Realfoodology - 56: The Rise of Autoimmunity and What to Do About it with Donna Mazzola

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

I speak with Donna Mazzola, better known as Dr. Autoimmune Girl, all about autoimmune disorders and the rise we have been seeing in the last 10 years.  She is a Pharmacist (with a Doctorate in Pharmacy degree) and also a Nutritionist with her Masters in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. We talk about what autoimmunity is, what to look for, what to do about it, what is causing this rise and so much more! Show Links: https://drautoimmunegirl.com/ https://www.instagram.com/drautoimmunegirl/

On today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. Honestly, I look at autoimmune disorders as being like the epidemic that we're not focused on. If you look at all and any medications that pharmaceutical companies are focused on, it's autoimmune. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. Every week I tell myself that I'm going to start with a new intro and then I don't because, you know, there's only so many ways you can address people and say hi. So hello, I am your host, Courtney Swan. I am the creator behind Real Foodology, which is of course this podcast.

It's also an Instagram. It started out as a food blog 10 years ago when I was getting my master's in nutrition. I don't really blog much anymore. It still sits there and I have like a restaurant guide and some really old blog posts. But really my main focus now is this podcast and my Instagram. If you're new here and you don't follow me on Instagram, I am at Real Foodology. I hope you will join along. I post on there daily.

Today's episode is on a really important topic, autoimmune disorders. Believe it or not, 23.5 million Americans suffer from an autoimmune disease and nearly 80% of those are women. I brought on Donna Mazzola or better known as the Dr. Autoimmune girl to talk all about autoimmune disorders and the rise that we have been seeing in this country. She's a pharmacist with a doctorate and a pharmacy degree, and she's also a nutritionist with her master's in human nutrition and functional medicine from the University of Western States. What I love so much about her background, and I talk about this a little bit in the actual interview, is I love that she comes from a standard conventional medical training.

And then as she was working in that environment, she realized that there was no conversation being had with patients about diet and lifestyle interventions. So she actually went back and got her master's in human nutrition so that she could also bring that component to her work, which is a really important component of this whole conversation. So in this episode, we dive into what autoimmunity is, what to look for, so the signs and the symptoms, what to do about it, so supplements, diet and lifestyle changes, what's causing this rise, and so much more. This is such an informative podcast. I really enjoyed this interview, and I hope that you guys do too. Before we dive into it, can I ask you a favor?

Would you please leave a five-star rating and a review? I'm really bad at asking for favors, but this really, really helps the podcast because the ultimate goal is to get this podcast on as many ears so that people can use this information to better their health and better their lives. Also, another thing that really helps if you send this to family and friends, the more ears that we get on it, the more coverage that we get. So I really appreciate your support. Thank you. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy this episode. This is really exciting. Organifi now has kid stuff. They just released two kid products. One is called Easy Greens,

and it's a refreshing green apple juice where kids will never know that it's packed with veggies. And the other one is called Protect. It's a delicious wild berry punch, like the Kool-Aid that we used to have as a kid, but without any sugar. This is really exciting, and if you've listened to the podcast for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of Organifi,

and most specifically because every single product that they make is glyphosate residue free. So you know that you're going to be able to give these powders to your kids and know that they will be able to consume them safely without any glyphosate in it. So let's break down each one. The Easy Greens is a nourishing and delicious blend of superfoods and veggies that provides essential nutrients, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to bring balance to kids' growing bodies without fillers, additives, or junk. It helps to fill in nutritional gaps, aids in growth and development, supports digestive health, has a rich micronutrient profile, and includes digestive enzymes. This would be a great way to

sneak in greens for your little one without them actually knowing that it's healthy for them. And the second one, which is the wild berry punch similar to Kool-Aid, is called Protect, and it is to support your child's daily immune health with food-derived nutrients that work to strengthen their body's first line of defense. I know just through girlfriends of mine that have children that when your kids are going to school, going to daycare, they're coming home sick a lot more often

just because they're getting exposed to different kids and different viruses when they're out in the world playing with kids. So this would be a great way to help to support your little one's immune health. It's organic, and it's also made with real whole food ingredients. It has a delicious berry taste, and it's low sugar, and it's gentle enough for kids to take every single day. And I really love the ingredients in this one. It's orange and acerol cherry, which is a powerful source of vitamin C and antioxidants, astragalus, elderberry, and propolis. These are all really

great for overall immune health. If you want to try the products that I talked about today or any of the Organifi products, go to Organifi.com slash realfoodology and use code realfoodology for 20% off. Again, that's Organifi. It's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com slash realfoodology. Did you know that most cookware and appliances are made with forever chemicals? Yes, that means your nonstick pans, your air fryers, your waffle makers, your blender could possibly have PFAS, and yes, even our beloved crockpots and pressure cookers. I have actually been talking about this for so long. Back in 2006, my mom came to my dorm room and made me get rid of all my nonstick pans because she was concerned about me being exposed to something called Teflon.

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all of the bowls and plates in my kitchen because I really needed an upgrade. My other ones were so old. So I got some from our place and they are so beautiful. The ceramics are beautiful. The colors are amazing. Like I said, everything is like a piece of art. If you want to try any of the products from our place, go to fromourplace.com and enter my code realfoodology at checkout to receive 10% off sitewide. That's fromourplace.com, code realfoodology. Our place offers a 100 day trial with free shipping and returns. Donna, thank you so much for coming on today. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, so I want to just dive right into this. But before we get into the conversation,

why don't you give everyone a little bit of a background on what you do and how you got here. Yeah, so by training and education, I'm actually a pharmacist. And I completed, you know, my degree, gosh, over 15 years ago, and was working, was working clinically with patients with chronic disease. And I mean, through my time there, long story short, realized that, wow, nobody knows anything about nutrition and how it impacts their chronic disease. And no one's using nutrition to manage their disease. And we're just so caught up in medications only. And it was really the turning point when I had a patient tell me that I had diabetes. I didn't know what a carbohydrate was.

So it was like, OK, there's a hole in the system. Yeah. And you realize like providers just don't know. They don't have any education in nutrition. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to take it upon myself to go back to school and learn that. And in that time, I actually had a diagnosis of Hashimoto's, which was back in 2015. And I think that just solidified my route to go back to school and learn. Because quite frankly, like even in my education, I had no concept of foods and the immune system and how there was a link there.

Gut health, none of that. I mean, nothing, right? And so it was kind of like, here's your medication, be on your way. And I wasn't okay with that. So it hit home for me personally. And I was like, oh crap, I need to figure this out. So I went back to school to get a master's in functional medicine and human nutrition. And on that journey, like honestly, after my first semester, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm learning so much and I'm able to help myself. I need to get this information out there in the hands of other people that are also suffering like I was and had so many questions. And so I started my blog and my persona that I refer to as Dr. Autoimmune Girl.

And there is where I literally, that is exactly what I do. I share just reputable science backed information that just empowers people to take control of their health, to answer, you know, the questions that they all have. We all have the same questions. I don't care how educated we are. I still have a lot of questions too. And so I put it out there and I make sure it's not opinion based. And it's just, it's there to empower people to ask the right questions. What I love so much about your story is that you come from that more traditional, conventional training, and that really opened your eyes up to a whole different world. And that's what's so frustrating about our conventional medical system is that, as you

learned, that there's no conversation about diet and lifestyle at all. It's just like, oh, okay, we're going to treat this symptom with a prescription drug, you know, and not to vilify prescription drugs. I think they have a time and a place, but the fact that there is no conversation being had whatsoever on diet and lifestyle is just, I mean, it's the reason we are where we are right now with our health. Yeah, exactly. And, and what I always say is like, it's about and like kind of my mantra is the balance between nutrition and medicine. So yeah, you know, as you said, there's certainly a place for medicine and for and, and a lot of times the way things are perceived as it's either your traditional or your, you know, natural period, and like, you can't be in between. Well, that's,

that's not true. You know, like, to me, I'm like, that's where I'm targeting is the in between. Like if you want to be and you need to be and you feel comfortable on your diabetes med or your high blood pressure or whatever, right? Even for autoimmune disease, like we need them. That's okay. But like now work on the other side to like shift that balance. Like can we reduce medications? Can we decrease your doses? You know, can we use the power of nutrition and plants and lifestyle and sleep and all those other factors that can like shift our immune system so that medication is there

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and diet changes. It doesn't mean that, um, that some people are going to be able to just get off all meds for the rest of their life. I mean, that, that is the goal, but it, but like you said, we have medication there for a reason. So I want to kind of dive into this a little bit because we're kind of seeing this scary trend right now in a rise of autoimmune disorders. I was reading about this earlier. And from what I understand, it's somewhere between we're seeing like a three to a 9% increase of autoimmune disorders every single year right now, which is really terrifying. For people listening that don't fully understand the concept of an autoimmune disorder, can we

dive into that a little bit and what it means or what is it? Yeah, honestly, I look at autoimmune disorders as being like the epidemic that we're not focused on. If you look at all and any medications that pharmaceutical companies are focused on, it's autoimmune disease focused. And so like that's telling, right? Because there's obviously from that standpoint, a market for it. And there's this prevalence that you quoted. I mean, I've seen it even higher. I've seen it expected to rise by the NIH at a rate of 19%. And that's compiling all autoimmune diseases. And quite frankly, like with COVID, you know, we know viral infections are one factor that can really trigger an autoimmune disease.

And we're seeing 40% of people that are recovering from COVID, you know, are having autoimmune-like symptoms. And that's scary. That's a scary thought to think that, you know, that prevalence could rise even more. But essentially, you know, when you talk about autoimmune diseases, what are they? You know, they're where your immune system goes awry. So you can have autoimmune disease that is focused on a thyroid gland, which is Hashimoto's or your pancreas, which is type one diabetes, you know, or your joints, which is rheumatoid arthritis. But at the end of the day, the commonality of all of that is there's a dysregulation in your immune system. And that's triggered by this chronic inflammatory state that we're all in.

And so, you know, reading these epidemiological studies, they're looking at, they're saying, you know, genetics hasn't changed that much as we're seeing this like crazy rise go up. So what is it? And at the end of the day, it boils down to it's our environment. It's our environmental factors that we're living in that put us in this chronic inflammatory state. And I always go back to say like inflammation is important and it's a positive thing actually. So, you know, you want your body to recognize that there's inflammation, you know, in your, that there's a trigger. And so

it produces this inflammatory response to fight off whatever that infection or what it may be. And then at the same time, it should turn off. What's happening right now, because we have these constant environmental factors and triggers going on, whether it be pollution, whether it be these processed foods that we eat, whatever it may be, it's constantly assaulting our immune system. So we just always have this chronic inflammatory state. So it never turns off. Well, at some point, that constant trigger leads to the development of these autoimmune diseases.

And that's just one factor. And it's like, in addition to that, that impacting our gut lining, which is leading to chronic inflammation. It's allowing these, you know, antigens that should have never been, should have been encased within our gut are releasing out into our bloodstream. They release out into our bloodstream and then our blood, you know, our immune system is like, oh, what is this? It's not supposed to be here. Attack. And so then it gets turned on. And so it's, it's so complicated, yet so simple when I talk about it, because it's like, gosh, we just have to remove all these environmental factors that we're exposed to, which is not always that easy. But that's essentially how we're going to reduce this

prevalence and incidence that we're seeing. Yeah, and I want to touch on that too. So you brought up a really important factor. And all of this is everything that we're being exposed to in our environment. And for people that are listening that are new to this, I want to list off some of those. So for example, plastics, getting your food in plastic or microwaving it in plastic, it's going to cause those chemicals to leach into the food. Those are known endocrine disruptors. Also cleaning products that have fragrances, beauty and skin products. And especially for women

way more than men, because think about all the makeup and the beauty products and the lotions and the perfumes and everything that we're putting on on a daily basis. And then not to mention just our modern lifestyles, you know, like the amount of stress that we're under on a daily basis, lack of sleep, all of these things are going to contribute to that, what you were just talking about, this chronic inflammatory response. And so what we need to do is reduce the impact of all of that on our bodies so that we can get to a place where we're not just in this inflammatory state all the time. Exactly. Yeah.

Honestly, at the end of the day, it's the awareness of it. And so it's like all the things you just said, perfumes, cleaning products. It's like building that awareness that these are those toxins that are triggering our immune system. And I think that's what we're both doing, right? We're just trying to constantly build that awareness so that people can get down. Bring it down. Bring it down. And, oh, and there was another one that I think is really important to name as pesticides on our food, which is also why there's such a strong, um, need for organic food because there's less pesticide exposure.

And for anyone listening, like I always want to bring this up because I know if you're just diving into this, it can feel very overwhelming. These are not things that you change overnight. You start with one thing. You're like, okay, I'm going to tackle my skincare. I'm going to tackle my makeup, or I'm going to tackle the cleaning products. And you just do it a little bit over time. There's also great resources like environmental working group, ewg.org. And you can actually type in your beauty products and they'll give you ratings on how like toxic they are. And then you can slowly start to incorporate the lower toxicity, you know, skin care and whatever it is that you're trying to replace.

So I was actually listening to you on another podcast, and I was very intrigued to hear this because I didn't know this, that apparently there's a higher incidence of autoimmune disorders in women than there are men. I did not know that until recently. Why is that? Yeah, so, I mean, it comes down to our hormones, um, and unfortunately, um, and so it's not really, there's not a definitive answer to

that question. Um, you know, there are different research studies that have gone on to kind of try to determine, you know, what it is about women's hormones that lead to this. But when you think about the timing of the majority of autoimmune diseases and when they develop, a lot of it is postpartum and pre and postmenopause. So it's when we have a shift in our hormones. And a lot of it has to do with estrogen. So estrogens actually have T cells, receptors on them. And so, you know, you think about T cells, they are a primary cell within the immune system that's released to attack essentially, right? So like you have this assault that occurs, your immune system says, hey, we need help, send out these special forces,

T cells go out. So when they're, you know, the thought is, one thought, you know, is, and it's not definitive, is that these T cells can bind to these estrogen receptors. So if we have, you know, which can upregulate the immune system and upregulate that immune response. But, you know, yeah, it comes down, it's unfortunate, but yeah, it's about one out of nine women that actually have, you know, that will develop an autoimmune type disorder or have autoimmune like symptoms. So, yeah, it's unfortunate. It's a gender biased autoimmune disease. It is really unfortunate. And actually, as you were talking, I was sitting here thinking like, oh, yeah, a lot of my girlfriends have some sort of autoimmune disorder going on, whether it's Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism.

It's really interesting. And I think about, too, a couple of my girlfriends who have given birth then had some sort of issue, usually with their thyroid, which is actually something I want to go into because I know that you were very well versed in this since you mentioned this in the beginning that you were actually diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. And I would love to dive into all of that. So first of all, what are kind of the signs and symptoms that your thyroid may be off? So there's two types of thyroid autoimmune type diseases, right? So you can either be hypo or hyper, which essentially means hypo, you're not producing enough hormone or hyper, you're producing too much hormone. And the issue with it is that it doesn't know when to turn off. And so it either

it's continues to stimulate more or doesn't produce enough. And so the most common, honestly, the most common autoimmune disease period is Hashimoto's. And that's the autoimmune disease of the thyroid that essentially is not producing enough hormone. And so everything's slowed down. So you think about your thyroid gland, this little butterfly gland that's here in your throat, and it's like, does so much and it's responsible for so much. So it's like your metabolic powerhouse essentially. And so everything just slows down. Signs and symptoms of like, you know, your hair is dry. That was a trigger for me.

I was like, why is my hair so dry? Like everything just feels drier, feels slower. You're going to see constipation, more fatigue, cold intolerance. So like you'll be freezing all the time, because, you know, that's the heat that's produced, right? That metabolic heat. And so, you know, for a lot of people, even just brain fog, like lack of clarity that's occurring, again, think of it like slowing down, everything just feels like it's slowing down. But the big one is fatigue. And so people will go in and just like, I'm tired. And then they just attribute it to like, well, this is just our life.

This is our lifestyle. Like you're always going to be tired. And so it honestly takes people about, I think it's on average of eight years to actually get diagnosed officially while they suffer with these symptoms. Like think about all these things I just named. Constipation, fatigue. You know what I mean? Like you can't sleep. You know, your hair is dry.

Your skin is dry. It's just awful. Imagine like you're just living with this for about eight years until finally someone's like, oh, I figured it out. You have Hashimoto's. And now we can start to get some help. And so it's important to just recognize some of those things and, you know, dig deeper. And a lot of it just comes down to reducing inflammation. So I have so many people that reach out that say my antibodies, which are essentially a

test that's done that is a measure of the attack on the thyroid gland. And so they will say my antibodies look elevated, but all my other labs look good. So doctors don't want to do anything about it. Well, if your antibodies are up, for everybody who has this question, it's a measure of the inflammatory response going down. At the end of the day, what we said in the beginning, that's what you need to do is implement a more anti-inflammatory lifestyle to reduce the inflammation, reduce that attack on your thyroid to help preserve what's left of it. So it can be, you know, we can focus on it and kind of, you know, I don't want to say officially totally reverse it, but if it's early enough, we catch it early enough, we potentially

could. Yes. And this is such an important component of this conversation. I'm so glad that you brought it up because I've found specifically with a thyroid, this either goes misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. Because when you go just to like a standard allopathic doctor in conventional medicine, they're not doing, they're not checking all of the thyroid hormones. And so this is really important for people to understand because you can go in and you can have the signs and symptoms and be either headed in the direction of Hashimoto's or could maybe already be there at this point. And if they don't test for all of, if they don't test all of those thyroid hormones and antibodies as well, then they may completely miss that.

Yep. And that's typically what happens. That's, that's typically what happens is because what's happening is like your antibodies might be elevated and that attack might be going on, but your gland is working really hard to combat that. So it's going in overtime and overcharged to be like, no, no, no, I can still produce hormone while it's being attacked. And that's why if they just pull those numbers, you know, to look at, you know, is it being stimulated? Essentially, it's the thyroid stimulating hormone. It'll look good. And they're like, yeah, but it looks like it's a normal range you're fine um but it's it's until and that's why unfortunately it's until we it's a completely exhaust thyroid gland it can't do

anymore while it's being attacked that that's when eventually they're like oh yeah now your tsh is elevated okay now i'll check antibodies which a complete misnomer. It's like, no, check them first, give them guidance on how to reduce inflammation and try to preserve that gland. But unfortunately, that's not what's taught in mainstream medicine. That's just not the approach. You know, it's so frustrating. And this is why I got into integrative health, because when we just look at the conventional standard medical way of things, you are not diagnosed. You're not even given any warning signs. You're not given any sort of guidelines and, like, lifestyle prevention measures that you could take before you go over the edge.

It's almost like they'll even, like, look at your numbers and be like, oh, I mean, you're, like, headed that direction, but it's fine. I'm not worried about it. And then, boom, you're there, and then now you have to be on meds for the rest of your life. Whereas if we were able to catch it early on enough, if you had a doctor say, Hey, you know what? Your numbers are a little elevated and I'm worried that you're going in this one direction. So let's look at your inflammation. Let's like make some diet and lifestyle changes and see if we can bring that back down before you

go over the edge and point of sometimes no return. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. Like I almost feel like it should be standard labs to be done, like all, all autoimmune antibody tests, right? Because at that point we're looking at it. And the problem is, is that each autoimmune disease is treated by the particular specialist that it aligns to. and they're simply treating the disease they are not treating the immune process underlying the disease and that's where the gap comes into play so if they were to check those antibodies like the response is usually like okay well but your thyroid's still functioning so you're're good. They don't have that understanding, honestly, that knowledge or education or training that tells them, ah, your antibodies are elevated. There's an immune process going on here. Let's see how we can fix your immune system as opposed

to focusing on the thyroid gland or the pancreas or whatever it may be, right? Like let's focus on your immune system. And that's where you really get down to the root of it and you can preserve whatever organ damage is going on. So it's super frustrating. Like, yeah, you've like hit a trigger point. Yeah, it's so frustrating, but you know what? It's great. It's, it's good that people are now having these conversations like you and I, because at least people now can be made aware and then they can either look for a new doctor that does look for all of these things, or they can ask their doctor for more tests. So like perfect example, what would someone ask? Can you just go in and say, I want a full thyroid panel?

Like what do they want the doctors to actually be testing for? What hormones? Yeah, so normally people will go in and say, can you check my thyroid? And you say that, and the only test you're getting is a TSH. And that's the bare bones minimum. And that doesn't tell us enough. So really what you want to ask for is a full thyroid panel, which includes your TSH, because that's telling you if it's working over time to stimulate you to produce more hormone.

And the reason it's going to be doing that is because your actual thyroid hormones, which are your T4 and your T3 hormones are they're probably low and so because they're low there's like this feedback mechanism that says produce more so you want your tsh you want your t4 you want your t3 but you also want two antibody tests um to be done and that's thyroglobulin and your thyroid peroxidase antibodies so tpoPO and TG, those should also be checked. And really all you have to say is, can you check antibodies for my thyroid? And they should be able to do that. I want a full thyroid panel and I want antibodies. That will give the whole picture of what's going on. That'll give you an understanding of,

is this autoimmune related? Because it may not always be autoimmune related right um but majority of the time like 90 it is um and then and the other side is okay how do my hormones look you know is my t4 low is my t3 high like there's a whole picture that needs to be looked at and unfortunately majority of time it's like they look at one piece of the puzzle and that leaves out so much and you know and honestly leads to delayed diagnosis. At the end of the day, it's likely going to get that diagnosis, but it's going to be delayed and there's no reason for people to suffer without answers. Yeah. I mean, it's so frustrating. Well, and also like now having this perspective that we need to zoom out and look at everything,

it makes me even more frustrated with the conventional medical model because let's say like you're having some sort of issue with your thyroid, you go in and they're just focusing on the thyroid. But kind of similar to what you just said, we need to zoom out and actually look at the body as a whole and be like, okay, well, you know, the thyroid's obviously being affected, but how is the immune system being affected? Like you said, where are the antibodies, the cardiovascular system, the metabolic system, our, our adrenals working correctly. And I think we've kind of forgotten that the body is all in sync. And if one thing is out of balance, usually there's other things

out of balance as well. And we need to zoom out and remember to look at everything as a whole and try to get to the root cause so that then we can bring balance back to the body. Yeah. Yep. Well, a hundred percent. It's like our body does not work in silos, but the medical like establishment works in silos. So therefore that's how it's treated. It's treated in silos. So like you have a heart problem, you go to a cardiologist, you have a, you know, problem with your hormones, you go to endocrinologist, you have, and there's no communication between them and everything is treated as it's a separate entity which is the which like you said is the main key difference between how functional medicine practitioners operate versus conventional medicine is recognizing that it is all connected especially our hormones like think about thyroid hormones they're all

it's connected it's connected to your sex. It's connected to your sex hormones. It's connected to your sleep hormones, connected to your gut hormones. I mean, hormones work together. They are the communicators of our body. And so to think that they only work by themselves is just preposterous. Like it's crazy to me that, and this is how we treat everything, which it's mind blowing. Oh, and it's so frustrating. And also, you know, I've heard that sometimes when they're testing your thyroid antibodies, they will also look at your cholesterol. And I'm curious what the connection is with that. Yeah. So, so cholesterol is actually a precursor to hormone development. So you need, so when you say, oh, we got to lower our cholesterol. Yes, we don't want our cholesterol too high, but we also don't want our cholesterol too low. If it's too low, then you

don't have the ability to actually produce key sex hormones like progesterone, estrogen. It starts with cholesterol. You need it, right? So actually for me personally, that's how I figured out that that was really the trigger that caused my doctor to dig deeper and get antibodies as my cholesterol was elevated and she's like okay that's weird like i know you're healthy and you eat right and why did your cholesterol suddenly go up and she said and and my tsh was in normal range but it wasn't optimal so i think i had a little bit of a smarter doctor here but she was like well it's about like you know high to like two and a half. So the range is 0.5 to 5.5.

And so that's the other problem, why things get delayed. And she's like, well, you're around like 2.8. Let's dig deeper because I don't understand why your cholesterol is elevated. In addition to your symptoms where you're saying you have dry hair, you're having a hard time losing weight. Check my antibodies and they were through the roof. And so that was an indicator. And I always tell everybody that story because then that empowers you, right? To say like, hey, I'm healthy and I eat right. And I know that I do, but why is my cholesterol elevated? And I have these symptoms,

help me. And it can even be an education point for some people to their providers. And so yeah, that's, that's the connection is really like cholesterol is your precursor to your hormone development. And so like I said, your thyroid doesn't work in silos, it works in conjunction with all of those hormones. So all connected. Oh, my God, that's incredible. It sounds like you're, you're really lucky to have that doctor. She sounds pretty smart and on top of it. Um, and actually I just had a guy on yesterday on my podcast that will come out in a couple of weeks, but a doctor and he was, he, man, this connection was mind blowing to me. He said, it is no coincidence that men, um, that older men, like in their seventies and above, or we'll just men in general, actually that are on statins are

also usually on Viagra or having some sort of rectal dysfunction because of that connection with our sex hormones and our cholesterol. It is all related. And we've gotten to this place, like, I don't want to go too far down on a tangent on cholesterol, but we've gotten to this place where we've completely vilified cholesterol, but we forget that we need it for our brains. We need it for our hormones, especially our sex hormones, our thyroid hormones. So we don't want to completely eradicate cholesterol because we also need it. It's a very important component of our biology. Of course.

Again, it always comes down to balance, right? Like, yes, too much of anything is bad. Too much estrogen is a bad thing. Too much thyroid hormone is a bad thing. Too much cholesterol is bad. But a balance of all of these is a good thing, and thyroid hormone is a bad thing too much cholesterol is bad but a balance of all of these is a good thing and that's exactly what you need and not having enough of any of these is the same thing right so not having enough estrogen or thyroid or cholesterol again it all

goes hand in hand but the whole like fat-free movement and fat is bad and cholesterol is gonna kill you and statins came out and it was like, let's keep lowering, lower and lower and lower. And it's like, the question never got answered. Well, wait, how low is too low? And that's always, that's still like within the medical establishment, like out there, like, you know, how low do we actually want to go lowering people's cholesterol? And the sad part is, is like, you can lower your cholesterol typically with diet, unless you have some type of genetic, you know, abnormality that is causing it. And that's a very, very, very small percentage, right? The vast majority is through diet and lifestyle. And so we can just create this balance. Everything would work in harmony. Yeah. Well, and then don't even get me started that apparently the, um, the

drug makers of these statins have been lobbying to lower the cholesterol range, like lower and lower, so that they can get more people on statins. And who are we to say that our cholesterol needs to be in this one little average range when sometimes some bodies need a little bit more for our brain, sex hormones, whatever it is. You know, I could go on a whole different tangent on this, but it is so frustrating. Yes, yes, I agree. So I know you talk about this a lot and I want my listeners to hear about this. Can we talk about the connection of our gut health and our overall immune system and like what the role it plays in and maybe an autoimmune disorders and all that. Yeah, for sure. So 70% of your immune system is located in your gut. And we call this like the gut associated lymphoid tissue. And so essentially, this is a component of it's almost like the first line of defense for any exposure to any kind of toxin or anything foreign to the body.

So like it's a, it's the gut, the gut is one component of the larger mucosal immune system. And so that includes, so before we get into the gut, your skin includes the mucus in your nose, includes, you know, like your vaginal mucosal tissue. So when you get your eyes, for instance, right? So like our eyes are exposed to so much but that's part of the immune system like there's kind of this like line of defense that blocks things from getting in and triggering a response well your gut is the largest of the mucosal system and so it has this gut lining that is porous enough for us to absorb the nutrients we need from foods that we eat and, you know,

things that get in, but it needs to be closed off so that things are not leaking into the bloodstream, triggering a auto, like an immune response essentially. And so like everything, if you think about it, every single thing that we come in contact with is foreign. You know, the air outside is foreign. Like the particles that that are in there the sand that your kid is playing with at the park is foreign um but we have this uh this immune tolerance is which is our initial like immune system that we have that recognizes okay well these aren't bad and it it kind of like regulates and doesn't allow the immune system to turn on well what happens when we have, like what we call leaky gut. So we keep ingesting various foods, you know, and I refer to these as our processed foods that are breaking down our gut, processed foods,

convenience foods, fast foods, you know, things that are like, it's not even food. They're just like food, like substances and they're engulfed with chemicals and things that our body is not used to. And so therefore, pesticides, that's a big one, huge, right? That's breaking down the gut wall. So our gut wall, it's like, you know, it's able to absorb the nutrients, and then we start consuming all these bad things. And then it just starts spreading out, right? And now all of a sudden, it's porous, there's holes in it, and it's leaky it's what we call intestinal permeability and what's happening now those those food particles we call antigens which are foreign are now able and our body knows they're foreign but because we've

broken up this wall they're able to leak out and now they're leaking out into the bloodstream and they're being presented to our immune system and it it's like, hey, do you recognize this guy? Do you recognize this guy? And the immune system's like, no, we've never seen these before because they're not supposed to be there. And so now they're there and they're in the bloodstream and the immune system's like, well, we need to attack. So what happens when the immune system turns on?

It starts releasing these T cells. It starts releasing these inflammatory cytokines. And these are all the cells that the immune system uses to fight. And it's a good thing in a normal situation, right? So like you get a virus, you get a bacteria, yes, you want the immune system to respond in that way. But now because we have this leaky gut that's going on, we have these food antigens pouring into our bloodstream. Now our immune system is attacking in the same way that it would any other foreign antigen. And so now all of a sudden you have these food intolerances, you have this chronic response going on because if you

don't fix that, everything you eat, I don't care if it's healthy or unhealthy, it's still going to leak out into the bloodstream. And so therefore you constantly have this chronic inflammatory response. Like you constantly have the immune system saying attack, release cytokines, inflammation, inflammation, inflammation. And then what's going to happen at that point, you know, if that's continuously going on? Again, every autoimmune disease is a problem with the underlying immune system. And so when our immune system is constantly turned on, you know, it leads to and triggers, you know, then the attack of self as well. And so it's just like a targeted organ that becomes like a bystander in this attack. And,

and, you know, we develop these autoimmune diseases. Is there an instance in where like someone gets, so let's say like you have leaky gut syndrome, and then over time it leads to like, let's say Hashimoto's or whatever it is. Is there a higher incidence of like one, once you have like one autoimmune disorder, do we often find that people get more of them on top of that? Like maybe rheumatoid arthritis and et cetera? Absolutely. Yes. And that's the scary part, right? And so when you find you have, so like I have an autoimmune disease and people are always like, well, okay, so what? Just take a pill and you'll be fine. And it's like, yes, I can take a thyroid pill and, and my, my hormones will be regulated and that aspect will be fine. However, I will continue to have this inflammatory response going on. And once it's exhausted one organ, it's just going to

switch to the next and the next. And yes, people essentially start developing multiple autoimmune diseases because they're not targeting the underlying problem, which is the inflammation. And so if you get if you're diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, yes, it sucks. Take it from me. I get it. However, it's not the end of the world. And you can get control of it by reducing that inflammation and ensuring that you're not going to develop celiac after that and rheumatoid after that. You know, it's like control the inflammatory response so that the body is not continuously attacking various organs. Amazing.

Well, that was going to be my next question. So let's dive in. Let's say someone is either on the track, headed that direction, or maybe they've already been diagnosed. What are things that people can do to reduce that inflammation and hopefully reduce the symptoms of that autoimmune disorder? Yes. The first thing I'm going to start with is diet. I mean, that's kind of, I want to say the easiest, but also the hardest for some.

So, and you think, and unfortunately, it's not common sense and it's not common knowledge for people. And that's what's sad is we've normalized this type of eating um but really like eliminating these processed commercial foods it's like things that we find in the grocery store on shelves they're just infused with chemicals and they're there to you know elongate their shelf life to make them taste better. So you keep coming back for more. And, you know, the sugar that's added, the amount of sugar that we're ingested, like sugar itself is inflammatory beyond words, right?

So if we just think about like, I think it's 150 grams and that's probably an old statistic, but like that we consume, you know, in a day. I mean, it's just crazy. And we're seeing kids, you know, developing these diseases as well. And this ingestion of just these processed inflammatory foods. So the end of the day, it's like, okay, first eliminate those things. Take them out of your diet and ask yourself, like how many servings of fruits and vegetables do you eat a day? I mean, the average

is claimed to be about 3.6 by Americans that are eating per day. What we need for optimal like nutrition and to like support our cells and functionality is at least nine to 12 servings of a variety of colors across the rainbow of fruits and vegetables eaten daily in order to nourish our cells, nourish our body, reduce inflammation. And what you find in these plants is like, they, they're just, they have all these bioactive compounds in them that really, when they grow, those bioactive compounds are protecting them from like various, you know, offenders out there, you know, whether it be fungi or bacteria or whatever, like they have these compounds in them that protect them so they can survive. So when we eat,

when we eat the fruits and vegetables, we benefit from those bioactive compounds that actually science shows actually has anti-inflammatory antioxidant benefits that we would see. So like diet is number one, first thing I would say, you know, and, um, you know, doing an elimination diet is key, um, to just to heal that gut wall and then continuously like kind of learning the appropriate eating through diet, but removing foods like gluten, like dairy, soy, and really because soy in the U S especially is like 100% processed GMO. It's hard to find. Lots of pesticides. Yeah. Corn, sugar, alcohol. People don't want to hear it, but excessive, I mean, I'll say excessive alcohol. Like, yes, it's inflammatory. It's going to break down the walls of your gut lining. And so you don't want to do that. You want to eliminate all those things. You want to heal the gut.

And then you want to slowly reintroduce to see how your body responds and then, and build that maintenance and that lifestyle around it. But it's not just about food. So I talk a lot about food and it's super important. Yes. It's really important. It is. It is. It's 100%. But then like low hanging fruit, sleep, like gosh, so easy. Just get eight to nine hours of sleep. Like, just don't watch TV in those last two hours of the evening. Go to bed earlier. And, I mean, sleep has a direct effect on the immune system. Melatonin does so much more than just help you sleep. It's a regulator of the immune system, too.

Yeah, it's a protector. It is, yeah. And so people don't realize that. Like, if you're not sleeping the other thing is like your body needs a chance to just like regenerate itself it needs to just like turn off and regenerate and get ready for for you the next day so sleep is a good one it's so important um and like managing stress i say this a lot because in the past year like with the pandemic and having kids at home and schools and just all

the unknown that was going on, like my stress level really increased and I couldn't figure out how to maintain it. I mean, like I couldn't go to yoga. I couldn't like everything was closed. Right. So, um, it was hard and, and I started feeling my body out of control and I went through a flare and I hadn't changed anything else. Like I eat right. I exercise, I sleep, I do all those things, but the stress contributed so bad to my autoimmune disease that I actually developed a couple nodules on my gland, um, as a result. And so, and they were so large that I had to get a biopsy. Thankfully, they were all negative. But it was mind-blowing, right? So that was like eye-opening to me.

I was like, wow. Like there's nothing else that I can attribute it to but stress. It just shows you how real stress is. And so when people just disregard it, like, well, I'm just stressed. There's nothing I can do. Well, we need to find things that we can do. And things like breathing exercises,'s studies meditation like i've read studies that showed reduced levels of these inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6

c-reactive protein which is like a systemic measure of inflammation was reduced like four folds just from doing meditation for four weeks like and you doesn't you don't have to like do it all day it's like yeah 15 minutes before bed, just breathing exercise. That will do wonders to reduce inflammation on your body. You know what else is really underrated? And I know that this is, I feel like some people listening to this are going to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like roll their eyes.

But literally just getting outside in nature. I cannot tell you as someone, I feel like some of my listeners have a grasp now on my past and my anxiety and the stress that I had through the roof, basically my entire life. Like I was always known as like, um, having so much anxiety, so much stress. And I can tell you within this last year, actually, ironically, because 2020 and everything we went through, I made sure that I was getting outside and going on a hike every single day. And I still do that every single day. I go out for at least 20 minutes, make sure I'm in nature. And I can't tell you, I literally have friends tell me now they're like,

wow, I can see the difference in the anxiety and stress that you have now as you know, compared to before is like night and day. Yeah, no, you're so right. Yeah. That's something that I've had on my list, but I haven't quite been able to tackle, but I will get there. I swear. Yes. Yes. But getting out in nature, like connecting with the sunlight. I mean, we talk about hormones, like start with the sun, like that just starts like your circadian rhythm, your process, like creates that balance. I mean, yes, nature is so important. Like even getting out there barefoot and just connecting with the earth reduces all of that. And for all my science geeks out there, cause I know there are a lot of them, myself

included, there are studies that prove this connection that just going outside, there's something about the way that our brain, um, I don't, I don't know how to quite explain it, but it's like the way that our eyes and our brain connect to just being outside and looking around. And I think it was someone yesterday on my podcast, he was like, it's like our eyes can just see the balance and harmony in nature. And then that registers in our brain and it has like a calming effect on our nervous system. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for any of us, and nobody can argue this, like you go outside, you hear the birds chirping, the wind is blowing, like you feel better instantly. And nobody can argue that they don't. And like you said,

there is science behind it. There is a reason for it. And it does have a positive effect, you know, on our balance and creating that, and our body and creating that balance within it. So yeah, absolutely. Connecting with nature is a big one. And also getting sunlight. And I know you mentioned this, but for people that don't know this, our bodies synthesize vitamin D, which is a very important hormone for immune health and for immune regulation. And you need to make sure that you're getting at least 20 minutes of sunlight if you're in a place that you can or supplement it. that's without sunscreen on too because our bodies can't synthesize vitamin d to the sun without sunscreen or sorry with sunscreen right on yeah yeah i totally agree like vitamin d is huge like people always like well what supplement should i take

well let's start with vitamin d like i can almost guarantee everybody is deficient. I mean, there is a point where I think my vitamin D levels are like six or seven, insane. Um, and yeah, people don't realize the sunscreen aspect, like just wait 20 to 30 minutes before you put it on. If you're worried about burning, right? Like get your vitamin D in first. Um, but like sitting at a window and thinking they're getting vitamin D. No, you're not like the glass is blocking it, you know, or like, oh, no, I drive in the car and the sun hits me. No, that's not working either. So it's like little things that people don't realize, like, you know, that's it's literally simple. You just got to get out there and get it. And

and yeah, you need it. That's an immune regulator that's been shown in many autoimmune diseases to help kind of balance that autoimmune, that, you know, immune response and bring your, what it does essentially is it boosts T regulatory cells. So we talk about our T cells, which are attacking and they're upregulated. Well, these T regulatory cells do exactly what we're saying is they regulate that response and they bring it back down to balance. So things like vitamin D, like green tea, like probiotics are all boosting Treg cells to kind of bring down that response. So yeah, vitamin D is a big one. That's a big one. I didn't know that about green tea. That's really interesting. I drink matcha every morning. So I love it.

Well, I feel like is there anything else about autoimmune disorders that we haven't gone over that you feel like is really important for people to know? I mean, I think at the end of the day is like don't people and those that have been diagnosed, I always want to say is like, it's not your fault. Because I went through that and trying to like just mad at myself and trying to figure out why this happened to me. And I mean, you go through kind of the phases of grief when you get this diagnosis, but you can come out of it. Even if you need to continue medications, all these things that we talked about today are going to help you feel better, all right, are going to help you take control of your disease, stop it in its tracks, don't let it progress. What it is here is that autoimmune diseases are progressive, right? They're likely not going to go away. By the time we're diagnosed, enough damage has been done to the organ to where we, you know, it's going to need that anchor, that help. But slowing that progression is key. And that's with all the things that we

talked about and implementing those lifestyle factors, improving nutrition, healing your gut, taking necessary supplements that are needed that we can't get, you know, from nature, from foods, whatever it may be, um, to help slow that progression, to help, you know, reduce that inflammatory response that the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. It's just inflammation, inflammation, inflammation. Like I can't say it enough, but if you can reduce inflammation, you're going to be in a better place. Yes. I love this message because I completely agree. And I think it's really important that people hear that. Yeah. So before we go, um, I like to ask everyone on my podcast, this question, what for you, no matter how busy you are throughout the day, what are some of your

health non-negotiables meaning no matter how busy you are, you prioritize these things every day in your life to make sure that you're putting your health first, prioritizing it. Yeah, so exercise for me is number one. And so I have a morning routine, and I try to tell everybody to get a morning routine. But I have two little girls, and so when they wake up, life becomes about them. And so I recognize that I need to wake up well in advance of when they do. And so I do, I make sure that I'm in bed early enough to get my eight to nine hours. And so that I can be up at 6am to have my time. And that's important for like just restoration for

mental clarity for everything to get you started for the day. And so whatever your morning routine is, or if you don't have one. I'm saying get one. Because it's just life changing. So I have that morning routine. Where I can sit down. I can have my cup of coffee. Just relax.

Read a book. You know after 30 minutes. Get changed. And I'm in the gym. So I have a home gym. Whether I'm in the gym. Or I'm in the sauna. Whatever it may be.

But I do some type of morning workout every single day. And the days that if I do have to miss it, because whatever comes up, which is very rare, the whole day is thrown off because my morning routine was thrown off. So that is kind of, yeah, that's my non-negotiable is my mornings. I love that. So many people say similar things about having their morning routines. And I think it just goes to show that it's really important to have those, uh, those routines and those things that we do for ourselves in the morning, because then it sets us up for the whole day. Yeah. It sets the stage of how it's going to be. Like I said,

when it doesn't happen, the whole day is thrown off because, you know, you didn't set the tone for the day. Exactly. I love that. Well, for everyone listening, where can they find you? Yeah, so you can check out my website, DrAutoimmuneGirl.com. So I have a blog there. Also have a gut healing protocol that you can check out that kind of puts you through a 30-day process

and education of how and why to heal your gut. I also share daily on Instagram and Facebook at Dr. Autoimmune Girl. Feel free to send me questions, nothing personal medical advice, but any topics you want me to research, find out more about, but that's all the information I'm giving out is stuff that I find that I research and I break it down. So it's simple for people to understand. Yeah. Make sure that you guys go and follow her. I love following you on Instagram. Such great information. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. This has been so great. Thank you. It's been my pleasure. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Real Foodology podcast. If you liked this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a resident media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Chris McCone.

The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie, spelled with a J. Love you guys so much. See you next week. Bye.