Welcome, my name is [Kristen Bowen 00:00:38], and I am the founder of Living the Good Life Naturally. Today we are covering where you need to start to heal your autoimmune diseases, because I am the poster girl that that is possible. Now, I have worked very hard not to name myself with all of my autoimmune issues. Today I’m going to slide backwards a little bit in that, because you need to understand where I’ve come from so that you know where you can go.

 As you look through all of my medical records, the biggest diagnosis that I had of autoimmune, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus were all, I was diagnosed with all of those. The list just goes on, and on. I have to tell you, some of them, I’m not sure I really have them, I’m just not share Western medical knew what to do with me. Now, please realize my view on Western medical, it is a broken system. There are amazing people working within that broken system, so I’m not slamming doctors and nurses. Well, maybe the ones that shouldn’t be there. The hardworking people within that broken system that are doing their best, we applaud and I am so grateful for, because many of them helped me along my journey.

 The only thing that I want you to understand from this podcast is you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. I’ve had feeding tubes, colostomy bags, been fed through TPN, Total Paranatal Nutrition. I’ve been in wheelchair, and seizures, and that whole broken story, and I wake up now with energy. My body goes all day long, and the reason I drop into bed tired at night is because I followed through on all the dreams and ideas that I had during the day. If that’s a good fit for you, listen on. It all starts with cortisol though, and you must have an understanding of cortisol, looking through the filter of your autoimmune, and that is, there is no supplement, there is no food, there is no medication, there is no doctor, there is no natural path, there is no health coach, there is no mentor, there is no intention that can offset high cortisol.

 You simply have to bring it down. Cortisol in excess etches your body, and as women, we are addicted to it, and we just need to call it like it is. We have an addiction to cortisol. Why? Because it gives us a short term fix, it clears our thinking, it gives us a boost of energy, and that pushes us through the afternoon or late into the evening, whatever the need is. It gives us a short term fix, and we become addicted to it, but we forget the long term consequences. Healing does not happen in a high cortisol environment, period. Number one, the most important thing is that you develop a different mindset, and I know that can sound so annoying. I was working with a beautiful yoga teacher, and she’s had some major health issues, and every time that I brought up mindset, she would roll her eyes like a 13 year old girl.

 I knew she didn’t want to talk about it, that’s also how I knew it would be the most empowering change for her to embrace. Mindset is crucial, you cannot heal your autoimmune disorder disease without changing your mindset, it just isn’t going to happen. Doing things every single day that bring your stress levels down, I’m going to share with you my list. Here’s the deal, my list isn’t your list, and some of the things on my list might drive you crazy. You need to create your own list. Action item number one, I’m listening to this podcast, is creating a list that you will experience that, “Ah, my life is so good.” For example, going to the beach, I love going to the beach. I’m very fortunate that our home in California, I’m within walking distance of the beach, and so I can be there frequently.

 There is nothing more soothing to me than putting my feet in the sand, listening to the birds, hearing the waves crash and that rhythmic … It’s just, it’s magical, it’s a magical place. Now, I have to tell you, my husband enjoys it, it doesn’t do the same thing for him that it does for me. That ocean sings a song to me of, “All is well, don’t stress out, Kristen.” For me, the ocean. Another one for me is bike riding, moving that large muscle on my legs, not having to worry about my knees, on bone on bone, and so jogging isn’t a good fit for me anymore, that road bike, oh my goodness, I love a good bike ride. It puts me back into that, “Ah, life is good.” Reading is another one for me, I love to read. I love to read, and I love to put myself in a good chair with some Crio Bru, and just sit there and experience the book in a whole other world, I love reading.

 I also love learning, the process of learning is something that really brings my stress levels down. Music is another one that really brings my stress levels down, it’s usually got a little bit of Bon Jovi in there, whatever music that you love. I also love classical. Now, to my husband, it puts him to sleep. If we’re driving along and my playlist is on, automatically about every 5th song, Yo Yo Ma will come up. To him, he’s just like, “Goodnight,” checking out. To me, it’s inspiring and it moves me and it elevates my thoughts. Do you see how important it is, that you don’t just take my list, that you go on that journey of discovery, and find those things that really calm you down?

 Right now, there’s a big push in all the stores, all these beautiful adult coloring books. I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’m game, I’m going to do that.” I can’t stand it, it’s not relaxing to me, it’s not something I enjoy doing. Don’t take someone else’s list, you create your own list. Now, the other thing I like to do is, you know I can’t just take off every day and go sit in the ocean. Another place I love to go is Hawaii, I can’t just take off every day and go to Hawaii. I like to have things on my list that I can do instantly, things on my list that take a half an hour, things on my list that take a half a day, things on my list that take a full day, things on my list that take a full week. That way, when I feel that cortisol start to spike and I can’t take off to Hawaii in that moment, I can choose to put some music on, or I can choose to read a beautiful piece of poetry.

 The rhythm of poetry is very soothing to me. Now, I have a dear friend who stitches, and the up and down movement of stitching, needlework is so calming to her. Create your list, we’ve got to bring that down. Number two, you simply have to understand that people with an autoimmune disease or disorder burn through magnesium faster. My husband is amazing when it comes to holding onto his magnesium because he just knows everything is going to work out. I sometimes forget that. I burn through more magnesium than he does, and part of that is I have autoimmune going on in my body, and those of us that do, we burn through it faster. It used to frustrate me that it did, it was like, “Oh, I want to be just like him.”

 Well number one, that would be a pretty boring marriage, and number two, I would be a synthetic copy of him. I’m not him, I’m a much better me than I am him. I just need to embrace the fact that I burn through magnesium faster, and so because of that, I need to soak in it more often. I see that across the board, people with autoimmune disease. Number three, we need to hold the inflammation down, hold the inflammation down. A simple simple way to do that is to add boron. If you’ve never researched boron before, I have a video on Facebook called Magnesium and Boron, and it talks about how I do it. You don’t have to do it that way, but research boron. Boron holds magnesium in your cells. We’re becoming deficient in our soils, and so adding boron is a great way to help us hold onto that magnesium, because remember, when cortisol levels go up, magnesium goes out through your urine.

 We want to hold onto that magnesium and maintain and keep that cortisol level down, because there’s nothing that will offset high cortisol, and healing doesn’t happen in a high cortisol environment. Another thing I want to talk to you about, and this can be a real tough one for people, and that is going gluten free. Did you hear that? Going gluten free, now it’s not a death sentence, there are fabulous foods out there, and I know that there’s a lot of studies that came out, I want to say it was about a year ago, there were some studies that came out that said, “Going gluten free doesn’t make a bit of difference.” I beg to differ, because I see it happening daily. People that will do a 30 to 45 day gluten free challenge, and at the end of the 30 to 45 days, evaluate how they feel, and oh my goodness, for some of them, life changed.

 Now, I don’t know what it will be for you. If you have autoimmune and you want to heal, I would recommend going gluten free for 30 to 45 days. Just try it, think about it. How can we be taking a food in that has been changed so many times without it causing issues in our body? That’s a whole other podcast to get into, but the main point is, going gluten free for most people will reduce inflammation levels. When we reduce inflammation levels, that means that you have more healing happening. Now, some people will be really tapped into their body and know, “My inflammation is going down, my thinking is better, my gut doesn’t swell as much, my pain in my body is down.” Then other people are like, “I don’t know if I can tell any difference at all.” If you’re going to do the 30 to 45 day gluten challenge, find somebody that’s close to you that knows you well, that knows your ins and your outs, and you say to them, “Hey, I’ve decided to go gluten free for 30 to 45 days,” 45 is really the best.

 “I’m going gluten free for 45 days, I don’t want you to nag me about it, I don’t want you to remind me about it, I just want you to keep an eye on me, and see if you notice any differences.” It’s interesting to watch, so many times, the person who’s just watching is like, “Oh my gosh, this and this and this and this, the redness in your cheeks went away, you were able to follow through on conversations better, you had more energy in the afternoon, your thinking was more clear, your anger was less, your digestion, you didn’t have gas after that meal,” so many different ways that it can show up. If you’re wanting to heal autoimmune, a great thing to do is be gluten free for 45 days. Remember though, gluten free is like being pregnant, you either are or you’re not.

 Going a little bit gluten free is really living a lie, you’re either gluten free or you’re not. I had a lady that came in the shop, and she said, “Okay, I’ve been gluten free for 45 days, and there is just no difference.” I have to tell you, I didn’t see any difference on her face. Usually, you can pick up on people’s faces when they go gluten free, there will be a decrease in inflammation, and I didn’t see anything. I thought, “Wow, she might be one of those people that it really didn’t make a bit of difference for her.” Then I have a thought, and I said to her, “Talk to me about being gluten free, how did it go for you?” She goes, “Oh, it was pretty easy. On weekends, I took a break though, because my kids would come and we’d go out for pizza, and I always make lasagna, and it was just too hard to figure that out gluten free. Monday through Friday evening, I was gluten free, Friday evening to Sunday night I ate regular, and then I’d start back over again.”

 That’s not being gluten free at all. As I talked to her and explained that, and the tears trickled down her face, and I said, “You know, you don’t have to, you can just stay where you’re at right now and keep living exactly how you’ve been living.” I knew she’d had a lot of pain and a lot of low energy. She looked at me and she snapped out of it, and she said, “No, I am doing this, I am not living the same.” That’s where we need to use that being sick and tired of being sick and tired to actually motivate us to move forward, and she did that very thing. She was so sick and tired of being sick and tired that she used that as her motivation.

 Then her second round of being gluten free, she truly was gluten free for 45 days. Day and night difference, and you could see the difference in her face. The puffiness under her eyes started to go away, the bridge of her nose started to change in its size, her under her chin, I guess you would call that a double chin, I’m sitting here trying to show you through audio, which doesn’t make sense, but like a double chin, that started to tighten and firm up. The aches and pains in her joints were better in the morning, and her energy was a little bit better in the afternoon. That’s when her body is stepping into healing mode, when that cortisol, that inflammation, they both start to come down, your body can step into healing, and then boom, that’s when you hit it with magnesium.

 You step in and get that magnesium, and I’m not talking lotion, I’m not talking spray, I am talking full on soaking in magnesium, because we have to offset, and magnesium helps hold that inflammation down. Soaking in that magnesium is crucial, and recognizing if you are someone that is attempting to heal from autoimmune, you need more magnesium than your girlfriend sitting next to you, because of the nature of where your body is at. Now, will it always be like that? I have no idea, but in the beginning, people with autoimmune need more magnesium. We’ve talked about the food, we’ve talked about the boron, we’ve talked about the magnesium, we’ve talked about the mindset.

 Here’s another one, and people don’t like this one, oh my goodness. I’m holding my space strong, and I’m just telling you like it is, and this is grandma wisdom. You can’t expect to go to bed at midnight every night and heal from an autoimmune. Your body needs rest, you know that old saying, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”? Well, the reason it was an old saying is it is grandma wisdom, you’ve got to up your bedtimes. Your body needs to rest and renew and heal, and if you’re pushing your body when it should be in bed, you’re putting it into fight or flight mode, instead of rest and renew mode. It’s absolutely imperative that you understand. Now, I have a balance and I know that I can push two nights a week.

 I can stay up late, and it doesn’t affect my body that much. Three nights, and I am feeling it in my joints, I am feeling it in my energy levels, I am feeling it in my brain function, and just overall performance, but two nights I can handle. Last night, we went to go see Spiderman, which by the way was not my favorite movie. I love Spiderman, Tobey Maguire was my Spiderman. We went to go see that and got home really late. I was still able to get up early this morning and stay on routine because that’s the only night that I’ve done that this entire week. If I did that every night, eventually I would pay the price. You have to make sure that you’re keeping that balance for you.

 Now another thing I want to talk about is potassium levels. Potassium levels are crucial to put your body into healing mode, because if you want to heal from an autoimmune, and you’re walking around stressed out in fight or flight, you’re just going to increase your cortisol levels because what you want isn’t happening. That’s where I’m really good at finding the disconnects that people have, and connecting them back to what they need to be doing for maximum healing. Potassium is one of those things, our bodies need 4,700 milligrams of potassium every day, and when we get that, our body is in rest and renew mode. Now, if we don’t have that, our body is in fight or flight, and that’s where we start creating disconnect, saying, “Oh, I’m doing all this stuff to heal, but nothing’s happening, therefore I’m more stressed, therefore my cortisol is going up, therefore I’m pushing my magnesium out.”

 Do you see that cycle? It’s horrible, step away from it, start with your magnesium. Magnesium is the foundational layer, and then once you’ve got that down and consistent, then start adding that 4,700 milligrams of potassium. Now, I can do it through food, I have to tell you I feel like I am chewing all day long. I do it through food, I use coconut water, and I also supplement with a little bit of cream of tartar. Now, I can do that because my magnesium levels are 6.9, and magnesium holds onto potassium. If you just start with potassium, you’ll do what I call a potassium dump, or disaster pants, because your body can’t hold onto it. You have to start in the right place, and the right place is soaking in magnesium.

 Then, you determine, “Am I going to go gluten free?” I don’t know, is it a good fit for you? I can’t answer that. I do know that those people that I see going gluten free increase their body’s ability to heal. The other thing that you need to decide is, “What am I going to do when I get overwhelmed? What am I going to do? Am I going to give up? Am I going to allow myself a break?”, because that overwhelm will kick you into stopping, and then you’ll start again, and then you’ll stop again, and then you’ll start again, and then you’ll stop again. Then every time you do that stop/start cycle, you have a bigger stick, and you tell yourself, “Oh yeah right, remember you didn’t stick to this last time, what makes you think you will this time?”

 Predetermining how are you going to go about this healing, what are you going to do? Are you 100% in? Are you 50% in? Then, once you’ve made that decision, you match your expectations to your actions. It’s when we get mismatched that we get frustrated and we give up, and I don’t want you giving up. I’ve lived both ways, and I much prefer waking up in the morning with energy, following through on my dreams, and living a big life, hiking, biking, and canoeing, those are my very … Not a canoe, it’s a kayak. I don’t know why I just called it a canoe. We just got new kayaks, we’re so excited, we’re loving them. I’d much rather be out doing those kinds of things, loving on my family, than I would just laying in bed exhausted, and thinking about all the things that I want to do all day.

 Make sure that you’ve matched your expectations to your actions, so you don’t create that massive level of disconnect. Remember, listening to this podcast doesn’t do anything. You getting out there and creating action and following through on some of the homework assignments, that’s what’s going to get you healthy, friend. My name’s Kristen Bowen, I’m the founder of Living the Good Life Naturally, and I am not held back by any of my autoimmune issues anymore. I am the creator of my life, and I have created a powerful life. If it sounds good to you, lean in, follow through, create some action.

 Hey, it’s Kristen here, two favors if you enjoyed that podcast. Go ahead and like the podcast wherever you are listening in from. Want more info and updates about free classes, paid classes, products? Go to livingthegoodlifenaturally.com, enter your email in for the email newsletter, and that’s where I send all of the updates about all of the amazing things that are happening at Living the Good Life Naturally. Remember, you are the CEO of your life. Today is the day to create health, and live the good life naturally.

 The content of this program is for information purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This program is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual health conditions may vary. Always seek competent medical advice from your medical or holistic health provider before starting any new health protocols.

 

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