sure! Technically, Lyme disease is only a condition that you can get by being bitten by a tick. At this point, the only confirmed or known vector, which is the insect or animal that transmits the organism, the spirochete, which is the bacteria, the Lyme disease bacteria is a tick.

But it’s a very confusing picture because Lyme disease as we have seen and we’re starting to learn can present in many, many different ways and there seems to be a lot of confusion amongst healthcare professionals spanning from naturopaths to medical doctors to infectious disease specialists to nutritionists and all across the board as to what constitutes a case of Lyme disease. I think that’s one of the most important things that people have to start to understand.

There is the acute, most obvious presentation of Lyme disease. Somebody gets bit by a tick. They see where the tick bit them. They remove it.

They may be present with the classic bull’s eye rash, which is this very, very unique reaction that occurs in Lyme disease. It is unique only to Lyme disease. A bull’s eye rash is considered pathognomonic for Lyme disease, meaning that a doctor doesn’t have to do any further testing to confirm a Lyme disease diagnosis if that particular rash is present. So it’s very unique to it. And then maybe they present with fever and joint pains and that’s a very classic acute onset Lyme disease.

Where it gets very confusing, Jennifer, is that many people obviously struggle with various aspects of their health and they’ve had ongoing health struggles for a long period of time and many times, they go into doctors’ offices and they haven’t been given any answers as to why they feel so sick. It may be fatigue. It may be joint pains or body aches.

Lyme disease testing, as we’ll talk about in the show, can be a bit controversial and not as black and white as many other tests. There are many clinicians out there that are looking at these cases of people that are chronically unwell despite what looks like very good treatment from conventional medical doctors and specialties. They’re still very unwell.

Well, we’re starting to wonder, “Is it possible that infections are a component to their case and one of the underlying reasons why they are feeling ill?” because it’s typically something that has never been addressed? That’s what starts leading us down this very muddy road, new avenue of chronic Lyme disease. Does it exist? Does it not exist? How do you test for it? How do you treat it?

Basically, that’s where I think many of your listeners might be falling into the category of they’ve been unwell or struggling for a while and they’re now getting diagnosed or they’re hearing about Lyme disease and it’s starting to bring up a lot of questions.

Jennifer: Is it possible that you could have been bit by a tick and not even realize it and you end up with Lyme disease?

Dr. Passero: Yes, right. So first of all, tick bites don’t cause pain. Unlike a horsefly bite or other animals that bite, sometimes they itch and sometimes they hurt. With ticks, you feel nothing. There’s really no way to know just based on the sensation whether or not you’ve been bitten.

Number two, Lyme disease is most likely to be transmitted at certain times a year by certain types of ticks. Usually, it’s the juvenile ticks, the very, very baby ones, which come out in the springtime.

That’s because they basically haven’t really had their first meal. The Lyme disease organism can be transmitted to them basically from the mother who’s spawning them. And when they’re out looking for their first meal, they’re very aggressively looking for hosts to feed on.

And in addition, they are tiny, sometimes smaller than a sesame seed and sometimes no larger than the head of a pin. They’re tiny, tiny little insects.

It’s very possible that one could attach, could feed. You never felt it, you never noticed it. It dropped off, it went on its merry way and you never remembered actually having a tick bite, nor seeing a tick bite. And not everybody that gets bitten by a tick or gets Lyme disease has that pathognomonic rash – bull’s eye rash. This only happens in a percentage of people that get bitten by tick or that contract Lyme disease. So you may never have had a rash. You never may have seen the tick, you have never felt the tick, but you may have had some of these Lyme spirochetal organisms transmitted into your body.

And they have a very, very slow growth cycle. Sometimes, it may take years before their population grows enough to even cause the first set of symptoms.

Jennifer: What would those symptoms be? If we’ve got people who’s listening to this and they’ve just not felt well for a really long time and they’re trying to put pieces together, but nothing really makes sense maybe – and I know that some people say, “Maybe I have Lyme disease.” It always seems to get thrown out there. So what would be some key signs and symptoms that people would look for?

Dr. Passero: Yeah. It’s probably a really tough question. It’s almost impossible to answer because Lyme disease is often called the great imitator. It’s a relative of syphilis. Syphilis is another type of spirochetal organism that is basically the cousin of the Lyme organism.

And syphilis was even called the great imitator, meaning most any condition that you have could possibly be related to Lyme. That’s one of the problems.

There are two sides of the fence. You have a very conservative group of very conservative position from the CDC and from the Infectious Disease Society of America, of those doctors where there’s a very set criteria of symptoms and testing that has to be in place.

And then there is this whole other side of it – MDs that have looked at chronic Lyme, naturopaths, nutritionists, acupuncturists where you can almost look at any case and potentially call it Lyme. So you’ve got to have somewhere in between.

But some of the primary symptoms in the early phases, you may have a fever and you may have joint pain, headaches, stiff necks, pain and swelling in the large joints. The knees seem to be particularly repositories for the Lyme organism, so knee-swelling. There are shooting pains, which are very vague, heart palpitations, dizziness, visual changes, eye pain.

You can have autoimmune type conditions crop up. Fatigue is certainly a big component of a lot of Lyme disease. There’s brain fog and difficulty thinking, confusion, even neurological symptoms, numbness and tingling.

These are just for Lyme disease. There are many other infections that tick carry that are considered co-infections meaning that they’re commonly transmitted at the same time that a Lyme organism is transmitted and these are other things like Babesia, which is a parasitic infection that behaves very much like malaria where you can oftentimes see night sweat (it’s a very common symptom), daytime fevers.

There’s another organism called Bartonella, which is very commonly transmitted, which can cause some other hallmark symptoms like skin changes, odd stretch marks, pain on the bottom of the feet, high levels of anxiety.

The list goes on and on. We could spend the 40 minutes literally reading through a list of symptoms, but I suppose those are some of the top ones. 

Jennifer: If someone gets bit, if they believe that they got bit by a tick or maybe you find a tick crawling on you – this happened to my husband a couple of weeks ago. We were sitting on the couch and all of a sudden, I saw something crawling up his shirt. And he said, “Oh my goodness, it’s a tick.” We weren’t even near the woods, but somehow he had a tick on him. And I’ve gotten a tick on me in the middle of a mall. It happens. Should you be concerned if you find a tick on your clothes that maybe you got bit by it?

Dr. Passero: It’s a good question. It’s possible. I mean, typically, if you see one crawling on you, there’s no evidence that it’s embedded. The problem is when it’s embedded and it looks like it is feeding. That’s the only way it can transmit any of these nasty bugs, if it’s actually embedded in your skin.

Typically if it’s crawling around, it’s usually looking for a place to embed. And usually if it’s crawling around, the first thing that you should ask is retrace your steps. Where was I? Find out. “It was at the mall. But did I walk through? Did I take a shortcut through a grassy area or through some woods or anywhere where I may have just picked this thing up?”

Yes, your husband is sitting at home on the couch, but was he out mowing the lawn before? Or perhaps do you guys have a pet or an animal that could have maybe brought the tick in?

If it’s crawling on you, I think your best assumption is probably that it hasn’t bitten you yet. Sometimes, you can also tell by the size. Typically, when a tick has fed for a while, it becomes really large and engorged. It almost looks like a swollen blister because it’s full of – it is gross, but it’s full of its blood meal.

So if it’s not full of its blood meal, it doesn’t look engorged, you can pretty safely assume that it hasn’t just stopped feeding and it’s trying to crawl off of you to find a way off. But really, what you need to be worried about is when you find the tick embedded in the skin or you have an area or a site that looks suspicious like it might have been a tick bite.

I would say as well that one of the other biggest misconceptions is that people get bit by a tick and a lot of times, they do get a rash. When they go online or they go to their doctor, it doesn’t look like this very characteristic bull’s eye rash, but it is a very suspicious looking rash.

So anytime that there is a rash of more than a few circular rashes that’s larger in diameter, maybe one to two inches, I would highly suspect the possibility of Lyme disease even if it’s not a bull’s eye rash.

And if it’s a large rash more than three or five inches in diameter and it doesn’t have bull’s eye characteristics, you can still have what looks like what is a pretty much classic Lyme disease rash that doesn’t have the bull’s eye characteristics.

If you have a tick bite and there’s any real suspicious looking rash, you should definitely have it looked at. A lot of times, the immune system will respond to just the tick’s saliva and some of the other things that the tick puts into. So it’s normal, a lot of times, to have a little bit of redness around the bite mark, even lasting maybe one to two weeks. But if it’s a larger area that looks really suspicious, this is something that absolutely needs to get looked at and I think would probably require some treatment.

Jennifer: There are very practical questions here because I honestly don’t know the answers. I want to know and I’m sure other listeners would probably want to know this.

Dr. Passero: Sure.

Jennifer: If you get bit by a tick (and you say it’s embedded), do you pull it out or do you need to go to the doctors to have them remove it?

Dr. Passero: No. You can pull it out yourself. There are methods for doing it. Number one thing, all of the old wives’ tales – there are so many different things. Smother it in Vaseline. Burn it. These are all bad ideas.

Jennifer: Don’t do those.

Dr. Passero: You don’t want to do any of those things. No. First of all, coating it in Vaseline, the idea is that it cuts off and the tick can’t breathe and it will back itself off. There’s no evidence at all that that is necessary.

Ticks really don’t need much oxygen and Vaseline just basically makes it slippery and when you do have to pull it out, it makes you have to squeeze it more. It makes the tweezers slide. And basically you want to avoid things that basically cause the tick to put things back in your body. So over-squeezing it and over-manipulating it can be problematic.

Unless it’s an area that you can’t reach, you really don’t need a doctor. There are a few techniques to do it. You want to grab it as close to the head as possible and you want to pull it straight up and back a little bit, meaning almost tilting the tick on its back, just very slightly and pulling up gently.

One of the best tools that I’ve ever seen for this was demonstrated to me at a Lyme disease international conference that I was at. It is called the “Tick Twister.” It was developed by a company I believe in Germany or Switzerland. The tick’s area where it embeds is barbed. It’s a like a fish hook that’s barbed. So it’s very difficult to pull it straight out.

If the tick’s head gets left in your skin, the head and the saliva glands where the Lyme disease organisms and these other nasty organisms live, it can continue and you’re at risk for transmission as long as the head is still in you. Plus, if the head stays in, it also creates an opportunity for infection, just general infection.

The Tick Twister, because the mouth of the tick is barbed, it actually takes the tick and it grabs it in a certain way and it twists it. And if you were to take something barbed and put it in a piece of Styrofoam, if you try and pull it out, it will pull the whole block of Styrofoam right up with it. If you slowly twist and lift, it comes right out without even moving the block of Styrofoam.

So it’s this ingenious way of looking at the mechanics of the tick and the anatomy and basically ensuring that we get the best removal because you do want to try and get the entire tick out with the head without overly squeezing it or manipulating it.

Burning it doesn’t work at all. None of those things work. You can burn it once you remove it although I wouldn’t recommend that either. But those are the best options for removal. 

Jennifer: And if it happens that your pet, say a dog or a cat, goes outside and you live in a woody area, can they get bit and carry Lyme disease as well?

Dr. Passero: Absolutely! Animals get very ill with Lyme disease, particularly dogs. Horses are very susceptible. I haven’t heard as many cases with cats, but maybe that’s just because I don’t know as many cat owners as I do dog owners. But it can transmit. Cats are a huge repository for that other co-infection called Bartonella.

But yeah, dogs can have it and they can get sick with it with the same symptoms as humans. We don’t really measure brain fog in a dog, but you can see fatigue and lethargy. And certainly, the most common is arthritis and arthritic changes in dogs. Dogs can be pretty sick with it.

And then your dogs can also carry the ticks in. They go out in the wooded area and they do their business. They chase a squirrel and they pick up the tick, they bring it inside. The dog sleeps in the bed. You guys are sleeping. The tick crawls off the dog and crawls on to the person.

I have had this happened personally when I had a dog. It used to sleep in my bed. I wake up in the morning and I have ticks embedded in me. It came from the dog.

So those are all possibilities. I try and get people to get their animals out of their bed.

Jennifer: How common is Lyme disease? I often think that it is something we should all be aware of at least in the US, but I’m not even sure with certain regions. Perhaps you know if this is just an issue in the US or North America or if this is something that is more worldwide of a concern. How frequent, if you know those statistics, does Lyme disease show up?

Dr. Passero: It’s very common. It is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States meaning it’s the most common disease of something that’s transmitted by an insect.

Basically, they report about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease to the CDC every year. But there was an analysis that was done where that was just considered the tip of the iceberg where really a new estimate, according to the CDC, was more than 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with tick-borne diseases each year. That has to do with reporting and poor ability to get good diagnostics and a true understanding of the condition and disease and how to diagnose and report it.

It is 10 times more common. That’s even from the CDC. If those are the CDC estimates, a lot of times, the true estimates are even greater than that.

Confirmed cases of lyme disease as of 2013. (Image from the CDC.gov -http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps/map2013.html)

It is a very big issue in the United States. Every state in the United States has Lyme disease. There isn’t a single one that doesn’t. There are areas that are more common. There are certain states where it’s considered endemic, meaning that it has the highest rates and that the organism is considered to be at high rates in all areas of that state. Where I live, Maryland happens to be one of them. Minnesota is another one and New York, Connecticut. Some of the other states on the East Coast are one of them.

So the East Coast in Lyme, Connecticut is where the first case of Lyme disease was reported, which is where it got its name. So it’s obviously spread out from that area. The Northeast Corridor, stretching all the way down to East Coast and into the Southeast has very high rates of Lyme disease.

You also do see high rates on the West Coast, even in California, Oregon, Washington State, even in the Midwest. I said Minnesota is an endemic state, one of the highest rates of Lyme disease. Pretty much there isn’t a state that doesn’t have it.

And the condition does go worldwide. It is present in very high numbers in Europe, even in areas like Africa. Pretty much every continent is dealing with Lyme disease to some degree or another. 

Jennifer: Wow. I had no idea. I honestly thought maybe it was just North America. I did not realize that you actually have to be concerned about this.

I’m sure that everyone listening to this is going, “What does this have to do with gluten?” We talk a lot about gluten. You and I talked about GERD and gluten, what the connection was.

Why do you think that people who see functional medicine doctors or naturopaths like yourself because they aren’t getting straight answers. And Lyme disease ends up being suspected or found. Why do you think that all these people are not getting help in the conventional medical system? It just seems like Lyme disease is a big issue.

Dr. Passero: Sure. The classic scenario is that someone presents with a subset of symptoms. Maybe they’re having joint pains or shooting muscular pains like we talked about or they’re experiencing vertigo or dizziness or headaches or some type of chronic condition.

They see their primary doctor. Their primary doctor runs some blood test, tries some initial therapies. Blood test seemed normal. Initial therapies are failing. They maybe send him to a specialist. “Okay, you’ve got all these pain issues. Your blood test looked pretty normal. It’s not responding to my recommendation to take Advil or whatever it is. Why don’t you see a rheumatologist?”

The patient goes to a rheumatologist. They get a full slew of work up from the rheumatologist. Maybe there are one or two markers that are abnormal, but not enough to categorize them with a rheumatological disease like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis or something along those lines. The rheumatologist is scratching their head, going, “Well, it looks like this, but your labs don’t really match it. Maybe we can try this medication and we’ll put you on Lyrica or some other type of med.”

Patient either says, “I’m not comfortable with that looseness of the diagnosis to try the medication. I’d rather only reserve medications when I actually know exactly what the diagnosis is.” That may lead them down a different road. Another patient may try the medication recommended by the rheumatologist and oftentimes because it’s not treating the actual issue, they actually don’t get any results from it.

So they’re still feeling pain. They’re still having dizziness or vertigo or whatever their subset of symptoms is. And they go to a different rheumatologist or the rheumatologist sends them to a neurologist and they go through that whole battering of workups. And they’ve been pretty much through every possible workup specialty and potential treatment from everything that Western medicine has to offer and they’re still left sick and unwell and wondering what in the world is going on with their body.

And then they oftentimes end up in the office of a functional medicine doctor who sits down and takes a bit of a different approach and says, “Well, why isn’t your pain responding to the treatments that should work for a rheumatological type of condition or this type of condition or that type of condition? Maybe something else is going on.” A lot of times, because Lyme is the great imitator and can cause a lot of symptoms, more doctors are becoming aware that an undiagnosed infection from something like Lyme disease may be a very causative or primary factor in why these people are still ill.

For people who practice functional medicine or naturopathic medicine, which is basically the same thing. It’s looking for the root cause of an illness, except naturopathic medicine is much older than functional medicine. The idea is to look for the root cause and to find out why. And if you ask that question enough times and you really want to try and get to the answer of why is this person sick, you have to start going down these different roads. Infection, we’re finding, is a road that needs to be explored these days.

Jennifer: If you get Lyme disease, I’m wondering if you can get rid of it. Is this a chronic issue if you get that diagnosis that you’re going to have Lyme or you’ll be dealing with Lyme for the rest of your life?

Dr. Passero: It depends on the case and it depends on how it’s treated. And it depends on the person. Some people, unfortunately the answer is yes. For many people, the answer might be no.

What we don’t really understand, especially in people with chronic Lyme, is it a result of the fact that there are still bacteria left that are causing problems? Or is it a result of the fact that maybe – we know Lyme disease increases risk factors for autoimmune conditions. Is it possible that even the infection may be gone, but there’s some autoimmune activation that has happened that’s contributing to inflammation and problems?

Lyme organisms cause so many symptoms because they release toxins. Most bacteria do. Another possibility is that some of the toxins, which are highly fat-soluble, get stuck in the body. And even if the infection is gone, you’re still dealing with a high burden of toxins that continually circulate in the body that makes it difficult to feel well.

These are all working theories. Sometimes you can look at these working theories and apply certain therapies and take somebody who – I’ve worked with these patients – has had three years of continuous intravenous antibiotic administration, who probably has killed off most of the organisms, but is still dealing with a fair amount of symptoms. Give them certain therapies that work to detoxify the toxins out of their system. And all of a sudden, they start to feel better. Or you work on things that modulate immune function and they start to feel better.

And then for some people, it’s very straightforward. They get bull’s eye rash. They get some arthritic changes. They catch it early. They see a doctor who has a good heads up. It’s treated appropriately for long enough. It goes away and they’re done. They never have another symptom for the rest of their life.

It’s not, in my opinion, about do you always have Lyme disease because it’s very likely that probably a large percentage of the population has some type of or one or a few Lyme organisms may be in their system. It’s more a question of how your body’s balancing and living in equilibrium with that organism.

So it’s a very difficult knot. It’s like everything else is with Lyme. It’s not an easy question to answer.

Jennifer: Yeah. I guess you have to really approach each patient from a very individualized space. Otherwise, the treatment is probably not going to work because like you said, there are so many different factors here.

Dr. Passero: Yeah. I mean most of the basic concepts around treatment are the same. I mean you always start typically with killing the organisms. That may come from antibiotic therapy, which can be effective. Or many people choose to use herbal or botanical therapies, which also can be very effective.

Jennifer: It’s interesting because antibiotics – my audience is no stranger to antibiotics and also the amount of devastation that antibiotics can do to the gut flora. So I guess the question is if you find out that you have Lyme disease, say you really don’t want to go the antibiotic route, what are some things that they can maybe do some research on and present to their doctor that are not antibiotics?

Dr. Passero: Sure. Again, I think it really depends on the case because certainly in the right circumstances, I think antibiotics can be an incredibly valuable tool. And in many circumstances, especially if something is caught early, I actually recommend and oftentimes prescribe antibiotic therapy. I do that typically in conjunction with other therapies, but antibiotics can serve as a very good primary treatment for these issues.

Some people who are very sick, Jennifer, who are presenting with very severe symptoms, neurological symptoms, losing function of some of their limbs, they’re having major neurological problems, major visual changes, Bell’s palsy, very difficult problems, a lot of times, you need some antibiotics to come in to just stabilize that case and get the infection under control at the beginning where I don’t think that’s oftentimes enough in the long run. But in the beginning, it oftentimes is a good start.

For some people, you need to really work with somebody that understands the different options and can help you understand the different options so that you can make a good clinical decision. I think the part where it becomes really confusing is a lot of people who have been sick for a long time or are just getting diagnosed with chronic Lyme, many of the treatment protocols for treating chronic Lyme do include extended courses of multiple antibiotics. Some people might be horrified to hear this, but it oftentimes includes three to four antibiotics given simultaneously for typically anywhere from 12 to 48 months.

Jennifer: Oh, my goodness!

Dr. Passero: Right? So a lot of times, that’s the reaction. That is probably the gold standard treatment for doctors that have been exclusively dealing with chronic Lyme, which is a condition that is not yet recognized by the more traditional Infectious Disease Society guidelines and the CDC don’t really recognize chronic Lyme disease. But many of these people who have been sick for a long time, when you get them on these antibiotic protocols, a lot of times they do start to get well.

Obviously, it takes a very hard toll on the body to use that many antibiotics. And I’ve seen people on those antibiotic therapies for three to five years.

Jennifer: Oh, my goodness.

Dr. Passero: So it does get tricky and it does beg the question – what else can we do from a non-antibiotic standpoint because of the tolls that it takes on the body and other ways to get the infection under control? There are many herbal protocols that have been very helpful.

Dr. Lee Cowden, a cardiologist from Texas who’s got very much into functional medicine. He started just from patients that were walking in his door, getting introduced to Lyme disease. And he ended up developing a very successful herbal protocol called the Cowden Protocol.

It’s somewhat expensive. It’s very labor-intensive because you have to take doses of these different herbs about four times a day. And you take them for a minimum of typically nine months up to a year, sometimes even longer.

But it is not antibiotic-based and it can have very, very good clinical outcomes. Some say and some small clinical office trials with about 2000 patients, it got about the same benefit as using these really aggressive antibiotic therapies, but it’s obviously not antibiotic-based. But only people who can afford it and are willing to go through the process of taking all those herbs at different times would be good candidates.

There’s another fantastic herbalist. His name is Stephen Buhner. And he wrote a book called Healing Lyme Disease Naturally. He has some very good protocols that I’ve seen many patients and other people that I’ve met in the Lyme community do very well on.

There’s a myriad of many other companies that a good clinician who’s working with these issues should know about that can be very effective. And there are some other really interesting therapies that are coming to light that fall under the category of oxidation, which uses ozone therapies. That can be ozone delivered rectally or intravenously, mixed with the blood. And using hydrogen peroxide therapies delivered in various fashions that are also showing a lot of promise when it comes to treat infections without the use of antibiotics.

Jennifer: If someone is uncomfortable with or perhaps they’ve tried the antibiotics, has it ever happened where someone tried the antibiotics and they didn’t work and maybe now they want to move on to something else that is non-antibiotic-based?

Dr. Passero: Yes, it’s very common that that happens. Or somebody may go through a year of antibiotic therapy and improve and then to find that a year later, the symptoms are starting to return and they are looking for a different option besides the antibiotic therapy to get it under control. This might be someplace they would turn.

Many people when they’re diagnosed at the outset – this is a decision that I make with people all the time because I’m often one of those functional medicine clinicians, with appropriate testing and building appropriate enough case around the diagnosis, will say, “I really suspect that you have an infection and I suspect that that infection is Lyme disease or possibly other co-infections are related to it. And I think that some of the chronic symptoms you’re experiencing are very much related to it.” And of course, the next question out of their mouth is “How do I get rid of it?”

And then we have a discussion about here are the options that are on the table. We can treat it this way or that way. And I help patients make that choice if they don’t already have a strong feeling about it based on their case and how they’re presenting the severity of their illness and those types of factors.

Jennifer: So I think the takeaway message that I’m getting from all of these is really that – I know that everything serves a place. Antibiotics, there’s a purpose for them. I think we’re so used to them being overused, but in this instance, it is something that you might not want to just discount immediately. You should really work with someone that knows all the options and can help you make a decision that’s going to be best for your long term care.

Does that sound about what you’re saying?

Dr. Passero: Yes. Every case needs to be weighed individually. While using multiple antibiotics for long periods of times comes with risks, in some cases the benefit outweighs that risk and in some cases, it doesn’t. In some cases, people aren’t just giving the option.

I would say the biggest problems around Lyme disease are the testing. That’s why most things get missed because we don’t have the greatest testing and most of the conventional tests for Lyme disease miss I would say a majority of the diagnosis. So these people are never even told that this might be an issue and they’re never given any treatment options.

And then the second issue is just trying to navigate around what is the best form of treatment and getting treated for an appropriate amount of time with the right therapies.

Jennifer: Are there any tests that you run that would be different from perhaps a conventional doctor?

Dr. Passero: Yes, there are. There are many different tests because you can’t just use the standard lab tests that are typically done from – you can and sometimes they do catch the cases, but a lot of times, they miss it. There are certain labs that have developed more sensitive, more specialized testing to help clinicians like myself who suspect that Lyme disease may be an issue and who aren’t 100% wholly confident in the standard tests that are given.

We need to build the case for diagnosis around this patient because we just don’t want to start giving people antibiotics or complicated herbal protocols based on nothing. We usually need some type of objective finding to confirm our clinical suspicion.

IGeneX in California is one that’s been around for a long time with the good name in testing for Lyme disease. There’s a lab called Fry Labs in Arizona. There are labs all over the country that have developed more specialized techniques for helping doctors sort through this issue.

Jennifer: Okay. So you’re not left with just the test that you’ll get at a conventional doctor’s office.

Dr. Passero: You are if that’s the only doctor you see.

Jennifer: Fair enough. Fair enough. So I appreciate that you’re willing to talk about this because I know that you see patients like this a lot. This is your wheelhouse. This is something that you deal with it sounds like quite regularly as far as patients are concerned, especially concerning that Maryland where you live is a hot spot for this issue.

I definitely want to encourage everybody to go check out your website and contact you if they believe that they have any questions around this. And you do see and consult with patients throughout the United States? Or is it worldwide you can consult with patients if they have questions with Lyme disease?

Dr. Passero: Yeah. The Internet has basically shrunken our world. My ability to treat and the options and things I’ll have to treat people vary based on whether or not I can see them in person or not. I mean I can certainly consult and help educate or guide people to appropriate resources if they’re not able to actually see me.

Jennifer: Very cool. And you have a great book. I know it’s slightly off topic. And we talk a lot about GERD and acid reflux. But I just want to remind everyone that it’s an excellent book. It’s called Drug-Free Acid Reflux Solution, which is available on Amazon as well as your website. Correct?

Dr. Passero: Yeah. It’s not oftentimes as exciting an issue as Lyme disease, but it’s something that many, many people suffer from. We’ve sold thousands of copies of the book. The feedback has just been fantastic.

It’s not the fanciest book. It’s my first book. It has a nice little soft cover. It’s not overly expensive. And at the end of the day, the feedback we’ve been getting from people who have purchased it is that it is working beautifully. Gratefully, it doesn’t surprise me because the entire book is based on my 10 years of clinical practice in dealing specifically with GERDs. So I was just applying in the book or writing in the book what I saw work in my practice. It seems to be working beautifully.

Jennifer: That’s really great when you get feedback about your book and that people are actually benefited from the material that you’ve put out there.

Dr. Passero: It’s very gratifying. Yes.

Jennifer: I know. Tell everybody about your website so that they’ll be able to visit you.

Dr. Passero: Sure. The website is www.GreenHealingNow.com. There are lots of blogs and things listed on there.

The issue of Lyme disease is a bit controversial and is a very sticky issue. So I don’t really have a lot of information on my website about Lyme disease. I try and keep the website just more general informational, but if people have specific questions about it, they’re more than welcome to send an e-mail or contact the office and speak with myself or myself.

Jennifer: Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it, Dr. Passero.

Dr. Passero: You’re welcome, Jennifer! It’s always a pleasure. Thank you for having me on.

Jennifer: Absolutely. Everybody, please stay in touch with Dr. Passero. If you haven’t done so yet, I highly encourage you to check out his other podcast interview. It was again a real eye-opener for me all about GERD and heart burn and all these chronic conditions that they nag at you.

And if you have been diagnosed with Lyme disease or you suspect that you have it, leave a comment below this podcast and let us know what your experience has been. It would be wonderful to hear from everybody because having a community where you can actually share what’s going on or what your experience has been is a really great way to connect and also empower others in our community to take that step to get better.

Our health is our own journey and we’re also the best advocates for our own health. And by sharing, it really does make a big, big difference.

Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it. If you haven’t yet, subscribe, rate and review the Gluten Free School Podcast. Hey, I’ll see you again next time. I really appreciate all of you sharing and listening and tuning in. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day!

The links referred to in this episode are:

Dr. Kevin Passero – http://www.GreenHealingNow.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenHealingWellness

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/drpassero

The post Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease with Kevin Passero, ND: GFS Podcast 073 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Maybe you’ve been tired for a long time… wait, the word “tired” doesn’t even begin to describe the level of fatigue you feel through your entire body. If you’ve struggled to get out of bed, no amount of sleep seems to help (and sometimes you feel even more tired in the morning), you can’t focus and feel like you can’t remember what you’re supposed to be doing… then yes, we’re on the same page.

I know how you feel because I’ve experienced it before, however I was lucky enough to know that being tired wasn’t just about getting more zzzz’s. Today’s guest is going to share with you some really great information about adrenal fatigue symptoms that many don’t realize constitutes a graver problem with their health than just feeling tired.

AND — if you’re interested, we’re hosting a webinar on this topic in the next couple of weeks that’s invite-only. CLICK HERE to snag an invite so that you can get first crack at one of the few spots we have available for it!

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Surprising Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms You’ve Probably Blown Off with Jill Carnahan, MD

Jennifer Fugo: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, we are going to talk about your adrenals. Well, yes your adrenals, but we’re going to talk about a condition that you probably heard, which is written about often times on the internet and coined adrenal fatigue.

I know personally all about this issue because I had adrenal fatigue back in 2009. I thought that bringing this special guest on today in order to talk about this topic would be a really great opportunity for you to understand exactly what adrenal fatigue is and to get a sense of what may be contributing to decrease an adrenal function or just basically, not feeling energized throughout your day.

Well, we’re going to dive into a whole bunch of different topics on this.

Dr. Jill Carnahan is my guest and she has a lot of experience in helping people all over the country feel better using functional medicine. Dr. Jill Carnahan is a functional medicine doctor, duly board certified in family medicine and integrative holistic medicine. She received her medical degree from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago and her Bachelor of Science Degree in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

She was one of the first 100 healthcare practitioners to be certified in functional medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine. In 2010, she founded Flatiron Functional Medicine in Boulder, Colorado, where she practices functional medicine with medical partner, Dr. Robert Rountree.

Dr. Carnahan is also a 13-year survivor of breast cancer and Crohn’s disease and passionate about teaching patients how to live well and thrive in the midst of complex and chronic illness.

She is a prolific writer, speaker and loves to infuse others with her passion for health and healing.

Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Jill!

Dr. Jill Carnahan: Thank you, Jennifer! I am so glad to be here with you.

Jennifer: I mentioned you are very involved in functional medicine. And for those out there who might not understand what that is, could you give us a little bit of a recap?

Dr. Jill: Absolutely! I love functional medicine. I’m passionate about teaching others about it. I’m conventionally trained, as you mentioned. We know the allopathic model is wonderful in terms of acute infection and trauma injury. If you have a heart attack, you want to be at the best hospital so you can get immediate intervention. And so we have some strengths with our typical American healthcare system, but unfortunately, we have a lot of weaknesses.

And we see these weaknesses when people get chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, all of these things that are happening to our society in greater and greater numbers. And what happens is drugs don’t cure those conditions. They may help symptoms for a short term, but they’re just Band-Aids. And what we do with functional medicine is we look at root cause.

So if we have someone come in with, say, fatigue, which could be many, many, many types of things that cause that, as a functional medicine doctor, we want to look at the root cause and look underneath—I would say, it’s like looking under the hood of the car or I always tell patients, “I’m your personal health detective.” So I’m going to play detective and look for the underlying root cause of illness.

And instead of just treating a Band-Aid on those symptoms, we actually want to say, “What physiologically or biochemically or otherwise is going wrong in the system and how do we correct that?”

And the cool thing about functional medicine is I was given this toolkit when I graduated from medical school with medications and referrals for surgery and things like that. Great tools! But now, with functional medicine, I’ve got a much larger toolbox. And instead of just surgery and drugs, I’ve got nutritional supplements, I’ve got diet, I’ve got exercise, I’ve got lifestyle modifications. And these are the types of things that really, really change the spectrum and the trajectory of health and disease.

I always tell people you’re either walking towards disease or away from it. And we want you walking away from it. And with the tools of functional medicine, by finding root cause, you can actually reverse disease and things that were considered irreversible like autoimmune disease or other things can be actually reversed with functional medicine.

Jennifer: I mentioned adrenal fatigue. And one of the things that’s really interesting that I came to learn is that conventional medicine doesn’t really acknowledge adrenal fatigue. And as I’ve shared with you before we started, I had written a paper about adrenal fatigue for one of my graduate classes. It was quite difficult to figure out exactly what it is.

Now, I have gone through it personally and I’m more than happy to share some of those details as we go through this conversation. But why don’t we start off with the very basic what are the adrenal glands and what do they do? I think often times, we don’t fully understand the physiology that we’re talking about. It’s amazing how many people have never heard of their adrenal glands.

Dr. Jill: Absolutely. So if you make a fist, your adrenals are about half the size of your fist. They’re little triangles that sit on top of your kidneys. So your flank, if you pat your flank right above your waistline and your back, they’re sitting right there on top of your kidneys. That’s where they’re located.

It’s interesting because there are some people with adrenal fatigue that actually have because of that inflammation and issues with the adrenals will have low back pain right where they’re located.

These glands just sit on top of the kidneys and they play a really profound role. If I have to sum it up in one sentence, they respond to stress. So they are a stress response organ and without them, we would be dead. I mean, literally, they’re life-giving, life-saving and you can have dysfunction with either overproduction of hormones or underproduction of hormones, which is what we’re going to be talking about today.

They have a role in secreting more than 50 hormones that are necessary for life including—we’ve all heard of adrenaline. That’s from the adrenals. Cortisol, DHEA, progesterone and testosterone, and of course, there are other sources for some of these hormones like women’s ovaries produce some of the progesterone and men’s testes produce testosterone. But in certain periods of life, the adrenals pick up and produce all of these hormones as well.

It’s absolutely an essential gland for life. It produces many, many important hormones. And if I have to boil it down to a few of the basic functions, again, I said stress response, and that’s usually in the form of the hormone called cortisol, which most of you probably have heard of, and energy production. So they help with the production of adrenaline, which makes our energy, kind of our fight and flight response.

And one of the last things that is so frustrating for many people whether it’s overproducing hormones or under is fat storage. So this cortisol is actually helping us feast or famine and to store some of the fat for a time when we may not be able to eat as much when we’re under stress.

It has a lot to do with weight gain, especially central weight gain and weight gain around—the fat around the organs, which we call visceral fat. And this is actually one of the most dangerous types of fats.

That’s just a very, very brief overview of what it does. But that gives us an idea of how important this gland is and how much we really need it to function well.

Jennifer: And just to also clarify for everyone, they are a part of the endocrine system or your hormonal system. So they’re pretty important in playing a role in this entire little symphony that’s happening of hormones in your body.

Dr. Jill: Yes, and actually, I’m so glad you mentioned that, Jennifer, because I have people even come in and say, “I think I have adrenal fatigue” and I say, “You’re probably right.” But I never want to isolate that organ because always, the thyroid plays a role, the female or male hormones play a role, the brain, the pituitary play a role. And so there are so many factors in here that you can never just isolate that one part and not address the rest of the system as well.

Jennifer: Well, here’s the big question. So we’ll get back to my point that I was initially making about what exactly is adrenal fatigue. So there’s a concept known as adrenal insufficiency, and there’s, you may have heard of, Addison’s disease, Cushing’s disease. Those are different types of issues that affect the adrenals.

Why don’t you talk to us a little bit about some of these different problems that happen with the adrenals and then what exactly is adrenal fatigue. I know you have your own opinions on that, so please share what you can with us.

Dr. Jill: Okay, so picture this spectrum in front of your eyes. And on the far right-hand side, we might have Cushing’s disease at the very, very, very end of that side. And on the far left of that line, you’re going to have Addison’s disease.

Addison’s disease is complete and total failure of the adrenal gland to produce any of these necessary hormones for life. Someone with Addison’s disease without medication to replace those hormones would actually potentially be fatal. So they could die from this.

A very common, famous example of this was our President JFK. He had Addison’s disease and one of the things you’ll see with that is the darkening in the skin tone because of changes in melatonin. And because of that, he had to have always replacement hormones.

That’s the far left end, again, complete and total failure. The far right end is Cushing’s disease, which is excess production of the hormones especially cortisol that the adrenal produces. And on this side, you’re going to have someone with a weight gain in very strange places. Of course, the tie around the center, but also like humps on the shoulders, you can have a moon facies, you can have this insulin resistance pitcher, lots of things that go with excess cortisol.

And then we have in the middle, is perfect function, of course. And what I picture as adrenal fatigue is somewhere towards the left of center. The important thing which you mentioned and alluded to is that the conventional system does not acknowledge anything except the extremes. So the far right and the far left side of this they say, “Yes, those are diseases.”

And what often happens to patients who suspect they have adrenal dysfunction is—I even had patients say, “Refer me to an endocrinologist.” They go to an endocrinologist and the endocrinologist basically laughs at them and says, “You don’t have Addison’s disease.” Because in conventional medical school, that’s what we’re taught, it’s the only manifestation of adrenal dysfunction.

And what I wanted to clarify, you mentioned about my opinion on adrenal fatigue, this is definitely a dysfunction of adrenals, but I think there are so many varieties of dysfunction of the adrenals and so many different ways where people can present on that line that adrenal fatigue doesn’t really do it complete justice when we use that term. And the difficulty is, in conventional circles, you mentioned adrenal fatigue to a primary doctor who has no concept and they just look at you like you’re crazy.

I just want to caution our patients. Yes, you may have symptoms and we have this title called adrenal fatigue, but be very cautious about how you use that word because in conventional medicine, you’re going to be not really acknowledged that that’s existing even though it’s a very true problem.

And then people can have variations all the way along that line, either excess cortisol. And what happens is we have this diurnal rhythm in the day where you should have cortisol higher in the morning and then it goes down at night, so you can sleep. This curve is actually the most critical thing for vitality and health.

They did some studies comparing that curve, how healthy is your adrenal curve, how high and normal is your cortisol in the morning, how low for sleep at night. And when people have dysfunctional adrenal curves, it was a bigger risk for mortality or death than smoking, which we know is a huge, huge problem.

This is absolutely huge. And like I said, if you picture that line, adrenal fatigue is just one little spot on that line, but people can have dysfunction all the way along that line. And most people that I see at least don’t have Cushing’s and they don’t have Addison’s but they can have very, very significant life-altering adrenal dysfunction, which is what I like to call it.

[NOTE: Dr. Jill is joining me for a special one-time only webinar on Adrenal Fatigue — CLICK HERE to get an invitation!]

Jennifer: Let’s talk a little bit about who is susceptible because I ended up with adrenal fatigue. I’m not going to blame gluten entirely. I definitely feel that it was the food sensitivities that I had for many years that probably contributed to a state of dysfunction.

I had lived in New York City during 9/11. That was obviously very stressful. I had a lot of issues functioning afterwards, being emotionally upset and having psychological things that I had to work through around that. I’m type A personality, going, going, so I definitely contributed to it on my own. And I’m sure the gluten didn’t help and the eggs and the dairy and whatnot.

But who is more susceptible to ending up with what we call adrenal fatigue? Men? Women? And what if you have food sensitivities? Is that almost like a warning sign that you should be a little more careful with your energy and your adrenals?

Dr. Jill: So this is great because we think about stress often as just what you experienced after 9/11, the psychological and the work pressures, say you’re dealing with a difficult marriage or a child who is ill or so many things in our life. And our bodies are meant to respond in these spikes to stressors. So a stress goes up, we deal with it. Like the old sabretooth tiger analogy, which has been quoted many, many times, we respond to that danger and we run, and then it’s done. And our adrenals go back to normal.

But nowadays, what happens is people have, again, a difficult work situation, a long-term stressor, maybe they’re writing their book or they’re dealing with a sick child or their own health issues. And so these stressors basically start. And you think about a line goes up and stays high for a long time. Our adrenals are not meant to handle that.

But more important than just psychological stressors are food allergies, lack of sleep, poor diet choices of processed foods, and environmental chemicals like bisphenol A in our plastic water bottles. Who knew that can contribute to stress on the adrenal? Same with lead or mercury or heavy metals, infections. So people who have hidden viral infections like Epstein Barr or people who have been on the East Coast and got infected with Lyme’s disease or tick-borne illnesses. And then gut infections.

As I know with your audience – and I don’t know if you knew, Jennifer, that I’m Celiac as well. 

Jennifer: I did not know that.

Dr. Jill: Yes. I have the granddaddy and we don’t need to digress on this, but the DQ2 gene. I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s until I found out I actually had Celiac disease. And so your listeners, I’m sure, can relate to that.

But obviously, food and food intolerances and gut dysbiosis has a huge profound effect. And because I love functional medicine, when someone comes in and we see adrenal dysfunction, I’m saying, “Okay. Beside just psychological stressors, what else in the body is creating stress?” Things like a recent surgery could do this. We’ll probably talk about this, but excessive exercise. I’m all for exercise. but there are people who exercise enough that they create their stress in their adrenals. Caffeine and sugar can be problems.

So there are many, many things that can contribute to this.

Jennifer: Do you see this more in women than men? Or is it even across the board?

Dr. Jill: Yes. And I think part of that is our society right now, there are so many women who are working. They’re taking care of their kids. They come home and they have full time job at the house. So there are so many demands on the women. And then in addition, women, I think their hormones, thyroid, we see a lot more autoimmunity in women. So autoimmune adrenal disease or autoimmune thyroid disease – which thyroid and adrenal are like two yoked horses that work very, very closely. If you have dysfunction with either gland, you need to address the other gland as well because they both really contribute to one another.

Jennifer: So if someone has Hashimoto’s or hyperthyroidism, they should actually be also paying attention to their adrenals. Is that what you’re saying?

Dr. Jill: Absolutely! And importantly than that is if they are especially newly diagnosed with thyroid dysfunction, the rule of thumb, you absolutely have to check the adrenals before you treat because again, think about these two yoked horses. One is your thyroid and one is your adrenal. Say, someone has hypothyroid or Hashimoto’s and needs medication for thyroid, if you try to beat that horse on the right, the thyroid horse, and that poor adrenal horse can’t keep up, it’s almost like the body, if it’s stimulation mode from thyroid, but the adrenals are so weak, they can’t be stimulated, people will feel a lot worse instead of better.

And I would say the large percentage of people who get put on thyroid medication and feel miserable. The reason is their adrenals are so weak they cannot handle the stimulation. And they still need replacement. They still need to be treated, but they have to address the adrenal gland first before they address the thyroid.

Jennifer: Wow! That’s really interesting because there are so many cases and stories out there of women who have Hashimoto’s. They’re taking all different sorts of medications. They just don’t feel better and they’re exhausted. They can’t shake that exhaustion and they can’t feel better. That’s really interesting.

Dr. Jill: Think about this, Jennifer. You take an old model T car and then you try to race it around the track at 100 miles an hour, it shakes and rattles and starts to fall apart. That’s what you’re doing when you have adrenal dysfunction and you try to race it, you add in thyroid medication to stimulate metabolism, it’s like you’re racing that old car that can’t do it. And so you feel worse instead of better.

Jennifer: That’s great to know. I hope that’s an a-ha for many who are listening out there, especially who are dealing with thyroid issues because it is so – I mean, one in eight women are diagnosed with a thyroid problem. It’s such a pervasive issue at least in the United States. And to know that maybe we also need to start paying attention to the adrenals as well, that might be a big a-ha for a lot of people out there, especially those listening to this.

So why don’t we get into this whole issue of what can contribute to adrenal fatigue? I would like to talk for a little bit about blood sugar and how blood sugar is involved with this. And you know, as well as I and most people listening here, that the gluten free diet, the traditional standard gluten free diet is loaded with very refined starchy carbohydrates that are high glycemic, that are not good for you, that can contribute to all sorts of problems.

I think, and this is why I said don’t fully blame gluten, but I also somewhat blame going gluten free the way that I did (because I ate my fair share of gluten free cookies, cupcakes, brownies, you name it), that if you are eating a diet that is loaded with refined (gluten free) carbs, that can contribute to part of the problem because it’s a lot of stress on the body. What is your take on that?

Dr. Jill: Oh, such a good point. And because adrenal hormones will regulate blood sugar, this is actually a huge key. I had some questions that I will ask patients and even before I do a test, which we can talk about, I can usually determine just by questioning them some of the things that will indicate to me they have adrenal dysfunction.

So usually I’ll first ask them, “When you wake up, do you feel refreshed?” Cortisol should go up in the morning and we should wake up out of bed – and yeah, you might snooze once. But after that you should feel refreshed, you wake up, you’re ready for the day within 30 minutes – and that’s without the aid of stimulants, which I love my coffee. But that cortisol should provide what you need to feel awake and alert for the day.If people feel un-refreshed after a full night sleep, that’s one sign.

Another thing I’ll ask is, “Afternoon, after lunch, do you feel tired? Do you feel depleted?” or if they stay up late and they’re tired in the afternoon or evening, but then about 10, 11 o’clock, they get a second wind, and they’re wide awake until 1 a.m. That’s also some signs of dysfunction of their awake/sleep cycle.

Then I’ll ask about craving. I think of crutches for the adrenal as caffeine and sugar. Patients who crave and cannot survive without their whole pot of coffee in the morning, they definitely have adrenal dysfunction because caffeine and sugar will both secrete cortisol, so you temporarily feel better. But then you’ll crash even worse afterwards. So often, these people, they need a fix of sugar in the afternoon or in the evening, they’re craving carbs. That’s adrenal dysfunction. And they feel better temporarily, but then they’ll crash. And again, that’s part of the blood sugar regulation.

Another thing is, I’ll say, “Do you wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., wide awake with your mind racing with thoughts and ideas and the projects that you need to complete?” The reason that can happen is because overnight, we’re fasting. We’re not eating. And adrenals control the release of sugar from the liver while we’re fasting.

If your adrenals are weak, what will happen is around 2 a.m., your blood sugar will drop unbeknownst to you, you’re sound asleep, and that drop in blood sugar will stimulate a normal physiological response, which is an elevation of cortisol. So the cortisol goes up so that you don’t have totally low blood sugar.

That cortisol then will wake you wide awake out of a deep sleep. And usually, the hour that that happens is between 2 and 3 a.m. So that’s again, that blood sugar regulation.

During the day, people can have symptoms of dysfunction as far as they have to eat every two or three hours or their blood sugar drops. That’s very common with adrenal weakness. They have this hypoglycemia if they don’t eat and they crave carbs, so they do this spike up and down.

Jennifer: I want to ask you about carbs because you mentioned a bunch of things here about sugar. And there’s this whole low carb craze going on right now. What do you think about that in terms of adrenal issues?

Dr. Jill: Because the adrenals regulate sugar balance, and if they’re very, very weak, if you have what we call adrenal fatigue or severe adrenal dysfunction, what’s going to happen if you go extremely low carb especially in the evening when you need your cortisol to go down for sleep, is you’re going to have blood sugar dysregulation. So you’re going to have spikes and drops in blood sugar, up and down. And sometimes with the extremely low carb diets, the adrenals actually take a really big hit. You feel a lot worse instead of better.

For some people with adrenal dysfunction, I want them to have healthy complex carbs, not the sugar and the processed food. They actually do better. I still believe they’ll do better with protein in the morning than fat. So they need to start their day with that because that will actually raise cortisol in the morning when you should have it high. But in the evening, a lot of them, to sleep well and to maintain blood sugar, need a cup of cooked rice or quinoa or some sort of sweet potato, some sort of healthy starch. And some people who goes so low on the carbs will actually cause a worsening adrenal dysfunction.

Jennifer: Let’s get to testing. What can people do to figure this whole puzzle out from a testing standpoint?

Dr. Jill: So what we want to determine, as I mentioned earlier, is this curve. So what is your cortisol curve during the day? The best way to test that (and this is very well-documented in the literature) is through saliva.

Typically, if I really want to know the daytime rhythm of the cortisol, I’ll have people do a 4-point cortisol test where they spit saliva into a tube and we do that first thing upon waking, then before their meals and at bed time. So we can check during the day and then we can plot this on a graph. And that should be high in the morning and low at night so they can sleep.

That is probably the best known test. None of these tests are perfect. Like I said, I still often do a serum morning cortisol just as a spot check because if they’re low on that, they have very significant dysfunction. But there are many, many people, who, because of the needle, will have elevated cortisol or normal even when they are very depleted.

And then you can also do urine testing for all kinds of hormones including all the adrenal metabolites, the things that the adrenal gland produces. And frequently, I’ll do this. It’s a 24-hour hormone test on women when we want to look at not just the adrenals, but their hormones and all the other things that play into that.

And many times, if I really want a big picture, I’ll do all three of these things on patients. So I think it’s almost like you talk about the animal in the room and someone is holding it in the tail and someone’s holding the ear and you’re describing different things. If you look at all these things together, you can come to the picture that, “Okay, that’s a horse or that’s an elephant in the room.”

Jennifer: And I think that there are just so many options out there. I know that I had the saliva testing done. I’ve actually had it done twice. The first time it wasn’t terribly off. It was slightly off, but not anything to be too concerned. And the second time, after all this exercising and everything, and I really was not feeling well, the curve was almost not a curve at all anymore. I just was barely hanging on.

It’s a shame. At 29 years old, I knew something was wrong and I had gone to the doctors. And their response was, “You’re fine. We don’t see anything wrong. Your blood work looks fine.”

I know what it’s like to be there and know you have that – you know yourself best, let’s just put it that way. You know yourself best. When something is wrong, you need to seek out a physician that believes you and is willing to do what it takes to figure out where the imbalance is because I couldn’t tell you what exactly was wrong. I just knew something was wrong.

Dr. Jill: Yes.

Jennifer: As far as if you get this conclusive diagnosis, “Yes, you have adrenal fatigue,” what do you suggest? Just give us a handful here of some lifestyle and dietary changes that can really help you feel better and improve energy and decrease the symptoms that you’re having so that you start to feel better.

And I would love for you to also clarify that this tends to be more of just lifestyle and dietary issues. I know for myself I had to take DHEA and some other supplements as well. But you should work with a practitioner anytime you “tinker” with your hormones. It’s not a good idea to do that on your own. It is a very complex system. So could you just go over some of that and I guess emphasize my little point there because I don’t want to see people just running out and buying hormones and doing this themselves. I think that’s pretty much a recipe for disaster.

Dr. Jill: Yes, Jennifer. And so, find a functional medicine-trained doctor in your area. And there are many. You can go to FunctionalMedicine.org which is a big training institute and search by zip code. So find someone to help you. There’s great nutritionist. They don’t have to be an MD. They can help as well. I mean, all kinds of practitioners of various degrees know about this and understand it and can treat you.

[NOTE: Dr. Jill is joining me for a special webinar on Adrenal Fatigue — CLICK HERE to get an invitation!]

Find the help. Get the testing because you don’t want to guess. You don’t want to guess. And what happens is there are some people we talked about at the ends of the spectrum that have high cortisol and not low. And if they take in a supplement like you did for low cortisol, they are going to make their system a lot more imbalanced. So it’s really important to know are you high, are you low? Where are the highs? Where are the lows? Every person is treated individually. And note, there’s no one herb or one supplement that fits. But practical things.

You mentioned just taking some quiet time every day – prayer, meditation, yoga, stretching. That’s huge. We know that from the Heart Math Institute thoughts of love and gratitude actually stimulate this calming parasympathetic system. As simple as that sound, five minutes thinking about someone you love or your puppy who you love has actually profound effect on the HPA access.

Sleep. Sleep is huge. And so many of us are trying to get by with six hours because we’re burning candles at both ends of the spectrum and this is critical. The very, very first thing I do with patients is make sure they’re having good sleep, they’re waking up refreshed and they’re getting seven to eight hours every single night.

For me, that’s one of the non-negotiables in my life. I go to bed at 9 or 9:30. I get up early at 5. But I always get my eight hours in. It’s non-negotiable. I think that’s one of the reasons my adrenals have held up pretty well. So sleep.

Then stressors. And stressors, of course, we talked about sometimes you can’t eliminate them, but how you perceive them may be able to be eliminated or changed. More important than that is you have to think beyond just psychological stressors and make sure your physician is testing you for hidden infections or gut imbalances or inflammation because all of these things on the body can play a role.

And then just chemicals in our environment and our food, getting rid of processed foods and things that have lots of damaging chemicals, drinking out of aluminum or stainless steel or glass water bottles instead of plastic. Coffee and sugar, we mentioned our stimulants and those temporarily take you up, but then they crash.

So for a severe adrenal fatigue patient, I would usually take them off caffeinated beverages and eliminate sugar in its refined form at least temporarily.

It’s funny things like the news and TV, computers, iPads at night, that’s very, very stimulating to the body. The eyes actually see that light as a stimulus and so for sure, before bed, an hour before bed, you should get off your computer, off your iPad. If you’re going to read, read a real book and not your iPad because your eyes are very sensitive to that light and it’s a stressor.

And then we talked about exercise. So you don’t want to stop moving. You want to still stretch and walk and maybe do some weight training. But you want to make it in moderation. And if you ever feel worse or you’ve crashed the day following, that’s too much. You got to slow down and pull back on that exercise.

And typically, the cardio type of stuff is actually the worse thing. If you’re doing an intense cardio regimen, that’s the kind of stuff you want to pull back on or eliminate all together.

Again, walking is very, very therapeutic. You could walk for an hour. But if it’s a gentle, nice pace, that’s great for the adrenals and not a stress. And you can definitely do stretching, yoga, Tai Chi, any of those things where you incorporate breathing because breathing actually changes the stress response. So anytime you’re meditating, breathing, exercising with breath work, that’s very, very profound.

And then go ahead.

Jennifer: Wow! We’ve got so much good information here for people to dive into. I love all the things that you’re coming up with and giving. The fact that you prescribed these, these very simple things to your patients, Dr. Jill, it’s just so cool. It really is because I’m so used to hearing many doctors say, “Oh, you’ve got to take this medication. You’ve got to do this.” And here you are saying, “No. You’ve got to slow down. You got to try this. Let’s get into breathing. Let’s do some vitamins here. Let’s try some things that are little more natural.”

I love it. I love hearing that kind of stuff and I really appreciate everything that you’ve shared because this is a ton of information. I think that any person that listens to this – I mean, I even learned a few things today, which is great. I love to learn and I’m so glad that you allowed us to pick your brain and tell us all of this information. And is there anything special that they could – if someone wanted to reach out to you, are you taking patients?

Dr. Jill: I am. I do have a long waiting list, but if they’re willing to wait just a bit, I do my best to get to as many people as possible. And I love seeing new patients. 

[NOTE: Dr. Jill is joining me for a special webinar on Adrenal Fatigue — CLICK HERE to get an invitation!]

But definitely, stay in touch by the newsletter because that way you can – here, I write articles like adrenal fatigue type stuff and try to just share that information for patients.

Jennifer: Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

Dr. Jill: Thank you, Jennifer. I’ve had a blast!

Jennifer: I hope you can come back sometime! So, again, if you have not gone to check out Dr. Jill’s website, go to JillCarnahan.com. 

This topic is so important to me and it’s one that really did change my life. I’m glad that I had the experience because I wouldn’t be doing what I was doing with Gluten Free School if it weren’t for the whole thing of adrenal fatigue that I experienced back in 2009. It was a big eye opener for me. I hope that this conversation today gives you some clues or pieces to the puzzle that you are maybe sorting through in your own life.

Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Get your name on our INVITE ONLY list for the upcoming webinar now –> CLICK HERE

Dr. Jill’s website – http://www.jillcarnahan.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/flatironfunctionalmedicine

Twitter – https://twitter.com/DocCarnahan

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/carnahanmd/

The post Surprising Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms You’ve Probably Blown Off with Jill Carnahan, MD: GFS Podcast 072 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Unfortunately, many don’t seem to know exactly why eating organic is important and so I sat down with a worldwide expert on this topic who shares his deep respect for supporting foods and farming techniques that offer you more nutrition and less exposure to toxic chemicals. Sure, organic is typically more expensive, but what you get for buying it is also far superior. You can’t simply compare the price tag and think that you’re getting more bang for your buck when purchasing conventional produce.

To be clear, this interview is not meant as a judgment or condemnation should you truly be unable to afford organic right in this moment. That’s why I’m a big fan of prioritizing what I spend more on at the store (I share exactly how I do this in my book, The Savvy Gluten-Free Shopper). Strive towards organic and become savvy so that you can shift your budget towards foods that are better for your health.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Why Eating Organic is Important with André Leu

Jennifer Fugo: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. And today, we are going to talk about the reality of pesticides found in food.

Now, you might care about this and you might not. You might feel like this topic is overwhelming and you don’t fully understand what’s wrong with pesticides. I mean, you eat a peach, for example. You wash it off, you eat it, it tastes great. There can’t be any pesticides in there, right?

Well, unfortunately, that’s not quite true.

I asked a really interesting gentleman who’s wrote this amazing book called The Mystery of Safe Pesticides. His name is André Leu. He’s going to join us today and talk about the myths and realities of safe pesticides and is there anything that’s really safe about them.

Now, Mr. Leu is the president of IFOAM Organics International, the world umbrella body for the organic sector. IFOAM has had around 800 member organizations in 120 countries and has a goal of the worldwide adoption of ecologically, socially and economically sound systems that are based on the principles of organic agriculture.

André has over 40 years of experience in all areas of organic agriculture from growing, pest control, weed management, marketing, post-harvest, transport, grower organizations, developing new crops and education in many other countries. He has extensive knowledge of farming and environmental systems across Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa from almost 40 years of visiting and working in these countries.

He has written and published extensively in magazines, newspapers, journals, conference proceedings, newsletters, websites and other media all on the area of organic agriculture including climate change, the environment, agronomy and the health benefits of organic farming.

André and his wife, Julia Rohn, their own organic, tropical fruit orchard in Daintree, Queensland, which is in the northern corner of Australia.

Welcome André to the podcast!

André Leu: Thank you, Jennifer.

Jennifer: Why don’t you tell us how you got interested in this whole organic farming business?

André: Okay. I come from a family farming. When I was a child, I was always the one who would get chronic asthma from exposure to pesticides. Even just going into a silo where the wheat was stored or where I’d visit the shed and just the smell of it, I would become seriously ill. So, I always going to be an organic farmer. The only way I could farm was without pesticides.

Jennifer: How did that turn into you now having written a book and being the president of an international organization?

André: Okay. Two different questions. Maybe I’ll just start with how I became president because I still wake up in the morning and scratch my head to wonder how someone from, really, a very remote area of the world (actually, a remote area of my country) becomes into a national president.

It’s actually a huge honor for me because I was really drafted or selected. People wanted me to run. I got elected to the board. And very quickly, in three years, I was president because of the members. I’m very humbled and honored that the members of our organizations want me to be our president.

Then the other one, why I wrote the book, is I live in a farming area. The rise of cancers (particularly cancers of the sexual tissues like breast cancer and prostrate and ovarian cancer), all these types of cancers is just astronomical here.

Then we look at particularly at the diseases that we see in children like the autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, all these sorts of issue. I started to wonder are these by pesticides.

We’re told by the experts, the regulatory authorities, “No, this isn’t the case because that’s scientifically tested.” So I went and start studying the science and I found that, first, they aren’t properly scientifically tested. That’s a myth. And there is a huge amount of evidence, hundreds and hundreds of published scientific studies linking these chemicals with a whole range of diseases that we’re suffering with in modern society.

Jennifer: For someone who goes to the grocery store – let’s just compare one head of lettuce that’s conventional and the other is organic and they say, “Well, I don’t see a difference except the price tag seems higher for this organic. It’s a little bit about my budget, so I’m just not going to buy this particular head of organic lettuce. I’m going to go with the conventional. I don’t see the difference. It doesn’t look dirty. It doesn’t look like it’s been sprayed with anything.”

I think people don’t fully understand what pesticides are. Could you explain to us what exactly pesticides are? Are they still on the plants when they reach the market? Are they still on the plants when you wash them? 

André: I’m glad you used lettuce. Lettuce is an excellent example of this. Another reason I became an organic farmer was when I started to keep animals, particularly chickens and ducks, one of the first things you read is don’t feed them out of lettuce leaves because the pesticides on them will kill them.

Jennifer: Really?

André: What I thought was, “Ah, instead, do we feed them to our children?”

So then, I wanted to investigate it. Why is it that what is supposedly safe to put on our children’s sandwiches, we can’t feed to our livestock?” And when I looked at it, I found out there’s multiple pesticide residues.

You cannot wash them off for two reasons. One is that when they’re sprayed, they use what are called ‘stickers’ to keep the pesticide on the lettuce. So when you water it, it doesn’t wash the pesticide off.

Then there’s another group of pesticides that we call ‘systemic’. What happens is the whole plant absorbs it. Every cell has it, so that when the insect eats it, it does. Somehow, there’s enough toxin in it to kill the insect, but somehow, it’s supposed to be safe for us.

The other thing I learnt is it’s just not one pesticide, it’s a cocktail. For any plant or any crop that’s approved, they don’t approve one pesticide. They’ll approve several insecticides (pesticides that kill insects), they’ll be fungicides, for instance, to kill fungus diseases, there’ll be herbicides that kill weeds. There will be a whole range of them. It’s actually a cocktail of small pesticides.

And when I investigated, for instance, there is no testing of this cocktail of approved pesticides. The more I got into it and studied the science, the testing that is done is completely inadequate to protect human health.

Jennifer: Why do you think it is that they’re telling people that they’re fine, that the pesticides are safe, that they’re okay, they’re not going to kill you? What is the reason why this isn’t being stressed to the public with a little more maybe pizzazz for lack of a better word?

André: That’s a good question. I can understand why the companies are doing it, because they’re there to make money. So they want to sell their products. To give an example, for instance, one of the products, glyphosate (one of the common names for that is RoundUp), the main company that makes that earns more money than the gross national product of many countries. That’s how much it’s worth.

But what I don’t understand is why the regulators allow this? There are hundreds and hundreds of studies I siphoned in the book, how many published scientific studies has shown the harm of the smallest level?

And also, why they permit what I regard (and what most experts regard) as totally inadequate science. 

To give one example, for instance – or I’ll give you two examples. The first one is when they do the testing, they do it on what they call the ‘active ingredient’, which is the main compound. For instance, if I used glyphosate, the main, active product in RoundUp, they just test the glyphosate. But RoundUp is made of a whole mixture of different chemicals – adjuvants, activants, synergists.

So glyphosate by itself hardly works as a pesticide. To make it work, they have to add these other compounds. But they don’t test. There’s no testing of RoundUp as a pesticide.

We now have a lot of scientific studies on our site showing that RoundUp is far more toxic. We know it’s an endocrine disruptor. We now that it causes the changes to cells that makes them precancerous. We know that it causes breast cancer cells to multiply. So if somebody is in the beginning of the cells turning into cancerous breast cells, the smallest level of RoundUp will cause that cancer to multiply. And yet, that is all ignored by the regulatory authorities.

And the other one, to get back to the letters, you’ve got a mixture. You’re going to have a pesticides like an organophosphate that will kill the caterpillars that ate it. You will have a fungicide that will kill the molds and fungus and you’ll have a herbicide like RoundUp that kills the weeds. You have all those residues in it, not just one pesticide. There is absolutely no testing of this cocktail.

We have very good evidence now where there is testing that the synergistic effect – synergism is where instead of one and one making two, one and one could equal five. In some cases, one and one can equal a thousand. But we do have a lot of data showing that these things can be two or three, four hundred percent more dangerous than the single ingredient.

Jennifer: I wanted to ask about the whole issue with babies. There has been several articles at least that I’ve seen over the last year that state very clearly and plainly that the pesticide load that the mother-to-be is exposed can be transferred to the fetus. Can you share with us any information about that because I know we have a lot of moms that are listening to this? Maybe they’re pregnant now or they’re thinking of getting pregnant or they have children and they want to have another baby. I think this is a really important topic especially for moms, so I’d love for you to speak to that.

André: Jennifer, I’m really happy to speak to this because I believe this is the most important topic. As parents, I believe the most important things we can do in life is give our children the best start possible. When it comes to pesticides, the data is very concerning.

In fact, I have a lot of information in the book on this because to me, this is probably the most important issue.

The data now shows that children in developed countries now are exposed to pesticides before they are born. We know, for instance, just testing seminal fluid and ovarian fluid and the amniotic fluid, we do find pesticides in it. We know that the pesticides are crossing the placental barrier.

We also know because of the work of endocrine disruption that amounts as low as parts per trillion can affect the fetus as they’re developing. They become what are called ‘endocrine disruptors’.

At particular stages when the fetus is developing, they need very small amounts of hormones, for instance, in terms of sexual development, whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl. It’s the smallest amount of testosterone or the smallest amount of estrogen is really important for the full development of the sexual organs, the sexual tissues and also, the whole sexual hormone system.

This small amount to actually parts per trillion. To give the listeners the idea of what a part per trillion is, if I have three Olympic size swimming pool of water and if I put one drop of compound in it, that is a part per trillion.

What we know now is that a lot of chemicals can actually work as artificial hormones. And particularly what we’re finding as these artificial influence. This, we know now is very important later in life in how the child would develop and particularly, related to this rise in cancers in sexual tissues.

If we look at the rise of breast cancers, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancers in women and in men, testicular and prostrate cancers, we can trace it back to these small amounts of endocrine disruption.

We also know that what happen is as the fetus develop, it gets this very small hormone signals that signal to Jane to develop limbs or develop endocrine disruptions, develop the nervous system (for instance, the brain). And what we’re seeing now (and there’s very good scientific literature) that small disruptions to that can lead to cancers, thyroid disorders, immune system problems.

We have very good data. I’ve gone to that. For instance, one of the most common group of chemicals, the organophosphates, for instance, we’ll end up with children with lower IQs, attention deficit, hyperactive disorder or the autism spectrum disorder. I can say they’re increasing so rapidly.

We see other things like lack of physical coordination, loss of temper, anger management issue, the whole issue of bipolar schizophrenia, spectrum of illnesses. Later in life, we see things like depression.

There’s another issue in our gut, the whole issue of the digestive system problems we’re seeing, cardiovascular disease, reproductive problems as adults later in life and the other one we’re seeing here are deformities of the genital, urinary systems when children are born.

And one of the big ones we’re looking at now is the change in our metabolic systems. We’re seeing this raise in childhood obesity and diabetes. This is because of this endocrine disruptions.

Jennifer: I want to ask about the environmental consequences because even though we’re talking about food, I recognize that when farmers spray their crops, the herbicides and pesticides, they just don’t stay on the plants. They go into the soil. And that, with run-off, can end up in our water. Am I right about that?

André: Exactly! And I give good data from the United States Geological Survey. For instance, virtually, every river system or water system tested in the U.S.A., you can find chemicals.

The two widespread ones, which is Atrozine (which is one of the herbicides that’s everywhere) and the other one, like I mentioned, is glyphosate. That is found in most water systems.

And also, because it evaporates from the field and goes into the air, most rainfall tested will have these chemicals in it as well. And because clouds travel, that rain falls. It doesn’t matter if that farm is a hundred miles away or further, those pesticides residues will travel and fall, go into the water and into the soil in other areas.

Quite a very good study that was done by researchers at the University of Madison, Wisconsin. There, they looked at the levels of pesticides and fertilizer that are found in normal ground water, drinking water in the Midwest of the U.S.A. When they tested that, they found that – this is work done testing on rats. What they found is it significantly affected the fetus when the mother rates were drinking it and the babies were born with thyroid problems. They were born with a whole range of other physiological problems as a result of this small levels of pesticide in the normal drinking water.

Jennifer: And that’s really scary to think that this isn’t just food. This is something we have to think about in terms of water, something that we all desperately need in order to survive. We’re literally contaminating the water tables around us all with these chemicals.

I think that we would know more about it, but we don’t seem to know much about it. So what I want to ask you, we’ve set the stage for people to understand the basics, what can we as women and moms and fathers and sons and parents, what can we do in our daily life to start minimizing our exposure to some of these stuff. What do you suggest?

André: It is very simple. And once again, we have good, scientific studies. Eat organic food. I have quite two excellent studies which tested children, tested the urine of children. And within four days of eating organic food, they could not find pesticide residues. It’s just quick as that.

To me, people might say, “Organic food is more expensive,” but it’s more expensive not to have it when you consider the damage that you’re doing to your children. In terms of the way that you spend money, I believe that organic food is the best value. Children are too precious and too valuable not to feed them organic food and give them the best start in life as you can.

Jennifer: And so in the U.S., there’s this interesting thing that’s happening where some farms will not get certified as organic because the red tape and the application and the fees are so expensive, but they do farm that way. Do you recommend to place that they could maybe go to a local farmer’s market and talk directly with the farmers to see how they’re farming, so when they make their purchasing decision, they could actually support a farm that maybe they aren’t certified organic, but they’re farming in a way that is organic? Does that make sense?

André: I totally agree with this. The idea of certification is that if you are a long way away from the farmer, you have a credible third party that’s checked the system and you have a guarantee that what you’re buying is organic and you don’t have the chemicals on them. But if you know the farmer, then you could build that trust. 

So for instance, in the U.S.A., you have a lot of CSA’s, consumer supported agriculture. Well, if you now that farmer and you trust them, you don’t need certification.

Similarly in farmer’s markets where they have some sort of guarantee or if you do know the farmer, then you don’t need certification. You could build that direct trust. 

Certification is more a case of if you walked into a shop and you’re buying a product where you don’t meet the farmer. You have to have some sort of credible guarantee that what you’re buying won’t have all these pesticides.

Jennifer: And André, I have another question around this and the idea of products. What about meat? So for, say, cattle, we’ll see this trend with cow that they will feed cows massive amounts of corn and that corn is loaded with Bt toxins and all these other things because it’s not organic corn. So we’re talking about conventional beef that is sold in the store.

Is it possible for us then, if I go to the store and buy this conventionally raised beef, am I also ingesting pesticides from that as well?

André: Yeah. Look, it’s not just, for instance, the Bt toxins. I can say there’s a very good study that was done last year in Canada that looked at Canadian pregnant women just in the normal Canadian diet. Not only did they find the Bt toxin in the bloodstream, it was actually crossing the placental barrier into the baby.

There’s very good work showing that the Bt toxin (which as I explained to the listeners, the Bt toxin is the pesticide that is put out by genetically modified corn), there’s very good scientific studies now showing that this Bt toxin is dangerous to people and it’s not safe like the regulators say. But the big concern is that we know it’s crossing the placental barrier.

We also have very good studies showing that the animals that eat it are also being affected by it. There are problems with the meat. But there are other toxins, as well. For instance, there are chemicals that are put in to say, get rid of intestinal parasites, organophosphates and other toxic chemicals. And those residues are in the meat from factory farmed animals.

There’s also very good science on the massive difference in the milk and meat from organic animals and in factory fed animals, particularly ones from grass-fed systems. There’s a huge difference in the types of fats that are much healthier ones.

There are types of fats now that we know protect against the bad cholesterol, protect against heart disease and damage to the arteries as against the types of fats that are found in factory-farmed animals.

Jennifer: I also wanted to add that toxins in the body tend to be stored in fat. That’s another reason, for those of you who may not know, this is another problem. When you eat – and we’ll just use beef again as the example, if you’re buying conventional beef. And again, if you’re not quite ready yet and you can’t afford to buy everything organic, we totally understand, but this is again food for thought.

But the fat that is on that cut of meat, you want to trim it quite well because the toxins hide in the fat. That is one reason why when they say, “Well, you don’t want too much fat on this. You really want to cut it…” Well, in that case, yes. We absolutely want to, especially in the case of eating conventionally raised meat.

So André, just any final thoughts on what anybody who’s listening and they feel motivated to start making some changes, what are a couple, just very simple things that they could do maybe when they go to the grocery store? Any thoughts you’d love to leave with them before we close?

André: Look, to me, it’s very simple. Where possible – and I say, “Where possible” because I’m in the same situation here. I can’t always get foods organically. That’s the reality at the moment until the organic industry grows larger in size and it’s available everywhere.

But where possible, get organic. Reduce the load. My advice to parents, particularly to mothers who are pregnant or families that are about to have a baby, do everything you can to minimize the pesticide load.

And also, for young children. What we noticed is that young children do not have what we call ‘serum proteins’ that detoxify pesticides to the same level as adults. We also know too that the body burden is they actually end up with a higher percentage of pesticides in their bodies compared to what adults have.

So for me, do everything you can to feed your children organic food, to reduce that pesticide load so that you can give them the best start in life that is possible. Our children are our future. To me, it’s not about money. It’s about giving our children the best we can. As parents, that’s our responsibility.

Jennifer: Well, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate this. I will say, it was an overview, but I do think that for many who didn’t fully understand this conversation about why pesticides are not safe and the dangers of them, I think that this information at least will get the wheels turning, so that they can start questioning things and asking their grocer about different items they see in the store.

And then, maybe, also, I love to shop at farmer’s markets. I talk directly with the farmers that I buy from. Ask them the questions that you need information on. The farm that I buy my produce from is not certified organic, but they grow organic food. That’s the method that they use.

Thank you so much for joining us! I really appreciate it.

André: It’s a pleasure, Jennifer. Any time!

Jennifer: Stay in touch with André. He’s got an amazing book. It’s called The Myths of Safe Pesticides. I’ll certainly put a link below. He’s also on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

And if you’d like to stay in touch with his organization, they do have a newsletter. You can visit him on the web at IFOAM.org. I will, again, put a link to all of these below, so that it’s easy for you to access.

Remember to rate, subscribe and review this podcast. And then, head on over and leave a comment below on this post about your thoughts on pesticides. Do you specifically buy organic food? Are you aware of how dangerous some of the pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, et cetera are? Is it a concern? Or do you just not have that space to be able to even deal with it. I’d love to know the difference of what’s important to you right now in prioritizing your diet.

Thank you guys so much for joining me. I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Get Your Copy of The Myth of Safe Pesticides now –> CLICK HERE

André’s website – http://www.IFOAM.org

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/andre.leu.96

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Andreleu1

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andre-leu/1a/586/a36

The post Why Eating Organic is Important with André Leu: GFS Podcast 071 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

While I wish the answer was cut and dry, it’s not and part of the reason why so many are confused about what to eat. Believe me, if you find the circle we seem to go in elevating one macronutrient at a time as if it’s the best things since sliced bread to then calling it the devil for making America fat… I’m right there with you.

Maybe we can blame diet books and marketing for that, Perhaps it’s the press that only looks for a snazzy one-sided take in order to keep readers attention. Or maybe it’s that the science of nutrition is still pretty infantile considering no one focused on it until 1785. Regardless, today’s interview will interest you immensely!

My guest is going to answer this frequently asked question, “are carbs bad for you?” The answer will probably surprise you!

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Are Carbs Bad For You? (The Answer Will Surprise You) with Dr. Alan Christianson

Jennifer Fugo: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. I’ve got a really amazing guest for you today and we’re going to talk all about carbs. Carbs have been a huge topic in the health and wellness world whether you’re going to go low carb or eat a fat-based diet (ketogenic) or maybe you’re just eating gluten-free and you’re a little concerned about the amount of carbs that exist in your food and food products. Well, we’ve got the guest who’s going to answer many of our questions today.

His name is Dr. Alan Christianson. He is a Phoenix, Arizona-based naturopathic physician who helps people overcome adrenal and thyroid disorders and achieve lasting fat loss and vibrant energy. He is the author of the bestselling Complete Idiot’s Guide to Thyroid Disease, Healing Hashimoto’s: A Savvy Patient’s Guide, and the New York Times’ bestseller called The Adrenal Reset Diet.

Dr. Christianson is the founding physician behind integrative health care and the founding president of the Endocrine Association of Naturopathic Physicians. He trains physicians internationally on the treatment of obesity, thyroid disease and hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Christianson, welcome to the podcast!

Dr. Alan Christianson: Hey, Jennifer. Thank you so much for having me!

Jennifer: I would love for you to start off by explaining to everyone exactly what carbs are. We talked a lot about carbs, but I think there is a nuanced conversation that’s not had a lot of times such that women don’t fully understand what it means to eat carbs – low carb, high carb, complex carbs. So what’s the very fundamental basics of what’s a carb?

Dr. Christianson: When you go way down to the chemistry, carbohydrate is a hydrocarbon. It’s a simple molecule that’s a chain of carbons with hydrogen atoms attached to it and it’s fuel. It’s a funny thing, it’s our body’s most important fuel. If we don’t have glucose, which is a carb in the bloodstream, we can go into a comma and die.

And there are alternate ways we can make it besides just eating carbs, but ultimate, it is the body’s most important fuel.

Jennifer: With carbs comes this whole idea that they’re going to make you fat. Do carbs cause weight gain, or even obesity?

Dr. Christianson: Well, carbs are a big category. I started writing on this in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. That was a time when pretzels and jelly beans were health foods because they were fat-free. I remember there was this crazy idea that came out at one point where someone discussed about these Mediterranean oils like, “Hey, maybe olive oil is not all that bad if you have just a drop of it” and we tentatively tested the waters and realized, “Wow! Maybe fats are okay.”

There had been a lot of big studies on high carb versus low carb. If you go two years out on a diet, it honestly doesn’t matter as far as how effective it is for weight loss. So just going low carb long-term doesn’t make a big difference alone. Carbs have got a place. I think that the discussion you want to have is looking at the right carbs to eat in the right amounts, but also, at the right times.

Jennifer: And for women who have these ideas that if they go low carb (we see all these man who go low carb and they end up very ripped and in shape, granted they’re exercising and all sorts of things), I have heard that some women don’t exactly have the same benefits of going low carb. And sometimes, it can even be contraindicated for women to go too low carb. Is that a possibility?

Dr. Alan: Totally possible and here’s the reason. Women’s body have got a lot of things that are more complex. You’ve got the menstrual cycle going on wherein your body’s system of regulating your blood sugar has to do back bends and twists and what-not to manage your menstrual cycle.

Also when you come up on perimenopause and menopause, the same systems that regulate blood sugar, they’ve got to work harder.

And you can convert your muscle into glucose. You can very slowly turn fat into glucose, but to do so, you’ve got to use the stress hormone cortisol. Your menstrual cycle and the process of perimenopause make all that a lot harder.

Jennifer: That might be why women might not feel as well going low carb or just too low carb from where they perhaps should be… that optimal point where they feel good.

Dr. Christianson: For sure! And a big tie-in here is the stress response and also the sleep response. You need to make serotonin and melatonin to really unwind during the day and get a good night’s sleep. And if your body is making high amounts of stress hormones to make protein or fat into glucose, then that doesn’t happen. Your body is pushed away from that state of relaxation.

Jennifer: You mentioned the whole idea of perimenopause and menopause. This is a huge point when women tend not to feel well. They feel totally off, their body is changing, they have hot flashes, they feel like their mind isn’t quite as crisp as it was, they feel exhausted, wired at night. Can carbs contribute to this sense of imbalance that they feel?

Dr. Alan: They’re a double-edged sword. The women that blows through perimenopause and menopause easily is a woman who has resilient adrenal glands. What’s happening is that the ovaries run out of eggs around mid-thirties. That causes a big drop in progesterone. And then right around mid-40s, estrogen starts going up and down and up and down. If your adrenal glands are resilient, they can make back-up estrogens and they can also make estrogen blockers to make that process pretty smooth and seamless and happen behind-the-scenes.

But if your adrenals are working overtime to manage your blood sugar, they can’t pick up the slack for this radical change in your ovaries. And that’s why this is a more difficult time for some women than others.

Jennifer: With adrenal glands, do you feel that a swing or spikes in blood sugar can be difficult, like almost a stressor for their body to deal with?

Dr. Christianson: Totally, totally! I’ve had scores of women in perimenopause and they’ve had concerns. Maybe they’re pre-diabetic, maybe their weight wasn’t right, or they’ve had concerns about food cravings at certain times or waking up with their mind racing or hot flushes.

I’ve had them do what we call the “continuous glucose meter.” That’s a device that logs your blood sugar 24 hours a day for seven days a week. So every moment of the day, it scores where the blood sugar is at. I’ve had them make a note when it is that they feel those symptoms. When their mind races at three in the morning or when they get a hot flush or they get an afternoon craving for something sweet, just make a note on that. We go back and look and right at those times, that’s when the blood sugar plummeted. 

And then I’ll have them also do a test for cortisol during those times. Their blood sugar plummets and their cortisol spikes during the time that all those symptoms are happening.

So those are all things that by changing the strategies of balancing your blood sugar and cortisol, you can make those things stop. 

Jennifer: Cortisol plays a role in the circadian rhythm. So how do carbs play into that? Can it actually affect the circadian rhythm?

For anybody who doesn’t know what a circadian rhythm is, it’s the cycle by which we wake up in the morning when the sun comes up and then go to bed when the sun goes down. That nice, little flow through the day that we’re all accustomed to.

Dr. Christianson: Yeah, I call it the “internal coffee machine.” You make this burst of hormones to wake you up and you shut them off to go to sleep. Carbs could affect that. It’s a two-way street. When your blood sugar is low, you change your stress hormones, but your stress hormones can also change your blood sugar.

The new concept that I’ve brought up in the Adrenal Reset Diet is that in the morning, if you have a good high protein, lower carb breakfast, that’ll support the cortisol awakening response. And then at the night, if you have a healthy meal with veggies, quality protein, but adequate amounts of healthy, good carbs, that can support the night time shut down of cortisol that gives you deep, rejuvenative sleep free of hot flushes.

Jennifer: But what time should dinner be at?

Dr. Alan: Yeah, great question. You don’t want to eat right before bed because then, it’s going to come back out. You’re going to get reflux issues. So for most people in most time zones, assuming a bed time of like 9:30 to 10:30, 6:00 is a great time for dinner.

Jennifer: Okay. Now, here’s a question that I have been dying to ask you. I have a beef with certain gluten-free products like gluten-free bread, for example. I’m not the biggest fan. I would really love to know what your opinion is on how gluten-free products could potentially play a role in this whole energy imbalance, perhaps even contributing to weight gain and maybe even a dysregulation of your adrenal glands. Where do you stand on that?

Dr. Christianson: For sure, awesome question. The acronym I use is GFC, ‘gluten-free crap’. Somewhere along the way, gluten-free processed foods, they’re still processed food.

Jennifer: That is so true.

Dr. Christianson: If you imagine that you took a warm surface like a hot street or something where the asphalt is hot and you were to put a shovelful of snow on the hot asphalt. And next to that, you had a big block of ice, a foot on each dimension and you spread out the snow really thin. Well, that snow is going to melt by the time you spread it out. But that ice is going to be there for hours.

You want foods that are like the block of ice that take your body time to digest and break down. You don’t want foods that melt instantly like that snow. That’s what sugar does.

Flour products, in general, even gluten-free flour products, they can be tough on your blood sugar. And in many cases, those same things have a lot of the same random, synthetic chemicals that other processed foods have.

I’m a big fan of the gluten-free grains within the context of getting your good carbs, meaning intact whole grains over flour products.

Jennifer: Now, here’s another good question because people tend not to believe me when I say this. But I know it’s true. I’m actually in the process of doing my master’s degree in nutrition, so I’m studying all about these basic stuff and sharing it with my audience. When you eat carbs, they get broken down into very basic units, a.k.a. monosaccharides. I figured you’re the expert. So is it true that when you eat carbs, no matter whether they’re complex carbohydrates or not, it does get turned into sugar at the end of the day to get absorbed?

Dr. Christianson: For sure. And I always make a distinction between sugar to a chemist and sugar to a baker because they’re different concepts. Yes, carbohydrates in the blood stream do all become sugar. That’s called glucose. But that’s not the same as sugar to a baker. That’s not the same as consuming a processed sugar like sucrose.

The funny thing is that I’ve watched some people that do no carbs. When we monitor their glucose scores on that continuous meter, many of them have blood sugar that gets too high. So whether you eat carbs or not, your body is going to make glucose. And even if you’re burning ketones, your body is making that into glucose.

So there’s no way you can get away from sugar in that sense of sugar in your blood stream. You couldn’t. You’d go into a comma if you did. You would die if their availability was too slow. You’ll always end up with glucose in your bloodstream no matter what you eat. The trick is how much is there and how much insulin it takes to manage that.

Protein and fat also cause your body to make insulin, especially protein. So the trick is you don’t really correct your blood sugar by never consuming foods that become sugar, you correct it by consuming foods that allow you to have stable and steady blood sugar.

Jennifer: As far as someone going to the grocery store looking at nutrition labels, is it important that they at least have a sense of how many carbs are in – we’ll just say the ‘gluten-free muffins’ that they buy. I tend to tell everyone you want to have a sense of how many carbs are in there.

It’s not that you want to eat below a certain amount. I don’t know that everyone should eat low carb or any particular diet. I think everyone’s diet should be unique to themselves to best support their own unique system. But it’s about having some really simple way to kind of identify carbs on a nutritional label.

Do you ever have any tricks that you share with patients, something practical that they can use when they go to the grocery store to understand that?

Dr. Christianson: For sure. If somebody is really out to improve their health, don’t get the foods that have long ingredients list. And you are also really right in terms of amounts.

The calorie model and the counting food model, it’s gotten a bad rep in some ways that it deserves and in some ways that it doesn’t deserve. So the calorie model, if you have controlled environments, it tends to work. But it doesn’t explain why we’re hungry. The weight of obesity in animals and humans is totally skyrocketing. The calorie model has no reason for that whatsoever. Yes, you can say that when someone is gaining weight it’s because they’re taking in more calories. But you’ve to figure out why.

That’s the trick about the health of the adrenals and your blood sugar rhythm. When those things are stable, you’re burning fuel effectively and your body is not storing all of it. When you’re in storage mode, you want more food than you’re burning because you’re storing all of it. So yeah, it’s good to be aware of amounts still.

I encourage thinking about just simple food volumes. Roughly the size of a golf ball as far as any dense carbohydrates, that’s a max for your breakfast. And about a baseball for your dinner is a max for your dinner. Between the two for lunch. So you have less in the morning, more later in the day and some easy visual cues for that.

Jennifer: Okay! So let’s even get more specific here. What would be some of your favorite carbohydrate sources then that you would recommend to your patients?

Dr. Christianson: Easy thing! The best carbs have the most fiber and the most types of fiber. We’ve got soluble, insoluble and resistant. And the worst carbs have the most fructose.

With that perspective, beans and legumes are just incredible in terms of the fiber load and the delay of digestion. And also, there are really incredible things they do to your bacterial flora. Your body weight is all about your bacterial flora. The types of fibers unique to beans are just powerful for giving you the best flora.

Jennifer: This is so interesting because I’ve interviewed so many people in the last year that are Paleo. They don’t eat beans and yours is on the total opposite end of things. I love it!

Dr. Christianson: If you’re eating beans, there’s a thing called phytic acid. And phytic acid is also called the inositol hexaphosphate. Right now, there’s Phase I clinical trials going on about this stuff as a factor or agent against colorectal cancer.

We’ve got scores of studies showing that with the highest bean intake, you’ve got the lowest risk of colorectal, breast and lung cancer. And also the least diabetes and the least heart disease in Mediterranean diets and also the traditional Asian diets which have shown the greatest levels of health, the greatest amounts of longevity and also the best body weights for millennia.

Jennifer: Wow! That’s really fascinating that they’re doing that kind of work. Science is so amazing. It really is!

Dr. Christianson: For sure!

Jennifer: I want to ask you then how does these all play into your adrenals because I think a lot of women don’t fully understand why they are so tired. They wake up in the morning, they’re exhausted. They try to go to bed at night and they feel like their mind won’t shut up. It’s spinning in circles, thinking about everything that they did. How does this relate to your adrenal glands?

Dr. Christianson: Yeah, good question. When you’ve got a nice flow of cortisol, you wake up alert and energized, you go to sleep, your brain shuts off and you burn your body fat for fuel throughout the day.

When the adrenal rhythm is not working right, it’s all the opposite. Your energy is erratic. You always need sweets or caffeine to boost you up or alcohol to calm you down at night. You can’t sleep well and your body is just storing all of it. That’s all about the cortisol cycle because it’s a storage one.

Jennifer: And for the adrenals to get back on track once they’ve been depleted, what should someone do? Is this something that you recommend people just take into their own hands. Obviously, your book is a great resource for them. But my personal concern – I did end up with adrenal fatigue many years ago and my concern is that a lot of times, people will start tinkering with their own hormones, which I don’t necessarily think is a good idea. But you’re the expert. What do you think? What should people do if they believe that their adrenals are kind of pooped?

Dr. Christianson: Well, there’s disease and there’s dysfunction. Adrenal disease is rather rare. That’s things like Addison’s and Cushing’s. You’re right! Those are medical conditions that requires supervision. I manage those diseases. They’re complicated.

Adrenal dysfunction is very common. It affects many. We did a clinical trial showing that just with a simple diet, you can fix it even if it’s off by a lot. Just by timing carbs in a strategic fashion, you can fix it and get it back on track again.

Jennifer: And how would somebody know though that they were in adrenal dysfunction?

Dr. Christianson: Great question! Also, there are different levels of adrenal dysfunction. Simple thing! AdrenalQuiz.com, there’s a free quiz you can do and there’s nothing you’re tied to. It tells you whether or not your adrenals are healthy. And if they’re off, you’ll learn whether they’re stressed, you’re tired or tired or crashed and also, some simple strategies you can do using light and timing and rhythm and food to get them back on track again.

Jennifer: Do you think that supplements play a key role in improving the quality of the adrenal function?

Dr. Christianson: I like adaptogens. They’re not the big needle movers. We did a clinical trial and it showed that really the diet, just being on good foods, made the difference. And in the diet in the clinical trial I did, I took everybody off of gluten. There are so many concerns with it that are medical in so many ways which is just tied up with processed foods. So that was one big step.

But the other big part of it is being strategic about carbs, about not going crazy on bad carbs, but be very specific about good ones at the right times. We showed that in 30 days, we could move the adrenal rhythm back to balance, whichever way it’s off by more than 50%.

Jennifer: You have brought up a really great point that makes me think of several women who I’ve heard from the last few days. They’ve acknowledged that they have gluten sensitivity, but not Celiac Disease. And yet, as a result, they think it’s okay to cheat once a week and eat gluten and that it has no effect on their energy, on their overall health.

What is your feeling as far as from an adrenal point? If you’re consuming something that you’re sensitive to, can that affect your adrenals?

Dr. Christianson: It certainly can. And it’s all a matter of resiliency. If your health is exactly where you want it, you’ve got a little more latitude on things like that and you’ve got more resiliency in place. But if it’s not, if there are things you want to improve, then you need to really give yourself, your body circumstances even better than what might be needed for maintenance to let yourself really heal and repair.

Jennifer: Last question. I think this has been a great basic conversation about how carbs affect the body. What are maybe two or three points that you can share with the audience of where they can begin today as far as changing their relationship with carbs and eating carbs in such a way – you did already mention the breakfast and having a higher protein breakfast. What are a couple of other things they can do to help support their adrenals?

Dr. Christianson: As far as the carbs go, really getting good quantities in the evening and looking at good types. One of my very single favorites would be adzuki beans.

Now, beans and legumes, if someone has been off of them, your flora shifts in bad ways and your flora becomes less able to digest them. So if you do a ton, you could have gas. No surprise. So it doesn’t mean you can’t eat them. It means you want to reintroduce them gently.

I encourage a tablespoon a day for two weeks. That’s enough to get your good bacteroidetes flora strong and resilient again, so they can keep you lean and help to digest the beans effectively.

But the adzuki beans are the highest food source known in magnesium. They’re also one of the slowest burning types of carbohydrates and they’re considered adaptogens and tonics for the kidneys and the adrenals. And they taste good too. It’s so awesome when foods can do a lot of good things like that.

Jennifer: They do! And I’ve actually used them in place of black beans in Mexican food and all sorts of things. So they’re beans that you can flavor quite easily, which is great.

Dr. Alan: Yeah! Well, thank you so much for sharing all of these information with us. We’ll definitely keep our eyes out. I would highly encourage everyone to check out your book, which is, as I’ve said, a New York Times’ bestseller, The Adrenal Reset Diet.

Dr. Christianson: So here’s a quick option. There’s actually a free cookbook with a ton of recipes. It gives you some ideas of the book too. That’s at AdrenalResetDiet.com.

Jennifer: Oh, that’s great!

Dr. Christianson: You can just download that, it has 60 recipes, and get a tons of ideas about it.

Jennifer: Great! That’ll be wonderful to share.

I really appreciate your time in sharing all these information with us. I hope you’ll be able to come back some time and we can talk a little bit more about adrenal health.

Dr. Christianson: I would love to! Thanks for having me, Jennifer.

Jennifer: You’re very welcome. Everyone, please stay in touch with Dr. Christianson. You can find him on the web at DrChristianson.com, as well as his facility that he practices at called IntegrativeHealthCare.com. He’s on Facebook, Twitter and a bunch of other platforms.

I’ll put everything below including all the links that he shared with me as well as the link to his book, The Adrenal Reset Diet, so that you can go and get yourself a copy.

I really appreciate you checking out this podcast. I hope that all the information that we’ve shared today is very beneficial to you. I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye bye! 

IMPORTANT LINKS

Get Your Copy of The Adrenal Reset Diet now –> CLICK HERE

Dr. Christianson’s website –DrChristianson.com and IntegrativeHealthCare.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DrAlanChristianson

Twitter – https://twitter.com/alannmd

The post Are Carbs Bad For You? (The Answer Will Surprise You) with Dr. Alan Christianson: GFS Podcast 070 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

If you’ve felt better after removing gluten (and casein) from your diet, listen up because there’s a connection to MSG that I never understood before now and I just had to share this with you! My guest on today’s podcast is a brilliant woman who has transformed the health of her daughter (and herself) by removing MSG. Through researching the effects of MSG, she found learned of MSG’s ability to exacerbate autoimmune conditions and much more. This podcast is not just something to check out for yourself — it’s a must share regardless of whether your friends and family are gluten-free.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Why Removing MSG From Your Diet Can Dramatically Improve Your Health with Katherine Reid, PhD

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. And today, we’re going to talk about a topic we have not touched on before, specifically MSG.

Many of us know about it, we’ve maybe heard of it, maybe you believe that it’s really not good for you. But I found a woman who is not only absolutely brilliant, but she is going to explain to all of us why we need to be so concerned about MSG and how it can cause major problems for our health – not just for us, but also for our kids. And maybe if you’ve got grandkids, them too. So this is great information, not only to take them for yourself, but also to share.

Katherine Reid, PhD is the executive director and founder of Unblind My Mind, a non-profit that educates on the links between the food we eat and the chronic illnesses we suffer. Katherine has a PhD in biochemistry with over 20 year experience in biotechnology and molecular diagnostics, training that would find her ideally suited to tackle her most challenging scientific endeavor.

In 2006, she became aware that her youngest child had autism. Through her research, Katherine determined that certain foods common in the western diet were associated with her daughter’s autistic behaviors. Seeing the profound effect of diet on the brain, with many of her clients she’s become a provocateur, questioning medical approaches and food manufacturing practices related to health. Katherine provides the missing link that many search for in managing or restoring health through diet.

Recently, Katherine has presented two TEDx talks, spoke at Curando El Autismo Conference in Puerto Rico, Transform Your Health Summit, and has provided local lectures at schools, local functions and the Unblind My Mind organized conference. She’s been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Fox News and New York Daily News along with various radio shows, blogs and podcast. Her website is UnblindMyMind.org. Dr. Reid, welcome to the podcast.

Katherine: Thank you for having me and thank you for the introduction.

Jennifer: You’re welcome! I watched your TEDx talk. That’s how I tracked you down and invited you to be here. And actually, believe it or not, it was one of the podcast listeners that sent me an email suggesting I watch your TEDx talk.

Why don’t you share with everyone a little bit about your journey on why MSG became such a big deal to you.

Katherine: Yes, yes. Like your introduction, I really didn’t focus on the food and associations to health really until my youngest child was diagnosed with autism. The scientist in me started researching brain chemistry, neurological chemistry, immunological activation, inflammation, and really wanting to understand the mechanisms that can either benefit or be deleterious to these big systems.

I started focusing more and more on diet and thinking, “Well, is she getting enough nutrients for optimal brain function?” But there wasn’t a lot of scientific research on the dietary studies in autism and so, I just started on taking this journey.

But I found a lot of parents, parenting children with autism, saying that they saw some improvements with the gluten free, casein free diet. Gluten free is obviously very familiar with your audience, and then casein is the protein found in milks.

And while people weren’t claiming they cured their child, it was clear that the majority were seeing some improvements. And so I went down that road of removing all the gluten and casein products in the diet. I also went on this journey with my daughter so that she would feel that there was company, she wasn’t isolated. And because she’s the youngest of five children, I couldn’t get all the kids to participate, so at this point it was just her and me that were on this food journey.

I did see improvements in her behavior. While she is still considered autistic, I became really curious what’s the connection between gluten and casein that so many are starting to see improvements.

I started to dive – and this is my scientific background – really looking at the proteins of gluten and casein. I discovered that the amino acid (that’s the building blocks of proteins), the majority is glutamate, which is an amino acid found in all proteins. But in gluten and casein it comprises over 25% of the protein, which is unusually high. Typically, it’s about 5% to 10% glutamate amino acid in a protein.

When I started to really dive in to the food manufacturing processes, I realized that there is an entire science behind trying to enrich these gluten/casein food for free glutamate. That means it’s breaking apart the protein peptide bonds and creating free glutamate, which we know in our foods as monosodium glutamate or MSG.

A light bulb went off like, “Wow! I wonder if the removal of gluten and casein is more about reducing the MSG load, and that’s why people are seeing some improvements.” But because those aren’t the only source of MSG in the diet, people were just seeing improvements rather than more drastic reduction in symptoms. 

And so I started to scientifically search this literature about whether or not there was an association between autism and MSG or glutamate. And I honestly felt like I hit the mother lode.

And we were not just talking about autism, but there are all sorts of chronic inflammation, chronic immune activation such as autoimmune diseases, late onset disease like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Even diabetes is now linked to glutamate and MSG consumption.

Not only is this possible, we have what’s called a glutamatergic dysregulation epidemic, meaning that the population is demonstrating the inability to regulate glutamate at balanced levels and it’s an epidemic in modern population.

And so like I said, from Alzheimer’s to early onset diseases like autoimmune diseases, ADHD, autism, a lot of mood disorders can be more early onset.

And so, I really started diving in to the science and decided, “Okay, I’m going to try an experiment here. I’m going to try to remove all the enriched and fortified sources of free glutamate and determine whether or not that would benefit my daughter’s condition.”

And again I went on this experiment with her. Now, at first I received strong protests from my husband because I was about to remove all comfort foods from the house. 

Jennifer: I can only imagine.

Katherine: And honestly, this went way beyond my scientist degree! I had to become a detective because I realized that our food labels are extremely inadequate with providing the consumer enough information to determine what contains free glutamate. And so you really have to go one step removed and actually look at how is the food processed to make that ingredient that then goes in the food.

I decided to try the experiment and determine what would happen if we removed all this enriched and fortified sources of free glutamate that were so pervasive in our supplies. I went on this journey with her. And my daughter is no longer considered autistic. She went from moderate on the spectrum requiring special needs to –

The behavioral dysfunction was causing a family crisis. It was really challenging to figure out how to manage behaviors. All of those went away and she is now the most social child out of the entire family. She no longer requires any assistance for learning. She’s in mainstream second grade right now and doing great health wise.

And myself, I got rid of 40 years of pollen allergies that I suffered with for years. Two months out of every single year, it seemed like I was just sick. I just constantly had headaches and runny nose, all from these pollen allergies, and that completely went away.

Jennifer: Wow! So it makes sense that that whole cleaning out process would have these amazing effects that people feel in a sense of waking up from a fog.

Katherine: Exactly, and obviously, with the engineering of food, the additives are much more than just the enriched sources of free glutamate. But what I do think is that these engineered foods are absolutely increasing inflammation and MSG. Glutamate is absolutely associated with activating the immune response and activating inflammation.

And so when I started to look at the pathways of what was going on with excess glutamate I I began to understand the underlying mechanisms of why did I see such improvements with such a wide variety of different conditions.

But the Paleo and the GAPS and the Atkins, all of these transitions in diets, and even gluten and casein free or gluten-free, you’re removing significant sources of MSG.

When you say gluten-free, you’re moving towards whole foods. I’m also seeing a gluten-free diet where you can start going to more processed gluten-free options and what they’ve done is they’ve enriched for free glutamate to make it taste good because guess how they used to make MSG before they found cheaper ways? They used to take gluten and hydrolyze it or break apart that protein to free the glutamate. That’s how it used to be manufactured. So, they just now add it to these gluten-free products so that people are still getting addicted to these products.

Jennifer: Now, I would assume that those products are not blatantly writing, “Oh, we have MSG in here.”

Katherine: No, no. And that’s the whole purpose of why I started Unblind My Mind, it’s because it really is not widely known that all of these ingredients are really enriching for free glutamate.

In fact, MSG is probably labeled one percent of the time, and less than that I would say, when the food actually contains it. And it’s because food manufacturers are not required to out the final amount of products.

So, if you take a protein, for example, and you put it through extensive fermentation practices where they selected the fermentation conditions to enrich for free glutamate – and that’s exactly what they’re doing – they’re not required to label the byproducts of that fermentation. All they need to do is label protein.

So when I’m talking to people and raising awareness, it’s not only about the education, it really is almost like helping them wean off the addiction and opening up their palates to real whole foods, nutrient-rich foods so they can start to restore health.

Jennifer: So how can someone even begin to find MSG if you’re saying it’s not labeled and they’re not really required – are they not required to label MSG on foods?

Katherine: The way the FDA regulation is that if they added the pure MSG ingredient as a raw ingredient, they’re required to label it. So in order to avoid this, the loophole is that, “Well, I’m not going to add the pure MSG substance. I’m going to create it in my manufacturing of the food and the byproducts are not required to be labeled. So I can take, let’s say, gluten, and I can ferment the heck out of it with all of these yeast cultures and enrich the free glutamate through the actual conditions of my manufacturing practice and I don’t need to label the free glutamate in there at all.”

Jennifer: Wow! So then I guess the question is how do we even begin to look for this because from what you’re saying, it sounds that food companies are hoping that we don’t recognize what it is that we’re eating? All these advocates for, “I don’t need MSG,” – I always think MSG, I think Chinese food.

Katherine: Exactly!

Jennifer: I do! Many of us have heard that thing. You go to the Chinese restaurant and say, “Oh, is your food MSG free.” I think a lot of restaurant had gotten better about it, because there’s been that outcry of not wanting to consume it. But here, what you’re saying is that food manufacturers got smart and started to hide it.

Katherine: Yeah, not only did they get smart, they have become incredibly powerful. So when I recently watched the documentary Fed Up, which is all about the sugar industry and how much the food industry really is powerful, that same message could have been written about the glutamate industry.

The International Technical Glutamate Community was formed right after they’re starting to begin research about the association of MSG and brain lesions. And this International Technical Glutamate Community started to receive money from food industries that have a vested interest in keeping the food additives in their foods. And now that industry – I mean, it’s a trillion dollar industry. It had over 50 different committees formed under this, what they call ‘consulting company’ that’s actually was owned by Monsanto.

And so there are 50 different committees under there. Each of these committees send a representative to the World Health Organization Codex that establishes the standards of what’s considered a safe additive and the labeling practices required.

There’s not an equal representation of the public interest there at all. And so not only have they gotten smart about labeling the foods, they have really become influential and powerful about how to keep it that way.

Jennifer: What are we going to start looking for? I mean, all the women that are listening to this (and the men too, the wonderful guys that listen in as well), what should we start to look for in gluten-free foods that we might not suspect is really MSG, but would be?

Katherine: Yeah, and one of my hypothesis starting out initially was that the wide range of benefits the people were seeing in the autism population with going gluten-free and casein free was what they were replacing those foods with. If they’re replacing them with whole foods like vegetables and fruits and nuts and seeds and such, the improvement was slightly better than if they were replacing it with processed foods.

Where you start to get into a lot of challenge is when you have to read labels of prepackaged foods. I have a list on my website that contains all of the ingredients or list of ingredients that contain free glutamate.

Jennifer: You do it! And I will tell you, it’s a really great list and everybody should go get this. It is a really great list. I’m looking at it now. If you go to UnblindMyMind.org and scroll down a little bit, Dr. Reid has a link to that list and also, her sign up box. So definitely make sure to sign up for her newsletter. But this is a great list!

Katherine: The big offenders are the processed proteins. Any time you see a soy protein concentrate or rice bran protein, any of these isolated proteins, I would start to be suspicious right there. When you start to isolate and enrich for protein, you think, “Now they have the opportunity through their manufacturing processes to enrich the free glutamate.”

It is funny when, like you said, you go to a Chinese restaurant and they say we don’t have MSG and yet they have soy sauce on the table.  “Oh yeah, sure you have no MSG.”

Fermented soy, the reason why it tastes so good in our palate is it has free glutamate. It’s a fermented soy product. Even vegans, when they think they’re being so healthy, they’ve got all these processed soy products like tofu and tempeh and fermented soy sauce in their diet that are really high in MSG.

And so, it’s amazing when people say, “Gosh! I thought I was being so healthy,” and certainly I started out that way too, thinking I was being so healthy until I unblinded my mind.

Jennifer: I’m curious. You have reduced fat milk, skimmed one percent and two percent on your list. And I personally cannot stand milk. It is revolting to me. I’m sorry to all you milk lovers out there, but I don’t understand how people continue to drink it once you know what it is and how processed it is and such. But how exactly did that end up on your list of things with MSG?

Katherine: Like I said, the casein protein has 30% glutamate as part of its protein structure. Raw milk is fine and has very low levels of free glutamate. That low level of free glutamate serves to signal, neurologically signal the body to prepare for protein coming down the digestive tract and the brain receives signals to expect protein, which is a required nutrient and energy source in our body.

But when you start to process it through the de-fattening process, and the fermentations used in yogurt – I mean, when I started looking into the cheese manufacturing processes and what degree of effort they put to enrich and fortify for free glutamate, I was like, “Oh, my goodness! No wonder why cheese tastes so fantastic.”

Jennifer: It’s usually the hardest thing for vegans to give up. Now, another two that are on your list – and I just want to ask because I have written articles about them on my website and I have asked another podcast guest, Melanie Warner. I had her on last year actually. She talked about food scientists and what they do and how they make up foods from powders and all sorts of weird things and engineering food. It was so strange.

We talked a little bit about xanthan gum and carrageenan. So is it pretty much a guarantee, if we see either of those two, which tend to being gluten products, if you see either of those two should you think, “Uh-oh, this product probably has MSG in it.”?

Katherine: Yeah, the xanthan gum is funny because I have received a couple of emails from food manufacturers saying, “Where is the evidence that xanthan gum contains free glutamate?” And so, I sent them a 37-page manufacturing protocol on xanthan gum where they were adding glutamate to the fermentation feed for the nitrogen source of the bacteria cultures that were being used. When you look at the final nitrogen content, the only nitrogen source was glutamate. And so all of that nitrogen is equal to that glutamate content in that food.

So while it may be one to two percent of xanthan gum and the xanthan gum itself is only added one to two percent, what happens is it’s developed a total load in your diet.

So, if you had one single cheat food that had xanthan gum in it, it likely wouldn’t cause too much of an issue if you’re not that sensitive, but if you’ve got – citric acid is another one on the list. Citric acid and xanthan gum are pretty pervasive across the medicines and beverages, and foods that the total load starts to add up until the small amounts in each particular food just creates a high MSG load. But like I said, the biggest offenders are definitely the processed proteins.

Jennifer: My audience for sure is really interested in supplements and herbs. So for you to mention that there can be MSG in supplements I think is probably going to shock everyone.

Is there a way to know aside from looking at these labels that just say vitamin A, vitamin D? They don’t always tell you what is in your supplements. How do you know how to find an MSG free supplement?”

Katherine: Yeah, particularly foods that say “enriched with vitamin D.” That’s a red flag because they are not required to label where they got their vitamins. They’re probably supplementing it or enriching it with the cheapest source and it’s bound to be containing free glutamate.

Jennifer: I was just going to ask those too. In addition to that, what about with our gut flora, does this have an effect on that? I’m thinking to myself, “We’re ingesting all these chemicals and these weird engineered proteins, does this affect the digestive system at all?”

Katherine: Oh, absolutely! In fact, I definitely probably have spent the last year and a half on microflora metabolism and exactly how their metabolism changes with respect to environment, the foods we’re feeding them, so absolutely. You can actually have an overgrowth of a particular species and supplements could actually be feeding that microflora to more overgrowth.

But the whole glutamate story with the micro flora is actually fascinating. The microflora are adaptive. And so whatever the environment is in your gut, the microflora going to adapt to that environment. And if you have a bunch of engineered processed foods that have simple sugars and simple amino acids widely available for them to consume in their metabolism, they will. And they have the ability to keep you addicted to those foods because they can release signals to our neurological system that keeps us feeding that addiction. So they contribute to addictions too.

Jennifer: And what I was going to say then, because this sounds like anyone, in a sense, can be sensitive to MSG then. It just would vary to what degree? Am I wrong in that assumption or headed in the right direction?

Katherine: Oh, absolutely. I do think it’s ironic. When I’m working with people saying, “I’m not sensitive to MSG,” and then the next statement, they’ll say, “I’ve been having a lot of anxiety and sleeplessness,” I’m just like, “That’s MSG.”

People don’t understand how widely variable – because like I said, over 50% of our neurological system is stimulated by glutamate.

We need glutamate in our system to help regulate signaling between our neurological system, our immunological system and metabolic function. But when you exacerbate it by adding a lot of external glutamate, you’re actually sending a stress signal that further helps cascade the inflammation or stress signal throughout the body.

Jennifer: Wow! This is wild. Well, you know what? I want to leave everybody with something positive because I think they’re going to walk away from this going, “My head’s going to explode, I don’t know what to do,” I think the first thing to focus on here is to eat real food, that is number one.

And number two, depending on where you are on your journey, being gluten-free. If you are still eating products, I think it would behoove you – not to continue to push you guys to get this list, but I would highly recommend to go to UnblindMyMind.org, get her list and look all at the information that Dr. Reid has compiled. As I was looking at it even, I was like, “Oh, wow! Yes, I’ve seen that on food. I’ve seen that.” So it is very helpful.

Is there anything else, Dr. Reid, that you could leave us with? Something positive perhaps after listening to all of this is really great information, but I just want to give the audience a couple of takeaways that they could leave with and say, “Okay, I can do something about this.”

Katherine: Yeah, I think the realization that it just isn’t worth the time to try to decipher all these ingredient labels because their manufacturing processes are obscure. I would email the food manufacturers and ask them, “You’ve got natural flavors in there. Can you please let me know whether there is free glutamate in there or what exactly is in there?” Often, I would get a response that “it is proprietary.” And like you said, there is nothing proprietary about what goes in our body. If they’re not willing to reveal it, I think we need to absolutely act.

But I found that the more that I just went to whole foods, it wasn’t so time consuming. It really is about establishing a routine, making fresh foods out of whole food ingredients and really starting to appreciate the taste of real whole foods.

And it isn’t much more time. I think that’s a myth where people think, “Oh, I just don’t have the time.” Honestly, some of my easiest meals, when I pack my daughters snack, it’s like cashews, carrots, sliced apples. And I can make it all raw foods and she loves it. And so that’s really easy.

Jennifer: You also do consulting for people that are interested in getting some help around this for their families.

Katherine: Yeah, we offer email support. People, as they go through their journey, honestly, I’ve had people shooting pictures from the grocery store saying, “what about this? what about this?”, just to help guide people into the transition because it may seem daunting at first. But like I said, once you’ve establish the habits and the routine, it actually is fairly easy to adapt to. It’s just daunting potentially at first.

I also do consultations over Skype and/or with group settings or individuals just to help to guide people for the transitions.

Jennifer: Well, I want to thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing all of these because wow! It’s a total eye-opener, its shocking. And in the same respect, by learning this information and being more cognizant of it in the food we choose to eat, we can then take back more power over our diets, over our health and what-not.

Katherine: Yes, yes. Well, thank you for having me on the show and helping spread the message because I do I feel like we would all, as a population, would benefit with less health issues not just from the healthcare cost (that is a huge factor), but happy, healthy people are better to interact with.

Jennifer: Absolutely, absolutely. I love that point.

Everyone please go to UnblindMyMind.org. Please follow Dr. Reid. She is brilliant. I’ll definitely make sure I’ll post up both of her TEDx talks. I will make sure that there are links, so that you can share them and hopefully, we’ll inspire some other people in our lives to also see the value in caring about MSG and getting to know Dr. Reid’s work further as well so they can improve their health.

Now, remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and head over to Gluten Free School. Leave your questions, your comments. If you have a personal story or experience with MSG or removing it, we’d love to hear it. Leave those comments below.

I just want to thank you so much for being the readers and the listeners that you are because we both have the transcripts and we have the audio and you all have showed up consistently. We’ve grown our listenership so much in the last year. It’s just been incredibly astonishing. We look forward to bringing more amazing guests

And please, as is the case with Dr. Reid, if you have a suggestion of someone else you feel has really got a great message to share, email us, let us know and we’ll reach out.

Thank you, again, Dr. Reid. We really appreciate you coming on. We’ll see everybody coming soon. Take care!

IMPORTANT LINKS

Katherine’s website – https://unblindmymind.org/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/UnblindMyMind

Twitter – https://twitter.com/UnblindMyMind

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/unblindmymind/

The post Why Removing MSG From Your Diet Can Dramatically Improve Your Health with Katherine Reid, PhD: GFS Podcast 069 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

When you’ve got digestive issues, stress levels must be addressed even if you think you can handle everything that’s coming your way. The American Psychological Association found in a 2012 survey that only 37% of respondents believe that they’ve got their stress levels well-managed. For the rest of us, we are either struggling with stress or unable to realistically acknowledge the extent of stress. The reality is that if excessive stress is left unchecked, it will impact your digestive system as well as pretty much every other system in your body (CLICK HERE to see a neat graphic). Even your adrenals will take a hit so much so that the constant release of cortisol, a stress hormone, can lead to elevated blood sugar and insulin resistance.

Today’s podcast is one that’s near and dear to my heart because of how much I strongly believe in stress reduction for those with chronic digestive issues. Some of the techniques shared within are what I have used (and still do) to keep high levels of stress from affecting me. When you’ve finished listening or reading, please leave a comment and share how stress impacts your life and digestion as well as any steps you’ve taken to successfully mitigate it.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

How Stress Affects Digestion with Eva Selhub, MD

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, we’re going to talk about stress and how stress impacts not just your health as far as mentally, but how it also impacts your health from a physiologic standpoint, what it can do to you and how you can start to take back the reigns and deal with stress on a physical, emotional and spiritual basis.

I have a really interesting guest with me today. I’m actually quite excited to speak with her because she’s the first guest that I’ve ever had on the podcast that is dealing specifically with this topic. Her name is Dr. Eva Selhub. She’s a clinical associate in medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. She also has an appointment at Harvard Medical School.

Board-certified in internal medicine and specializing in integrative medicine, Dr. Selhub has a practice of treating and coaching her clients to be resilient, balanced and healthy in every aspect of their lives, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

As a transformation and resiliency consultant and speaker, Dr. Selhub lectures throughout the world and acts as a consultant to help individuals transform their health and their lives for the better. Dr. Selhub is the author of The Love Response, co-author of Your Brain on Nature and her newest book, Change Your Health Destiny. She has been published in medical journals and featured in national publications including the New York Times, USA Today, Self, Shape, Fitness and Journal of Women’s Health and has appeared on radio and television in connection with her work, including the Dr. Oz Show.

Welcome to the Podcast, Dr. Selhub!

Eva Selhub: Thank you! Thank you for having me.

Jennifer: Why don’t you start off by telling us how you became so interested in stress?

Eva Selhub: I had stress. I’m laughing about it, but it is true! I think most people can relate to this notion that we don’t actually search for meaning unless we’re suffering. We don’t look for something new unless something’s broken. And so yes, that’s really what stress does. Stress motivates change, and as we’ll talk further, we’ll help the audience understand why stress isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, for the most part, it’s necessary and good.

But my own life, I was in residency (I was doing an internal medicine residency), which is three years long. I was at the end of my second year when I was stuck with a needle stick, an HIV needle stick. And basically, it was a very, very bad exposure that required that I take cocktail medications to prevent from converting into HIV. And this is back in 1996 when really, people died from this horrible disease. And there was really nothing you could do.

It’s scary and I got quite sick from taking the medications for six weeks. So between being physically ill for the first time, seriously physically ill for the first time in my 28 years at the time, being mentally distressed and really assessing my life, I thought, “What are you doing with your life? And is this what you really want to do?” I did my bargaining with God, that sort of thing.

But to just make a long story short – and this is all in my book. In The Love Response, I talk about my story. But basically I said, “There’s something more that I need to learn.” I can’t just treat people allopathically the way western medicine does. It’s not enough and it doesn’t have all of the answers. I don’t want to just help people when they’re at their end of their life. I want to figure out what to do before they get there.

And that’s what brought me to the Mind Body Medical Institute with Henry Benson, which is now actually called the Henry-Benson Institute for Mind Body Medicine. I started volunteering and learning. I’ve started learning about mind body medicine. I started learning about stress and about what it had to do with health and illness.

Within a year of actually volunteering, they asked me to be the medical director. As the medical director, they asked me to lecture about stress and stress physiology, which I had really had to know well.

So I started looking at all the literature and research and then I started applying the information clinically. Basically I was practicing translational research meaning that I was translating the research into reality and looking at the patterns, what’s really going on, how does this relate to everyday life, how does this relate to the mind body approach. And that’s really how it all came to be for me to actually develop this expertise and true understanding of how the whole system works, and why stress, in many ways, is good, and when it’s not utilized correctly, it can harm you.

Jennifer: Stress is one of the largest reasons why a patient or anyone listening might end up at a doctor. We know that stress is connected to so many inflammatory diseases and all sorts of other health concerns. But I think we throw the word stress around assuming that we know what it is, but maybe we don’t. Could you define stress for us, so that we actually have a better understanding of what it is?

Eva Selhub: Absolutely! And that’s a really, really good question. The bottom line is that stress is actually a term in physics. It simply implies that a system is under duress of some kind or another.

What you want to think about is the notion that a human being is actually a living, breathing system and a human being lives in a living, breathing system which is our earth and our universe. It’s constantly changing, constantly breathing, expanding and contracting, constantly changing.

For a human being to be able to survive in a constantly changing system, it needs to change as well. And for any living organism, you need to have some type of alerting system that says it’s time to change.

When the weather changes, your alert system in your body lets you know that it is cold outside. Without it, you would go outside without putting on something warm and you would freeze to death. It’s not conducive for survival of the species not to have an alerting system that lets you know when change is necessary.

Anytime that there is a change in the system, or what’s called a challenge to the balance of the system, it’s called stress. When you feel cold, that’s stress. When your blood sugar drops and you get hungry, that’s stress. When you’re uncomfortable the way you’re sitting, that’s stress. And that stress then propagates an action, a corrective action.

So if you’re uncomfortable, you shift positions. You correct the problem and now you’re back in balance again.

Every living organism desires to be in balance, which in scientific term is called homeostasis and our attempt to achieve that balance through change is allostasis.

We are in constant allostasis because homeostasis would mean that you’re not moving and nothing’s changing. You’ll never be able to actually stay in that forever. But you can be in allostasis which is discomfort or stress, making a change, getting back into comfort, staying there for a while, then discomfort and stress, making a change and so on and so forth. That’s how we exist.

Since the day you’re conceived, you’re born with an ability to take care this. Every cell of your body has a signaling system that aligns itself with the stress response, which is an automatic and unconscious response, then it initiates these physiological changes that will then initiate the brain, making an executive decision to make an action that will correct the problem.

You have this ability since the day you were born to, what we call, self-regulate. Your blood vessels can change according to the temperature. But to do much about it as an infant, you really can’t because you don’t have much of a brain and you don’t have much coordination. As an infant, you’re being taken care of. You don’t even have to label hungry, you just don’t feel good and you cry. And somebody comes and fixes it.

Over the course of your life, your brain, your body, your cells develop a database of information of how to take care of stress, what to do when you’re hungry, what to do when you’re tired, what to do when you need to go up the stairs, what to do when you have discomfort in a certain position. Because you don’t want to have to think about everything for the first time, it goes into a database so that it can become automatic, so that you can automatically handle a given stress as you go through your day.

Now, there are certain stresses that you can never learn how to manage or you just simply can’t. And those become what’s called unmanageable stressors which are what you think about when you think about stress. Those are the ones that cause anxiety or cause pain or cause the stress response, which is that physiologic response to continue firing. That physiological response is controlled by stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, and when they fire, they cause a persistence in the firing of the stress response like an increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased muscle tension, worsening of the digestive system functioning, slowing down of metabolism, et cetera, et cetera.

If that stress response fires too long or too fast or too hard, that’s when pathological problems arise and when the system starts breaking down and losing its balance.

Stress itself isn’t bad. It’s stress that is our warning signal that lets us know it’s time to change. It’s our inability to actually know what those signals are that cause issues because we don’t know to pay to attention to our body signals. People, instead of resting when they’re tired, drink caffeine. We ignore those signals of fatigue. That stress response is going to continue firing. Or we put chemicals in the body that causes the stress response to fire, or we don’t sleep which causes the stress response to fire, and so on and so forth.

And if these stressors are not taken care of, then the system goes out of balance and now, we’re going into the bad stress. That’s why when I lecture, one of the titles is Use Stress So That It Doesn’t Use You.

Basically, if you don’t learn to pay attention to these signals and utilize them accordingly, stress can actually take over and make you sick.

Jennifer: What’s interesting that you say all of this because it sounds like we went from, “Well, stress is good, but too much of it becomes a problem.” It’s almost this deluge of any one thing – you know what they say, moderation in life. That’s okay. Anything in life, we can handle in moderate amounts. But when you start eating sugar all day long, when you stop eating the proper foods, when you’re not sleeping enough at night, and this goes on chronically, it builds up and all of a sudden, you find yourself two, three, four years down the road not feeling like you think you should.

Eva Selhub: Well, yes. Exactly. But I like to use the analogy of a car. If you never use a car, it’ll just die out from misuse. You actually have to use the car so it knows how to work, and it continues to work, and it gets better because it is being worked. But it also needs time for rest. You can’t drive your car all the time. It needs maintenance, it needs oil changes, and it needs good oil put in it so that it can last a really long time.

The physical body isn’t really very different. We need a certain amount of stress to learn how to be more resilient. This whole idea of not being exposed to any bacteria is not a good thing because your body needs exposure to bacteria in order to learn how to be resilient to it. But to be overexposed to it and then have a body that’s so tired that it can’t handle it, now that’s not a good thing.

It is about that balance.

Jennifer: Here’s another question for you because again, we’ve used that word resilient. You’ve said it several times here. What exactly is resilience?

Eva Selhub: You know what? You’re great. I love these questions. The best way to think about resilience is bounce back. What is your bounce back quotient? It’s not about not being exposed to stress because as long as you’re human and you live on earth, you will experience stress.

Nature just lets a forest fire burn as a flower blooms. It’s not personal, it’s just going to happen. The question is, how do you manage? Do you believe you have the resources to handle adversity and uncertainty come what may? That is resilience. That means, “Yes, I might fall down but I can get back up.” “Yes, I might get exposed to the flu and I might even get sick for a little while but I’ll bounce back. It’s not going to get me. I’ll bounce back.”

So it’s about bounce back – how you do after you’re hit with something.

Jennifer: If a person or a woman who’s confronted with this whole digestive system, autoimmunity deluge, they’ve got to go to the doctors. They are trying to figure out what is wrong with them. They have no idea. They’re having trouble eating. They get sick to their stomach. That is all stressful, right? All of that circle that we seem to go in. Is there something missing in the entire process of us trying to figure out what’s wrong with our health? When we’re going to these medical appointments and dealing with practitioners that might not actually be looking for the root cause of a problem, do you feel that, in a sense, patients are –I don’t necessarily want to say justified, but there is a reasonable conclusion that one could draw that the process of trying to figure things out creates an excess amount of stress in that individual that could actually exacerbate their condition?

Eva Selhub: Well, again, yes. Think about the definition of stress. There are two kinds of stress. That’s it. There’s the stress you believe you can manage and the stress you believe you cannot manage. The stress you believe you can manage will offset a stress response that is well-controlled and short-lived so that you just manage whatever you need to manage. It rounds everything up to help you take care of whatever you need to take care of.

A stress that you perceive you cannot manage, aka. a worry or it could be the body that perceives it can’t manage, or just a constant toxin or constant inflammation or what have you or an illness, that stress response will continue firing which causes more and more of a load. We call it an allostatic load on the system.

Yes, you can remove that load. You can stop worrying and allow and believe in the body’s natural capacity to heal itself. You could rest more. You could do an elimination diet where you’re actually not exposing the body to toxins for a while and just giving it a rest. But the constant worry and the constant attachment to an end solution is invariably a stress you believe you cannot manage. In that case, it’s actually adding to that load.

Jennifer: You mentioned nutrition. How exactly do you believe that your food could then play a role in stress? And now before you answer that, I’ve mentioned several times on different podcasts since I’ve certainly talked to several different psychiatrists and whatnot about the relationship between gluten and mental health and whatnot. But for my entire life, I’ve had obsessive compulsive disorder. And for a period of time in my 20s, granted I was eating horribly. I was in college and my favorite food was anything with gluten in it, for sure.

Eva Selhub: You and every other teenager or college student.

Jennifer: Yes, and I became incredibly depressed. I suffered with a lot of anxiety. I even was placed on antidepressants. One of the highest loads that they could give someone for Prozac, and I just became more and more depressed, never really helped things.

In changing my diet after I hit rock bottom, I started to feel more in control of my life. I got my creativity back because that was lost in the process. I began to find joy in relationships again. And I don’t personally have any proof that those are connected, but I would love for you to speak directly to moms, sisters, and even girlfriends who are listening to this and they know somebody or maybe they themselves, who doesn’t feel well. They feel bombarded by stress, and yet, they’re watching either themselves or someone else eat an unhealthy, processed diet. Is there a connection between the food that you eat and the amount of stress that you may feel in your mind and your body?

Eva Selhub: Well, again, let’s go back to physiology. The majority of immune cells are actually in your gut, not the rest of your body. And one of the more important things to understand about the stress response and how the brain and the body communicate with one another is through the nervous system. That’s how they send signals back and forth, or the by neurotransmitters, through the hormonal system or the endocrine system, and through the inflammatory system. These little particles that are going back and forth are actually little messengers, and they message each other, just like we message each other on the phone. Your brain and all of the cells of your body message each other through neurotransmitters, hormones, and immune cells.

The majority of your serotonin comes from your gut, and the majority of your immune cells come from your gut. In other words, there’s a little brain inside of your gut. It’s what we call the second brain. And so it’s speaking up what’s happening in your environment as much as your brain is. And it’s signaling your brain constantly.

And it’s very, very, very much connected. There’s a huge connection with the gut and the mind when it comes to mental health. Huge. Not only because of toxins like gluten which can affect what’s happening in a signaling system, but more than that is the ecosystem. The friendly bacteria that are supposed to live in the gut are dealing with all of the stress that we incur and the antibiotics we take and the food that we ingest which ultimately destroys these natural bacteria that are meant to help you digest, metabolize and eliminate and sends happy signals to your brain that you’re okay.

And without them, that ability to stay happy and health actually will be deterred. And we have very good research to quantify and qualify that.

Yes, there is a very, very strong relationship between a poor diet and poor mental health. Not only because of these bacteria, but also because processed foods and foods high in sugar may raise serotonin and dopamine shortly, but then they also cause a change in the insulin, and the insulin dropping and changing cause all kinds of serotonin and dopamine changes as well.

Again, there’s a whole feedback loop that’s happening with the hormones and the immune system, as well as the neurotransmitters that affects people negatively when they eat poorly, not to mention that processed and junk food is extremely void of nutrients, and you need those nutrients like magnesium and thiamin and other amino acids to actually make your hormones and make your neurotransmitters and give the energy to yourselves to function.

It’s a very complex physiology but there’s an absolute connection between your ability to concentrate, your ability to thrive, your ability to be happy, and what’s happening in your gut.

Jennifer: If your body is really bombarded by stress, it’s going to affect the cells and no wonder that you then feel this overwhelming sense of dread, maybe throughout your day, in your relationships. Many times when women and men and even children have gone gluten free because they need to be. they start to feel very disconnected from their community. They feel like they’re weird, they’re singled out at the table, they don’t like to go out anymore, they start to lose their social life and they begin to feel very alone.

You mentioned at one point this idea that having a community, it’s important to feel like a part of the group because feeling like you belong is so important. Is that a stressor for people, feeling they don’t belong?

Eva Selhub: Absolutely. That’s a huge part of the stressor. I write a lot about that in the Love Response, which is about social, spiritual and self-love. We’re social beings. Our ancestors lived in the wilderness. There is no way that we could have survived on our own. We have this hormone called oxytocin that allows us to bond and reproduce and survive and to feel good. And when we’re socially isolated, it’s a huge, huge stress. And it definitely affects the ability to feel resilient because if you don’t feel that you’re supported by another, you’re not going to feel that you have this much capability to handle adversity.

So it is very important to feel like you belong. I have many different techniques and exercises that I write about in all my books about helping people feel that way. And one of them is something as simple as just being out in nature.

But it is very important. I went through this myself when I became a Crossfitter and I went pretty much strictly Paleo. The rest of my family and friends outside of my Crossfit gym weren’t like that. And definitely, I called them the diet saboteurs and how not to fall prey to them and to really hold your ground because you’re doing something because it feels good.

And I think what the most important message here is it’s about learning how to reconnect with people outside of food, not having food be the reason that you feel like you belong or connect with people, but being connected to them because you love them or because you have other things in common, and that you support yourself to eat in a healthy way, not because it’s a fad and it’s not about, “You do this and I don’t.”

When you’re healthy, it makes people oftentimes feel badly about themselves. So you have to understand it really has nothing to do with you and have compassion for them. And once you’re able to do that, that sense of not belonging can actually be alleviated.

Jennifer: I agree with that. When I was initially diagnosed with gluten sensitivity and I started telling family members and friends, I’ve got some very interesting reactions. Some people were supportive, a lot of people were confused, and some, especially my family, which was most surprising, were very negative, and felt like for some reason there needed to be a confrontation because somehow it threatened their diet even though it had nothing to do with them.

Eva Selhub: Exactly.

Jennifer: So I understand what it’s like to feel different and I know that in the beginning of one’s journey, making any major lifestyle or diet change can cause stress. And like you said, having compassion is a great way to approach those conversations so that you don’t get stuck in a cycle of feeling like a victim to it and just avoiding people all together.

Now, I wanted to talk about some tools that people could use in order to start alleviating stress. And I personally love breathing exercises. I don’t know how you feel about those but have you ever made any suggestions to some of your patients to give some breathing exercises a try?

Eva Selhub: I have stuff on my own. I have YouTube videos I’ve made. I have produced many, many guided meditation CDs. So that is definitely something that I do. And I actually have a very, very simple exercise. And essentially, it’s what you want to do, especially anytime you start feeling threatened, stressed, or upset for any reason, or even if your body just feels unwell. What you want to do is take a deep breath in and focus on your heart. Count to three as you breathe in and then, as you breathe out, you’re actually going to count to five. You allow that exhalation to be longer than the inhalation. And that’s going to signal that stress response to calm down.

Normally, when you’re under stress, your body will automatically move into very rapid and shallow breathing. By extending that exhalation, you’re actually not only not going to be air trapping, but any air that has gotten trapped from shallow breathing will actually get released which will then send a physiological signal to your brain and your body that you are about to go to relaxation and that you’re okay.

If you continue breathing in counting to three, and then breathing out counting to five, the body will automatically start to relax.

And then what I also do is I will start throwing in some words of comfort. So for instance, you might say, “I breathe in the feeling of gratitude,” or ,”I breathe in the feeling of expansiveness, the feeling of love, the feeling of compassion.”

So whatever it is you actually would like to feel, you say that to yourself. You breathe in and you embody the feeling of whatever it is you really actually want to feel, and then as you breathe out, you say, “I’m letting go of the” feeling of whatever it is I’m feeling. Maybe you’re feeling resentment, maybe you’re feeling fear, maybe you’re just feeling stressed.

That way that’s encouraging the mind and the body to go along with those statements as you breathe in and out. It’s a very simple exercise and you don’t have to do it very long to feel good.

Jennifer: And for somebody who wants to give this a try, is it okay for them to use this multiple times a day? Say they have a stressful commute to work, they’ve got a difficult boss, 24/7. You can do this breathing.

For people that are looking for proof that activities like meditation or breathing exercises actually work… In your experience and all of your training, have you found or come across information that shows that when you commit to doing this, you absolutely can reduce your stress in 30 days or 60 days or a year from now. If you kept up this habit, this new habit, it would help you feel better?

Eva Selhub: This is Dr. Benson’s research which he’s been doing this since 1969. There’s tons of research on this now. This is a burgeoning field in the past 10 years, tons and tons. It’s basically about finding a mediation practice that you like, but really 10 to 20 minutes a day will have a carryover effect like any pill in your system. It just gets stronger and stronger and reduces your body’s reactivity to stress, reduces your brain’s reactivity to stress, or able to cope more effectively, reduces your symptoms, reduces inflammation.

Dr. Benson’s recent research even looks that it might even change how genes can express themselves for the better. Yes, there’s absolutely evidence… scientific evidence that this is worth it.

Jennifer: That’s wonderful to hear and I’m glad that you’re able to share that with people because I know personally that breathing exercises work and it’s great when you can personally share something. But sometimes you have, every once in a while, those women that are like, “I really need to know. Does this really work? Does science say that it works? Can science get behind it?” And it does.

And so I wanted to talk for a moment about why you wrote your book, Your Health Destiny.

Eva Selhub: Well, it’s an interesting thing because I do love to write. And the first book was a work – when I started delving into the world outside of allopathic medicine and learning more about spirituality and meditation and stress and all that sort of thing. And then this book is really a combination of all my work for 20 years. It’s really what I do in my practice, what I do when I coach people. And it’s to help people understand that you’re not a label and you haven’t been given a label, that you have the ability to move beyond anything.

Some of us have more wiggle room than others. Yes, some people are born with a genetic malformation and they don’t have a lot of wiggle room, but they have some to create change. We all are living, breathing systems that are constantly changing and you have the ability to change for the better.

This is a combination of my 20 years of work of helping clients and patients alike to shift and change. I have seen amazing, miraculous changes over the course of 20 years. And I wanted to create something or write something that gave this knowledge to everybody and put it together this concept of bringing allopathic western medicine together with wisdom traditions or eastern medicine and putting it together in a format that’s accessible to everybody.

Jennifer: You also have a really great website. If the folks listening go and check you out, what will they find there?

Eva Selhub: Ooh, lots and lots. I’ve just updated it, so it’s really awesome. It’s DrSelhub.com. There are a lot of different things there, a lot of information about me and ways to contact me. Of course, you can sign up for a wonderful newsletter and we send out wonderful information and articles all the time. It also tells you where to find other articles that might be written or videos that I’m doing or events that I’m appearing at.

And coaching. If you want to sign up to do coaching with me, which we have all different kinds of packages for that. I do work with people all over the world. Right now, I have a person in Australia and a person in Hong Kong. Those are my farthest.

Jennifer: And for someone who wants to dip their toe into the stream of breathing exercises and meditation, they can also find some audios or videos on your website as well?

Eva Selhub: That’s right, on my website and also YouTube. And also, if you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, we’re always posting that stuff there as well.

Jennifer: Great! I look forward to sharing them and I’ll put the links below the transcript of this podcast. This has been a very good refresher in understanding how stress affects digestion and the entire body. For many of us, we’re dealing with these chronic stress issues and yet, we figure somehow when we get better, maybe the stress will go away. In reality, we should be taking little steps every day, almost as if you’re taking your life back in 10-minute chunks.

Eva Selhub: I want to point out something that’s very important and what you’re saying is absolutely true. And it’s a big point that I think people need to understand, and this is where the coaching comes in and working with other healers or experts… because it’s hard to do this on your own.  If you’re more than 15 or 20 years old, your brain actually is not even fully developed until you’re 25, but your programming, how you see yourself in a larger context with this world, “Am I enough? Do I have enough? Am I resilient enough?” that’s already been formed by the time you’re 20.

And what drives your behaviors and what drives the way you handle stress is actually really, really old stuff and old beliefs. If you don’t address the underlying beliefs and your underlying motivations and what drives you to begin with, these deep-seated wounds, then the stress will actually continue.

A lot of people’s physical problems don’t just show up. They are pre-existing issues of energetic, psychological, emotional components from way, way back when you were a kid that’s actually showing up in your body now. That’s actually what Your Health Destiny writes about and teaches people how to go into the body and heal old stuff.

Jennifer: Wow. I’m really glad that we were able to have you come on and we can all start digging into that. So thank you so much for joining us! I appreciate you being here.

Eva Selhub: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been fun.

Jennifer: Remember, please go check out and stay in touch Dr. Selhub at her website. She’s got an amazing newsletter, her new book is called Change Your Health Destiny. I’ll put a link to that book and all of her social media links below. 

And I’d really appreciate if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a long while, you love what you hear here, please subscribe, rate and review this podcast over on iTunes, and then head over to Gluten Free School, leave your questions and comments about this. I also have quite a bit of experience with meditation and breathing exercise and I’d be happy to answer any of your questions. And thank you guys for listening. I love having you all here and I wish you a wonderful day. I’ll see you the next time. Bye!

IMPORTANT LINKS

Eva’s website – http://www.drselhub.com

Get your copy of Change Your Health Destiny (book) –> CLICK HERE

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DrSelhub

Twitter – https://twitter.com/drevaselhub

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/eselhub/

The post How Stress Affects Digestion (And What To Do About It) with Eva Selhub, MD: GFS Podcast 068 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

I’m here to help inspire and empower you to making better choices that support your health goals and lifestyle because your health is so precious and it deserves your undivided loyalty. Today’s guest on the podcast is a true health revolutionary who is tirelessly working to reframe how we experience and work toward our own best health. I seriously loved this conversation and everyone who had the opportunity to preview it noted that it was one of the best chats out of all of the GFS podcast episodes. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Healthy Is The New Black: How to Thrive in an Unhealthy World with Pilar Gerasimo

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Hi everyone and welcome to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, let’s talk about how to get healthy and thrive.

There are so many factors in our world and in our lifestyles that undermine our ability to seek out and nail down a level of healthiness in our lives that many of us dream about. We have good intentions to get there, and yet so much of the world around us is incredibly unhealthy. Today I have a great guest!

Her name is Pilar Gerasimo. She’s the founding editor of Experience Life, an award winning magazine dedicated to helping its three million readers live their healthiest, happiest and most authentic lives. She also serves as Senior Vice President of Healthy Living for Lifetime Fitness and briefly served as the Huffington Post executive editor of Healthy Living.

Pilar’s passion is integrating and sharing the best tools and wisdom she has discovered over the course of her career as a journalist and advocate for healthy change. Her work has received kudos from respected experts like Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Frank Lipman, Dr. Aviva Romm, Dr. Sara Gottfried and Queen Rania of Jordan. Pilar appears regularly on radio and TV, and enjoys teaching at retreat centers such as Omega Institute and Rancho La Puerta.

Her popular Revolutionary Acts column is regularly featured blog at Huffington Post. Her 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy (now available as a free mobile app) has gotten more than half a million like and more than a hundred and eighty thousand downloads. A Fulbright Scholar, Pilar holds a BA with honors in Comparative Literature from Mills College. And she lives with her three legged pit-bull on an organic cooperative farm in Wisconsin.

Pilar, welcome to the podcast!

Pilar: Thank you so much Jennifer, I am really thrilled to be with you.

Jennifer: I am really excited to have you here.

Any time I see the word “revolution” or “revolutionary,” especially when it has something to do with your health, that is right up my alley. I think that’s what a lot of women are doing when they take the reins back. When you want to get back in control or be in the driver seat, that’s a revolutionary thing because it totally changes your life and your health.

I know you’re gluten free and you’ve been for quite a long time. How did you end up here, with where you took back control over your life and your health?

Pilar: My healthy living journey really began when I discovered that I had gluten intolerance. My father, who is now 85, is gluten intolerant and he could never eat bread, pasta, or pizza because it makes him sick. I thought, “Oh, poor dad. That’s too bad!” and I went through my life eating wheat and gluten with impunity until I went to France.

I went to France actually to do the Fulbright. I was living in the most bread heavy experience you can possibly have, eating a ton of bread. I was very stressed out. I think the combination triggered what turned out to be a latent single nucleotide polymorphism gene that is associated with Celiac. The gene is called DQ2, I believe.  I got this from my father. And once that gene was switched on, I became extremely gluten intolerant.

I was initially diagnosed interestingly by a chiropractor who just recognized all of the symptoms that I was having and actually could feel the inflammation in my spinal cord and said, “You know, you might have a problem with this, you should go off of it and see how you do.” It was amazing. Within about five days of being gluten free, I felt and looked like a different person.

And from that time, that was about 25 years ago, I’ve observed a mostly gluten free diet and have been much happier for that.

I’ve recently –in 2013 –finally got my genetic stuff tested and it found out that I had this gene.  But before that, it was purely my own experience and experimenting that confirmed it for me. But what was interesting is that when I started choosing gluten free things – and 25 years ago, there wasn’t lot out there. I realized that the pervasive offerings at almost every buffet and every work luncheon at every restaurant were packed with gluten, as well as a lot of other things that I was trying to avoid like processed flours, sugars and high fructose corn syrup and trans fats and artificial flavors and colors. 

And that was the beginning of my realization that in order to love the way I want to live and have the health and vitality that I wanted to have, I had to go against all of the norm that I was being presented with and make really fairly inconvenient and unconventional choices in order to achieve my personal healthy living goals.

So that was sort of the beginning of my realization. I didn’t have the notion that being healthy was revolutionary at that time, but I think that’s when the idea started. And in some ways, when my idea for the magazine experience life got its start too.

Jennifer: Let’s talk about what that means to be revolutionary. In my own story, which sounds kind of similar to yours where you just don’t really feel well (and unfortunately, I don’t have any genetic testing yet to back up my own gluten sensitivity), but the one thing that I can say is that it caused me to reevaluate my relationship with myself and the level of respect that I had for my health and my body and my diet. And really, it’s so interesting how food completely changes everything.

When you have to as you said “make inconvenient choices” as you’re traveling here and there, especially living in France since it’s not convenient to be gluten free. It’s amazing when you’re willing to go that far, when you’re willing to do what’s best for you, how something inside of you changes and the choice becomes so much more than just, “Oh, I eat this particular way”.

Can you talk to us a little bit about what you’ve discovered as far as being revolutionary in regards to just the food? It all starts with food. I think Michael Pollan said that, it all starts with food and it really does.

Pilar: It absolutely does. And it’s interesting because socially, the revolutionary part is in some ways harder than technically getting at the food that you want. It’s being surrounded in many cases by your family and your friends and their social manners when you don’t want to be inconvenient to people and say, “Oh, I need to get this and not that.” There’s a whole meme now about gluten free people as a total pain in the butt, right?

Jennifer: Yes.

Pilar: You’ve probably seen that viral video that’s going around.

Jennifer: I have.

Pilar: I think it’s kind of funny. I can laugh at that. But when I started having to make these choices, it was out of determination that I do not want to live my life as an ill person. I wanted to be healthy. I wanted to be living my life at my most energetic best. To me, it was a no brainer. I have a choice over what I want to put in my body and I am not going to suffer the miseries and indignities that I have to experience.

Just because it’s inconvenient for other people, I didn’t want to think I’m weird. And I think in some ways, deciding to put myself first was, for me, kind of a feminist act in some ways of realizing, “You don’t have a right to my health and my happiness and my personal freedom.” There’s no reason I shouldn’t be as empowered as I can be. I’m going to show up in my life with my best intelligence, with my best energy and make my best contributions to the world if I’m in good health.

I think that attitude gave me an incredible amount of personal power and willingness to confront the social manners and norms that were working against me.

I think for me too, it also took a little bit of getting mad. I mean, I was really frustrated at how the advice I was reading in conventional health and fitness magazines was so cookie cutter and never really wanted to talk about the ways that processed food were working against my health because all of the advertising in those magazines was supporting those product lines. It was fat-free crackers and sugar-free cookies, and things that would – inevitably, gluten free or not – make me incredibly sick over time.

I was like “Wait a minute! How is this working? These companies want my money. The magazines that are supposed to be serving my interest as a reader want the money from the advertisers. They’re all in cahoots to promote a way of life and a way of eating that is working against my best interest.” It’s like, “Hey! I’m fed up! I don’t want to take this anymore.” I really had to turn away from a lot of the media messages that were very influential at the time. Conventional women’s magazines were full of dietary advice that was terrible, not just for the gluten intolerant, but for any health seeker.

I think that is one of the interesting things about the awareness that people are getting now, how profoundly food intolerance (whether they’re gluten or dairy or anything) affects their health. It becomes a kind of rallying cry.

It’s not just about whether or not you have six pack abs or fit into your skinny jeans anymore. This is like your body and health at stake for the rest of your life. And if you want to stand up for something, I think that is a pretty worthwhile thing to stand up for.

And as far as the food goes, it’s interesting because food is so charged. Like I said, the social and cultural connections with food make it harder in some ways to make revolutionary choices around that than it does, say, about exercise. No one’s going to tell you you’re out of your mind if you decide you want to take a run around the block or you decide you want to take a Zumba class. But if you suddenly start making tweaks to your diet that works against the norms that societies has set up, boy, people really get involved and in your face about that.

And I think that there’s whole movement now, loosely called the skeptic or the “science-based movement” that has gone super aggressive and pro-gluten and is making it sound like anybody but a purely Celiac Disease suffering person who chooses gluten free lifestyle is crazy. They’re out of their minds. They have no science behind them.

I think it’s really helpful now that there is some science coming out. It doesn’t feel as quite as crazy revolutionary to be able to defend these choices.

There was a new study that was published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology that was really about how even little amounts of gluten in non-Celiac, gluten sensitive person caused real problems. And this was a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. But prior to these studies coming out, I was living this way for almost 20 years and people would just look at me like I had two heads when I said I had a gluten problem for the first ten of those years.

And you know what, at some point I just got very comfortable with it in my own skin. And I’m like, “Yup! This is what works for me. This is something that apparently runs in my family. But even if it didn’t, I know how I feel, I know my own body.” I never had to feel super defensive about it. It was just something I knew to be true of me. I trusted my body more than I trusted the social norms of the time.

Jennifer: And I will add to that I come from a family wherein my father’s a physician. I used to travel with him to medical trade shows plastered left and right with drug companies. The whole thing is funded by drug companies. So are all of the journals and, like you said, even with women’s fitness and men’s health magazines! They are funded by all these food companies. Well, medical journals are funded by drug companies and surgical device companies. They’re not funded by food.

Pilar: It’s interesting, Jennifer. It’s funny that you should say that because actually a lot of health magazines are also funded by pharmaceutical companies. We don’t take any pharmaceutical ads in Experience Life magazine. We don’t take ads for pharmaceutical drugs or interventions, but most of our competitors, all of the other conventional health and fitness magazine that you see in the newsstand… well, it’s hard to go ten pages without running across a pharmaceutical ad and they’re usually four pages long because they have all those side effects to list, right? 

Guess what, four national page ads in a big national magazine cost a fortune! And there aren’t that many companies that can afford to put that much money into advertising within this many titles. But pharmaceutical companies do and can and it often really pollutes the message of what otherwise would be focused on healthy living messages. It gets taken up by these other messages.

And I think we become very afraid to suggest that you should avoid as many of these pharmaceutical drugs as you can reasonably understanding that some of them are very necessary for some people. It just creates a whole mindset that I call the “fix me” mindset. Whatever is wrong with you, your gut is aching, your skin is rashing and bumping out, you’ve got brain fog, there’s a drug for that. Why feel that you have to change your diet when you could take these three pills on a daily basis?

We say being healthy is a revolutionary act, again, not just because it requires these practical revolutionary choices, but because it requires a somewhat cynical mindset, an empowered mindset and a determined mindset that is inherently very revolutionary.

Jennifer: I’m at peace with being gluten free. In fact, I love being gluten free. Everything cooked in my home is gluten free. I have guests over who are not gluten free and no one ever says a bad word. They ask for every recipe and they want to know how I made this and how can they get the recipe and what-not.

To me, it’s a shame that we’re looking for ways to skirt around the issue that we don’t want to be proud of this lifestyle and diet.

I want you to talk a little bit about this idea “delighting in being a deviant” because I think the thought is part of this. It’s like, “It’s okay to be who we are.”

Pilar: Yeah. Well, you know, it’s so interesting because I love the idea of deviancy. It has always sort of appealed to me. My father was an anthropologist, sociologist and often talked about that deviance is really in the eye of the beholder. Society creates a norm and you decide if you’re going to go with the norm or not.

Right now in our society, more than 50 percent of people are chronically ill. More than 50 percent of US adults are suffering from some chronic illness or multiple chronic illnesses. More than two-thirds of us are overweight or obese, and more than 70 percent of us, last time I’ve counted, take at least one pharmaceutical drug a day. So 70 percent of us are reliant on pharmaceutical drugs. That is the norm.

Taking pills is the norm, being sick is the norm, being overweight is the norm. So if you choose to go down a different road, you are effectively choosing to become a social deviant.

I think that for people who can get their heads around the simple choice of whatever the norm is, “If I chase after that norm, I am not chasing after a super great model.” Do we really want to be depressed, sick, reliant on pharmaceutical drugs and see my health going downward with each passing year and decade versus spiraling up and feeling better with each passing year and decade? I think that path less traveled looks a whole lot more appealing.

And I also think that it’s important to keep in mind that as pharmaceutical companies keep coming up with this “solutions” to lifestyle driven medical problems, they come with problems of their own including some pretty nasty side effects.

A lot of people, for example, have chronic skin problems as a result of gluten intolerance. Exposure to gluten, which triggers inflammation throughout their body shows up in a lot places, but including their skin. They go to a doctor with something that looks like psoriasis – okay, let’s call that psoriasis – and they and say, “Oh, this is an autoimmune disorder. You’ll have this the rest of your life. You need to take these immune suppressants.” The immune suppressants will have all kinds of negative impacts on you as you will now not have a fully operational immune system.

“When you get miserable enough, and these drugs aren’t working better, you can come back and we’ll give you a more powerful immune suppressant that could very well result in death among other side effects. And so, we’ll wait until you’re really, really desperate. But in the meantime, you can take all of these other drugs.”

And so, it becomes this slippery slope where we’re suppressing the symptoms or we’re tricking the body into not responding with an immune response or an inflammatory response. But ultimately, we’re tricking it at the cost of the proper function of our body.

Jennifer: People don’t realize this. Your sickness is allowing a drug company to make so much money.

Pilar: Yes. Actually, one of the points that I make in my – I wrote a manifesto for Thriving In A Mixed Up World that is available at RevolutionaryAct.com and it’s the basis for the 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy that you mentioned earlier. It makes this point that the way we’re living is effectively crazy. I mean, that is the first point in the manifesto, that it’s nuts the way we’re living.

And this is part of the craziness. We are giving up our first human freedom, which is our health. What can you do once your health goes? You lose almost all of your freedom. You can lose mobility, your power to make clear decisions, the vitality that you need to pursue your goals in life. Your economic power goes straight into the dump not just because how expensive the drugs and surgeries are, but because your earning power is dramatically reduced when you don’t have the health and vitality, and productivity to pursue your career goals and make advances.

So it becomes a kind of oppressive force, ill-health, that takes people down and takes whole communities down.

Jennifer: Let’s talk a little bit about – we started with this person who feels totally out of sync. They wanted to be normal, but normal is sick. It’s this level of sickness that is just being managed, “Let’s just manage you until you get so sick your body can’t just chug along anymore.” What does it mean to redefine that image in your mind, so that you can start actually identifying and living a healthy lifestyle? And maybe first, I should ask you to define what healthy means.

Pilar: I always include health and happiness in the same sentence. I really think of it as healthy/happy because it’s really difficult to be fully healthy if you’re not happy and that’s it real hard to be happy if you’re not healthy. You can do it, but it’s challenging.

And so I think of health as being the feeling of expansion and potential and being energized and full of life. And to me, the expansion part of it is, “My life is really good right now and it’s just getting better. I have a whole pen of vision for things that I am excited to pursue. I have the enthusiasm and the energy to pursue them. I wake up every morning feeling like ‘Yay! I get to hop out of bed and go do some fun stuff that I want to do,’ or ‘I’m excited about achieving a goal.’” 

If you aren’t experiencing that and what you’re experiencing is that low gear, low energy oppressed/depressed feeling or you’re experiencing chronic pain or chronic itching or annoyance or something in your body not working the way you want or your bowel is all messed up and that’s causing you embarrassment and frustration, that is a feeling of contraction. Your life is getting smaller, your choices are getting smaller, your enthusiasm for life is being constrained, your choices are being constrained.

That dynamic of expansion versus contraction is where I check in. I test my own level of health and vitality like, “Wow! Is my life getting better and I’m feeling ready for anything or is my life getting smaller because I’m feeling held back by my body and mind’s limitations?”

I think that is a really good place to start. And then I think that’s part of what launches you in to a more revolutionary mindset. If you are on a downward spiral and your life is getting smaller and your energy is getting smaller and your vitality is getting reduced, that tends to be a self-perpetuating situation until you deal with the serious intervention either by a crisis like having a major health blow out or a really horrible lab experience where your doctor says, “You’re going to die or have a heart attack if you don’t change something.”

The other option is the inspirational catalyst where you just decide, “I like my life and myself enough that I want things to change,” or “I saw somebody near me, a friend or a family member make a transformation that gives me the hope that this can be done.”

Jennifer: This is my final question because you are everything we’ve talked about today, you’re my total health hero…

Pilar: Thank you.

Jennifer: You talked a lot – you’re very welcome. I mean, I love what you’re doing.

One of the things that you’ve mentioned over and over again was this disability to really experience life and that happens to be the name of the magazine that you founded. Can you tell everyone a little bit about what Experience Life magazine is about because you do have other competitors out there, but I think what you guys strive for in a team is such a different message than what people will see in other magazines.

Pilar: Thank you. Thank you for noticing that and for saying that. I am really proud of the magazine. I founded it in partnership with Lifetime Fitness, which is a Healthy Way of Life company based in the Twin Cities (although they’re national, in fact international Healthy Way of Life company now and they’re also on Canada) and we founded the magazine on the principle of whole person, whole life, health and fitness. It was really intentional that it was not going to be about nutrition and exercise, or even nutrition, exercise and stress and sleep. It was going to be about the whole experience of life in a human body in a context of a culture.

We dedicate our content to three different verticals. We call them different subject areas (although they overlap). One is nutrition and general health and well-being, one is athletics and activity and moving under your own steam and having an active life, and the third category we call the ‘quality of life’. It includes things like stress and relationships and money, happiness, but it also includes awareness of what’s going on in the larger culture and how things like media or environment, both physical environment like built environments and cities, but also the natural environment and the ecosystem and our exposure to toxins and things can affect our wellbeing.

And so, in a typical magazine, there are eighty some pages of content. Well, I should say there’s a few pages of advertising there too. But we really control that space and remain incredibly dedicated in serving a health motivated reader.

Our readers are men and women they range in age from 12 to 90, but the majority of them are probably in their 30s, 40s, and 50s and they really appreciate the difference. What we don’t do is peddle six pack abs and bikini bodies in just 30 days. We don’t fat-shame people. I’m not really interested in telling people in how their bodies “should look,” or even telling anybody what they “should do.” We pretty much banish that word from our vocabulary.

I’m much more interested in giving people interesting research, inspiration, ideas and practical solutions for how they can navigate the challenges that they face on a daily basis – going to work, going to school, raising families, having lives that include other goals besides than just being fit and healthy. These are people who really see their health as a means to a larger end, which is experiencing the life that they want to live.

We really like to support people in pursuing whatever their goals are from a very non-judgmental standpoint and inspiring them to make these kinds of revolutionary choices. The slogan, the tagline for the magazine is “being healthy is a revolutionary act,” and we think that the most important thing that we can do is support people in living healthier, happier lives that bring out the best in them and let them give their best gifts back to their communities and families and whatever is important to them.

Jennifer: Awesome, I love it. It is a really great magazine and I want to direct everybody to check it out. I’ve seen it on different magazine stands.

Pilar: But if people don’t see us on the newsstand, they can always ask. And we are also available digitally, as well as in print, and we have some really great weekly and monthly newsletters that are available for free at our website ExperienceLife.com. People can sign up for those too.

And also, I will say, in addition to our digital edition mobile app 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy gives you a revolutionary act of the day, lets you link in to a whole new beautiful archive of articles from Experience Life. So that’s another way to get at the same content.

Jennifer: Pilar, thank you so much for joining us! This has been a phenomenal chat.

Pilar: Thank you, Jennifer! It’s been so fun to talk to you. And I’m so glad that you’re out there doing what you’re doing. It’s really powerful, revolutionary stuff. We see you as a fellow revolutionary and I’m really glad to be fighting the good fight with you.

Jennifer: I’m glad to be on the same side. It’s so good for all of us to join together because that is how change happens- when everyone comes together who has that same mindset. We can then work toward a common goal to making this whole world a healthier and happier place to live.

Pilar: You got it!

Jennifer: Please go and connect with Pilar. She’s all over social media. I’ll put her links below. She’s got really great platform. Experience Life magazine is a great spot. I mean, the magazine itself is amazing, but even just the website is an amazing resource as well. You can also check her out at RevolutionaryAct.com.

Now remember, if you love this podcast please go subscribe, rate and review. And I’m going to ask you to do one more thing, please share the GFS Podcast with your community, friends and families and encourage them to come and listen because without your support, I wouldn’t be here. We are 67 episodes into The Gluten Free School Podcast and it’s here because of you. I want to thank you for that so deeply. I’m glad that we are a part of the same tribe, on the same side, fighting the good fight and living good healthy lives the best we can in every moment of the day.

So thank you so much, leave any questions or comments over on the blog. I look forward to connecting with you in the next podcast. Have a wonderful day!

IMPORTANT LINKS

Pilar’s website – http://pilargerasimo.com/

Experience Life Magazine – http://www.ExperienceLife.com

Revolutionary Acts – http://www.RevolutionaryAct.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PilarGerasimo

Twitter – https://twitter.com/pgerasimo

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/explifemag/

Instagram – https://instagram.com/pgerasimo

The post Healthy Is The New Black: How to Thrive in an Unhealthy World with Pilar Gerasimo: GFS Podcast 067 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

But there’s no easy way to pick which way to go… AIP, SCD, GAPS, FODMAPs. So many darn acronyms, but no clarity on what will actually work for you!

I know a lot of women who’ve given almost all of them a try and are still sick. That’s a lot of wasted time experimenting for a couple of months trying out each of these different healing gluten free diets. The question arises about how one should go about picking a dietary path that will 1) work and 2) be efficient in healing.

If you’re at one of these health crossroads yourself or at the beginning of your own journey wondering where you should even start, today’s podcast is perfect for you.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

How to Choose the Most Healing Gluten Free Diet with Andrea Nakayama

Complete Transcription

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. And today, we’re going to talk about that moment in time when you find out that you’ve got some sort of health problem and you’ve got to be gluten-free.

And all of a sudden, as you’re researching on the internet, you discover that gluten-free doesn’t mean just one way of eating. In fact, there are several different types of diets that fall under the category of being healing gluten free diets. And you think to yourself, “Which way do I go?”  It’s like staring at a sign post that sits before five different roads in front of you, and you have no idea which way to go.

We are going to break down the question today and give you some idea of what might be the best way to move forward if you’re at that highly confusing, frustrating crossroads that sometimes might make you want to throw in the towel before you even start.

I have a really wonderful guest with me today. This has been months in the making to get her here to her speak with all of you about this topic. Her name is Andrea Nakayama. Andrea is a functional nutritionist, educator and speaker. Her passion to redefine the health industry came as a result of a personal family tragedy. Her young husband was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor while she was pregnant with their only child.

It was in defeating his prognosis of six months and prolonging his life for another two years that Andrea’s expanding interest in food as personalized medicine blossomed and met its first testing ground.

That concept has since grown into a thriving clinical practice encompassing a team of four nutritionists and a naturopathic doctor, as well as guidance for thousands of students worldwide through the programs of Replenish PDX and Holistic Nutrition Lab.

In addition to teaching every week in her programs, Andrea is the co-founder of the Hashimoto’s Institute, on the Board of–Directors for the Center of Integral Wisdom, has been featured in O Magazine, and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and is frequent contributor at the Epic Times.

Her work is regularly featured in a variety of health, nutrition and wellness blogs, online summits, radio shows and publications nationwide, particularly on the topics of thyroid, autoimmune and digestive health issues.

Andrea, thank you so much for joining me today!

Andrea: Oh, Jennifer, I’m so excited to be here with you and your whole community at Gluten Free School. And thank you for that introduction!

Jennifer: So many of us have had this feeling of going to the doctor’s, we don’t feel right and many times the doctors don’t know what’s wrong. So it could take, in the case of Celiac, for example, up to 10 years to get a diagnosis.

Andrea: Right.

Jennifer: Some still don’t have clarity on that. Even after years they’ve been tested for Celiac or Hashimoto’s, and a number of things, still without a clear answer.

You decided to take the reins into your own hands. You got on Google, you start looking around for some answers. Maybe some of your friends have given you suggestions. Gluten-free seems one of the things that pops up, “Oh, maybe gluten-free can help.  Maybe FODMAPs can help, because, oh, FODMAPs, that would be gluten-free for the most part.” Then you’ve got, “Oh, SCD, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Oh, that could be gluten-free too.” Then, “Oh, you’ve got GAPS and then the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol.”

I mean, there are so many different avenues down which you could go and you find yourself thinking, “Where do I even begin?”

So there’s this level of frustration. Like you said, there’s this moment where you have to stop and take pause at this crossroad, this situation that you’re in and say, “Well, do I take a big, deep gulp and plow ahead down one of this paths or do I stop and ask for help?”

I think a lot of people get stuck in the overwhelm, so can you talk about why somebody might get stuck in not knowing which way to take and how we can use nutrition from a functional perspective to start going down one of those paths?

Andrea: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a great question. To touch on the point that you spoke to, taking the reins in your own hands, I want to really commend that because in order for the patient and the practitioner to be in a therapeutic partnership, the patient needs to be an equal playing partner. And that’s not the culture that we’re in in medicine these days.

Jennifer: No, not all.

Andrea: Right? We hand ourselves over and we expect the practitioner to have all the answers. So, fantastic that you’re educating yourself, that you know what you need to go in and ask for. And if your practitioner isn’t serving you, you know to find one that is.

I want to remind people not to do that with expectation, but with allowance for a partnership to evolve. So, invite your practitioner to come into a partnership with you instead of challenging them or feeling like you know more than they do or they don’t know anything or they’re not helping you. Look to create partnerships.

Towards that end to what you were asking, Jennifer, I think it’s hard to do this alone, which doesn’t mean you can’t take one, two, three, four, five steps on your own without involving a practitioner. But when we get to some of these more hardcore dietary theories, that’s where it may be difficult to make a decision on your own. We can back that up and talk about why a little bit.

I went off topic a little bit just to set the stage.

Jennifer: No, that’s okay. And as you were talking, the thing that came up for me was this idea that a lot of times we’d like to think that the diagnosis to what’s going wrong is a straight path…

Andrea: Exactly!

Jennifer: …which is not the case many times. With that said, I want to shift gears to some of these various gluten free diets. Some people I’ve interviewed are very pro-FODMAP, or very pro-Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I’ve actually never had anyone talk about the GAPS diet yet on the podcast, but I have had guests talk about AIP.

Why don’t you tell me a little bit, before we go into a quick overview of all of these, so that people who may not have heard those other podcasts or just might not be familiar with them, we can all get on the same page, what is your take on dietary theory?

Andrea: As a functional nutritionist, I think dietary theory is just that, it’s theory. and that, as individuals, we each need to find what works best for us. There are positives and negatives to going down any one of these paths. Each of them is a healing protocol, not meant to be a way of life.

Now, we back that up a little bit. There are aspects of all of them that they share that are meant to be a way of life like being gluten-free and removing high allergen foods and processed foods and inflammatory foods. But beyond that, they can be very restrictive.

And so, I will incorporate each one of them, at times, for a healing period, during a healing protocol, depending on the person, and what I find to be true for them. And I will also try to move from them.

So again, dietary theory is just that, it’s theory. It’s a theory that works on paper. And you, Jennifer, me and my body with Hashimoto’s, all the people that I’ve worked with with various autoimmune conditions, chronic illnesses of all sorts, they are each unique. And I’m going to stair-step that, so that we can find a protocol that works for the person in a long term way.

We want to go for a sustainable healing diet, not just a restrictive diet where there are certain nutrients not included and over a long period of time, can be difficult.

That said, I know people tend to stick with diets that are restrictive when they’re not feeling better. So we should definitely touch on that and where you might go if that’s the case for you.

Jennifer: So why don’t we talk about FODMAPs real quick. Can you tell us what the FODMAP diet is and who might want to give that a try?

Andrea: Yeah. I’m going to back it up just a tiny bit if that’s okay…

Jennifer: Sure.

Andrea: Again, I just want to stress, for most of us who are looking to heal, as everyone here knows, the commonality all these diets have is that they’re gluten-free and low carb and that they remove the high allergens to some extent while also removing processed foods. And in this situation, you may experience the alleviation of symptoms within a few weeks to a few months.

I’m going to start often with an anti-inflammatory protocol just to see how we are doing in terms of talking about where we started the conversation. If you looking around online, where do you start? This persons says FODMAPs. This person says AIP.

I really like to start with an anti-inflammatory, gluten-free protocol where we’re going lower carb, really bringing in high-nutrient dense foods and seeing how we do. In that place, your body is going to tell you a) if you have to take it further to a more restricted or specialized diet and b) what you’re still reactive to. So, how do you start to track, and see if you’re still reactive?

If we jump from 0 to 80, then we may be going too restrictive too soon and really not finding what does and doesn’t work for us.

So, because it’s a journey and because it takes time, we might as well learn more about ourselves in the process. So, I just wanted to stipulate that before we go to FODMAPs, which is more restrictive.

Jennifer: It is. It is. I’ve looked at the diet. I interviewed Patsy Catsos last year who’s a dietician and she work with clients around that diet. I’ve had people come to me and say, “I was thinking of giving the FODMAP diet a try especially since there has been research that has come out that gluten-free diets don’t work. That it might be the FODMAPs instead.” And so FODMAPs are now becoming a popular approach, but when you look at the list of what you can eat, it’s not that extensive.

Andrea: Exactly! And it’s not necessarily an issue for everybody. It is getting a lot more play, so to speak in Australia, and that’s starting to trickle over in some big ways. So, we are more aware of FODMAPs.

And FODMAPs have to do with how we absorb fructose. And honestly, everybody has fructose malabsorption. None of us absorb fructose very well. That makes it difficult because if we have compromised digestion, then we are likely compromised in that way.

Fructose malabsorption occurs when the amount of fructose consumed is more than the person’s small intestine can metabolize and absorb. So, again, we all have a little bit of a challenge there, but it’s going to be very individual in terms of what the dose is that that person is going to experience where they have signs and symptoms.

And what I would do is look at a combination there of FODMAPs and SCDs, so what’s going to be “legal” in the cross-over.

Jennifer: Well, I want to add to FODMAPs because you did mention for a time, it is important that people know that you should not be on the FODMAP diet for a very long period of time. It’s not a diet for life because it can actually cause an alteration to gut bacteria not typically in your favor.

Andrea: Exactly! 

Jennifer: People say, “I’m going to do FODMAP!” Just know that you should not be on that for a very long period of time because that can cause issues down the road.

Since you mentioned SCD or the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, why don’t you tell us quickly about that?

Andrea: The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is, like it says, limiting carbohydrates and that’s really a good baseline. It’s a good umbrella term for us to think about the diets that are grain-free and low carb and removing some high allergens.

On the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, you are allowed some dairy, and you’re allowed some egg. And that’s why people might go SCD. You’re allowed honey, which is higher glycemic. They might go on an SCD diet and feel somewhat better or feel better for a time depending on where they’re coming from and then start to feel sick again or start to feel increased symptoms. I know, I can’t eat dairy, eggs or honey. So, if I were to say, “I followed an SCD diet,” it wouldn’t work for my body. But it’s a great umbrella term.

And in terms of understanding that all of these healing diets and what they fall under, there’s some really great research and writings in the realm of Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

I think it’s a great place to start educating yourself in terms of healing the gut with a dietary approach. So it’s a starting place. Again, I would take it further because there are certain permissible foods that, in my opinion, aren’t often part of a healing protocol.

Jennifer: Well then, why don’t we move to the GAPS diet? Tell us about GAPS. I’ve never had anyone speak about the GAPS diet before and I’m sure that everyone would love to learn about it who’s not familiar with it as well as why you might want to give GAPS a try?

Andrea: So GAPS, it’s funny, it was in so much favor when I started to practice about six or seven years ago. There were a lot of people following the GAPS diet.

GAPS stands for the Gut and Psychology diet and it is the baby of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride who is a UK nutritionist and therapist. She combined her interests and really put together this diet, which is a form of SCD. It just takes it much further and it’s much more restrictive.

So when we’re looking at a GAPS diet, we’re looking at higher fats and higher proteins. There are different phases of the GAPS diet and it goes very slowly. People stay in the different phases for a long time.

I saw a lot of people struggling with the GAPS protocol. It depends what the issues are. If they are mental health issues, which is really what Dr. Natasha was working with – autism in her son, in particular and what she was then known for — it really could do justice. So, there’s a lot because you’re going through this restrictive route and then you’re building up from there.

When somebody has an impaired digestive system, let’s say, an impaired small intestine, which is where most fat absorption happens and digestion (so we’re breaking down our fats and we’re absorbing them mostly in the small intestine), if that small intestine is impaired, then all that fat that you eat in GAPS can be really difficult on the system.

And I ended up getting a lot of people in my practice who had gone the distance, which is what exactly what we’re talking about. They took the reins, they went to the most restrictive healing protocol they could find and they were sicker because they had problems digesting fats.

And this is the problem with dietary theory. We are all unique. And even if you have the same organs as everybody in your family, they function differently.

This is where it’s not just about diet. Healing isn’t just about diet. You need to look inside and understand what’s true for you. And it’s exciting! You get to learn more about yourself, you get to really play with the edges of what works and what doesn’t.

GAPS is a high fat, high protein – that’s a very minimalist way to say it, but it’s a lot of broth, fats and meats.

Jennifer: It’s interesting. So, we’re going to even head to more restrictive and go to the AIP. What is the AIP and how does that compare with the other three?

Andrea: Again, SCD is a good umbrella, GAPS fall under that. Maybe GAPS becomes the most restrictive. Everything is very well-cooked in the GAPS diet so that it can be easily digested, so you’re really going light on the digestive system as long as your body can break down those proteins and fats. 

AIP is a Paleo diet, which means it’s grain-free and low carbohydrate. The processed foods are removed. It’s also anti-inflammatory, but it goes a step further, removing all dairy, all nuts and seeds, fruits are even brought in at a minimum, yeasts, eggs, shellfish, peppers, spices, no nightshades involved.

So, basically, an AIP diet is fats like olive oil, lard and coconut oil if you can tolerate that, meats and fishes and organ meats, veggies and seaweeds.

Jennifer: It is a restrictive diet. I interviewed Mickey Trescott recently all about how to make AIP doable.

Andrea: Yeah.

Jennifer: And she acknowledged to me that without planning, this diet is pretty much impossible. You have to plan for it. It is not easy to eat out doing it and it’s not something that’s meant to be a long-term way to approach your health. That’s not what it’s for. You’re not going to be on AIP for the rest of your life. It’s there to help you figure out what does work for your diet and what doesn’t.

Andrea: Yes. None of these diets that are that restrictive are meant to be part of your protocol for more than two months. It might mean you have to go back to it once in a while and go there for 30 to 60 days if you’re flaring, but we don’t want to stay there.

Jennifer: If you are in a state of autoimmunity and you know for sure you’ve got Celiac disease, Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, or something like that… or even if you don’t have clear answers… Do you find that these are helpful or are they best for people that don’t really have a clear answer as far as what is going on with their health?

Where do you even start?

Andrea: Start walking is what I want to say. I think that you want to embrace the overarching principles that I’ve been talking about where you’re removing all the inflammatory foods.

What you’re talking about are inflammatory conditions. On some level, the immune system is overactive. It’s doing what it’s supposed to do, producing inflammatory chemicals to try to heal, but those chemicals aren’t turning off. So, for some reason somewhere, there’s extra inflammation.

And that’s what autoimmunity is, that’s what most chronic illnesses at the core. If we go upstream, we’re looking at inflammation.

The way to tame inflammation is by taking out the inflammatory foods.  Again, always start with doing a full-on anti-inflammatory elimination protocol. And by that, I mean, you can start basic. No gluten, no sugar, no dairy. Those are your most inflammatory foods. You’re on a whole foods diet. You’re certainly getting rid of any processed foods and anything that you know you’re sensitive to.

First step for me is just an anti-inflammatory protocol. No gluten, no dairy, no sugar. If you’ve gone there and you’re still finding you’re not getting better or you’re reactive, then you might want to actually do some testing and see what’s true for you.

So this is where we’re working with a practitioner, we do this testing in practice, food sensitivity testing, looking at how your body is responding to certain foods because you may be looking for categories with one of these specific, very restrictive diets when, actually, what you need is just to remove one food.

Testing is the next step. “Test, don’t guess” is what I’m always going to say. Find out what’s going on for you. See if there’s any food sensitivities.

If you’re on your own, take it the next step further. Do an elimination protocol where you look at what you’re suspicious about and you remove foods and you play with it in a way where you take something out for three weeks and then you add it back in, wait three days, see how you feel.

I’m really a fan of eating as expansively as we can, so we’re getting a variety of nutrients while understanding what our restrictions are. Does that make sense?

Jennifer: It absolutely does! I think that’s a great response. And I also liked that you’re reminding people as well that they should look at this from a place of testing, of exploration as opposed to, “Well, I’m sick, I can’t eat this and I have to give up that.”

That cycle becomes so depressing because you feel so limited by your experience, as opposed to what you’re suggesting where it’s like, “Well, I’m just testing, I’m in an experiment mode. I’m going to figure out what doesn’t work instead of giving everything up” and trying to stick with it as long as you possibly can and then burning out.

Andrea: Yeah, absolutely. And we see so many people that come into our practice eating like three foods. So, they’ve gone down this road where they can tell, “I don’t feel good. I don’t feel good. I don’t feel good.” And as a result, they limit their diet further.

Now, because that becomes nutrient-restrictive, it also is brain-limiting. We don’t have what we need to function. It is depressing, not merely by its deprivation mode, but also, you’re not getting what you need to survive and to thrive.

So, it’s really important to find help on that journey, to find the root cause.

Jennifer: Well, I really want to just appreciate you for joining us, because I think this conversation is one that many of us have been having, especially in our own head, as you’re looking at the internet, and reading all these things. It’s like, “Which way do I go? What do I do? Can I trust my body? Do I feel well enough?”

I think you’ve provided us with a lot of clarity that many walking into this conversation and listening might not have had before. So, I want to thank you so much for being willing to join us on the podcast. You’ve also got a really great newsletter that you have recipes and all sorts of things. What can everybody expect if they’d like to join you in your newsletter? And you’ve got a great eBook called Stick With It, as well, what can they expect to hear from you when they join you?

Andrea: I thank you again for having me here. I think that the one thing I just want to say in leaving before telling people about the ebook is that it really is a mind shift. It’s more about how we approach our health than about any one dietary theory.

Know you are you. You are unique and your journey in all of these is going to be unique. And that it will carry you through and lead you to the right answers, the right practitioners, and really, the best support for you.

You can get my free eBook, Stick With It, that speaks specifically to this concept that I was talking about so we can live even when we’re following a restrictive diet of some sort, whether it’s just gluten-free or it’s Autoimmune Paleo for a 2-month period of time, how do you live with that and stick with it.

Live and stick with it, that’s really what that’s playing with.

And then I mail my audiences once a week, usually on Thursdays. It’s very much in keeping with the discussion we’ve been having. So, how do we shift our mindset? It must be something specific like looking at our poop or tracking our food mood poop or thinking about our liver during this spring time. It’s very much contextualizing our relationship to our bodies and to our diets and how we think about nutrition in a different way.

Jennifer: I love it. Thank you again so much for joining us.

Andrea: Thank you!

Jennifer: Her website is ReplenishPDX.com. I will post up Andrea’s links for Facebook and Twitter, as well as her URL for her website and the ebook all below in the show notes.

And I have to tell you again, this was months in the making, getting Andrea here, and I’m so glad we were able to make this happen. Please stay in touch with her.

And then remember, if you love the information that you’ve heard today, please subscribe, rate and review this podcast. And then leave any questions and comments below. Andrea and I will hopefully have some answers for you and I hope that we’ll be able to have her back sometime soon.

Thank you so much for joining me. I wish you all the best on your journeys. I’ll see you the next time. Bye bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Andrea’s website – ReplenishPDX.com

CLICK HERE to get a free copy of Andrea’s eBook Stick With It!

Practitioners looking to understand how to help their clients better, CLICK HERE to check out Andrea’s Holistic Nutrition Lab.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/replenishpdx
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreaNakayama

The post How to Choose the Most Healing Gluten Free Diet with Andrea Nakayama: GFS Podcast 066 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

New research demonstrates that the brain gut connection is not only ground-breaking, but it’s also exciting for the many who have memory and cognitive issues as well as those of us with family members who have suffered with diseases like Alzheimer’s and fear their fate could be our own. That means the way to stave off issues or possibly reverse early warning signs are more controllable than we’ve ever thought before.

I invited David Perlmutter, MD, author of the world-wide best seller Grain Brain and new book Brain Maker, to share his latest research and findings that could be key to getting back (or keeping) your healthy, well-functioning brain.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!
Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

Brain Gut Connection – Eating for a Healthy Brain with David Perlmutter, MD

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, we are going to talk all about the relationship between your gut health and how that affects your brain.

Now, I know that we’ve talked before about brain issues and gut issues, but this conversation and this guest, which is incredibly special and I feel totally blessed to have him with me today, is someone who has a very unique perspective on all of these and his work is life changing in a worldwide perspective.

Now the reason is because Dr. Perlmutter has agreed to join me again to talk all about his new book. We’ll get to that in a second, but I want to want to give him a really wonderful introduction that he so rightfully deserves.

Now he is the author of seven books including the New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs and Sugar, Your Brain’s Silent Killers, now published in 27 countries. His new book, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life, is now out on shelves.

This is actually Dr. Perlmutter’s second appearance on the Gluten Free School podcast. And if you’re not familiar with his incredible background, he’s a board certified neurologist and fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He has published extensively in peer reviewed scientific journals including archives in neurology, neurosurgery, and the Journal of Applied Nutrition.

He is a frequent lecturer at the symposia sponsored by prestigious medical institutions like Colombia, NYU and Harvard University. And because of how well-received Grain Brain was after its release, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Dr. Perlmutter on shows like 20/20, Larry King Live, CNN, Fox News, Fox and Friends, The Today Show, Oprah, The Doctor Oz Show and The CBS Early Show, just to name a few.

And now he’s back joining me again to talk about how the gut and the brain are linked.

Dr. Perlmutter, welcome back to the podcast!

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, Jennifer, thank you for having me back. I’m sure we’re going to enjoy this!

Jennifer: Oh, I’m positive we will. I saw you speak recently at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California and I was, again, blown away by the new information that you shared about this relationship between the gut and the brain.

So why don’t we start there. Let’s talk about how bacteria in your gut (nowhere near the brain) are actually sending messages to your brain or interacting with it in some way. Talk to us about that.

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, I’ll be delighted. It’s well beyond the notion that the bacteria are, as you say, sending messages or talking to the brain. We now recognize that bacteria regulate a whole host of processes in the human body that have dramatic effects on the health and the brain’s ability to resist disease.

For example the corner stone of the regulation of the process of inflammation in the entire body from stem to stern is dictated by the health of the gut bacteria.

So the notion that the bacteria living in the gut, doing their thing and that they don’t really have an effect on anything else in the body… As if they live in Cleveland and your brain is in Chicago, well that just doesn’t hold water anymore.

We now recognize that, for example, this process of inflammation is what makes Alzheimer’s happen. It is the underlying mechanism of multiple sclerosis, of Parkinson’s, even autism. These are all fundamentally inflammatory disorders.

When you embrace the understanding that the bacteria (the hundred trillion bacteria that live within your gut) control the level of inflammation of your body, it really does pave the way for a whole new understanding of what we can do with reference to the gut in general and specifically how we care for our bacterial friends. In the long run, this is going to be a huge leverage point to maintain and even enhance brain health.

Jennifer: Well, for someone who is starting to notice memory issues or that they’re having a lot of mental fog… Anything where they’re like, “I just feel like my mind is not what it used to be.” Is it possible just from what you’ve said that perhaps they should turn their attention toward the health of their gut?

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, I would say that it’s well beyond possible that they should. It is the fundamental. I published an op ed in the New York Times talking about the real fallacy of the idea of what is called this notion of the brain and the gut being separate parts. We realize now that everything works together.

Let us take a step back. I’m a neurologist, and as a neurologist, I deal with very, very challenging issues. 5.6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. That’s a disease for which there is no treatment and a disease that is certainly not curable. It’s the same thing with issues like multiple sclerosis and autism. One in 40 births in America will end up being an autistic child. So that’s clearly how we would define something being epidemic.

But that said, now that we understand this powerful relationship, the focus of the most high level research at our most well-respected institutions around the world is finally, and for the first time opening up the possibility that yes, we can reverse not only these devastating conditions, but as we have already demonstrated and as I’ve written about it in the new book, Brain Maker, we can help the regular person who says, “I’ve been losing my keys lately, I can’t seem to remember the Wi-Fi passcode and sometimes I walk into a room and I forget why.” These are not simple things that we should write off as being just another marker of aging. These represent the beginning of problems down the road with respect to the brain.

I take the notion of senior moments very seriously with the patients I deal with. And that’s when the intervention becomes so profound.

So you hit the nail in the head. When I see a patient with moderate stage Alzheimer’s or in a wheel chair with multiple sclerosis, at that point there’s a lot of damage done and some of that is clearly irreversible.

But for individuals who are depressed and fatigued and are gaining weight and having sleep issues… Gosh, they are wonderful candidates for basically gut rehab- for putting the gut back in order so that we can sit back and watch what happens to all of those things I just mentioned once you pay attention to nurturing back to health the gut bacteria. They absolutely dictate the health of their host.

Jennifer: Talk to us for a moment a little bit more about gut bacteria. I know that everyone may be familiar with good guys and bad guys and yeast, but they might not understand that there’s actually a wide variety of different types of bacteria and how they then communicate with the brain.

Dr. David Perlmutter: We have really become a germophobic group of individuals in Western cultures. Ever since the Germ Theory in the work of Dr. Louis Pasteur, we’ve kind of pointed the finger at every bug that comes along as being ready to pounce upon us and cause misery.

Well, there is certainly very good reason for that and truthfully, as we move forward in time, with the emergence of what we call antibiotic resistant organisms, there are more and more bacterial threats.

Certainly many of your listeners are quite familiar with the term probiotic meaning “good for life.” These are bacteria that actually pave the way for wonderful health and do wonderful things within our physiology like regulate immunity, temper down inflammation, manufacture various vitamins, absorb certain nutrients, maintain the integrity of the gut wall, and produce neurotransmitters, the chemicals that allow the brain to function properly.

So we need to rephrase our sense of bacteria and indeed, as you said, recognize that most of the bacteria within us are doing a great thing in keeping us healthy, but certainly there are some pathogenic or bad bacteria living within you and me right this minute. There are seeds in your garden of weeds, but if the garden is healthy, the weeds won’t populate.

When we traumatize our gut bacteria by eating inappropriately, for example, or by loading up on antibiotics every time we have a sniffle and go to a walk-in clinic, we change the balance. We allow imbalance to occur, which is called dysbiosis. And when this happens, then the bad guys can overgrow and wreak havoc.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean an overwhelming bacterial infection that gives you diarrhea and sends you to the hospital. We now understand that changes in the ratio of bad and good bacteria that are living within our bodies right this moment lead to things like obesity and diabetes and have now been correlated with even brain issues like Parkinson’s and even Autism.

Jennifer: You mentioned this whole idea of diabetes… that diabetes is somehow involved in the changes in gut bacteria. Diabetes is something that has struck my family quite significantly. I’ve lost a lot of relatives to diabetes and my father who’s a physician sees many diabetic patients. I’ve also had more and more clients who are insulin resistant and dealing with metabolic syndrome.

It is becoming a more pervasive problem that I feel we don’t realize the massive consequences – it’s not even about one little issue. Rather, with diabetes comes a whole host of problems.

Can you talk a little bit about how insulin resistance plays a role in all of these?

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, of course, but let me just take a step back and recognize you brought a couple of very good points. Some people have diabetes, but some people only have metabolic syndrome or only have insulin resistance and they’re not fully diabetic yet. I think that right off the bat we must set the stage for this notion that being diabetic is not like being pregnant. Being pregnant, you either is or you ain’t. 

When your blood sugar starts to elevate, you are already at risk for significant brain issues long before your fasting blood sugar reaches a 126, which is the cut-off for making the diagnosis of diabetes.

But that said, when we load up on carbs and load up on sugar, we actually change the complexion of the gut bacteria to one that favors a group of bacteria called the Firmicutes that paves the way for obesity, that is associated with diabetes, that leads to leakiness of the gut and therefore plays a role in inflammation.

Now, let me take this story a little further because it’s really interesting. And then we’ll get back to the impairment part.

In Amsterdam, there’s a Dr. Max Nieuwdorp. Dr. Nieuwdorp is a pioneer in understanding how the levels of various bacterial species in the gut affect things like our metabolism, how we handle sugar, how we extract calories from the food that we eat. He recognized that there is in fact a specific pattern of bacteria seen in type II diabetes. When you look at the bacteria in the gut in the type II diabetic, it’s different from people who are lean and from people who don’t have diabetes.

He demonstrated that he could reverse obesity in the laboratory animal by changing its gut bacteria without any change in the food he gave the laboratory animal. And then, he hypothesized that if he could change the gut bacteria in humans, perhaps that might change their parameters of diabetes.

And what Dr. Nieuwdorp did, which was really quite incredible! He took 250 patients and performed a double blinded study. Half the group received what’s called a fecal transplant. They received the fecal material, instilled into their colons from lean, healthy donors, whereas the other half received back their own fecal material. But the groups didn’t know who got what.

Lo and behold, the diabetics who received transplants of fecal material into their colons, which is really an aggressive way of changing the gut bacteria, had reversal of their diabetes.

Jennifer: Oh, my gosh! That’s amazing.

Dr. David Perlmutter: It is amazing. I heard Dr. Nieuwdorp present this information at a symposium at Harvard in September. I recently invited him to a microbiome symposium in Hollywood, Florida in October of 2015 that I’m hosting. He’s going to be one of our guest and he’ll follow-up on that data and let us know what happened with these individuals.

I’m certainly not suggesting that diabetics just yet undergo fecal transplantation, but what I am suggesting is that we now understand that changes in the gut bacteria pave the way for bad things to happen and that the standard American diet is a sure fire way of making those detrimental changes to the gut bacteria.

So, I think the follow-up question from you, let me help you with it and be, “Hey, Dr. Perlmutter, what kind of changes then would you recommend to put our gut bacteria back in shape?” “Ah, Jennifer, that was a great question. Thanks for asking me that.” I would say that, as I mentioned, we’ve got to get the sugars and carbs out of the diet.

And how incredible it is that just recently, a governmental advisory dietary committee here in America came out and said the big problem in the American diet is not fat, it’s the sugar and the carbs and the refined wheat products that give us issues and really instructed us to get back to eating foods with good fats and to not reject foods, like eggs, that contain cholesterol indicating there’s no relationship between the consumption of cholesterol rich foods and heart disease. Holy Toledo! This is revolutionary.

Jennifer: It really is.

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, I was knocked off my chair when I read this information because it validates everything we talked about in Grain Brain and it validated everything that is now in Brain Maker.

And what is so exciting for me as a neurologist is this is paving the way for treatments based upon changing the gut bacteria that have already been seen to be helpful.

So let me get back to the idea, “What do we do?” Well, first of all, what can we do to preserve the gut bacteria, protect them? After all, those bacteria outnumber your cells 10 to 1. In your body, there are 10 times more bacteria than there are Jennifer cells. And that said it, you’re very proud of you 23,000 genes, but recognized, there are 5 million or more bacterial genes in your body meaning that 99% of the DNA in your body is bacterial, not Jennifer DNAs.

Jennifer: I actually wanted to ask you about this, which was one of the most surprising things (at least to me because I didn’t know this) that I saw on your presentation. Would you talk about the importance of genetic material in gut bacteria for our well-being and how important that is? I mean, I’ve never heard that before. Could you tell everybody a little bit about that?

Dr. David Perlmutter: Well, that’s why I wrote Brain Maker. What I would say to your listeners, if they want to get a taste of this book, if they just go to YouTube and put in Brain Maker trailer, we actually have a movie trailer about the book that is four minutes long, but really summarizes everything that we’re talking about.

Well yes, their DNA influences the expression of your DNA and even beyond that. What’s recently been discovered is that we have now identified segments of bacterial DNA that have been inserted into the human genome. Wow! Not only are they creating metabolic products and chemicals that influence our gene expression, but they even inserted their DNA into ours for good reason. That’s the kind of interaction that has allowed us to survive for these two million years.

So let’s get back to what do you do, first of all, to protect your commensal organisms? We describe the bacteria as commensal, meaning they share the table with us, “they eat together…” “commensa.” Basically, they eat what you eat and they’re exposed to everything you’re exposed to.

I think step one would be to recognize that we are bombarding our microbiome, our bacteria that live within us who are so in love with us and caring for us, with antibiotics with such increasing frequency that it likely is playing role in so many of our health issues.

If you have the sniffles or a cough and you go to walk-in clinic, you’re almost guaranteed to walk out of there with a very broad spectrum, powerful antibiotic because if you don’t, you’re going to think that you didn’t get what you paid for. That’s what people want. “Doc, I need to get back to work. You need to give me something for my cold.”

Colds are viruses, but antibiotics are for bacteria. I often tell my patients that it’s like having your appendix taken out when your gallbladder is inflamed. It’s the wrong treatment.

I tell them, “Look, if you take an antibiotic when you have a cold, it will only last a week. But if you don’t take the antibiotic, it’s going to last seven full days.” It takes a little while to realize that that’s a joke. The point is there’s no difference and in fact you’re doing generally more harm than good when you take an antibiotic when you have a cold.

What you’ll read in Brain Maker is that now there’s a large body of scientific literature that says, “Hey, if you’ve got an artificial hip or an artificial knee, there’s no real advantage to taking an antibiotic every time you get your teeth cleaned because there’s been no demonstration of increased risk in the various articles that we cite in the book of having an infected knee joint or hip prosthesis by going to the dentist.” And yet most people are told that, that you’ve got to load up an antibiotics if you go to the dentist because, “Oh, something terrible happened. Maybe your children will be born naked or who knows what’s going to happen to you.”

But that said, we’ve really got to take a step back in terms of our overzealous use of antibiotics. Four-fifths of Americans take antibiotics every single year. So that’s a very scary proposition.

Jennifer: And the other point to make on top of that is not just that we are taking so many antibiotics, but the animals that we eat, if they are conventionally raised, are also exposed to a lot of antibiotics to which we are then coming into contact. This is like a huge problem such that now some of these antibiotics aren’t working anymore and thus developing very virulent strains of bacteria that we can’t manage.

Dr. David Perlmutter: You’re exactly right. In fact, 75% of the antibiotics that are used in America today are used on our cattle because it does two things. First of all, our cattle are, by and large, raised in environments that foster illnesses like infections. And beyond that, and more importantly, the use of antibiotics makes these animals fat.

As was recently described in a book called Missing Microbes, there’s a lot of science indicating that in fact the overuse of antibiotics may relate very strongly to childhood obesity. Well beyond the dietary changes in the fast food, when you bombard children’s gut bacteria with antibiotics, you do the same thing that you do in animals. You favor an environment of different bacteria that tend to extract more calories from food and therefore may lead to obesity.

This is a wonderful book by Dr. Martin Blaser of Columbia University called Missing Microbes. It’s a really interesting read.

Jennifer: Now, as far as this whole idea of eating fermented foods, I’m totally onboard with that. I love the idea and I’ve been experimenting with different forms of fermented foods for a long time. And I recently had Kirsten Shockley on recently who spoke about how to make your own fermented foods at home, but what are some of the things that you suggest people do with fermented foods? At your dinner table, how would you incorporate fermented food into a meal?

Dr. David Perlmutter: I don’t think it’s really that challenging. The more I’ve been eating fermented foods over the past couple of years, the more I’ve enjoyed them. And a kimchi, for example, fermented vegetables, Korean recipe is very easy thing to make. You can buy actually a kit online and you make a gallon or two at a time. It stays in your refrigerator for a month or two. And what that means to me is simply putting a serving of kimchi alongside the vegetables and whatever else I might be having with dinner or lunch, keeping things in refrigerator and just adding them in.

If you don’t want to make kimchi, that’s totally fine. Most grocery stores now carry kimchi and other fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, fermented pickles. Pickles are fermented by definition, so that was a bit redundant. But hey, many health food stores carry these foods. You buy them, you put them in your refrigerator and you just put a spoon in and add them to your meal.

So I think that when you really get your arms around the health benefits of these fermented foods, you’re going to want to eat them more and more.

And likewise, adding in the prebiotics, the fiber rich prebiotic foods as I mentioned like Jicama. Jicama is Mexican yam. You can grate this and use it as a side dish. You can eat it raw, it can be cooked, it can be added to the vegetables that are being cooked, added to soup. It retains its prebiotic activity. There are various ways it can be flavored and spiced. It’s actually very beautiful looking dish on your plate.

But that said, onions, even when they’re raw. Garlic, add it to your meal. One of my favorites has become dandelion greens. You can sauté them with garlic and olive oil, a little salt.

And yeah, “Do they taste a little bit bitter?” Sure, they do. But I think pushing the flavor boundaries is a good thing.

Jennifer: It is!

Dr. David Perlmutter: I get behind the notion, “What makes you feel good about the foods that you eat?” Well, it can be attractive to you in terms of the flavor. But when you get some higher brain function going into the mix here too, instead of just catering to your pleasure center or lower brain area that says, “We love sweet, salt and fat”… when you get the higher brain center that say, “We love this food because it’s good for me“ dialed in, then eating becomes really a different experience. It becomes a lot more enjoyable and much more empowering. I think much more satisfying.

You really feel good about what you’re eating instead of it just being another meal. You feel like you’re really honoring the “let food be thy medicine” doctrine. That’s what’s happening in the world of nutrition as it relates to medicine, which unfortunately here in America is looked upon with almost derogation. People still don’t recognize what a powerful influence our diet has upon our health. Who knew? That was only published just recently by I think his name as Dr. Hippocrates.

The point is that I gave a lecture the day before yesterday to first year medical students at the University of Miami who are deeply entrenched in basic science right now – anatomy, physiology, pharmacology. And here I roll in there and give a two hour lecture showing peer reviewed science about the role of nutrition in human health and in disease prevention and it was great. I call them kids. They’re younger than my children, so definitely kids. They just loved it.

I know that after my lecture, they’re going to jump back in and then hit the books and learn more about how to treat illnesses with prescriptions. But if one percent of them got this message, that’s going to be huge. The word “doctor” doesn’t mean healer, it means teacher. So I’m getting back to a lot of that these days. That’s why I wrote this new book Brain Maker to give people the tools to empower them to not need doctors, not need me to just make these life changes in terms of modifiable factors, the most important which is the food we eat.

Jennifer, great kudos to you for doing the work that you do because the word that you spread through this forum, and the people that you have on whom you take the time to interview are just giving out life-changing information for people. So I honor you for that.

Jennifer: Awww, thank you. I’m really glad and I am so appreciative that you’ve been willing to return and not just spend time with me, but to share and disseminate this information and be so generous with it. You’re right… there really is only one of you and there’s a very limited number of physicians out there that are on this train of believing that if we get back to a more traditional diet in some respect, getting away from the refined carbs and grains, adding in actual healthy sources of fats and getting rid of our fat phobia, having really good fermented foods in or diet, we can actually begin to correct things. You’re helping inspire people to realize that the control is within their reach.

I think a lot of times with modern medicine, people feel like, “Well, if there’s no pill, I’m a lost cause.” But what you shared with us today goes to show that no one is really lost cause. That on some level, we all can find a way to some degree to take back control of our health and especially – oh, my gosh! Your brain is so important. Brain function is so important. I’m really grateful that you’re able to address this and bring this message to the public at large and it’s been so well received. So thank you so much for that and thank you for joining us today!

Dr. David Perlmutter: Oh, it’s absolutely been my pleasure. And again, great work that you’re doing. Any time you need me, just send me an email and I’ll be back.

Jennifer: Okay, will do. Well everybody, please stay in touch with Dr. Perlmutter. You can visit him on his wonderful website at DrPerlmutter.com. He’s on Facebook and on Twitter. I’ll put all the links below.

And remember, you’ve got to go get this brand new book, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life.

I’ll put links below to everything to make it really easy for you. I have to tell you, every single thing that I have read, everything that I’ve listened to by Dr. Perlmutter has been more than worth it. I’m urging you, this is the book. If you don’t get any other book from any other author that I’ve ever talked to, this is one to get.

Thank you so much for joining us, I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day and I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

<< CLICK HERE>> to get your copy of Brain Maker!

Dr. Perlmutter’s website – www.DrPerlmutter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidPerlmutterMd
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/davidperlmutter

The post Brain Gut Connection- Eating for a Healthy Brain with David Perlmutter, MD: GFS Podcast 065 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Turns out that the MTHFR mutation is pretty common (affecting about 30% of the population) and according to what my guest on today’s podcast says, many of us who have chronic health problems should probably suspect that something in this arena could be wrong. MTHFR officially stands for Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase and to make things even more confusing… the MTHFR enzyme (what most people are talking about in regards to detoxification since an enzyme does the work) is coded for by the MTHFR gene (the gene is like the blueprint and instructions for your body to build the enzyme).

If the gene gets mutated, then the subsequent enzyme that’s built would have issues functioning. Kind of like baking a gluten-free cake with out any binders in it because that part of the directions got wet and so you left those binding ingredients out because you couldn’t read the instructions.

MTHFR is involved with a process known as methylation wherein a methyl group is passed around from molecule to molecule until it reaches a certain endpoint to be used for some important functions. Think of it like a hot potato, albeit an important one. And in the process a lot of B Vitamins are used to help move the methyl group around so it gets where it needs to go. As I’ve talked about before, deficiencies in micronutrients can cause some major problems because the B Vitamins used in this process aren’t optional.

To be clear, this interview is much more science-heavy that the typical podcast. Hopefully this little intro will help you understand some of the conversation, but know that it’s not 100% necessary to understand every concept herein. The point of why I wanted to put this together is that much of what’s written on the MTHFR mutation and posted all over the internet on blogs is wrong and, frankly, the recommendations suggested could cause someone to get sicker. I don’t want to see that happen to you.

If you have any questions on this topic or what is discussed, please let them below in the comments so that I can answer them!

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!

Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

MTHFR Mutation: How Most Articles Get It Wrong & What You Really Need to Know with Tracy Konoske, RD

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today, we are going to talk about methylation and the MTHFR gene. If you have not heard about this, then this is going to be a really great, new topic for us to talk about. If you have heard or read about it on the internet, some of the things that we’re going to discuss today fly in the face of what’s being written about methylation because some of it is, in my opinion, way oversimplified.

I have a really great guest with me. She is back after talking about autoimmunity from this past August. Her name is Tracy Konoske and she’s America’s first virtual nutritionist and a different kind of dietician. She’s trained in natural, integrative, functional, and personalized medicine, and Tracy received her Master’s Degree in Nutrition from Bastyr University, and is on track to finish the Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner coursework in 2015.

Tracy is successfully helping patients who suffer from migraines, IBS, joint pain and most any autoimmune disease, including celiac disease, recover. She lives in beautiful Montana, but her private practice is virtual, meaning, that you can be a patient and live anywhere. Her consultations are either by phone or by Skype and it’s super easy to get in touch with her.

Tracy, welcome back to the podcast!

Tracy: Thanks, Jennifer! It’s great to be back.

Jennifer: Let’s just dive into this. I feel we have to figure out how deep to go here. But I want to start off with defining what methylation is, especially for those who may not have heard of that term and have no clue what this conversation is about.

Tracy: So technically, methylation involves a methyl group, which is really just a carbon and three hydrogen. And that’s just chemistry, but then let’s just talk about that methylation is this metabolic process.

So in our bodies, methylation makes good things happen when it’s functioning properly. Our body intuitively knows how to turn good genes on and bad genes off. Methylation happens in every single cell of our body, millions and billions of times a second.

What you were alluding to, I completely agree because a lot of the big deal about methylation, I think, people think, “Oh, I need methylated folate, or methylated B12” and they don’t really know why. The big key point here, or some of the key points, are that methylation helps us in our ability to make glutathione, which is the mother of all antioxidants, and methylation is also the process that helps us make SAMe.

SAMe is a superhero because when SAMe donates the methyl group, it is how we make RNA, DNA, creatine, melatonin and more.  Methylfolate (which is a form of the B Vitamin Folate that has a methyl group) donates the methyl group to Vitamin B12, making methyl B12.  And methyl B12 continues by donating that same methyl group to homocysteine which then keeps passing it along like a hot potato until we make SAMe.

SAMe then continues to donate that “hot potato” methyl group, and that is how we make DNA and RNA and creatine, phosphatidylcholine, which is around every single cell membrane in our body. It’s how we deactivate histamine. This is how women get rid of our estrogen, meaning we methylate it and excrete it via liver detoxification pathways. It’s how we process our catecholamines like epinephrine and norepinephrine.

So SAMe is super important, but he doesn’t get talked about a lot in this methylation process.  If you just think about folate in food, such as something green. Let’s say you’re eating a salad or having an orange. Those contain folate and our body has to do several steps in order to convert dietary folate into dihydrofolate (DHF) and then to tetrahydrofolate (THF) in order to pass along the “hot potato” methyl group. Then we continue the conversion and turn THF into 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5MTHF), and then at the very end, we have “activated” folate (5MTHF) that’s ready to keep the process of methylation going.

But that’s really just the beginning. Even though there were several steps to get to 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5MTHF), it just hands off that methyl group (it’s like a “hot potato”) to Vitamin B12. By doing so, we now have what’s called methyl B12 which then hands off the methyl group like a hot potato to homocysteine. There is a couple more steps so that we end up with methionine and then SAMe.

And this happens over and over again, this whole process where folate converts to dihydrofolate (DHF) which converts to tetrahydrofolate (THF) which converts to 5,10 methylene THF (5,10mTHF) and then 5,10mTHF converts to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5MTHF). 5MTHF passes off its methyl group to convert Vitamin B12 to methyl B12 who joins up with homocysteine to regenerate methionine. Methionine then donates the methyl group to make SAMe. And this cycle happens over and over and over again.

SAMe stores those methyl groups so we can do some really important stuff in the body.

Image from Dr. Jill Carnahan’s website.

Jennifer: And so for anyone who is thinking, “What? What did you just say?” And here on the right is an image so that you can see exactly what we’re talking about because to be honest with you, Tracy, unless I had written my biochem paper on this topic, I would have no idea what you just said.

So for anybody who is new to this, if you’re lost, please stick with us. This actually is a really important conversation and we’ll continue to break this down. But don’t be embarrassed if you’re confused because I spent weeks trying to figure out this whole pathway. And actually, it’s three different pathways that overlap. Yes, it’s complex. I will admit this, but it is an important topic and we want to try and make it as simplified as possible.

And I will share with everybody — if you’ve heard of folic acid as you probably see it in some fortified foods or you’ve heard of folic acid. Folic acid is the manmade version of folate. So that’s an important distinction to make.

And these biochemical pathways in your body do require a lot of B vitamins. Tracy, you mentioned B12 and folate, which are both B vitamins. It also requires Vitamin B6 as well. So B vitamins are very important to this topic.

And genes are an important part of this conversation too! The genes and their respective DNA code for the enzymes (such as MTHFR) in these pathways to do what needs to be done.

So why don’t you tell us a little bit about how the genetics piece comes into play here?

Tracy: Let me just back up and say, because I want to agree with you that this is complicated. I’ve been studying this since 2011. And it really was a conundrum for me to come up with, “Okay, I feel like I’m teaching people a brand new language, as well as identifying what’s important and what’s not.”

I think the key thing I want to say about all of that is first, we just talked about methylfolate and methyl B12 as being substrates or substances to help a necessary reaction happen. If you give somebody methyl B12 or methylfolate (5 MTHF), each will pass off their methyl group to whatever comes next in the cycle. That’s why you’re even taking them. And the end result of giving somebody methyl B12 or methylfolate is so they can either make SAMe, which does important work for your body, or that we can go down another pathway and make some glutathione. 

But it is a complicated subject and don’t feel bad if that doesn’t at all make sense. I listen to this stuff ad nauseam. And still it’s complicated… it could be a full-time job.

For genetics, I think some really basic stuff for people to understand as we move forward is that there are things called SNP. It stands for Single-nucleotide polymorphism. It’s just a change in the gene sequence. It means that the parts in the gene got mixed up. They’re still all there, but they got scrambled up.

And the big ones you hear about in regards to MTHFR are the C677 SNP and the A1298 SNP. You hear about those a lot in the popular press. And then Amy Yasko really talks about the MTHFR O3, and it’s just as serious as the C677 SNP.

To be clear, a SNP is not a mutation. It’s very similar to a SNP though and people tend to understand the word mutation when they’ve never heard of single-nucleotide polymorphism. So the words get used a little bit interchanged. Technically, what we are talking about are SNPs. The genes just got scrambled and so they act a little a bit differently. But it’s not serious enough to cause something like Downs Syndrome.

You can also have multiple SNPs. If you have one SNP, we call it a heterozygous (hetero) SNP. If you have two SNPs, it would be called a homozygous SNP.

And then you can have a SNP in both the C677 (MTHF) and the A1298 (MTHF) and that’s called a compound hetero (because it’s one hetero SNP of each). 

So again if you’re a homozygous C677 (MTHF), it means two of the genes are in the wrong order. Because of this, that enzyme produced from these genes now only works at about 18 to 22% of capacity. It’s a little bit like trying to win the race when you have a broken bike. You’re definitely not at full speed.

Most of the SNPs are down regulations, meaning that they operate at reduced function. But the CBS SNPs (which regulate the enzyme that sends Homocysteine down the Transsulfuration Pathway) tend to be at an up-regulated (meaning it works faster than normal) and that’s not necessarily good. If you think of two conveyor belts and the first conveyor belt is going along and it’s going to meet up with conveyor belt number two, but it’s running way too fast, then the other one is just at regular speed, it’s just dumping things in.

How that shows up in the body is a little bit like having a hole in the boat. People with CBS SNPs take in a lot of nutrition and it just keeps leaking out. The pathway is running so fast that it just dumps out the other end.

Jennifer: So you may have one or several of these SNPs in your genetic code. I have a friend actually that found out that she has one of these SNPs, but the point here is that it is important to find out what you have. 

But I think that the MTHFR gene gets talked about a lot as a genetic defect or enzyme problem. I think the way that it’s talked about on almost every single popular blog and even the small blogs is incorrect. It’s not that the science is bad. It’s due to an oversimplification of what’s going on in a complex biochemical system and simply blaming everything on this one little SNP affecting the MTHFR enzyme when in reality, these cycles, as you can see in that graphic above that we have shared with you guys, is a lot more than MTHFR.

And I think that while it might seem great to look for a magic bullet of what’s going to help you feel better… and granted some people do feel better… but Tracy, you had mentioned to me that some people don’t do well addressing an issue with MTHFR simply by taking methylated vitamins. Not everyone responds well to them even though they are unendingly advocated for on many blogs covering this topic on the internet.

Why do you think that everyone is talking about MTHFR? 

Tracy: If I just look back at my own history, the very first time I heard of MTHFR, it was in an eight-hour podcast in November 2011. It blew my mind. I started testing for the MTHFR SNP because it was available back then. Almost every single one of my patients tested positive for either the A or the C or a combination of both. And I could look at their chart and start looking for things such as varicose veins or estrogen dominance or cancer in the family or even autoimmune diseases. All the things that I was taught to go along with this, and that’s all I knew at the moment.

It started there. And then I had two patients in the year that tested negative for any MTHFR SNPs. And yet, in all the research that I had done, I knew that there could be other SNPs involved.

Eventually, I ended up digging deeper and reading Dr. Amy Yasko’s books, and going to trainings… like Dr. Bridget Briggs just did a three-part training.

You end up learning more about the other SNPs. And it does get more complicated, infinitely more complicated in that I could spend 40 hours a week just studying this. The really easy out is just to say, “Well, you have the MTHFR genes so just take methylfolate and methyl B12. And we’ll see you on your way.”

But what doesn’t get talked about is that this is multiple relay races going on at one time with MTHFR being in the center, but he’s passing off that methyl group over to the methionine and then it can end up down at glutathione and SAMe.

But also, if he just turns around and hands off the methyl group a different way that’s how we make our amino acids and neurotransmitters like serotonin and tryptophan.

What I’m trying to say is it affects a lot of different pathways. It’s very complicated and it takes time for medicine to change. In the average community, most people here, where I live in Montana, probably still don’t even know what MTHFR is, let alone understand that there are other SNPs, like COMT, CBS, and SUOX.  I could give you the whole list of other SNPs involved. And that’s what actually makes this so dangerous is if you just start giving the whole world methyl B12 and methylfolate, you can make some people very sick. Don’t forget that those people with the CBS SNP, they have a hole in the boat.

You can give them methyl B12 and methylfolate all day long, 24 hours a day, and they’re just going to drain it out in the hole in the boat.

And then there’s a SNP called COMT, and those people can’t chew up methyl groups very quickly. If you think of COMT like a Pacman, well, he’s really slow. (So they are sensitive to outside (exogenous) source of methyl groups).  Don’t forget that most SNPs are down regulations. So if you give somebody with two or four (SNPs) or a double homozygous COMT a bunch of methyl groups associated with their supplements, their Pacman chews up that methyl group really slow. This causes you to become over-methylated and can result in them feeling very anxious and nervous, and can give them panic disorders.

And beyond what I even am very comfortable talking about. I watched a guy named, I think, Dr. Phil Walsh, who talked about people who are over-methylated and under-methylated. And you can be both.  He had a list of signs and symptoms of people who just naturally can be over-methylated (because of the combination of their gene SNP”s even without supplementation). Just because you’re double C677, which is what I am –  a double C677 – so my MTHFR enzyme functions at about 20% of normal capacity, we can’t assume that I’m under-methylated because we have to consider those OTHER genes. I am also a double (homozygous) COMT, so I don’t deal with methyl groups very well and I actually can end up over-methylating very easy.

Does that make sense? I wasn’t planning to share that, but I think it’s really important to make the point that you can’t just give the whole world methyl B12 and methylfolate and instantly solve their methylation problems.

Jennifer: It does. And I think this underscores the more universal rule of why supplementation has to be incredibly individualized. And you can’t just look on the internet and find a solution that worked for one person and assume it’s going to work for you. Because if your head is swimming and mind you, this is a science-y, nerdy conversation, I admit it. It’s a much more science-y than we typically have. But this is just skimming the surface.

If you go deeper and start delving into all the other genetic pieces, and you don’t know any of this, you don’t understand biochemistry, you don’t understand the implications of what may happen with certain SNPs and whatnot, you can really harm yourself. So again, this underscores why you have to find a practitioner, if they’re going to treat you for this problem who understands it and knows how to do the testing as well as the proper approach. One solution is not going to fix them all.

And that leads us to a question. How do you get tested for this, Tracy?

Tracy: There are a couple of ways. You can check out Dr. Amy Yasko, and she’s the queen of this.  She started all of this and she understands this biochemistry more than anybody that I have ever known of. She offers her own tests which I believe are $400 to $500. Then she will guide you through this process of what to do, what supplements to take, what tests you need to take.

And then there’s 23andMe, which is $99. A lot of people think they’re out of business. They’re not. What they got in trouble for and rightly so is that they were offering a genetic interpretation. I did my genetic test with 23andMe a few years ago before they got in trouble. And they gave me back a report and it said, “Tracy Konoske, you’re not at risk for breast cancer because you don’t have the BRAC gene and you’re not at risk for Parkinson’s because you don’t have the XYZ gene.”

Even before they got in trouble, I thought that was crazy. I could easily get breast cancer. If I want to smoke and drink and stay up all night and eat hydrogenated foods, I could easily get breast cancer. Anybody could get breast cancer. You don’t have to have the gene to get breast cancer. In fact, most people who get breast cancer don’t.

But all that said, 23andMe is not out of business. They’d still give you your genetics. You just get a huge zipped file and you have to know somebody who can help you interpret it.

Like you said, Jennifer, it needs to be somebody trained and somebody who knows more than just MTHFR. If somebody is advertising on their website that they’re going to help you with your MTHFR gene and they don’t mention CBS, SUOX, MTR, MTRR, or the 24 or 25 other genes that all “talk” to the MTHFR gene, they don’t know what they’re doing in regards to the complete picture.

I study this all the time and I often feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. That’s just the honest truth. No two people are the same. We know that from twin studies, even when you have two identical twins and you’re looking at the same set of genes, one twin could get an autoimmune disease and one twin is not going to get autoimmune disease. And that’s because what we do, all those choices we make on a daily basis influence how those genes are getting expressed.

One more point about this in regards to getting back results that do show SNPs, for example just because you’re a quad COMT – that’s what I call myself – or an MTHFR C677, it doesn’t always mean it’s a death sentence. Don’t assume in all of this that just because you have a SNP it means that you’re doomed because obviously, I function every day. Our genes make up 25% of our risk of disease and then how we manage our sleep and our stress and our diet, exercise influences how those genes get expressed.

Jennifer: And I think that this underscores why, as you said, your genes aren’t a guarantee, necessarily, of anything. Many doctors have said, “Oh, well, if you have the celiac genes that’s not a guarantee that you’re going to develop celiac disease.”

In our other podcast, we talked about how you can look at different factors that might suggest you could develop any type of autoimmune disease. And there are other things that are beyond the scope of genes. But maybe the genes will give you an indicator, a warning or a heads up way ahead of time.

I think that it’s good to have a picture, but it’s not to say that it’s set in stone.

We all struggle with some sort of health problem. Many of us have autoimmune issues, some of us are dealing with celiac and whatnot. Why should you care about this?

Tracy: If we’re going to look at the whole methylation properly and not just the MTHFR gene, but that whole complex cycle (Image is above), having SNPs in any of these places disrupts normal cellular function. It’s like trying to go through life and you only have 70% oxygen to breathe or you don’t get enough hydration. It truly interrupts the functioning of the cell.

Then this lays the groundwork for chronic disease. When I went through my charts and tested people for MTHFR back in 2011, and only two people were negative, you start to see the significance. Obviously, people who have MTHFR and other SNPs are the people who do ultimately get sick because you can’t methylate, and then you can’t make SAMe as well, and then you can’t make your DNA so you can’t repair your gut lining, or cell membranes, or support your immune system. It’s off balance between the humeral and the cellular immunity. They can’t detoxify as well.

And so these are the people who get sick. And for those who already have celiac disease, they have one autoimmune disease, I did the podcast with Jennifer about predicting autoimmune disease.  And stated that if you have one [autoimmune disease], you’re statistically at risk for getting more, up to seven in your lifetime.

If you don’t optimize methylation, meaning all of these pathways, not just MTHFR, but optimizing the whole set of genes that MTHFR talks to, then your immune system is still off balance and it just makes you more at risk.

Why anybody with a chronic disease would care about this because it really comes down to root causes. I don’t think at this point you can throw me a health condition and I can’t trace it back to this methylation pathway. It really is like not having enough oxygen and trying to get through life and run a race. And you just don’t have the capacity to do that well.

And over time, people get sicker. If you think about being homozygous C677, in my case, I didn’t have a fabulous health as a kid, but I wasn’t sick. Now I can certainly see if I don’t optimize my methylation by the time I’m 70 or 80 or 90, and you have all those years cumulatively adding on top of each other, I can see how people get multiple chronic diseases because things aren’t working well.

Jennifer: I’m curious — we’ve already mentioned this issue that you should see someone who understands this condition so that they aren’t regurgitating other people’s blogs and articles out there that are very oversimplified. And that each person has a complex, unique situation that needs to be considered before any type of treatment can be given. It’s not appropriate to start supplementing with something having no idea what we might be low or high in. What could we do for those who might be listening and go, “Oh, I know for sure, and my hand is raised, I have an MTHFR defect?”

Is there any general dietary or lifestyle suggestions that they could do to help themselves, like any foods in particular they should try to avoid? Anything you found that’s helpful that maybe they might not know about?

Tracy: Sure. Remember I said that we need SAMe to detoxify our estrogen. So we all have some, even men have estrogen, of course. So we need to get rid of it, right? We don’t want it to circulate round and round.

In order to detox estrogen, we methylate it and it goes from 2-hydroxy estrogen to 2 methoxy (methylated) estrogen. It gets methylated in phase 2 of the liver and then it leaves. And that’s what we want. We don’t want estrogen to hang around and stay in circulation over and over again. 

Stress interferes with that pathway. So yes, ultimately, managing stress is important. 

Another lifestyle thing that plays into all of this is that some of these people can’t detoxify very well. So it becomes once again, the same messages I say over and over, it’s really important to eat organic, to get your mercury amalgams out, to drink filtered water or spring water. Do you know what I mean?

Avoid BPA and phthalates – those are endocrine disruptors (or fake estrogen).  The last thing I need in my life is fake estrogen because I can barely get rid of the estrogen I have, let alone fake chemical products like BPA and phthalates.

A lot of the things still come back to all that healthy lifestyle and getting enough sleep, drink enough water, eat organic whole foods, perhaps do some juicing. Or even if you drink green juices all day, you still have to be able to methylate that folate, right? And so, we do need some help and that’s what this is all about. It’s supporting the broken pathways so that with some methyl groups or some active methylfolate.

Again, if I just keep using myself as an example of a double C677, I can’t methylate folate very well. And just to help people with the visual, I could drink spinach, orange juice, fresh green juice, all day long which would be full of folate. But I can’t methylate it very well making it difficult for me to use what I’m eating and drinking here in this example.

So that is where methylfolate comes in. But again, the only answer is not just to give methylfolate and/or methyl B12.

The other thing that happens in all of this is that just because you have genes doesn’t mean it will express as such. And so it’s also really important to work with somebody who can order you some lab tests. And you find out what you’re homocysteine is or your taurine, or your level of sulfates and ammonia.

All of the genes have indicators. So I have a quad COMT and I’m super task oriented and I want everything done yesterday. My husband is a quad COMT. He has a different set of genes. He does not have SNPs for CBS or C677. His genes express completely different and he’s the most laid back guy you could meet. 

So again, just looking at just the MTHFR gene isn’t the whole story and it’s really important to not treat it based on individual genes, but to do some testing and find out how your genes are expressing in real life and look for actual markers. Does that make sense?

Jennifer: It does. And Tracy, I just wanted to specify to everybody that’s listening too. This is a lifelong issue. This is not something that you’re going to take some supplements and then six months, you’re good to go, and you can just forget that you had it. You’re like, “Oh, yes. I had that MTHFR thing, but it’s all good now.” Right?

Tracy: Yes, it doesn’t go away.

Jennifer: We are not talking about something that’s going to go away like you could heal this. This is not a healing issue. It’s in your genes, in every cell of your body. That’s how it works. So this is something that if you suspect you have or you eventually find out you have, it is a lifelong approach to living where you’re going to have to be more mindful, as Tracy said, of your stress levels, of the quality of food you eat. In that instant, you could say, “Yes, I actually need to be mindful of the pesticide count.” “I need to be careful what kind of chemicals I slather on my body after jumping out of the shower.”

You’ve got to really be mindful of all these things.

And as we said, and I cannot stress this anymore, you have to find somebody that understands how to work with this problem. You can’t read the articles on the internet and assume that one approach or one or two supplements are going to solve your problems. That’s probably not a wise idea.

Tracy: I couldn’t agree more. When I agreed to do this talk with you, it was one of the biggest things I wanted to get across is that there are always other enzymes (SNPs) which have roles. And again, just to be clear that as a double homozygous C677 MTHFR, I need methylated groups, but I don’t tolerate methyl groups very well. Because as a quad COMT, meaning I have four SNPs in my COMT, my important genes there, I don’t handle methyl groups well. So on one hand I need them and on the other hand I don’t handle them and it’s a very tricky balance and back-to-back lab testing. Once you get your genes and you find out where you’re at.

So I run certain tests to identify people’s values for all those pathways and so, “Oh, your homocysteine is 4 or it’s 12.” Or your methionine is low or high.

And I can see where the broken pieces are and then supplement accordingly. But it’s true… your genes never change and even if you optimize your methylation and then, God forbid, you go through a divorce, or you lose your spouse or some tragic thing happens, you have to optimize your methylation again. It’s not a static thing because all of our dietary and lifestyle choices affect all these processes.

So it’s a forever thing but also, you think about what methylation does and it opens the door to autoimmune diseases and bipolar and mental health and estrogen dominance, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, things that people on this call are dealing with. Everybody knows somebody who has a fatigue issue or has a runny nose because of too many histamines.

We all know somebody this affects. I told you there’s not a health condition you can bring me that I can’t bring back to methylation. Not that I always know how to fix it, but I can guarantee you that methylation plays a role in optimizing these pathways and does make people feel better.

Jennifer: Tracy, I feel like we’ve talked about so much and yet, we’ve really only touched on such a tiny minute piece of the picture. But I hope that the messages and the ideas here will help either jumpstart someone’s process and looking to what might help them feel better or it will give them insight into a condition they already know they have and perhaps, help them rethink some of their approaches.

One of the greatest pieces of advice a teacher ever gave me was to be skeptical, but not in a negative way. Just take a moment to say to yourself, “Let me step back and look at this picture from as many different avenues as I possibly can and gather as much information as I can to make a decision based on what’s going to work best for me rather than assuming that what one person says is the only way for me.”

Because a lot of times, as you said, that what’s the way for somebody else will leave you feeling horrible.

I really appreciate your time and I wanted to direct everybody too. If you have yet to connect with Tracy, you really should. And wonderful resource. She has a free Heal Your Leaky Gut Guide over on her website at HealthyLifestylesMT.com. She has some Get Acquainted sessions that are available to you. If you’re looking for help with this issue or any others as well as a newsletter that you can sign up for.

Thank you so much Tracy for joining us!

Tracy: You are welcome, Jennifer. I’m happy to be back and just thanks for having me. Good luck to all of you out there in this process.

Jennifer: You’re very welcome. Please leave your questions and your comments below.

Do you have the MTHFR defect? Let us know. I’d love to hear from you as well as how it expresses in you and what you have learned. And if you feel that some of the things we’ve talked about are really valuable, what are you taking away from the conversation? What is it that you’d love to add to this conversation or hear more about? We’d love to hear from you.

Again, thank you guys so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. I hope you have a fabulous day and I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Tracy’s website – HealthyLifestylesMT.com

Get your Leaky Gut Guide here –> http://www.healthylifestylesmt.com/free/leaky-gut-guide/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tracy.Healthy

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TracyKonoske/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/tracykonoske

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCor8FKhJINyFyk7TbyT667g

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/HLifestylesInc/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+HealthylifestylesmtTracyKonoske/posts

The post MTHFR Mutation: How Most Articles Get It Wrong & What You Really Need to Know with Tracy Konoske, RD: GFS Podcast 064 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

You could take a probiotic supplement to help get the job done, however fermented foods are one of the easiest ways to naturally consume probiotic-rich foods without the hassle and expense of pills. If you’ve ever looked at the really good quality probiotics, they can be pretty expensive. Plus, many have to be constantly refrigerated and for those (like myself) who loathe/fear swallowing big pills, fermented foods are much less stress-inducing to eat.

Plus, you can easily make your own probiotic-rich fermented foods that can help with gut health and healing for a fraction of the price (especially important if you’ve got budgetary restraints). Either way, you can use homemade fermented foods as a way to additionally supplement on top of your store-bought probiotics or use them on their own.

The big WHY to eat fermented foods is because of how important getting these good bacteria are into your digestive system. If you’ve ever taken antibiotics, one seven-day round can set back your gut flora for two years! Plus there have been many articles in the mainstream press about the benefits of probiotics in treating mental health issues and more. That’s why adding in fermented foods to your daily meals is an easy way to boost gut, mental and total body health.

Listen in to this week’s interview where I break down your questions on how to make your own fermented foods at home so that you can get started!

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!

Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

How to Make Fermented Foods at Home with Kirsten Shockey

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer Fugo: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today we’re going to talk about fermenting foods.

Now, I am a total novice at this whole idea of fermenting food. The only thing that I’ve ever fermented in my life was kombucha, and I don’t even do that anymore.

It is one of those ways of cooking that makes people nervous because they’re afraid they’re going to get sick or it’s going to go bad. We’re not just all that familiar with doing this.

I asked Kirsten Shockey to join me. Kirsten got her start in fermenting foods with her family’s farm stand food company, where she and her husband created over 40 varieties of cultured vegetables and krauts.

When they realized their passion was for the process, they chose to focus on teaching the art of fermenting vegetables. They still experiment with new recipes, help others to set up in-house or farm stand fermentaries, teach classes at their farm, and host small-farm workshops.

Together they wrote the book Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables and Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes and Pastes and they both maintain their blog at www.Fermentista.kitchen.

Kirsten, thank you so much for joining us!

Kirsten Shockey: Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Jennifer: I know we said you got your start at the family farm stand, but why fermenting food? I’m just curious. Some people are into baking. Some people are into cooking at the stove. Why fermenting?

Kirsten: Actually, we have this little homestead and we’ve done cheeses. And Christopher does love to bake. We were trying to find a business based out of our homestead that we could do together as a family.

The awesome thing about fermenting is that it’s so safe and it’s so easy. We knew that our kids could participate in many aspects of creating the product. And also in Oregon, the laws to get the certified kitchen around fermentation are so much simpler than for cheese, for example. 

Jennifer: Wow! That’s really interesting. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about exactly what it means to ferment something?

Kirsten: So it’s an ancient practice. The art of fermentation has been around for a long time. The vegetables and have bacteria all over them when they come from garden or the field. Lactic acid is one of them. [When you ferment], you’re creating an environment where the lactic acid can thrive.

When the lactic acid starts moving in this environment, it grows in it. It starts eating the starches, the carbohydrates, the sugars of the vegetables. As it’s doing that, it’s making the whole balance in this brine. It’s all anaerobic in the crock when you’re doing this. It makes it acidic. It’s actually the acidification of the vegetables that preserves it.

Jennifer: Interesting! I used to make a lot of kombucha and I don’t do that anymore. Would that be considered fermentation?

Kirsten: That is a kind of fermentation. It’s not lactic acid fermentation. The kombucha scoby is a bacterial mat. And yes, it’s doing the same thing. It’s taking that sugar that you put into your tea and getting it acidic. If you take kombucha too long, it will end up tasting like vinegar.

Jennifer: Yeah, it can go too far.

Kirsten: Right. And fermentation is that same idea of eating those sugars, eating those carbohydrates. The beautiful thing that happens as lactic acid is eating those things is that it’s pre-digesting the food for you. It’s pre-processing it for you.

A lot of great health things are happening at the same time. Pre-digestion makes it easier for your body to assimilate the nutrients. The nutrients are also becoming more enhanced. For some reason, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B12 are part of what’s in it now. It creates those as it’s going.

The vegetables actually become more healthful, and some people even argue that they become safer because none of the bad bacteria that might be on a fresh vegetable, like E.coli, which gets on the news every now and again, can live in a fermentation crock.

Jennifer: Here’s the thing. You mentioned the health value. Why should we eat fermented vegetables?

Kirsten: The health value is pretty incredible. We should eat them because they taste really good. It’s really a lot of fun once you start getting into fermentation to realize that you can create these fantastic flavors that are just so new and unique. I think that’s why they’re gaining a lot of publicity with the celebrity chefs and all that kind of stuff.

But as far as the health benefits go, again you’re making nutrients more bioavailable. It’s easier for your body to digest.

We’re learning so much right now about the gut biome. You’re creating this food that also helps repopulate the gut biome. Some of us have pretty damaged systems just from processed foods and antibiotics [and other things we ingest].

Jennifer: A lot of us do have those issues. I know for myself, I also don’t like to take pills. So [I don’t like] the idea of taking a probiotic every day [in pill form.]I have a fear that goes back to childhood because I choked on a piece of candy. So trying to get me to take pills is not easy.

However, you can eat food, which is even better, and how much more efficient is that? It’s tasty too. You can just add to your dish and eat it. And there you go, you’ve got your probiotics.

What are some of your favorite fermented foods that you add as a condiment to other dishes?

Kirsten: It’s seasonal for us. This time of year, what I just love, as we’re getting away from the fresh tomatoes and all of that, I love sauerkraut that comes from a Latin American El Salvadoran tradition. It’s called cordito. It has the same pizazz and freshness as adding salsa to beans or to your omelet in the morning. So that’s one of our favorites.

Christopher, my husband, loves making the homemade pepper paste. It’s like having your own sriracha on hand. So those are really two very simple ones that even people that think they don’t like fermented vegetables or sauerkraut love.

We have another recipe for a really simple sauerkraut that has lemon and dill and some garlic in it. We called that often our gateway kraut when we would have a stand at the market.

People would say, “No, I don’t like sauerkraut.” [But] if we could get them to try it and realize that this sauerkraut that we’re talking about here has nothing to do with the canned yucky stuff that people think of, the lemon dill was the one that they took home with them.

Jennifer: Interesting! That’s still made with cabbage?

Kirsten: It’s still made with cabbage, with that and a few other little just herbs and garlic like I said. It gives it a bright sparkly flavor.

Jennifer: I would love to know this. This is where I get nervous. I have these good intentions to make sauerkraut. But it has never happened because when I start to really think about it, practically speaking, I don’t know how you know when it’s done.

Can you go too far in fermenting food? We did say with kombucha you can. But with these vegetables, can you go too far? Is there a specific cut off where you say, “Okay, this sauerkraut should only ferment for five days?” Is there some rule like that?

Kirsten: The answer to a lot of those questions is, it depends. However, the beauty is, if you follow a few simple rules, simple guidelines, [you’ll succeed].

And there are a lot of people like you, Jennifer, that just really need to see it happen the first time. They love to come to the classes simply because they’ve read about it, but they want to watch it happen.

So the simple thing is to keep everything submerged, keeping the brine overtop of your vegetable and no air bubbles in there.

What we tell people is, start small. Start with a little mason jar on your counter and watch it. Watch what’s happening. Watch the next morning as you’re starting to see the carbon dioxide build up between the shreds of kraut.

When you do, press on it. Push on it. It’s not like canning where, if you get it wrong or if you touch it in the process, it can all go wrong. It’s a lot more forgiving than that. Keeping it under the brine is your big thing.

We tell people to taste it. Taste it at three or four days. If you like it, great, put it into your refrigerator. If you’d like it more sour, keep it going.

So that’s what happens when it goes too long. It just keeps getting more and more sour as more and more bacteria do their work of eating the starches.

We have refrigerators now. So we can pull them early for people that don’t like it super sour. Whereas in the old days they of course needed to keep it out [on the counter].

Where it can go wrong is if it’s sitting under the counter for a long time. The stuff on top, the stuff exposed to the air, can get contaminated if the brine layer isn’t super thick. Often, when you just take that layer off, though, what’s underneath and what’s safe under the brine is good.

We tell people “sinking in brine conquers evil every time.” Just to have a little something to hold on to.

Jennifer: For somebody who doesn’t know what brine is, what exactly is brine?

Kirsten: Brine is the salt solution that is made by thick vegetables themselves. So let’s back up to the process.

You shred your vegetables, either cabbage or carrots or beets, or you mix cabbage and beets. And then you sprinkle the salt in there and massage it in. As you do that, the cell structure starts breaking down and the juices from the vegetables themselves get released.

When they do, that is your brine. That’s your salty liquid. It’s actually not even that salty, but salty enough to give the good bacteria the upper hand and to harden your pectins to keep everything nice and crisp.

So that’s what you press. You press your vegetables in your jar and that brine rises to the top. And then you’ll need to weight it down because once your bacteria start eating those starches as I mentioned before, carbon dioxide is created. Well, those create little bubbles. It can look like a champagne glass. Those little bubbles are just wanting to leave.

So the best way with the simplest tools if you have nothing, no crocks at home, is just a jar and a Ziploc bag. And then you’ll stick your Ziploc bag down over your well pressed vegetables and fill that with water.

[CLICK HERE to check out some fermenting crocks that can be used to make the foods we’re talking about.]

And the water will seal that bag. It will seal the edges. It will create a nice environment. And it will create some weight to help keep the brine down and allow the carbon dioxide to escape.

Jennifer: Are there some no-nos to this process? I’m wondering, what if I have a window and there’s sunlight pounding in through the window? Is that not a good spot to have your vegetables sitting that are fermenting?

Kirsten: That wouldn’t be the preferred spot. If your counter is all sunny, then you can throw a little towel over [the fermenting vegetables] and just help keep it a little bit darker in there. You don’t want them to heat up too much.

Another spot on your counter that you might want to avoid is next to the back of the refrigerator where that warm air is coming out. There are a lot of people that believe, “Oh, it has to be in a cool dark closet.” They’ll put it away and not watch it. But especially with these small batches, it’s much better (even if it’s not the perfect spot on your counter) to be able to watch it, especially when you’re just teaching yourself how to do this.

Often, when you put it away and you really aren’t watching it, you can get a little air in there that you don’t notice. You come back a week later and your brine is on the floor and there’s air in your ferment, and then you’ve got slime and things that don’t taste good.

Jennifer: No. That doesn’t sound good.

So do your kids enjoy doing this process with you?

Kirsten: They did, especially when they were younger. I would just send them to town with a tamper so they could pound on the kraut that had the salt in it and beat out the brine. They loved that. Now that they’re teenagers, yeah, it’s not like before. But they do like to eat it.

Jennifer: There are different types of fermented vegetables, yes? What are they?

Kirsten: When we first started fermenting, we didn’t do anything but cabbage. And then we slowly started adding maybe some carrot or something like onion or garlic to our cabbage. And then slowly, as we got more and more curious and got more and more comfortable with the process, we started just doing straight parsnips or straight celeriac root.

We found that you can ferment just about any vegetable. Actually, you can ferment any vegetable, some of them just aren’t as tasty.

Jennifer: What are some vegetables that you would advise people to avoid if they’re thinking of getting into fermenting vegetables?

Kirsten: Definitely, I would avoid broccoli. The first week or so, it tastes fine. It sours a little bit. But then, do you know that sulfur thing that broccoli can get going?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Kirsten: That, it’s not pretty in the fermented form. Another one that I haven’t had great success with (and I don’t know anybody else that has on its own) is kale for some reason. We do fine with collards and so many of the other cruciferous vegetables, like brussels sprouts. But for some reason kale, on its own, doesn’t ferment really well.

Most everything else is pretty tasty, though. Even things like spinach, you would be surprised.

Jennifer: Are you making them predominantly into sauerkrauts? With brined vegetables, is [the method] slightly different from how you would handle the vegetables with sauerkraut?

Kirsten: Yeah, definitely. Sauerkrauts and the condiments—relishes, chutneys, —they all use the same process as the sauerkraut. What’s happening is the salt is coming onto these sliced or cut or diced vegetables and releasing the salt. The brine is made from the vegetables’ juices.

With the brined vegetables, like a pickle, that can be anything. It can be chunks of carrot. It can be chunks of cauliflower, asparagus. What you’re doing is you’re having larger pieces of vegetable, and they’re not going to release enough brine to submerge themselves. So you add a saltwater solution on top.

So like a New York deli-style pickle, that Jewish style, brined, garlicky pickle like Bubbies, those are brined lactic acid fermentations.

That salt water is added on top. And then what happens is the vegetables’ own juices and the saltwater, they have an osmosis with each other. While that’s happening, again that brine is acidifying and preserving the vegetable.

Jennifer: For those of us that are interested in doing this and giving it a shot,  where is the point where you think, “Okay, this is good enough”? What do you do with it once it’s done fermenting?

Kirsten: You simply put it in your refrigerator. You want to, of course, put it in a vessel that’s about the right size for it because like any condiment in the fridge, too much air space can give stuff a chance if it gets contaminated with a dirty fork or something to grow [mold] on top.

So put it in a jar. Press it down into its brine, and then stick it into your refrigerator. And then it’s shelf-stable for a long time, up to a year or more.

Jennifer: Oh, wow! So if you’re a gardener or if you go to the farmers’ market, or maybe you have a CSA share and you get way too much produce, this would be a way to save some of it without having to necessarily cook it or freeze it.  You could actually ferment them.

Kirsten: Absolutely! In fact, when we wrote the book, we organized it A to Z. Part of our thinking is exactly what you said.

At the farmers’ market, there’s a great deal on arugula or you’re getting too much Jerusalem artichoke roots in your CSA box and you’re like, “What do I do with these things?” You can open the book to that page and just get some ideas. And definitely, it’s been popular with people with CSAs when they just have too much of something. 

Jennifer: And I know too, for me, I’ve been really trying to eat more kimchi, a little more sauerkraut. Like I said, adding in these fermented foods in place of pills.

I just think that we’re such a pill-driven society. We figure, “Oh, well, I’ll just take a pill for that.” Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to get our nutrients and things that will help heal the gut and help us feel better if we could just get it from food?

Yes, there are companies out there. If you’re listening to this and you’re like, “I’m never fermenting vegetables. I don’t have time. I don’t even want to try it,” there are products like Bubbies. You said, Kirsten, that it’s a company that does fermented things. There’s also another company called Wildbrine. I’ve had their fermented foods which are great!

But I am interested in doing this, and I know a lot of people who are also interested. I wanted to demystify this, not just for myself, but for everyone else who’s actually asked me about this.

What are some of your favorite things that we might not think of adding, say, sauerkraut or a paste or kimchi to? With your family, it sounds like you guys eat a lot of fermented foods. Do you have some combinations of things you might add on one of these fermented foods to that you might not expect, but tastes really awesome?

Kirsten: I’m going to answer that question in two parts. One is it’s really interesting and we discovered this with ourselves and also with people at the market. The more you eat these foods, the more you just crave them. As your gut gets this new gut biota in there because you’re replenishing it with these live probiotics instead of the pill, it starts to crave them. Some people will stop craving sugar and they’ll start craving sauerkraut, which scares some people. They’re like, “No!”

So that makes it really easy to have all kinds of ferments in your meals because you’re looking for places to put them.

We also have a lot of different things in our refrigerator at the same time. So often, I will just put something on the table and people will grab it or not depending on if they feel like it that day.

So that’s really the first part. The second part of your question is, what are some fun things?

We like to put it obviously on things like hotdogs, bratwurst. Anything like that is delicious. But they work really well sprinkled on top of the salad and then a little olive oil. It will give you that acidity that a salad dressing would. And if you’re using, like I said, that lemon dill kraut or something like that, you’re almost getting like a lemon dill garlicky salad dressing by sprinkling some of that and tossing it with some olive oil.

On an omelet, as I said before, it’s quite wonderful. And then on top of a soup. We’re getting into that time of year where soup feels really good. After you serve your soup, throw some fermented food on top and then mix it in as you’re eating. It gives you this bright flavor. Before you add more salt to your soup or something, it will just deepen the flavor of your broths. 

Jennifer: I love that idea. But the point here is they should not cook. You shouldn’t go and put the soup in the pot and add, we’ll just say, a sauerkraut. You don’t want to heat that all up together. You would want to add it after you heated it up and eat it then. Correct?

Kirsten: Yes, especially if you’re wanting to keep those probiotics alive. In our book, we do have some recipes where we do heat it because it still is a great food and it’s still using vegetables from the garden that we’ve preserved.

Like everything, there’s a balance. But when you’re really trying to get probiotics, you want to keep it under 103 degrees. So if you put it on top of your soup, you’re fine. You’re getting it warmed up a little, but you’re not killing it.

Jennifer: I love that idea. That is so neat. Thank you for sharing that.

One of the coolest things – I’ll share this as well – is I think people forget you can add avocado chunks to soup. So that’s how I make my chicken soup. I add some fat to it.

Now I’m totally going to do this. I’m going to add some kimchi to the top of that as well. So I’m really excited.

Kirsten: Yeah. It’s so good with kimchi.

Jennifer: So this is really great information. And why don’t you tell us a little bit about what people can expect if they go [to your book]. I really encourage everyone check out the book that is an amazing resource.

Again, the name is Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables and Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes and Pastes. What can we expect in this book?

Kirsten: Well, we tried to do a lot of things with this book. So it’s a big fat resource book.

The first part is the master classes. We take the processes of fermentation, kimchi-making, brine-pickling, sauerkraut and then the fun stuff of relishes and pastes and chutneys and that kind of stuff. They’re each broken down into a step-by-step process, pictures, just really trying to help people get comfortable with the process.

We have a scum gallery at the very end to try to help people identify what they might see on their ferments that are growing that make them nervous, and reassure them that this is how you take care of it, this is what it is.

And then in the middle of the book, we have the bulk of the book, which is the A to Z section, which is vegetables—what to do with different vegetables; what we learned about different vegetables; stories about vegetables.

And then the very last section is just some ideas for how to use these foods now that you’ve created them. “Now that I have a refrigerator full of them, what do I do now?”

Jennifer: Awesome! That sounds great. Like I said, I am on the nervous side. I am a novice and a total newbie at this, whereas my sister has been fermenting vegetables and things for a long time.

She’s really comfortable with it. She said, “Once you get over that initial nervousness and you just get in there and start doing it, you realize that the quality of what you buy in these conventionally made products just isn’t there because the fresh stuff is so amazing.”

And I love that your manual is very simple. It’s to the point. Your book gave me this idea that, “Yes, I probably can do this. It’s not that scary.” It’s like having you next to me, explaining it to me, without me having to call my sister in San Francisco and ask.

So I really appreciate all the information that you’ve shared, Kirsten. How can everybody stay in touch with you?

Kirsten: Well, our website is Fermentista.Kitchen. And that is a great way to get in touch with us.

Jennifer: I will post all the links below this podcast so that everyone can just click on through and easily find you along with a link to the book too. As I said, it’s a beautiful book.

I looked at several of these different fermentation books and some, I feel, are just too overwhelming and the process is just too much for a beginner. I felt that your book was really geared toward folks who wanted something simple. Especially if you’re a newbie, this is a great way to start.

So again, it’s Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables and Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes and Pastes.

Thank you so much for joining us, Kirsten. I appreciate it.

Kirsten: Yeah. Thank you. This was fun.

Jennifer: All right everybody. Stay in touch with Kirsten and her husband. All the links are below. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate our growing audience and everyone’s support over the past year. We’re going on two years of this podcast being live!

I love that the guests that we’re getting are so knowledgeable. We get to touch on so many cool topics.

So if you haven’t done so yet, go subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on iTunes! And don’t forget to leave us any questions or comments that you may have so that we can get you some answers.

Thank you guys so much for joining us. I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye-bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

To Buy Kirsten’s Book –> CLICK HERE

Kirsten’s website – www.Fermentista.kitchen

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Fermentista

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fermentista-Love-me-some-fermented-vegetables

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/fermentista/

The post How to Make Fermented Foods at Home with Kirsten Shockey: GFS Podcast 063 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

The problem though is that the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol is, in all honesty, a very restrictive food-based approach to reversing chronic inflammation and damage that begins once your body has lost it’s ability to correctly identify itself from an invader.

While you may have heard of this “diet” from Sarah Ballantyne, PhD (aka. The Paleo Mom) who was a featured speaker on the Women’s Gluten-Free Health Summit, the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol can have some amazing effects. In order to simplify the process and make AIP easier for you, I sat down with Mickey Trescott to talk about her health journey, why AIP worked for her and how you can give it a go without going crazy.

CLICK HERE to listen and subscribe through iTunes!!!

Then take a moment and leave a review on iTunes sharing what you’ve learned and why others would benefit from subscribing as well!

How to Make the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol Doable with Mickey Trescott

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast. I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. Today we are going to talk about the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol. This protocol is something that you’ve probably heard about online.

There are several different people who talk about it frequently. But I wanted to approach this topic from a place that’s pragmatic, practical, and something you can actually follow.

Mickey Trescott is the chef and blogger behind the website Autoimmune-Paleo.com, which provides recipes and resources for the autoimmune protocol.

After recovering from her own struggle with both celiac and Hashimoto’s disease, adrenal fatigue, and multiple vitamin deficiencies, Mickey started to write about her experience, in order to help others realize that they’re not alone in their struggles.

She’s certified as a nutritional therapy practitioner by the Nutritional Therapy Association and the author of the newly released Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, a guide and recipe book for the autoimmune protocol.

Mickey is also on the board of Hashimoto’s Awareness, a support and advocacy organization for those with autoimmune thyroid disease. She recently moved to the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, to start a homestead with her husband. 

Mickey, welcome to the podcast!

Mickey: Thank you so much for having me, Jennifer. I’m really excited to be here.

Jennifer: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you ended up realizing that you had an autoimmune issue? Actually, I know that you have at least two that we talked about in your bio.

How did you get in – I don’t know –  How did you find out about it and then get introduced to what this autoimmune protocol is?

Mickey: Yes. So I was about 26 when I started having some health problems. They weren’t anything incredibly specific. When I went to the doctor, they weren’t really able to find the source of them.

But over time, I just had this feeling like something was wrong. I’d stand up and feel like I needed to pass out all of a sudden. I wouldn’t have any endurance when I was exercising. I’d have trouble waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night. It just seemed like things were really off.

Eventually I did get a diagnosis of celiac and Hashimoto’s disease after I had quite a health crash. It was at this bottom when I ask my doctor, what can I  do about this? They basically just told me, “Go to gluten-free and you’ll be fine.”

Well, I wasn’t, and I actually continued to develop neurological symptoms. Things got worse. We did more tests. We could not figure out the source of the problem.

When I was at that point, I reexamined what I was eating because it was clear that I wasn’t finding help from the medical community and I needed to do something for myself.

This is the short version of the story, but basically I had been vegan for 10 years. And I had really dug myself into a really dark place with nutritional deficiency with certain vitamins and minerals and things. Then I was suffering from this autoimmunity and I wasn’t feeling my body properly.

So when I started doing research about diet and autoimmunity, this autoimmune protocol kept coming up. It really appeared to be a tool that people were using. A lot of researchers and doctors were talking about how they were using it with their clients and their patients to help them figure out which foods were holding them back from optimal health.

So I tried it myself and it was really effective for me. It was over probably six to nine months that I really made a recovery.  I went from being jobless, bedridden, and with no hope in life — I was really depressed — to being able to function and work and go back to school to study nutrition.

I started writing my book. I mean it was incredible, the transformation that I was able to have with this. [Now] I have dedicated my life to teaching people and providing resources because it’s just a really amazing process.

Jennifer: I wanted to highlight something that you said. The doctors told you to go gluten-free. And that clearly, from what you were saying, wasn’t enough.

Mickey: No. Other celiacs know this. This is the story that I hear over and over with both people who are diagnosed with celiac disease and people who know that they’re sensitive to gluten even though they don’t have celiac disease.

They removed gluten and they’re told, “Everything will be better.” Well, it actually got worse.

I didn’t develop any neurological symptoms until I stopped eating gluten. I think what happened was I had this low-grade inflammation all the time from the celiac. When that was removed, I was really reacting to all this other stuff in my diet and in my environment. It brought it to the surface.

So that’s usually a really hard concept for people to realize: how doing something really good for someone, like removing gluten from the diet, can actually make you feel worse. It’s just because it gives your body the space to actually have a reaction to foods as opposed to not being able to produce any reactions, which is the state you’re in when you’re always inflamed.

Jennifer: When you say something like “the autoimmune protocol,” I think there are so many diets out there today, so many different approaches, and oftentimes women don’t know which way to go. It’s like you’re at a crossroads with signs pointing in 10 different directions. “Should I do Paleo? Should I try GAPS? How about SCD?” There are so many things.

Initially, I think the gluten-free thing is the most common path people walk, but similarly to you they don’t always feel better. I would even venture to say that most may feel a little better, but at the least I think most people don’t feel 100% better going gluten-free.

So what would be the difference between doing an autoimmune protocol and all these other diet options? Why would someone actually want to choose this path that you’ve gone down for themselves?

Mickey: The autoimmune protocol is actually not a diet. It’s an elimination process. So the idea is that someone removes certain categories of food for a specified period of time. That’s all variable. You can do it for longer or shorter. You can choose to include more foods or fewer foods. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.

Basically, it’s a process by which people can figure out their ideal diet. This is why I really think the autoimmune protocol is a wonderful place to start for anyone who has a diagnosed autoimmune disease or just is experiencing health problems that they haven’t been able to sort out through conventional medicine or through other dietary modifications.

It is geared towards people who have autoimmune disease, so the research that’s backing it has found that the foods that are removed are the ones that are most likely to be problematic for people with autoimmune disease.

They also tend to be foods that people who don’t have autoimmunity can be sensitive to, like eggs, which are a very common food allergy and sensitivity. You go for a period of time without all of these common foods that can be otherwise healthy to see if, once you get them out of your diet and then you reintroduce them, you can tell, “Okay, eggs are a problem.” You might not know that if you’re eating eggs every day.

That’s how it’s different. Paleo has a framework that is grain-free and legume-free and dairy-free. The autoimmune protocol takes that one step further.  We also remove eggs, nuts, seeds, nightshade vegetables like potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, some other supplements like ashwagandha, and sweeteners too, any stevia or anything like that, food chemicals, guar gum.

So the idea is just to get all this stuff out and have a clean slate. Then you add them in one at a time to figure out what’s affecting you.

Jennifer: That, to the regular person, is going to sound overwhelming. “Oh my gosh. What are we going to eat? I can’t have nuts. I can’t have seeds. I can’t have eggs.”

What can you include on the protocol?

Mickey: Jennifer, since you’ve seen my book…

Jennifer: I know. It’s beautiful.

Mickey: …you can see there are actually a lot of foods that you can eat. And you can be very happy and healthy and nourished on this diet. It just takes a little bit of reframing.

So the way that I’ve presented it in my book is just by focusing on all of these amazing delicious, beautiful, easy-to-prepare foods that are compliant with the protocol.

That includes any kind of fish, shellfish, chicken, turkey. Basically any meat is fine. You can have a wide variety of vegetables, cooking fats, tons of fruits. The sky is the limit as far as that — fresh, real food.

And the catch for a lot of people is that these are not convenience foods. These are not things that you can easily walk into a restaurant and order. The trick is to acquire these foods from your grocery and then figure out how to make them and get this food on the table.

Jennifer: That’s always the question. It’s the practical, pragmatic aspect because the truth is – you and I both know this – it’s really challenging to change your diet to something that’s very different from what you’re used to.

It’s difficult to go out and eat. You can’t get convenience food. You can’t say, “I’m just going to pick up this one thing because I running low on energy and I didn’t have lunch and I’m late.” And you’ve got a family. You’re crazy busy. And yet somehow you’ve got to eat.

That creates a lot of stress for people. They say, “I can’t have all this food that I like that’s easy for me and that I know. Then all of a sudden, I’ve got to cook a lot.”

The thing I love about you and your book is how practical it is. It’s very practical. I think it takes away that fear.

So why don’t you share with everybody, in making this practical, how can we prepare?

If someone is considering doing this and giving it a shot, your book is a great template for it. It’s the template you should follow if you’re going to do it for a significant period of time.

How can they do this and start cleaning up the pantry and doing all the stuff to make it a lot easier than it might sound right now?

Mickey: The first thing I always tell people is to start with any food that’s going to be a “never” food. So we’re talking processed food, sugar, gluten. Throw it away, give it away. Get it out of sight. Don’t have it in your house. If you have someone in your family who really needs to have that food and you’re not in agreement about dietary change together, maybe have a designated area and move it where you’re not going to see it.

The next step is the foods that are gray-area foods that are healthy, but you won’t be eating them for a month or two, like the nuts and seeds and some spices and stuff.

Put them in a box and put it in the closet. You can bring it back out when time comes to reintroduce. Not having those foods, not being confronted with them when you’re cooking every day, and not having them be an option is really helpful. 

And then the third step is replacing all of that stuff with food you can eat. So this is maybe getting some different variety of cooking fats, maybe getting some different herbs and spices that are actually compliant with the protocol, and then shopping for really fresh fruits and vegetables and just making sure you have that on hand.

Jennifer: I love that. That’s awesome.

Mickey: Yeah. My whole motto is: Set yourself up for success. If you paste a list of foods on your fridge and expect yourself every time you open it to say, “Okay. Yes to this food. No to that food,” then decide when you’re hungry to not grab one thing and grab another, it’s not going to work. You need to clear it out and actually do some meal planning.

Jennifer: I can tell you right now. If you don’t typically cook that much and you think that you’re going to do this – unless you are one of those uber-committed people and it’s a very small percentage of people that can do that – it’s not going to happen. That’s a recipe for failure from the get-go.

And having a plan. I love that you’re talking about planning because that’s really what does help you get going. Even in my book, I talk a lot about having a menu plan.

I know it’s not sexy, but isn’t it true?

Mickey: Yeah. A lot of people are really turned off by the idea of it, but it is “make or break.”

Jennifer: I have a question for you. How long would someone stay — I assume there are stages of some sort — is there a way to tell how long you should stay on the full elimination and then start reintroducing things?

Mickey: Yeah. I’m really glad you brought that up because it’s a very common question. The answer isn’t as easy as you would think.

You really want to stay on the elimination diet until you feel improvement. It’s not possible to tell if a food is affecting you negatively if you haven’t felt any better through the whole process.

So say someone with psoriasis tries autoimmune protocol. They do it for a month. Maybe their skin doesn’t change. That’s really common. Skin is a really low-priority organ for the body. It takes a long time in my experience for skin things to heal compared to some other issues.

But maybe this person, their digestion, just feels awesome. Maybe they had reflux or constipation or something and that’s all been resolved. That person could start reintroducing some foods if that’s what they wanted to do at the end of 30 days or however long it took them to start feeling better. Or they could decide to go longer and see if they can get some more benefit out of it.

What doesn’t work is when people do it without feeling any benefits and then they continue. They think that chances are unlikely that you’re going to experience, just magically somewhere off in the distance, some benefits.

It’s not really common. Usually there’s an underlying issue why someone isn’t getting better.

Yeah, basically people need to wait until they feel something changed. It makes sense. You have to be able to tell if the reintroductions are going well or not.

Jennifer: Just to clarify that, if someone is on this for a long period – let’s say somebody is on this for five months, six months. If you are on this for a significant period of time and you don’t feel better, do you suggest that maybe now it’s time to go seek help from a medical professional?

Mickey: Yeah. I would say sooner than that. I think five or six months is a long time with no improvements.

There’s a very fine line between disordered eating and food restriction. I’m really not a fan of being too restricted with the diet. 

When you people don’t feel success, I think they should get things investigated sooner than later, maybe a couple of months.

Sometimes, I would actually say a lot of the time it’s an underlying gut issue, so maybe a pathogen or parasite or something that a diet isn’t going to fix.

Jennifer: That’s a great point because I have heard that from many people who have been eating a certain way for a really long time. They tell me, in the letters that I get, they still don’t feel better and they just don’t know what to do.

My point is if you’ve been doing this this long, it sounds like it’s time to go seek medical help.

Mickey: Yeah.

Jennifer: There really is only so much – I mean I love food. I think you and I are probably both in agreement with that, we love food — but there’s only so much it can do.

Mickey: Yeah. And it can be a part of the solution. Food is a part. Lifestyle is a part. Medical intervention is a part. You’ve got to put it all together to get a healthy person sometimes. So yeah, that’s a great point.

Jennifer: Let’s go back to the reintroductions. Where do you start? Do you just pick one and then try it? How does that whole piece of this work?

Mickey: I have a list in my book of the foods that are least likely to affect someone. So you want to start at the top of that list.

That’s going to be foods like nuts, seeds, egg yolks, ghee, which is clarified butter. Those are foods that are highly unlikely that someone is going to react to, even someone with autoimmune issues. It’s just a precaution that we’re leaving them out.

Further down the list are things like egg whites, hard cheeses, butter, various nightshades like potatoes and peppers.

As you graduate along the list, you can check something off. For me personally, I can do nuts. I can do seeds. I can’t do ghee, even though it’s something that’s tolerable for a lot of people. I have a very bad reaction to it. So I didn’t move on to the next dairy. I just don’t do any dairy.

I can do eggs just fine. I can do some nightshades. Potatoes are fine for me, but tomatoes are not. Who knew? I would have never known if I hadn’t gone through this systematically and tried these different foods and saw what happened to my body.

Jennifer: There’s no way to – I think people look for these shortcuts. They’re like, “I don’t want to go through this whole process.”

I do understand that. I really do. This is a process. You have to be committed to it for a certain period of time. It can affect your social life and whatnot. Maybe you’ll have some tips for people about that.

When you are going through this, I think that the challenge is that people want a pill or a test to tell them exactly what to eat. I don’t think we’re really there yet. You really have to see for yourself. You have to test and see what happens.

Mickey: Yeah. That’s a really good point. What you’re learning in this process, as much as you’re learning different things about foods that you didn’t know before how they affected you, is how to feel your body when you’re experiencing something. Something that a lot people aren’t really in touch with is “How do I feel after I eat this thing?”

I know for myself, I never really thought about how I digested things. I really didn’t notice when a food, which I know now, totally wrecks my digestion. I just would be like, “Oh, I have a stomach ache. That’s weird.” I never connected the two.

When you start to have that sense, you notice it even about emotional situations or getting enough sleep or lifestyle stuff. You realize when you put yourself in situations that can make your body feel a certain way.

I think that’s a really important skill for people to have.

Jennifer: Yeah. What would a bad reaction look like?

Mickey: It can actually be anything. It can be – like I talked about before – a digestive reaction. It can be a skin reaction, which is what a lot of people are used to with food allergies like rashes, flushing.

It can be a temperature change. So someone gets really warm or really cold after eating something. It can be a flare-up of your symptoms. So that’s a really easy one. If someone has rheumatoid arthritis, they do the autoimmune protocol, and their joint pain goes away. But then they eat a tomato, and their joint pain comes back. That’s pretty obvious.

Mood changes. Some people get emotional reactions to food, which a lot of people are very surprised to hear.

Even though I have celiac disease, I actually don’t get any gut reactions to gluten. But when I’m accidentally glutened, I have zero tolerance for any stress.

Jennifer: Wow, that’s so fascinating. All this stuff is so fascinating. I feel so intrigued by how the body works and how food affects it. It’s just amazing.

So I’m curious to know this. You did mention lifestyle issues a moment ago. How do those play a part in this whole matrix of healing?

Mickey: Yeah. So when we change our diet, that’s just one facet of health. It’s the fuel that we put into our body, the chemicals that we’re feeding all of our cells with this nutrition. It’s part of it.

Another part of it is, like you said, the lifestyle factors, sleep, stress reduction, getting the proper amount of movement. All of those things are I think really important to being a healthy, vibrant person.

If you’re changing your diet and maybe you’re sleeping three or four hours a night, and you have a serious problem there, it’s unlikely that you’re going to see all the benefits of the diet change when you’re not getting restorative, regenerative sleep.

Same thing goes if someone works in an extremely stressful job. They’re not going on any vacations. They’re not taking any breaks. They’re not reducing their stress. That’s going to hamper them.

So yeah, I think it’s really important for people to address those things too if they can.

Jennifer: That’s great. Thank you so much for sharing your story and clarifying a lot of these points for us about the autoimmune protocol and the practicality of it.

Again, the practical nature of making change is so important. I know we all love following people that are doing amazing research and work. That’s great, but I think sometimes it gets a little hard to make the changes.

I think we need more people that are focused on how you do this, how you make it easy.

I want to ask how listeners get a copy of your book, The Autoimmune Protocol.

Mickey: Awesome. My book is available in book stores. Barnes & Noble and independent stores should have it in stock. If not, they can order it. It’s also available on Amazon. I have an e-book version on my website, which is Autoimmune-Paleo.com.

Jennifer: That’s great. I would highly recommend that everybody do this. But you also have a really great two-week free elimination diet meal plan, shopping list, et cetera, for those that sign up for your e-mail. Yes?

Mickey: I do. Yeah. Everything is there to get started. It’s all free and it includes all the recipes and everything in full. So there really are no excuses not to get started.

Jennifer: So I would recommend to everyone, please go and do that because I think this is a great thing, even if you’re just curious, dipping your toes in and checking out Mickey’s elimination plan that’s free on her website. It’s a great way to get a sense of what is to come.

I will tell you the book is beautiful. The photographs are fabulous. It’s got a lot of great recipes. It’s easy to use. If I were to do this – and it’s something I’ve considered trying – I could follow it every day. It just makes it so easy.

So I would really recommend, if you’re looking for a new book and something that’s not like your regular cookbook, this is a really great resource. It’s definitely more than a cookbook.

Thank you so much for joining us, Mickey. I appreciate it.

Mickey: Yeah. Thank you so much for your kind words and for having me on here, Jennifer. This has been great.

Jennifer: I appreciate it, and thank you for making the time.

So go check out Mickey Trescott. She’s at Autoimmune-Paleo.com. She’s also on Facebook and Instagram. I’ll have all the links below.

You can buy her book, The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and local retailers. I’ll have some links below. So it’s pretty easy to pick up a copy.

Again, if you’re not quite ready to do this and you’re on the fence, go check out her free two-week elimination diet meal plan. I think that’s a great place to start especially if you’re new to hearing this conversation or it’s something you want to get a sense of what it is and how it works.

And please, remember to rate, subscribe, and review this podcast. Head on over to Gluten Free School, leave your questions and comments below.

I’d love to hear from you. I would like to keep this conversation going. I think autoimmunity is a big topic. It’s been one of the biggest topics over the last year for Gluten Free School members. This is a great place to take a look at some dietary changes that will help you move forward and hopefully see some change. 

All right. Thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye-bye.

IMPORTANT LINKS

To Buy Mickey’s Book –> CLICK HERE

Mickey’s Website – http://www.Autoimmune-Paleo.com

Facebook – http://facebook.com/autoimmunepaleo

Instagram – http://instagram.com/mickeytrescott

The post How to Make the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol Doable with Mickey Trescott: GFS Podcast 062 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

While there’s some debate about whether it’s safe to go gluten free without a celiac diagnosis, the question about the safety of a gluten free pregnancy seems to be another can of worms. Women naturally worry if a dietary change can cause harm during a time when restricting foods generally considered healthy aren’t typically a great idea.

Questions swirl about missing key micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) by avoiding gluten. But there’s truly more to this conversation than to keep eating gluten… just because. From food to toxins, I’m exploring the spectrum of questions that will hopefully dispel some of the myths and shine light on the truth about a healthy gluten free pregnancy.

Truth about a Gluten Free Pregnancy with Aviva Romm, MD

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School podcast! I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo.

And today we’re going to talk about fertility issues – and not just fertility as in, “Can I get pregnant?” or anything that’s involved with just babies. We’re talking about the health of the mom, pre-baby, post-baby, and how that may even affect the baby as far as being gluten-free, having gluten sensitivity and how gut issues can play a huge role in you having a healthy baby.

So if you have any questions around this issue, this is a great opportunity to check out an amazing expert, one who many were actually jealous that I was speaking to. Her name is Dr. Aviva Romm and she is a Yale trained, board certified family physician, midwife, herbalist and award winning author, an international authority on botanical and functional medicine for women and children with 30 years of clinical experience.

She is the author of seven books on natural medicine including ‘The Natural Pregnancy Book”, “Naturally Healthy Babies and Children” and the textbook “Botanical Medicine For Women’s Health”, winner of a James A. Duke Award.

Aviva combines her medical and midwifery backgrounds to guide women in transforming their health and to do the same for their kids. She’s also a leader in the revolution to shift the current medical system into one that respects the healing capacities of the body and nature.

Now, she works at a bunch of different facilities including Tufts School of Medicine, she’s on the advisory board at Yale Integrated Medicine Program. She has previously worked with Dr. Mark Hyman at the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. She’s got a really amazing resume and I’m blessed to have her on the program.

Welcome to the podcast Aviva!

Aviva: Thank you! It’s my pleasure.

Jennifer: Now I have to ask, how exactly did you end up so interested in the health of moms?

Aviva: Oh, my gosh! This is a long story, but I’ll give you this, the little nut of it.

I was 15 years old and I was actually in college, and got ahold of this paper that a doctor had written a long time ago. He was a psychiatrist who wrote this paper about how the experience of being born can actually shape how we experience life.

So when I was really young and very idealistic, I had this idea that if I could influence birth to be a healthy or more peaceful, more beautiful experience for mom and for baby, I could actually change a whole generation and change the world!

Jennifer: I love it!

Aviva: That was my introduction.

When I was in college at 15, I actually left, became a midwife and practiced midwifery and herbal medicine for over 20 years before I went back and became a physician.

Jennifer: And does having that experience of being a midwife and then herbalist, do you find that that’s helpful in your approach to the patients that see you now?

Aviva: Absolutely! I even wrote a blog one time called “How being a midwife has made me a better doctor”.

Because midwifery itself is really about listening to people and meeting women where they are and helping to get a woman to figure out what she needs to make her process work. Maybe in labor it’s a different position or food or maybe she has a past trauma that she needs to talk about.

So making the woman central to my care rather than it being about me and being the knight in shining armor in the white coat, coming in and fixing everything in these were a part of the typical medical model… just completely shifts the dynamic and makes it about the woman and her life and what’s going on for her.

And then the herbal medicine, of course, adds a whole other set of tools. And herbal medicine isn’t only about the herbs. It’s about lifestyle and connection to nature, food, and health. There are so many components that go into herbal medicine beyond just giving an herbal supplement.

So those two approaches to healing have been transformative. And a lot of it is also about listening to the body and trusting nature.

So yes, absolutely!

Jennifer: As we transition into this topic, and I think it’s important to keep in mind that good digestive health is where your health begins. As far as how we can process and assimilate the nutrients that we eat. And for women who are really interested in becoming pregnant, we do know for sure if you have celiac disease, you definitely may have fertility issues. That is something that’s been studied and is very clear.

But why is gut health, in your experience, so integral to having a healthy pregnancy?

Aviva: So I think of the gut like I think of the soil, and there are so many parallels between our bodies and what’s going on with the natural world. But it’s easy to forget that we’re part of nature and connected to nature. And I think where this connects easily in people’s minds is the concept of the microbiome.

When you think about a garden—I’m an organic gardener— you need a really good soil for the plants to grow well, right?

Really good soil contains all the nutrients that the plants need and it also contains a variety of microorganisms that help break those nutrients down so that the plant can get the nutrients it needs in the most useful form.

And interestingly, the soil’s organisms actually affect the immunity of the plant. They protect the plant and give the plant an added boost of immunity.

So when you translate that to our bodies, and you think about what’s going on in our gut, some the most important things are the ability to break down nutrients and assimilate those nutrients which requires a good gut lining. So kind of like that good soil, we require healthy microflora. Just like those microorganisms in the soil, they help break down our food into particles that we can use. But when that goes wrong, we end up with nutritional deficiencies that can interfere with our ability to get pregnant because we need some core nutrients which we can talk about specifically if you like.

And also it changes our entire immunologic state. And once we enter into a state of inflammation, a whole lot of things can go wrong in our bodies.

Jennifer: And that’s not a good state to be in, I would assume, if you want to carry a healthy baby to term.

Aviva: That is definitely true.

So we know that inflammation can prevent us from getting pregnant—and celiac particularly is unique when I talk about inflammation. It’s not just something that’s causing inflammation; it’s actually an autoimmune disease.

And the data is really clear that autoimmune diseases can cause fertility problems. And it’s a relatively resolvable one, so that’s the beauty of this. You know there are a lot of steps that it takes to get from point A, of having a condition in point B, reversing it in point C and getting pregnant if that’s the underlined cause.

But there are a lot of new data coming out on the effects of inflammation specifically in pregnancy. So one of the things that we know is that when we have more inflammation, we tend to, for example, carry more weight around the waistline and more belly fat and we know that that belly fat can actually pump out chemicals that can cause not only toxicity in the body, but can make us more likely to develop diabetes.

And diabetes in pregnancy, or something called gestational diabetes, carries a whole host of problems. It can cause cardiac problems in the baby along with birth defects, pre-term birth… It can cause women to go over due and have babies that are too big increasing the risk of caesarian section. The increased risk of caesarian section increases risks to mom’s safety, but then you end up in a vicious cycle.

Because we know that caesarian section carries the increased risk of getting guess what?—problems for the baby’s microbiome.

And so then you end up with a baby who’s got problems. And if there’s already a mom with a sensitivity to gluten, then she’s getting a double whammy of passing that on to the baby and giving the baby problems with gut flora.

Another interesting thing, if you don’t mind adding it in, is that there is new data coming in on the risk of inflammation in the mom and higher rate of autism in the baby. So there’s some things that happen during pregnancy that are supposed to actually cut back on the growth of brain cells and when those brain cells don’t get cut back in the normal way because of inflammation that allows them to keep growing (these things are called growth factors that cause them to keep growing) which may be one of the contributing factors that causes autism in kids.

This can be seen in bigger head sizes which is our common finding in kids on the autistic spectrum, so it’s actually pretty significant.

Jennifer: I have a question for you because just yesterday, I was speaking with a woman who has a real severe problem with gluten. She maybe celiac, but she’s not sure. The test never came back conclusive, yet her daughter has a lot of symptoms of celiac disease. She knows she has an issue with gluten, but she refuses to stay gluten free.

Aviva: Hmmm… the daughter does?

Jennifer: The daughter. And she wants to get pregnant and is having a very hard time. And so there’s a lot of women out there who say, “Well, I don’t have a celiac diagnosis or an autoimmune diagnosis, I’m just gluten intolerant.” Does that increase your chances having fertility issues? Do you find that there’s any incidence of the two existing together or at least gluten intolerance affecting fertility?

Aviva: Yeah. I have a couple of thoughts on that.

One is that increasing data is coming out telling us very clearly in the medical world that celiac is grossly under diagnosed much more than we ever thought it was.

So not just gluten intolerance, but celiac too. And at the same time, increasing data is emerging telling us as physicians that the tried and true test we thought we were relying on for detecting celiac disease is not really reliable. That we are grossly missing cases of celiac disease. Those are just not good parameters that we’re looking at. And even what has been considered the gold standard test, which is the endoscopy with biopsy, can actually miss it.

So what I tell my patients quite literally is “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck!” So we have a lot of patients that come in with all kinds of weird conditions. I jokingly call our practice the “last resort” because people come there with so many complicated health conditions including fertility problems and I’m shocked at how few of them have been tested for celiac or of the ones who have been tested who had negative findings, but their symptoms are so clearly related.

And so what I tell those patients is that it doesn’t really matter at this point whether you have consider yourself as having gluten intolerance or celiac. If your symptoms improved when you’re off gluten, that’s the thing to pay attention to.

And if you have enough symptoms like infertility, I feel like it’s worth it to just consider yourself celiac. I tell my patients to stay off it for a good long time, like even three to six months to see if that really makes a difference.

So I think we can’t rely on the tests. We can’t rely on the diagnosis. And given that, so many more people have it than has ever even been thought possible and the numbers are going up. It’s worth it to just try to convince women in this circumstance to go off gluten for a while and see if that makes a difference.

Jennifer: Yeah, and I’m curious too if she say she doesn’t. And she does somehow get pregnant. Could there be long term implications or even complications for the baby if mom doesn’t go off gluten really should or has other food allergies and continues to eat things that are creating inflammation while she’s pregnant?

Aviva: I don’t want pregnant women or potential grandmas listening to us talk and think, “Oh my God the sky is falling!” But at the same time, I think we really need to take the inflammation in pregnancy issue and give it a hard look. And the reason is even just a few years ago, like five years ago, the statistics on autism were one in 250 kids. Then it went down to one in 152 kids, and then two years ago, it was one in 88 kids. And now the new data is that it’s one in 68 kids.

Jennifer: My gosh!

Aviva: Yeah! I was talking to my husband the other day because I’m working on this course on natural health care for kids that parents can do to learn how to take care of their kids more naturally at home.

And I was going over the section with him on food and environmental toxins, and he said, “Do you think this is going to be scary to moms?”

And I said, “Well, at what point do we get a little scary? When the rates are one in 32 or one in 24 or one in 12 or one in 5?”

So to me it’s almost like, do we say fire when we see smoke or do we wait until the house is burning?

And right know I think with that rate of kids on the autistic spectrum, the rate of allergies that has gone up exponentially in kids, kids with increasing rates of autoimmune disease… Kids with diabetes at the age of 9 and 10 and 12 when diabetes used to just be type 2 diabetes and an adult disease…. And the rates of obesity expected to be one in two people, so 50% of all people in the next decade… all of these are disorders that can be tied back to inflammation. And we know that disorders that can be tied back to inflammation in pregnancy and then baby getting it because baby is gestating in that environment.

And we also know that in the presence of celiac disease or gluten intolerance, the damage that can happen to the gut can also lead to disorders in the gut bugs that are growing, the good ones, right? So it can cause dysbiosis or damaged gut flora. And damaged gut flora in itself even without celiac just due to, for example, the overuse of antibiotics or mom getting exposed to antibiotics for C section and baby getting exposed… Even just that without the gluten, without celiac, also predisposes to all those conditions I just mentioned.

So I think we have to take it pretty seriously, and yes those are all implications of what can happen. We definitely need to look more closely that this is a problem during pregnancy.

Jennifer: If a woman finds out she’s pregnant and at say 12 weeks, 14 weeks, and realizes she’s having a lot of issues in gluten, all of a sudden comes up as a red flag. Is it safe for her to remove gluten while she’s pregnant?

Aviva: Absolutely!

So we as species are not dependent on gluten in anyway, and there’s no nutrition that we get from gluten that we can’t get from other grains. And it’s not actually just the gluten containing foods directly (so the barley, wheat and rye) for women who are pretty symptomatic. Sometimes we need to look at gluten cross reaction as well, and that’s where it can get a little more complicated.

A woman can get through pregnancy, get all the carbs that she needs to grow a healthy baby and get the B vitamins she needs by broadening out to the other grains. We don’t have to eat wheat, barley or rye to get them.

But if she’s really symptomatic and sensitive, it maybe that she also needs to think about taking out corn, millet, and rice, and that’s where it can start to get a little more limited in her diet.

And if she has to go to that extreme, she can get all the carbs she needs from vegetables and starchy vegetables like squashes and sweet potatoes. But she may need to tolerate and include a little bit of grain when she’s feeling like she’s not getting enough.

If she has to go to that extreme of eliminating those things, that would be a really good time to work with a midwife or  a functional nutritionist who is very well versed in prenatal nutrition.

Jennifer: Because you don’t want to just cut out, especially in major groups, I mean I know that when you’re not pregnant you have a little more leeway of what you can tinker around with.

But pregnancy is a different story. Your body is a container for this incredibly complex little human being that’s going to spring into the world and you have to take that into account and I think that goes back to what you were saying about inflammation that, if the container itself is not quite right because of what’s coming in and what it’s being bombarded with.

And I would love too to ask you about toxins and some of the environmental things that we’re exposed to and how they may affect a baby that’s growing.

I like what you’re saying about this idea like, when do you say that there’s a fire? Because it does behoove of a woman if she wants to get pregnant to try to improve the quality of her health, to reduce inflammation as much as possible, to give that child the best start humanly possible.

Aviva: Absolutely.

And there’s really no great value that we get from gluten that you can’t get somewhere else. It’s totally and absolutely safe to just take out all gluten containing foods while you’re pregnant. That’s not a worry.

Jennifer: As to my point about the toxins, are those a concern for you with your patients that people are exposing themselves to a lot of plastics, like they eat out of Tupperware and all of these different chemicals in hand sanitizers. And you know, I know that women oftentimes get very nervous about getting sick and we can certainly just touch on that as well.

But do you find that we should also be mindful of how much we are exposing ourselves to different substances and chemicals pre pregnancy and during pregnancy as well?

Aviva: Absolutely!

There is a study done some of years back by the Environmental Working Group where they looked at the random sampling of about ten babies around the United States. They just went to different hospitals and they got samples of umbilical cord blood right at the time of birth.

And they’ve found that babies at the time of birth already had over three hundred environmental chemicals that could be found in the umbilical cord blood.

And we know that these chemicals can have a tremendous impact on everything from fetal development and the subsequent development of birth defects if we’re exposed prenatally or even before pregnancy to neurologic problems, early puberty, obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune conditions.

So a lot of the toxins have some of the same impact that you can get from gluten for example, because they’re both causing toxicity and inflammation in the body.

So what I recommend moms ideally do is if you have time, even before you get pregnant, clean out your pantry, cosmetics and body products. Do everything you can in your environment because you can’t really control what’s in the air, the water, and all of these variables of what major companies are pumping into our environment. But you can control a lot of things like what you’re eating and what’s in what you’re eating along with what packaging that you’re using. You can get purified water. What I tell moms and dads to do, because the help of the dad is important too, is to control what you can.

Jennifer: I was also going to ask you- for a woman who is gluten free and she’s staying gluten free, what does she do about her baby? How do you manage being gluten free? Could you raise your baby gluten free? Is that safe?

I’ve heard all those warnings like, “Don’t go gluten free if you don’t have celiac disease, don’t do this, don’t do that.” But practically speaking from your experience, is it okay for a woman to raise her baby gluten free if she is?

Aviva: Absolutely.

Again, there’s nothing that we nutritionally require from gluten that we can’t get from other healthy whole grains.

The gluten issue is not one to be concerned about in terms of does baby need it for nutritional reasons. However, there is a lot of flux around the area of whether babies should be raised gluten free in terms of whether or not they’ll be more likely to become gluten intolerant or develop celiac. And there’s still some controversy and new data emerging around this all the time.

So, back in the day when I was raising my kids, if you were more alternative, you were doing extended breast feeding so a lot of kids didn’t really get gluten because they were breastfed for a long time. They often got kind of a little bit of what we were eating. While the adults were eating, older babies could also be eating so they may have had some inadvertent gluten exposure.

And then it got to be when the sort of theory of kids totally avoiding wheat would prevent them from developing antibodies when they were little and then prevent them from becoming gluten intolerant or celiac.

But now, that pendulum is swinging a little bit based on a number of studies that have been done in Europe. With pretty large number, like a large numbers of kids—studies using numbers of kids in thousands—that have shown that the introduction of gluten between the ages of four months and seven months while the mom is breastfeeding and then having the mom continue to breastfeed after for another six months is probably what’s most likely to prevent the development of gluten intolerance compared to kids who have absolutely no gluten exposure or compared to kids who have gluten exposure, but were not breast fed.

There may be some protective effect of exposing baby while baby’s still developing antibodies to these foods, but in a way that’s protected by mom’s antibodies too even if mom is intolerant of gluten.

This pendulum is still swinging and yet another answer may emerge. Where I depart from that and say don’t give gluten is if mom or dad is allergic, has a lot of allergies, had eczema, has asthma, and now baby is born and has colic, eczema, allergies or asthma. Because that baby is more probably much more likely to be more gluten intolerant and it’s most likely just aggravate.

Also, if baby has started getting food and is developing allergies, rashes, eczema, asthma, gets sick a lot, has a lot of congestion… I would also remove gluten and see if the issues go away. And if they do, then I’d keep baby gluten-free.

Jennifer: Just for a mom who might be listening to this and going, “Wait, I should maybe take the gluten out.” How long would you do that for with a baby? Like a couple of weeks and see what they do, a month? What’s a good timeframe?

Aviva: I would say to really see a difference that six weeks is a good timeframe because it gives the body a chance to heal, the antibodies and inflammation a chance to settle down, and you can really see if it makes a difference.

And then if you reintroduce a little bit and the symptoms flare again, you got a dead ringer of an answer. If the symptoms don’t go away after four to six weeks then that’s probably not the answer.

Jennifer: Well, I want to just thank you, Aviva because this has been a wealth of knowledge and because I am an aunt and I love my little niece and I have many friends with little babies as well and I get to enjoy in them.

This is a part of life that I didn’t really care so much about before. When I’m going about my day, working, caring about getting through school and doing different things, but now, I really do care and I realize the value of how we treat ourselves and how we feed ourselves and nourish ourselves and how that has long term effects of little ones when they come along.

And so I’m glad that you’re able to be an amazing resource to all the women out there who are looking for a more natural way and also, taking that sense of personal advocacy so seriously, that you can balance your body with nature. I love your approach and I’m glad that you were able to join us and share all of this information.

Aviva: Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity too. It’s so important what you’re doing, what we’re bringing together, it’s really about the health of not just the next generation, but the multiple generations to come.

Jennifer: You have a really great newsletter that goes out weekly, and people can go to your website and sign up, but when they sign up, they also get a really nice gift. You have a printed handout that they can get and it’s called “Detox Your Medicine Cabinet.”

And that has got some different things that they’ll be able to go through their medicine cabinet and take out and know what they’re taking, I guess.

Aviva: Yes. So, there are actually two free gifts now. One is that—so basically it gives you the safe herbal alternative for common things like, Ibuprofen. Here are some of the things that you can do instead of taking Ibuprofen and here’s the dose, and here are the safety considerations. So, it will say, for example, what not to take during pregnancy or not to take during breast feeding if that’s not appropriate.

And then the other free gift that—since we’re talking about pregnancy—that mommas or mommas-to-be might really like is also free. You just sign up and you get my eBook that’s called, “Herbal Medicines For Kids” and that’s just really nice self-care for basic things that come up from colic to colds to fevers, that kind of stuff.

Jennifer: Oh, that’s amazing! Because I know that, even myself, I might not be thinking about babies right now, but a lot of this stuff is important and I do get questions about what people can do for their kids and it’s nice to have a resource to be able to direct them too.

Thank you so much for all of this information and I hope that we can have you back sometime because I know that there’s so much more to this conversation and you have such a vast array of experience. I’d love to be able to share that again with the audience.

Aviva: Love too, thank you!

Jennifer: Thank you!

Remember to stay in touch with Aviva. She’s got an amazing website that’s very user friendly and as I said she’s got some gifts to give you if you sign up for her newsletter, which I highly recommend you to do as well as some amazing books. I’ll put all of the links below this podcast.

And then, please if you haven’t, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. Head on over to Gluten Free School and leave any questions or comments about the information that we have talked today, underneath this podcast. We’d love to answer your questions.

Thank you guys, so much for joining us and I look forward to seeing you the next time.

Bye, bye!

IMPORTANT LINKS

BUY Aviva’s books –> ‘The Natural Pregnancy Book”, “Naturally Healthy Babies and Children”, & “Botanical Medicine For Women’s Health”

Aviva Romm’s Website: www.avivaromm.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AvivaRommMD

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AvivaRomm

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/avivaromm

The post Truth about a Gluten Free Pregnancy with Aviva Romm, MD: GFS Podcast 061 appeared first on Jennifer Fugo, CNS.

Guess what? A lot of people are with us on feeling like their healthcare providers just simply aren’t giving their all to sick Americans. A 2012 Harvard research poll found that:

– 1 in 8 “believe they were given the wrong diagnosis, treatment, or test.”

– 1 in 6 “believe they did not get the tests they thought they needed.”

– 15% “were tested or treated for something they believed to be unnecessary.”

– 25% felt “a doctor, nurse, or other health professional did not provide all the needed information about their treatment or prescriptions.”

– 57% of Americans find “the quality of healthcare to be a very serious problem.”

Just last week, Dana Trentini and I talked about how and why so many women are misdiagnosed or undiagnosed with thyroid issues such as hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s. This is a big problem when 1 in 8 women has a thyroid condition and having Celiac increases your likelihood of thyroid issues three to four-fold.

Even Dr. Terry Wahls expressed serious concern for the amount of health issues (including autoimmunity and gluten sensitivity) that are related to rampant micronutrient deficiencies largely ignored by conventional medicine.

Dr. Kelly Brogan shared how many women she sees who struggle with mental health issues (depression, anxiety, etc.) who are misdiagnosed and on meds that never address the root cause of the problem at a nutritional and hormonal level.

For all of these reasons (and more), I wanted to give you the tools you need to get the proper help in a shorter period of time. I want you to know exactly how to get your doctor to listen to you and work with you. It’s honestly not rocket science, but patients aren’t privy to a lot of the ins and outs of the healthcare system nor how to properly prepare for their visits (CLICK HERE to check out my step-by-step guide on how to do this!). You don’t know the rules, which makes it more likely that you’ll end up angry, answer-less and out money and time.

And speaking of saving money on healthcare, it’s possible to do that too. Every unnecessary office visit costs you money on copays, deductibles, coinsurance fees and maybe even a total out-of-pocket expense. It also means you could miss work and lose money on that front too waiting hours to see a doctor for 10 minutes. Testing (especially that done by functional practitioners) can cost thousands of dollars that’s not covered by insurance unless you know the options to reign in the cost (CLICK HERE to read how to do it!).

In continuing with my mission to help you become the best and most effective advocate that you can be, this interview with Randi Redmond Oster will give you even more insight into how to get your doctor to listen to you. And I’d love if you’d share this article on social media with your friends and family… it’s a very worthwhile cause to help everyone you know to get the proper health support they need in the shortest period of time and without spending an arm and a leg doing so.

How to Get Your Doctor to Listen to You with Randi Redmond Oster

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer: Welcome back to the Gluten Free School Podcast.

I’m your host, Jennifer Fugo. And today, we are going to talk about advocacy and in this case, patient advocacy.

How do you talk to the doctor? How do you get your questions answered? How do you feel like you’re a part of the process and ultimately, how do you say no when you really don’t feel that what’s being advised for you is the right thing?

Today my guest, Randi Redmond Oster is the author of an amazing book called, Questioning Protocol, which just won an award and she can tell us about what that award entailed. The book helps patients navigate the healthcare systems and medical professionals as well to understand the patient perspective.

Randi spent the first 18 years of her career in GE working on complex aerospace systems and building profitable financial service businesses. She received a Black Belt in Six Sigma Quality and numerous leadership awards. The skills gained in GE empowered her to effectively navigate the healthcare system and find opportunities for process improvements as she advocates for her chronically ill son in the hospital.  

Today, she is a Malcolm Baldrige Examiner focusing on Healthcare and a leading speaker on healthcare reform, shared decision making and patient engagement. She is on several advisory panels including the HIMSS, Society of Participatory Medicine and the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants. She holds a degree in electrical engineering and an MBA.

Welcome to the podcast Randi!

Randi: I’m so happy to be here!

Jennifer: So I just mentioned about your son because that was really how you got into this whole thing of questioning doctors and advocating for your son. Why don’t you give us a little bit of back story and what happened with your son and how you ended up now writing a book?

Randi: My son has Crohn’s disease and many people understand that that can be very, very painful and very, very scary. And we didn’t even understand what it was.

My son had started down a path, really trying to stay healthy by watching what he eats and watching what medications they were recommending to him. He was doing fairly well, but about three years into this, when he was 15 years old, he ended up in the hospital. It was the first time that he was in the hospital, as well as me really having to care for him.

Well, I was in the hospital about five minutes. And after working on aircraft engines and also as you mentioned, working on complex aerospace programs where I even had a top secret security clearance for the stealth fighter, one thing I understood was process, and safety and the importance of communication.

And there we were in the hospital and I was noticing there were some gaps here. I started to get nervous because I said, “I don’t think they’re talking to each other.” I decided to just write everything down, not knowing what was going to be the outcome for son, but really with the idea that as long as I was in the hospital, I would come back and try to help them understand what our perspective was.

Jennifer: I worked in my father’s medical practice for 10 years, so I understand what it’s like to walk into a doctor’s office and a doctor present the situation to you, whatever it may be, they do their whole doctor’s peek thing thinking that somehow you have all the background information to know what they’re telling you in the context that it sits within. And then you just go and do whatever the  instructions are.

And in reality, for a lot of us who have chronic health conditions, this is a scary place. It’s our health and we’re afraid that something horrible is going to happen. We don’t understand why we’re in pain, why symptoms won’t go away. And a lot of times we feel dismissed by physicians.

I mean, I myself have been to many doctors’ offices and have been totally blown off so I understand it personally, but also just seeing it having worked in a physician’s office and knowing that sometimes it is helpful to have somebody who’s going to boil down these complex topics into something that’s relatable.

So here’s the thing, a lot of women—I don’t know about men per se, I think men tend to be a little bit more straightforward with asking questions, but we women get nervous of asking and questioning medical authority.

Why don’t you tell us what you found in regards to why this happens? And maybe there are some tips you can offer in regards to how we can do question better.

Randi: One of the things that happen when I was in GE was I learned how to deal with powerful people. I wanted the skills that they gave me—I happened to be petite. I’m five foot three—is they said, whenever you’re negotiating especially with a man, do not do it standing up because instantly they’re looking down on you.

So what happens in the hospital—all of the sudden I’m there.  My child’s regular physician was at a conference and some new person I’m supposed to talk to shows up. And you know what? He’s bigger than I am and not only…

Jennifer: Yeah.

Randi: He’s bigger and not only that. The truth is they have about ten minutes to speak with you. Ten minutes. And I am scared, confused, lost and he’s now in the hallway looking down on me.

So one of the first things that I have learned is when you’re dealing with, especially a new doctor, get a chair, look eye to eye and then use the elevator speech. An elevator speech is something we learned in Corporate in America which is, get your point out quickly and efficiently.

And the point we need to get out first is what are our patients’ values, what are our preferences, and what are our goals? Because what happens is we come into that moment from two different perspectives.

I am thinking in terms of the whole long journey, the life long journey of my son. And the doctor is thinking, “How do I fix the problem we have today?” If the visit was a train, the doctor is going to take care of that particular station stop, but we have to think larger. And to your point, that’s very hard to do because instantly, the doctor wants to get to solution even though we need a little bit more of discussion.

So one of the tips that I would recommend is to take a deep breath and think about what it is that you want to accomplish. And then, think in terms of this person is going to be on your team and you’re creating that high performing team.

And I can talk about some of the ways I was able to do that by giving some pretty quick feedback. And not everyone got the feedback that they really wanted. But when they understood what our goals were, and our preferences, and our values, we were able to accomplish that goal.

Jennifer: Are you saying that when the doctor comes in and he says, “Okay, what problem do we have today?” you literally will start off with, “Okay, this is a very condensed version of what’s going on and this is what is important to us.”

Randi: Yes. Exactly! So let me give you a really good example of that.

Some people are all about analytics and they want to have all the information. Some people are artistic and they like to just feel. So you know what, what of the first things I do is I explain what type of person we are in terms of how we like to make decisions and what kind of information we need and what our comfort level is.

I also explain, in our case, we want to avoid medications as much as possible, which is hard to do with Crohn’s disease because many times the solutions are medicinal based. I get that out right up front.

And then the other thing that I said at this point, to this particular doctor that I had 10 minutes with, I said, “Listen, whatever decisions you’re going to make, I want to be involved.”

And so what ended up happening the next day, my son was still in the hospital and she had put him on steroids. She never called me. She never called the pediatrician. She made no effort.

When I was able to come back that next day and I said, “Look, I only had 10 minutes with you that first meeting, but I was pretty clear that I want to be involved and I want to be informed. What happened?” and she had to apologize. She had to say, “You know what? I might have followed medical protocol, but I didn’t meet customer satisfaction. I didn’t meet your needs.” And I think we need to stand up and say what is important to us. And also, there will be times where I’m going to say “No.” And let me tell you something, saying no is so scary.

And I discovered also this incredibly powerful because — I’ll give a quick example. My son had seizures. He kept having seizures and every time he’d have a seizure, we have to go to another emergency room. And he had six seizures.

Well, by the third one, I saw the process. You go into the emergency room, they do a CT scan and the CT scan doesn’t show anything and then eventually they gave him some fluid and he was fine. So I think by the fourth round of this they were going to give the CT scan and you know what I said? No!

Jennifer: Yeah. Just give him some fluids and let’s see what happens.

Randi: Right, right. And what I found was, when you say ‘No’ something incredible happens. Plan B. It’s amazing! They go, “Oh, well if we’re not going to do that, we can do this.”

Now, there were many times where saying no was the right thing because Plan B happened to be better for my son. There were also times where I said no and I was wrong. And you know I should have listened more. I put my son through maybe a little bit more pain because we didn’t implement what they had suggested to begin with.

But what I learned was it’s okay to say no and one of the tips I have for the audience is ask why. And if you’re not 100% confident and comfortable, then say no.

Jennifer: I will share too, with my own experience in going to the doctors and having some really strange conditions and problems.

One of the biggest things that’s helped me because as you said, having that very succinct story or blurb to tell the physician upfront is important, but I think what happens to most people is they walk into the doctor’s office without any thought of what’s going to happen. And they forget that there’s this whole story that has transpired and as you said that, in that 10 minutes in trying to tell all the baggage and share the baggage thinking that the doctor’s going to suss through it all in that one 10 minute session. The reality is that, a lot gets lost.

So what I’ve done is I will list out on a piece of paper, all of my symptoms, all of my complaints: How often does this happen? When did it start? How severe is the pain? Does something aggravate it? What makes it better? So that I can hand that to them and alleviate because the doctor can look at that and go “Oh, okay.”And I don’t get lost in my story. So, that for me has been really helpful.

And I love what you were saying about saying ‘No’ because it is hard to say ‘No’ to someone who is probably not used to people saying ‘No’ to them.

I’ll be honest. I’ve had doctors actually tell me that I was a very difficult patient because I said ‘No’ and they don’t want to deal with me. However, I’m willing to find a compromise. I know going in what I am willing to get and willing to take and what I’m not. And that I think speaks to your value.

So why don’t you tell us how can we say ‘No’ in such a way that we’re not going to invite a super negative reaction, that the physician or the practitioner is not going to get offended, but it’s a way that it will invite the conversation?

Randi: Oh, I love the answer to how do you say ‘No’ and still not offend someone. It is called the sandwich method. And what that method is, is you sandwich the ‘No’ between two ‘Yeses’.

So for example, you can say, “Doctor, I really like the fact that you’re thinking this approach and that you’ve told me how it’s worked over and over again. However for me, I have this concern and I’m not comfortable, but what I’d like to do is figure out is there some way that we can use your experience? And what will work for me to come up with a solution.”

And so that whenever—and this works with your husband, this works with your children, but it’s hard because we just want to say ‘No!’ right? But if you take the time to sandwich the ‘No’ between two ‘Yeses’, first of all it’s easier for us ‘cause us women, we try to be pleasers. Not everyone but many of us grow up trying to be pleasers. Hopefully as we get older we stop that, but it does make you more comfortable and it does work.

Jennifer: Offering that advice or that feedback, as you said you gave feedback to that doctor that gave your son the steroids without consulting with you. And rather than not telling them “you did this and you’re a bad doctor.” You instead said, “Hey, I expressed these values to you. I don’t feel that they were met. I’m not happy about this. What can we do moving forward that will be different and that will match my goals because I’m very serious about that.”

I think that that’s a really important thing because a lot of patients will just leave the practice and not actually tell the doctor or the practitioner what’s going on. So they get no feedback to know where they may have gone off track and they have no ability to maybe say, “Oh, you know what, I’m really sorry. You’re right. I should’ve listened” to keep the conversation going.

So what happens when you’re sitting there in the chair and your son was in the hospital bed and they present to you options that seem so far apart? They’re very complex. You’re confused.  How do you handle that? I mean, we’re not medical doctors. Most of us have not been in medical school. We have no background information. What do we do? How do we pick between things that are not anywhere near our comfort zone?

Randi: Right. And it’s very hard because I know I wanted to go in trusting. I just really wanted a hug. I wanted to believe that everything will be fine and it will all work out and I really would have preferred to been passive, right?

There have been studies that have shown that patients that have high activation levels—and what they mean by activation is, they have knowledge, skills, and confidence to interact with the doctor—have better health outcomes, less cost, and their expectations are met better.

And yet at that same time, that’s a very clinical study that was done. I’m like, “Are these people for real? I’m an emotional basket case, right? How am I supposed to do this?” And I think the answer that has to come out is we’re in charge of our journey. And at that time, when they’re presenting all these options, as long as it’s not life threatening, it’s ok to say, “I need more information,” or “I need more time.”

And the other thing that I will recommend is you sit down and you say, “Walk me through our options.” And the doctors will say, “Well, you could this, or this, or this.” Many times they already have the answer in their head. And then you go back to the doctor and go, “Here are my preferences, here are my goals, and here are my values. And you need to know what those are.”

An example would be, if you hate taking pills or you hate shots, that’s important to state. If you’re really concerned about long term effects about medications and you’re willing to try alternatives, which maybe don’t have the same evidence-base, you need to say that. And then what you do is you say, “We’re going to sit down and we’re going to go through each of these options and weigh them against what I’ve just told you is important to me.” And what you’ll find is a really good dialogue and what you’ll also discover is whatever you decide, you’ll feel more comfortable.

And I just want to say sometimes in healthcare, sometimes we have the choice between a bad choice or a worst choice. Sometimes there’s no good choice and what we just have to know is that we did our best.

Jennifer: Now, to your point, what happens if you have a physician that does not believe in alternative treatments? Things as you said that might not be quite as evidence based or aren’t as conventionally recognized for certain conditions. And the doctor literally just dismisses you and your needs.

Is it okay at that point to be like, “You’re fired.”?

Randi: Well, yes.

I think that at anytime you have to find someone you feel comfortable with. I had a case where I brought in a book about Crohn’s disease, and about diet, and about gluten-free diet and I had lent it to this one doctor and she came back like the next day and she threw the book on the bed and she just said, “Yeah, I’ve heard about this book there’s no evidence about this particular book.

Well, I will tell you, it’s been five years since my son had his operation and he’s been on a nutritional approach for the last five years and he’s doing phenomenally well. And I’ll also tell you that the hospital where he had the surgery just about in the last month, found a study that was done overseas about this particular nutritional approach and in teenage boys, the study said it works 78% of the time.

Jennifer: Wow!

Randi: I know.