The Midlife Feast
The Midlife Feast
#164 - Autoimmune Disease in Midlife: Beyond Diet Culture Myths with Dr. Alison Danby ND
Feeling lost in a sea of conflicting advice about autoimmune disease? It can be especially tricky during perimenopause and menopause when hormones throw everything off. Dr. Alison Danby, a naturopathic doctor who specializes in autoimmune health, is here to break it all down with clear, science-backed guidance that feels like a sigh of relief.
What you won’t hear is any ideas about cutting out gluten, dairy, or sugar, or following strict AIP protocols. Dr. Danby explains why those extreme diets can actually hurt your gut and why a Mediterranean-style approach supports your microbiome, heart, bones, and overall wellbeing, without the stress.
We also chat about the surprising role of stress in triggering autoimmune flares and how simple things like better sleep, gentle movement, and stress management can be more powerful than complicated food rules.
Whether you’re just starting to figure out your autoimmune journey or have been managing it for years, this episode gives you permission to relax around food and focus on what really helps your body heal.
Connect with Dr. Alison Danby
Listen to the Podcast Autoimmune Simplified
Instagram: @dr.alisondanby
Website: www.alisondanby.com
Like what you learned? Check out these other episodes!
- What Every Woman Needs to Know About Cholesterol, Heart Health, & Menopause with Dr. Alex Verge ND
- Is it Hunger, Food Noise, or Hormones?
- Gut Health & Hormones in Midlife: What You Need to Know with Dr. Kim Bretz ND
- Intuitive Eating in Menopause: A Conversation with Evelyn Tribole
What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!
📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause will be out on October 21st, 2025. Pre-order your copy today and help get the word out!
Looking for more about midlife, menopause nutrition, and intuitive eating? Click here to grab one of my free guides and learn what I've got "on the menu" including my 1:1 and group programs. https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/links
Hi and welcome to the Midlife Feast, the podcast for women who are hungry for more in this season of life. I'm your host, Dr Jenn Salib Huber. I'm an intuitive eating dietitian and naturopathic doctor and I help women manage menopause without dieting and food rules. Come to my table, listen and learn from me trusted guest experts in women's health and interviews with women just like you. Each episode brings to the table juicy conversations designed to help you feast on midlife. And if you're looking for more information about menopause, nutrition and intuitive eating, check out the Midlife Feast Community, my monthly membership that combines my no-nonsense approach that you all love to nutrition with community, so that you can learn from me and others who can relate to the cheers and challenges of midlife.
Jenn Salib Huber:Today I'm diving into autoimmune disease.
Jenn Salib Huber:Now you might be thinking that you're ready to switch this off because you don't have an autoimmune disease, but even if you don't have celiac disease or Hashimoto's, thyroiditis or another autoimmune condition, you may still want to listen because, as my guest, dr Alison Danby, explains to us today, menopause, perimenopause is one of the periods in our life when we are more vulnerable to developing these conditions, and the reason why I wanted to have Allison on the podcast is because if there's an area of health that is a swamp of bad information from wellness culture, diet culture, all the cultures, it's autoimmune disease, and so a lot of people who have been diagnosed or are trying to manage one of these conditions get confused by all of the misinformation, all of the bad information that they get about what to cut out and what they should and shouldn't eat and supplements to take. So I really, really think that everybody should listen to this episode, because I can guarantee that by the time you get to the end of the conversation, you will be breathing a sigh of relief. So thanks so much to Dr Alison Danby, who's a naturopathic doctor in Ontario who specializes in autoimmune disease, because, as she shares, she has this herself for bringing some sanity to this conversation. Hi, alison, welcome to the Midlife Feast, thank you so much for having me, Jen.
Alison Danby:I'm excited to be here.
Jenn Salib Huber:I'm so excited for this topic and as soon as I posted about it I got a ton of messages from people saying, oh my gosh, I can't wait for this one. So before we dive into the connections with food and you know, all the things that people want to know, especially around thyroid health and things like that can we just talk a little bit about what do we mean by autoimmune disease? What is that?
Alison Danby:Yeah, so autoimmune is very common.
Alison Danby:We have probably close to over 150 different conditions that have now been associated with autoimmune and essentially what it is is the immune system has picked a certain part of your body. So rheumatoid arthritis is the joints, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's is the stomach, celiac it's the intestines as well thyroid, hashimoto's thyroid. So it's the immune system now has seen as part of your body, as foreign, and so it's flagging the cells in those spots. Depending on what autoimmune condition you have as a problem and depending how aggressive your autoimmune or your immune system is, you can have a complete destruction of that area of the joints or you just may have an upregulated immune system and start to notice some dysregulation, some changes. So it's essentially your own body seeing parts of it as foreign and trying to fix it.
Alison Danby:So it's not going out of control, it is a little bit. So people with autoimmune do have a bit more of a predisposition of what we are seeing in some of the genetic reports is when the inflammation is turned on. It's turned on at a higher level than someone who doesn't have the autoimmune genes. So we're starting to see a little bit more information coming out in the genetic reports, but more so. It's just the body's attacking itself and it needs help for a lot of people getting it settled down. So it's a little bit more out of control.
Jenn Salib Huber:And so we hear a lot about autoimmune diseases in the women's health space. What's the connection there?
Alison Danby:So there is a strong connection with hormones. Part of it, we're not exactly sure, but a lot of the reasons. Why is they think it has to do with the fact that women can carry children and so the immune system is just a little bit more aggressive to protect, to ensure that everything is going well. And there is a big genetic component to it as well. But we see a lot of the autoimmune systems or the autoimmune conditions coming out when it's more hormonal period. So post-pregnancy, sometimes during pregnancy, we're now seeing kids when they're hitting puberty, coming up with some of them, and then menopause is a really big time Perimenopause, menopause and we see the hormone changes Because hormones really have a strong influence, especially when we're looking at kind of later life, perimenopause, menopause. They have a lot of control over the inflammation and so a lot of women will notice that as estrogen is leaving and progesterone, our sleep changes, our brain chemistry changes, our blood sugar changes and those are all things that are important for controlling inflammation and hormones as well.
Jenn Salib Huber:Yeah, and I think that it gets really messy, as all things do in perimenopause, because a lot of the conversations that are happening in, let's say, non-healthcare spaces so you know, wellness culture influencers are saying that you know you can influence or change or prevent or treat this change with all these fancy tests and supplements, and so this is really kind of what I'm excited to dig into with you, because there's always a little bit of truth to what people are seeing and saying, but then there's a whole lot of crap. Yeah, so much worse.
Alison Danby:Well, I think today as well, it's such a crowded place, and so people are saying things to stand out which is dangerous, right, like it's very dangerous. And then we because and I include myself, because I am someone with autoimmune, but a lot of people are not you're just looking for that hope, and if someone else can provide something different, that hope, that's where it gets really dangerous. So, yeah, yeah.
Jenn Salib Huber:And I think it's so important to recognize these hormonal environments that are changing because, yeah, puberty pregnancy, similarly with allergies, I developed really severe dust allergies in my second pregnancy and I had never had an allergy in my life and when I went to see the allergist, you know, she told me about this rule of thirds, that a third of people will get worse, a third of people will stay the same and a third of people will get better, and so I think that you know understanding that it is a big change on the inside environment that's happening.
Alison Danby:Absolutely Because of these hormone changes.
Jenn Salib Huber:We mentioned genetics. We talked about hormones. What are some of the other, let's say, risk factors for autoimmune disease?
Alison Danby:Well, so stress is number one across the board. So stress is the number one trigger for so many people, every single autoimmune condition, and whenever I say that, I always see my patients rolling their eyes because they've heard that like 500 times. But the problem is, is what is stress? So a lot of us think stress is that day-to-day go-go, busy, busy, which it is it is. Or we think of it as a really big event, like we think of probably the most extreme stressful event we've ever gone through, and we're like but I'm not dealing with that. Or we compare with someone else and like I don't have as much stress as they do. But really, stress is just, it can be everyday changes. So you're not sleeping as well, you're not. You know, you've got now three kids or two kids or one kid that, like, is throwing everything off your routine, your structure. It could just be you sitting in traffic for two hours a day, like stress doesn't have to be.
Alison Danby:Sunburns and halogen lights are number two cause of flares and diagnosis. So we're just coming out you and I are recording this at the end of August and the amount of people that I have in my office due to that is unbelievable because of sun. Yeah, and that's stress on the body. One of the big ones as well is with autoimmune. One of the things that I talk about a lot is the Goldilocks of exercise, and this is on my podcast. I talk about my story of exercise intolerance. I used to love running 10Ks and it's taken me a long time to get back into running probably close to eight years.
Alison Danby:But the reason when you had mentioned, our bodies are just a little bit more vulnerable, and so when you're talking about the root causes and all that kind of stuff we're looking at Epsom bar, we're looking at bacterial changes, we're looking at all those different things but what they all have in common mold, all those different things is that they make us more susceptible. So all these changes the blood sugar changes this, the lack of sleep we're not sleeping as well, especially in menopause and after pregnancy. You know you've got a little baby. You're not sleeping as well All of those allow you to be more susceptible to those things. Viruses love that. They're like oh my gosh, I can flourish. That's why, like people get cold sores, you know, under stress, and stuff like that. So when we start to look at that's what stress is, is the everyday and many of us have just gotten used to living like that. That's how I was raised.
Alison Danby:I had a mother that worked and I'm so glad she did because she instilled so many values in me but also running the household, and we just have a lot more responsibilities now and a lot more stimuli. We're on our phones for hours. The amount of women I talk to who just want that hour after the kids go to bed and then that turns into three hours after because it's so nice and peaceful, and then your sleep is compromised there's so many little things that add up that make you vulnerable. So the way that I approach autoimmune is if we see a blazing root cause like, for example, you've opened up a house and it's just full of mold, then yes, you're definitely going to be susceptible and we need to address that.
Alison Danby:But more so is looking at how can we optimize the body. Just getting back to basics and the basics the changes. I'm running a course right now called Autoimmune Foundations, and the changes with just the basics is blowing my mind, and the women last night were just raving about the differences they made with just some simple nutrition changes, some simple movement, like getting the, just giving yourself some time and peace and oh, it's just, it's unbelievable. So you just become less opportunistic at that point. Those viruses can't hold on or you recover quickly.
Jenn Salib Huber:So that's how I look at it. Two things that my listeners, I think, will relate to with what you were saying is taking capacity into consideration. So we have a lot of stress on our capacity and I described capacity like a battery bank.
Jenn Salib Huber:You know, we're all used to traveling with those. Now, if we're away from power for a little while, and there are some things that are just by default always plugged in, and those are the things that get priority, but we're always trying to add things in. It's like, oh, I want to do this, and I want to do this, and I want to do this, and people are trying to like steal your power right, because you've got the power and so, as our capacity is compromised.
Alison Danby:If we don't learn to lower the bar, we will never recharge. I love that. One of the things that I always say is mentally we can handle so much, but physically our bodies are now like too much, too much. And that's, I think, for a lot of women. Part of the problem is like I got this, I got this until you don't, and then you're like but I've always been able to, and so why can't I now? But I love the capacity. I like that.
Jenn Salib Huber:So let's talk about one of the biggest problems that I see as somebody who works with people's relationship with food, in addition to the food that they're eating and that is the really messy space of autoimmune nutrition advice. Messy space of autoimmune nutrition advice and I see people with really complicated sets of rules and supplements and plans and they're not even sure if they're feeling better for it. Most of the time they're not. They feel like they have to keep cutting things out following the AIP, the autoimmune protocols, or cutting out all gluten, all sugar, all dairy, all grain Like it. Just the list keeps going on and on. So can you speak to? Can you just speak to that? Is there any validity to needing these restrictive, complicated diets?
Alison Danby:No, and so, coming as a naturopathic doctor, that is what we are taught in school is elimination diet and all that kind of stuff, and I can see where it is, and I actually did my autoimmune training because I wanted to understand the science behind it. Since then I have really backtracked, I'd say the last five years I've really pivoted on my view on it. I think the appeal for a lot of people is one they feel as though they're taking control of something that they don't have a lot of control over, and I completely get that. The other thing too is it's changing your microbiome. So one of the things that I say, for if you have to remove major food groups, it's not a food issue, it's a digestion issue. You're either not breaking your food down well or you're feeding the microbiome that is a little bit out of balance, and it may not be extremely out of balance, just a little bit out of balance. So that to me is more getting down to well. Let's dive into that and we can talk about that later.
Alison Danby:But the thing about the restrictive diets is there's no evidence to support them. There absolutely isn't any evidence to show in almost every single autoimmune condition there might be one exception that doing a extremely restrictive diet like the autoimmune paleo is better than Mediterranean. And the reason I love Mediterranean is it does have a tremendous amount of research of the improvements that we see in autoimmune. It's extremely nourishing and it's sustainable Because I find with a lot of the restrictive diets is you may feel better on it and some people do.
Alison Danby:Some people it creates even more stress than the benefit you're getting from it, because now you're cooking like 27 meals you can't travel. Even just removing gluten for some people is not necessary. We just dove into the research on that in my program and it was very few conditions ruling out that you're celiac, but very few conditions have that association and notice an improvement with it. And so when we start to look at the research, this is when we need to do head-to-head comparisons. That does removing that many foods outperform a very healthy diet. The Mediterranean and the other thing about the Mediterranean diet is one the entire family really should be eating that way because it's a great diet and it reduces all-cause mortality across the board and it's sustainable and it's easy to do. You can eat Mediterranean anywhere you go without issues, and when we go into menopause, when we're hitting in perimenopause. It actually has the best outcomes for well, some of the best outcomes for osteoporosis, cardiovascular and blood sugar control.
Jenn Salib Huber:I actually talk about that in my book Eat to Thrive. I talk about how the Mediterranean I haven't caught it yet it doesn't come out yet.
Alison Danby:Yeah, I was going to say I got to work on it first. I'm so excited for it.
Jenn Salib Huber:I actually make a case for and I call it the I prefer to call it the Mediterranean pattern of eating, because that's what it is. It really is a pattern. I think when people hear diet they think rules and so trying to get out of that mindset and into more of like you want a pattern that is plant forward, doesn't need to be plant-based that includes more fish, more legumes, more plants, less meat, but it doesn't have to be no meat and it really focuses as well on some of the behaviors. Like some people are surprised to know that the foundation of the Mediterranean pattern or diet is eating with other people like eating as a social activity.
Jenn Salib Huber:So when we think about things that reduce stress right, when we think about things that add to our capacity but that are also sustainable patterns of gentle nutrition, I love the Mediterranean pattern and it's really great to hear that there's so much research for the autoimmune piece too.
Alison Danby:Yeah, there actually is, and they've even got research about implementing it, which is absolutely fabulous, Because for a lot of people it's well, how do I switch over? And now they're coming up with studies that are showing, okay, well, if we have conversations once a week as opposed to just taking a handout, so the handouts and the research handouts don't work well. You need to be engaged in a conversation with someone, or at least following something and implementing it, Because a lot of times when we get handouts, we shelf them. So, yeah, I love the idea of meditating pattern eating Absolutely. And the other thing, too is when you are being restrictive.
Alison Danby:Here's the reality of it is, you have autoimmune. Your inflammation levels alone, just having autoimmune, make you sometimes anywhere from double to four times likely of getting cardiovascular disease. Menopause itself increases that risk, and so you throw that in there. And same with osteoporosis. And now we're eating higher saturated fats. Some people are even going not even autoimmune but more extreme to carnivore, where you're not getting anything, You're only eating a lot of saturated fats and you're not supporting those risk factors that are outside of autoimmune.
Alison Danby:And to me, so when we look at a lot of the research on autoimmune, one of the most important things that we see is antioxidants and antioxidants. Autoimmune creates a lot of oxidative damage which is essentially accelerating your aging. So it's the rusting outside that we see, it's the wrinkles, the brown spots we see in our skin, the change of color of fruit when it's sitting on the counter All of that is oxidative stress. So autoimmune creates a lot of that which then creates a lot of inflammation. And when you're getting your colorful vegetables and your blueberries and your blackberries and your colorful fruits, that's all quenching it and to me, when you are removing those, you are missing the whole underlying therapeutic benefit of food. Also to the biochemistry of you eating these foods are providing nutrients which then fill your biochemistry, to the biochemistry of you eating these foods or providing nutrients which then fill your biochemistry. So food is meant for nourishment and supportiveness, not to be like. We have to support our bodies in these conditions.
Jenn Salib Huber:And we have to. I like to introduce this idea of normal eating as well. You know, we have to make decisions about food. People who've listened for a while are probably rolling their eyes at how I say this, but we have to make decisions about food multiple times a day, every day of our life, you know, forever and often for other people, and so if your way of eating requires you to say no to family dinners or bring your own food or never go out to dinner or is always through this filter of am I allowed to have this?
Jenn Salib Huber:it is not only going to be unsustainable because we just can't live that way, but it also is going to be not fun.
Jenn Salib Huber:And the pleasure of eating is something that is part of normal eating, like eating foods because you enjoy them, eating foods because they taste good, eating foods because they're fun to eat with other people like ice cream is such a great example. And so you know when I think of so often the conversations I have, especially let's dive in a little bit to the thyroid piece, because, you know, thyroid conditions come up a lot in perimenopause and menopause and one of the things I see is people who are avoiding all dairy, all gluten, all sugar and especially, you know, if they have an autoimmune thyroid condition, like Graves, hashimoto's, where they feel like they have to do something, and so they put in, they Google, you know their condition and diet and they'll see those three things come up the most. What do you do in those situations? What would you say to somebody who came in and said do I need to avoid all these things because I have an autoimmune thyroid condition?
Alison Danby:So right off the bat. One of the things why I love research is because it tells us yes or no. It's not by luck, it tells us yes or no. And when we look at the research on restrictive and especially autoimmune paleo with Hashimoto's, there was absolutely zero change in thyroid outcomes Zero. There was no change in antibodies over a 12-week period and the authors concluded that possibly if they did it longer they would see change, but we didn't in a three-week period. The other thing too is they said it reduces inflammation, but it didn't. Inflammation was normal for these people to begin with, so dropping it a little bit normal, you're not going to notice that. So when we start to see, is it moving us forward? Then for a lot of people it's no, it's not. So just that understanding of this isn't actually supporting me.
Alison Danby:When we start to look at what's best for thyroid, eating the Mediterranean is by far the gold standard. In fact, some of the things that are a little bit more they're more susceptible to is higher saturated fats. They're saying that higher saturated fats possibly is causing more of an issue with thyroid. Now there is a couple of studies showing non-gluten celiac, but mostly the connection is if you have celiac, you are at higher risk of developing Hashimoto's. So really testing to see if you're celiac. If you're not, then the likelihood of gluten impacting you is very, very, very low. Dairy if you can tolerate dairy, you're not lactose intolerant, and even adding in a lactose-free if that's what's irritating you, you're still getting your calcium. You're protecting your bone health. You can still enjoy some of your favorite foods.
Alison Danby:For so many people, it's the cheese or it's the milk in your coffee, those little things that bring you so much joy. So we really created a fear-based system around these foods because of the restrictions, and I think it's actually more of the fear and the nervous system and labeling these foods as bad that's causing the reaction in a lot of patients as opposed to the foods themselves. And I actually just had an email from someone saying today that they just got their coffee in, which is the most exciting thing because they love coffee so much that they were able to put it back in. And if you are someone who has pulled these foods out to experiment with them, then you're just adding them back in slowly and just seeing how do you actually respond.
Alison Danby:But I think also, too, is noticing how you're feeling about the food before you eat, because are you creating the stress response that's actually giving you that negative response as opposed to the food? Because when you're in a stress response, you don't digest well like that, and so that to me is, I think, more important than the food itself. Um, but yeah, I think that to me, that's what I would. That's how I do educate people in my practice. Um is, what do we actually need to be doing? How do we actually need to be eating?
Jenn Salib Huber:I love it. Yeah, and you know, I think that, that message, I wish that that was the first search result on Google when people put in autoimmune diets, because it's just such a clusterfuck of bad information.
Alison Danby:It is and the founder, so the woman that developed the autoimmune paleo, actually is no longer with the autoimmune paleo and has come out and publicly said that she wished that she didn't create that, because it wasn't based on solid research, it was based on animal and like, just it was based on research that she was putting together and it has created this huge food fear with autoimmune and I understand for a lot of people. I understand where they're coming from in the situation they're at, because it's coming from a. I want to do something to help myself, but there's, yeah, you, eating lots of beautiful vegetables and getting all those antioxidants and nutrients is a really great place to start.
Jenn Salib Huber:And I love the focus on the making peace with food right. Like you know, food should not, eating should not be a stressful event and you know to your point about. Are you feeling anxious, stressed or worried about what you're putting on your plate and potentially thinking about? You know what impact might that be having having. You know, I think if anybody listening thinks, oh gosh, that's me, I worry about everything that I'm eating, that's a great place to start.
Jenn Salib Huber:You know, instead of worrying about what's on your plate, you know, thinking about how can I make peace with food and eating so that I'm supporting my entire body and not just what I suspect to be. You know this one thing that I'm, that I'm trying to manage.
Alison Danby:Yeah, and I was gonna say one of the biggest. So when we start to look at and this is why a lot of people get frustrated when they go to their medical doctor is when they're like, well, what food should I remove? And the doctor's like it's stress and for a lot of people that's not something one they want to touch or feel they can touch. And two, it's not such a tangible change for a lot of people. So we're looking for those quick, easy wins, but if I just pull this out, I'm going to get better.
Alison Danby:And so the other downfall which we haven't mentioned, that I want to bring up is the change in the microbiome. So one of the things that we notice with because everyone's like, oh, autoimmune starts in the gut and I actually don't necessarily agree with that, but we'll talk about that later the microbiome of people with autoimmune, when we look at it, is a lot more narrow, so less diversity compared to a healthy control person. So when we are starting to remove foods, we are making that even less and less diverse, and that is one of the things that they're saying is really important for longevity and overall health is having a very diverse microbiome. So that's one of the other, really underlying things that made me really stop and look and be like, okay, are we doing further damage by eliminating so many different foods? And the answer is yes, but it's also could be the reason why people are feeling better when they do it and they can't get off of it. And I just want to acknowledge that that is a real thing, that when you start to make these dietary changes, if you do feel better and you're like, but I want to go back and you can't get it back in, it's most likely the microbiome is you've.
Alison Danby:Now I call them stray cats, so when you feed them, they're there. When you stop feeding them, they go away and but they come back as soon as you start feeding them again. They don't die off, they go dormant, Um. So yeah, it's a.
Jenn Salib Huber:Okay, Well, let's dive into this whole. It all starts in the gut connection, Because that is the other thing that I have heard and seen. You know so often, and I think, what often drives people especially to do some of the testing. That's out there and to pursue diagnoses like leaky gut. So what say you about that?
Alison Danby:Okay. So I'm going to tell you about my favorite research study. It was done on mice because it's unethical to do it on people. So what they tell, I'm sure we could find enough people that are this stressed out. So what they did is they stressed out these rats and then they did the testing to see what was the consequences of the stress on the gut. And what they found is that when they stressed out the rats, they had an increase in hyperpermeability, which is leaky gut. They had an increase in hyperpermeability, which is leaky gut. They had an increase in neuroinflammation, so a nervous system inflammation and overall inflammation in general, and then they had an increase in endotoxins, which is the byproduct that bacteria produces.
Alison Danby:So it's a toxin that we produce inside of ourselves, and so that was all caused by stress, not by food, by stress. And so when we start to look at, well, if that's turning on inflammation, if that's making our guts more leaky, the other thing too is the number one cause of inflammation in the gut is actually a change in microbiome, which your food can change your microbiome very quickly. So when we start to look at that gut brain connection, that's where a lot of it is, and we do know the vagus nerve is a huge component, that it's part of the nervous system and we find for a lot of autoimmune people, especially if there's trauma, childhood trauma that the nervous system is extremely upregulated or it will go from zero to 100 very quickly. That's different. So that is still a stress response, but it's different than the cortisol stress response which for a lot of people with autoimmune is a bit more blunted and that shuts off the nervous system. So I actually think for many people and this is how stress plays in so when your doctor says it's stress, or when the number one cause of a trigger or an autoimmune condition is stress this is what they're talking about is the change in sleep from stress, the change, the wired and tired and buzzing feeling, the change in your gut, how it performs and acts. Now they did actually quite a few things. Interesting leading into that study is what they found is that if they gave the rats antibiotics before and our solution is not give yourself antibiotics, but they found that they didn't have the same outcome. So stress will just amplify that imbalance in the gut. It just amplifies it by however many times.
Alison Danby:So that to me is yes, the gut is involved, but it's the stress response that's triggering it, and for so many of us it's just who we are at this point. For us it's not like I know. For me, I was like, well, I don't feel stressed, but I knew I was, and so I had to start tracking it. I mentally needed the objective data, and when we talk about so, one of the big things that I work with a lot in my practice is the nervous system, and I actually did extra training on that just around COVID time because I realized that this was a really big missing piece with autoimmune.
Alison Danby:And so one of the things that we talk about is do you feel safe in your own body? And for a lot of women they say no, and some people may not recognize that. But even just moving to a place of feeling peace and so when you mentioned, when we said peace earlier like to me, that is what we are trying to establish is that feeling of peace, because the deep breathing works well when you're doing it, but you have 23 other hours in the day I always think of my mom when she goes to the doctor's office and she does all this prep work to get a good blood pressure reading. But I'm like but you're taking time bomb the other 23 hours of the day. I think the mindfulness is a really great start, but the whole big picture is just bringing everything down into a state of peace, and that is the key that I have found to allow people to introduce foods back in is finding that peace and that calmness and not labeling foods as good or bad of just like well, let's try it.
Jenn Salib Huber:I'm nourishing myself. Anybody who hasn't listened to the episode with Dr Kim Bretz on IBS? We talk about that as well, so we'll link to that in the show notes, for sure. And I mean, it's the gut brain connection which is real, but it's also not as complicated as I think you know.
Jenn Salib Huber:Wellness culture and influencers make it out to be, which means that it's actually accessible on a low capacity scale, right Like you don't have to have fancy tools, you don't have to do a lot of things, but you have to understand how it works, and so I love that you brought that in. So, as we start to wrap up, if somebody is newly diagnosed well, I guess anybody, but I'm thinking about a lot of the questions that I field from people I just found out or I've just been diagnosed, and, of course, as we all do, we all Google when something comes to us, and then you end up with a minefield of options, some of which take a lot of your money, some of which take a lot of your time, and often, though, it just feels like there's too many options. So what would be? Where do you send people and how can? What would you say to somebody who is newly diagnosed?
Alison Danby:So I get this all the time because I work predominantly with autoimmune. So I actually did create a program called Autoimmune Foundations which just walks you through the nutrition, the exercise movement piece, the stress response, the sleep. Where to get started is start. This is one of the most powerful things that I do for my nutrition because food can be very overwhelming. So for a lot of people, what I tell them is start looking at pictures of Mediterranean diet meals. Just start looking at the pictures. Finding the pictures that you like of like that looks delicious, look to see how complicated it is. Adding in some blueberries in the morning, like it doesn't have to be. I have to do everything all at once and I find that if the and this is why I find it so powerful is when you're looking at the pictures of Mediterranean diet, they look delicious, they look amazing, they're a balanced meal and you get excited about food then, and so that's one of the areas that I really I have a lot of my patients do. We walk them through that. These are kind of the things that we want to really start implementing.
Alison Danby:The other thing is the underestimate of the power of sleep. So we know sleep apnea is a real thing for autoimmune patients. We know changes of sleep with hormones is absolutely real. So one of the first things that I do with my patients the first conversation is about gut, sleep and stress. Those are the three things is we need to get you sleeping like it's your full-time job, like that is a top priority. So sleep is a top priority. So sleep is extremely important. We know that less than seven hours progresses disease activity. So having the naps guilt-free, having the rest, your body is asking to rest A lot of people. The way that I tell a lot of my patients is the sleep. So your body's asking for sleep the same way as if you would have a cold. Now I know there are people that just power through colds, but most of us will take the time to sleep and recover and it's the same thing. The immune system is triggered and elevated, so it's asking for that. So honoring that.
Alison Danby:And then the final really needle mover other than the stress component, is exercise and I know for a lot of people it's the last thing they want to do. But it actually outperforms dietary changes in disease activity and in mental health and fatigue. And so because autoimmune is a mitochondrial condition, that's what's creating a lot of the stress when we we exercise. We are building resilient mitochondria. So those are the big areas that just in those alone, if you can start there, of getting back to those foundations of we know what we need to do to be healthy, it doesn't take a lot. We're not asking you to train for a marathon, but movement so walking around the block after a meal, doing some weight-bearing activities If you can, if you feel confident enough, or hiring.
Alison Danby:A lot of times I'll talk to people about seeing their physiotherapist to get some movements that work well for them, that are not going to strain them and stress them and hurt their condition. So, depending on what autoimmune condition you have and we're not going to full out warrior mode, we're going to what's comfortable, keeping it at 80% those are the really big things that move the needles and that's essentially that is that first visit in my appointment is. This is the importance of these and this is why and so that's something I actually my podcast is something I talk about all the time is what are the big movers? And there's no like these move things better than supplements.
Alison Danby:It's amazing the results that you can get from just getting back to the foundations and the way that I have looked at my autoimmune condition is it has allowed me to pivot my life to the point that I now have my dream life. I have now said no to so many things because I know it was going to create more stress. I sold my big clinic. I've just pivoted so much that now I have a life that I absolutely love because I've had to listen to my body and it is amazing the blessing it could actually be in time in time blessing it could actually be in time in time.
Jenn Salib Huber:I love everything that you said and I want to tie it in for any of my intuitive eaters who are listening and thinking, oh my gosh, how can I take that and make it intuitive eating?
Jenn Salib Huber:Everything you said is in line with intuitive eating. So, looking at the pictures in the cookbook, that's eating with satisfaction, what looks good, what do you want? Because gentle nutrition is the sweet spot between what you want and what you need. So when we're talking about therapeutic diets or therapeutic ways of eating, that's often where sometimes it feels a bit messy because it sounds like a diet, but it doesn't have to be a diet, it's a pattern of eating. So, leading with satisfaction, permission to rest, you know, like that is something that people who have had complicated relationships with movement really do need to practice, because it's hard when you keep thinking I need to do more and when you have a health condition that is now on the table, that urgency of I need to do all the things can really that can be a loud voice right.
Jenn Salib Huber:And then joyful movement. So joyful movement is one of the principles of intuitive eating and so moving your body in ways that you enjoy as often as you can.
Alison Danby:Dance parties. I always say dance parties. It's going to be the most amazing thing. Either you're going to have the best time in your life and dancing and singing your heart out, or you end up crying on the kitchen floor because you just needed that release. So it's either way. It works for you. Your nervous system is happy, your body's happy. It's yeah. So dance parties are my favorite.
Jenn Salib Huber:Thank you so much. It has been a joy to talk to you about this topic, which is often so steeped, especially in the wellness culture piece. I love all of the science that you have brought to this conversation. I love all of the sanity that you have brought to this conversation and, for anybody who's listening, who is breathing a big sigh- of relief. I am thanking you on their behalf.
Alison Danby:Oh, thank you.
Jenn Salib Huber:So what do you think is the missing ingredient in midlife Joy?
Alison Danby:I think so much. For me, midlife and I'm well into it right now and doing all the good perimenopause rollercoaster no one really prepped you for, although I feel like the conversation has gotten so good around it, which is great, but for me it's really been take a step back and finding that peace and joy and whether that's just that appreciation, the appreciation that kind of, is, I think, the almost that next chapter of like let's remove the hustle that we had in our 20s and 30s and you know all that. And now we're stepping into a era where we're like life is good and it can be, and yeah, the simple little things. So to me that's finding joy.
Jenn Salib Huber:Thank you so much. Where can people find you if they want to learn more so they can follow?
Alison Danby:me at Dr Allison Danby on Instagram and my website, allisondanbycom. And yeah, or? And I have a podcast, Automated and Simplified, which we are going to have you on because I want to celebrate your book launch and we haven't had a conversation about nutrition, menopause nutrition and I'm so excited, so I'm here for it.
Jenn Salib Huber:I can't wait. Yes, thanks. So much, alison. Thank you Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the midlife feast For more non diet, health, hormone and general midlife support. Click the link in the show notes to learn how you can work and learn from me. And if you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, please consider leaving a review or subscribing, because it helps other women just like you find us and feel supported in midlife.
