How to Turn Surviving Autoimmune to A Symptom-Free Life

Introduction:
Welcome back to the Limitless Health podcast! In today's episode, hosts Kate McDowell and Amanda Golightly dive deep into Kate's personal journey with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and how she made transformative changes to her health through diet and mindset. Reflecting on the limitations of traditional medical approaches, Kate shares her experiences of battling MS symptoms with medication and how a pivotal moment led her to explore the power of nutrition.

Together, Kate and Amanda discuss the importance of taking personal responsibility for one’s health, the challenges of shifting away from conventional treatments, and the empowering impact of adopting natural solutions. Stay tuned as they also introduce an upcoming webinar designed to support others on their path to better health and wellness. If you're ready to take control of your health and seek natural alternatives, this episode is for you. Join us and discover how you too can live well naturally.


Key Takeaways:

• Identify Root Causes, Not Just Symptoms: We often focus solely on managing symptoms without understanding what's driving the illness. Our webinar will discuss how to uncover and address the root causes of autoimmune diseases.
• The Power of Nutrition and Mindset: Learn how proper nutrition and a positive mindset can significantly impact your health. Amanda and I believe that the body is miraculous and capable of healing itself when given the right support and nourishment.
• Community and Personal Responsibility: Your journey to better health shouldn't be a lonely or overwhelming one. We are committed to creating a supportive community where you can share your experiences and find encouragement. Taking responsibility for your health is an empowering step toward a brighter, symptom-free life.

Timestamped Overview:
00:00 Chronic illness requires self-empowerment, beyond external cures.
05:44 Embarrassment, struggle, hopeless, urged self-improvement, positive action.
10:48 Stopped making plans due to unpredictable feelings.
11:43 Committing to health isn't a one-time cure.
17:09 Support group hostile to my dietary changes.
20:00 Choosing different food for health reasons.
24:22 Webinar on autoimmune issues, mistakes, and solutions.
25:59 Excited for health-focused webinar and community.


Save Your Spot for the Upcoming Webinar: How-to Take Control of Autoimmune Health Naturally - CLICK HERE


Connect with Kate & Amanda at Aligned Natural Health:
If you're ready to take the next step towards better health, we invite you to connect with us. Our team is here to actively listen, support, and guide you towards natural, holistic solutions that address the core of your health challenges.


Resources:
website - https://www.alignednaturalhealth.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alignednaturalhealth/

*** This podcast is for information purposes only. By providing the information contained herein, we are not diagnosing, treating, curing, mitigating, or preventing any disease or medical condition. Before beginning any type of natural regimen, it is advisable to seek the advice of a licensed healthcare profes

*** This podcast is for information purposes only. By providing the information contained herein, we are not diagnosing, treating, curing, mitigating, or preventing any disease or medical condition. Before beginning any type of natural regimen, it is advisable to seek the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.

Transcript

Kate McDowell [00:00:00]:
Years ago, I went to my doctor because I made some changes in my diet, and it was the first time in my experience with MS that I started to feel things moving in the right direction. I started to feel better. And after all the years that I was on the medication, I was injecting myself every day, things just got worse. I would go back in. I would go on more medication, but I never felt better. And then I made some changes to what I was eating and things started to improve. I posted about this on TikTok and someone had replied to it and said they went to their doctor and mentioned nutrition as well and their doctor said, oh, sure, you can try it. It's not going to make any difference for you and you're going to miss out on all the joys of food.

Kate McDowell [00:00:41]:
And that's something that people often hear Like my doctor was like, oh, I don't know anything about nutrition. And why aren't we looking from a medical perspective and from the medical perspective, why aren't they looking at what could be causing the problems that you're dealing with versus what's an intervention in terms of a medication that's gonna help reduce your symptoms. It's something that we see all the time working with clients as well. It's like, why are we just managing symptoms? The body is is dealing with illness or dealing with problems to begin with because there's something triggering it. There's something driving it.

Amanda Golightly [00:01:23]:
We believe in growth and continuous learning.

Amanda Golightly [00:01:26]:
We believe in educating and sharing knowledge.

Kate McDowell [00:01:29]:
We believe the body is miraculous and is able to heal with the proper nutrition and support.

Amanda Golightly [00:01:34]:
And we believe the right mindset is key to your success. I'm Amanda Golytely. And I'm Kate McDowell. And this is Limitless Health.

Kate McDowell [00:01:43]:
Live well naturally. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Limitless Health podcast. Today, we're getting into a bit more of Kate's story with autoimmune, specifically MS that she had in the past. And the reason we're doing that is because we're launching a webinar very shortly in a couple of weeks, and we want to just kinda dive into why we're doing that. We kinda had a conversation this morning around the purpose and who this is for, and we wanna make sure we're really speaking to the person out there who is basically you, Kate, at a certain time frame in your life. And what's gonna Yeah. Speak to you at that point.

Kate McDowell [00:02:25]:
Do you want to elaborate?

Amanda Golightly [00:02:27]:
Like 13 years ago, I guess, because I was starting to make changes. Actually, no, that's not true. I was at a point in my life where I thought, okay, so I'm doing everything I can to help myself deal with this condition. I'm going to my doctor. I'm following all of their recommendations and advice. I'm taking all of the medications. I'm raising money for the MS Society. I'm doing everything I can to help support them coming up with a cure, to help support them saving me and rescuing me from this illness.

Amanda Golightly [00:03:01]:
Because don't get me wrong, it's not a nice thing to live with. Any chronic critical illness is not a nice thing to live with, but we're conditioned to believe that that's all we can do. I remember going to my doctor and saying, you know, is there anything else I can do? And he said, no, just take your medication. That's the best thing you can do. And what we were talking about this morning, I had a gut punch moment that I'm grateful I heard from a best friend because I don't know how I would have responded to it if it was from someone that I didn't already have rapport with, that I didn't know it came from a place of love. And this is a message that I want to share with as many people as I can because sometimes you can get stuck in that place where you are just constantly chasing the cure, chasing someone outside of yourself to come and rescue you, and that takes away from being able to notice and realize that there's so many things you can do for yourself. And the gut punch moment for me, I asked my best friend, will you sponsor me for the MS bike ride that was coming up? I was so excited because I was raising as much money as I could, and she said, I love you. I will absolutely sponsor you, But you know they're never going to come up with a cure.

Amanda Golightly [00:04:18]:
Right? And it was something that I had not ever considered. I didn't expect to hear. And it is hard to hear, especially if you're someone who's in a situation right now where that's what you've been holding on to and waiting for is someone will come up with cure one day that will save me. But here's the disclaimer, it's in my opinion. I don't know that that's ever coming. There are so many factors that are behind that are underlying that are causing these chronic critical conditions that how can one thing cure it? And if we're not finding out what's causing it, are we ever going to get there?

Kate McDowell [00:05:00]:
Yeah. And a part of this conversation we had this morning was what would your life be if you didn't have that gut punch, if you didn't have that moment of however you want to describe the emotion that came along with that, the shock.

Amanda Golightly [00:05:15]:
Yeah. I was in a place where, as I said, I took the medication for 7 years and continued to get worse and worse and worse. I was able to do less and less things. It was causing problems in my relationships. It was causing problems in my ability to proceed and move forward in my career. It was, I had mental clarity challenges that were really frustrating. I lost self confidence. I hid, essentially.

Amanda Golightly [00:05:44]:
I didn't want to be around people because I was embarrassed and ashamed because I couldn't speak properly. I used to trip over nothing and drop things, and it was not a comfortable place to be. And I was at the point where, yeah, if I had had to continue the way I was going, I probably wouldn't be alive right now. I'm not a person who has a fear of death, which can be hard to hear, but I wasn't living, and I saw that, and I realized I don't want to keep living this life if this is what it's like. So sorry, it's a dark moment, but sometimes we have to get to that place to be able to realize like there's nowhere to go from here but up, and you don't have to wait till you get there is a big part of the message that we like to share with people, like start working on things for yourself now. And if you have a doctor say to you, there's nothing you can do or nutrition isn't going to help, how can it hurt to start looking for things you can do for yourself? I commented on a Facebook, no, whatever, I think TikTok post this morning where essentially it's like even if nothing happens, that's like the absolute, in my opinion, worst case scenario. You start making nutrition changes and nothing gets better. Nothing happens at all.

Amanda Golightly [00:07:16]:
That's like the worst case scenario. When it comes to the medication, there are side effects. Every medication has a side effect. If you don't feel anything when you're on the medication or you think, Oh, I'm not dealing with side effects, You probably are. Your body's just not strong enough or not able to demonstrate to you what's going on, but nutrition changes. The worst case scenario is nothing happens. Your energy doesn't improve. Your digestion doesn't change.

Amanda Golightly [00:07:47]:
Okay. Maybe it's not the right nutrition solution for you, but, like, a little bit less than the worst case scenario, you get a little bit better. Okay? And best case scenario, it completely changes your life as it has for me, as it has for many of other humans, many of our clients. Nutrition has made a really big change for them as well. And, yeah, as Amanda said, we want to make sure that we're talking to the people who are looking for what we're going to share with you in this webinar because it's not a magic pill. Natural solutions, it's not a magic pill. It is going to involve effort. I mean, for me, that was a really big part of of the gut punch of realizing, okay, if a cure isn't coming, then what? What am I doing? What are the things that I can do for myself? And that was the moment where I realized I need to take responsibility for this.

Amanda Golightly [00:08:43]:
I've been waiting for this knight in shining armor, this person, this entity outside of me to bring me this magical solution and ultimately doing nothing. I was raising money, sure, but what was that doing for me? And so taking personal responsibility is definitely going to be a big step if you're looking to move forward with health. And I think

Kate McDowell [00:09:07]:
a part of that conversation we were having is realizing, at least from my side of it, you can speak to yours. Is that like without that gut punch, you basically said you may not even be here. For us, it's a matter of we make posts and reels and sometimes the things we need to want to say might be that gut punch for other people. And it's a matter of timing with that. Like maybe that's the right message you need to hear in order to change your life and make it for the better. And just kind of hoping through Kate's example today that you can realize that sometimes, sometimes what we say might be shocking. The, the place that it's coming from is definitely of love and wanting a better life for everyone that we're sharing it with. Because there are other options out there.

Kate McDowell [00:10:05]:
There's no need to suffer, especially alone. There are resources available. And the the main message is that, what do you really want? Do you want to stay where you are suffering, dealing with medications all the time and just excuse the word, but feeling like shit and maybe not wanting to live. Or do you want something where you're actually enjoying life and looking forward to making plans because you have the energy to actually do that? I know that was a factor for you. You wouldn't make plans. You were basically pulling back from life and not living because you didn't know what each day brought for you.

Amanda Golightly [00:10:48]:
Yeah, it's true. I used to, family members, I don't call them out, but used to get mad at me because I wouldn't make plans, and I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna feel like on that day. And I got tired. I felt bad every time I had to cancel, but there were days where I was like, there's no way I lived kind of far from my well, like an hour away from my family members, but if you're someone who you know that, okay, I could probably drive there, but I'm not sure I can drive myself home safely. I used to make plans and then cancel them all the time, and I felt bad and guilty and ashamed and embarrassed every time I had to cancel, so I just stopped making plans. And I know what it's like to be in a place where you're like, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And when you're there, it can feel overwhelming and it can feel like I don't, I can't even do anything else. That could actually be what moves you in the right direction.

Amanda Golightly [00:11:43]:
And we've had conversations with people recently too. We've done other podcast interviews that have talked about there can be 2 paths that people choose and not everyone is here to be on the path that I was on, the path that I'm looking to help people with because it's work. You're going to have to commit to yourself. You're going to make some changes. So here's my beef with the word cure, because every time I post that I reversed my MS symptoms naturally, people are like, oh, but you is it a cure? Or are you saying that that's a cure? Nutrition isn't a cure. And I'm like, okay, you're right, but there is no cure. And for a lot of people, the word cure is this assumption that we're going to find something that's going to make it so you can go back to living crappy lifestyle you were living. Like me, I can go back to eating pizza and drinking alcohol and staying up late multiple nights a week and I was in my 20s.

Amanda Golightly [00:12:52]:
I'm like 40 now, so it's a little different, but you can go back to living the crappy lifestyle that you were living that led to the situation where you are right now. Do I think that that's the case for me? No, I don't. But I'm living completely symptom free. So what is the goal that you're looking for?

Kate McDowell [00:13:11]:
Mhmm.

Amanda Golightly [00:13:11]:
And it is gonna be work. You are gonna have to make changes. Our food system is trying to poison us, essentially. Everything that you look at is unless it's local and we can eat organic as much as possible, but even organic going to the grocery store. Organic vegetables are in plastic. And they say we have, I think it's a credit card size amount of plastic in our systems. We consume that on a daily basis, so all of the toxins, all of the chemicals, all the heavy metals, parasites, radiation, all of the toxins that were exposed to all the time, it's going to be work, but it's possible. So if you could put some effort in for yourself and start living a better quality of life, is it worth it? For some people, yes, people that was my choice.

Amanda Golightly [00:14:05]:
My path was I need to do something different because I want a different life and for some people it's not and there's nothing wrong with that. It's their choice. It's where they are right now. Will that change one day? Maybe. But that's a big thing that I see too with people and I experienced in the past as well. Some people don't want to get better even if they know they can. And that's okay. We can't convince.

Amanda Golightly [00:14:33]:
We're not in the business of convincing. We're not designed to convince other people. Just live your best life and show them what's possible. Right. Has been my mission. So,

Kate McDowell [00:14:43]:
and you've definitely done that with the progression. I know you used to write blogs as far as years ago and where your progression was and how you, what you were dealing with. And I know the the little bits that I've heard from that versus where you are now, it's completely night and day. Mhmm. And this is this is something we definitely want for more people in the world. And as Kate said, it is, it does take work. It's not a just here's a magic pill and you'll be fine or you're reset to be fine. And then you can just continue on doing what you're doing.

Kate McDowell [00:15:18]:
Yeah. This is a, it's not an overhaul. It's it's take one step forward and then more. Another step. Another step. And keep adding on. And for anyone who will be interested in our webinar, which is coming up in a couple of weeks, like, you have to be ready to make changes. Because if you're not ready, then there's no point because

Amanda Golightly [00:15:43]:
we can't do it for you. Yeah.

Kate McDowell [00:15:45]:
Right? Like, I can't do

Amanda Golightly [00:15:46]:
it for you. I can't I can't make, like, put the food in front of you that you should eat and, like, smack the things out of your hand that are not good choices or That's a

Kate McDowell [00:15:58]:
funny visual in my head, but, no, it's not ideal.

Amanda Golightly [00:16:01]:
Tell you to turn off the blue lights at night or whatever is necessary for you. Like, no one can do it for you. So there is a lot of personal responsibility that's involved as well.

Kate McDowell [00:16:11]:
Empowerment as well, though.

Amanda Golightly [00:16:13]:
Mhmm.

Kate McDowell [00:16:13]:
Exactly. Can make these changes. You can do all of these men there's many things that you can do that is fantastic for your health, and you have that power and that ability to choose.

Amanda Golightly [00:16:25]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And something that Amanda called me out on a couple of probably months ago now is that I thought that the first step in my journey was nutrition because that was the first change that I recognized that I made. But the first step for me and the first step if you're looking to do something different, it has to start in your mind. It has to start with making the decision that I'm not going to continue doing what I was doing. And you will be challenged in this in this space as well because your unconscious mind is trying to keep you safe all the time and keeping you safe, something that it knows will help you live another day is doing the same thing over and over again. Mhmm.

Kate McDowell [00:17:08]:
And

Amanda Golightly [00:17:09]:
so to make changes, it has to be a decision because there are gonna be things that come up. I remember I was in a bunch of support groups and when I went into the support group that it was a comfy place. It was, I lived in the real world and thought no one understands what I'm going through. And then I was surrounded by these people who were dealing with a lot of the same symptoms I was, a lot of the same pains that I was, and I thought this is amazing. I have a group of people who get me. And then I went in there and said like, I made some changes to my food and I'm feeling better. And that was not received well at all. I got nasty messages.

Amanda Golightly [00:17:49]:
I got all kinds of comments and people were basically like you're preying on these poor unfortunate people. And I was like, wow, no, no, no. I'm just trying to show you there's other options. But that's the the group mentality is trying to protect the group. And suddenly I was not

Kate McDowell [00:18:06]:
one of them. That's right.

Amanda Golightly [00:18:08]:
Exactly. Exactly. I was threatening the comfort that all of them were choosing to stay in, which is fine. But I had this community that I thought were my friends and I was rejected there. So that was one of the big challenges that I experienced from the mindset perspective. It was like, if I continue doing these things, changing my food, eating healthier, whatever, I'm going to lose all of my friends. And emotionally, that's a challenging one. But again, it was a choice.

Amanda Golightly [00:18:37]:
Do I can go back to eating the way I was eating and taking the medication and to be a part of this group or what do I really want? And I decided I wanted better health. I wanted to move in that direction. And the thing is when you do make that choice, you make new friends.

Kate McDowell [00:18:53]:
Yeah. And to that point, there are probably people listening right now who are in that same position where they're they're wanting to make these changes. And there's that transition phase of figuring out that, what do I really want to do here? And just know that you are not alone. Yeah. There are others who are have been on that path already and are like Kate, for example, and there are resources and look for them. Look for those resources. It could be this webinar. It could be something else.

Kate McDowell [00:19:27]:
Whatever resonates for you. Just know that there's something out there for you if you want better, if you wanna do differently than the Western model.

Amanda Golightly [00:19:36]:
Yeah. Exactly. I'm like a rock star now when it comes to, worrying about being judged by other people, especially around food. I don't care. Like, you can look at what's on my plate. We've eaten carnivore for the last 8 months. I ate carnivore in the past. My initial journey started with eating paleo, which is basically just eating whole foods, and that was 2011.

Amanda Golightly [00:20:00]:
So that was a time where you couldn't go to a restaurant and like 9 out of 10 people at the table were ordering different things. I was the oddball. I was the different one who was like, oh, can I get that gluten free or can I get no like the restaurants had no they looked at me like I had 3 heads and so did my friends, and so I'm used to making choices, but it's just like I'm making these choices because I know this is what's best for my health? It's not, I'm not judging you. I'm not right.

Kate McDowell [00:20:31]:
I think that's the biggest thing that you're touching on is judgment because especially you're going a different road than you've been told to. And we've heard from other people who follow us online that they wouldn't even like our posts because they were afraid of this judgment.

Amanda Golightly [00:20:46]:
Mhmm.

Kate McDowell [00:20:47]:
But what if diving in to this world and making those connections can change yours? Yeah. What's possible?

Amanda Golightly [00:20:57]:
Judgment is a real thing. I mean, it's better now because so many people are making different dietary choices. So going out is better now. Your friends, if they're good friends, they won't care. I had a lot of judgment from family as well, especially when I decided, okay, this disclaimer, this is not a recommendation to come off your medication if you're on medication ever. I would never recommend that. We would never recommend that. I took myself off my medication and my parents were really concerned about that and that's fear is instilled in us.

Amanda Golightly [00:21:32]:
Mhmm. Right? Like my doctor said to me when I came off the medication and chose nutrition instead, after he said to me, nutrition won't do anything, I don't know anything about that. He literally said, you were playing Russian roulette with your health, with your life by coming off that medication. And I was told many times like you have to stay on this for the rest of your life or like you could die, which is a pretty serious thing to tell somebody.

Kate McDowell [00:21:57]:
Yeah. No kidding.

Amanda Golightly [00:21:58]:
And so I had a fear for a long time of coming off of it, and then eventually I got to the point where it was like, you know what? I had changed my diet for, like, 4 years, and I decided I made that choice, and it worked out amazing for me. But, yeah, it's there's gonna be judgment, and everybody has beliefs, and they have things in their mind. And I was brought up with a Western medic medicine mind where if there's something wrong with you, the doctor has the only answers. The doctor is going to save you and rescue you and fix all your problems. And so I was I was challenging some beliefs for friends with food, for family, with medicine, and ultimately, you have to do what's right for you and figure out what the right course is. But, yeah, you're not alone. There are people out there who are doing what you want to do and, like, use them as a model. Look for people who are where you want to be.

Amanda Golightly [00:22:57]:
That's what the support groups I found. I it was modeling to me where I was, and it was like, why I don't wanna be here anymore. Mhmm. And so when you make a choice, you wanna be somewhere else. You will find other friends and you will find other people who are doing what you wanna do and lean on them or ask them for support or advice.

Kate McDowell [00:23:15]:
So on that note, let's talk a little about the webinar that we have coming up because you had that community where they were supporting you and keeping where you were. We want to create a community that will support you in getting to a better place and beyond. And community is the absolute strongest thing that we all crave. We all want to be a part of and support each other. And that's exactly what we want to create by doing this and having some resources available. So you can look at things you can do to improve your health. And it's not just supplementation, it's mindset stuff. It's other natural approaches to how you can, you know, clean up your liver, even if it's just little things.

Kate McDowell [00:23:57]:
This is something that we want you to come check out because, again, what do you have to lose by coming to sign up for the webinar? You find out if it's a good fit. If it's not, then that's okay too. If you wanna speak to more about that.

Amanda Golightly [00:24:11]:
Amazing. Yeah. So it's going to be September 24th at 7 PM EST EST. I think it's considered a call breakdown. That. Yeah. EDT. Yes.

Amanda Golightly [00:24:22]:
We're gonna have this webinar. It's gonna be about an hour long, and we are gonna dig into some of the common problems that people deal with when it comes to autoimmune in terms of unwanted experiences. So symptoms that you're living with. We're also going to talk a bunch about the common mistakes that people make. I did lots of them. When it comes to the things you're doing to try and fix these problems, And then also the solution, like what are the things that's kind of on the other side of it? So focusing on, yeah, detox is a big part of it. What are the things that are causing your shopping your body from being able to get healthy on its own or naturally? What are the things that are missing? Like those are the 2 biggest things that we talk about with clients when we have someone new. What's getting in the way of your body's ability to repair and recover naturally or what's missing? And there's a lot in our world today that's getting in the way, definitely.

Amanda Golightly [00:25:21]:
And this can be things like heavy metals, parasites, molds, it can be emotions, it can be community. Maybe your community is dragging you down. That could be family. There's so many different things. So we're going to talk a lot about autoimmune and just some things that you can start to do naturally that will help with getting over some of these issues. Right? So, yeah, if this is something that interests you, I'll drop the link in the show notes where you can save your spot and join us for the webinar. Yeah. It's gonna it'll be good.

Kate McDowell [00:25:59]:
Fantastic. We're both really excited for that webinar and to to see everyone that shows up for it because it's it's gonna be awesome. And we're really looking forward to creating this community that is there to support everybody who is like minded as far as getting healthier in a more natural way. And, yeah, the community aspect, I think, is the the biggest part. I can't hammer that home enough, and we're really looking forward to that. So as Kate said, look out for the link in the show notes and sign up for this webinar. We'll look forward to seeing you there. And thanks for listening.

Kate McDowell [00:26:31]:
We'll catch you on the next episode, everybody.