Eliminate Nagging Symptoms by Discovering Your Inflammation Type with Maggie Berghoff

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Everybody is so unique and don't know really what's going on. Yeah, we can say, oh, inflammation is causing this. Inflammation is the cause. But we really need to know what is going on in all the pathways in the body so we know how to address it.

Here's jj, virgin triple board certified nutrition.

And fitness expert and four time New York Times best selling author. It's time to reignite wellness.

Hey, it's JJ and I. I am going to be bringing on my pal Dr. Maggie Berghoff.

Today we are going to be talking about inflammation types.

Now you know if you've been around.

The community that I am big on you being your own personal health detective, really learning how to connect the dots between how you feel, what you're eating, what you're up to. And I love this whole concept of inflammation types because as you know, inflammation is kind of at the root of.

Everything and it's going to help you.

See the different ways or the different systems that inflammation could be affecting. So you're going to be able to grab this for yourself@jjvirgin.com inflammation types. Let me tell you a little bit about Maggie before we dive in. She's a functional medicine nurse practitioner and she has worked with celebrities, Entertainers, athletes and CEOs to up level their physical and mental health. She's also created a program to serve you and it can help you resolve and eliminate your nagging symptoms and look and feel and perform your best every day. And she's really going to dig deep into what the heck is inflammation and where is it happening. But also we're going to share a couple simple things that you can do that cost nothing, not a zip that you can add into what you're doing. Takes almost no time. That will make a big difference. I love the little hinges that swim, the swing, the big doors. Before we get into the interview, I want to do a shout out to Shina Joy who left a five star review in Apple podcasts. She says thank you, my mom recommended. I listened to this episode and you shared so many amazing gems.

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All righty. Dr. Maggie Burgoth, welcome to the show. Good to have you here.

Thanks so much for having me.

Yes, well, I would love to start with. I know we're going to talk about inflammatory types, which is super cool. We've never, we've talked about inflammation, but I think people don't recognize, like, how super critical it is. Where I'd like to kind of Backtrack first is what got you into all of this in the first place. How'd you get started?

So I was always super into health and wellness from my mom's cancer journey. So my mom had colon cancer, stage three when I was in second grade, and they told her.

Yikes.

Serious. And they so much so that they told her there was nothing that they could do for her and that, like, she was dismissed. And they gave her a couple months. She had five little kiddos, and she kind of just accepted that there was. There was no hope with her. There was no hope for her in that situation. And so she actually moved away to go to more of a holistic cancer institution. Left us kids with the grandparents got, well, totally in remission. Never had any flares or anything. She was only 36 at this time. So, yeah, craziness. And when she came home, though, from that institution, she had the. This huge book full of, like, every possible food and what it can do for you and, like, all the health benefits.

Wow.

Where was that?

She went, oh, my gosh.

I think it's just the Cancer Institute of America and holistic, like a holistic wing where they did a lot of different aromatherapy and touch therapy and holistic type of modalities.

Okay, wow. Okay. So that. When you were in second grade.

Yeah. So that was my first little snippet of health and wellness. I became, like, addicted with nutrition first and foremost because of that. And it was good, but also poor because my addiction and love for nutrition turned to be kind of a negative thing when I started to knock out entire food groups listening to common, like, bodybuilding type of advice at the time when I was in high school.

Well, I mean, think about Maggie. If you really listened to every single thing out there without giving some real thought to the science, you would. You'd become. You couldn't even be a breath. A tyrion because you'd be afraid to breathe the air. So you would. You've got nothing. I had one doctor friend like that, and he's, like, eating. Eating these bars, and that's all he's eating. I go, this is not like. This is not the way to approach this.

So, yeah, you listen. You're exactly right. There's something wrong with everything we're doing. So I became, honestly super malnourished, even though I was thinking I was being very healthy, and I was pushing my body to the extreme and becoming very burnt out. And my own body actually started to totally crash when I was in my last year of college. And by crash, I Mean, I gained like 50 pounds in a matter of months. I ended up having a TIA in the hospital, which is like a stroke. It was severe kidney failure. Yeah, the whole kabang.

Wow.

And what did they diagnose you with that? That was it, just severe malnourishment.

So. Well, the traditional doctors diagnosed me with a TIA and kind of said, okay.

You know, college students don't get TIAs, and for anyone that's a transient ischemic. I thought, we thought it was an event, but what's an A stand for? Transient attack? And it's a mini stroke. So again, I've seen that in some of my clients in their 70s. I haven't ever heard of it. In a 22 year old girl.

Visually very healthy.

Yeah.

So that happened. My doctors basically didn't tell me anything. They were like, okay, yeah, you had this tia. We're not sure why. We'll see you back in six months. And so, yeah, and. And I actually followed up with a specialist after that who had told me that I have a rare kidney disease, but that he's not sure why. Follow up in a year, make sure that you follow up with us. And he worsens, let us know.

Wow.

And I'm like, it is worsened.

I'd like to keep my kidneys, thank you. I don't want to be on a machine. Yeah.

And it just, the diagnosis just kept piling on, piling on. And that's what got me into functional medicine. Really?

Yeah. Well, there you go. Silver linings to everything.

Yeah.

All right. And now you've been going through the journey and you've kind of settled into inflammation I know you're working on. And I think this is super cool, this whole idea of inflammatory types. Walk us through that.

Yeah. So we've identified, identified lots of inflammatory types, so some core categories.

Well, let's wait, wait, wait. Let's first start before we even go there, just. I always find like, you know, and again, there wouldn't be the show. Are you smarter than a fifth grader? If we didn't have some issues where we're kind of going. We think we know what something is, but like, let's really just. What is inflammation? Let's start there, then we'll go to the next.

Yeah, that's a great idea. So I identify inflammation as any external or internal stress on the body that causes the body to react negatively to say, like, what the heck is this? And kind of create this fire and cascade and anger within the body. And that inflammation, that anger can lead to a lot of different symptoms, whether it be autoimmune disease or headaches or bloating.

Okay. Body anger.

Okay.

So then, you know, you just kind of already alluded to it. There's different types of inflammation. So walk us through what this. Like how you've been typing this and looking at it.

Yeah. Well, I found that a lot of my clients, their symptoms, their problems that they come to me with, relate to inflammation in some sort. Now, the reason that inflammation is present can be different. Maybe it is from psychological stress, maybe it is from the food that they're eating or the toxins that they are putting onto their skin. And it presents itself also in differing ways, whether that be a thyroid condition or eczema, skin condition or a gastrointestinal tract disease, so whatever it may be for that person. So we found that there are very similar things within each of those categories. The people who have a lot of skin flaring and issues inflammation with their skin, like acne and eczema, seem to have some similar traits as those who maybe differ those from the gastrointestinal complications of diarrhea and constipation and bloating and pain. So categorized those segments so that it can be easier to identify what exactly you need to do for your journey.

Okay. And I know people will be thinking, wanting this, so I'm just letting everybody know, you're going to get the quiz, and I'm going to put the quiz@jjvirgin.com inflammation type, so you will be able to figure out your inflammation type. And so if someone figures out their inflammation type, Maggie, so what, what does that do for them?

So it's going to tell you the starting point. Now, the inflammation type quiz doesn't just tell you, oh, you have gut inflammation, but it tells you the severity. So based on your severity, really differs where you need to hone in first. Now, we know that there's a lot of functional medicine testing on the market that can really help identify what's going on in the body. Is this inflammation from heavy metals or parasites or food intolerance, which is a big one. So that's one of the things. One of the common first things that you can do is get the testing to know what's going on in your body. Because everybody is so unique and don't know really what's going on. Yeah, we can say, oh, inflammation is causing this. Inflammation is the cause of. But we really need to know what is going on in all the pathways in the body, so we know how to address it.

Yeah. So, you know, we Kind of know that inflammation now is at the root of everything. What I love about what you've done is you start the process so that when someone does go in to see their provider, they've got more information and also they're taking responsibility and they're connecting the dots. And I think that's so key critical is the more information you can walk in because you're the one living in your body, the better off things are going to be. Right? And if you start to really identify this, like today I had to run in to get my annual physical and. And you know, they're like, anything bothering you? I'm like, nope, everything actually is better than last year. Like, there's no issues. And they're like, gosh, it's so great. No symptoms. Like, no, I. If I have a symptom, I call a friend. You know, like, I never would. I'd call one of my doctor friends. I wouldn't let anything, anything keep lingering. But just a couple days ago, a friend of ours was telling about a, you know, one of their family members who died of a brain tumor, had headaches, had like all that stuff. And it wasn't until, like, he passed out, like he had blurred vision, every single thing that you would have. So it's so important for us to just start to do these things. I love self assessments for that reason. So when I saw this, I was like, yay. Now, I know you're also key on this. And I also really love. This is. Hey, I love all the cool stuff. I love biohacking. Heck, Dave's one of my very best buddies and anything that you can do to get that edge. But I think that one of the challenges we have is that those things are the frosting, the cake, are all the basics. And I know that you're one of those people that always talks about some of the simple things that you can do that can have profound effects on your health. So I'd love to talk about some of those because we can put them into immediate action. So what are some of your favorites?

Well, one of my favorites is timing things. So I am a really big advocate of timing, not only your sleep, but the times that you eat your meals. So I think it really helps clients to know exactly what time they're going to bed, what time they're waking up to set their. What's called circadian rhythm, the biological clock of their body. It helps their metabolism, their sleep cycles, their energy during the day, and that's like a very easy, free thing that we can do. Is just make sure even on weekends we're sleeping and waking up at the same time every day.

Okay, cool. And what would you say to someone who is a shift worker and maybe four days a week they're a nurse four days a week, they work like horrible graveyard shift. How would you advise them?

Well, do the best. You have people also who travel like across the countries all the time as well. There are things like Dave encourages blue light blocking glasses. So if you are up in the middle of the night, you can wear blue light blocking glasses to help make sure that the blue light's not interfering with your sleep cycles and your melatonin so much. But your specific body, if you are up all night, obviously is on a different biological clock than most other humans. It's not something that I think is extremely healthy for anybody. But if it has to happen, then that's one thing that you can do to optimize that.

Cool. Yeah. When I've worked with people on swing shifts, I just make them stay on it. Like, I just don't. Like they just have to fake their light. It's such a tough, tough one. I'm glad you're bringing up the whole importance of timing because I think we are going to get more and more understanding that, like when you eat and when you sleep. You know, I have a Broadway actress who like tries to go to bed between 2 and 4am and she cannot figure out why she has weight issues. I go like, you will always have weight issues. You will always have them like until you fix this. You know, we have been like back and forth on this now for years. I'm like, just, you know, own that you're going to be insulin resistant, hypertensive and have weight problems. I mean, unless you want to change this.

And that's a really good point that we run into the same problem with our entertainers. I mean, sometimes shows don't get over until wee hours of the morning and then they're doing the after stuff and then they're going to bed and they're sleeping all day long.

Yeah.

And so it's just something that they know they have. And that's where I think jj, the biohacking stuff does come in hand. Right. Get the basics on point. But then, yeah, you got, you gotta fake it. You gotta like fake your body out.

I mean, if you're doing, if you're like a rock star and you're going out and your concerts end at 11 o' clock and you're doing them like every night, you're not getting to the next hotel till 2. Then just use those. The lights that mimic normal sunlight and use the blue blockers and do everything you have to do. But hopefully that's not most of us. All right, besides that one, what else do you have?

Well, food basics. And one thing with food, I mean, just eat real food. It's so, so simple. I find so many people freaking out about what to eat and what diet to follow and what to do. And I know you talk about this a lot. Jj, stick with the basics. Get out the big no nos that you know are inflammatory and make you feel yucky. Right. And then that's a good clinical term, yucky talk. Like we're talking to fifth graders.

So.

But yeah, instead of just focusing on what everything, like everybody tells you to take away, I like to focus on what to add. So every single day, I'm having my clients say to themselves, I eat to nourish my body. I eat to nourish my body. So what can we add to just nourish the body? And that can be lots of plants and diversity and lots of colorful vegetables and different types of things that we can add to our diet.

Yeah. I had an amazing nutrition mentor early on, and his whole thing was add before you take away. And what is so interesting. And I would see, and I'm sure you've had this happen where you have a client coming to you and for the first time, seeing you for the first time, maybe it's a Monday, which is even worse. And so what they did was they had to clean out everything before they were coming to see you.

Right.

And so. Which means they just pigged out all weekend long to get rid of all the crap in there. I'm like, I wasn't going to tell you. Get rid of that. I was just going to tell you, start putting these things in. Because I know that if you put these things in, those things will naturally fall out. Like, you're not going to sit there and eat a big salad, have some bone broth, and then sit down and start to eat the pizza and all the. You'll be full at some point. So I love that ad. Before you take away.

Yeah. And when you add those things, you start to feel better. Even like. Like we just said about faking it with the sleep cycles. I tell a lot of people, and I would tell you who are listening to this, just kind of fake it with your food a little bit. Like, if you're, like, super tired and groggy and you're craving that comfort food or carbs or sugars, take the green juice instead. Eat the veggies instead, because your body will naturally get more energy and become nourished. Those cravings may just go away.

Yeah.

All right.

It's kind of the step one of cravings is to start eating other things. Everyone. And I just had someone do this on my Instagram live today. They're like, all right, you know, I'm gonna pull these things out. But everyone tells me I'm addicted to sugar. I should just quit a cold turkey. I'm like, no, you shouldn't quit a cold turkey. You know, that's like the worst thing you could do. Just move to Zevia, you know? So I love that part because it just sets people up to fail the other way. Okay, give me. Give me another one. One more.

I really like breathing, so, I mean, we do it every single day, but most people don't even, like, think about it. And so. Well, first of all, let's stick to the basics. Let's make sure our air is even, clean. So if you don't have a great air filter system, clean out your duct work. I mean, when was the last time you did your duct work? Right? So these are things that you want to be asking yourself, but then how you breathe. So I'm a big proponent of breathing through your nose. This helps on so many levels. It helps even help your. Your gut, because when you breathe through your nose, it actually activates your saliva glands, which helps to cleanse out the mouth, which is where the gut starts. Starts the digestive tract. So it really is beneficial for the body. And one of the biggest tips that I have is to breathe through your nose, specifically before your meals or in times of stress. So when you breathe through your nose, and I like to count to five, and then I hold for five, and then I exhale for five and hold for five, it activates that parasympathetic nervous system, which will help to activate our gut. It helps to decrease stress, it helps to balance our mood. And I think that's a tool that we can be using every single day again for free. That is going to go such a long way.

So let's go back over that because you did that really fast. So breathe the. Breathe in. Do that. Walk us through it, everybody.

I'd like just everybody, if you can. Not if you're driving, listening to this, but close your eyes. Just breathe in through your nose for five seconds. Like, one, two, hold it for five, exhale for five, and hold for five. And if you just do that two, three times, it is going to help you tremendously through times of stress and anxiety before you go to sleep, before you eat your meal. It's a big thing that you should implement.

Perfect. You know what's best about all of these things is a, they're simple and be there free.

Yeah.

So, like, this is the simplest stuff. And Ashley, nothing's painful here. Like, you know, it's. I always heard with sleep, the most important thing is to make sure you're waking up around the same time every day because that'll start to force that bedtime and try to pop out in.

The sun if you can get those locked jeans on your skin and eyes activated.

Move to Florida.

Yeah, I am.

Are you?

No. So we're living there in the wintertime, but we're moving to Nashville, Tennessee here right now.

Ah, cool. Yeah. I will tell you, like, getting up in the morning here in Florida and just walking outside and into the backyard and on the grass, like, I'm getting the trifecta of, like, getting up, having sunshine, and then even getting out into the ground and having good, nice, clean air. It's like, yay. It's so good. It's just perfect. It's like life is good. I keep walking out going. This is just, I, you know, never gets old, let's just say.

Yeah.

So I want to remind everybody again about your inflammation types and you'll be able to get that@jjvirgin.com inflammation types. That means you have to know how to spell inflammation, but you can spell check it and we'll have that there. We'll also have some of the other things that we talked about. I'll make sure that we put in some cool stuff like good food lists, etc. So we always like to add some fun surprises into our show notes. So make sure you jump in there to get them. And any last parting comments?

Oh, gosh. I think that just knowing the first thing is to know what's going on inside your body. Listen to yourself. If you have the ability and resources, specialty functional medicine testing will go a long way for your health as well.

Cool. We'll put some resources in for that as well. I love that and I super appreciate you. Thank you so much for today. Now after the break, I am going to come back and give you some action steps, some takeaways from today. So stay with me.

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Welcome back. Alrighty. So I love to give takeaways because.

You know, we can talk about the coolest stuff ever, but if you don't do anything with it, it's just noise. I can't have that on my watch. So I want to make sure that you can take what we talked about and put it into immediate action without being overwhelmed. That's the key point because I don't know about you, but overwhelmed just puts me into inactivity.

It's like I just shut it down.

So here's a couple things that you can do. Number one, we talk a lot in virgin diet, sugar impact diet by eating by the clock. And you want to sleep by the clock too. Circadian rhythm is everything. I was telling Maggie the story of the client I've had and I've literally been working with this gal off and on for years. But there's really nothing I can do to help her until she really owns that. She has got to make this commitment around, you know, getting in the right amount of sleep and working with the clock. So understand that that quality and timing are both important. So food quality is critical, but, but also when you're eating is critical. Sleep quality is critical. When you're sleeping is critical. So make that commitment to really focus on eating and sleeping during the normal circadian rhythm.

All right, that's number one.

Number two, add before you take away. Focus first on what you can add to improve your diet. I love the mantra she had about nourishing your body. Look at what you can add in. Look at those non starchy vegetables. Eating from the rainbow of plants, adding in some high fiber foods, making sure you're getting clean, lean protein, healthy fats, lots of spring water in between meals. You get the idea. So let's focus first on picking a thing like let's say, hey, I'm going to uplevel my vegetable intake, get that dialed and then go to the next one and finally breathe. Now that was another easy one that she gave us is the 555 breathing method of just inhaling in for five seconds, holding it for five seconds, exhaling for five seconds and staying there for five seconds. I will tell you when I was going through my miracle mindset Warrior mom book launch, which was ridiculously stressful As I realized I was about to open the Kimono and share a lot of personal stuff with the world, I was.

Like tapping and breathing my way through that one. So it really does work super great.

For helping manage stress.

Alrighty, big ask time.

If you've not yet rated or reviewed the show and you can rate and review every single show, by the way, I would so appreciate it if you would rate and review. And also feel free to leave a question in there too, because I put my questions, I answer them at Q and A Friday, and I'm always looking for new questions to answer while you're there. Of course, remember to subscribe and I would so appreciate if you shared it with some friends because we got to get this in information out into the world. I'm on a mission to help a billion people get healthy, both by helping other healthcare professionals reach more people and by getting this show out there too. So your help is so, so, so appreciated.

All right, see you next time.

Bye. Foreign.

Hello listeners. This is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years, and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.