Eating Paleo with Alison Marras

Hey, everyone. Thanks for joining me today. I am excited to introduce you to Allison. She is a nutritional therapy practitioner and she just wrote an amazing cookbook that is called the Paleo Gut Healing Cookbook. And she is here to tell us all about it. Thank you so much for joining us, Allison.

Thank you for having me. I am excited.

Oh, yes, I know. And so once you. I mean, first of all, you are just worked so hard on creating this book and put it out there in the world, and I know how much goes into that. So we definitely want to hear what's in the book, but we also want to know you and what inspired you to write this book and to do what you do. So tell me a little bit more.

Yeah, I'd love to. So I'm sure, like so many of your listeners inspired by your support and journey can relate, but essentially, you know, I burned out years and years ago by doing all the things, working really hard and trying to be a perfectionist at everything. And ultimately, my health just started declining and I started going through the traditional routes. Endocrinologists, my hair was falling out, my gut was a mess. I had just gotten off the birth control pill and I didn't really know where to turn. I knew there was a history of autoimmunity in my family and all. All sorts of health issues, but I didn't know if that's what was happening with me or what was happening. And after years of getting, like, tossed around to different doctors with no answers, I finally went to a naturopath and then functional medicine doctors who found that I had Hashimoto's autoimmune disease. And I had already known that I had, like, pcos and other issues with my menstrual cycle, like hormonal imbalances. So there was that fun added in as well, various gut issues like SIBO and parasites and all the rest. So that was definitely years and years worth of just trying to figure it all out. And I'm actually picturing one of your Instagram posts where you had the healing journey of, like, up, down, up, down. It's not just, like, cool, you get your diagnosis and you're off to the races. It's like, oh, we need to find out why you have this and why and why and keep digging deeper.

And.

And so throughout all of that, throughout even just figuring out something was going on with me and me really wanting to be proactive because I realized I wasn't getting many answers elsewhere. I started playing around with food and nutrition and figuring, like, this has to be A big piece to it. What we put in our bodies three times a day has to have something to do with this.

Imagine that.

Imagine, right? It's so funny because it's so foreign to our modern day life to kind of of think that. And then it's like, well, no, we are putting something in our body three times a day. So what is it? So I just started cooking and finding recipes and making up my own recipes. Food that I loved because as a fellow New Yorker, I'm such a foodie and I loved going out to restaurants and when I started seeing like I was getting food sensitivities and I was having all these issues and I couldn't keep up anymore, I really had to to cook at home in my tiny little New York City apartment. And I started my blog, foodbymars.com, where I was just going gluten free, then messing around with dairy free. And it was just kind of an evolution of me really landing more in the paleo diet area, even using AIP for my autoimmune disease, which is the autoimmune protocol, which we could talk about too. And that's kind of how everything came to be. I was lucky enough with food plus thyroid medication and working with practitioners and really managing my stress and lifestyle, which I know you are an expert about, that was a big deal.

I was able to put my Hashimoto's into remission. I was able to get pregnant. I have a two year old. So my life totally changed because of this being the catalyst. And so I wanted to really demystify Gut healing and really make it more approachable and simple, which is what it should always be. I think we overcomplicate things and that's my hope with the book, is to just make it more fun and doable for people.

Show us your book.

Yeah, I'd love to. This is it. That's my Italian wedding soup. And I got lots of recipes.

I have 75 colored pictures in there too. It looks like.

Oh yeah, I've got lots of pictures. That was part of my, on my blog, my creative outlet is food photography. So I love cooking and taking photos.

Oh my gosh. It makes such a difference, you know, because when you're looking at a, you know, looking at a book with recipes, I'm so visual. So I kind of need that to know, like, okay, what, how is this going to look? Or is how maybe is it sort of going to look once I get through this?

Totally, totally. You need that like after shot.

I do, I do. I Don't know how many listeners are like that. But I love I, the visual really motivates me and the in color, you know, like that. And, and I, how, I mean, how hard it is to not only just come up with the recipes, but then like fine tune exactly how much of this and that. Because I've done some recipe development myself too. And it's a lot to go through all of that and to test it and then consider all of the variations. Because what you're doing here, I mean, it's, it's brilliant and it's simple at the same time, which is to say, hey, if we, what's considered Paleo is a lot of it, as you mentioned, is avoiding gluten and dairy. So it's essentially a gluten free, dairy free. Paleo usually is also sugar free, organic and like sometimes grain free or very few grains. Right. So you're, you're having to develop these, these recipes with those, meeting those criteria, but also taking into account, you know, that we're each individuals. Is that something they'll find in the book is like, here's where you can individualize it?

Absolutely. So I just, I'm such a cheerleader for bio individuality and saying, hey, here's what the Paleo template is. And I try to refer to these diets as templates because that's really what they are. We can start to tinker around and play by the template rules, so to speak, but then really tune into our own body and customize. Because Paleo diet is also. They talk a lot about ancestry, eating and the way that our great, great great grandparents ate before processed food kind of had its way with us. Right. Because it's really about getting back to nature and eating things that are from nature and as intended and not so processed and, and all the things so that can look a little bit different for everybody depending on your culture, where you, you know, your family's from. You might not need to give up all grains or all legumes or things like that. So I just try to say, see how you feel. Oftentimes people feel amazing. More energy, better digestion, all the things. And then really start to say, like, okay, can I have this once or twice a week? And I have, you know, and really customize because that's what, what worked for me. I'm multicultural. My mom's Hispanic, my dad is like Irish and English. So I bring a lot of my family favorites. And then my husband is Greek. So I tried to kind of recreate a lot of the foods that we loved and missed. And I think that's always a big issue for people when they're trying. There's. They're like, yeah, but I miss my whatever like pasta night or even whatever wedding soup. That's that exactly, exactly things that you love that it's like we. How do I make that gluten free, dairy free, paleo, whatever. And so that's something that I really love to do with the recipe. So they're all things you might recognize. But I made them paleo friendly and you're not. If my husband, who doesn't have to eat this way, can't tell, like you're not going to be able to tell.

Trust me.

So good.

It's not like they miss some part of it.

Exactly. And like cheese is always a big one. Like oh my goodness, like I miss cheese. So I've got like so many cheese sauces that you can even have. I have lots of nut free. Like AIP is not free. So that's usually a big allergen and that can be an issue for some people. So like cauliflower and coconut cream. And I've got a cheese sauce.

It's.

It's ridiculous what you can do when you, when you mess around enough.

I would like some of that right now.

Yes, I wish I could deliver it to you.

It's true. Because, you know, I, in my work with. And this is, you know, now I'm 21 years in as a naturopathic doctor and I was researching food sensitivities back more than that when I was still training. It became a huge interest of mine because of my history with allergies and food sensitivities. So I just, I tried every kind of diet and every kind of food sensitivity test and way back then I figured out I needed to avoid gluten and dairy. So this is, I mean, my daughter's 19 and I think I really went gluten free, dairy free when I had her 19 years ago. I was figuring this out and it.

Was much harder back then.

I'm sure we didn't even have the term paleo really then or any resources. So I just really get what you've been through because I went that path myself too as a naturopathic doctor and to then be able to ask the question how best to help patients, help viewers, help readers, to be able to do the same thing. Because I mean for you and I, it became our life. But for other people it doesn't have to become your life to eat this way. We want to make it Easy for you, right? And that's why I love, you know, the idea of your book is because you're, you're saying, hey, you, you guys don't have to do all the work of figuring out what to make. You can just use my book as a resource.

Totally. Exactly. That is the idea. And luckily there's so many great blogs and resources now that I'm sure you would have killed to have 20 years ago. Because even, even when I started, I don't know what was that seven or eight years ago at this point, just tinkering around, it still felt like, wait, but how can I have this? And how can I. So I think we just come across the least resistance we can have with this stuff. The more compliant we can be, the more joy we can bring to it and the less stress. Because I found that when we're so stressed out over every single bite that we put into our mouths, whether it's because we've heard it's bad for us or we know, like, no, when I eat this thing, I feel sick. I have a flare up, whatever it is, you know, now it's, it's more complicated than just eating or not eating the thing. It's. Now we're fearing it, we're feeling really stressed out about it. So we're then not going to be able to digest if we're in a sympathetic state and freaking out before we even eat. So that's what I'd like to do is like, how can we have fun with this? How can we just kind of have our cake and eat it too, to the best of our abilities? So that's what I'm hoping comes across.

It's so true. I mean, because if we're here, we are already stressed and then if we stress out about our diet change now we're just still in the cycle of stress, which is what causes so many of the gut issues.

The inability to digest food. Like you're mentioning the leaky gut, the imbalanced gut bacteria that end up creating not only the gut issues, but the autoimmunity. So let's talk a little bit more about all of that because I think, you know, maybe some listeners might be thinking, well, how do I know if I need to follow a gluten free, dairy free, paleo diet? How do I know that or how. What can I expect, you know, is going to change by doing that? So, yeah, tell us a little more about, you know, what you tell people.

Yeah, I'd love to. So, I mean, especially when I'm, if I'm working with clients or just, you know, talking to people about this kind of stuff. I always say, like, you're not going to know until you try. So there's so many reasons. If you're listening to this podcast and you suffer with some sort of symptoms of fatigue and burnout, autoimmunity, whatever is going on for you, it is your health. It is worth a try to just return back to nature. And that's what I feel like this is really doing. That's what I describe the Paleo diet is doing.

So even if you just started trying it, hearing they're integrating meals in, or really committing and saying, hey, for the next 30 days, I'm going to try this. What's so great about it is you're kind of just removing the noise and seeing so many times. If we've grown up on the standard American diet, we're so used to the same foods. We're just such creatures of habits, right? So we, we like our certain foods, we buy them every week, we keep eating them. And so when there's so much noise and you have so many symptoms and so many things going on, it's really hard to detangle all of that. And what I find is by at least trying for about 30 days and seeing how you feel, really cleaning things out, get rid of the processed food, get rid of the refined sugar, all the things that are hard to digest like the grains, the legumes, again, it might not be permanent that you give them up. It's just to relieve the body of some initial inflammation.

So, and definitely with, with gluten and dairy, I always tell people that that is just very well known for being, you know, inflammatory, at least because of the quality that we tend to have, especially with like poor quality dairy. I find, and I think a lot of people feel, generally feel better when they go gluten free and dairy free. And so just see how it feels. Usually people will already know, like, skin changes. So many people are like, oh, yeah, I had a rash. I just thought I was always going to have that. Sometimes people don't even. Yeah, sometimes people don't even realize that something is a symptom until it's like, oh, that went away. I thought I was stuck with that. People will often tell me with dairy too, like, oh, I don't clear my throat anymore. That happened to me. I grew up just always clearing my throat all the time and thought it was like, I don't know, a tic. This is what I do.

This figure is going to be There forever.

I can't even tell you, Donnie, like years into the Paleo diet and I was like, I don't do that anymore. I totally forgot that I did that. I was around a family member that happens to do it all. And I'm like, it was the dairy. Like, it hit me, I was like, oh, upper gi. It was like mucus causing. That's what was going on. So it's so funny, you might not even realize things that can get better and improve and change when you remove these things that are causing inflammation in the body.

Yeah, I completely agree. And I've done, I don't even know, thousands and thousands of food sensitivity tests on patients. And I agree with you the most. The two most common food sensitivities are gluten and dairy. And so if you're just thinking, hey, where do I begin? It's a pretty good. And I think I'm curious what your opinion is, but I think it's because in our American diet anyway, and probably other places in the world too, it's so easy for our diet to become mostly gluten and dairy. If you think about it, right? Like for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what are we eating? We're eating various forms of something made from wheat that essentially has gluten in it. Our various forms of dairy, like milk and cheese and yogurt. And it's like, next thing if you look at your diet and you're like, wait a minute, all I'm eating is gluten and dairy. At the very least we could figure, let me just create some variety in my diet. Right?

Exactly. Just like challenge yourself to try something new. Try more whole foods. That was a big deal that I definitely came to realize. The standard modern diet, like you're saying, it's all processed. They know, unfortunately, that we get very hooked on these things. They're hyper palatable foods. We will keep buying it. And so when you really say no to more packaged foods and you're cooking more and you know, and it doesn't. I think that a big thing is when we hear this is like, oh, no, I don't have time for that. I need these convenience foods. I need these bars and snacks and this and that. Firstly, I want to say there's a lot more available these days. Like we've said that there are like Paleo beef sticks or you know, whatever there. There is a lot of that. But even still, I like to use that as little as possible. Only in a pinch, only if I'm travel, no other option. I really like to cook everything. And I found ways to just keep things very minimal. I'll. I'll share with you and if you guys check out my blog. But I have like a 20 minute meal prep that I do every weekend. I'm not, I'm not sitting here cooking four hours on a weekend. Even as a food writer and blogger, like, I don't want to do that. I want to spend time with my family. I want to do other things.

So I make it take a lot of time.

No, no. Once you just practice a little bit more, get into a rhythm and have a good system or like a meal plan. Like, I'm like, I'm telling you, like these supports, you can get into a rhythm and see, like, oh, this really doesn't need to be that hard. I didn't need to depend on toasts and cereals and bars and all these other things all the time that actually are making me feel terrible. I've got brain fog. I've got, you know, all these different symptoms, digestive issues, no energy. I see so many people, and I'm sure you do too, with just terrible blood sugar balance ever. Like, just hypoglycemia through the roof, crashing, needing a nap. It's like, yeah, because you're hooked on sugar. And that's the other thing besides gluten and dairy that is in everything in some form or another.

Right? Like, you look. I was in, like, you have to like, look at your condiments, your salad dressing. Like, things where you wouldn't even. It's not like, it's not just in like cupcakes and cookies.

It's.

Yes, it sneaks in.

So people are always shocked. They're like, oh, it's in my almond milk. It's in my everything that I. Things that I thought were healthy. It's in everything and it's by design. So, yeah, we have to really take a look at these things, get back to just what's whole. Whole foods, right? Like, just getting back to these things and simplifying. So the body. I always say, like, if you're reading a label and you can't process it up here in your brain, your digestion is not gonna process it at all.

Ah, that's a good way to think about it. Like, like you want it to be like, you know, food, names of things you recognize that you can find in nature. You know that you're like, okay, this is because there are some products like that that are in a package that are, that are. Maybe they say Paleo on them. That's one of the, if you're shopping at the store, that's one trick I have is like if you, if it says Paleo, it should be gluten free, dairy free, sugar free. Exactly already. Right. And then, but there's some products. But even then sometimes you have to be careful because these other ingredients sneak in. And, and you mentioned Your, your, your 20, your 20 minute meal prep. I love that. And, and I, I'll put a link to your website for sure in your newsletter so the, so listeners can go in and not only sign up to connect with you, but also to get this meal prep from you so they can really get a sense of like, how am I actually going to do this in my life?

Absolutely. Yeah, that would be great because that's. Honestly, I try to just make it as simple as possible so it just gets done. And I find that meal prep is less about this like being perfect with all these perfect Tupperwares and all these other things because that's another thing that I don't think is one size fits all. There are plenty of people who don't like leftovers. They're kind of skeeved out by it. My husband is one of them. I cannot just sit here and say I'm going to make all our meals for the entire week. What am I going to want on Thursday? I don't know. So it's about simplifying and just saying, hey, I'm going to make some key components that I can transform throughout the week and it's not going to take me a lot of time and I can be flexible.

I love.

Yeah. And just like go like stop stressing that. That is one of the biggest issues that I see. Like you said, it really messes with our gut health. And if we're stressing over our food, what is the. It's, you know, it's like we're one step forward, three steps back here. It's just like this dance that we end up doing.

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I see too sometimes, I mean, patients who have significant symptoms and we can talk more about that, but common symptoms, but where once we find out that they need to, we usually do a food panel and then we see say for example, gluten and dairy. Or you know, we can also check for nuts and grains and other fruits and vegetables. Once we see that, then the thing is, is that if we're, if there's a stress about it or if it's, if it's difficult for the person to avoid these foods, the concern for me is I don't want them to lose too much weight. Now some people are doing this because they like to lose weight and yes, you can. Oftentimes people will lose weight because not only from avoiding sugar, so now their blood sugar is better balanced. But oftentimes then we can also shift to more of a paleo diet. Often we'll have more like protein in each meal, which I love, instead of having carb heavy meals. So now if you're wanting to lose weight, you probably will. But if you're already thin and you don't need to lose more weight or you're concerned about losing more weight, there's also a way to do this right, so that we can keep your weight on or even gain back weight that you lost unnecessarily. Yeah. Tell me your input on that, Allison, if you, if you're seeing that too.

Yeah, I'd love to. Yeah, I agree because we're adding and, and I, and I mentioned what a, what a balanced paleo plate looks like in the cookbook. But essentially if you're having this like protein centric meal but with lots of fruits and veggies in your diet and good fat and just clean water and it's gut healing. So I definitely got broths and like probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut and whatever else, if that's what your plates are looking like, I think that just like we're saying, if you're restoring your diet to nature, then I think that your body is going to follow suit and you will find your healthy weight when you are doing this and it's not stressful and it's joyful and you're enjoying the food and you're showing up to your meals mindfully. That's absolutely what I see. That's what I've experienced. And I would also say even, like, that inflammation weight that we're carrying, like you said, because of the sugar, because of the processed food that now it's like we don't have that our liver is not having to process all these terrible things we can't even pronounce on the back of the nutrition label, that our body can just work more as intended. And so everything just seems to get a bit better, and it all adds up. So, yeah, that's absolutely what I see. And the other thing is that when we are so used to a certain way of eating, we eat the same things over and over again, which is not good for our gut. If you have a diverse kitchen, you have a diverse gut microbiome.

I love that.

Yeah. And so I'm not saying we need to go so, you know, off the wall with trying new things every single week, but I just encourage people, try to eat seasonally. Pick up a vegetable you haven't tried. There's a million recipes online. You can find something. It doesn't have to be the same. Like, I grew up on potatoes, steamed broccoli, chicken, like, or rice, steamed broccoli, chicken, like, kind of the same things over and over again.

It gets boring, right? You're like, here we go. We're gonna eat the same foods again.

Yeah, totally. Or like, chicken, salmon, steak. I always hear that it's. I can't eat that all the time when. When we're increasing protein intake and people like, I can't just eat all of that. And it's like, you know, there's about a million other things you can eat, right? Bison, elk, other fish that's out there. Seafood you could include. And that's. The other thing is, like, with the Paleo diet and especially with the autoimmune protocol, too, when we're eliminating things, we want to focus on what we can and are having and make sure that it is nutrient dense. So I talk about organ meats. That was a big part of my healing. I mentioned earlier, I lost so much of my hair in the beginning of my healing journey. And eating liver once a week, like, really helped me out. And I know not everyone is, like, into that. I certainly wasn't, but I got on board. When you're about to go bald, you try anything.

I don't care anymore. Or I'm. Isn't it. Go for it.

Yeah. I was like, okay, I'm gonna pinch my nose and just try this. Of course, you could take those nutrients, you know, like, my iron was not budging, like, with any supplements. I needed to just eat it because my digestion was so poor that I needed it in the most bioavailable way possible. And that's the power of food as medicine. So, yeah, like, focusing on what you are eating can eat. Look at the do list more than you look. I'm sure you go through this when you're doing the food sensitivity panels, too, and you show the person, like, okay, you can't have any of this stuff anymore. Something that I do with.

Yeah.

It can feel a little overwhelming. And often because of leaky gut and food sensitivities going hand in hand, oftentimes it's what we're eating. A lot of that we end up being sensitive to.

Yes.

So it's like we're taking away their coffee, we're taking away their gluten, their, you know, dairy, all this stuff. And that's when I try to say, like, hey, okay, here's. Yes, this is what came up. Hot. Now, your assignment is to go make an enormous list of all the food you can have. And that's what you look at. That's what you focus on. Because if we're. Look. If we're coming at it from a place of the positive side, the abundance side, like, I'm gonna try all this stuff. It's less restrictive and demonizing foods. And that's not what we're here to do. We're just here to say, like, this is what your body might thrive on versus, you know, is sucking the life out of you.

Such a good point. The mindset makes a big difference, you know, to be. Because if we're in that kind of, like, you know, oh, you know, feeling alone or feeling, you know, like, oh, why is this happening to me? Or, how am I gonna do this? Or. Right. That's like, all of that in that kind of that mindset that almost is more stressed and more anxious and more fearful. And that mindset actually probably perpetuates the leaky gut and gut issues and food sensitivity. So just. That's wonderful in your work, that you're helping people to transform into this more like, empowered state where you're saying, hey, let's look at this as. This is something we can do to create a big shift in your life and your health, and it's doable, and I'm here to help you. That's what I hear you saying.

Absolutely. You got it on. Hit a head on the nail. That's exactly it.

Yeah. And that's, that's beautiful because I think then, you know, sometimes we need that. We need to kind of feel like someone's extending their hand and saying, I'm here for you. You can do this. Recipes for you. I've got some. Right.

Like, here's how we make this doable. Yeah. And fun. And I love. I mean, both you and me have lived it too. So I think that's what's good, is like, we know the challenges, we know all that, but we've been at this for a while and we know what it can be. And so when I see someone that's just starting off or they've been kind of like on and off diets and kind of waffling and just feeling like I don't know what's right for me anymore, that's often where people come to me. It's like, yeah, okay, I've tried a whole 30, I've tried gluten free. I don't know that anything's really working. And it's because we know there's. Diet is an enormous piece, but there's so many other pieces. And that's something else I talk about in the book is 10 Strategies for Gut Healing, that some of it has to do with food. So like eating broths and the way we cook our food and stuff like that, that can be really helpful because some people struggle with gas and bloating and all this other stuff. And oftentimes just in the way that we prepare the food, it might not even be the food itself. So I talk about things like that, but then I talk a lot about the lifestyle, the mindset, activating the vagus nerve for digestion. All the things that I wish I knew before, I just kept because I did. I fell into this where I was over correcting with diet, like learning about nutrition and becoming a practitioner. It was like, oh, nutrition is the key to everything. Diets are the key to everything. Supplements and diet. And then I realized, well, I'm doing all that, but I'm not quite where I want to be. My labs are not quite there. I'm not feeling exactly the way I thought I would. Enter mindset, enter stress and burnout and all the other things that, you know, when we just have a propensity towards this and it's our, you know, our attitude a little bit towards things, we have to really take a good look at that and realize, oh, I have to shift that. So, yeah, that's a huge part of my work because I just feel like they have to go hand in hand.

Yeah, that's. It's amazing. And I. Let's talk a little bit more about the gut health part of it, because I think.

Understanding what you've touched on a little bit, like how here we are in our stressed lives, especially pandemic stress we've all just been through, and how that not only decreases our enzymes, it disrupts our intestinal cells. So now the undigested food can leak through and trigger the immune responses, which is, as you mentioned, why we start reacting to the foods we eat. Often it's not this random that you're reacting to the food you eat. Often it's because there's leakiness in your digestion, leaking out. We disrupt the gut bacteria. So then all of this. I think of it like a perfect storm. It just becomes this inflammatory storm in the gut. And a lot of people don't even have that symptoms. I don't know if you see that too. Where sometimes I ask and patients are like, oh, my digestion feels fine. I don't want to get bloating or heartburn. I feel fine. But they may have, as you mentioned, maybe sinus issues or autoimmunity of some type or rashes.

Rashes, yeah.

Weight gain or brain fog or fatigue. Right. It's like it shows up in other places in the body. It may show up in the digestion, but not always.

Yes, that's a great point.

So when you, in your case, you figured out you had autoimmunity to your thyroid, which is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which a lot of women have Hashimoto's. Sometimes it's not even tested. You have to be able to get your doctor to test for those thyroid antibodies to even know you have a Hashimoto's. And then if you do, the doctors aren't going to tell you about diet changes and how that's connected. But the studies show that gluten can trigger these thyroid antibodies. So it makes sense, right? Like, why in your case, you started avoiding gluten along with these other things on the Paleo diet, and you're. Lo and behold, the thyroid antibodies go away.

Exactly. TPO especially. Right. Like, significantly reduces. I remember seeing doctors and they're like, well, if your TPO is still high and you're gluten free, something else. And that's where we kept digging on gut health and parasites, all this other stuff. But also just stress. Like, it was a lot of that. Because fixing my Body. And getting into remission was my new thing to obsess over. I was just like, I gotta fix this. Check, check, check, check. I'm doing all the things. Yes. So I just, I feel like that is something I see a lot of where people are like, but I'm doing it. I have to diet harder. I have to give up eggs more. I have to do more and more. And it's just like, no, maybe not. You did the diet. Let's feel good about that and let's see what else is going on. So, yes, that was definitely amazing.

It's not necessarily better. Like, we're so willing to push ourselves hard, but sometimes we have to take a minute and be like, is it really about. You know, because it really comes from a place of thinking we're not good enough or we're not doing it well enough. Right. Like, we have that critical voice saying, I'm not. I must not be doing it right. But if we can let go of that and just look at it and say instead of, I'm not doing it right. What, what information didn't I have yet? What am I missing? What can I. How can I look at this differently? That could shift it. That's what I'm, I'm hearing you say, like, right, like, just look at it differently and be like, okay, now what? What else does my body need me to do?

Absolutely. It's like you just keep turning over those rocks and seeing what else you have. You know, I feel like once we can get the nutrition and the, and the diet into a good place, like, okay, cool. I know how to meal prep for myself. I know some really good recipes. I don't feel deprived. I feel nourished. I feel like I'm getting good nutrients and I'm happy when I eat. It's like, okay, cool. How's your stress? How's this? How's that? Like, let's look elsewhere. Don't keep over correcting with diet. Because I just find that that really is a great way to just burn yourself out from, from eating this way and all the things. So. Yeah, I think that's a great point.

Oh, my gosh. And I love, by the way, I love your. Your website is Food by Mars. Like, sounds like the planet Mars.

Like the planet.

It's like a, it's a play off of your last name, which is Maris, right?

Yes, exactly.

So it's like, you know, if people are looking for you, if they search for Food by Mars on the Internet or also on social media, right?

Yeah, exactly.

So oh my goodness. I love that food by Mars. And, and it's, you know, it's not something like totally from Mars or that you have to go.

Yeah, exactly.

You're bringing it to us.

Yes, I'm bringing it earthbound. Let's not make this so alien. Right?

Yeah, I love it. And I also you mentioned something too about.

Like with the food sensitivities. I think it's also a good reminder to remember, like you said, it's, it's not that the gluten and the dairy and the eggs or whatever. Right. Like whatever you have to remove is necessarily the villain that got you there to begin with. Yeah, like, yeah, okay, like sugar, gluten. Yeah, definitely an issue. That is definitely an issue. But when people see like sweet potato beans that like things that have great nutrients and are healthy foods, but that there happen to be on their food sensitivity list, I always just like to say like, you know, sweet potato didn't get you into this. Right. Like, that's not what this is saying. Like you said, it's saying that because you have leaky gut conditions, that's what's leaking out and that's now what the inflammation and the antibodies are now creating. And so that's why we have these issues and that's why we have these responses. And so we're just giving your body a break while we heal the gut. That's the thing that I always try to explain to people is eliminations alone are not going to heal you. They're simply removing that noise, removing that inflammation. We. While you heal. So while you focus on the nutrient dense foods, you know, the broths, the organ meats, maybe you're working, hopefully you're working with a practitioner to help you with, you know, key issues that your body needs like specific nutrients, supplements. If something needs to be eradicated, like an overgrowth or a parasite or something so that you can be healing while all of that is now calmed down, you're getting things into check and then you start introducing. So I'm to about big proponent for reintroductions and really honoring your bio individuality and finding your personal lifestyle.

It's such a good point because it's, I think a lot of people end up feeling like, oh, you know, am I going to have to avoid these foods forever? Or they feel like they're in a very restricted diet for a long time and as if that's going to fix it all. And it's, you know, I completely agree with you. We have to put the emphasis on we're Just eliminating these foods for now so that we can drop the inflammation and help you get ahead of this. Right now it's like a vicious cycle and we're just perpetuating it by eating the foods that are inflammatory. But if we can break that pattern, right. If we can be like, let's take away the foods that are inflammatory for your body right now, heal your gut, then it's a whole different story. When you can bring those foods, it's a new terrain.

Yeah. Like, let's try again.

And then your immune system is not going to react. There's not going to be inflammation. Your gut bacteria now are stabilized and, and diverse so they can handle when you have different foods. I mean, I had that same thing and you were sharing in your case with Sibo and everything. I went through that too over the years. You know, sibo and fructose intolerance and all the digestive imbalances. And so here you and I are, two people saying it's possible to recover from gut issues and all of these food sensitivities. And, and this, what your book is doing is giving people a guide like, eat this while you're working on healing your gut so that you can then go on into your future with much more freedom with your food and your gut health. Right. And your health in general.

Yeah, you nailed it. It's about having more food and more joy, not constantly restricting and taking away and hoping that fixes it. It is very much a temporary thing and you just need that guide. You need that support. Support and knowledge too. I feel like knowledge is power. Knowing this stuff that we're talking about. Again, had I had understood that a little bit better in the beginning, it wouldn't have just been like, diet, diet, diet, diet. Keep going with the diets. It's like, no, like, let's just put things in perspective and have a plan forward. So I hope that this can help.

Oh my gosh. I'm sure it's going to be a huge help for, for everyone who, who gets your book. And, and I can't wait to get it myself so I can try out your especially these same cheese alternative recipes.

Yeah, sometimes.

I mean, that's the thing. Sometimes people. I mean, I'm a cheese lover too, so it's like, to avoid cheese is sometimes harder than avoiding gluten.

I agree. Because now there's so many other like gluten free breads. You can. It's really like the cheese though, you just like can't nail it. And I'm not gonna say it's exactly like it, but it does the job. It'll get you there.

Sometimes I find you need just something, something that has sort of that consistency of cheese.

Or just put it in the face.

Like, if it's a salad or something, like a sandwich, you just need something like, you know, melty or creamy. Yeah. That just gives you the. You can almost trick your brain that it's cheese.

Totally. Yes.

And if that can help you navigate this gut healing and autoimmune reversing process that maybe you're in, then it's worth it. You know, it's like, okay, whatever. We have to see that we're on a journey, and this is helping on this journey. So. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much, Allison, for coming to talk about this with me and share about your book. And I'm just, I'm really excited to share this with everyone.

My pleasure. It's been so awesome talking to you. Thank you for having me.

You're welcome. You're welcome. So again, everyone, look, I'll put all of Alison's information, so definitely connect with her and check out her book. And I'm so glad you all joined us for this conversation. And definitely, too, you can.

When you're listening to this, whether on podcast audio or on YouTube, you know, be sure to like and subscribe so you can hear back from me for from next interviews. I'd love to hear from you and your feedback.

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