Eileen

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Episode 197: Parenting with Chronic Illness

Autoimmune disease brings a lot of changes to our lives, and as we all know, it doesn’t just impact us alone. It also impacts those we love – friends, family, and children. Today, I’ve invited three parents with autoimmune disease onto the podcast to talk about their experiences. What has been the most challenging part? How have they adapted as parents? How do they talk to their children about their health? And how have their children grown in response? This is a deeply personal conversation, and I’m so grateful to the guests for sharing. I hope it resonates with every parent listening, and helps you know you’re not alone.

Footprints of a Woman and a Dog on Sand

Can Pets Support Autoimmune Health?

I asked this question of my fellow autoimmune warriors, and their answer was a resounding yes! In this post, I share beautiful photos of people with their pets, alongside their testimonials. I also dive into the research and share what science says about the potential health benefits. In balance, I also honor that there are times when pets aren’t the right choice and I share those circumstances, too.

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Episode 196: Troubleshooting with Dr. Terry Wahls

This podcast is all about autoimmune empowerment! Making choices in our daily lives that minimize symptoms and maximize our joy in living. That said, it’s not always easy. Sometimes the habits are hard to start and hard to keep. Other times, you’re doing everything right but not seeing the results you hoped to achieve. So, today, we’re doing a troubleshooting episode with an expert guest and one of my favorite people: Dr. Terry Wahls. She is a functional medicine physician, a clinical researcher, a professor of medicine, and a fellow autoimmune warrior. In this episode, she shares her best advice for thriving with autoimmune disease and troubleshooting the obstacles we encounter along the way. We talk about motivation, family dynamics, digestion, supplements, physical therapy, personalized diets, and more!

Ann smiling in her kitchen wearing a kansas jayhawks shirt - a favorite sports team

Ann’s Healing Story (CREST: Limited Scleroderma)

After 23 years of living with scleroderma, Ann has experienced both lows and highs. She’s become an expert on her condition, because she had to be. Many doctors didn’t offer the care she needed because scleroderma is a rare condition that very few doctors truly understand. Now, she has a great healthcare team, and she is at the center. She’s also become more empowered over the years with her daily life choices. She actively supports her health through diet, meditation, exercise, sleep, and other forms of self-care. As she puts it: “I have the capability to overcome a lot of what happens to me, and I am in control of my autoimmune journey.”

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Episode 195: Detoxify Your Home with Dr. Aly Cohen

When we think of pollution, the first images that come to mind are things like smokestacks, oil spills, smog, and greenhouse gases. But you may not realize that your home can contain pollution as well – in your water supply, in the air you breathe, and in the products you purchase. More than 80,000 new chemicals have been released into the world since the industrial revolution 150 years ago, and most of them within the past 50 years. These chemicals have never been fully tested for their effects on our bodies or the environment. And a lot of them are inside our homes. On top of that, people with autoimmune disease are often more sensitive to chemicals, and toxins can be an autoimmune trigger. I don’t say this to scare anyone. This podcast is about empowerment. So, today we’re going to share tips for reducing the toxins in our homes. Every step we take is a positive one. My guest is Dr. Aly Cohen, an integrative rheumatologist and an expert on non-toxic living.

10 Nutrient-Dense Fruit and Vegetable Scraps We Should Be Eating Instead of Throwing Away | Phoenix Helix

10 Nutrient-Dense Fruit and Vegetable Scraps We Should Be Eating Instead of Throwing Away

A key component of a healing diet is nutrient-density and diversity. In the paleo AIP community, the list of foods to avoid often gets the most attention. But simultaneously, we need to expand the list of nourishing foods that we eat. One great way to do that is to look at the produce in our kitchens and see which edible parts we’re throwing away. Often, they are the most nutritious!

Episode 194: Thyroid Tests with Dr. Datis Kharrazian

Two of the most common autoimmune diagnoses are Hashimoto’s Disease and Graves’ disease, and they both involve the thyroid. Conventional doctors often run a simple thyroid test as part of an annual physical. The problem is that it doesn’t catch every thyroid problem. Functional medicine physicians run a complete thyroid panel, which gives a more expansive picture, but it’s not always a clear picture. Today, we’re going to go over what each test measures and how to interpret your results. My guest is Dr. Datis Kharrazian, an award-winning researcher, clinician, author, and educator. Many of you are familiar with his bestselling book, Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal? He has a new online class called Hashimoto’s: Solving the Puzzle.

Can the Mind-Body Connection Improve Food Tolerance?

Did you know that digestion starts in the brain? When we don’t pay attention to our meals and instead multi-task at mealtime, or eat under stress, our digestion becomes suppressed. This can lead to uncomfortable gastroinstestinal symptoms and also increase food intolerance. In this article, I share simple ways to harness the mind-body connection to not only digest your meals better, but enjoy them more too!

Episode 193: Accessible Yoga with Jivana Heyman

Before autoimmune disease, did you have a yoga practice that you loved but can no longer do? Do you struggle to find a way to adapt your practice to your ever-changing autoimmune body? Do you miss yoga and want to make it part of your life again? Or maybe you have never practiced yoga, but would love to try and don’t know where to begin. This podcast is for you! My guest is Jivana Heyman, founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association and co-founder of the Accessible Yoga Training School. He has over 25 years of experience teaching yoga to people of diverse abilities. In this episode, we’re going to troubleshoot a wide variety of autoimmune symptoms and talk about how to develop a personalized yoga practice.

Episode 192: Healthy Food Swaps & Nutritious Combos with Annie Rubin, RDN

If you’re new to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, a lot of your favorite foods are suddenly off the table and you may wonder what you can eat! In today’s podcast, we share AIP food swaps for the foods you miss the most. We also share some powerful superfood combinations. My guest is Annie Rubin. She is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and an AIP Certified Coach. She’s also a fellow autoimmune warrior living with rheumatoid arthritis herself.

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2 Million Podcast Downloads Celebration Giveaway!

$1,000 GIVEAWAY! It’s time to celebrate! Thanks to all of you who listen to my podcast, I just hit a huge milestone: 2 million downloads! To celebrate, I’m hosting a giveaway with over $1,000 in prizes. There are 4 US-only prizes and 4 international prizes. So, no matter where you live around the world, you’re eligible to enter! Prizes include ShopAIP, Luminance Skincare, Sip Herbals, Bonafide Provisions, Chronicon, Autoimmune Strong, Real Plans, and a Visual Journaling Course taught by Olwen Wilson. Every prize supports autoimmune health! Click through to the blog post for details. I’ll choose the winners 1/28/22.

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Episode 191: Healing Stories 9

If you’re a regular listener of my podcast, you know that I start every year with a Healing Stories episode. It features back-to-back interviews with autoimmune warriors just like you! I ask them to share their journey from rock bottom to reclaiming a vital life. In this episode, we talk about rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia, myasthenia gravis, and also autoimmunity in general. Everyone’s story is unique, but we also have so much in common. Whatever your diagnosis, I hope these stories resonate and inspire.

50 Paleo AIP Breakfast Recipes

The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) can be life-changing, reducing inflammation and autoimmune symptoms and helping us reclaim a vital and joyful life. However, the elimination phase is intimidating! For many of us, it removes all the foods we used to eat, especially for breakfast. When eggs, grains, and dairy are off the table, what on earth can you eat? I have 50 delicious answers to that question!

Episode 190: Best Of – Blood Sugar & Autoimmunity with Dr. Jeff Horacek

This is one of the most popular podcast episodes – for good reason! Autoimmune health depends on blood sugar balance. When our blood sugar gets too high, drops too low, or swings wildly between these extremes, it increases inflammation in our body. If this happens regularly, it leads to chronic inflammation. In today’s episode, we’ll be sharing diet, lifestyle, and functional medicine tips for achieving and maintaining blood sugar balance. My guest is Dr. Jeff Horacek, a functional medicine physician with over 20 years of experience. Blood sugar is one of his medical specialties.

Episode 189: Best Of – Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics with Jeff Warren

This is one of the most popular podcast episodes – for good reason! If you think you can’t meditate, this podcast is for you. Do you picture meditators sitting quietly with completely empty minds – something you could never do? Let me tell you a secret: those people don’t exist. Even the Dalai Lama has thoughts while he meditates. The mind is designed to think just like the heart is designed to beat. Meditation isn’t about stopping thoughts; it’s learning how to notice and detach from them. There are also many different ways to meditate, including moving meditations, or cultivating mindful moments in everyday life. My guest is Jeff Warren, who is known as the “MacGyver of Meditation”. He excels at fixing people’s meditation problems. In this episode, we talk about common meditation obstacles for people with autoimmune disease, and how to overcome them.

Navigating a Flare-Free Holiday Season

Once upon a time winter was a peaceful season, a time of communal rest and renewal. Modern life has changed that dramatically. It’s now the busiest time of the year with the pressure to do too much, spend too much, and push our bodies to their limits. That’s not a recipe for autoimmune health, so let’s make a pact to do it differently. In this blog post, I share my best tips for stress management, boosting your body for health, navigating holiday gatherings, Paleo AIP gift ideas, and delicious AIP recipes for Christmas cookies and holiday treats. Here’s to a healthy holiday season!

Episode 188: Overcoming Food Fear

When you first experience the connection between the food you eat and how you feel, that can be an empowering moment. But when certain foods cause you to flare, that can also inspire a fear of food. This is a natural reaction, but it also has consequences. The fear itself can cause autoimmune flares and also increase food sensitivity, creating a vicious cycle. Suddenly, all food feels dangerous, and we over-restrict our diets, which harms our health long-term. There is good news! We can overcome food fear, replacing it with a deep knowledge about our bodies and enjoy eating again. That’s our goal with our conversation today. My guests are fellow autoimmune warriors, Nitika Chopra and Alison Marras. We share our own experiences with food fear and tips for overcoming it.  

Episode 187: COVID-19 Vaccines and Autoimmune Disease with Dr. Aly Cohen

Dr. Aly Cohen is an integrative rheumatologist who blends both conventional and holistic approaches in her medical practice. She’s been a great resource for accurate coronavirus information since the pandemic began. I interviewed her in Episode 154 about COVID-19 infections among people with autoimmune disease and what factors increased vs. decreased our risk. I invited her back onto the podcast today to talk about vaccines. This is a topic many of you requested when the vaccines first became available in early 2021. At that time, there was no data on people with autoimmune disease because we weren’t included in the initial research studies. Now, enough people have been vaccinated that the data is available, and we’ll be sharing it with you today.

50 Paleo AIP Thanksgiving Recipes

Now that Halloween has passed, are you starting to plan for Thanksgiving? I’ve got you covered with 50 Delicious Paleo AIP Thanksgiving Recipes! Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, Sides, Desserts, Beverages, and More!

Episode 186: How to Ask for Help with Kalene Khan

Human beings depend on each other. Sometimes we give help, and sometimes we receive it, but many of us are much more comfortable in the giving role. Autoimmune disease can turn the tables quickly. Suddenly, we’re in a position where we need help more often. If we were the caregivers before, how do we navigate this change in identity? How do we face the fears that may arise – of vulnerability, feeling weak, being seen as a burden, or people saying no? If you took pride in your independence, do you feel shame if you need help? There are gifts that come with learning to receive: a deeper intimacy in relationships, a greater sense of self-compassion, a more expansive sense of identity, and a stronger connection with humanity. But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy transformation. My guest is Kalene Khan, a licensed therapist who specializes in self-compassion. She helps people learn to be as kind to themselves as they are to others. She is our guide for this conversation today.

Lauren’s Healing Story (Autoimmune Encephalitis)

What happens when diet and lifestyle changes don’t lead to the improvements you seek, and the doctors aren’t providing solutions that work either? It may seem strange that I’m highlighting a story where the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol wasn’t the answer, but sometimes that happens. Lauren Mabry didn’t give up. Autoimmune encephalitis is a rare autoimmune condition that’s only recently been discovered. That was a huge barrier to an accurate diagnosis. She went to multiple doctors and tried both conventional and functional medicine approaches. While she would experience short-term improvements, her symptoms always returned and eventually escalated to the point that nothing helped. She continued to advocate for her health until she got the right diagnosis, and eventually the right treatment (having to fight her insurance company to receive it). She’s a role model of persistence and self-advocacy and shares her story with us today.

Episode 185: Eye Health and Autoimmune Disease with Dr. Rani Banik

I have two friends who were diagnosed with autoimmune disease through a referral from their ophthalmologist. Their first symptoms appeared in their eyes. Across diagnoses, this is common. Eye pain, dryness, swelling, inflammation, vision loss, and double vision – almost every autoimmune diagnosis can include eye symptoms. This is why an ophthalmologist is an important person to have on our healthcare team. Today, we’re lucky enough to have an integrative ophthalmologist on the podcast. Dr. Rani Banik is a board-certified neuro-ophthalmologist with over 20 years of medical experience as a clinician, educator, and researcher. She also has specialized training in functional medicine and treats her patients from a holistic perspective.

Episode 184: Anti-Inflammatory Supplements with Dr. Amy Nett

Inflammation is a root cause for most chronic disease and it’s a major player in autoimmune disease. That’s why most doctors track inflammation on blood tests, because it often corresponds to autoimmune activity. Many patients find anti-inflammatory supplements helpful. Which ones have the most science behind them? How do they each work in our bodies to reduce inflammation? And how can you tell if one might be helpful for you? These are the questions we’ll be answering today, and we’re focusing on three popular supplements: fish oil, curcumin, and quercetin. My guest is Dr. Amy Nett. She’s a medical doctor whose specialty is functional and integrative medicine, and many of her patients have autoimmune disease. 

10 Answers to the Question: Why Do You Eat That Way?

The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) has the potential to make a big difference in your health, which is why so many people with autoimmune disease try this healing diet. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, and one of the challenges is how other people respond. Friends, family, coworkers, even strangers are likely to notice you’re suddenly eating differently than everyone around you. You turn down the birthday cake at the office or family birthday party. You show up with your own food to a holiday dinner. You ask the waiter extra questions when eating in a restaurant. You serve food in your own home that’s delicious but doesn’t come from a box. Healthy eating stands out, because we live in a world where unhealthy eating is the norm. It’s natural for people to have questions, and it’s helpful to have some quick answers ready. Here are ten answers for a wide variety of situations.

Episode 183: Detoxifying Foods with Andrea Nakayama

Our bodies naturally have the ability to detoxify and do it every single day. However, problems can develop, and that’s not uncommon with autoimmune disease. The answer isn’t an aggressive “cleanse” where we try to force our bodies to do a year’s worth of detox in 30 days. Instead, we need to support our bodies year-round. There are foods that support our detox pathways, and foods that can interfere with them. That’s what today’s podcast is all about. My guest is Andrea Nakayama, a world-renowned functional nutritionist and educator, whose mission is to change the way we do healthcare by empowering patients to reclaim ownership over their own health.

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