2016 - Page 2 of 2 - Phoenix Helix

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Where Do Natural Sugars Fit on a Healing Diet?

Treats are a point of controversy in the paleo community. Our ancestors had limited access to sugar, natural or otherwise. Yet healing diets also need to be sustainable, and some days we just want a cookie. So, what should we do? In the autoimmune community, this is an even more important question. We aren’t following paleo to simply optimize good health; we’re trying to reverse autoimmune disease, which is infinitely harder. The truth is, our bodies behave very differently than those without autoimmune disease, and sugar can have a bigger impact on our system than the general population. In this post, I look at all aspects of this question and ask some paleo experts their opinion.

Episode 44: The Art of Stress Management with Evan Brand

Stress is intimately connected to autoimmune expression. Many of you have experienced this yourself, when a high-stress situation kicked off an autoimmune flare – or even an autoimmune diagnosis. While we can take steps to strive for a lower-stress life, the truth is that part of life is experiencing tough times. Whether it’s aging parents, troubled teens, the loss of a job, the loss of a relationship, the death of someone we love, or our own autoimmune struggles, we can’t avoid stress altogether. So, that means we need to have tools to manage that stress so that it doesn’t negatively impact our health. That’s what today’s show is all about. Evan Brand is a functional medicine practitioner and the author of the book, Stress Solutions. He’s here to teach us how to take care of ourselves through the ups and downs of living.

How to Find a Good Functional Medicine Practitioner

When it comes to reducing autoimmune symptoms, diet and lifestyle are the foundation, but when you hit a plateau it makes sense to seek help. The problem is that not all practitioners are created equal. So how do you find a good one? When you’re about to make a large investment of your money and time in trying to heal, you want to find a guide who can truly help. In this article, I share my best advice for finding the right person to add to your healthcare team.

Episode 43: Never Too Late! Healing Diets Over Age 60

One of the tragedies of modern life is the belief that health is meant to decline as we age, and there’s nothing we can do about it. In this podcast, I have 3 guests proving otherwise. They all transitioned to a healing diet after the age of 60 and saw a dramatic improvement in their health. They hope to inspire others in their age group (or any age) to do the same!

Is Massage Therapy Beneficial for People with Autoimmune Disease?

One thing you may not know about me is that I worked as a therapeutic bodyworker for 15 years. In this article, I share the research into massage for autoimmune disease, describe a wide variety of techniques to choose from, share my best advice for finding a skilled practitioner, and also how to make sure your session helps rather than harms your health.

Episode 42: Infections and Autoimmunity with Dr. Michael Ruscio

If you’ve been doing the paleo diet and lifestyle perfectly and aren’t seeing results, infections can sometimes be a roadblock to healing. In this podcast, Dr. Michael Ruscio talks about which infections are common, which are rare, and how he diagnoses and treats them in his clinical practice. We talk about SIBO, h. pylori, parasites, candida, Epstein-Barr and other intracellular infections. We also talk about overtreatment and how to differentiate a healing crisis from an allergic reaction to the treatment itself.

Go To Bed Sleep Challenge E-book Review

How much sleep are you getting each night? Is it less than 7? Does it fluctuate? Is it hard for you to fall asleep? Do you need caffeine to get going in the morning? Are you still having autoimmune flares even though your diet is perfect? Sleep my be your missing link. It’s intimately connected to autoimmune health, and today I’m reviewing an e-book that delves into this science. It’s called “Go To Bed” by Sarah Ballantyne (aka The Paleo Mom). It includes a 14-Day Challenge to get your sleep on track for health, and I’m giving away a copy to one lucky winner!

Episode 41: EFT with Dr. Anne Merkel

Emotional Freedom Technique, otherwise known as EFT, is a simple technique designed to release emotional blocks to healing. What does that mean? The idea is that no matter what challenges we are experiencing, including autoimmune disease, there is always an emotional component. This doesn’t mean our symptoms are “all in our head.” But it does mean that repressed emotions can increase autoimmune flares and interfere with our ability to reduce and reverse our symptoms. Autoimmune health is about so much more than just food. In this podcast, EFT expert Dr. Anne Merkel describes how it works and guides us through a sample session.

When Does Pursuit of Health Become a Health Obsession?

Being diagnosed with autoimmune disease is overwhelming, and when we discover the healing potential of the paleo lifestyle, we can clutch it like a lifeline. It’s natural to learn all we can about ancestral diet, sleep, stress, epigenetics, the gut-brain connection, evolutionary biology, gene mutations, etc., in our efforts to heal. The question is this: When does research turn into obsession? When does it start to hurt instead of help?

Episode 40: The Primal Connection with Mark Sisson

When I first went paleo, Mark’s Daily Apple was one of the first blogs I found. I loved how he presented detailed information in easy-to-understand small bites. I also loved his holistic approach. Yes, food matters, but it’s about so much more than just food. Three years later, it was a thrill to interview him on my podcast. In this episode, we talk about the many ways our lives have changed from the lives of our ancestors. We can’t go back in time, but we can learn from our past. Highlights of our conversation include: Why Being Selfish Is Necessary, The 10 Habits of Highly Successful Hunter Gatherers, Reconnecting With a Body That Has Autoimmune Disease, and more.

Episode 39: LDN with Dr. Thomas Cowan

Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is a nontraditional autoimmune medication that sometimes dramatically decreases symptoms at low cost and with minimal side effects. It has been mentioned in some of the healing stories shared on this podcast, so I promised to dedicate an entire episode to learning more. Our guest, Dr. Thomas Cowan, is a medical doctor in San Francisco who uses LDN as part of his autoimmune patient treatment plan. We learn what this drug is, how it works, how to find the right dose, and how to find a doctor who prescribes it.

Why Food Sensitivity Testing Doesn’t Work

Let’s face it: the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) is hard to do. If we could just take a test to identify our food sensitivities, it would be so much easier! So, why don’t we? Unfortunately, food sensitivity testing is unreliable, giving both false positive and false negative results. An elimination diet (like the AIP) is the only accurate way to test for them. It’s called the Gold Standard. This is actually one area where conventional doctors and paleo doctors agree. I realize that this can be very frustrating to hear if you’ve spent a lot of money on these tests already. Click through to read the scientific evidence.

Episode 38: Hormones and Autoimmune Disease with Dr. Justin Marchegiani

I think every woman with autoimmune disease knows how strongly our hormones can impact autoimmune symptoms. Some women flare around their periods. Some go into remission during pregnancy and then flare after delivery (or vice versa). Others find their symptoms start to increase during the hormone fluctuations of perimenopause. And others actually develop autoimmune disease after menopause. So clearly hormone balance is a topic near and dear to us all. In this podcast, I interview Dr. Justin Marchegiani, a functional medicine practitioner who specializes in hormone balance. He’ll teach us what’s at the root of hormone problems at all stages of a woman’s life, and how to correct them. For my male listeners, today’s podcast focuses mostly on women, but at the end of the podcast, Justin talks about hormone balance for men as well.

Simple Guide to the AIP Book Review Roundup

As most of you know, I published my first print paleo book on January 1st: A Simple Guide to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol. The response has been overwhelming. When you write a book, you put your heart and soul into it, hoping it will resonate with others, but you never know until it’s out in the world. I’m both humbled and honored by what people have said. Here’s a review roundup, and if you scroll to the bottom of the post, you can enter my gratitude giveaway! I’m giving away some of my favorite AIP convenience foods along with copies of my books.

Episode 37: Meditation Healing Stories

Curious about the impact meditation can have in your life? Do you believe that you can’t meditate? Or that there’s one right way to do it? In this podcast, I interview four people with autoimmune disease, each sharing a different form of meditation and the impact it’s had on their health. At the end of the podcast, I share how meditation has worked in my own life since my rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis in 2012.

Can I Do the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol as a Vegetarian?

If you’re asking this question and researching paleo, I’m guessing your current diet isn’t improving your autoimmune symptoms, and you’re considering alternatives. Perhaps one of your healthcare practitioners has suggested you try the AIP. I know that if you haven’t eaten meat or seafood for years, possibly decades, it can be a hard thing to consider. So, first let me share the science with you, and then I’ll share some tips for making the transition easier.

Episode 36: Histamine Intolerance with Alison Vickery

Do you have unexplained skin rashes, headaches, digestive upset, mood issues and brain fog, even though you are following the paleo autoimmune diet and lifestyle perfectly? This might be a piece in your healing puzzle. Histamine is a natural component in both our food and our bodies, but certain things can make it overproduce, causing myriad symptoms that keep our body in a hypersensitive state. In this podcast, I talk with histamine expert, Alison Vickery, on what causes histamine intolerance and what we can do about it.

Meal Planning – A Paleo AIP Survival Tool

Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” That applies to many areas in life, but especially a healing diet. If you don’t have healthy food available when you’re hungry, you’ll be tempted to go off diet and that can lead to an autoimmune flare. Today, I show you how I plan my own meals every week, including a sneak peek into my fridge! I also share a whole bunch of AIP meal planning resources, to make staying true your diet even easier.

Episode 35: A Simple Guide to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)

This episode of the Phoenix Helix podcast is dedicated to my book: A Simple Guide to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol. I’m joined by three of my friends with autoimmune disease who have used the AIP to manage their own health. We share our healing stories, what worked and what didn’t, and what parts of the book resonate the most with our own journeys. Chelsey has Crohn’s disease. Erin has psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Raynaud’s disease. Tara has lupus, psoriasis and vitiligo.

Celebrating My New Book: A Simple Guide to the AIP!

Happy New Year! I have exciting news to share. I just published my first PRINT book: A Simple Guide to the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol. Ever since I started the AIP 3 years ago, I’ve wanted to write a book to make it easier to understand and do correctly. This book is small enough to fit in a purse or backpack, simple enough that even someone with brain fog can understand, and written like a conversation between friends. I’m honored to say that both Robb Wolf and Sarah Ballantyne wrote testimonials for the back cover, and their endorsement means so much to me. To celebrate its publication, I’m giving away some fabulous prizes. Click through for details.