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Episode 154: Mitochondria and Your Health

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mitochondria and your health

Mitochondria and Your Health

Have you ever heard of mitochondria? What about mitochondrial health? Think real hard, maybe back to middle school science (coulda been highschool the first time I heard about them).

If you were able to vaguely scratch from your memory that they are the powerhouse of your cells - you are correct. Our cells are made up of “parts” called organelles. Think of them as tiny organs inside each cell that have specialized functions (kind of like a smaller version of you).

There are approximately 10 million billion (yeah that is a number) in the human body and they cycle through life and death fairly rapidly. Mitochondria are like tiny factories that take what we eat and the oxygen we breathe and turn it into energy that powers our organs.

Today we are talking about these little powerhouses of the cells, these mitochondria, and what impact they have on your health. With this little glimpse into what mitochondria do - you can bet they are important for your health. In fact, mitochondrial health is one of the first things that must be addressed BEFORE jumping into any healing protocol. I like to address it right alongside drainage. Let’s dig in.

Have you ever been talked to about your Mitochondrial Health?

Has anyone in your entire medical history talked to you about those little mitochondria? We know that mitochondria have a huge role in things that have an effect on your daily life - like aging, disease, immunity, cancer, and fatigue. They are part of your stress signaling pathway, mitochondria are part of your energy production and metabolism too.

It has been determined that mitochondria play a huge role in tumor suppression and oncogenes with studies indicating that altered cellular metabolism via mitochondria is both contributory and causative in cancer.

Mitochondria also play a role in viral immunity - the condition, formation, and function of these billions of cells are both critical to maintaining your health.

And lastly, in 2011, studies confirmed that a defect in mitochondrial function in one single tissue in the body has consequences for the whole body. This study was done in mice and confirmed in humans. So rather than thinking of them as powerhouses for the cell - think of them as powerhouses for your entire body, that not only produce energy but also help to detoxify, fight infections, regulate immunity, repair DNA, store calcium, and generate heat! Usually, when I spill all of this info - people want to know - why haven’t I heard about this before?!

So what does all this mean for you? Mitochondria power nearly everything we do, I have only mentioned a few things here so far - this would be far to long to list them all. And mitochondrial health is critical - absolutely critical for your expression of wellness. And it is one of the first things (alongside your drainage pathways - to work on to balance your health).

Mini-Case Study

Recently I had a client, early 40s, previously super active, had some immune system insults in the form of a virus (ya know THE virus), and even though they had officially been recovered for months - they just didn’t have the oomph to start working out again, in fact, they didn’t have the endurance for much of anything.

One of the first things we looked at was their energy and drainage - are all the drainage pathways functioning as they should AND let's look at these spectacular little powerhouses!

We found through routine bloodwork (a CBC and CMP) that her mitochondria were not healthy - specifically because the virus had likely wiped them out. This is a typical post-viral syndrome that is occurring with THIS virus.

Once we started nursing those cells back to health and ensure that the drainage pathways were functioning again we were able to get her from zapped to moving again in about 6 weeks!

Why healthy mitochondria?

Having healthy mitochondrial function helps your body to:

  • Produce and metabolize oxygen and energy
  • Prevent disease
  • Regulate immunity
  • Detoxify properly (including EBV, heavy metals, lyme, mold, HPV, parasites just to name a few)

These things damage our mitochondria:

  • Oxidative stress
  • Mental/Emotional Stress
  • EMF Stress
  • Chemical/toxin stress
  • Prescription and over-the-counter medications and illicit drugs such as acetaminophen, antibiotics, aspirin, NSAIDs, Statins, Cocaine, Methamphetamine (including ADHD meds), and many other commonly used medications.

This shows up in our human suits as fatigue, sleeplessness, catching many viruses, infertility, hormones out of whack, inability to lose weight, premature hair graying, overactive appetite, lack of motivation, exercise intolerance just to name a few.

7 Steps to Healing Your Mitochondria

  1. Sunshine. You are solar powered by the sun. Just like the plants. You need sunshine every day and when you can’t get sunshine every day - you must supplement with sunshine in a bottle (Vitamin D3 - make sure it has k2).
  2. Magnesium. Your mitochondria need magnesium. Did you try magnesium and it didn’t help with your other symptoms? Doesn’t matter because you need it for your mitochondria.
  3. Sleep is critical. You can find my 2 sleep episodes: sleep hygiene here and when you need extra sleep help here. Restorative sleep allows the brain to clear the waste and maintain healthy mitochondria.
  4. Avoid toxins. Easier said than done - but you must do what you can, there are simple changes that go a LONG way such as swapping out those toxic household cleaners, detergents, and cosmetics and avoiding plastics as much as possible.
  5. Grounding or Earthing. This can be combined with getting your sunshine! Grounding or earthing is the practice of applying bare skin to the Earth. This allows the body to draw in electrons to neutralize free radicals and enhance positive physiological responses. Sounds crazy but there is reliable scientific data behind this practice. Aside from all of the benefits for your body and there are a ton - grounding impacts the health of your mitochondria by allowing them to do less work to get rid of accumulated waste.
  6. Work on your polarity. When the polarity is off in your body - just like when you put the battery in the remote upside-down - things just don’t work right. I will be sharing in the Wellness Circle this week about some simple energy tricks to fix your body’s polarity in a flash!
  7. Get Help. Sometimes you need more than just the above to recover from a mitochondrial deficit. Don’t suffer, ask for help with your mitochondria and energy levels.

More questions?

If you have more questions about mitochondrial health and how this might be affecting your ability to heal from chronic illness and heal from the root causes of your troubles, I would love to have join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Root Cause Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered - friends chronic disease is a preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up - your mitochondrial health is one of the keys to your health and vitality (and maintaining your natural hair color). I encourage you to tune in and notice if your mitochondria need support - might this be your missing link?

Remember that I am always rooting for you, friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Plant Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

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foods that fight inflammation

Plant-Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 145: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Inflammation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution Waitlist

Wellness Circle

Complimentary Case Review

Study Links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31058853
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21358121
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25672622
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27833054
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31867989
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31329250
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28194262
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30186809
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26215012
http://www.jdrr.org/article.asp?issn=2348-2915;year=2015;volume=2;issue=2;spage=70;epage=72;aulast=Rajpurohit

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

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Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Foods that Fight Inflammation

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Hey friends, inflammation is a beast, right? That’s why I am gonna give you 4 plant-based foods that fight inflammation in today’s episode, but that's not all we are talking about. I also want to talk to you about inflammation because a lot has changed since the last time we talked about this topic (over 100 episodes ago - including some of the ways we look at how, why, and when we should be fighting inflammation and the depth of information that I want to share with you about it here. Even in terms of acute injuries, conventional medicine has also changed its stance on what to do about inflammation.

So in today’s episode, we are talking about a whole host of information that will help you learn how, when, why to fight inflammation and when you might oughta leave it be. We are talking:

  • When inflammation is good
  • When inflammation is bad and contributes to long term health problems
  • What some of the root causes of inflammation are and what you can do about it
  • The inflammation benefits of my favorite 8 plant foods that fight inflammation

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Before we dive in, Another quick invite I have for you is to jump on the Autoimmune Revolution waitlist if you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community! We will be opening registration again very soon - get on the list at audreychristie.com/autoimmunerevolution

The Truth About Fighting Inflammation

I’m just gonna come out and say it - if you keep masking inflammation you get more inflammation and eventually you get really sick. That about sums it up. Doesn’t matter if you are doing it with conventional methods or natural methods, medicine from the doctor, or supplements, eventually, that inflammation bucket fills up and overflows AND depending on your genetic makeup and what genes have been turned on or off depends on what that overflow does in your body.

For some people it is an autoimmune condition, for some people, it is allergies, for others heart disease, depression, memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, cancer, weight gain, and for some it is a stair-step through all of these things.

Is Inflammation a problem for you...

One way to tell if you have been squelching inflammation and the cause of that inflammation is still happening is when you get relief from a remedy and then it comes back with a vengeance. For example, I see frequently with my clients - when we start on a protocol and we start looking at pushing pause or stopping altogether the supplements they have been taking for some time. Often they really want to keep taking certain ones like turmeric, omega 3, and I started taking high doses of omega 3 and was doing so good and then the benefits started drifting down or they went away completely. But often these clients remember how they felt for sometimes even a brief window and attribute that to the supplement or change and don’t want to let go of that supplement or stop avoiding that food. If that is you, then listen up - that is a sign that you are squelching inflammation that is trying to give you clues to what your root cause is, or at least wave a flag saying help! Warning!

Your Permission Slip

So the first thing I want to do is give you full permission to investigate, to take steps to heal, you only get one shot at this life so why spend your time and energy fighting to feel good enough when you could be waking up every day feeling good?

The Two-Faced Nature of Inflammation

Inflammation is a process in your body where your immune system is alerted to something needing repair. Your immune system releases chemical messengers and it leads to redness, swelling, and/or pain. Sometimes this is perceivable from the outside of the body and sometimes it is just perceivable internally.

Inflammation is important, protective even, to heal damaged tissues and even prevent infection. The problem comes in when there is a constant alert like toxins, chronic infections, stress, any number of things that can trigger ongoing inflammation, that’s where you lead to troubles that last and last.

The goal is to keep inflammation as your body’s fire alarm, only pulling the alarm when you really need it.

What are some of the root causes of inflammation?

Toxins, parasites, food allergies and sensitivities, stress, Lyme, molds, pesticides, air pollution, chronic co-infections, heavy metals, candida, SIBO, hormone imbalance, poor drainage pathways - the list is long and exhaustive and can be difficult to get to on your own. Inflammation, like everything, is often a tree with many roots, but the good news about doing the work to find the roots is that you can heal.

I can get you started on your journey with my newly updated Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart - you can download it on the show notes page or at audreychrisite.com/autoimmune

Plant-Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

Sprouts particularly Broccoli Sprouts Fight Inflammation

Have you heard of sprouting? I talk about it a lot on my Instagram - so easy - so delish and as a sidebar a great project for kids!

Sprouts are rich in a phytochemical compound called sulforaphane. Broccoli sprouts in particular have about 100 times the amount of sulforaphane in them as other sprouts.

Sulforaphane supports something in your body called the Nrf2 pathway - it is like the self-defense system for your cells. It can turn genes on and off, including those that utilize antioxidants, this is critical if you are suffering from inflammation and if you have an autoimmune disease or other chronic health issues - you for sure do.

Sulforaphane also helps your body to better use glutathione that helps to protect your body from free radical damage caused by environmental toxins - things like pesticides, air pollution, and mold. Sounds like some of the things I mentioned in the root causes, huh?

It can also help your brain and nerve-related disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and even depression and anxiety...although it has mostly been studied in animal research, the results are promising. 

What I love about it is that it tastes great, and if you always have a batch in progress - you can sprinkle it everywhere - smoothies, salads, potatoes, sandwiches, soups - really it goes anywhere and is very easy to incorporate.

Wild Blueberries Fight Inflammation

You already know that blueberries are super good for you, they are considered a super fruit because they are high in powerful antioxidants (specifically anthocyanins).

These anthocyanins also support the Nrf2 pathway, they help with detox, inflammation, and aid in your digestive health. Anyone dealing with a complex chronic illness, autoimmune disease, or a collection of symptoms - add blueberries to your day!

Wild blueberries also help protect your liver, immune function, reduce heart disease, support healthy blood sugar regulation, protect your eyes, enhance your lung tissue, increase your physical endurance, and support bone health too.

Wheatgrass (whole) helps to Fight Inflammation

Wheatgrass is full of minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, and all kinds of beautiful healing plant compounds. It’s particularly protective for the liver and with heavy metal toxicity. And is protective for the mouth, gums, and teeth. It helps to protect it from harmful bacteria.

Lab tests every show that it can deter the growth of cancer cells, so be sure and put it in your smoothie!

It's another easy/fun one to grow right on your window ledge.

But wait, what about gluten? Wheatgrass does not contain gluten.

Pineapple to Fight Inflammation

The bromelain in pineapple helps to combat inflammation and support immune function including getting rid of parasites, reducing airway asthma, helping with joint pain and stiffness, reducing bruising, improving heart health, and reducing blood clots. Here’s a fun benefit, you may know that cancer cells are cancerous because they don’t die when they should, they reproduce and proliferate and don’t die off, bromelain in pineapple helps to encourage cancer cells to go through cell apoptosis (cell death) of cancer cells.

If you have more questions about inflammation and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up -

Inflammation is a warning and repair system in our body. When you just can’t shake something - look to find the root cause, rather than continuing to squash that inflammatory response. Incorporating these foods I mentioned will help to relieve the inflammation and have a side benefit of working on some of the root cause issues that might be an issue for you.

I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Do Detoxes Work

By

do detoxes work

Do Detoxes Work

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 144: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Do Detoxes Work: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution Waitlist

5 Day Rest and Reset

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Do Detoxes Work

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Hey friends, today we are tackling a tough topic, do detoxes work. This time of year I am normally running my annual nourishing detox, this year we are running them exclusively in the Autoimmune Revolution membership, but the question still comes up - do detoxes work?

This is a tough topic because the answer is a little complicated. Detoxing your body DOES work, but not in the way you are probably thinking! Therein lies the tough part. Many conventional medicine practitioners would have you think you don’t need to detox - because your liver and kidney’s and skin already do that) and while that's true there is so much more to it than that!

So in today’s episode, we are talking about do detoxes work, should you be doing them, what kind and how long, and what are the actual benefits vs dangers?

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Are you wondering if detoxes work?

If you haven’t heard of detoxing then you may not have social media, maybe even not the radio or tv. Like at all. I know Artificial Intelligence targets you by your interests so what we see on social is all different, but I only have to start thinking about when I am holding my seasonal detoxes and the detox and cleanses ads go crazy.

The problem with these, whether they are free or paid, juice or supplement, new or old, is that often they make claims that aren’t true, they cause troubles in your body, or they are just plain dangerous.

A story about a detox gone wrong...

I had a client that came to me after a 3-day juice cleanse. She had done the cleanse, wasn’t given too many instructions to go with it, so she continued working out regularly, keeping up her busy pace in life, and really didn’t change anything other than no solid food for 3 days. She had started on a highly processed inflammatory diet went right to the juice cleanse (of conventional produce) and then right back off of juice and back on to her Standard American Diet.

Do you think she saw any benefits? Nope. In fact, she saw worsening of her symptoms, GI upset, skin rashes, lasting fatigue, and had sleep issues during the cleanse and for weeks after.

So based on this anecdotal information, you might think that I am going to tell you that the answer to “do detoxes work” is a hard no. Guess again!

You see it is not that detoxes don’t work, it's just that they aren’t magic bullets for wellness, and often, if they aren’t done the right way, or with the right ingredients, or the right length of time then they can actually make things worse. There are many cases of people cleansing or detoxing, feeling better for a week or two and then their symptoms come back with vengeance.

There is also a big difference between a detox where we are getting rid of parasites, bugs, biofilms, and coinfections AND a nutritional detox that sort of resets the system. Like a big difference, they are often used together but they have very different results, benefits, and risks. In upcoming episodes, I will be talking more about that for sure.

How to Tell if You Need to Detox

Here are some signs that you might need a nutritional detox:

  1. You feel like you need a reset button on life (yep there is an energetic component to this too)
  2. You’ve been feeling sluggish. Physically and internally, are you having 2-3 solid and smooth bowel movements a day?
  3. You are having digestive troubles at either end.
  4. You’ve been feeling bloated and gassy.
  5. Your skin is irritated and inflamed, like eczema to psoriasis.
  6. You're suffering from seasonal or environmental allergies
  7. Your menstrual cycles are irregular.
  8. You're moody. Feeling anything but balnaced from depression to anxiety to irritation.
  9. You're swelling.
  10. You have bags under your eyes. (this is not always a sleep/rest issue)
  11. You are mentally foggy.
  12. You feel fatigued.
  13. You are having low back pain

If you are suffering from more than 2 of those symptoms or if you are suffering from a collection of symptoms yet to be diagnosed, a chronic illness or infection, or an autoimmune condition...it's probably time for some deeper help. We will talk about that too.

When that happens or if it is happening now, you are likely thinking, “what is happening in my body!?” Often followed by “do I need to detox?” and “do detoxes work?”

It’s pretty simple, over long periods of time, months, and years, you are exposed repeatedly to toxins, parasites, molds, all sorts of things. They are in our air, water, food, and every product around you. Over long periods of time, These toxins accumulate and eventually start to impair our natural detoxifying pathways and cause dis-ease. Our natural detoxification pathways are digestion via bowel movements, kidneys via urine, the liver, and our skin is the last resort.

I think a bucket analogy explains this in really simple terms. Think of your body as a bucket. Over time your bucket gets filled with things like toxins and contaminants from all over the place. Our liver, kidneys, digestive system, and the rest of the body tries their best to keep up processing what is put in this bucket each day. If our total toxic load sometimes also called a body burden becomes too much for our liver and kidneys to deal with each day, if our body can't keep up, then our bucket overflows and the toxins spill out and overwhelm our body. This is where we can see disease processes from these toxins begin.

Sometimes people will say, "but Audrey I eat whatever I want I go out to eat all the time and I did a juice cleanse and I didn't have any detox effect at all. So your bucket analogy is wrong."

I wish it were, but generally what that means is that your toxin load is maxed out and you're likely headed for big trouble. The right answer here is not to continue to try to detox until you get a reaction or feel better, the right answer is to stop strengthen the body's detox Pathways and then go back and detox.

How to Detox

If you are suffering from more than 2 of those symptoms I listed or if you are suffering from a collection of symptoms yet to be diagnosed, a chronic illness or infection, or an autoimmune condition...it's probably time for some deeper help and you fall into the category of folks that need to stay away from the juice fads.

I can get you started on your journey with my newly updated Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart. You can download it here.

If you don’t really have any symptoms are just looking for a reset - then I would still encourage you to work with someone but here’s what to do if you are set on the DIY

  • Leave behind any detox offers that ask you to take a bunch of supplements or abstain from food for any amount of time
  • Stay away from anything less than 5 days
  • Look for detox opportunities that focus on something that is nourishing AND detoxing by the very nature of the type of fuel you are putting in your body
  • Look for whole foods
  • Avoid any detox packages that use whey protein shakes. Those are an inflammatory nightmare.
  • Avoid detox packages that involve working out in addition to your routine - anything more than gentle movement is not a good idea.

You can check out my 5-day Rest and Reset if you want an inexpensive whole foods detox style plan.

All that being said, there are so many ways to detox, and just like everything else you have to find the thing that is right for your bio-individual self. You have to find what works for what you can do, where you are in your Wellness Journey, what you may want to stick to, and it can be a little tricky to find methods that work best for your goals. Often is a combination of several of these methods in particular that will be the key to Wellness for any given individual.

A lot of times it's not what happens during the detox necessarily, but what happens after the detox. Ask yourself, which of these habits can you continue? Which would you want to add to your routine?

No matter what detox you choose the very first step is to get your detox pathways moving for you - so any toxins you release aren’t recirculated. lighten your incoming toxin load. And that's really simple friends all you have to do is get rid of alcohol, and get rid of coffee or swap it for an organic biologic coffee, get rid of tobacco, refined sugar, and those rancid fats. Those are all barriers to having a well-functioning detoxification system in your body. Those are all barriers to healing.

Once you lighten the toxin load coming in you have more options to choose from but again it depends on where you are in your Wellness Journey. There are fasting cleanses and juice cleanses but as I mentioned if you aren't careful you can end up in a world of trouble stirring up films and parasites and heavy metals that make your symptoms even worse.

If you're starting out from a conventional American diet full of processed foods, caffeine, wine, or other alcohol and all sorts of not goodness then it can be dangerous for you to jump into a big juice fast or fast only 3 days type of detox. Start by getting rid of alcohol, and get rid of coffee or swap it for an organic biologic coffee, get rid of tobacco, refined sugar, and those rancid fats.

If you’re starting from the conventional American diet, and you fall into the category I have warned against these things - then start with the protocol in the Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart free download here.

One last word about detoxes because I would remiss in excluding it - detoxes Shakes and powders all day, those aren't detoxes, generally those are adding toxins to your system with over-processed food-like products. It's best to save your money and avoid that entirely.

If you have more questions about how to navigate your wellness goals and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up -

Toxins are all around us so detoxing is something that is important to do for our human suits a few times a year in order for us to maintain our energy levels and our Wellness. It even offers particular magic when you align it with the seasons and for those in more intense programs even with the full moons.

Remember when choosing a detox method don't take on something too complex just because you think you should or your friends are doing it. Instead find a program that is safe, nourishing, non-restrictive, and available on your time frame. Remember to focus on a whole-food style detox.

I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

How to Lower Inflammation without Changing Your Diet

By

How to Lower Inflammation

How to Lower Inflammation (without changing your food or supplements)

Hey friends, we are back with season 5 of the Autoimmune Revolution podcast - it has always been my dream to be able to reach as many people as possible and to help empower you to understand the options available to you - so thank you for all of the emails and questions and love over the last 4 seasons. I am excited to be here with you for season 5 and beyond!

In today’s episode, we are going against the New Year grain and talking about clinically proven ways to lower your inflammation, so how to lower your inflammation without changing your food or supplements.

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN How to Lower Inflammation:

Join the private group Wellness Circle: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Meditation Guide:

Sleep Guide:

Meditation Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6622480/

Pet's Study: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190715114302.htm

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

How to Lower Inflammation (without changing your Diet)

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

How to Lower Inflammation Episode Introduction

Hey friends, we are back with season 5 of the Autoimmune Revolution podcast - it has always been my dream to be able to reach as many people as possible and to help empower you to understand the options available to you - so thank you for all of the emails and questions and love over the last 4 seasons. I am excited to be here with you for season 5 and beyond!

In today’s episode, we are going against the New Year grain and talking about clinically proven ways to lower your inflammation, so how to lower your inflammation without changing your food or supplements.

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Why Changing it all at once, doesn't work.

So here's the thing, 80% of New Years Resolutions, just don't work. That is a statistically accurate fact. And those wicked smart scientists that figured this out, also determined the reasons why it doesn't work.

First, the biggest factor in whether or not a change sticks, like a New Year's Resolution, is how much different it is from your previous habit. Listen to this episode for real-life examples here, but it is why I often teach in shifts - making small sustainable shifts that lead to big and lasting outcomes.

Science also tells us how long we have to sustain a shift before it becomes a habit. Did you think it was 21-28 days? NOPE. It's around 66 days before something becomes automatic. That is the same for good habits and bad habits.

A story about shifting inflammation, a little at a time.

Normally I share a story from my clients - but for this one, I want to share my story. I don’t make new years resolutions - in fact - I generally don’t make any at all. I make shifts.

I have in the past made resolutions many many times, year after year, from even a teenager and in my early 20s into my early 30s too. Not only did I make resolutions but I made so many stinking Monday resolutions - have you ever done that - I will start this diet on Monday and that diet several Mondays ago.

And I found myself, sicker, and more tired, and in more pain, and more inflammation, and not just physically, but energetically and mentally too.

Normally I share a story from my clients - but for this one, I want to share my story. I don’t make new years resolutions - in fact - I generally don’t make any at all. I make shifts.

I have in the past made resolutions many many times, year after year, from even a teenager and in my early 20s into my early 30s too. Not only did I make resolutions but I made so many stinking Monday resolutions - have you ever done that - I will start this diet on Monday and that diet several Mondays ago.

And I found myself, sicker, and more tired, and in more pain, and more inflammation, and not just physically, but energetically and mentally too.

That’s when I made the one shift. A tiny micro goal that changed things for good. It wasn't food or diet-related. It was to practice yoga every day for 108 days and I ran that concurrently with giving up alcohol for good. Interestingly, when I think back, all of the other things I had done in my life successfully - started with a micro change and progressed from there.

That’s what we are talking about today - things you can do, habits you can shift, patterns you can shatter, that have a lasting impact and start to pave the way for bigger changes. The old me wouldn’t even recognize the current me on so many levels - and not just by the fuel I put in my body, although that has radically changed. But even me as a whole being, mentally, emotionally, energetically, physically. When you know better you do better, and my goal is to help you to know better or to at least crack open something for you so that you know that there is a different and better way. No matter what you are suffering from - be it a chronic illness, autoimmune disease, or a set of symptoms that just won’t go away.

And for a disclaimer, I lost 100 lbs on my journey but that is not what the journey was about.  All bodies come in different shapes and sizes - know that extra weight is a symptom of something else going on in the body. It is not the cause of your issues as mainstream medicine might have you think, but it is a symptom.

How to Lower Inflammation - 5 Ways

  1. Meditation
    You know there isn't a discussion about how to lower inflammation without it! Meditation is shown to lower inflammation, specifically CRP levels, time and time again.Why does it matter? Chronic low-grade inflammation is a predictor of chronic disease and death. Studies have consistently shown that elevated levels of the inflammatory biomarker C-Reactive Protein (CRP) are linked to an increased in risk for developing cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, metabolic diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. (see the top of the page for both of my guides on Meditation - free download for you.)
  2. Spending time with animals
    Yes, petting your furry friends (studies show - particularly dogs) can clinically reduce the stress markers in your body. This can be carried over to other pets too. Lower your inflammation by spending quality dedicated time loving and getting love from your pets!
  3. Restorative sleep
    I can't say enough about restorative sleep lowering inflammation. Getting your sleep back is one of the most critical steps in healing your body. That is why we start there in the Autoimmune Revolution. If you are having trouble with your sleep then please check out the existing episodes on sleep and download my Bullet Proof Sleep Guide at the top of this page.
  4. Spending time in nature - take it farther by grounding
  5. Optimism - a gratitude journal

If you have more questions about how to navigate your wellness goals and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up - you’ve got this mama! I challenge you to prove to yourself how you can lower inflammation by choosing 1 of these to implement right away!

Thank you so much for tuning in, if you have a second it would mean the world to me if you could leave a rating or review! That helps me help more people to start an autoimmune revolution of their own. I’d be oh so grateful.

I hope you have the most magical and restful day friends, and I challenge you to leave your world, however you can, a little better than how you found it when you got up this morning.

Be well,

Top 10 Tactics to Create Health

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Top 10 Tactics to Create Health

Hey friends, oftentimes we are looking so hard at what we need to take away, tweak, add, hyper-focused on symptoms that we forget to start back at the basics. It’s really important to create health with a solid foundation before you start to tackle those bigger issues.

It’s not as sexy to build the foundation first, especially when collectively we are marketed to for quick fixes to create health and instant gratification. (Here’s a hint: there’s not a quick fix.)

In today’s episode, we are talking about 10ish tactics to create health. No matter where you are on your health and wellness journey, these tactics will serve as foundational wellness for you.

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN Nutrient Deficiency an Autoimmune Trigger:

Transcript: https://audreychristie.com/136

Join the private group Wellness Circle: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Join Fit & Festive Holiday Challenge http://audreychristie.com/festive

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a  case review here.

Top 10 Tactics to Create Health

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Create Health Intro

Hey friends, oftentimes we are looking so hard at what we need to take away, tweak, add, hyper focused on symptoms that we forget to start back at the basics. It’s really important to have to create health with a solid foundation before you start to tackle those bigger issues.

It’s not as sexy to build the foundation first, especially when collectively we are marketed to for quick fixes to create health and instant gratification. (Here’s a hint: there’s not a quick fix.)

In today’s episode, we are talking about 10ish tactics to create health. No matter where you are on your health and wellness journey, these tactics will serve as foundational wellness for you.

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Okay - so here’s the thing - I don’t care how good the book is or how phenomenal the supplement is - there is no quick fix for your health. There is quick symptom masking - what I like to refer to as band-aid medicine. And now there is quick symptom masking and bandaids with natural remedies too.

If it's true healing, from the root cause of your issue, that you are looking for, if you are looking to create health, I’m sorry to say - there just isn’t a short cut.

What there definitely is though, is a foundation that you can build to help make healing faster and easier, to help to create health, no matter where you are on your journey.

Top 10 Health Creating Tactics

1. Sleep. There’s no getting around this one. If you are sleep-impaired chronically, it's not possible to create health to live vital, vibrant, energetic lives. You are looking for good sleep and waking up before your alarm about 90% of the time.

A few quick tips here, go to bed when your body is tired (even if it's 8:30 pm.) Practice sleep hygiene. Let your brain know in the hour before you are getting into bed that you want to wind down and prepare to sleep deeply.

2. Play. Yup, I’m serious. Many of us behave as though there is a large prize at the end of life rewarding us for working as many hours as possible and checking off as many things on our neverending to-do lists. Guess what? There’s not a prize other than regret and missed opportunities!

What’s more important than a to-do list? Savor life. Laugh. Play. Relax. Have fun. Don’t let your rejuvenating activities end up just being an hour or two of mindless TV each night. Figure out what is fun for you. Allow time for it. Make time for it.

3. Your Skin is one big mouth. Stop feeding it junk. Anything that you put on your skin, is your bloodstream within about 26 seconds. That’s why essential oils are so powerful.

 

Honestly, its not always 100% possible to do, but you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t put in your mouth and eat. Think about that, and then think about everything you touch in a day.

Start over choosing your beauty and personal hygiene products with this truth as a guide. It can make a dramatic impact on your health.

4. Eat Real Food, not “edible food-like substances” (M. Pollan). Would you buy crappy gas for your car just because it was cheap and convenient? Probably not. So why do are we fueling our amazing human suits with junk food-like substances?

At least 90% of the time, choose to eat exclusively foods you enjoy and that your great-great-grandmother could have eaten when she was growing up. Whole, natural unrefined foods, and beverages. Vegetables, Proteins, Fruits, Legumes, Nuts/Seeds…

Avoid the huge array of chemical colors, flavors, preservatives, oils, sweeteners, texture agents, hormones, toxins, and cheap ingredients in fake food because it is not fueling your body to heal. Those things aren’t helping you to create health (think energy, mental clarity, pain-free, clear skin, smooth digestion, good sex drive, resilient good mood).

I often hear parents making these changes for themselves or 1 person in the household - this should go for everyone!

5. Get Fresh Air + Grounded every day. Yes, even if it’s cold. Or rainy. Indoor air can be quite toxic due to outgassing from textiles and chemicals and building materials, especially in the colder months (and yes even in your own home). We are also inundated with EMFs that we need to shake off.

20 min a day outside with bare feet on the earth is best, even if you break it up into 4-5 minute blocks. While you’re outdoors, leave your phone indoors. Use the opportunity to shift your visual focus to the horizon. See and appreciate nature. Take some deep breaths cleansing belly breaths. Allow the exhales to be long and slow. Stand or sit up straight, activate your nervous system mode that allows digestion, relaxation, healing, fertility, and ease.

6. Eat Organic produce as much as you can find and afford. Yes, it’s really that bad. Pesticides are endocrine-disrupting agents and they cause dramatic shifts in hormone balance, and that is on the not so bad end of things. We are also seeing an exponential increase in the rate of estrogen-mediated cancers in both men and women.

You can get a double benefit and maximize nutrition by purchasing local, fresh produce on which no pesticides have been used (not all small farmers can afford formal organic certification). At the minimum, make good use of the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen shopping priorities revised each year by the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org).

More Tactics to Create Health

7. Foods made with Flour should be in your 10% diet, not the 90%. In the US, we are seeing a real epidemic of insulin resistance, progressing to metabolic syndromes, and diabetes. This disease isn’t “caught” it begins with the diet, every. single. Time.

Often people are told to get rid of sugar/sweeteners, and this is true but an equal culprit is refined flours. They do the SAME thing in the body. So even if you aren’t ready to see the light on going gluten-free - at least make flours (gluten-free or not) 10% or less of the food you eat.

8. Drink plenty of plain, clean water every day. Make sure you know the real quality of the water coming out of your tap (don’t rely on regional or town source data). If necessary, invest in a water filter, both for drinking water and (yes!) shower water. There are a huge number of dissolved toxins found in regular municipal drinking water that your local regulatory organization is not required to measure or inform you about.

b Don’t use fluoride-containing toothpaste, filter it out of your drinking water, and don’t accept fluoride treatments at the dentist. Sure it kills some bacteria in the mouth and increases some calcium absorption in the teeth, but at a very high cost. From low thyroid function (sluggish? overweight?) to calcification of the pineal gland (insomnia?) to reduced IQ in children. Vitamin K2 and a good multiherb/xylitol toothpaste can help you crush your dental goals.

10. Check-in with Key Wellness markers. These are likely not what your PCP regularly checks on your behalf - and even if they are - have them looked at from a functional perspective.

Understanding what you need and what you have can help you to advocate for your rights to learn about your body and how to optimize your health proactively instead of reactively.

Some labs to ask for: Check Vitamin D at least twice a year and make sure its in the 50-70 ng/ml range for a strong and cautious immune system. Check RBC Magnesium (not serum), HbA1c, Triglycerides just as a starter. Once you have the lab work drawn, reach out for a functional evaluation of the lab work. If you need the lab work and the analysis, start here.

If you have more questions about how to create health and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends, chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

When you join the free Wellness circle you will also get the Kickstart your Autoimmune Revolution guide. It has 5 steps to get you started on your very own Autoimmune Revolution. Are you ready to stop fighting and starting healing?

A special festive invitation...

The holidays are coming - are you ready to skip the stress, overeating, frazzled, and guilt that comes on strong and lasts till mid-January? Then check out the Fit & Festive Holiday Challenge! Pre-order now for 50% off!  Click here.

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up - your ability to create health in a true and lasting way - depends on your foundation. Take each of these 10 tactics and implement them 1 at a time. There aren’t any shortcuts to create health.

Thank you so much for tuning in, if you have a second it would mean the world to me if you could leave a rating or review! That helps me help more people get clear of autoimmune disease. I’d be oh so grateful.

I hope you have the most magical and restful day friends, and I challenge you to leave your world, however you can, a little better than how you found it when you got up this morning.

Be well,

Episode 135: Nighttime Routine

By

Morning Routine

Last week we talked about the morning routine, this week as promised, let's get on to nighttime routines. Morning routines have lots of benefits, but as I mentioned, to maximize the benefits it’s best to bookend your days with routines in the morning and evening that improve your mental, emotional, and energetic wellness. 

So we will dive into those nighttime routines in today’s episode. You will learn the importance of having a nighttime routine to set your restful sleep in motion, how it helps to set you up for success, and how it helps to heal your body if you are on a wellness journey. Whether you just know you could feel better or you are an autoimmune warrior, a nighttime routine will work magic on your sleep and energy levels which means big benefits for you!

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN  Healthy Baking Swaps:

Transcript: https://audreychristie.com/134

Join the private group Wellness Circle: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Do I have an autoimmune disease quiz? https://audreychristie.com/do-i-have-an-autoimmune-disease-quiz/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a complimentary case review here.

Nighttime Routine

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Nighttime Routine

Last week we talked about the morning routine, this week as promised, let's get on to nighttime routines. Morning routines have lots of benefits, but as I mentioned, to maximize the benefits it’s best to bookend your days with routines in the morning and evening that improve your mental, emotional, and energetic wellness.

So we will dive into those nighttime routines in today’s episode. You will learn the importance of having a nighttime routine to set your restful sleep in motion, how it helps to set you up for success, and how it helps to heal your body if you are on a wellness journey. Whether you just know you could feel better or you are an autoimmune warrior, a nighttime routine will work magic on your sleep and energy levels which means big benefits for you!

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


I feel like we had some grumbles last week with morning routines, many people aren’t morning peeps, and that is a-oaky. As you learned last week - a morning routine isn’t reserved for only those people that are early birds.

Personally, I am a morning person, and for sure not a night owl, but being a morning person doesn’t stop me from having a nighttime routine that works well to help me drift off to sleep and stay asleep.

In the Autoimmune Revolution membership, one of the FIRST things we work through is SLEEP. Why? Because, as Thomas Dekker famously said, it is the golden chain that connects our body to healing.

So often when we start to examine what the Autoimmune Revolution members are doing, why they might not be getting optimal sleep - heck even sometimes part of the reason they are suffering from so much anxiety. When going through and assessing where our routines are, I have found that everyone has some sort of morning and nighttime routine, they are present but are actually contributing to their inflammation, rather than assisting the body in healing.

So last week I said it was my mission to change your mind, and we are working through morning routine steps in the Wellness Circle now - that is the private Facebook group where we take these episodes and dive deeper and support each other in taking actionable steps to wellness. Join at audreychristie.com/facebook.

Coming up we will work through adding the evening routine steps in the group.

Where does a Nighttime routine fit in?

If you listened to my episode on Sleep Hygiene - that's episode 116 then you heard me talk a lot about the hours leading up to sleep, right? Specifically the 2 hours till bedtime and the 1 hour till bedtime frames of the evening.

This is the sweet spot for your evening routine! Start with the hour before bedtime and work your way to the full two hours before bedtime or you could go the other way too!

Just like with the morning routines I could totally give you a list of steps to do and say - do these 5 things each night, and many of you would do them, but you would fall off the wagon pretty quickly. Statistically, 80% of you would fall off the wagon.

This happens because we are all unique, so what works for me, isn’t likely to be exactly the same for you, even if we are the same age, have the same, schedule, heck - even if we were identical twins!

Why is a Nighttime Routine important?

If you have kids - you might know some of the reasons a nighttime routine is important right? Did you frantically try to figure that out when a baby or toddler just would not go to sleep? I know I did!

It’s not too different for adults!

Having a nighttime routine helps you to:

  • Improves your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep
  • Improves your Productivity
  • Reduce your stress levels
  • Your brain functions more efficiently during the day

Do you know how much healing happens just by reducing stress and improving sleep? Holy moly! A TON! Even if you are in the “doesn’t sleep well and doesn’t notice it” camp. I assure you - once you start actually sleeping - you will.

You can, of course, supercharge this will all kinds of magic for attracting abundance, connecting with you with a higher power, focused healing, emotional blockage release, the possibilities are endless.

It's worth repeating, this is equally important for kids and adults. Just a little snippet about kids - if you do nothing else from my suggestions, take away their handheld devices at least an hour before bedtime. You may be the fun parent if you let them stay up playing on their phone or iPad, but the harm that occurs, in the long run, will be more damaging than you can imagine.

What time to start your nighttime routine?

So here’s the deal - start your routine 9-10 hours before you need to get up in the morning.

Simple right? So if I am getting up at 6, my head needs to be on the pillow at 10, and my nighttime routine needs to start at 8 or 9 pm.

Nighttime Routine Example

Here’s my nighttime routine, I do it every night, even on the weekends. Sure there may be an occasional late-night event that changes things, but that happens less than once per month.

  1. I start my nighttime routine at 7 pm most nights. I get up at 4:30a, so I know that I need to be in bed no later than 8:30 pm.
  2. No later than 7 pm my nighttime routine starts with putting my phone away. Yep, absolutely no handheld devices after 7 pm - why? Because the full spectrum light prevents the supply of adequate melatonin. For me, I have to put my phone completely away and turn it off in order not to be tempted.
  3. Nighttime supplements, if I am sore from working out or having an issue - generally I will my nighttime supplements during this window. If I am having a cup of “sleepy tea” it happens here too.
  4. Wash face and brush teeth. Those are pretty self-explanatory - but they usually don’t happen until after 7 pm.
  5. Gratitude journal, I make a quick note of all the things I am thankful for from the day.
  6. Once I am in bed, lights out, temp down, I start triangular breathing. In for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, repeat. This reduces cortisol faster which helps sleep come on faster.
  7. On my last deep breath, I envision all of my energetic body coming back to me, and on the exhale, I envision all of the energies I picked up during the day being released.

Seven steps may feel like a lot, but it really happens in little bits over the last 2 hours before bed.

If I am home later, often this routine shifts forward a bit or might be condensed in some ways. Sometimes I know in advance if I will be out a little late, so I may do my gratitude journal during my afternoon meditation.

Start thinking what would a nice evening routine look like for you? Is it something you could do with your kids, family, spouse, partner?

How Can You Start Your Own Nighttime Routine?

If you want to work through actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast- friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

When you join the free Wellness circle you will also get the Kickstart your Autoimmune Revolution guide. It has 5 steps to get you started on your very own Autoimmune Revolution. Are you ready to stop fighting and starting healing?

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up - starting and maintaining a nighttime routine improves your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, improves your productivity, reduce your stress levels, and helps your brain to function more efficiently during the day.  All of these things are critical for maintaining and returning to health no matter where you are on your wellness journey.

Thank you so much for tuning in, if you have a second it would mean the world to me if you could leave a rating or review! That helps me help more people get clear of autoimmune disease. I’d be oh so grateful.

I hope you have the most magical and restful day friends, and I challenge you to leave your world, however you can, a little better than how you found it when you got up this morning.

Be well.