Autoimmune Besties Podcast

What are the best foods for autoimmune disease? What are the best lifestyle habits for autoimmune disease? How do I manage an autoimmune flare? How can I find relief from autoimmune symptoms? Where can I find autoimmune support and community? Can you live a normal life with autoimmune disease? Welcome to the Autoimmune Besties podcast where we answer all these questions and so much more! Consider co-hosts Shanna and Alene your new autoimmune besties. Each week they share their personal stories, expert tips on what to eat, lifestyle hacks as well as inspiration so you can find greater ease in managing your autoimmune disease. With a focus on progress over perfection, and grace over guilt, Shanna and Alene are here to surround you with love and support as well as remind you that you’ve totally got this...even on your hardest days! Are you in? Because living with autoimmunity is a long journey but we believe difficult roads CAN lead to beautiful destinations. Let’s do this together!

S4 Ep. 1: Life Updates From Your Autoimmune Besties 01/18/2023

S4 Ep. 1: Life Updates From Your Autoimmune Besties Welcome to Season 4 of the Autoimmune Besties Podcast. Shanna and I are thrilled to be back with you - our autoimmune besties - for this very special episode! This community spans the globe and covers the gamut of countless autoimmune diseases. We come together here on this podcast to talk about day-to-day living with an autoimmune disease. If you’ve been with us since Season 1, welcome back! Thank you for your continued support by subscribing to the podcast. If you’re tuning in for the very first time today, welcome! We hope you enjoy the conversation and be sure to check out our previous seasons on iTunes and join the conversations we have over on Instagram at the Autoimmune Besties Podcast Page. It feels really good to be back recording a life update after a short break since Season 3. And we hope that our break serves as a reminder and encouragement for you to create space in your life too, when and where you need it. When living with an autoimmune disease, it’s important that you give yourself permission to manage your health and your energy. If you are in a season of life right now where you need to lighten the load in any aspect, give yourself permission to do so and equally as important, have the courage to start making that change today. We often wait for a perfect moment to start - whether that’s a diet, a new lifestyle habit, or self care. And because the perfect moment never really arrives, those desires keep getting pushed back. As you hear us say often, celebrate progress over perfection. Just take one small step each day in the direction of your goals and desire, and know that we’re cheering you on every step of the way. So, on today’s episode, Shanna and I are sharing life updates on our daily walk with autoimmune disease. We share what life has looked like for us over the past couple months and what we are excited about as we look forward to 2023. So grab your favorite beverage, kick your feet up and enjoy this episode! And be sure to stay until the end because we have a special announcement about the future of our podcast that you won’t want to miss. Today’s episode highlights life updates from Alene and Shanna on: What’s one thing they’ve done over this break to help refresh themselves. What they’re doing differently now to manage your autoimmune disease than when you were first diagnosed. What are some things that you’re most excited about as we start this New Year? Tune in and be sure to share your thoughts on today’s topic. We love to hear from you! And join the conversation on instagram with your fellow autoimmune besties at . /episode/index/show/autoimmunebestiespodcast/id/25640583

S3 Ep. 10: How To Get Back On Track With Autoimmune Health 07/21/2022

S3 Ep. 9: Managing a Career with Autoimmune Disease 07/13/2022

S3 Ep. 8 Morning Routines to Support Autoimmune Health 07/06/2022

S3 Ep. 7: Motherhood and Autoimmune Disease 06/29/2022

S3 Ep. 6: Autoimmune Disease and Pregnancy 06/22/2022

S3 Ep. 6: Autoimmune Disease and Pregnancy Autoimmune Disease and pregnancy Does one affect the other? Does your diagnosis impact your ability to get pregnant and sustain a healthy pregnancy? Is it possible to follow the Wahls Protocol or AIP during pregnancy? What about a post partpartum flare… are you at risk? Hi I’m Alene and today, I’m opening up about my fertility journey and pregnancy at 42 years old living with Multiple Sclerosis. It has been a long journey with a lot of doubts, fears, uncertainty and endless questions. Because let’s face it, the road to motherhood is not always easy when you have “perfect health” let alone living with a chronic illness. That’s why Shanna and I are opening up about our journeys with motherhood. This week I’m answering all your questions about fertility and pregnancy, as I’m a new momma living with MS. And next week Shanna will be back to continue the conversation on motherhood and autoimmune disease as she interviews her children to get their perspectives. As always we share our stories, not to suggest that we’re doing it the “right way” We share our stories because we know first hand how lonely this road with autoimmune disease can be… and how uncertain it can be. And we want to open the conversation up and simply share our experience in hopes that it will help to bring comfort and perhaps some clarity on your journey. Like you, I had many questions swirling around in my head about my dream to get pregnant and be an active mom. And since sharing about this journey, you’ve been asking me these same questions about yourself. So that’s what I’m answering for you today. This session is for you whether you are... Newly diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and wondering what it means for your future plans of becoming a mother Actively trying to get pregnant, or Currently pregnant and wondering what’s ahead for you and baby. Whichever stage you’re at, I want to welcome you to this space where we can begin to answer the many questions that are likely running across your mind. /episode/index/show/autoimmunebestiespodcast/id/23502383

S3 Ep. 5: Navigating Farmers Markets for AIP & Wahls Protocol 06/15/2022

S3 Ep. 4: Navigating Autoimmune In The Summer 06/08/2022

S3 Ep.3: Nutrition Support During An Autoimmune Flare 06/01/2022

S3 Ep. 2: Lifestyle Support For Autoimmune Flares 05/25/2022

S3 Ep. 1: Life Updates 05/18/2022

S3 Ep. 1: Life Updates Welcome to Season 3 of the Autoimmune Besties Podcast. We are thrilled to be back with you and love to see this community growing so quickly. We’re reaching all corners of the world including the UK, Australia, Japan, South Africa, the United Arab, Switzerland, Spain, France, Morocco, Germany and so much more. Shanna and I want to extend a sincere thank you to each and every one of you who tune in and have hit subscribe to this podcast. When we created this podcast, it was always with the intention to unite autoimmune warriors around the world for a conversation with girlfriends who get it. Everytime you tune in, you make this mission come true. Everytime you hit subscribe, you strengthen this community. Everytime you write a review, you strengthen the voice of autoimmune warriors. Thank you. If this is the first time that you’re tuning in, we welcome you to catch the episodes in our previous two seasons. And if you’ve been with us since the beginning, welcome back. Whichever camp you fall into, if you’re listening to this podcast then you know first hand that autoimmune diseases are chronic illnesses. But while we may carry the same diagnosis year after year, how we experience them can change throughout different seasons in our life. That’s why to kick off Season 3 we decided to shake things up a bite for this episode. Today we’re sharing with you a personal update on our journeys with autoimmune disease and life in general. We share this not to suggest that we have it all figured out. Quite the opposite. We share this to remind you that we’re in this with you and to give you a behind the scenes look of your co-hosts. So, grab your favorite healthy beverage and enjoy. Today’s episode highlights updates from Alene and Shanna on: Their personal journeys with autoimmune disease Because we consider ourselves family here in this community, they share a family update too How has their diagnosis changed their for the better Tune in and be sure to share your thoughts on today’s topic. We love to hear from you! And join the conversation on instagram with your fellow autoimmune besties at . /episode/index/show/autoimmunebestiespodcast/id/22820693

S2 Ep. 10: Going Green for St. Patty's Day 03/16/2022

S2 Ep. 10: Going Green for St. Patty's Day We can easily be consumed by the dietary changes that we need to make when following a therapeutic diet like the Autoimmune Protocol or the Wahls Protocol. There are a lot of foods to eliminate and add in, there’s supplements and then we want to prioritize sleep, movement and stress management. So by the time we get to addressing our toxic load, we can feel like WE'RE on overload with recommendations. Yet, this is not a step that we can overlook. If this is a new topic for you, let me share some eye-opening facts about chemicals and our exposure to them. In the United States alone there are approximately 86,000 chemicals registered for use. This includes 62,000 chemicals that were grandfathered in when the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed. This means 62,000 chemicals were given a free pass and an automatic presumption of safety without any requirement to actually test to see if they were indeed safe.   Most people believe that very small amounts of exposure to harmful chemicals are totally safe and are too small to have any kind of health effect. While this is true for many chemicals, or exposures, it’s not 100% true for every kind of chemical.   Chemicals that mimic our natural hormones can in fact be even more harmful at extremely low doses simply because our endocrine system responds to natural hormones in the body at similarly low levels. In fact, there are over 1,500 chemicals identified as endocrine disrupting.   Among many other things, fertility rates around the world are dropping; one key factor is likely the chronic exposures we are getting to reproductive toxins in our environment. We don’t have to do a complete overhaul, but it’s important that we’re aware of our exposure to toxins and start to reduce it. For some people, this could be the missing link in their healing plan and why they haven’t experienced the symptom relief that they had hoped for. /episode/index/show/autoimmunebestiespodcast/id/22462844