"Now is the time to take back your health! Autoimmune conditions are reversible, but you need to address root causes head on. Palmer Kippola used to have MS and now she’s on a mission to help anyone who is eager to reverse or prevent any autoimmune condition. Beat Autoimmune is an empowering and actionable guidebook that simplifies the steps back to health. Highly recommended!"
—Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hashimoto's Protocol
"Palmer Kippola not only raises our awareness of the important mechanisms underlying the dramatic increase in autoimmune diseases worldwide, but in addition, Beat Autoimmune is wonderfully prescriptive, providing the reader with a powerful action plan to reverse and even prevent these issues."
—David Perlmutter, MD, FACN and author, New York Times #1 bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker
“It’s time for a root cause revolution! Beat Autoimmune is a fantastic field guide for anyone seeking real solutions to this modern-day epidemic. Palmer Kippola simplifies the steps to health so you can beat autoimmune and thrive.”
—Frank Lipman, MD and New York Times best-selling author of How to Be Well
“An excellent resource for those who want to use an integrative and functional medicine approach to support their healing journey!”
—Terry Wahls, MD, clinical professor of medicine, and author of The Wahls Protocol: How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine
“Beat Autoimmune serves up proven ways to address the root causes of autoimmune disorders. If you’re ready to reclaim your health, I highly recommend reading this book and following the steps that Palmer has laid out. It could transform your life.”
—Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS, and author of Eat Dirt, Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure it.
“Palmer offers easy, digestible nuggets blending her lived experience and insights with the science of functional medicine—a super accessible read and an important tool in the toolbox for patients facing autoimmune disease.”
—Donna Jackson-Nakazawa, award-winning science journalist and author of Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal and The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance—and the Cutting-Edge Science that Promises Hope
“This book may be your first introduction to health information that flies in the face of conventional wisdom and Western medical advice—that autoimmune conditions are “incurable.” The frenzied pace of modern scientific discovery has left many mainstream medical professionals in the past. As a scientist who has studied chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, and metabolism, I can attest to the staggering amount of research that gets published every month. It's no wonder that new discoveries take too long to filter into practice. But there’s good news about autoimmunity, and Palmer is here to share it. She’s not just writing about a topic from a knowledge perspective. She's lived with an autoimmune diagnosis and personally experienced the debilitating effects of the disease. Until she did something about it. Now you can, too.”
—Steven Wm. Fowkes, organic chemist, biohacker, health educator and author
"With the emerging field of research into the gut microbiome and repairing intestinal permeability, new avenues of treatment for autoimmunity will no doubt develop in the near future. In the meantime, Palmer Kippola’s common-sense suggestions to improve your autoimmune condition through lifestyle changes in diet, restorative sleep and other areas provides a welcome approach for many with these conditions."
—Alessio Fasano, MD, Director of Center for Celiac Research and Treatment, Massachusetts General Hospital
“Palmer has done a fantastic job bringing to light the importance of food and a leaky gut in the rise of autoimmunity and giving us practical tools to reverse the equation!”
—Jill C. Carnahan, MD, ABFM, ABIHM, IFMCP
“This book provides just the right measure of hope and targeted healing protocols to overcome or ward off any autoimmune condition. Since autoimmune disease is currently an increasingly insidious epidemic, Palmer Kippola's book is loaded with exactly the right information we all need to support our immunity each and every day. The environmental and inherited challenges we all face don't stand a chance with Palmer's advice to guide us.”
—Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, and award-winning New York Times bestselling author of over 30 books on health and nutrition including Radical Metabolism, The New Fat Flush Plan, and Guess What Came to Dinner.
“Palmer takes a deep dive into the root causes of disease and disorder to provide us with an evidence-based, integrative approach to rebuilding our health and restoring our resilience as a result. A must-read!”
—Heidi Hanna, PhD, Executive Director, American Institute of Stress and New York Times bestselling author of The SHARP Solution and Stressaholic
"Autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions are on the rise and something needs to be done about it! In this book, Palmer Kippola lays out why we have an inflammation epidemic and what to do about it! This book is comprehensive and covers key lab tests to get to the root cause, diet and lifestyle strategies and key supplements to heal the gut and balance the immune system. I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to improve their health and for practitioners who desire to get better healing results with their patients and clients."
—David Jockers DNM, DC, MS
"Beat Autoimmune is an essential book for anyone with an autoimmune condition who wants to not only feel better but understand (and heal) their root causes. Palmer so elegantly combines cutting edge research with personal experience to create an approachable guide that’ll change your life."
—Deborah Anderson, ND, functional medicine doctor and autoimmune disease expert
“Doctors have failed patients by focusing on symptoms of chronic disease and not root causes. Thankfully, we now know how to treat and prevent autoimmune conditions at the source. Beat Autoimmune provides a clear path for people suffering with autoimmune conditions and a friendly approach that’s equal parts comprehensive and comprehensible. Palmer’s zeal and zest for life will inspire readers to change their long-held habits and finally achieve true wellbeing!”
—Dr. Sarah Myhill, MB, BS and autoimmune expert
“Autoimmune Illness Really Is Optional! In this superb book, Palmer Kippola gathers everything you need to know to make these diseases go away. Offering both her personal experience of recovering, and the guidance of numerous world-class experts, she puts it all together in an easy to read book. Autoimmune disease used to be rare. Now it’s an epidemic. With this book it can become rare again. And optional!”
—Jacob Teitelbaum MD and author of The Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Solution and Diabetes Is Optional
“Millions of people deal with symptoms related to inflammation and autoimmunity, and just sifting through all the information on the subject is nothing short of daunting. With Beat Autoimmune, Palmer Kippola has created a resource with everything you need to know about healing your gut, reducing your stress levels, addressing hormone imbalances, and truly reclaiming your health—using action steps you can start today!”
—Wendy Myers, FDN-P, NC, CHHC and founder of Myers Detox™
“Before working with Palmer, I had trouble just getting through the day. I had tummy pain and IBS-symptoms so bad I could barely leave the house. I was so tired I would frequently fall asleep at work, and I didn’t have the energy to exercise. My hormones were so out of whack I had debilitating monthly cycles and extra weight that wouldn’t budge. By following Palmer’s anti-inflammatory food plan, taking targeted supplements, and detoxing slowly, I was able to heal my gut and reverse all symptoms of celiac disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Now I’m running 5Ks with my daughter and enjoying life instead of dreading it. If I can beat autoimmune, you can too!”
—Wendy McCarter, accountant/office manager, mom and horse lover
“Palmer Kippola’s attack on autoimmunity in this comprehensive volume makes for a solid cover-to-cover read for those who seek the big picture while being a useful reference to return to in the future when a specific detail is needed.”
—Ken Sharlin, MD, MPH, IFMCP neurologist, author of The Healthy Brain Toolbox: Neurologist-Proven Strategies to Avoid Memory Loss and Protect Your Aging Brain
“The power of lowering inflammation and healing autoimmunity is now in your hands! This book puts all together in an easy, concise, and evidence-based approach to healing disease from the inside out!”
—Madiha Saeed, MD, “HolisticMom, MD,” and author of The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease
"Palmer's commitment to not let others suffer like she did is truly inspiring and certainly succeeds with this book. I would highly recommend this book to my patients."
—Anna M. Cabeca, DO, FACOG, ABAARM, ABoIM and author of The Hormone Fix
“Palmer Kippola shares a moving and beautiful chronicle of how she learned to reverse her 26-year history of serious multiple sclerosis, a disease that is widely believed to be irreversible in traditional medicine. The nutritional and Functional Medicine approach that Palmer applied will be helpful not only for people suffering from MS, but for anyone grappling with chronic illness of any kind.”
—Kat Toups, MD, DFAPA, IFMCP, Alzheimer’s researcher and author of the forthcoming book, Dementia Demystified
“Working with Palmer changed my life. I was diagnosed with MS on Nov 1, 2016 and had the good fortune to begin working with her that same week. By following Palmer’s advice, I started to heal by removing inflammatory foods, gluten, dairy, corn, sugar and soy, and by following a Paleo template diet. Within weeks, my MS symptoms subsided, and I felt ready to address stress and childhood traumas that had been plaguing me for decades. Today, my family and friends view me as a role model for health and wellbeing. The approaches in this book changed my and my family’s lives, and I have every reason to believe they will change yours too.”
—April Saenz, executive assistant, wife, mother of two, former MS sufferer
Beat Autoimmune is the perfect affirmation for how to take your health into your own hands and heal from autoimmune disease. Palmer offers practical, scientifically-based, safe, and effective approaches to recovery without the use of drugs. This book is a beacon of hope for the millions suffering from autoimmune disorders.
—Michelle Corey FMP, Founder and Director of The Total Recovery Center and the author of The Thyroid Cure
"Beat Autoimmune is a beautifully written road map for anyone seeking real solutions to this modern-day pandemic. Palmer presents both the historical context and science-based strategies for becoming resilient in the face of these devastating disorders."
—Zach Bush, MD
Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health
Narrated by Eliza Foss
Palmer KippolaUnabridged — 12 hours, 38 minutes
Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health
Narrated by Eliza Foss
Palmer KippolaUnabridged — 12 hours, 38 minutes
Audiobook (Digital)
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
Related collections and offers
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Overview
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173628534 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
| Publication date: | 10/22/2019 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Start with Food
Food is how we get terribly sick; or it's how we can restore our health.
— TERRY WAHLS, MD
The importance of food in autoimmune diseases cannot be overstated and yet is often hard for people to understand. How could something so ordinary, so ubiquitous, so simple and so basic be a cause or remedy for such drastic and debilitating conditions? If this seems counterintuitive to you, you are not alone. I had no idea that my "pretty healthy" diet, low in fat and high in whole grains, could have been a major contributing factor in my developing MS. But our daily bread, so to speak, can be the cause of our debilitating autoimmune conditions — and, conversely, the very remedy our bodies need to heal. It was fortunate that I found out I had non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and crazy to me that by removing that one culprit I was able to turn the tide on a twenty-six-year course of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, largely by changing what I ate.
Can it be so simple? That complex, chronic, and often debilitating autoimmune conditions can be reversed or significantly healed by removing a few foods? The short answer is yes, for many people. What I've learned from dozens of practitioners and by observing my own clients is that people with autoimmune issues often heal 60 percent to 100 percent just by changing what they eat. For some, like me, it can be 100 percent.
You may be thinking that giving up your favorite foods sounds too daunting to even attempt. But taken one step at a time, any journey, no matter how steep, is surmountable. That's where the Healing Foods Toolkit comes in handy. My step-by-step guide will help you to approach the process one manageable bite at a time — with me by your side. Need more convincing? Let's examine food's essential role in our health.
What's Wrong with What We Eat?
Answering this seemingly simple question requires a quick review of human evolution and the advent of chronic disease. For the vast majority of our time on planet Earth, we humans were hunter-gatherers, eating fresh, whole foods harvested or hunted in the wild. There were few grains, no pesticides, no herbicides, few processed foods, and no genetically modified foods. The topsoil teemed with beneficial organisms, plants grew at a natural pace, and trace minerals were recycled back into the soils for next year's season; plants and animals provided nourishing, nutrient-dense food; and chronic disease was virtually nonexistent.
While our ancestors may not have lived long lives (due to infectious illness and trauma), they were mostly free of inflammatory and degenerative diseases. This phenomenon has been chronicled by anthropologists like Weston A. Price, a Canadian dentist who sought to understand how traditional cultures avoided both tooth decay and chronic disease. Turns out that people of traditional cultures who ate local food were naturally healthy and fit. Had they not succumbed to tuberculosis or the elements, they might have lived to seventy or beyond.
Modern Foods and Human Biology: An Evolutionary Mismatch
Fast forward to the Industrial Revolution, which eventually ushered in mass agriculture and machinery for large-scale production to feed a growing American population after World War II. Vast quantities of processed cereal grains like wheat, corn, rice, and soy provided a cheap and easy source of calories. Procuring fast, frozen and packaged foods, after all, is way more efficient than foraging for sustenance.
But convenience has come at a cost.
As we've become great mass-producers of grains, oils, and animals, we've also gotten really sick. Today, chronic illnesses afflict nearly half of all adults, cause the most deaths and disability in the United States, and are a leading driver of health care costs. Most tragically, these diseases, once rare or associated with old age, now affect children and especially women in their prime. Food sensitivities, mysterious and frequently debilitating symptoms, insulin resistance, obesity, and chronic illnesses are becoming the norm.
It turns out that our modern lifestyle is at the root of autoimmune conditions; and modern foods are one of the biggest culprits. As people have shifted from eating a diverse diet of foraged foods to eating only a few staple crops, the population has experienced an overall decline in health and longevity. We have also shifted from intermittent food availability to constant food availability (packaged, processed foods), and from seasonal eating to year-round obtainability (imported or greenhouse- grown) foods. The shortcuts provided by fast and cheap packaged foods are not a good match for human biology. Our bodies are rebelling against these unnatural foods, and we're developing modern, chronic diseases that were extremely rare or absent prior to the agricultural era. Some call these modern, chronic illnesses "mismatch disorders" for that reason. In other words, the standard American diet (SAD) — a.k.a. Western diet — loaded with sugars and chemically produced products, is a fast track to insulin resistance, obesity, cancer and autoimmunity.
The Return to Health
The great news is that a return to health and vitality usually follows a return to more traditional ways of eating. Often in a short time, too.
We know that people from traditional cultures who adopt Western diets suffer the same health consequences as people who grow up eating a Western diet. Even a temporary SAD diet can lead to diabetes, obesity, and heart disease — each risk factors for autoimmune conditions. Nutrition researcher Kerin O'Dea studied Australian aboriginals who had left their native home in the bush for the more Westernized town of Derby, Australia. With access to refined carbohydrates and a more sedentary lifestyle, it wasn't long before they became obese and diabetic. O'Dea conducted a seven-week study to see what would happen if the aboriginals returned to their bush habitat and their customary diet of fish, shellfish, birds, kangaroo, tubers, and bush honey. Sure enough, as the aboriginals returned to eating their native foods, they lost weight and experienced remarkable health improvements. Markers of inflammation and diabetes all improved or resolved, in just seven weeks!
Does this mean you're going to have to sharpen your spear and roam the wild to find your own food? Metaphorically speaking, that's the right direction. Practically speaking, you'll just need to become a savvy, modern-day huntress-gatherer to find the most evolutionarily appropriate foods for you. As you align your food choices to those better suited to your biology, remarkable things happen: signs and symptoms of chronic disease begin to fade, replaced by shoots and blooms of vibrant health and well- being. The more you heal, the easier it becomes to make the right food choices, until one day it's simply second nature.
Food and the Three Invisible but Powerful Forces Inside You
To understand the significance of your food choices, it helps to have an appreciation for what's happening in your body. Your moment-to-moment daily decisions — what you eat, drink, think, and do — directly affect whether you are moving toward health or toward disease. Three of the biggest impacts on health or disease exist at a microscopic level inside each of us and exert their influence multiple times a day. These three invisible yet powerful forces are epigenetics, the microbiome, and mitochondria. Each of these forces responds in real time to the foods you eat daily. Awareness of their significance is a huge first step. Let's consider each separately before we look at the bigger picture.
You know the cliché "You are what you eat." The latest science proves that this old refrain is absolutely true. The foods we eat not only become the building blocks of new cells, they also write our personal health stories, bite by bite. To understand the epigenetics of food, imagine it's lunchtime and you're eating a burger with one hand. Envision your other hand on a light switch. If your burger is made with typical GMO-produced, corn-fed, antibiotic-laden meat cooked at high heat in industrial oils and comes with a bun, flip the switch up. You've just turned on your disease-promoting genes. What if you decide instead to have a 100 percent grass-fed burger cooked in ghee (clarified butter) on medium heat and wrapped in organic lettuce? Your hand on that light switch just flipped the switch down. Congratulations! You've just turned off disease- promoting genes — and turned on health-promoting genes.
What you choose to eat directly determines the composition and function of your microbiome. Sugar and processed foods feed non-beneficial fungi that produce mycotoxins and yeast infections (Candida), whereas probiotic-rich foods like fermented vegetables feed health-promoting bacteria, which help maintain beneficial microbial balance. With each food decision, you choose what instructions get directly delivered to your genes — harm or heal — and you choose the balance of microbes you feed — disease-promoting or health-promoting.
KEY CONCEPT:With each meal, you control whether harmful or healing genes get expressed.
You've heard that food is fuel, well, here's how: Mitochondria are the tiny but mighty factories in each of your cells that turn the food you eat into energy. They produce 90 percent of your cellular energy, so they are definitely mighty! The number and efficiency of your mitochondria reflect a microcosm of your health and well-being. When your mitochondria function well, you'll feel better and have more energy. The opposite is also true: when your mitochondria experience harm inflicted by stress, infections, toxins, and SAD foods, your energy producers are given reasons to go on strike.
Mitochondrial expert and neurologist Bruce H. Cohen, MD, says that one of the biggest reasons our mitochondria deteriorate is that we eat too many poor-quality foods and not enough healthy ones. He warns that unless we eat plenty of phytonutrients, antioxidants, healthy fats, proteins, and fiber, our bodies don't get the basic tools they need to heal and generate life.
Now that you understand the significant invisible forces within you, you may have a greater appreciation for how consequential your food choices are. You're literally eating for trillions — microbes, that is. For some, the prospect of exerting such direct control over their health outcomes will come as a huge relief, while for others, the impact of everyday choices might feel more like unwanted pressure. If you fall into the latter category, remember that you don't have to start from scratch or go it alone. The foods described in the Healing Foods Toolkit will be your map and I'll be your guide on the path to wellness, one step at a time. Right now, what's most important is your willingness to examine and, eventually, optimize your food choices.
The Recipe for Healing with Food
So, where do you start? How do you determine what foods to avoid and what to eat to optimize your health? Fortunately for me, a Functional Medicine nutritionist helped guide me on my journey back to health. She educated me about toxic foods, assisted me in uncovering my personal food sensitivities, and led me through a gut-healing protocol. Within thirty days, I had identified and removed my personal food triggers, I had added in nourishing foods that would help heal my gut, and I was free of digestive and autoimmune symptoms.
The same straightforward process I used to go from decades of autoimmune symptoms to vibrant health is the one I use with my coaching clients and the one I'll guide you through now. First, I'll help you understand the connection between food and autoimmune conditions. We'll look at specific examples of how food can trigger and perpetuate autoimmunity for years or even decades, and also how food can serve as the greatest healer, even if it's not your primary trigger. (We'll address other common triggers in the following chapters.) Many people have succeeded in healing with food. If I can do it, so can you.
Before we jump to solutions, let's first look at how food can trigger autoimmune conditions. After you see the connection, you'll likely feel even more motivated to remove the culprits that may be causing you harm.
The Harmful Side of Food
As previously mentioned, the standard American diet (SAD), or Western diet, is a massive factor in creating the autoimmune epidemic today. Processed foods, refined sugars, gluten, grains, conventionally grown And factory-farmed animal products, and unhealthy fats like hydrogenated (chemically altered) oils and most vegetable oils are the primary inflammatory culprits in launching and perpetuating autoimmune disorders. Here's how:
About 75 percent of your immune system resides in your gut — specifically inside the lining of your small intestines — and autoimmunity is an immune system problem. We'll look at inflammation more closely in the Gut chapter, but for now, what's most important to know is that anything that inflames or harms your gut harms your immune system. Inflammatory SAD foods create imbalances in gut bacteria (microbiome dysbiosis or gut imbalance), nutritional deficiencies, and intestinal hyperpermeability (a.k.a. "leaky gut"), which is the gateway to autoimmunity.
Leaky Gut and Food Sensitivities
A leaky gut — literally large openings in the lining of your intestines (think rips in a fishing net) — allows large, undigested food particles to cross into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, large protein molecules like gluten, casein (a dairy protein), or egg whites may be tagged and targeted as dangerous invaders by the immune system, which creates antibodies (missiles) to attack these "dangerous" food particles. Once food particles have been tagged for attack, every time you eat those foods, as long as your gut is permeable, your immune system will continue to attack the foods, resulting in multiple food sensitivities and worse. Eventually, in susceptible people, the immune system will turn its attack on tissues in your body that resemble the food protein molecules the immune system is attempting to destroy.
Research shows that many things can lead to a leaky gut: foods including gluten, dairy, and sugar; infections like Candida and Lyme disease and coinfections; toxins including pesticides and medications like antibiotics; and ongoing or traumatic stress. But consider the case of gluten. At a cellular level, the gluten molecule happens to look like a thyroid molecule. Continue eating gluten, and if you're predisposed, you may wind up with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. That's the autoimmune cascade: environmental factor (s) including food, infections, toxins, and stress lead to a leaky gut, which leads to immune system reactions like food sensitivities, autoimmune expression, and finally, full-blown autoimmune disease.
You may currently experience delayed allergic reactions to many of the foods you eat and not even know it. If you assume, like many do and like I did, that these symptoms are just a normal part of life, you won't make the connection between the foods you eat and the discomfort you experience. When you can't tell cause and effect between the foods you eat and body aches or brain fog, it may take years, if ever, for you to make the connection. If you keep eating foods that cause your gut to be inflamed and your immune system to overreact, the symptoms you experience will likely worsen in an attempt to grab your attention.
Autoimmune conditions don't develop overnight. It's a gradual and typically stealthy process that builds over five, ten, or more years, often simmering below conscious awareness until minor symptoms express as unmistakable signs of autoimmune disease.
What You Don't Know Can Harm You
I know lots about silent but harmful food toxins and resulting autoimmunity. Throughout my childhood, daily breakfasts of cereal with milk and school lunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread were, unbeknownst to me, steadily inflaming my gut, disrupting the balance of my microbiome, harming my mitochondrial function, and damaging my metabolism.
Looking back, it's hardly surprising that an undiagnosed gluten sensitivity led to immune system imbalances, a leaky gut, and, ultimately, a diagnosis of MS at age nineteen. Because I continued to eat gluten- containing grains until I was forty-five, I unknowingly perpetuated the autoimmune response and the MS persisted.
What we consume can be an autoimmune trigger, but it's an equally powerful healer. In fact, according to multiple experts, food offers the highest healing potential of any solution yet identified. Many who have addressed this root cause head-on — by removing the most harmful foodstuffs like sugar, processed foods, gluten, and dairy, and replacing them with nourishing foods like organic leafy greens, healthy fats, and moderate amounts of protein — have found that numerous autoimmune symptoms fade and never return.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Beat Autoimmune"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Palmer Kippola.
Excerpted by permission of KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Videos
