Is Your Diet Making Your Autoimmune Disease Worse? Food Matters.
By Jodi Briden, CHHC, AADP
“Eat a healthy diet.”
How many times have we heard that statement? What does it really mean? What does it mean if you have an autoimmune disease? Is a healthy diet the same for everyone?
The occurrence of autoimmune diseases (diseases in which the body’s tissues are attacked by its own immune system) has tripled in the last 3 years; 24 million people in the U.S. currently are afflicted with an autoimmune disease and oftentimes a person may have more than one.
Having any autoimmune disease is a sign that our immune system is damaged and is in need of healing. The common trait found in all autoimmune diseases is chronic, internal inflammation. Inflammation is an essential part of the body’s healing system; without it, injuries would persist and simple infections could actually be deadly. However, too much, chronic inflammation is
a problem.
We have the ability to reduce chronic inflammation and support our body functioning at its optimum level of health, simply by changing our diet. There are certain foods that are naturally anti-inflammatory and other foods that exacerbate inflammation. Our body can use its natural healing abilities to begin repairing the damage by removing the triggers and filling up with the anti-inflammatory foods.
Some of those naturally occurring anti-inflammatory foods include fruit, vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, omega-3 fatty acids such as flax seeds, chia seeds, and pumpkin seeds as well cold-water oily fish such as salmon, trout, and sardines.
In order to receive the full healing benefits that anti-inflammatory foods can provide, the triggers, or inflammatory foods, need to be removed from the diet. Those foods would include sugar (any foods with added/processed sugar), dairy, gluten (any foods with wheat, barley, rye and oat) as well as any packaged, processed foods.
Making these kinds of dietary changes is simple but not necessarily easy. Beginning with adding anti-inflammatory foods into the diet will facilitate healing and make removing other foods easier. To fully experience benefits of these changes and actually begin healing the body, these changes need to be at least 80% of a person’s diet. The body cannot heal if we don’t reduce the inflammation. Not only does food give us the nutrients and energy we need to survive, but it also has the ability to support our body in healing, if chosen properly.
How do we ensure our success?
A research study sponsored by the Ford Foundation found 67% of the population has a general idea of what they want, but they do not have any plans for how to get it. Only 10 percent of the population has specific, well-defined goals, and even then only 70% of those people reach their goals only half the time.
Reaching our goals, especially goals that might seem overwhelming, require a plan, a system, a support structure that holds us to account. Your Wellness Partner, LLC provides exactly that. Because each person’s body and health is unique, the programs are customized to individual needs to ensure dietary and lifestyle changes can be made with ease and success. Clients alleviate symptoms, begin the process of healing their body and experience a whole new level of wellness and vitality.
Contact Your Wellness Partner and begin feeling better today!
TESTIMONIALS:
“Working with Jodi to choose the right foods for me and my lifestyle not only made me feel better physically, it had a positive impact on my mood and concentration levels and the new practices helped me to significantly reduce my stress.” ~ MS, Philadelphia, PA
“Jodi has genuinely helped change my thinking and behavior surrounding food, health and wellness, not only for myself but my family as well. She has been instrumental in encouraging me to set goals and ultimately achieve them.” ~ AL, Ellicott City, MD
Jodi Briden, owner of Your Wellness Partner, and a Certified Holistic Health Coach, provides customized holistic wellness programs for individuals and groups; coaching, supporting, and guiding clients to regain their health, heal chronic conditions & autoimmune diseases, and live a life of wellness, naturally.
www.yourwellnesspartner.org
267-975-6367
