EPISODE 6: The Journey of a Healthy Diet

ALYSIA: Welcome back to Autoimmune Adventures. Today, we're going to be talking about maintaining a healthy diet. Please remember we are not doctors, dietitians, or nutritionists. What we are sharing here today is what we have learned personally. Please, for your own health and well being, consult with your medical professionals to determine what is best for you.

STACY: Today we're going to talk about how food can be medicine. So as Hippocrates said many, many years ago in like 460 BC, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." We have to think of food as medicine in the sense that it can help us manage our symptoms, it can support our overall health, and it is what we fuel our bodies with.

And so, the more healthy the food is that we put into ourselves, the better our bodies will operate, and the less our autoimmune system will flare.

BECKY: And one of the things that we need to do to be able to do this is we have to educate ourselves. A lot of real education for good diets is not actually covered in necessarily our school education. A lot of us grew up with the food, you know, either the food pyramid or the food groups or different things like that. And it's kind of an ever changing thing, but it's a little bit different when you're doing diets for autoimmune diseases. And so what might be good for the general populace is not always going to be good for you if you are dealing with autoimmune diseases.

So you need to educate yourself, and do some research and, uh, learn to advocate for yourself with those things. We talk about that a lot, but it is important. You need to find resources and we're going to provide some for you in the comments below, and as we talk today, but you need to find those resources and figure out what will be best for you. And always, as always, don't forget to consult with your health care providers.

ALYSIA: Absolutely. I think one of the things that a lot of people might not know. Is, um, that if you have an autoimmune disease, you likely have impaired gut function. And when I talk about gut, it's exactly what you think of, your intestinal track. T here are a whole lot of things we could go into, a whole episode just about this, uh, but we won't get into that right now. We will just let you know, if you were unaware, that your gut health is linked to your autoimmunity, this is one more area you should probably educate yourself in. I'm hoping that we can get, um, my girlfriend who's a nutritionist on here to talk to us about that. But until then, until we have that episode, start doing a little research. I think you'll be surprised at what you learn.

STACY: Part of the reasons why our gut health can be questionable is because we live in a world that is filled with processed foods and refined sugar and modified grains. And we're, we're not going to get political about this guys. We're just going to simply say what our doctors have told us, which is that these things aren't good for us. And I think that most people know that, that all of the processed foods and all of the heavily sugared items in the world are not healthy, that a lot of the grains that are out there are not healthy, especially for people with autoimmunity.

And I'm not saying just celiac disease. I'm talking about several different autoimmune problems that are, um, causing to be flared when you get involved with grains. So do your research there as well. We know it's really hard to hear because sugar tastes delicious. Processed foods make life a whole lot easier. And the hamburger without the bun is lame. And I, I know that, okay. Um, but it doesn't mean that's what's best for us. Easy is nice, but that doesn't make it best. And so we aren't saying you should never eat it. We're just saying that if you have an all or nothing attitude, you're not going to make progress. So try, and as we've discussed on our last episode, take little steps, move yourself forward a little bit at a time.

BECKY: And one of the ways that you can do this is start focusing on foods that help with inflammation. So, anti inflammatory foods, and that's a lot of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, um, small portions of whole healthy grains. Some grains like quinoa are actually really helpful. Um, they're high in protein and we'll have, um, links to some of what are in anti inflammatory foods because some of you are probably asking that right now. So what are anti inflammatory foods? We'll have a link in our blog that talks about some of the ones that are there.

Um, it's great to find anti inflammatory seasonings because then you can put them on a lot of things. One of my favorites has become turmeric, because it's almost a good substitute for pepper or you can even use it with pepper, but it's a great little spice that you can put in almost anything savory, and it is a wonderful anti-inflammatory.

STACY: Cinnamon is also good.

BECKY: Yeah.

ALYSIA: I didn't know that.

STACY: Cinnamon is really, cinnamon is anti inflammatory, and it is also anti microbial. So if you are having problems, cinnamon can help to calm down your intestinal tract and make it feel better. It's also extremely good at controlling blood sugar. Cinnamon is a powerhouse.

ALYSIA: Interesting.

STACY: So, definitely do the research on that.

ALYSIA: That's really cool. I've definitely I take turmeric every day as a supplement. Um, I do use it in recipes, but I take it just for its anti inflammatory properties. Um, and if you might not even be aware of this, but if you have an autoimmune disease, you've got inflammation going on in your body and keeping that inflammation under control is going to make your symptoms much easier to live with.

BECKY: The best way to keep it under control, by the way, is diet. There's, there's medicines, there's things you can do, but literally the best way to control inflammation in your body is through your diet.

ALYSIA: Absolutely. Because there are medications, but those medications we now know have side effects and some of them, um, ironically enough have side effects that really mess up your gastrointestinal system, which is what's impaired already. So we got to be very careful with those medications. Um, and when you're talking about adding, focusing on these anti inflammatory foods. It can be overwhelming if you've been eating the standard American diet, um, and so what you should try to focus on, uh, instead of having the scarcity mindset, if "I'm getting rid of all these things I used to eat," instead of doing that and, and worrying about all the things you quote, unquote, "can't have any more," focus on adding the good things in, making sure you have those five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and the lean proteins, and then, and the nuts and the seeds, those good omega three fatty acids that are going to, that are also anti inflammatory.

And then. You will find you're just not going to be quite as hungry. Um, you're not, your cravings, as you add good food in, your cravings for bad food will lessen over time. And it is something you have to use some willpower. That's just the way it's going to be. And, you know, none of us are perfect. We're not, we, we struggle with our diets still to this day, but we do know what is good for us and what is bad for us in terms of food.

And when you focus on making sure you've got the good stuff in your diet, it's that much easier to say no to the other stuff. The super sweet, the super processed foods, they start to lose their appeal when you eat healthy after a period of time.

BECKY: It's very true.

STACY: I agree. Yeah, I agree. So the key here is that you need to find the right diet for you. What is great for me may not be great for someone else. Why? Because I may, I have celiac disease. I have to have a gluten free diet. Some people, um, need to have like a lot of specific grains because they need those extra vitamins because they have severe absorption problems, which a lot of people with autoimmunity do. So, the key here is to find the right diet for you. And we are not the people that are going to be able to tell you what that diet is, so before we dive into this, you need to understand that you need to go to your doctor about what diet is best for you. We can't consult on all the hundreds of different autoimmune diseases. We can talk to you a lot about celiac disease, but we don't know very much about all of the other ones that we don't have. So go to your doctor. If they will refer you to a dietitian, that is the gold standard. Please go to a dietitian if you can.

BECKY: So the first thing we want to talk about, um, is number one, remembering that you can do hard things because a lot of dieticians and doctors, the first thing they will ask you to do is consider an elimination diet, which is, essentially they will take out all of the things that are very common allergens and intolerances for people, and that usually includes gluten and dairy and a lot of times it includes what they call nightshades, which we'll have lists of what those are so that you have an idea, but just kind of an overview nightshades include like potatoes and tomatoes and eggplant and and things in those family of foods.

A lot of things like that cause inflammation and basically, oh, and eggs is another big one. They take out, they take those out of your diet and for about six weeks, you keep all of those allergens six to eight weeks you keep them out of your diet, and you gradually bring them back in, and you bring them in, in a very, uh, uniformed planned way one at a time so that you can tell if you actually have an interaction with those, and I'm here to tell you this really works, and I know because I did it a couple of years ago.

I did the AIP diet, which is the autoimmune protocol diet, and I did it to help me with my lupus and my celiac disease, but my sweet husband decided that he was going to do it with me just to be supportive, so that it was easier when we were cooking meals not to have to be doing multiple dinners, and whatever, and not to have to be doing multiple meals. And what was interesting is we knew that as we were introducing food back, I found out that I had an intolerance to nuts that I didn't realize I had previously, and so I got those out of my diet, and that was helpful. But what was really interesting is my husband, who was just doing it to be supportive, and make cooking and things easier for the two of us, um, he found out he is really, uh, he gets migraines when he has black pepper.

And so, he doesn't have any autoimmune diseases, but this elimination diet was helpful for him to recognize a trigger that he didn't even realize, like he never would have gone looking for that. It's just ordinary black pepper. And so it is hard, and sometimes it's not very fun, but I highly recommend considering that especially if your doctor recommends it, because it is a very effective way to figure out what your triggers are for your inflammation.

ALYSIA: Yeah, it is super effective and it is super hard. However, in doing so, we've talked before about how important it is to listen to your body, pay attention to how, um, different activities, different foods, different environments, make your body feel. And when it comes to food, this is when you're going to need to pay very close attention.

It's a little easier to do when you do the, I mean, there is something about the elimination diet that's easy, guys. I'll tell you what that little something is. When you introduce something, reintroduce something, you're going to pay attention to your body and you're going to figure out pretty quickly if that food is causing issues for you.

So in my experience with elimination diets, I would say in generally, I felt I failed pretty spectacularly with them, but I did discover a few things that really were bothering me. And, um, you know. Some of the big ones that dairy, um, if I hadn't been paying attention to my body, uh, I would never know. And previous to doing the elimination diet, I would never have guessed that dairy was a problem for me because I had it all the time.

And so it just wasn't a, a point in time where I could say, oh, but I had dairy and it bothered me because I had it every single day. And I, I kind of felt like garbage every single day. And when I eliminated it, sure enough, I started feeling better. Listening to your body!

STACY: That's why it's important to have an individualized approach to think about yourself as an individual. And the nice thing about elimination diets and listening to your body is that you are individualizing your own. Self care, um, but even with that said there are things that work better for people than others Some people do really well with the Mediterranean diet. I personally, that's my go to. I did Paleo for a little while and it didn't work for me, but as Alysia has already said, it worked great for her. Um, I think we've all done the AIP at one time or another, and the autoimmune protocol, it is powerful. It's really powerful stuff. So, there are several good ways to approach it, and this is why you need a dietician, or at least a good doctor, who will listen to you and help guide you through the process of finding the things that are making you have problems.

So don't give up. Try. It's, it's a process of elimination in your life as well. Finding something that's causing a problem and getting rid of it or making a little bit of a sacrifice to figure out one thing or another. And as you begin to do that, you will feel better. So don't be scared to take that individualized approach.

BECKY: Yeah. And remember, as you're doing some of these things, a lot of people get really hung up on needing to have everything be organic, and organic is awesome. If you can afford to do it, it's great, but organic is not always possible. Um, it's just, especially if you, if it's not in your budget than it's not in your budget, and it is better to try and do The fruits and vegetables the lean proteins and the things you need, and just do the best you can. If you can't afford grass fed beef, just get yourself some lean beef. If you can't afford those, you know that organic lettuce and tomatoes to make your salad, then get the regular ones and just wash them really well before you make your salad. Just do what you can to try to keep it workable for you, and recognize that bringing in the healthy foods in some form or fashion is better than not bringing them in at all.

ALYSIA: Absolutely. And I think there's a lot of good ways you can do that. Um, to find those foods that even if they're not certified organic, they might be just better for you because there are benefits to eating foods that are local to your area, your region, right? You talk, you hear about, um, uh, honey. You know, and how, how honey can help your allergies, right? If you are taking in honey from your local bees, have you guys heard this before?

BECKY: Yes.

ALYSIA: Yeah. So, I love the idea of going to farmer's markets. I love food co ops, these places that have local produce. If you can get your hands on it are great, but if you can't, don't let it stress you out. Like Becky said, do the best you can.

You can just, you can get what you can get. And clean it really well. If you, if you don't know about cleaning your produce, do a little research on there, educate yourself there, but there's advantages to, um, getting things locally in a farmer's market. If you develop a relationship with a farmer, you can get, you know, half a cow, or you can get really fresh chicken, really fresh eggs. Like there's a lot of things you can do, um, in your little community to be getting access to, to really good foods for you.

STACY: If you're not in a little community, if you're in a big city, let's talk about the food desert for a second. I've lived in a large city. I know that in some parts of the city, it is really hard to find produce. And if you're financially strapped, if you're on food stamps, or if you're getting help to pay for your food, or you're going to a food pantry to get your food, you get what there is. That's all you can do. So, this is what I'm going to say. You can still use your food stamps as wisely as possible. Canned green beans are not as healthy as fresh green beans, but they're still vegetables, and they're still good for you, and they're still more healthy than a bag of potato chips.

So, you need to think in terms of, I, no matter where you're at, you are going to be able to have some choice. Try and do the best you can with your choices, and then let it go. Don't stress out, because stress doesn't help you feel better. It makes things worse, and you can only do what you can do. So, we don't want to just make it sound like, Oh, it's all grand and wonderful and go to, you know, to all the farmers markets and buy all the fresh produce in organic form, because we know that isn't possible for everyone. But we do know that it's possible to make the best choices we can with the circumstances that we have.

BECKY: Yes, absolutely. Um, one of the other good choices that we can make that will be helpful to us, there are a lot of people out there that enjoy watching food shows or following food blogs and a lot of times those food blogs are dessert blogs.

Um, I know, I don't even know how I got it, but I have one that comes through my Facebook feed, like, all the time with all of these desserts. But we need to remember that sometimes we, in a sense, we eat with our eyes. Um, as in we, we see something and, like, it can actually trigger appetites for us. Like, "Ooh, that just looks good. I want to go make that now." And so, don't fill your eyes with unhealthy options. If you are a foodie, and you like to follow food blogs, find some ones that are healthy and make it easier on yourself, so you're not seeing all the stuff that you feel like you're missing out on, but you're looking for new things that look like they'd be fun to try and ways that will be better and healthier for your body.

ALYSIA: Yeah. It's important to find some kind of, some level of enthusiasm about this, right? You have to develop some level of enthusiasm for changing your diet because it is a difficult thing to do. It's a lifelong process. It's not something you do overnight. Just slowly, slowly start it. Or if you can do it a little quicker, great, but I'm talking slowly start exchanging those items in your in your pantry, in your cupboards, in your fridge. Those ones that are, you know, are not good for you, phase them out, phase them out, either get rid of them or completely, or replace them with a healthy alternative. And I promise you, there are millions of resources to find products like this, or to make your own products like this.

There's so, so much you can do. This is the reason we are so excited about talking about food is because we have found that it is the most effective thing we can do personally to manage our symptoms of autoimmunity. And so, that is why we have another episode next week that we're going to release. We're going to be talking about food some more.

We're going to be talking about navigating food in a social setting. We're going to be talking about strategies to make healthy choices a little easier for you. Um, we are passionate about food, because we grew up in a home where food is love, right, ladies?

STACY: Yes.

BECKY: Absolutely.

ALYSIA: And it's really hard to be told you have to eliminate things, or you have to change things that are ingrained in you. They, I mean, these, these recipes we grew up with that are just ingrained in us. It's hard. And there is a period of grief. And sometimes that grief comes in waves. Even years later, I've been gluten free for 12, 13 years or something. And I still get sad that I can't ever have a fresh baked cinnamon roll that my mom would make, you know.

STACY: And I miss her fresh baked bread and her Christmas candy. And those are all things we can't eat anymore. And we are going to talk about how we can take that grief, and and set it aside, and still have a social and enjoyable time.

So, next week, we're going to talk about how to navigate food in a social setting and how to make healthy choices, not just when we're going out, but in general. So, please join us next week as we delve more into the joy of figuring out what we can eat with autoimmunity.

As always, if you have any questions or comments that you'd like to make, leave them below and please visit us at autoimmuneadventures. com.

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Types of diets that can help people with autoimmune issues: