Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own cells and tissues, leading to inflammation and damage. The exact causes aren’t fully understood, but there are known factors that contribute to having an autoimmune.
Some people have questions around why they might feel the way they do or why they were 'diagnosed' with an autoimmune. It can definitely be overwhelming and a little stressful at first when you learn that you have one. I’ve found it helpful to be educated as much as I can and learn how to best serve my body and my health.
Although each autoimmune has it's own flavor, many of them show up in our bodies from these factors:
✨Genetic Predisposition: family history = higher risk (doesn’t mean you’re destined, just means you may have some genes that can ‘turn on’ when lifestyle factors aren’t so hot)
✨Environmental Triggers: infections, exposure to toxins, chemicals, and pollutants, as well as dietary factors.
✨Hormonal Influence: Hormonal changes, particularly in women, can influence the risk of autoimmune diseases
✨Chronic Stress: can lead to inflammation and affect the body's ability to regulate the immune response
✨Gut Health: imbalance in the gut microbiota can potentially trigger immune responses that contribute to autoimmune conditions
✨Smoking and Environmental Exposures: increase the risk of autoimmune diseases
It's important to know that there are so many different autoimmune diseases that have different causes and triggers. You may not be able to pinpoint to just one factor unfortunately.
The important thing though is to learn what causes the triggers in your body and how to best avoid them for your own health and wellbeing!🫶 Our goal is to feel good at the end of the day; that’s all we want. Slowly take away and reintroduce to your body certain triggers to determine what upsets your body. Over time, you’ll get more in tune with your body and learn what to avoid and what’s okay to have!
There are many many things that can be helpful for the postpartum body and while I talk about them a lot, there are still so many of us who don't know all the things which is why I’m so passionate about educating and talking about these topics.
Pregnancy and postpartum can take its toll on your body and your overall health. It’s so important for your recovery to be doing things to serve and love on your body.
These different tools, whether they’re supplements, oils, foods, mindset work etc. can all have a place in your recovery. Collagen is a great supplement for postpartum moms for so many reasons and it’s a supplement that can be easily added to your routine.
Collagen is important for postpartum recovery for several reasons:
✨Tissue Repair: helps in the repair and healing of any tissue damage related to pregnancy and childbirth
✨Skin Elasticity: aids in healing and recovery due to hormonal and weight fluctuations
✨Joint Health: Aids in joint discomfort or pain
✨Hair and Nail Health: hormonal changes affect your hair and nail growth, so collagen is a great resource to promote healthy hair/nails and regrowth.
✨Gut Health: so much stems from your gut and it’s so important to keep it in balance with the physically demanding needs of postpartum recovery on your body
A good collagen can support your body in a number of ways. From supporting your bones to combat any loss in density and help with joint pains that come from pregnancy and labor/delivery.
Taking collagen can support and balance out other levels in your body as well, such as your hormones and levels of glycine that your body needs to get restful sleep.
Young Living’s inner beauty collagen is the best way to go if you are looking to take one! The ingredients are sustainably sourced and are ones you can feel good about putting into your body.
🫶 I created a guide for Breastfeeding moms to support you along your journey to educate you and remove the overwhelm and the 2am google search! It's packed with recipes, resources and more to encourage you. Grab it here!
There are so many different thoughts and feelings around the word autoimmune. Some define it as your immune system mistaking parts of your body as foreign and therefore attacking healthy cells by releasing proteins known as autoantibodies.
Others say, not so much. In fact, when we believe our own body is attacking us we not only hinder our healing process but often feel our body betrayed us and we become the scapegoat for this 'disease'. When the medical industry cannot seem to figure out what is causing symptoms like fatigue, inflammation, dizziness, aches & pains it gets labeled as an autoimmune condition.
I know that because of my autoimmune (and the fact that I breastfeed too!) my body needs some extra TLC and that's my focus. I take care of myself for my son and I ignore what anyone else thinks or says haha and you should do the same! The #1 concern as someone who has an autoimmune is to take the extra measures needed to take care of you.
Here's three ways I make sure to give my body some TLC:
✨FOOD
If you know anything about me, you know that food is my number one thing I go to when it comes to healing anything or simply feeling better. I truly believe that there is not one particular diet that literally works for everyone, however there are some overall ideas that typically help us all.
✨Oils
I never, ever, ever leave home without them. There are many uses for each one but some of the ones I carry with me for that extra TLC are lavender, believe blend, RC, lemon and white angelica.
✨Water
Hydration is super key for every single person. There is the balance of electrolytes when drinking water (I used LMNT) and you can drink too much water (yup this does happen), but for many people they're not getting enough. The general guideline for most is to take half your body weight, and drink that amount in ounces of water.
PS: these are things we can all benefit from; even if you don't have an autoimmune!
Breakfast is the one meal that I always get questions on from women and moms. They want to eat breakfast, but don’t know what to have or they currently don’t even eat breakfast at all! Believe it or not, the idea of breakfast foods is a fairly new invention when it comes to looking at human history.
Whether you look at one of its first mentions by the Tudors in Elizabethan England or more recent by Mr. Kellogg himself (that’s a dark one too)-it’s not necessary to have ‘breakfast foods’ as we’ve been taught to (think cereal which is usually loaded with things we may want to stay away from more often then not).
While that may be the case, as a breastfeeding mom, it's important that I nurture my body and having a healthy (key word) breakfast helps me start off on the right foot. My mood is so much better because I'm not running on an empty stomach and my blood sugar is balanced (which affects our mood!).
Here’s some that help us keep our blood sugar balanced and hormone levels rocking, which is especially important for moms out there! (although truly everyone):
- Chia seeds soaked in almond milk with organic fruit, nut butter (organic raw almond) and protein powder (I like @four sigmatic for it's ingredients)
- Sprouted oatmeal with added protein powder, organic fruit and cocoa powder if you like chocolate!
- Smoothie with 1/2 cup organic coconut yogurt, 1/2 an avocado, water or coconut milk and added protein powder
The main goal with breakfast is for it to be nourishing to your body and packed with good ingredients. Breakfast is the first meal of the day and you’re essentially coming off a “fast” from sleeping overnight. This means if you pump your body full of sugar first then it’s going to negatively affect your body because your stomach is empty. This is going to result in a crash and burn out situation, which we want to avoid!
Autoimmune can mean a lot of different things for different people, but it’s important to remember that we really do have more control than we’ve been led to believe when it comes to feeling good. It’s our job to be educated and learn how we can feel good; because we can!
When you’re a mom it’s not always easy to take that extra care of ourselves that we need to do, especially with an autoimmune. There are hard days and days that we aren’t feeling like our best selves. Food is one of the best ways to take care of yourself because it plays a huge role in so many things. Food can effect your mood, how you feel, your energy levels and more.
Not only is ensuring that YOU get good foods in your body, your family benefits as well! Everyone has different thoughts on how you ‘should’ eat so it’s important to find what feels good for your body. Focus on what triggers a positive or negative response in your body. No matter what you’re eating sourcing it well is incredibly important.
I love visiting our local farmer's market; it's something I truly enjoy doing and the food is so much better for us! Eating local allows you to know exactly what is in the item. So many foods that we can buy on the market today are pumped full of chemicals and things that are not meant to be ingested into our bodies. Finding a source that you know and trust is a game changer.
Visiting our local farmer’s market has actually turned into a family affair for us and it’s so fun! We get outdoors to enjoy the beautiful day and we’re able to teach our son the importance of finding good foods to serve our body. It’s truly a win/win for us!
