Gut Health Blog

January 29, 2023

Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet & Lifestyle

How to Reduce Rheumatoid Arthritis Naturally

Hello Everyone! Did you know that we have never been alone? Since the second we were born, we inherited and acquired trillions of bugs all over and inside us, called microorganisms, which should be good for us. They support critical functions in our bodies, which has allowed us to evolve.

In return, they extract what they need to survive from us!

These trillions of microorganisms (and their genes) are collectively called our microbiome.

Our guts have around 4-5lb of these microorganisms, consisting of protozoa, viruses, fungi, and bacteria, which are paramount to our health.

For this post, I will tell you how gut health impacts arthritis and how you can influence its development, protection from, and symptom reduction.

Do share with anyone who suffers from joint inflammation, chronic inflammatory conditions, non-communicable disease, and autoimmune disease. It may just make their day and give them hope for the future because help to reduce joint pain and inflammation is here!

What Helps Reduce Rheumatoid Arthritis?

How Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Develop?

Why Gut Health is Important to Reduce Autoimmune Diseases

How Is a Leaky Gut Linked to Rheumatoid Arthritis?

What Helps Arthritis Go Away?

What’s a Good Home Remedy for Arthritis?

What Can Cause Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares?

What Helps Reduce Rheumatoid Arthritis?

So, this is where gut health assists with reducing inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Gastrointestinal microbiota has a powerful effect on physical and mental health. Depending on what microbes exist in your gut leads to pathogenic or beneficial effects on your overall health and inflammation.

Generally, microbial diversity is associated with good health.

Eliminating pathogens while maintaining self-tolerance to avoid autoimmunity is imperative for our body’s health.

Our gut microbiota not only regulates the immune system that resides in our gut but also has a powerful effect on systemic immune responses. 70% of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) resides in the gut.

Gut microbiota can regulate immune homeostasis or can cause immune dysregulation.

Gut dysbiosis (unbalanced gut microbiota), which can occur due to the factors mentioned below, causes autoimmune mechanisms linked to rheumatoid arthritis (and other autoimmune diseases).

How Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Develop?

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting the joints, immune system, lungs, and heart. It is a multifactorial disease. You can be born with the genes of or acquire a weaker immune system. This is where the immune system mistakenly attacks and disables healthy tissues, cells, and organs.

Many factors can worsen the disease and increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, which is why some suffer more than others. These include our genes, hormones, gender, and age!

Factors include diet (high saturated fat, highly processed, additives, insufficient nutrition, calorie-controlled). What we don’t eat (good food, inflammation-reducing) significantly affects rheumatoid arthritis. There’s pollution and toxin exposure, like smoking.

Changes in the immune system and hormonal changes as we age are linked to the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

Lack of exercise or the wrong exercise can aggravate symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Stress, hygiene practices, medication, antibiotics, infections, vaccinations, lack of sleep, drinking the wrong types of drinks, generally not taking good care of ourselves, and not having good nutrition can cause rheumatoid arthritis flares.

All the factors that influence rheumatoid arthritis impact your gut microbiota. Some bacteria in your gut may grow depending on what you are exposed to and what you eat. Others may disappear or shrink, which influences the immune system in the gut and our adaptive immune system.

Read the post: How to Boost Your Immunity to Fight Viruses for more information about our innate and adaptive immune systems.

A good gut health diversity is important for good health and protection from disease.

Have you read What Foods Help You Ease Multiple Sclerosis?, How to Ease Chronic Fatigue/ME, & Why You Have Psoriasis?

How Is a Leaky Gut Linked to Rheumatoid Arthritis?

If the gut becomes unbalanced (dysbiosis), through any of the factors I mentioned, the inflammation that arises leads to chronic diseases and can compromise gut lining and cause ‘leaky gut syndrome.’

Leaky gut syndrome isn’t a medical term. It is known as ‘increased intestinal permeability.’

Inside our stomachs, we have an extensive intestinal lining. Like a tight net, this lining forms a barrier and filters what gets absorbed into the bloodstream. When it is damaged and malfunctioning, a barrier doesn’t exist, and it may have cracks and holes in it and become too permeable.

These holes allow larger, partially digested food, harmful bacteria, and other toxins to penetrate the tissues beneath it and escape into the systemic circulation. The immune system detects these as foreign bodies, causing an immune system reaction.

When the immune system is activated, it produces antibodies that travel in the bloodstream and create an inflammatory response, leading to joint swelling and arthritic pain.

Plus, when inflammation is present, microbiota changes, leading to various chronic conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, digestive issues, depression, etc. 

This is why many autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, which have increased intestinal permeability, also present joint pain symptoms.

What Helps Arthritis Go Away?

Pain and inflammation reduction are absolutely possible and can be kept at bay. Early diagnosis, prompt treatment, and an intervention lifestyle (which Eat Burn Sleep encapsulates) are essential to preventing severe joint damage, inflammation, and pain. If joint damage already exists, you can reduce the inflammation and pain.

I always advise running Eat Burn Sleep by your doctor, who may combine this anti-inflammatory lifestyle with medication. They can then monitor your progress before reducing medication. They have your medical history records and will know what is the best route for you. I am a firm believer in combining holistic and allopathic medicine.

Reduce as many factors that exacerbate rheumatoid arthritis as possible by embracing an anti-inflammatory lifestyle focusing on gut health, giving you all the necessary knowledge.

Gut barrier integrity is restored, fixing leaky gut syndrome.

Rebuilding the gut lining will promote positive changes in the microbiota. Promoting good gut bacteria aids healing and reduces inflammation.

Thankfully, gut microbiota can be manipulated into a healthy environment that aids overall health, including mental and physical health. A healthy gut allows for maximum nutrition absorption. So when nutritious needs are met, with prebiotics, omega-3 oils, vitamin D, minerals, and folic acid – for rheumatoid arthritis, they are utilized efficiently and absorbed, maximizing their benefits.

I do webinars for NHS patients who have rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and numerous people have embarked on this lifestyle with outstanding results after struggling with the condition for years. It’s lovely to hear what people say when they have tried everything.

Many members with rheumatoid arthritis and joint pain say that they no longer struggle with morning stiffness or flares throughout the day and have lost weight, gained energy, and a zest for life again.

There’s an article on Prevent Knee Osteoarthritis Progression if you are interested. There’s also a Personalized Advice for Osteoarthritis.

Putting rheumatoid arthritis into remission is possible.

Check the testimonials and how Eat Burn Sleep clears up the many symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

All the tools you need to put your rheumatoid arthritis into remission are here.

What’s a Good Home Remedy for Arthritis?

If you haven’t tried the turmeric shot recipe yet, click here. It is affordable and natural, and it will help you.

Turmeric contains potent volatile oils with properties that reduce inflammation. They have a medicinal effect that relieves conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and protects the body from chronic diseases.

Of course, everything Eat Burn Sleep is a good home remedy for reducing inflammation.

Everything I do to keep my autoimmune diseases at bay, I share with you.

My continual anti-inflammatory research, recipes, tips, hacks, thoughts, meditations, movements, neuroplasticity exercises, and so on are all accessible from home.

Many exercises could aggravate arthritis, as could not enough proper exercise. Inflammation-reducing activities are performed regularly to maintain joint mobility for rheumatoid arthritis.

The proper movement for rheumatoid arthritis, done regularly, includes ones that do not cause joint trauma and strengthen the muscles around them, for instance. Of course, exercises get easier when the inflammation is under control, and you will know your limitations.

What Can Cause Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares?

Creating symbiosis, rather than dysbiosis, in your gut is paramount to good health.

Gut bacteria are essential for gut and systemic immune system homeostasis.

We are all unique. Some triggers you know about or may not know about can exacerbate your rheumatoid arthritis condition.

That is why following the specialized advice for your symptoms and the traffic light system we have on Eat Burn Sleep helps tremendously with symptom and inflammation reduction at a systemic level.

Many ingredients or compounds in what you may be eating can cause inflammation, even in new ‘healthy alternative’ foods, like almond milk. The food industry has a lot to answer for!

If you missed my Lives on Instagram or podcasts with Dr. Dawn Sherling discussing additives, their effects on the microbiome, and inflammation, make sure to catch up on them.

Those ‘healthy’ packaged foods you eat that you paid a lot of money for could trigger your rheumatic flares!

If you don’t understand what is on the label, use that as a rule of thumb!

Explore the platform to further educate yourself on gut health, autoimmune disease, and chronic inflammation.

If you haven’t joined, I urge you to take charge of your health today.

Your mind and body need inflammation kept at bay. Whether you have a known condition or not. Inflammation can be silent.

We cannot change our genes, but we can alter gene expression.

With or without a hereditary disease, we can inflame our bodies with our food, minds, and whole lifestyles.

Having more autonomy over your health starts here!

I hope that you have a fantastic day.

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Yalda Alaoui

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Depression, Anxiety & Gut Health

What Is Gut Health?

January 22, 2023

Side Effects of Antibiotics & IBD

Heightening the Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Hello Everyone! A Danish study wanted to determine if dosing and timing of antibiotics were important factors in the development of IBD.

More than 6.1 million individuals were included in the study derived from medical data ranging over 18 years, and the results showed that another critical factor increased the risk.

This article delves into why the side effects of antibiotics are linked to Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, how age is associated with the likeliness of diagnosis, and how you can treat your IBD in the most effective, safest way.

If you are new to Eat Burn Sleep, many factors play pivotal roles in inflammatory bowel disease development. There are many ways to put it into remission, which are all included on this platform.

Side Effects of Antibiotics at Any Age

Can You Get IBD at Any Age?

Why Do You Have Crohn’s Disease?

What Are the Side Effects of Antibiotics?

Can Too Many Antibiotics Make You Sick?

Which Antibiotics Trigger IBD?

How Do You Reset Gut Health?

 

Side Effects of Antibiotics at Any Age

In the study (Faye et al. 2023) determining whether antibiotics were factors in the development of IBD, individuals had to satisfy specific criteria, and they ranged from 10 years old upwards, with no previous diagnosis of IBD—the years from January 2000 until December 2018 were studied.

It concluded that the frequent use of antibiotics that targeted gastrointestinal infections increased the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease among males and females over 40 by 50%. 

However, it also revealed that antibiotic use at any age, including 10 years old and upwards, increased the risk of developing Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. 

Each added course of antibiotics over the years from January 2000 until December 2018 created additional risk – the highest risk is seen after 1-2 years following antibiotic courses.

Can You Get IBD at Any Age?

Yes, you can get inflammatory bowel disease at any age, following antibiotics. The study showed the percentage of individuals that would be more likely to be diagnosed with IBD were:

  • 28% for 10 – 40 years old
  • 48% for 40 – 60 years old
  • 47% for those over 60 years old.

Why Do You Have Crohn’s Disease?

Please explore this platform to delve into the cause of Crohn’s disease and, indeed, become a member to put your Crohn’s disease into remission, but one reason could be down to antibiotics.

The study mentioned above revealed that the risk of developing Crohn’s disease after a course of antibiotics was:

  • 40% for individuals aged 10 to 40 years old
  • 62% for 40 to 60 years old
  • 51% for those over their 60s. 

Each course of antibiotics added an additional 11%, 15%, and 14%, respectively.

The figures were slightly lower for the risk of developing ulcerative colitis but still as significant.

The outcome showed that anyone at any age who has had five lots of antibiotic courses or more was twice as likely to develop an inflammatory bowel disease than someone who has not been on antibiotics.

What Are the Side Effects of Antibiotics?

Antibiotics change the microbial environment in the gastrointestinal tract, decreasing diversity and increasing susceptibility to disease development.

Our gut microbiota, which we carry around 4-5lbs of in our gut, changes continuously. It is home to an array of microorganisms that consist of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. They are paramount to our health.

Our microbiota is made up of our genes, food, drink, and what we are exposed to.

Everything we imbibe will feed the good or harmful bacteria or wipe out all the good.

This includes everything around us. The air we breathe, how we live and eat, and even our thoughts.

Everything we do impacts our gut microbiota.

Everything our gut microbiota does affects us.

This includes aging.

Age impacts our microbiota.

It was found that aging adults have decreased Bifidobacterium in their gut, also seen in IBD patients.

Age-related changes like lifestyle factors can be made worse by antibiotic use, which depletes microbiota diversity, increases candida and thrush, and can have long-term effects.

Recovery from antibiotics takes younger people less than a month to recover, but it takes much longer in older people.

Can Too Many Antibiotics Make You Sick?

Gut microbiota is affected by antibiotics, medication, drugs, sickness, and stress.

So, the antibiotics cause gut dysbiosis, which is linked to chronic inflammation and IBD: Crohn’s, Colitis, and Diverticulitis, as well as other chronic inflammatory diseases.

So, you can imagine that repeat prescriptions over a period of time limit microbiota recovery.

Children are still at risk of developing IBD after antibiotics, but much less. The slow and limited recovery that comes from aging, combined with repeated dysbiosis (unbalanced gut microbiota diversity) from the antibiotics, puts a person over 40 in a perpetual state of susceptibility to disease.

Antibiotic use is a trigger for Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis development.

Which Antibiotics Trigger IBD?

All antibiotics and medications cause microbiota diversity and metabolic changes. The overgrowth of pathogens occurs, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria multiply, for instance.

Antibiotics can wipe out all the good bacteria, leading to inflammatory diseases and immune dysregulation. 70% of immune cells reside in your gut, you see.

So, by using antibiotics to fight an infection, you are actually making your body more susceptible to disease and viruses.

Wiping out good bacteria and pathogens results in the body being even less healthy than before.

This also highlights how medication can cause chronic inflammation and reduced immunity through gut dysbiosis and how medicine can not be effective after a while. 

Gut microbiota is imperative to human health and can be disrupted by many lifestyle factors, antibiotics, and medication. 

It is constantly changing.

It can be changed positively to an optimal state as our environments allow. 

Have you read NSAIDs, Gut Health & Inflammation, Painkillers Not Helping Your Headaches?, Why Aspartame Is Linked to Cancer, & Can Food Poisoning Cause Inflammation?

How Do You Reset Gut Health?

Resetting your system starts here. Our 6-week reset enables you to recover from antibiotic use and dysbiosis, regardless of age.

The 6-week reset reboots the immune system and reduces inflammation, which improves your mental well-being and will cause weight loss, give you more energy, and make you feel and look incredible.

I would suggest that in addition to week 1 advice, follow the advice that I share for Candida Overgrowth for more recommendations to reduce bacterial overgrowth.

It’s a powerful protocol for resetting your health and taking control of your IBD, reducing Crohn’s and colitis triggers.

It takes 21 days to revive your mind and body and 42 to feel absolutely incredible!

Then, you maintain your lifestyle with 300+ microbiota-loving recipes, keeping you in tip-top health, having what you like now and again, which will keep you happy.

The platform has amazing craving hacks, but remember, it is not about perfection. Follow the EBS method 80% of the time. Have those foods and drinks that you love, too.

Nothing is cut out 100% (keeping the bacteria), which keeps many people feeling unrestricted.

Aiming for an 80/20 mindset most of the time allows you to dip to 70/30 and sometimes 60/40. You just jump back when you can. It is all about damage limitation, and it works!

The wonderful thing is that you feel it, and as you get to know your body more through the marked changes that Eat Burn Sleep promotes, you are more likely to be on this IBD and chronic disease-reducing lifestyle effortlessly.

Incremental changes over a year make a massive difference.

Plus, your gut microbiota won’t want those trigger foods one day.

It’s hard to believe right now, but it’s true! It’s amazing. Don’t just take my word for it; check out the testimonials.

Remember to go easy on yourself, and have a wonderful day.

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Depression, Anxiety & Gut Health

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December 25, 2022

Comfort and Joy for Ulcerative Colitis

Putting Ulcerative Colitis Into Remission

Hello Everyone. I hope that you are well. This post comes out on Christmas Day, and I hope everyone is having a stress-free, happy time. It can be challenging when you have health conditions and need to be near a bathroom or somewhere quiet to lie down.

If you have colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, diverticulitis, or any inflammatory and autoimmune condition that causes such discomfort with physical, mental, and emotional challenges, I know exactly how that feels. 

You see, I have ulcerative colitis (and hemolytic anemia), and I used to suffer so much with the symptoms, flare-ups, medication, hospital admittances, medical procedures, exhaustion, frustration, stress, juggling family and work life with two young boys, and worried whether I would survive.

I am now in remission, feeling fantastic and enjoying life, with the best body composition I have ever had, and I cannot remember the last time I had a flare-up.

If you, or anyone you know, has colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, an inflammatory disease, and autoimmune conditions, read on and share. It could very well be the lifeline that you/they need.

Living With Ulcerative Colitis

What Is the Best Management of Ulcerative Colitis?

A Recommended Diet for Ulcerative Colitis

What Is the Best Natural Remedy for Ulcerative Colitis?

Does an Ulcerative Colitis Diet Have to Be Bland?

What Common Thing Can Make Ulcerative Colitis Worse?

What Is Good Comfort Food for Ulcerative Colitis?

Reducing Stress With Ulcerative Colitis

How to Put Ulcerative Colitis Into Remission

Living With Ulcerative Colitis

I took supplements and medication and tried everything that was suggested to me by nutritionists and doctors. I traveled the world seeking help for my autoimmune conditions, going from specialist to specialist, following their advice. Nothing helped me get well.

It felt like many plasters were being put on many cracks to cover the symptoms up, but no healing was going on. Nothing was healing the cause of the problem, and some treatment was contributing to the problem.

In a way, what saved me was that my body wasn’t responding to medical treatment, and I ended up being kept alive with weekly blood transfusions.

I was so overwhelmed and almost wanted to give up! I had no choice but to find a solution to this, which I could apply to my daily life as a busy Mother of two young boys.

This is what led me to start researching.

It is understandable people are not getting their symptoms under control despite taking on specialist advice for their ulcerative colitis, colitis, Crohn’s, and so on. You are given medication and supplements and told to watch your diet and keep up with tests and procedures.

You may be given a supplement for this and something for that, and the problem is, if you already have poor gut health, these will only exacerbate the issues, adding to a more unbalanced gut microbiota, which then leads to more inflammation in the body, which leads to more flare-ups.

Coping with ulcerative colitis can be exhausting. Physical, social, financial, and emotional complexities may be running alongside your inflammatory condition.

Dealing emotionally with ulcerative colitis symptoms is challenging, and not everyone understands what you are going through. The impacts on relationships can be difficult.

You could very well be dealing with bone and joint issues like arthritis, which presents itself in the cooler months, which throw extra challenges at you (have you read Prevent Knee Osteoarthritis Progression?). I developed hemolytic anemia.

What Is the Best Management of Ulcerative Colitis?

The other issue is that you may have excellent care and doctors around you, but they cannot think for you, eat for you, exercise for you, or follow you around and advise you.

Finding resources to help you reduce stress, reduce ulcerative colitis symptoms, heal your body, get good nutrition, and calm your system down is essential, as well as your medication.

I know that finding a resource of education and helpful tools in one place to aid in healing ulcerative colitis is tricky. This is why Eat Burn Sleep exists and is available to you 24 hours a day, every day. Your own nutritionist advice, which doctors worldwide recommend and is Bupa-global-approved, is there on your app, following you around, guiding you on what to eat, how to exercise, etc.

I searched everywhere for something like Eat Burn Sleep through the years. I have read anything and everything to heal myself and then qualified at a top London naturopathic nutrition school.

There’s a minefield of information about ulcerative colitis out there. Believe me; if there’s a diet recommended for ulcerative colitis, I will have tried it.

Some, like medication, worked briefly, and I was so happy that symptoms died off for a while, but sure enough, they came back with a vengeance. It is so disheartening—one step forward, three steps back.

Unfortunately, once you get one autoimmune or chronic inflammatory disease, the pathways are open, putting you at high risk for developing another disease. Like I did. The toll on your physical and emotional health is intense.

A recommended diet for ulcerative colitis on the internet by many medical authorities is the low-residue diet so that your intestines won’t need to work as hard as usual. The low-residue diet is restrictive and does not meet nutritional needs, so it is only for temporary measures under medical supervision.

This restrictive diet plays a role and is often recommended after bowel surgery or preparing for a colonoscopy, for instance. For a minimal time only because it won’t reduce inflammation or treat ulcerative colitis and will likely cause more inflammation.

It is no wonder that people with ulcerative colitis often have to seek a nutritionist or dietician because many ulcerative diet recommendations will cause more inflammation and malnutrition.

If you already have weakness, headaches, anemia, and fatigue due to ulcerative colitis malnutrition, these diets will only contribute to gut dysbiosis, weaker immunity, and less-than-optimum health. This, of course, opens the body up at high risk for other illnesses and conditions.

Nutrition deficiency will present symptoms like mouth ulcers, tingling in your limbs, itchy rashes, feeling drained, weight loss, and so on. If you have Diabetes, a low-residue diet will impact blood sugar, present more challenges, and so on.

You may be interested in reading: How Do You Get Nutrients With Celiac Disease?

Medical professionals worldwide recommend Eat Burn Sleep, which pertains to clinical practice and has shown excellent results.

What Is the Best Natural Remedy for Ulcerative Colitis?

A nutritionist experienced with ulcerative colitis can provide a detailed gut health nutrition plan with a day-to-day schedule. They can devise weekly menu ideas and hopefully give advice on eating out (they are all here in the Lifestyle Guide, members).

They will help you recognize your triggers and reduce flare-ups (members can find it here) but also ensure that you get optimum nutrition that will be absorbed.

Gut microbiota contains trillions of bacteria that change continually with lifestyle factors such as food and drink we have, stress, what we breathe, medication, health conditions, and so on.

An alteration of your intestinal microbiome is a significant factor in the pathogenesis of a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract.

This means that promoting good microbiota with the right type and quantity of foods regularly will reduce gut dysbiosis. It will promote regular immune activity, reduce inflammation, and aid the healing and repair of the inflamed, permeable digestive tract, putting ulcerative colitis into remission.

A tagine with chicken and vegetables, saffron and herbs.

Optimally modulating gut microbial diversity and stability will prevent gut dysbiosis. This will prevent chronic inflammatory diseases. Eating the right balance of good foods is imperative for further absorption of nutrition. 

Pairing this ulcerative colitis nutrition protocol with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle will help you turn this around. I assure you! It frees up a lot of thinking time.

When you have any inflammatory or autoimmune condition with flare-ups, you are continually thinking about food and flare-ups:

What food will not create a flare-up, or how hungry you are, or trying to work out what was in something that caused a flare-up, how to navigate a day without one, and so on.

It truly is exhausting all around.

Have you read Reduce PCOS & Belly Fat, Why You Have Psoriasis, & Reduce Asthma with an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

Check out what others say on the Testimonials page. There are also video testimonials in most of the chronic inflammatory conditions under the Conditions tab.

Does an Ulcerative Colitis Diet Have to Be Bland?

So often, when you want to avoid the issues that come with colitis, Crohn’s, inflammatory bowel disease, and autoimmune diseases, you can stick to very few foods that seem safe. This means that you can miss out on nourishment, even when you have your bowels under control.

Fearing an attack at unpredictable times can make you not trust what you are eating. It affects you when you are out and about, traveling and visiting (which is all worried about, I know); what can you eat that won’t cause a flare-up?

All of this worry increases the chances of abdominal pain and needing the bathroom.

Chances are also that your body will not absorb enough nutrients because of the attacks, causing dehydration, fatigue, anemia, and headaches.

You can often be starving, but that is easier to deal with than worrying about navigating public transport, attending a meeting, being social when you need a bathroom, etc.

You may know your triggers and head to a health food store for alternatives, only to find yourself in pain not long after eating. The thing here is that the food industry relies on good marketing. We are leading such busy lives that we are not reading the small print.

What Common Thing Can Make Ulcerative Colitis Worse?

Even with known triggers, you can miss the fact that there are inflammatory ingredients in millions of ‘healthy foods.’

For instance, soy lecithin. It’s practically in everything. Check the packets of the box of healthy crackers that you may have picked up or the healthy cookies. It is linked to gut inflammation, obesity, metabolic disorders, and Diabetes.

People are misled because soy lecithin is also known as a health supplement. The fact is that the soy lecithin promoted as a health supplement is supposedly different from the soy lecithin processed to be used as a food emulsifier.

Soy lecithin, as a food additive, goes through a multi-step chemical process that strips it of soy and protein, and it involves pesticides, solvents, and goodness knows what else.

Whether the purified soy lecithin supplement is healthy is also under debate since supplement companies are not FDA-regulated. Many supplements contain bulk items that will cause inflammation.

There’s more about soy lecithin in this article: Is AG1 Supplement Good for You?

It is good to keep in perspective that shielding ourselves from chemicals would be near impossible, but limiting damage and reducing the amount we are exposed to in foods is possible.

An ulcerative colitis diet can be the complete opposite of bland. All of the anti-inflammatory recipes on this platform have been devised by me using carefully selected anti-inflammatory ingredients that have nutritional properties. I then test them on myself and others before uploading them to the Eat Burn Sleep platform.

The personalized advice section includes extra support, advice, and flare-up protocols for many symptoms, situations, and conditions. Again, all were tried and tested by me and recommended by me.

What Is Good Comfort Food for Ulcerative Colitis?

People are often surprised at the variety of food I eat to keep my ulcerative colitis in remission. They are amazed by my having wine and champagne, a steak now and then, and the cake I eat.

Oftentimes, they are shocked when they see me have a slice of pizza at a party.

When I devised this anti-inflammatory lifestyle to put my inflammatory conditions into remission, I knew that it had to be exciting, and the foods had to be delicious and varied. It could not be in any way boring, restrictive, or bland. That is not how I would ever want to live.

Food is life! It is beautiful. We need it and nutrition for vitality to enjoy our lives.

No compromises!

So, this platform has 300+ comfort foods for ulcerative colitis and all inflammatory conditions. Sweets, savories, snacks, breakfasts, lunches, dinners…

Life is to be enjoyed. It is not about perfection. That is unattainable and unsustainable. It is about damage limitation.

Reducing Stress With Ulcerative Colitis

If you have ulcerative colitis, there is no doubt that your days will be challenging. The debilitating symptoms and the psychological stress that can come with your condition are so significant, and what that entails puts extra pressure on you.

Ultimately, extra stress is the last thing that you need because stress can trigger a flare-up.

Comfort is what you need and what will calm your system down.

Although there may be some things that you cannot control, there are things that you can control to live your life well with ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory diseases, which may control the rest.

To have a chronic condition every day is a challenge (let alone the holidays), but I am here to say that you can live life well (if not better) with an inflammatory disease.

How to Put Ulcerative Colitis Into Remission

You may feel even better than before because you may like me; after being so ill for so long, without light at the end of the tunnel, feeling amazing feels miraculous.

To have a fitter, nourished body without flare-ups, and to plan and enjoy holidays and every day and not have compromised time with my boys, family, and friends.

I am grateful that there are things I do now that I didn’t do before. I know they help me and others tremendously.

If you have an inflammatory condition, know that you are not alone and that others understand. Reach out to me, my team, and our beautiful community forum. Being part of a community of understanding people who know precisely what you are going through is incredibly supportive and inspirational. Your physical, mental, and emotional health can be improved immensely.

Alternatively, you could book a 15-minute Zoom Call with me in the new year. We can work through your ulcerative colitis condition in a private consultation or an extensive Bespoke Coaching Session.

I hope that you have a wonderful, stress-free holiday.

One in which you can enjoy some stress-less activities, which will help your condition.

I wish you all comfort, good health, and joy.

 

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December 04, 2022

Eating for Glowing Skin: Secrets Revealed!

Let It Glow! Let It Glow! Let It Glow!

It’s party season, Everyone! For this post, I will share how to unlock your skin’s optimum health for radiant, healthy skin throughout the holidays.

You may want the Eat Burn Sleep ‘glow,’ or you could have a condition that presents itself through skin inflammation.

Like acne, eczema, or psoriasis, or a condition you wouldn’t associate with skin disorders, like Crohn’s, Colitis, PCOS, endometriosis, obesity, and diabetes, for instance.

You don’t need to spend a fortune to have peak skin health (and put your chronic inflammatory disease into remission).

Incorporating changes now will ensure that your skin has a better chance of being party season-ready this holiday and glowing throughout the year.

Eating for Glowing Skin

Drinks and Skin

Skincare Routine for Glowing Skin

What Shouldn’t You Do to Have Glowing Skin?

Exercise and Skin

More Tips for Glowing Skin

 

Skin-loving fruits and vegetables.

Eating for Glowing Skin

*(You guessed it) Follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. There is a direct relationship between the skin and lifestyle.

It is proven that what we eat and how we live protects the skin (and body) or contributes to damage and early aging. Eat anti-inflammatory foods containing all skin-loving nutrients, like polyphenols, essential fats, antioxidants, collagen, vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc., daily.

By eating anti-inflammatory food, you are banishing unhealthy gut bacteria and promoting a healthy gut microbiome, which is the route to reducing inflammation in the entire body, including the skin.

Chronic conditions can reveal themselves through the skin.

An optimum nutritional dietary protocol will feed the skin, protect and repair it, protect against chronic disease, and put the chronic illness into remission. 

 *Promote a healthy gut microbiome. Skin homeostasis is directly linked to your gut. Your microbiota will affect your skin health since it is associated with an altered immune response—an altered immune response through the microbiota results in skin diseases (as well as chronic conditions).

The overpopulation of certain bacteria in the gut can lead to skin inflammation—acne, psoriasis, eczema, and rosacea, for instance.

*Treat your chronic inflammatory and hormonal imbalance conditions. As mentioned above, conditions like Crohn’s, colitis, obesity, diabetes, endometriosis, and PCOS, can often show skin inflammation.

Gut dysbiosis, which occurs with chronic inflammatory conditions, extends to the skin.

When treated at the source, the skin inflammation will go into remission as the condition diminishes. An anti-inflammatory lifestyle is a beautiful treatment for these conditions.

*Avoid deprivation diets and unhealthy eating. High-fat diets are associated with disease, the lipid composition of the skin, oxidative stress, and skin inflammation.

Nutrient-depleted diets do not give the body the nutrients it needs for optimal health, resulting in less-than-optimum gut health, chronic inflammation, hormone imbalances, skin breakouts, etc.

Many diets do not contain all of the required skin nutrition. Low-fat diets cause skin problems, too, because essential fats are needed for good health. Vitamin C deficiency, for instance, can cause impaired wound healing and skin fragility. Vitamin C is a powerful skin antioxidant needed to help absorb other essential nutrients.

*Check the ingredients of what you are eating. For instance, additives, high salts, trans fats, and sugar promote inflammation in the skin, like acne, and accelerate aging by breaking down collagen and elastin.

*Puffiness, swelling, water retention, and wrinkles can occur depending on what you are eating.

*Cook and choose food carefully. Processing and the way foods are prepared can cause inflammation, excess sebum, and skin aging.

Check out these articles: Why Aspartame is Linked to Cancer, Reduce PCOS & Belly Fat, & Why You Have Psoriasis.

Drinks and Skin

*Stay hydrated. Water is an essential nutrient. It is the main component of cells, tissues, and body fluid compartments, representing a large percentage of the body’s composition (75% from birth and 60% in adults).

Staying hydrated will support your liver, which will show in your skin.

*Water deficiency is associated with several dermatological dysfunctions like inflammation, aging, and tissue dehydration.

*Don’t drink too much alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates and can change the skin’s permeability, affects skin lipid composition, destroys the skin’s barrier function, and so much more.

Alcohol overtaxes the liver and can dry your skin, meaning wrinkles occur more quickly. The diuretic effect of alcohol depletes vitamins, too, like vitamin A, which is essential for your skin.

Over time, regular drinking can also cause a red face due to the permanent enlargement of blood vessels and thread veins on the skin.

 

Skincare Routine for Glowing Skin

*Have a good skincare routine. Of course, shower and bathe regularly to remove bacteria that clog pores. Take saunas, if you can. Cleanse, tone, moisturize, and treat dry skin.  Here’s a skincare routine I often do: My Wake Up Makeup Guide.

*Use products that do not have ingredients that you may be sensitive to. For instance, many emollients and fragrances can cause inflammation in some people.

*Protect against other external factors. Use sunscreen, even on a cloudy day. Check out Yalda Loves for the products that I use. Members can access my Skincare guide here.

*Massage your skin. Promote lymphatic drainage, reduce puffiness, and encourage circulation. If you can have facials, have them.

Facial massage releases contracted muscles and fascia, reducing stress and encouraging blood flow. Massage also stimulates oxytocin production (see below for information about oxytocin).

What Shouldn’t You Do to Have Glowing Skin?

*Smoke. It is well-known that smoking causes skin damage and premature aging and increases the incidence of acne, skin cancers, psoriasis, and eczema. It changes skin cuticle thickness and accelerates skin necrosis (cell death) and pigmentation.

*Drink a lot of alcohol. See above.

*Eat a nutrient-poor diet—low calorie, high fat, carbonated sodas, processed foods, extreme diets, and so on. A healthy gut microbiome is imperative to skin health. See above.

*Get dehydrated. See above.

*Deprive yourself from sleep. Sleep is imperative for great skin. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can affect collagen production through wrinkles, reduced elasticity, skin sagging, and diminished skin barrier function. Sleep is good for growth and renewal. 75% of the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is produced during good sleep, accelerating skin repair and keeping you looking younger.

*Rely on ‘skin’ supplements alone. You can’t have poor nutrition and expect good skin health by taking a skin health supplement, for instance.

You may be interested in the article: Why I Use Collagen.

Exercise and Skin

*Take exercise that reduces inflammation, like what we have on the Eat Burn Sleep platform. Increasing blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients will be distributed to skin cells while also cleansing by removing cellular debris. Skin flare-ups can occur with intense exercise.

*Walk. It is a good exercise; again, it encourages blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients to the skin and is a super de-stressor, reducing cortisol. 10 Reasons to Walk.

*Stretch your fascia. If you have restricted fascia for a long time, you may be ‘holding’ onto the pain in your face, resulting in wrinkles.

More Tips for Glowing Skin

*Detox your liver. An overloaded liver will present itself in the skin. Members can access the Detox Guide in the 6-week Reset.

*Balance hormones. Hormones play considerable roles in our skin appearance and feel. Estrogen stimulates collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid production that helps skin stay plump, and elevated androgens can contribute to oiliness and acne, for example. Take up an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to assist with balancing hormones.

*Keep stress levels down. Stress always shows on the skin. Cortisol, released during stress, causes inflammation and increased oil production in your skin glands, leading to skin breakouts like acne and eczema. It increases DNA damage, disrupts skin cell cycles, and promotes early aging.

*Get plenty of fresh air, if you can. Air pollution contributes to oxidative damage, inflammation, skin cancer, etc.

*Socialize, snuggle with a pet, and laugh lots. When you socialize or snuggle with a loved one, oxytocin is released, that ‘feel good’ hormone. Think of the glow that people get when they are in love!

Oxytocin promotes skin healing and gives you a radiant complexion. It doesn’t stop there because oxytocin protects against intrinsic skin aging, which is skin aging due to internal natural factors within the body, due to hormones, endocrine metabolism, and genetics, for instance.

If you are an EBS member, the bonus is that oxytocin production occurs with a balanced gut through an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

Of course, when your health is good, it shows on your face.

Follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle with all the advice, guidance, tips, hacks, and recipes, and you will soon have everything you need for beautiful-looking skin that reflects how you feel inside.

It’s a beautiful cycle. Replenish, rejuvenate, and reward.

Join (or gift) the skin-loving Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle and let it glow!

Of course, I wish you a fun-filled party time and hope you have a super day today!

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November 06, 2022

How to Silence Hidden Inflammation

Can You Tell if You Have Inflammation?

Hello Everyone. I hope that you are well. This post relates to why Eat Burn Sleep exists.

It was COVID-19 that shed more light on what I have been talking about for a long time.

Scientists quickly recognized which individuals would be vulnerable to catching COVID-19 during the pandemic.

The warning went out to people with pre-existing conditions like autoimmune diseases, diabetes, weight issues/obesity, heart and lung disease, and older age groups most likely to catch COVID-19.

Until the pattern started to deviate.

Why were supposedly healthy young people without any conditions suffering badly and dying from the contraction of COVID-19? Read on to find out.

What Factors Increase the Risk of Getting Viruses?

How Do You Know If You Have Inflammation?

Is There a Test to Check for Inflammation?

How Do You Get Rid of Chronic Inflammation in the Body?

Why Is Gut Microbiota Important?

What Can Alter Gut Health?

Does Being Healthy Make Your Immune System Stronger?

What Factors Increase the Risk of Getting Viruses?

Many scientific studies were undertaken to see the common link between bodies with serious illness (including ‘healthy’ young people) and COVID-19.

Finally! The scientists found that the factor in common that worsened the prognosis and increased complications of COVID-19 was underlying systemic inflammation.

This makes sense because systemic inflammation is linked to obesity and most non-communicable diseases. People with underlying conditions have chronic (systemic) inflammation running through them.

How Do You Know If You Have Inflammation?

It’s imperative to know that inflammation is a dysregulation of the immune system.

We need adequate inflammation to respond to pathogens, viruses, and stimuli since it has always been a fundamental response to threats.

Read more about how the immune system works in my article: How to Boost Your Immunity to Fight Viruses, How to Recover from Virus Infections & Reduce Asthma With an Anti-inflammatory Diet.

Suppose the immune doesn’t succeed in dealing with the pathogen/virus. In that case, it releases a ‘cytokine storm,’ a rapid release of different pro-inflammatory cytokines (protein-based cell signaling molecules). It is this inflammatory storm that many very sick people are vulnerable to, rather than the virus itself.

The issue begins when inflammation is running consistently and destroying healthy tissue.

Now, the ancients characterized inflammation based on visual observation:

  • Redness (rubor)
  • Swelling (tumor)
  • Heat (calor; applicable to body extremities)
  • Pain (dolor)
  • Loss of function (function laesa)

Certainly, systemic inflammation (chronic inflammation) presents itself to us with apparent signs and conditions like arthritis, colitis, lupus, alopecia, diabetes, obesity, and thyroid issues. Still, inflammation is much more complex than conditions you can ‘observe.’

From the acute to the chronic to the debilitating destruction – and oftentimes, hidden.

Inflammation can run through our vessels, growing into something more significant, without presenting signs and symptoms.

This links the otherwise ‘healthy’ people who suffered greatly and died during COVID-19.

The chronic inflammation was not showing visibly (and when it would, it would depend on many factors).

If there was systemic inflammation rising silently through the body, it made the immune system unable to produce an adequate attack to defend, thus making an otherwise ‘healthy’ person more susceptible to a virus like COVID-19.

There are, of course, genetic predispositions to inflammatory diseases, too, that come into play.

Indeed, this is another reason to assess your lifestyle: lessening the likelihood of activating genetics through eating, living, breathing, moving, resting, stress-busting, sleeping, and thinking in an anti-inflammatory way.

You don’t have to ‘feel’ unwell to consider reducing your inflammation.

Moreover, since chronic inflammation is so prevalent in our lives for an array of reasons, it is wise to combat inflammation before it presents itself into something bigger, sooner or later.

It is wise to prepare and fortify our body’s response to threats.

So, as you can imagine, ‘inflammation’ is now characterized as: ‘The reaction to injury of the living microcirculation and related tissues’ rather than the visual observation of olden times.

Some signs of inflammation may surprise you!

We can have chronic inflammation without knowing it. A silent disease, as such.

Is There a Test to Check for Inflammation?

Unfortunately, no highly effective tests assess whether chronic inflammation is running in your body.

There are several tests that the medical profession uses to measure inflammation, with cause to C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin and fibrinogen, and Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Still, they are generally not used for health assessments and are not always accurate.

They cannot detect acute inflammation over chronic inflammation (acute inflammation would be present if you have a slight cold, for instance). There’s a bit more to it than that.

Looking for signs of ‘silent’ inflammation without cause (no symptoms) is less helpful than having screening for diseases such as IBD, obesity, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, etc.

Taking measures to keep inflammation at bay regularly, which you can control, is more helpful in your health journey for longevity.

I would advise discussing this with your health provider.

How Do You Get Rid of Chronic Inflammation in the Body?

Autoimmune and chronic inflammation diseases are dramatically rising, which are all associated with dysregulated immune responses.

This was revealed to me during my studies and trials in my quest to ‘cure’ myself or at least put my autoimmune diseases into remission.

Inflammatory markers kept coming up in my tests (which were ‘treated’ with anti-inflammatory corticosteroids. Initially, I was so pleased with the results, but the relief was temporary. I soon found medication was just a mask, like a plaster covering the symptoms but not treating the cause).

So, while conducting my own ‘healing the source’ strategy, I questioned why the number of people with inflammatory diseases was rising.

Is it all down to genetics, environmental agents, or just living longer, so more chances of developing diseases as we age?

Were the causes of inflammation out of our control?

Well, incredibly, I found out that we do have control somewhat.

It all boils down to lifestyle and our unique microbiota.

So, to answer the question, yes – you can reduce inflammation significantly and put your condition into remission. Hence Eat Burn Sleep was born in 2017.

Eat Burn Sleep’s protocol is what I searched for and needed when going through one of the most challenging times in my life (to put it lightly!).

You can reduce chronic inflammation and strengthen your immunity by improving microbiota in the gut.

Why Is Gut Microbiota Important?

This is a vast, fascinating topic, so I will summarise it for this article’s purpose.

Your gastrointestinal tract harbors a complex colony of trillions of different microbes and thousands of species of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.

Suppose you can imagine this vast, industrial network of cell signaling and pathways with proteins, metabolites, peptides, etc., in the layers of the GI tract. In that case, you get a rough idea of the gut microbiome.

Most microbiota are symbiotic (microbiota and the body benefit), and some are pathogenic (disease-promoting).

These viruses and microbiota all co-exist quite happily in a healthy person.

A balanced microbiota stimulates the immune system and synthesizes amino acids and vitamins. It also assists in breaking down toxic compounds, providing protection from organisms that enter the body through contaminated food and drink.

Colonization is unique to us since it begins before birth, dynamically from our mother, whose first exposure was from her mother, and so on.

This links to an intriguing report about the existence of ancient microbes in our microbiome by Dr. Rook, University College, London. This was recently touched on in an article by Dr. Ravella, Columbia University Medical Center, for the Wall Street Journal.

These ancient microbes prevented the body from attacking its tissues and resembled that of the natural environment.

In the past, we lived under timber and close to dung and thatch. Nowadays, our homes are made with manufactured products, so we miss that connection to the past and do not have the microbiota to deal with these clean environments.

Unless we live on a farm in a natural environment or with pets! (Which makes me think of the powers of earthing and maximizing our exposure to nature and our connection to early antioxidants).

Exposure is key to protection!

So, the first exposure is entirely down to our mother’s/DNA species of microbiota but also depends on how we are delivered into the world. Vaginally delivered (and position), we have microbiota resembling our mother’s vagina microbiota. C-sections would harbor microbes from a mother’s skin.

The microbiota we were born with soon alters as we adapt to our surroundings. Like breast milk or formula, adult diet, and so on, corresponding to the changes. To ease digestion of an adult diet and allow for vitamin biosynthesis, for instance.

What Can Alter Gut Health?

To cultivate a diverse, anti-inflammatory microbiome, exposure to germs in the first few years of life is also necessary.

Exposure in infancy protects a child from developing weakened immune systems later in life that are sensitive to pollen, benign germs, and dust.

Plus, there are more risks of being susceptible to chronic inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases later in life without the correct quantity and quality of germs in childhood (Dr. Ravella).

Some studies (Fierer et al.) show that human fingertips can transfer microbe communities via keyboards, for instance. There are so many factors that can affect the microbiome. It is so fascinating!

So, everything we are exposed to as we grow, along with our diets, habits, and environment, shapes our microbiota communities. This community can change the body into a healthy state or one at greater risk of disease.

Our composition of microbiota has a crucial influence on our health.

Indeed, our microbiota is an intrinsic regulator of immune responses.

Gut microbiota plays a vital role in the development of immune homeostasis, including the development of gut-associated lymphoid tissues.

70% of immune cells (Gut-associated Lymphoid Tissue) reside in the gut. GALT is an essential component in protecting the body from pathogens. 

Gut microbiota and gut-associated lymphoid tissue are essential players in the pathogenesis of various diseases.

An unbalanced microbiota results in dysbiosis with (but not limited to):

  • *An unhealthy diet, including calorie-restrictive and extreme diets
  • *A compromised immune system (you can be born with or acquire a weakened immune system)
  • *Overstimulated bowel functions (malnutrition)
  • *Older age (influenced by personal factors)
  • *Lifestyle
  • *Obesity 
  • *Medication (often to ‘treat’ disease causes more disease)
  • *Antibiotics (wipe out a gut microbiota richness and diversity within four days)
  • *Recurring bouts of acute inflammation (pneumonia, colds, flu)
  • *Auto-inflammatory diseases
  • *Stress 
  • *Illness (a vicious cycle)
  • *Environment (toxins, cleaning products, plastics, solvents, pesticides, cigarette smoke, mercury, and so on)
  • *Sleep deprivation
  • *Certain exercises
  • *Isolation (not socializing significantly alters gut microbiota).

 

Dysbiosis (when an altered interaction between immune cells and microbiota occurs) makes the body susceptible to disease.

Like Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Celiac Disease, cancer, obesity, cardiovascular, central nervous system disorders, and diabetes.

Does Being Healthy Make Your Immune System Stronger?

You usually have less chance of catching viruses if your immunity is good and strengthened and less likelihood of viruses taking a stronghold if they are caught.

Your body will have adequate inflammation to cope with the pathogens but less so if your immunity is not in tiptop form.

One must always be cautious with a bit of information, dashing out and buying prebiotic supplements or embarking on a restrictive diet when chronic inflammation is present – or not!

Doing so may exacerbate the symptoms or initiate an inflammatory response. It may reduce beneficial microbiota and increase pathogenic microbiota. Your immune and endocrine systems may be affected.

I recommend taking a 360-degree anti-inflammatory approach when it comes to reducing inflammation.

Your body needs to be understood to be taken care of. It will aid longevity if approached from a ‘health education and nourishing angle and learning what is suitable for your body.

Eating, living, breathing, moving, resting, stress-busting, sleeping, and thinking in an anti-inflammatory way will positively influence the composition and operations of your microbiota and the innate and adaptive immune system. This will lower hidden inflammation in the long term.

Plus, when you are ‘gut’ healthier, you are more energized, productive, and happier (brain/gut connection, ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter production).

When you are happier, you are more likely to socialize.

When you socialize, you are improving your immunity further.

Improving your immunity increases your chances of having more autonomy over your health.

I wish you a very healthy and happy day!

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Depression, Anxiety & Gut Health

What Is Gut Health?

August 25, 2023

Boost Your Immunity to Fight Viruses

Shifting Through The Seasons With Boosted Immunity

Hello Everyone! I love seasonal changes, for each one carries beauty. Of course, when the weather, temperature, and light change, it is inevitable that these will have an effect on our mental, physical, and emotional health.

For this post, I am going to focus on the immune system. It reminds everyone, no matter the season, that good immune health equals good health. Many of you can be in control of looking after it, too!

What Is a Healthy Immune System?

What Can Weaken Your Immune System?

Does Lack of Exposure to Harmful Microbes Weaken The Immune System?

Do We Need Supplements For The ‘Cold and Flu’ Seasons?

Do Teenagers Need Supplements For Their Immunity?

How Can You Boost Your Immune System?

 

What Is a Healthy Immune System?

Our immune system is complex and influenced by many factors, but I will try and explain briefly.

An effective, healthy immune system can interpret the world around it and respond appropriately. It can powerfully defeat invading pathogens, bacteria, viruses, and foreign invaders.

We have two types: innate and adaptive immunity.

Our innate immunity is our first-line defense, achieved by protective barriers that disallow foreign invaders from entering our bodies.

These barriers are via the skin (keeping them out), mucus (trapping them), immune system cells (attacking them on entry), sweat and tear enzymes (anti-bacterial compounds), and stomach acid (destroying them).

Our adaptive immunity is where our immune system recognizes what a foreign invader is.

So, when one enters the body, cells and organs create antibodies.

This leads to a counterattack and the multiplication of immune cells (including the signaling of different white blood cells) that are specific to that pathogen. They attack and destroy it.

Then, our immune system adapts (remembers) so that if the invader enters again, the cells and antibodies built will be more efficient and destroy it more quickly.

Memory is the signature attribute of the immune system.

So, if the immune system has no memory of a new strain, say, then this is when we are likely to catch a virus.

What is important to note is that this is how we build T-cells and antibodies (unless you need to shield, of course).

We need exposure to microbes to raise T-cells but also be cautious of germs that cause severe disease when underlying conditions exist. Of course, that is why vaccinations exist, like coronavirus and flu, for instance.  

What Can Weaken Your Immune System?

Factors that weaken our immune system are:

Poor nutrition

The quality of your gut bacteria dictates your nutrient absorption. Poor gut health (dysbiosis) is linked to a weakened immune system and non-communicable diseases since 70% of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) resides in the gut.

GALT and the intestine are essential in the body’s immune defense, allowing tolerance to good bacteria and dietary nutrients while dispelling the body of foreign invaders.

Gut microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract provides essential health benefits, particularly immune homeostasis.

It’s a vicious cycle: Gut dysbiosis equals immune dysregulation and the risk of autoimmune disorders! Immune dysregulation causes gut dysbiosis!

Reduced microbial exposures and a low microbiota diversity are linked to chronic inflammatory conditions, including neuroinflammation.

Unhealthy lifestyle

 An unhealthy lifestyle weakens your immune defense. Poor sleep patterns, smoking, excess alcohol, and drug abuse contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle.

As does lack of exercise, being overweight, being underweight, and following calorie-restrictive diets. Negative thinking is detrimental to good health and disease defense, too.

What you do every day, how you eat, how you move, what you think, and so on, all majorly affect your health.

An overburdened liver due to heavy medication and excess alcohol, for instance, disrupts the homeostatic role of the liver.

Exposure to toxins and pollution suppresses the regular activity of immune cells. It is such a vast topic. I could go on!

Lack of sleep

Sleep is vital for a healthy immune system. A bidirectional relationship exists between your immune system and sleep.

For instance, the body releases specific proteins called cytokines that help the immune system while we sleep.

You only have to think about how your body craves sleep when you have a cold or virus.

No amount of anything will keep you awake, as your body’s natural healing defense urges you to lie down and sleep. If you fight it, you prolong the sickness period.

Likewise, suppose you have long periods of insomnia. In that case, you are more susceptible to catching a virus because important infection fighters decrease, and you are more open to getting other chronic inflammation conditions.

There’s a strong link between circadian disruption and sleep in developing diseases!

Chronic inflammation

If you have inflammatory issues, you are more at risk of catching a virus.

Many people have inflammation running for a while before they notice it develops into a disease. (There are signs of inflammation that people often dismiss).

Obesity is a chronic inflammation condition. Fat tissue produces adipocytokines that promote inflammation, and impaired T-cells stop the immune system’s optimal and timely response when faced with pathogens.

Also, people who are overweight tend to have lower blood vitamin D levels. Vitamin D accumulates in excess fat tissues but is not readily available when the body needs it. The good news is that it does rise again when weight is reduced.

Living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle in a complete 360-degree way can curb this from happening. Even in genetic diseases, it gives your body a more robust defense.

Autoimmune diseases and issues

You can be born with the genes of or acquire a weaker immune system. Conditions like ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, Graves, Type 1 diabetes, or rheumatoid arthritis…where the immune mistakenly attacks and potentially disables healthy cells, tissues, and organs.

An overactive immune system could cause asthma and eczema. All sorts of other medical conditions compromise, disable, and depress the immune system and leave people highly vulnerable to pathogens, like certain cancers and HIV/AIDS.

Have you read Anti-cancer Diet: Recovery & Prevention, How Can You Prevent & Treat Cervical Cancer? & Reducing Cancer Risk & Recovery

Please also listen to the podcasts, where you can access inspirational stories from my guests – Karen Greenberg and Member Sofia Toubani, who talk about how they survived cancer.

Immune-suppressing medication

These are given for autoimmune diseases to reduce the risk of rejection of foreign bodies in transplant organs and cancer treatment.

Read NSAIDs, Gut Health & Inflammation,& Side Effects of Antibiotics & IBD,

Chronic stress

The immune system, central nervous system, and endocrine system interact with each other. Stress dysregulates the immune system by upsetting these systems’ interplay.

If you are stressed, then your sympathetic nervous system kicks in. The sympathetic nervous system shuts down the immune system and the parasympathetic nervous system, which is essential for gut motility and health.

70% of immune cells and 60% of neurotransmitters reside in the gut.

Excess cortisol that is triggered, along with other hormones in times of chronic stress, leads the immune system to reduce the production of white blood cells (germ hunters) and increase stress hormones and inflammation increases.

Vitamin D deficiency

Unfortunately, we learned from COVID-19 fatalities that vitamin D is an important immune regulator.

Vitamin D is a nutrient we eat and a hormone our bodies make. It is more of a multifunctional hormone as it contributes to many body processes. Processes involving the immune, intestines, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems, as well as other metabolic pathways and the brain!

Many essential vitamins are obtained from food, but only 10% of vitamin D is obtained from food.

The other 90% is produced by sunlight, and the efficiency depends on the UVB protons penetrated into the skin. Conversion then occurs in the liver mainly, and it is utilized. It isn’t stored for long, though!

Vitamin D diminishes with:

  • less exposure to sunshine
  • light restriction
  • skin having higher amounts of the pigment melanin
  • wearing more clothes and covering the skin
  • not spending time outside
  • older age
  • excess fat.

More about vitamin D is below.

Also, check out this article with more information about vitamin D and the benefits of sunshine if you haven’t already. It also includes information for those of you basking in the hot sun.

Older age

Age brings a reduced immune system response capability. This is why many older people are more vulnerable to assaults on their immune systems. It also makes them more susceptible to contracting respiratory infections and viruses.

This could be due to poor gut health and lack of nutrient requirements, which means poor immune health and less T-cell production.

Nutrition is needed for the immune response to pathogens, and many enzymes in the immune cells require certain micronutrients to enhance optimum immune function.

What happens with an unhealthy gut and compromised immune system is that the inflammation pathways could lead to neuroinflammation. This includes depression, anxiety, and neurodegenerative diseases. (There is comprehensive, personalized advice for Depression Members that is proving to be so successful).

Also, poorer appetites could be down to living alone, lack of interest in cooking for one, medications, neurodegenerative disease, no access to fresh, real food…and loneliness!

There are many reasons why being social is the number one factor for longevity!

Isolation

Not socializing weakens your immune defense because we need to raise T-cells to protect us. If you are vaccinated, socializing will be good for you.

If you missed my chat with Nick Potter, listen to The Behavioral Immune and with Dr. Tamsin Lewis about Long Covid, Immunity & Energy Levels.

Does Lack of Exposure to Harmful Microbes Weaken The Immune System?

Reduced exposure to harmful microbes may reduce memory updates to the immune memory cells. This would reduce the activity of the innate immune system, but it shouldn’t weaken the ability to respond to new threats in a healthy immune system.

The key is to maximize your immune health and look at your lifestyle. Some significant factors that reduce the immune system’s defense are listed above.

Note: What we need to remember is that we need to protect ourselves from exposure to harmful microbes like toxins, pollutants, chemicals, and lethal infections while maximizing exposure to essential microorganisms (microbiota, natural environment, socializing, and so on).

An anti-inflammatory lifestyle strengthens your microbiota, immune, liver, and overall health. Discuss it with your doctor.

Do We Need Supplements For The ‘Cold and Flu’ Seasons?

Firstly, be aware of marketing. In the cooler seasons of the world right now, we will be bombarded with ‘Immune-boosting Vitamins’ and ‘Immune Defence Supplements.’

(Supplements are a billion-dollar industry and not regulated! Check the ingredients and buy from a reputable brand).

There are reasons why the cooler seasons are referred to as the ‘cold and flu’ seasons, and the cause used to be blamed on more behavioral reasons rather than biological ones. We spend more time indoors with people, allowing for easier germ spreading.

The cooler air allows viruses to stay airborne longer. Studies suggest that the cooler air could also affect the nose’s first line of the immune response, reaching mucous membranes, thus disabling the body’s ability to fight germs.

Read How To Recover From Virus Infections & Reduce Asthma With an Anti-inflammatory Diet

More About Vitamin D

Vitamin D insufficiency affects almost 50% of the population worldwide, across all ethnicities and age groups, and supplementation is often necessary.

Lack of sunshine is a challenge for your immune system because vitamin D (from the sun) plays a vital and complex role in immune system function and regulation.

Sitting near an open window or using a S.A.D. lamp (throughout the day) is beneficial if you have to isolate or in cooler months.

Although sitting behind a window alone will feel nice but will block the necessary UVB rays.

Taking in a correct dose of sunshine when you can is essential for your immune system since 90% of vitamin D is absorbed from the sun, but there are challenges when the skin is covered. See above.

The best way of bolstering immunity for better protection against disease and infection is by having vitamins and minerals through food and living an anti-inflammatory, immune-healthy lifestyle.

This will allow maximum absorption of optimum health nutrition and virus defense.

Vitamin D Deficiencies

If you have a deficiency, condition, lower blood levels of D due to skin pigments, live in places where sunlight is limited, or any reason you do not get enough vitamin D, as in veganism, then the requirements for supplements increase.

Poor vitamin D absorption could occur with chronic inflammation conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, celiac, Crohn’s, and ulcerative colitis. Vitamin D is fat-soluble, so it depends on the gut’s ability to absorb dietary fat, and these conditions can cause malabsorption.

Some conditions require vitamin D supplementation, which is vital for calcium homeostasis in bone health; for instance, vitamin D deficiency also causes respiratory infections. The hormone is essential to the body.

I advise getting a deficiency test if you think you are depleted from vitamin D.

Talk with your doctor about vaccinations, deficiency tests, and supplementation.

Vitamin D is in cod liver oil, trout, beef, liver, mushrooms, egg yolks, and many fortified foods like cereals (but check the ingredients because these fortified foods could also increase your inflammation).

Also, I reiterate that supplements are not an effective alternative to diet and lifestyle, but vitamin D differs due to vitamin D absorption restrictions and our requirements.

Vitamin D is available in D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). They have different molecule structures since D2 is created from plants.

I recommend D3 as the preferred form since it is naturally produced in the body and is found in most foods that contain the vitamin naturally.

I recommend Solgar for D3. Check out the Yalda Loves page for other recommendations.

Do Teenagers Need Supplements For Their Immunity?

Teenagers should not need supplements if they eat a varied diet with all the nutrients they need. The bioavailability of nutrients in food is far superior to supplements because of serum levels.

Teenagers aren’t going to have a robust immune system just by taking supplements. The supplements will be a waste of money if they eat a high-fat diet that lacks vitamins and minerals and do not get enough outside space and exercise.

Encouraging Healthier Eating

One good way to encourage healthier eating in growing children is not to have snacks lying around. Regarding mealtimes, they will be so hungry that they are less likely to be fussy.

Also, find ways to incorporate vitamins and minerals into favorites like sauces with carbohydrates that children enjoy, like pasta, potato wedges, gut-healthy bread, etc.

Growing children and teenagers love most recipes on Eat Burn Sleep (tried and tested). I know this because of what my boys say, what my family and friends say – and the testimonials!

Have you tried Eat Burn Sleep’s immune-boosting energy balls yet?

Pleasure & Reward

So, go for a walk with friends, and feel the pleasure and reward. This will also keep stress levels down. A multitude of wins!

You can see why everyone, no matter what climate, needs to invest in immune health year-round. By investment, I mean your whole lifestyle.

Look after yourself. Your health is your most valued asset. Don’t compromise.

If you haven’t already, try these immune-healthy soups: Spinach & Broccoli Velouté and immune-boosting Chicken Soup.

You could break these crackers up to go on top or eat them alone for a fabulous crunchy snack: Immune-system Boosting Seed Crackers.

Here’s something sweet that your immune system will like, too: Low Carb Paleo Mandarin & Almond Muffins.

Make the change of season a time for a change-up!

I recommend the potent and popular Six Week Reset as an excellent place to start.

Here’s to your good immune health!

 

 

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June 09, 2024

Why Is Fascia Stretching So Important?

Hi Everyone,

Are you caring for your fascia?

Looking after your fascia is vital if you want to be fit and pain-free. If you are unfamiliar with fascia, let alone why fascia stretching is important, this post is for you.

What Is Fascia?

What Causes Fascia Pain?

Symptoms of Tight Fascia

Why is Fascia Stretching Important?

What Does Fascia Stretching Do?

How to ‘Feel’ Your Fascia

Stretch your fascia

What Is Fascia?

Fascia is this amazingly dense, clear, 3-dimensional structure that wraps around your joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and internal organs. It is made of collagen and elastin and carries more nerve endings than any other tissue.

Every part of your body has layers of interlacing fascia holding everything in place. It’s like an internal bodysuit holding you together! Without it, you would collapse on the floor.

On a basic level, fascia is a support structure allowing easy movement between your body’s muscular, skeletal, and visceral components. It enables proprioception, your body’s sixth sense of action, coordination, and self-movement.

On a deeper level, it transmits thoughts and feelings through millions of nerve pathways. Essentially, fascia allows the conduction of consciousness throughout your body. If you think it, you will feel it in your fascia.

When your fascia gets tight due to immobility, stress, inflammation, or poor nutrition, it causes pain and tension.

When areas on the body are stressed fascia issues arise

What Causes Fascia Pain?

Fascia pain can be caused by:

  • Inflammatory conditions
  • Inflammatory food
  • Poor nutrition
  • Digestive problems
  • Autoimmune conditions
  • High blood sugar levels
  • Repetitive movements that strain one part of your body
  • The wrong types of exercise
  • Surgery
  • Injuries and old injuries that haven’t healed correctly
  • Working or living in cold environments
  • Sedentary lifestyles – fascia requires movement to work efficiently
  • Physical, mental, and emotional stress
  • Not breathing correctly
  • Infections
  • Poor posture
  • Physical misalignments and imbalances (we often don’t know we have them!)

 

Because of the way fascia stretches and contracts, it’s easy to mistake fascia pain for something else. For example, hip pain may be due to fascia tension in your hamstrings. Or your painful shoulder is sore because your neck fascia is tight.

This is why regular, consistent fascia stretching is so important for your health and well-being.

 

Fascia neck pain

Symptoms of Tight Fascia

Symptoms of tight fascia include:

  • A tender knot
  • A deep, aching pain
  • Tender muscles
  • Muscle weakness
  • Circulatory Issues
  • Swelling
  • Reduced mobility
  • Compression
  • Headaches
  • Poor sleep quality
  • Fatigue
  • Depression

 

The good news is that fascia is self-healing and can reverse any pain and damage with the right stretches.

Fascia issues come through the lumbar

Why is Fascia Stretching Important?

Healthy fascia relies on regular movement, stretching, and good hydration. If you are inactive, don’t stretch enough, or don’t drink enough water, your fascia will become dry, tight, and painful.

Any classic stretch can be turned into a fascial stretch, but they are not the same thing.

An effective fascia stretch involves the right dynamic movement and the correct breathing. It should feel good, but it shouldn’t be painful. Not too tight, not too loose, and for the right amount of time – but you will feel your point of sensation.

There is an art to movement, which I teach on the Eat Burn Sleep platform. Fascia loves multi-directional movement so I have created a whole range of videos to guide you through fascia stretching.

Stretching your fascia correctly reduces inflammation, strengthens muscles, and improves body composition. It is good for digestion, the immune system, and mental wellness. These movements will improve your day-to-day activities and help you work, rest, and play in a pain-free way.

To ensure that you keep your fascia in good health:

  • Live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. This is what Eat Burn Sleep is all about. We focus on gut health, optimum nutrition, daily movement, and restorative sleep.
  • Be active and move regularly. Our bodies need motion to maintain healthy circulation and metabolism. If you have a sedentary job, be aware that it takes less than 60 minutes to cause tight fascia in your hamstrings. You must stretch out and move for at least two minutes every hour. Set an alarm if you need reminding. It’s that important.
  • Stretch regularly to reduce the risk of inflammation, circulatory issues, and pain in your joints.
  • Adjust your posture. Be mindful of how you are sitting and standing. Slouching or compensating for a sore body part all play havoc with your fascia.

 

Poor posture can lead to fascia issues

What Does Fascia Stretching Do?

  • Reduces inflammation
  • Increases mobility
  • Releases tension, relaxes and rejuvenates your whole body
  • Helps you stay mobile as you age.
  • Increases blood and lymph flow
  • Supports immune health
  • Allows for a better range of flexibility and movement
  • Improves body alignment
  • Reduces scar tissue
  • Reduces your risk of injury when exercising

 

It is so important to stretch and release tension throughout the day so that it doesn’t build up and cause you pain.

How to feel your fascia connection

How to ‘Feel’ Your Fascia

To feel the connectedness of your fascia, try this exercise:

Sit on a mat, legs in front of you, and relax with your spine elongated. Make sure that you are warm.

Roll your head down slowly, leaning forward, and guide your head to your knees. Can you feel the stretch?

Now point and flex the toes. Feel how that stretch changes. Only you will know how that fascia stretch feels because we all are unique, and our connective tissues are personal to us all.

You should feel the benefits of the proper movement in your brain, too! It’s incredible.

A red-headed girl smiling because she stretches her fascia at the desk

So, now you know the fuss about stretching your fascia.

There are over 170 movement videos on the EBS platform, including 16+ stretching videos. All are excellent for your fascia.

Some of them are accompanied by full-body meditations, which are incredibly nourishing for your mind, body, and soul.

Girl doing a fascia stretch with one hand out and an opposite leg stretching

Believe me, you will feel amazing following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

But don’t just take it from me. This is what EBS Member Natasa has to say about the program:

“I have lost almost 10kg since starting EBS.

I’ve had knee surgery, and my knee pain has really reduced, and my post-op recovery is going very well. I am not taking anything for pain relief.

Everywhere I go, I just talk about your platform. Thank you so much! I absolutely love this lifestyle.”

And, you can check out hundreds more reviews on our Testimonials page.

You might also enjoy:

How Does Sleep Help With Inflammation?

Best Exercise to Lose Belly Fat

Podcast – Why Women Feel More Pain

Ready to stretch your fascia and start living the anti-inflammatory way? Find out more about our membership options now.

With love,

Yalda x

 

Yalda Alaoui is a qualified Naturopathic Nutritionist (with a foundation in Biomedicine) who studied with the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London. She has spent over a decade performing groundbreaking research in chronic inflammation and gut health.

 

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May 12, 2024

Signs of Inflammation
That May Surprise You

Hello Everyone,

I am often asked about the signs of inflammation and how to tell if it’s a problem. But honestly, chronic inflammation will express itself differently for each of us! This is because we have a unique genetic makeup that influences our health.

However, there are some common signs of inflammation to look out for, some of which will surprise you.

 

What are the signs of chronic inflammation?

Digestive System

 

Cognitive function

 

Joints, muscles, and skin

  • Skin rashes
  • Acne
  • Joint pains
  • Back pain
  • Muscle aches
  • Swollen ankles and fingers
  • Puffy legs
  • Mouth sores
  • Dark circles around your eyes
  • Puffy eyes
  • Dry eyes
  • Melasma

 

General Health

 

This is not an exhaustive list, but I hope it gives you an idea of how many different ways chronic inflammation can appear in your body.

Should I Be Tested For Inflammation?

In some cases, your doctor or healthcare practitioner may run blood or stool tests to check for inflammatory markers. The most commonly tested marker in your blood is CRP – C-Reactive protein. Elevated levels of CRP indicate acute inflammation in your system.

However, CRP levels do not give the whole picture and you can still have chronic inflammation even if your levels are within the normal range.

What Causes Chronic Inflammation?

It’s easy to get attached to the name of a disease and what medicines you can take to deal with it rather than thinking about the underlying cause. So many people get rid of their health issues on the Eat Burn Sleep program because it deals with the underlying cause.

When we talk about chronic inflammation we are looking at two main underlying causes: diet and lifestyle.

Yes, genetics play a role too. But even if you carry a genetic predisposition for an inflammatory condition, it is your diet and lifestyle that switches on those genes.

 

Diet, Lifestyle, and Chronic Inflammation

Diet is a major underlying cause of chronic inflammation because of the number of Ultra Processed Foods and Drinks (UPFDs) available now. These foods and drinks are high in refined sugars, industrially processed oils, artificial sweeteners, additives, and emulsifiers. They lack fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

They aren’t real food; they are the products of a chemistry lab! And we as humans are not designed to thrive on such things.

Lifestyle is the other major underlying cause. We have become reliant on smartphones and screens that disrupt our sleep. Millions of people are dealing with high levels of stress. And we move our bodies far less than we need to.

A sedentary lifestyle is strongly linked with chronic inflammation and is known to increase your risk of developing serious conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The same goes for stress too. Ongoing stress disturbs gut health, immunity, brain function, and cellular repair, opening the door to weight gain and chronic inflammation.

 

Eat Burn Sleep – The Power of an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle

Living a low-inflammation lifestyle protects you from disease and helps you recover from illness and surgery more efficiently.

The Eat Burn Sleep approach is more than just an anti-inflammatory diet. It is a complete 360-degree platform of inflammation-reducing tools.

The program includes:

  • Food plans
  • Recipes
  • Guided meditations
  • Movement videos
  • Health masterclasses, and more.

 

It is a program that works. We have countless testimonials from EBS members who have had an inflammatory condition, followed the program, and then returned to see their doctor who is astounded at the results.

Take Natasa, who saw incredible results after only 3 weeks on the program:

“Since joining the platform 3 weeks ago, I have lost 3kg, and my bloating is gone.

I have bilateral patellofemoral osteoarthritis (severe pain in both knees) and the pain is now much less. I feel like I can finally start doing movement videos that previously I couldn’t do because of my knee pain. Also, all your recipes are so tasty.

Thank you so much.”

I am passionate about helping people live healthier, happier lives, so you can imagine how it feels when testimonials like this come in!

How does the program work?

I always suggest that people start with the 6-week Reset. This is designed to optimize your gut microbiota and liver function. It takes just 42 days to feel incredible before you carry your anti-inflammatory lifestyle forward with all the tools that you need.

The program is all about moderation and enjoying life – not deprivation and restriction. It’s about damage limitation, not perfection! With the health education Eat Burn Sleep provides, people make better choices for themselves and their families – promoting healthier lives for all ages.

Want to find out more? Enjoy a sneak peek into the program and find out more about our membership options now.

You might also like:

How Does Sleep Help With Inflammation?

Heart Health: Do You Have a Heart-healthy Lifestyle?

Recovering From Cancer

With love,

Yalda x

 

Yalda Alaoui is a qualified Naturopathic Nutritionist (with a foundation in Biomedicine) who studied with the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London. She has spent over a decade performing groundbreaking research in chronic inflammation and gut health.

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June 23, 2023

Improve Fertility for a Healthy Baby

Looking to Improve Your Chances of Having a Baby?

Hello everyone!

If you are here because you want to improve your fertility, have a healthy pregnancy, and have a healthy baby, you are in the right place.

Whether you are looking to give your body the best chance to conceive naturally or are on IVF and want a greater chance of success, we are glad you are here because we can help you.

It could be that you have had recurrent miscarriages – or want to prepare your body for having a baby in the future – but if it’s your mission to have a baby, this post is for you.

Keep reading because you are about to find out how to improve your chances of having a baby – and this applies to women and men.

The Impact of Infertility

Diet and Lifestyle Helps People Have a Baby

Chronic Inflammation and The Reproductive System

Preparing Your Body For Having a Baby

Improving the Immune For Fertility, Pregnancy + Having a Baby

Improve Gut Health For Fertility

Improve Liver Health For Fertility

Natural Ways of Improving Chances of Having a Baby

The Impact of Infertility

Astonishingly, there are 1 in every 6 couples in the UK and the US right now who have difficulties conceiving. That equates to 3.5 million! Worldwide – between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals have infertility!

The cost of fertility treatments, which include artificial insemination, intrauterine insemination, and in vitro fertilization, is expensive.

If you are experiencing infertility, there is no doubt that it impacts your life. The emotional stress of trying to have a baby and being disappointed regularly, with an enormous cost financially and to physical health, can take over your life.

Diet and Lifestyle Helps People Have a Baby

Eat Burn Sleep is a 360-degree anti-inflammatory lifestyle. We assist people with lower inflammation successfully at a systemic level and improve gut, mental, liver, and immune health (which amounts to optimum health).

Lowering inflammation helps you have a baby because many reasons you cannot conceive, carry and have a baby are linked to chronic inflammation (excessive).

Chronic Inflammation and The Reproductive System

The female reproductive system is geared to resolve inflammation since an average amount of inflammation is required to function at full capacity.

The menstrual cycle, for instance, deals with clearing tissue debris and regeneration as a regular function. An acute amount of inflammation is needed for cell repair during ovulation, menstruation, implantation, and giving birth.

However, it is important to keep inflammation low because chronic inflammation will cause problems with ovulation, low sperm count, erectile dysfunction, low testosterone, implantation, hormone imbalance, early pregnancy health, and even after the baby is born.

Chronic inflammation is linked to infertility, miscarriages, endometriosis, PCOS, and autoimmune disorders that impact being able to have a baby.

Preparing Your Body For Having a Baby

Lowering your inflammation is key to preparing your body for having a baby. Whether that is naturally, through IVF, to lessen the risk of miscarriage or boost sperm count, you must look at your whole lifestyle.

Eat Burn Sleep is successful at helping people have healthy babies, and I will briefly explain.

You see, inflammation is lowered, and the gut, immune, liver, and mental health are also optimized. These are all major in improving fertility, IVF success, pregnancy, and giving birth.

Chronic inflammation conditions that affect your chances of having a baby are all treated on this lifestyle successfully.

For instance, check out the testimonies for weight loss, endometriosis, and PCOS. Many men are boosting their testosterone and sperm count by following this lifestyle. It really works!

Improving the Immune For Fertility, Pregnancy + Having a Baby

The immune system plays an integral role in the reproduction of both males and females. There is a close functional relationship between the immune system and the reproductive tracts.

For instance, a healthy immune will heal the ovary after the egg erupts and then help repair the uterine lining during menstruation.

A healthy immune system is required for internal protection from infections and for tolerating sperm.

A healthy immune is required to trigger blood vessels necessary for growing the placenta to facilitate the healthy development of a baby, for instance.

Conditions like obesity, diabetes, and metabolic dysfunctions impact male fertility, endometriosis, and PCOS, for instance, for women, since they are characterized by chronic inflammation and immune alterations.

Women with autoimmune disorders can fail to recognize a pregnancy or develop antibodies attacking sperm (and even embryos), seeing them as foreign invaders.

Many autoimmune diseases are treated and put into remission with this anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

As many of you know, due to this lifestyle, I have put my two autoimmune diseases into remission and do not take any medication anymore.

Improve Gut Health For Fertility

Your gut microbiota is linked to infertility since poor gut health can cause hormonal imbalance.

Many studies improving gut dysbiosis lead to more pregnancy successes.

Since 70% of your immune cells reside in the gut, it makes sense that your gut needs to be in optimum health to protect your immune system and reduce inflammation.

Eat Burn Sleep recipes are packed with the ultimate nutrition to improve health, fertility, IVF success, and having a baby. The lifestyle helps you digest, absorb, and hold on to that nutrition.

(Improving gut health helps your baby’s health when it arrives since it inherits its Mother’s microbiome! It also lessens the chance of postpartum depression).

Improve Liver Health For Fertility

Your liver is linked to infertility since a tired and congested one can produce a multitude of symptoms that are often caused by hormone imbalances.

Medication, unhealthy foods, exposure to toxins, and an inflammatory lifestyle contribute to a congested liver. Eat Burn Sleep’s reset will detox, recharge, and renew your liver efficiently.

Your liver needs detoxification if you are having IVF treatment. You will no doubt be feeling rather sick if you are taking IVF.

This powerful anti-inflammatory lifestyle kickstarts you on your road to improving chances of IVF and fertility, lessening the risk of miscarriage, and helping you give birth.

Natural Ways of Improving Chances of Having a Baby

Stress is linked to infertility, miscarriage, and giving birth since chronic inflammation is also linked to mindset.

E.g., Excess cortisol levels can inhibit the body’s main sex hormones and suppress ovulation, sperm count, and sexual activity.

Sleep is linked, too. During sleep, HGH is produced, which is essential for optimum health. (There’s Insomnia advice as well as Fertility advice in the Personalized Advice section).

Lower levels of HGD are linked to obesity and diabetes, which can affect your fertility and having a healthy pregnancy. Chronic sleep deprivation is recognized as being one of the major contributors to diseases like type 2 diabetes, too.

Lowering stress and improving restorative sleep are significant parts of Eat Burn Sleep through mind reprogramming, guided meditations, movement, mindfulness, and other neuroplasticity exercises.

Because improving gut health leads to improved mental health, it is a biological reaction – not just through seeing and feeling the positive results of being on this lifestyle.

If you are looking for a fertility diet to improve pregnancy health and a diet to have a healthy baby, you have found it!

The whole body is optimized to improve fertility, support the success of IVF, lessen the risk of miscarriage, and help give birth on this anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

I am barely covering the surface here, but suffice it to say that Eat Burn Sleep is a beautiful lifestyle to follow if you want to improve your chances of having a baby.

Check out the fertility success stories, see how many Eat Burn Sleep babies there are, and come and join our community!

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

Wishing you the very best and hope you will soon welcome a baby into your life.

 

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June 10, 2022

Dangers of Chronic Inflammation

How Chronic Inflammation Affects Us All

Hello Everyone!

I was interviewed for Femtech World recently about the hidden dangers of chronic inflammation.

You see, the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease is on a dramatic incline. Like I said to Sorina Mihaila, until you get diagnosed with a chronic condition, you might be unaware that you have inflammation running through your body.

You can read the article here: The Hidden Dangers of Chronic Inflammation

You may also be interested in my other interviews in the media:

Reduce Inflammation For a Healthy Mind

Can You Put Ulcerative Colitis into Remission?

Healing My Ulcerative Colitis & Rare Blood Disorder

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day!

 

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May 23, 2022

Pain Relief for IBD

My Interview In The Express

Hello Everyone!

I was asked to comment for the article by Lucy Johnston in The Express, in which she wrote about the number of people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn’s, and Colitis.

It is estimated that half a million people are suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, which are on the rise.

How Do You Get Rid Of IBD, Colitis, and Crohn’s?

Of course, what helped me with my ulcerative colitis, after many years of debilitating pain and no solutions, was the anti-inflammatory lifestyle that is now Eat Burn Sleep.

Living pain-free was something I dreamed about while suffering from the symptoms of ulcerative colitis and hemolytic anemia (a rare autoimmune disease). Living without medication (steroids and immunosuppressants) was something I was told would never happen. Being in remission from colitis and hemolytic anemia didn’t ever seem likely.

Following my anti-inflammatory lifestyle (that had to be easy and include treats, might I add. Life is to be enjoyed, after all!), I am pain-free, medication-free, and in remission.

Check out my Instagram post for World IBD Day.

I decided to share what put my autoimmune diseases into remission.

What Lifestyle Should IBD Sufferers Follow?

Eat Burn Sleep was developed five years ago and has helped people worldwide with inflammatory bowel disease. Conditions include Crohn’s, Colitis, Diverticulitis, IBS, candida, diabetes, thyroid, endometriosis, PCOS, fertility issues, skin and hair disorders, and many other diseases linked to chronic inflammation are treated successfully on the EBS platform.

It focuses on gut health, liver detoxification, boosting the immune system, reducing inflammation, eliminating stress in the body and mind, and enjoying lifelong health.

This lifestyle is also treating conditions like Long Covid, brain fog, memory loss, depression, and MMDs like bipolar effectively.

What is reassuring is that the only side effects of my inflammation-reducing lifestyle have been all positive. People are healthier and happier than they have been for a long time!

You can read the article here:

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1613955/Inflammatory-bowel-disease-crohns-colitis

If you suffer from any IBD, take charge and join the members who are in remission from inflammatory disease on the anti-inflammatory platform.

Anti-inflammatory Meals are Delicious!

Try these anti-inflammatory recipes:

Slow-cooked Braised Ox Cheeks

Banana Bread Muffins (Nut Free)

My friend initially made this delicious Mediterranean Roast Chicken & Vegetables recipe; its taste, simplicity, and health ratio bowled me over. I had to steal it for my members!

I hope that you enjoy it, too.

Healing foods don’t have to be bland. A healthy lifestyle is not restrictive.

You, too, can live pain and medication-free and put your IBD into remission. You may be interested in listening to the podcast I did recently on The Big Move about fixing health issues and fine-tuning optimum health.

Or read my article in The Telegraph about how chronic inflammation affects us all.

If you have a chronic inflammation condition, see this time as a phase that you are going through that won’t be repeated, and make this the first day of your new health journey.

Become an Eat Burn Sleep member. Your health is your greatest asset.

IBD symptoms can be a condition of the past!

Wishing you great health!

 

 

 

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September 01, 2023

The Anti-inflammatory Diet & Lifestyle

Chronic Inflammation Affects Us All

Not many people understand chronic inflammation. This is why the anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle Eat Burn Sleep platform exists. Our members understand it now because they can see and feel the difference. They have put their inflammatory condition and autoimmune disease into remission. 

It is only through my health journey that I understand chronic inflammation.

How I Healed My Autoimmune Disease Naturally

Anti-inflammatory Medicine

What Is Chronic Inflammation?

Is Reducing Inflammation Important?

Why Should We Care About Inflammation?

Why Do I Get Worse Colds and Viruses Than Others?

How Can You Prevent Genetic Diseases?

What Is the Point of an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

How I Healed My Autoimmune Disease Naturally

Around 14 years ago, during pregnancy, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease: ulcerative colitis. The symptoms were relatively mild to begin with. They became more acute after my son was born. I got better for a while and then had my second son.

Two years later, I was diagnosed with another condition: a rare autoimmune disease called hemolytic anemia. I nearly died several times.

In my quest to get better, I saw medical professionals, specialists, naturopaths, nutritionists, and dieticians worldwide. 

Anti-inflammatory Medicine

The anti-inflammatory medication and steroids for the autoimmune disease I was taking would only work for a while. Then they would stop working. 

I researched everywhere, trying to find out what was going on and how I could help myself. 

Along the way, I was trying every diet under the sun. Some were extremely restrictive; nothing was working. I felt sick, malnourished, depressed, and determined not to live that way. I spent time in and out of hospitals, being unable to absorb nutrients, and passed from specialist to specialist. So, I researched everywhere I could, trying to determine what was happening.

One day, the penny dropped! It was chronic inflammation! 

(Read about nutrient malabsorption and how to treat it in this article: How Do You Get Nutrients With Celiac Disease?).

What Is Chronic Inflammation?

To give its correct title, chronic inflammation is Chronic Systemic Inflammation – CSI.

Inflammation is a healthy bodily response to a foreign pathogen, to a cut, trauma, virus, bug, bacteria – any injury or organism that is capable of causing disease. Inflammation is your body’s immune response to defend yourself.

For example:

    • If you catch a virus or you have a fever.
    • If you have a wound, the tissue around it inflames, and collagen and fibers are sent to the cut to repair it.
    • If you ingest bad bacteria, you expel the foreign pathogen in other ways.

This is acute inflammation. It is the immune response to protect you, the body’s weapon of protection.

Female with a red nose sneezing - an acute inflammatory reaction.

Is Reducing Inflammation Important?

Inflammation becomes an issue when it becomes chronic when there are low levels of inflammation in the body for a long time—caused by food, stress, inflammatory movement, and substances around us like pollution. How and what we eat, how we move, what we are exposed to, and how we deal with stress raises inflammation.

If what we eat and are exposed to, how we move, and stress levels never change, then this is how the inflammation stays running and turns into chronic systemic inflammation.

Why Should We Care About Inflammation?

Chronic inflammation is linked to 78% of the causes of death – cancer, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, heart attacks, depression, and so on.

Girl curled up in bed with pain and depression.

Chronic inflammation is the trigger for non-communicable diseases. These are diseases that you cannot transmit, like cancer, Parkinson’s, autoimmune diseases, joint issues, skin inflammation, PCOS, endometriosis – anything that you cannot catch (see more here). All will be triggered or worsened by high levels of chronic inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is linked to male and female fertility issues, peri-menopause, menopause, periods, allergies, and asthma – it is astounding what targeting chronic inflammation achieves! This is the reason why I had to create the best anti-inflammatory lifestyle. It affects all of us!

Why Do I Get Worse Colds and Viruses Than Others?

If you catch any transmittable diseases, your health will deteriorate faster if you have chronic inflammation because it dysregulates your immune system.

People have been awakened during the Covid 19 to chronic inflammation issues. 

Chronic inflammation is a dysregulation of the immune system, and I discovered that once the established inflammatory pathway is open, you can develop more than one autoimmune disease.

Read Long COVID Migraines, How To Recover From Virus Infections & Boost Your Immunity To Fight Viruses.

Long COVID Protection & Recovery is in the Personalized Advice section, Members.

How Can You Prevent Genetic Diseases?

I also discovered that many genetic conditions have chronic inflammation at their source because it dysregulates the immune system and switches on weak genes (epigenetics). My mother and grandmother had autoimmune diseases; I have those autoimmune genes.

Group of Genetics scientists working in science laboratory.

I have now lowered those responses by living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

You cannot change your DNA, but you can change your lifestyle.

You can have an inflammatory lifestyle or an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

I can switch on those autoimmune genes if I start living an inflammatory life again.

What also transpired through my research is that the anti-inflammatory medication saved me, but it was temporary.

It was like putting a plaster on massive cracks.

I needed the source of my autoimmune conditions to be treated, not plastered over.

I also discovered that the anti-inflammatory tablets and steroids were exponentially worsening my symptoms and causing inflammation and a dysregulated immune system.

Pretty, young woman goiing through a Computerized Axial Tomography CAT Scan medical test examination in a modern hospital

So, yes, the anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids saved me, but they increased inflammation in my system on a perpetual cycle.

How Do You Reduce Inflammation Naturally?

I also discovered that by manipulating gut bacteria, systemic chronic inflammation can be reduced at the source, and the immune system can be regulated again.

When I say manipulate, I mean eating to encourage good diversity.

60% of Gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) reside in the gut, an essential component of the body’s immune defense.

It switches off genetic expression by manipulating gut bacteria and increasing good diversity.

Torso seen only of female cupping her gut area.

People talk about gut health a lot but not really about inflammation because they don’t fully understand it. It is relevant, though. Poor gut health leads to chronic inflammation.

So, my research was extensive and extended to thousands of hours over a decade. I used myself first as a guinea pig and then extended it to family and friends, developing this anti-inflammatory lifestyle called Eat Burn Sleep. Born in 2017.

I qualified as a naturopathic nutritionist so that I could help others with a foundation in biochemistry (CNM) from the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London with a DipCNM in 2021, and am accredited with mBANT (British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine) and mANP (Member of Association of Naturopathic Practitioners), all of which set the standard of excellence in science-based nutrition and naturopathic practice. 

My research into gut health and chronic inflammation remains continuous.

What Is The Fastest Way to Reduce Inflammation?

The EBS lifestyle is about lowering chronic inflammation with the variables we have control over. We can modify how we eat and sleep better for the tissues to repair and the immune system to reset by eating anti-inflammatory foods. An anti-inflammatory diet will aid sleep, and this method resets the circadian rhythm.

Good quality sleep is anti-inflammatory. This is why weight gain is linked to low-quality sleep.

When you eat nourishing, nutritional food, it promotes a healthy gut and ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter synthesis.

Nourishing gut-healthy food reduces inflammation in the brain and supports healthy brain function. This is why depression is treated well on this anti-inflammatory platform. Chronic inflammation that comes from bad gut health increases neuroinflammation in the brain.

We can focus on anti-inflammation movement and strengthen our core to support our digestive system.

We can lower our stress levels by focusing on mental wellness and doing daily meditations, which lower cortisol levels and help lower chronic inflammation.

This inflammation-lowering lifestyle is all about focusing on the things we can change.

We can’t change a lot, like pollution and chemicals on surfaces and in just about every food and drink you come across. But we can focus on the areas we can change.

Yalda Alaoui performing one of her movements with weights and an exercise ball, wearing a salmon pink exercise outfit.

What Is the Point of an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

By lowering chronic inflammation, you lessen the chances of these issues developing. If they have developed already, you have more chance of putting these diseases into remission –  if you follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

The mechanisms of the effects of inflammation in the body and how the body becomes inflammatory are really involved and are unique to the individual’s make-up, surroundings, and lifestyle.

An anti-inflammatory lifestyle is the most important contributor to health, given its impact on non-communicable and infectious diseases.

We delve deeper into this on the platform and invite you to join us to eat, breathe, move, de-stress, sleep, and enjoy life the anti-inflammatory way.

All the tools you need to live this revolutionary anti-inflammatory lifestyle are here.

Sign up today, and you will be protecting yourself from disease and be on your way to the best version of yourself!

Click to see Faqs & Signs of Inflammation that May Surprise You!

I wish you all the very best health!

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Yalda Alaoui

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