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Hey, I’m Dr. Kyrin and I totally get it! I’ve been where you are, suffering with the symptoms of Midlife Metabolic Mayhem, worrying about disease and early demise, not realizing I was in hormonal poverty or what to do about it. Surviving life at midlife with no gas and no joy, overweight, tired, sexless and confused about what to do to fix it and finding NO answers in my mainstream medical profession as a Board Certified OBGYN. Everything changed when I discovered ALL the root causes of the hormonal poverty that we women experience at midlife as the cause of the 60+ symptoms of Midlife Metabolic Mayhem, disease and early demise and followed the reqrding path back to hormonal prosperity and successful weight loss, energy, libido, hair and so much more! I share these truths with you here so that you too can get off the couch, into your jeans and back into your joy filled life!
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Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Do you want to know the secret to reducing inflammation and boosting your immunity while healing your gut?
Listen up!
Donna Mazzola, a Pharmacist with an obsession with natural healing, will be joining us on this episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast - Immunity Food Fix. Donna obtained her Doctorate in Pharmacy and then was diagnosed with Hashimotos in 2015. Through her journey, she has learned the importance of the balance between nutrition and medicine that impacts disease.
Donna will be sharing with us tips on how to reduce inflammation, boost immunity, heal the gut and more.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to make lifestyle and dietary changes to reduce inflammation
- How to construct a diet plan that works for you
- Which foods increase immunity, heal the gut and prevent disease
- How to incorporate nutrition into your health care routine
Don't miss out on this episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast - Immunity Food Fix. Tune in for the tools, tips, and tricks of how Donna has been able to keep her immune system balanced and healthy.
(00:00): Do you know how the food you eat impacts your immune system function? Stay tuned and find out what foods you should be eating and not eating to impact your immune system positively.
(00:14): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40 in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.
(01:07): Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kiran. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest is Donna Mazzola and she is Dr. Autoimmune Girl and she is super passionate about how what you eat impacts your immune system. Did you know that what you put in your mouth impacts whether you get sick or not? Or do you know whether you get the flu or not, how severe covid infection is and all these other things? Probably not. Most people aren't aware that maybe that sticky bun could be the reason why you got the flu this year and nobody else did. Not saying it's the only cause, but it's a big contributor because the food you eat really programs. What is your body? Your body is your food body. Literally you are what you eat and that means your immune system too.
(02:03): So we're gonna get into that today. And your immune system and food also interact with your hormones. So you always hear me bring everything back to your hormones and how it relates to your hormones cuz this is the foundation of how you function as a, as a female, as a woman. And we're gonna get into that in detail. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Donna and then we're gonna get into it. So Donna is a pharmacist. She's fascinated with natural healing and preventative care. She has a doctorate in pharmacy, but she realizes that although medicine has a place in healing, it's really the balance between nutrition and medicine that impacts disease. And this fascination became an in obsession for her after a personal diagnosis of Hashimotos in 2015. And her disease pushed her to embark on a journey to seek answers and identify the root cause related to the rise in autoimmune and other inflammatory related chronic conditions.
(03:07): So on her journey, she obtained a master's degree in functional medicine and human nutrition and she birthed Dr. Autoimmune Girl. And that really is her vehicle to share her passion with people, to empower them with the knowledge, to take control of their health. Her mission is to educate the world on the healing powers of food. Yes, the food you eat several times a day has the power to heal you and give meaning to the concept of food as medicine. Her blog is dr autoimmune girl.com. She shares reputable scientific information related nutrition and health there and she's the author of Immunity Food Fix Guide to a hundred Superfoods and Nutrition Hacks to Reverse Inflammation, prevent Illness, and Boost your Immunity. Welcome Donna to the podcast.
(03:59): Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
(04:00): Yeah, I'm super excited to talk with you about immunity and fixing it with what you eat because I think for a lot of people they're just not aware that what they eat has anything to do with their immune system. So can you start by maybe helping everybody understand the
(04:18): Relationship? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think my, one of my favorite things to say is, you know what you eat matters
(05:29): Yeah. So let's start there with inflammation, how I think people hear about that term and they kind of have a nebulous idea of what it is. So maybe if you could start by helping everybody understand what is inflammation, why is it problematic and how it relates to the immune system, that would be
(05:47): Great. Yeah. So inflammation, when we hear it, we automatically think negative. But inflammation, when you truly think about it, is a positive response that our body is, is having. So if our body is within complete homeostasis, imbalanced, there is an event that occurs, let's say you cut your finger or you catch a cold, you have a virus, your immune system upregulates at that point and says, ah, there's something going on, we need to fix it. So it ink, it boosts, it like sends out the soldiers right to fight, to fix what's going on. And those soldiers fighting are all these inflammatory cytokines that are released. Right. To that point, once that problem is fixed, those soldiers should go back to their base and mm-hmm
(06:46): Where we've started to process our foods, we have convenient foods, we live in extremely stressful lifestyle, we never turn off that inflammatory response. Mm-hmm
(07:41): Food and nutrition is at the center of all that. And it's not just about the fact that we are consuming inflammatory foods, like I mentioned, like the processed foods, processed sugars, high sugar intake, saturated fats that are causing this inflammatory response. We're also not consuming the anti-inflammatory foods that come from whole foods, anything from the earth, right? Plant-based food mm-hmm
(08:27): Right. So I know some people are listening and they're thinking, well Dr. Donna's a pharmacist, why is she talking about diet? My pharmacist never talks to me about diet when I go to the pharmacy. And I think that's a a valid question. So maybe we even back up and can you tell everyone how you got involved with looking at immune system function and diet? Cuz I know you have a very personal story around that.
(08:56): Yeah, so I mean, when I was started in clinical practice probably about 20 years ago, I was doing a lot with patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart failure, C O P D, and really trying to help them manage their medication as a pharmacist. But what I found in many of my consultations was that I was focusing on nutrition. I was focusing on what they could do to potentially reduce their medication, you know, and feel better. And so I realized at that time that that was my true passion. There's a time in place for medicine, but it's the balance between nutrition and medicine that's critical. That's really how I practiced. And I didn't have any formal training in nutrition, but you know, you learn a little bit about it through conventional mm-hmm.
(10:34): So can you say more about that, Donna? Because I think there are a lot of people listening who also think that they lead a healthy life and they're really shocked to find when they find someone who can give them a root cause resolution approach or a functional approach that they're really not. So can you talk a little in a little more detail about what you considered was the healthy lifestyle you were living and what you
(10:57): Discovered? Yeah. So I would say I was probably over exercising, following all kinds of fad diets that really were chemically based, right? Like sugar alcohols, the fat free movement, you know, all of that. I fell into all those traps, um, and tried all kinds of things. I wasn't sleeping right. Meditation and mindfulness was not even something I considered or understood, you know, working long hours. I was young, so, you know, partying, drinking, all that stuff, you know, everything. When I look back I'm like, my gosh, I thought I was so healthy and yet everything I was doing was so inflammatory on the body and no wonder I developed this. But on top of that, like I think about the types of foods that I was eating and the type of life that I lived and what it did to my gut. And I know now looking back based on like symptoms that I've had that I ignored and things like that, that you know, the gut was central to what led to this development and autoimmune disease.
(12:06): Mm-hmm.
(12:59): Yeah. I think you're so right. We, you know, let's not throw out mainstream medicine. We need it, we need our drugs, we need our surgery. But there's so much more that we can do. And I love that in your book you really focus on the things that need to be done, where you need to reduce your inflammation, you cover that, boost your immunity, heal your gut, and prevent disease. So when you discovered this and you got your master's, you were able to reverse your hashimo Hashimotos,
(13:26): It's been what now? Probably seven years on this journey. Mm-hmm.
(14:26): Yeah. And you know, for everybody listening, you might not be aware of what the numbers mean with Hashimoto's antibodies, but that's a tremendous amazing difference.
(15:16): You think? Oh my gosh, I could talk about this for the next five hours.
(16:25): But then I also think that women need to be aware, especially if they're trying to conceive that your thyroid hormone is ex incredibly important in the conception as well as during pregnancy for the health of the fetus. And I think that this is not talked about enough. And I've had women who finally have their provider check A T S H and their thyroid hormone and identify that that's the reason why they're not able to conceive. And once they, you know, sometimes need treatment and they're able to conceive, it's recognizing the importance of especially someone who has Hashimotos once you're pregnant, the importance of ensuring that you are getting enough thyroid hormone for yourself and for your fetus, for that fetal development, especially early on in the pregnancy. So I think for women across the stage, right? So like if you're older, you know, you're listening to this and maybe you have a daughter or a cousin or somebody and like you can share this information with, or you know, maybe you're going through menopause and you can start recognizing there's differences in shifts. Like being in tune with our body to identify what's going on can be life changing because carrying those symptoms, it should not be our baseline. It should not be the norm. And we should be able to reverse that so that we feel our best self, especially as we age and we as we're getting older.
(17:51): I think it's so true what you're saying. I love these quotes that you shared with me. All you have is your health. Uh, when I talk to women and they are concerned about their health, I have them do this exercise. Maybe you've worked with women to do this too, where I have them kind of itemize where they spend their time, where they spend their money in their lives. And everybody will say that their health is their number one priority, but when they look at the actual numbers of where they're spending their time and their money, they spend the least money and the least time on their health. Mm-hmm.
(18:34): I mean, think about it, at the end of the day, you could think you're living your best life. And then I say that because of how I felt and I was, you know, seven years ago, a lot younger when I was diagnosed. And as soon as I received that diagnosis, while it wasn't something terminal, I still felt like, oh my gosh, I am losing my health. And like you take a step back and reflect and put things into perspective on what's important. And ultimately it's keeping myself healthy so I can enjoy the things in life, my family, the memories, all of it. And I think even through the pandemic, people realize that, right? It's like getting sick. You know, whe whether it be acute or chronic makes you take a step back and reflect that that's all you really have. Because once you lose your health, you, you lose it all. Really.
(19:28): I know it's so true. And
(20:23): Honestly, my favorite foods, I think I'll start with one that's super personal to me. Cause when I talked about earlier, reducing my antibodies, reducing inflammation in the body, I really attribute that to the daily intake of turmeric. And that is really the king of anti-inflammatory foods. You know, it blocks a particular pathway that works similar to the pathway that we use Motrin or ibuprofen, you know, in order to reduce inflammation. And so the intake of that daily has really changed my life. So I think that's a top favorite for me. Another one, I mean I love the root vegetables and obviously turmeric is a ru vegetable of itself, but carrots are another big one. And as we consider hormone health, carrots have a special ability to help detox estrogen from the body. And so obviously, you know, keeping that balance within our hormones is critical.
(21:25): And you know, when there's an excess amount, you feel it, that's when those symptoms arise. And so I found that, you know, consuming raw carrots, especially kind of like a week before my cycle helps to reduce all symptoms and kind of detox that estrogen out. So I love carrots. Once I learned that and try to, I was like, ah, this really works. Uh, food is magical. So those are big. And then, you know, really thinking about seeds as well, just because there's such, there's just such a super food when you think about a seed of a plant grows the entire plant. So it's like this powerhouse. So when you think about when you consume the seeds, all the HealthPRO promoting benefits that you get from it. So you just think about it that way. You know, anything from chia seeds, flax seeds, sunflower, hemp, pumpkin, all of it.
(22:20): And we talk about all of it in the book. They all have different benefits, but you know, it's that balance of the, the good fats that reduce inflammation that kind of help rebalance that inflammatory fats that's in our body. Mm-hmm.
(23:23): So I love that, that you divided it up by color. That makes such sense. And it sounds like it hits all of the categories. And we're gonna have a link to your website. People can purchase your book there and then they can get some bonuses too. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about that?
(23:42): Yeah, absolutely. So you could, could purchase the book and then there's directions on how to obtain a micronutrient guide and its impact on the immune system. So the micronutrients are like your vitamins and minerals that are found in foods and how those impact your immune system. So we didn't get into all the details, but you know, the macronutrients in whole based foods, which are carbs, fats, and proteins have an impact on your immune system. And then that balance of the various micronutrients, whether it be vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, the composition of all of those, you know, and how you're consuming them through Whole Foods helps support your immune system. And so there is a guide on the various micronutrients that help support your immune system.
(24:29): Okay, awesome. And the instructions on how to get those bonuses is on the website and we will have the link in the show notes, so you can go there and look at it. What would you say would be a take action plan for anyone listening who's like, okay, I get it, Dr. Donna, I need to work on my immune system. I need to work on reducing inflammation, healing my gut. Where should they start?
(24:53): I mean, I think you kind of have to go with the la the low hanging fruit, and to expect anybody to kind of reverse their entire lifestyle and shift over anight is unrealistic. I think what's important is to remember that, you know, living your best health as a marathon and not a sprint. You know, I talked about my own personal journey, it's been seven years and I'm not perfect either. Like it, you know, it takes one day, one month, one year at a time to live your best life. So for some food is the place to start. You know, as I mentioned, the various kind of points of focus. Maybe it's sleep, maybe it's making sure you get eight to nine hours of sleep every night. You know, turning off that Netflix and getting to bed earlier. Maybe it's identifying how to mitigate stress, recognizing when it's happening, incorporating meditation before bed just for 10 minutes while you sleep.
(25:47): Seeing what that does to your sleep. You know, going, going through a meditation for 10 minutes and seeing how deep you fall into a sleep that night and wake up restored. Maybe that's life changing for you. If it's removing some inflammatory foods, maybe you can't tackle and hit every single anti-inflammatory food that we talk about, but maybe you're gonna remove some inflammatory foods like processed sugar, removing saturated fats, not eating, carry out, you know, reducing that to maybe one day a week. But if you do wanna go after it and go beg, you know, and really change your lifestyle and your diet, not only focus on removing those inflammatory foods, but the goal to consume nine to 12 servings of whole plant-based foods a day. And that's kinda what we talk about in the book. And that's not just fruits and vegetables, you know, plant-based foods include, as we talked about, the seeds, the oils, the nuts, the herbs that you cook with. All of that is plant-based food. So really tracking that and ensuring you're consuming that much in order to support that anti-inflammatory response in the body. So I gave a lot there. Mm-hmm.
(27:10): Yeah. You know, I hear you so loud and clear and I, a woman is coming to mind who I've been working with, and she says, well, I guess I'm not feeling bad enough to do all the things that I need to do. So I think there's some people listening who are thinking, that sounds like a whole lot, Donna, you want me to sleep? You want me to eat seeds? You want me to change my diet? You want me to restrict the sugar? Like, that's so much. And they, they'll say to themselves, well, I don't have a Hashimoto's autoimmune diagnosis, I don't have this, I don't have that. And so it seems like a lot. So what do you say to someone who's this, these thoughts are running through her mind.
(27:51): I say just start with one, start with one and grow from there. Right? Like, that's what we mean by it's a marathon. If it were a sprint, you would implement all those things that I just said at one time, but it's not a sprint. Mm-hmm.
(28:37): And so everyone's different. As I said, some people maybe they just focus on sleep for a whole year before they take it to the next step. That's fine. But recognizing that you're making progress in the right direction and kind of making those changes as you see fit and as you will be consistent with them. Because I tell you what you have to do, it's doesn't work. It's has to come from the person from within and recognizing what they can handle. Because consistency is key. And if you can't handle it, then that's where inconsistency comes up.
(29:11): I think that is so important, what you just said,
(30:02): Maybe that'll be your one thing. Or maybe you're gonna start working with sleep. You could even pick, make it fun and pick the color that you wanna start with, with the foods like she described. What resonates most with you. I really think we all have an innate knowledge of, of what's best. So maybe you need to work on your detox or maybe you need to work on your antioxidation. So pick that. We'll have the link in the show notes. And thank you so much Dr. Donna for joining us today and for this wonderful resource that you've created. Thank you. It's been my pleasure. And thank you all for listening to another episode of The Hormone and Prescription with Dr. Kiran. Hopefully you have learned something today that will help you change your health and change your life for the better. I look forward to hearing about it on social media. Join me on Facebook or Instagram at kirin dunston md and tell me all about it. Wanna hear about your wins and your discoveries. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.
(30:58): Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.
► Get Donna Mazzola's book, supplements & more! CLICK HERE.
Send an email to immunityfoodfix@quarto.com with proof of order to receive pre-order bonuses.
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