Holistic Strategies for Allergies (+ cold and flu) | Ep. 73

Hi everybody. Welcome to Holistic Inner Balance. I'm Dr. Nicole.

And I am Happy Healthy Hadlee.

We're so happy to be here today. And you may be noticing that my voice sounds a little bit different. And you also might notice with time that Hadlee doesn't quite sound like herself and our mutual ailments have inspired this conversation. And we're really happy that you're here to join us.

Yeah, we are very excited to chat about this topic today, which is allergies, colds, all of the things that tend to happen a lot of times in the transition between seasons. But this can be listened to at any time because we're going to talk about how, how this kind of comes to be and what to do when we have the common cold, when we have allergies. Uh, we're gonna kind of take an Ayurveda approach and a naturopathic approach, and it's gonna be really fun.

Yeah. So if you are gonna be traveling, listen to the travel podcast and then listen to this one for sure. If it's cold and flu season, listen to this podcast because it's gonna be helpful for you. Or if you are noticing the season changes and you just wanna prevent yourself from getting sick or having allergy attacks, or if you're dealing with allergies, This is going to be the conversation for you. We're going to be talking from personal experience, and these strategies really work. And so let's dive in. So Hadlee, what do you have going on, my friend?

Yes, so I am dealing with some seasonal allergies that I have not dealt with since, well, since the last time I lived in Michigan. I like, I thought that I outgrew them and I guess I actually just moved away, so I haven't been having to deal with them. Apparently they're pretty bad in, uh, like apparently the pollen is pretty bad, uh, this, this week of the year is like this the peak week, uh, and it is, you know, it's also pretty bad in Michigan. So, uh, I've been talking to people who are like, yeah, oh my gosh, this is like the worst it's gonna So it's also been really interesting because Ayurveda has a really interesting approach and perspective on allergies, and that is that we— it's not really like that normal for us to be allergic to our environment. Now, it is normal for us to be allergic to toxins and chemicals and wildfire smoke. Smoke, if you are experiencing that anywhere, that all is more like, yeah, our bodies are not made to handle that. But things like dust, things like I'm allergic to cats, things like pollen, all of that kind of thing, we can actually improve our reaction to those things by reducing inflammation and doing some different things to balance the doshas. so that we don't actually experience those things anymore. So I want to talk a little bit about that today. And then the other thing is that, so I've been dealing with that. And then yesterday, I, yesterday I went and got ice cream with my sister and her husband and my husband. And I was like, oh yeah, like I'm already feeling pretty stuffy. I don't know that I super want to get ice cream. And then I just got a really like a junior size cone and I was like, oh, it'll be fine. And then this morning I just woke up and I was It was like the, the mucus was like solidified.

It's concrete in your nose.

You are not breathing out of your nose.

Yeah, yeah.

And I was like, yep, that's the cough up. Yep, needed to learn that lesson again. All right, cool. So we're good with that, and it's just another lesson learned. Um, but it was kind of a funny, like, exact correlation of what was What I knew would happen and then did.

It's always so nice when you can have a cause and effect like that. Like, oh, I'm noticing like I may be a little bit more inflamed, allergies in the environment, and I know that if I eat this food, it's probably going to aggravate me more. And so you tried to find a good balance. You ate less. You did choose to eat the food anyway, but you're like, I'll just take a little bit less. And you have the consequence, and— but the sense is this personal sense of power where you made a conscious choice.

Right, and it used to be that I would beat myself up for that choice and like, oh my gosh, I knew and I should have done better. And it was— and now it's like, well, it's a lesson that I needed to learn again, even though I've learned it before, because we just sometimes we forget. And also, like, I made the conscious choice and That's empowering too. So it's all good.

Yeah. The other thing that I want to add to the conversation is when you are immunocompromised, which oftentimes goes back to the gut, that we can have poorer pathogen surveillance. And so we're going to talk about how that can predispose you to getting colds and flus and things like that. And so that's part of my story.

I just had food poisoning like 2 weeks ago, and I think that that set me up perfectly for the inflammation that made it so that I had this like crazy reaction to the pollen. So exactly.

So maybe we can start with the traditional perspective because they preceded our understanding of leaky gut. We can talk about what Ayurveda teaches, and you can teach us about the vata, pitta, kapha. You mentioned this is a very kapha state. And then we can move into what more modern science is validating and what they're teaching us about leaky gut and inflammation in the immune system of the gut.

Yeah, let's do it. First, I want to hear what's going on for you too. I think, I think everyone will want to hear it.

Well, I traveled and I feel like right now, so we're filming this, it's September of 2022 and traveling right now is you just have to accept the fact that you're probably going to get sick. Traveling. And so I just went to Walt Disney World and did all of the things that I thought was a good idea in terms of like masking, but I wasn't taking any of my immune support. I wasn't taking my probiotic. I had a couple of fermented beverages and yelled a lot on the rides. And so you're hearing it in my voice. I have this like very sexy voice, I'd like to say. Oh yeah. So I got back from my trip and had lots of kind of laryngitis and like coughing mucus and things like that. But because I have access to great integrative tools, I'm bouncing back really, really quickly. And I'll teach you guys the hacks that I'm using and that what I wish I would have done. What was my version of having the ice cream while I was on my trip that you shouldn't do?

I love it. Yeah. Amazing. All right. Let's dive into it then. So I think it might be helpful to kind of break down allergies into vata, pitta, kapha, allergies slash like cold and flu symptoms, because there are different, different things that show up when we have different doshic imbalances, which is really interesting because we obviously there are like certain pathogens, but we might be more susceptible to those different pathogens based on whatever doshic imbalance we might currently have. So it's really interesting how that works. And the different— the same pathogen might have different symptoms for different people, right? Like COVID, totally different symptoms for so many different people, right? And so, and that all plays into the imbalances that we currently have. So, and we can kind of look at this also from the seasons perspective. And I won't go super into like the details of each dosha. If you want to learn more about that, we have an episode about the doshas, so definitely go back and listen to that. But let's talk a little bit about what would be the, what would be the types of allergies and colds and the symptoms of sicknesses in the springtime. What do you think, Dr. Cade?

I'm imagining lots of rain and flowing water and melting things in the spring.

Yeah.

And so I'm imagining— I actually have no idea, all y'all, I'm learning with you— but I'm imagining that if your nose was a faucet, that the mucus would probably be like a flowing spring in spring rain. Runny, watery.

Yep, exactly. Yeah, so that— so, and what dosha is that?

Spring is—

well, what's a watery, running— yeah, yeah.

Kapha.

Yes, exactly. Yes. So ding, ding, ding. You've got—

I'm learning stuff from Hadlee, y'all.

Yes. And I want everyone to be able to like figure this out intuitively rather than memory. Like, this is this season, this is this season. So, so yeah, kapha is the like congestion. It's all of the— it's the mucus that's in your sinuses and also can show up in your lungs as well. This is really common in the springtime, right? And it's also common when you eat ice cream when you're already stuffed up, which is what's happening.

It's cold and damp. Yeah. And then you add the cold and damp.

And the elements of kapha are water and earth. And so I had been experiencing some of the water symptoms. I was having like runny nose, and then I ate the ice cream and now it's earth and it's just stuck. It's just like Totally solid. So, so that's kind of what happens with during kapha season. And then also, like, if you have— if you create a kapha imbalance in your life, or if you have life circumstances that create a kapha imbalance at any time of year. So that's kapha.

Can we classify kapha real quick so that—

Yeah, yeah, let's do that.

They're like, oh yeah, that's me. What do I do? Okay, we'll do the next one. What do you do?

So, okay, cool.

In terms of pacifying that, so like, what do you— what is your plan of attack? Because you're describing this as like you basically have a kapha imbalance, a concrete-in-your-face imbalance. Like, what is your plan of attack? And then I'll give you the naturopathic one.

Yeah, yeah. So, so my plan— so the way to prevent it, so if you feel it coming on, doing a neti. So if anyone has heard of like a neti pot, it's becoming more of a thing in like the mainstream, I feel like, but it's an ancient Ayurvedic technique, which is you're— it's just a— it's a saltwater flush. So you use this like little— it looks kind of like a teapot, and you use it and you put it in your nose and it like kind of runs up and then down out through the other side of your nose and into the sink, and that flushes some of the mucus out. However, I cannot use it now because my nose is completely solidly stuffed up, so I can't use it anymore. It would just like get— it would just get stuck, and it actually might like get stuck in my sinuses, and then it can breed like bacteria and stuff. So you don't want to do it if you're like solidly stuffed.

But if it's like juicy flowing—

Exactly. Yeah, if it's like right before— yes, if you're like feeling like, oh yeah, I'm starting to get a little bit like of that, that Flowy, whatever, then that's the time to do it. But it's after it's fully stuffed up, you're yeah, it's not great to do it. And then the other thing is is nausea, and that I'm going to talk a little bit about that when we talk about vata as well. But it can be helpful for all of the the doshas because nausea. I have it with me.

How do you spell it?

Literally N A S Y A.

She has Nasya oil, for those who are listening, by Banyan Botanicals. It's in a blue bottle with a white label.

Yes. Yeah. So, uh, I— you can also just use normal sesame oil. I usually— I get it from Banyan, and then sometimes I'll just refill these things with sesame oil. But this one's medicated, like it has like some really good, um, really good essential oils and, uh, herbs and stuff in there. So it's Even more helpful. But what you do is you literally take a dropper, dropper bottle like this, and you put it in your nose and you like snort it. You literally snort this oil.

How much of it?

Uh,

like a full squeeze.

I usually do like a, like half and half. So like I'll have like a full squeeze And then do half in one, one, and then half in the other nostril.

Yeah, yeah.

So, and then you literally like

snort the oil right up your schnoz.

Yes. So what that does is it can be really helpful if you have dry sinuses, which is more of the vata. We'll get into that. But it can also help to break up some of the mucus as well because Sometimes also we start to create mucus if we are feeling really— if like our sinuses are too dry, then our body protects itself, which is a really amazing thing, by creating more mucus. And so using the Nasi oil can be really helpful for that. So I can use that a little bit right now if I'm not completely stuffed up, because if I am, then it will just like run back out. Like, I can't actually like— Snort it into my sinuses. So those are like the things that are not like ingest— ingesting things. Um, but ingesting things-wise, I'm gonna do more of a kapha-pacifying, uh, food, uh, foods which are gonna just basically be staying away from like dairy. Dairy is really kapha-inducing. Uh, and staying away from actually like smoothies and, uh, different like cold, wet qualities, food with cold, wet qualities. So I'm going to be eating a lot of khichdi in the coming days. Um, khichdi is an Ayurvedic meal that is really, really great for— it's basically like their chicken soup. So like chicken noodle soup that We all grew up, maybe we didn't all grow up, but you and I probably grew up eating that. We're both from the Midwest. And if we got sick, we would have chicken noodle soup. Well, kitchari is basically the like food that's super easy to digest. It's the one that is warming and it's tridoshic. So you can eat it for if you have a kapha imbalance or a pitta imbalance or a vata imbalance, and you can kind of tailor it. to whichever ones. The other thing I'm gonna do for kapha is using kapha-balancing spices in that khichdi. So that's gonna look like more pungent, which is like spicy herbs, and more heating herbs with like a heating quality. Now I also, before this, I had a pitta imbalance, so I'm not gonna go like cayenne pepper, like super intense heating, but I am gonna go more like— Cumin, which is heating, slightly heating, but can also— it's like sort of a magic herb where it can be cooling when it's needed to be cooling, and it can be heating when it's needed to be heating. So I'm gonna do spices like that that are really good for both pitta and kapha: coriander, cumin, fennel, even cardamom, and that kind of thing. So I'm gonna add those, and then more vegetables that are kapha, uh, and pitta pacifying as well. That's my plan of attack.

And to add to that, naturopathically, is we would want to add N-acetylcysteine, and that's abbreviated NAC. And so for those who are listening to the audio, I'm holding up a bottle by a company called Integrative Therapeutics. I have no relationship with them, it's just what I happen to have, and Because I had this kind of mucusy coughy stuff going on. I've been taking NAC and it's, it's a really great antioxidant. It has affinity for the lungs and it's also mucolytic, which means that when you have that concrete mucus, really thick, tenacious, stringy mucus, either you're coughing it up or you're not able to get it up because it's so stuck or it's in your nose or in your sinuses. N-acetylcysteine can make a big difference. And so I'm going to be taking 600 milligrams 3 times a day for that. And that's an adult dose. Um, it's also, it's also appropriate for kids. And so, you know, obviously talk to your pediatrician, but like a kiddo, you would do a quarter of that dose probably 3 times a day.

Perfect. Yes, I need to take some. I'm very excited.

Yep. I have a bottle of it for you here. The other thing that I might do for you as a naturopath is buffered vitamin C. really high antioxidant. It stimulates your immune system cells to do their job. Um, and then it also can be very immunoregulating in that, you know, we're talking about histamine release and inflammation, and are you reacting to environment that already predisposed you to maybe getting a little something from that milk? Is vitamin C can be really immunoregulatory. And so the best way to do vitamin C is to bowel tolerance, which is where you start with a low-dose vitamin C. So I have here buffered vitamin C. It's by Integrative Therapeutics also, and that's got 1,000 milligrams in one capsule. And so I would start as an adult dose. I'd start you with 1,000 and then a few hours later take 1,000 more. If at any point you get a little loose stool or a little bit more gassy, then we dial the dose back. And so then maybe at 2,000 you notice that. Well, then you're going to with 2,000. But if you keep taking it every few hours and nothing's happening with your gut, then you really need it and you're tolerating that. And so you can continue taking it every few hours.

Totally. Yes. Oh, awesome. And as you were saying that too, I thought of, uh, the other spice that I am going to be using religiously, which is turmeric. Oh my gosh. Like, I was gonna ask you if you're gonna have your golden milk. Yeah, yeah, golden milk. Yes, and with my golden milk, because it's— because I have kapha going on, I am going to add honey instead of maple syrup, which I would if I— if it was pitta, I would add maple syrup. Because it's kapha, I'm gonna add some honey because honey is a little bit more heating and has like more of a scraping quality to it in Ayurveda, and so it can kind of scrape some of the mucus and anything that's like going on in my digestion that might be more like sticky.

I think that's brilliant. So as you're listening to this, think about what— if you resonate with any of these kapha symptoms, then you can try out these solutions. Um, for sure, if you have the mucus component, try the NAC. Always vitamin C is the general go-to. Um, we'll also talk— we haven't even gotten to the gut barrier thing. We'll do that at the end. And then at the end also, I'll give you my— some of my favorite herbs Especially if you think that it might be cold or flu. So stay tuned for that. We're going to finish up with the last 3 doshas. And so we talked about kapha. What is the next one?

Yes. So the next one is pitta. And so I alluded to this a little bit with what was happening before, and that was that I had a lot of inflammation going on. And so the kapha is sort of layered on top of that. So it's a little bit— And the thing is, like, a lot of times it's more complicated than just one dosha, and that's totally fine. It just means that there's like, you know, some things that we gotta kind of work with and tweak. But the inflammation piece is Pitta, right? Because Pitta is fire. And so fire is, if you think about like any redness or heat or burning sensations, that's all related to fire. And so the inflammation that's going to be happening is it might show up on your skin. You might have like skin rashes, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, all of that kind of thing, even like rosacea. Even acne actually can be— acne can be influenced by all of the doshas, but if it's like really red acne, that's going to be more pitta. And so What happens is that, uh, so pitta is going to show up in your skin, it's going to show up in your, uh, in your gut as well, as like might have more acidity, that kind of thing. And then the other piece of it is that you might have like the itchy eye thing. Going on. So like this a lot of times happens at the end of summer. At the end of summer, we which is right now for us. But as we're recording this, the end of summer, you've got this like culmination of pizza throughout the whole season. And then right now is like this is like it. This is like where it all comes to a head. And it's also when pollen is like. the highest level, right? And so this is why we tend to get more allergies this time of year. We've— because it's— Pitta has accumulated in our body. More and more inflammation has built up over this, over the summer. And that's fine, and that's normal. And there's stuff that we can do to alleviate this. Hopefully throughout the summer we've been like cooling our body down as much as we can and trying to, you know, trying to do that. But if not, that's okay. We still— there's still stuff that we can do. So pacifying pizza is going to look like doing some cooling things. Uh, it's gonna look a little bit different from when we were at the beginning of the summer when we wanted a lot of like cooling and drying things. Right now we want cooling and also, uh, like more unctuous is kind of the word that comes to mind for me. So hydrating foods, hydrating like vegetables. Mm-hmm. Eating more like rose tea is the thing that comes to mind for me. That's going to be really soothing to the body. Anything with like turmeric is going to be more— it can be really good for inflammation. Saffron is another thing that's really, really great for pitta as well. And so Any any pitta pacifying foods, any pitta pacifying herbs, all of that kind of stuff is going to be really helpful this time of year. You just don't want it to be too too drying because we also we're coming into the vata season right now, and so that can be a little bit a little bit tricky. But so pitta pitta pacifying and also more vata pacifying is what I would say.

Homeopathically, there's a remedy that comes to mind when you're describing Pitta. And so these are great first aid remedies. First of all is Allium cepa. And Allium cepa is where you have this burning, acrid nasal discharge. Like, have you ever had a nasal thing going on where the mucus like is red and irritating under the nose? Does that resonate with you?

Oh yeah. So you have the, you have the like, yeah, the red under the nose and then the itchy eyes Huge with that. Yeah, totally.

So you like actually called out the second part. You're brilliantly intuitive. So Allium cepa is excoriating, acrid, burning discharge out of the nose, but your eyes are really watery and the tears are bland. On the other hand, Euphrasia, homeopathic Euphrasia, has burning tears, So the eyes are really watery and irritated and it's burning acrid, very Pitta tears, and your nose is running and it's bland. So if you're having these Pitta symptoms, it depends homeopathically where the Pitta is predominating. See, the thing is with symptoms is your body, when you get sick, when you have symptoms, it's not just the cold is the same for everybody. Your unique presentation of symptoms is telling you how you're out of balance and how to heal that. Is it a Pitta-type imbalance? Is it a Kapha-Pitta imbalance? Is it a Kapha— whatever it is, is it an Allium cepa imbalance? Is it a Euphrasia imbalance? Right? And so your symptoms will tell you what you need. And so homeopathically, like, paying attention to what actually is happening in that Pitta state, if it is a Pitta state, can give you the remedy that will make you better.

Yes. Oh, so good. I love that. Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. We want to kind of identify what is the dosha underneath, the, the dosha that's kind of like driving the show. So a lot of times by the end of summer, the pitta— it's pitta, and then there's vata underneath that because it's becoming more dry, and, uh, that's just kind of the season. Whereas like allergies in the springtime are like kapha, and they might have a little bit of pitta underneath them because pitta is starting to happen at the beginning of summer, the end of spring. And so being really aware of like, okay, what are the symptoms and what are like the predominant symptoms? But then what are the symptoms that are going on underneath that too? And then we want to balance both.

Brilliant.

Yeah,

I love that. I love that so much because you don't want to try to solve one part of the problem and then aggravate the other.

Aggravate. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah. And you totally can. I used to do that all the time. I used to be like, okay, I'm gonna like kill the kapha and like it's going to be totally— and then I would have a wild pitta imbalance.

I'd be like, why am I so angry?

Right? And like, I would have no mucus, but then like I would have like rashes all over my body. Right. And be stressed. Yes. So let's— do you want to dive into vata?

Let's dive into vata. I so resonate with that. And I feel like for me, it's It's always Vata.

Yeah.

Because I'm in air conditioning all day. And so I'm thinking about cold and homeopathically, and even in traditional Chinese medicine, we have ailments from cold drafts. So if your little one goes outside and they're running around in the snow, but they didn't put a hat on and then they come in and then they get a fever, they had a cold draft to their head. They didn't have a hat on. And so homeopathic belladonna is really good for that. It's good for cold wind on the head. In traditional Chinese medicine, they call it cold wind invasion. And so they think about the surface of the skin as that protective layer. And so then if that cold can permeate through the skin and actually get— invade you, get into your body, that's when you get sick. And so I think about—

The feeling of being like chilled to the bone. It's like Like, we've all had that experience where it's like, okay, you know, you can feel a chill on your skin, but it's like once you're like really cold, that's when it's— that's when your immune system starts to just get a little like, oh no.

Yes, yes, yes. You gotta immediately heat that, that body right back up.

Yes, yeah, totally.

So tell us about vata. How will— if I'm listening, if I'm sick and I'm listening to this conversation, How will I know that it's a vata primary imbalance?

Yes. Okay. So, so vata is the elements that govern vata are air and ether. So what do you feel like might show up in the body when you're sick? If you have air and ether going on when you're sick or when you have allergies?

Air. And well, I mean, I have some people when they get super sick, they literally feel like their head is floating away, which is a really interesting fever symptom of like this like floaty feeling, disconnected.

That's the other piece is feeling feverish and not like the hot feverish, but like chills, you know, like feeling the like chill, the achy, achy feverish. That is vata because it's Yeah, we've got this this air inside of us, right? We've got this like wind inside of us, and so so that that happens. And then the other piece for sinuses is the dry sinuses, right? And I definitely living in in Seattle, I lived in Seattle for a few years, and then I lived in California. That in the fall, it was like oh, it is vata season now. It was like very dry once it turned once it was like September. And so this nausea oil was my best friend and a humidifier. Like, yes, humidifier, humidifier, humidifier.

And let's pause on the humidifier piece. Is using a humidifier, you have to be really mindful about mold in your humidifier. It's a really big problem. And then mold is disease-causing. Mold can— they call it the great mimicker. And so yes, Get a humidifier, but you gotta be really mindful, like wash that puppy out every single day. Make sure that you clean it with vinegar and soap and make sure that you have your filter on there. Be really mindful about your humidifier, listeners.

Yes, please do. I've had mold exposure and it is absolutely horrible. It's horrible.

It's horrible.

Yes. Yeah.

I have another podcast on, I have an interview with Dr. Jill Krista. So if y'all haven't heard that and you're wondering more about mold, then check that out.

It's a really good one, guys. Definitely listen to it. Yeah. Yeah. That was very helpful for me.

Thank you. Glad to hear that. But I'm sorry that you had to hear that. Actually, when we met, you were a mold warrior and you were in recovery for that. And so we'll have to do like a whole separate conversation about that. But

we should. Yeah.

Yeah. So you were suggesting— so Vata, you were talking about the fever, the chills, the dryness, those body aches, and then Especially that sinus dryness is just really different than the kapha concrete and then the vata drippy faucet or the—

Yeah, the pitta.

The pitta drippy faucet. Then we have this vata dryness.

Yes. And so sometimes people think that they have a kapha— they have kapha allergies and they're like, I'm doing all the kapha balancing things, but really they just have that dryness in their sinuses and their body is creating more kapha, creating more mucus to protect them from the dry air. So be really mindful of that. Once you start to pay attention to it, you, you can start to see like, oh yeah, the air is really dry. I feel like it is a different type of mucus where versus like having the kapha like very wet or very solid. Mucus. That's the, that's the more kapha. And then you can kind of tell, oh yeah, it's because it's dry. And so, so you can use the Nasya oil. I literally used— when I, in the, in the fall when I was having these, these symptoms in Seattle and California and stuff, I literally used Nasya like multiple, multiple times a day. So, you know, don't just use it once. And I think you're, you're good to go. You can, you can use it multiple times, and it's so, so, so, so helpful.

That's awesome. And so supplements, um, we talked about Tridoshic, which is really awesome, in one of our other conversations, um, Tridoshic immune support. And so, um, Triphala can be really good.

Yes.

And You know, so Triphala is a tridoshic, beautiful— Banyan Botanicals makes it. I like the powder form because you get that immediate feedback on how your body is responding to it, where if you really need it, it'll be super, super bitter. And then as you heal, as your body gets more balanced, then it'll be like sawdust. And then when you're done with it and it's actually sweet and enjoyable, that's when you're done. So I'm thinking of an Ayurvedic, you know, kind of triphala is a good balancer. Uh, also since we're on the topic of triphala, triphala is also really healing for the gut. And so this might be a good segue into talking about the gut health and the immune system. Is that okay?

Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it.

So when we have inflammation in the gut, and so inflammation can be due to food intolerances, it can be due to psychosocial stressors, it can be due to toxins, It could be due to antibiotics, other medications, steroids, all sorts of things can cause inflammation in the gut. It could be drinking Pepsi, it could be eating carbohydrates in way too high of doses. It can be all of the things that we ate at Disney. It could be having alcohol.

All of the modern, all of the modern things that we do.

Yeah, the standard American diet is basically a gut inflammation diet. You want a gut inflammation diet, eat as Standard American Diet. So this is what we were doing in Disney. I tend to actually, I'm not as bad, but I did have some alcoholic beverages because that's how I survived Disney. And so, and so when there's inflammation in your gut and if the inflammation becomes chronic, what can happen is that the inflammation starts to build up in the gut and then that can compromise the cell wall of your gut. And so instead of it being a nice solid tube with receptors that pass things back under a controlled environment, back and forth, now we have these gaps. We call them gap junctions or leaky fenestrations. Now proteins, pathogens, toxins, they're able to leak out of the lumen of the gut into the bloodstream. And 2, 2 main bad things happen as a result of this. One, Is that now these pathogens are able to go up through the circulation. They can get in the brain, and the brain is going to respond by sending out cortisol. So the brain's like, oh my gosh, inflammation, pathogens, bad things are going on. We need to send out cortisol. So now your cortisol is up and you feel anxious and you feel wired, feel aggravated. Cortisol is trying to suppress immune health, right? Because it's our checks and our balances. So we have all this immune system inflammation in the gut, body's responding by releasing cortisol. The cortisol suppresses inflammation, and now you have poorer immune system surveillance. And so now your, your warriors of your gut, your immune system cells have been cut by numbers. They're not running around and doing their job. And so now you get on an airplane or you go into a restaurant, or you— your kid comes home with a sneeze, because you have poor immune system surveillance, you're going to become exposed and not immediately eradicate that critter and get sick. So that's one of the things that the brain is doing in response to it. And of course, like chronic inflammation, chronic pathogens leaking through the brain compromises the blood-brain barrier, and now we have psychiatric symptoms coming Chronic inflammation in the brain, we know, is really underlying a lot of neurological issues. So what we want to do, the first step is to start healing the gut. So at any time that you're noticing a little bit of an imbalance— so Hadlee, you were talking about, I'm noticing a little bit of something going on— that's an invitation to like really lean into your gut healing protocol in addition to your dosha pacifying protocol. And when I was on my trip, I was noticing I was really tired. I was just like exhausted by the end of the day. I'm like running around and I'm, you know, making some suboptimal choices. What would have been a better thing for me to do is to immediately get on my probiotics, which I didn't because I was traveling and I didn't bring them, and to immediately take some Triphala, which is great when you're traveling and you're a vata anyway because it's It's just great for traveling constipation gut, right? So take your probiotics, take your Triphala, and then immediately get on your immune support to help your immune. So I'm going to work on my gut and I'm going to help my immune system. And so I'm thinking like zinc, 35 milligrams. I'm thinking vitamin C, like we just talked about. I'm thinking vitamin D, 40,000 IU a day. I'm thinking elderberry syrup or elderberry gummies if that's more tolerable for you. And then I also have an antimicrobial tincture, and thank goodness I had that because I think that's what saved me from getting like fully ill. Yeah. And so that has some really, really good plants in it. So it's got Osha, it's got Oregon grapefruit, it's got goldenseal, echinacea, elderberry, and a couple of other really wonderful herbs that supports— in the clinical literature support supports immune system health. So in addition to balance your doshas, focus on healing your gut, support your immune system, that can be a real supportive ticket to preventing you from either getting sick or getting really, really sick and helping you get better faster.

Totally. Yeah, I would say for the, for the dosha balancing, I'm thinking about how we might be able to package like something together that would be helpful for all the doshas if you're feeling any of these things. And I feel like, uh, like there are a couple things. Is it okay if I— if I—

Yeah, I want that. I'm opening my notepad because I'm writing this down.

Wonderful.

As you say it.

Yes, so the, the number one thing that I would say is, uh, khichdi is, is really helpful, um, which is basically— it's just, it's rice and mung beans. So if you haven't heard of mung beans, It's a traditional bean that is used in Ayurvedic cooking, but it is, uh, it's the easiest to digest bean. And so even if you have a hard time digesting beans or legumes, it is easier. Uh, I will say that not everyone can digest them super well, depending on your ancestry, depending on if you grew up eating legumes. Uh, so, you know. use them if they're easy to digest for you, or, you know, don't use them if they're not. But if you soak them for long enough, a lot of times they're easier to digest. Split mung beans are also easier. So making khichdi, you can look up a khichdi recipe and you, you'll find it like anywhere on the internet. And, uh, so khichdi bone broth is so beneficial for all of the doshas. It's tri-doshic. So is khichdi. You could also make khichdi with bone broth. Um, you could hear my kapha coming in. Uh, and then golden milk is going to be really helpful as well. And golden milk, for those of you— we didn't really talk about what that actually is. It's— you maybe have heard of it as like a turmeric milk or turmeric latte. Uh, it's basically got turmeric and ginger and maybe cinnamon, cardamom spices in there, and you have like honey or maybe maple syrup. You can add ghee to it if you want to, but with— you can just— the easiest thing to do is just use milk or milk alternative, add the spices, maybe add a little bit of honey or maple syrup, and then you're good to go. Those are all going to be tridoshic. So If you have any of the symptoms, all of these things are going to be helpful for you when you're sick or when you have allergies or whatever. So kitchari, bone broth, and golden milk are like the things that I just like come back to anytime I'm like out of balance. I'm like, okay, back to that.

How do you spell kitchari?

So there are actually a couple different ways of spelling it. There are also a couple different ways of pronouncing it. Some people pronounce it kitschity. And so, uh, I think the most common way you're gonna find it spelled on the internet is K-I-T-C-H-A-R-I.

Awesome.

Yeah, yeah.

So for those who are listening who, like me, was like tripping over that, like, what?

Yeah,

that's helpful.

Yeah, I love this. Yeah, yeah.

So those are the 3 things.

Yeah, and you can, you can tweak them. Like I was saying with golden milk, you can add, like, add things or take things away. Same with kitchari. You can add spices or, uh, or certain vegetables to the kitchari, like, based on your dosha and stuff. But that's— those are the basics, I would say.

So today we've been joining each other in our solidarity of immune system compromise, uh, colds, allergies, flu, you know, anything where the immune system is just feeling a little bit funky. This is the conversation for you. Hadlee taught us about the doshas and how being unwell can present differently. And I talked about some good naturopathic principles, and I think that Ending on a tridoshic healing kind of protocol is really valuable for everybody. And I definitely am going to try the khichdi. I think that for everybody else listening, you could just get online like Hadlee said and just Google it. There's some really good quick recipes that you can try. And so if you're listening and you have a hack that works really well for you, share it with us. Let us know. Send us a message. Leave it as a comment, send us an Instagram. We would love to learn about the things that have helped you when you've been feeling out of balance. And, um, so Hadlee, is there anything else that you could think of before we sign off?

The only other thing would be if you can't find mung beans, there are— you can, you can buy them on Banyan Botanicals online, uh, or there are other places online that you can find them. They have like just whole kitchari kits That make it really easy too. So, uh, you know, you can find those as well because sometimes people are like, what the heck are Hmong beads?

I love that. I think a kitschery kit sounds like an awesome thing. So if you're, if you're a 3 on the Enneagram listener, then you should make us kitschery kits.

Yes, yes, please. Awesome.

All right, my loves, thank you so much for listening. We so love you.

Yes, we love you. We hope you feel, feel better.

Yeah, same. If you're listening to this, you're not feeling well,

yeah,

you can feel better, my friends.

Yes, absolutely. Much love.

Much love.

Bye. Bye.