Autoimmune diseases are an increasing issue in our country, with over 80 million Americans dealing with some form or another. Type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, colitis, and Crohn’s disease are just some of the more than 70 identified forms of autoimmunity that leave people feeling sick, lost, and powerless.
Conventional treatment for autoimmune conditions gives little hope to those who are suffering because conventional medicine treats these diseases as lifelong illnesses that often require medication to manage symptoms. Through the lens of Functional Medicine, though, we’re able to see things differently; we’re able to see there are many underlying factors that contribute to autoimmune disease that can vary from person to person even for the same disease.
Food, of course, plays a huge role in how our immune system functions. I’m not talking about “immune-boosting” foods to avoid a cold; I’m talking about the molecular makeup of foods that can exacerbate your condition due to the immune response they elicit. I’m also talking about anti-inflammatory foods that provide the right nutritional ingredients for healing. On today’s mini-episode, Dhru has a fascinating talk with Dr. Elroy Vojdani about leveraging food choices on an extremely personalized level to treat autoimmunity.
Dr. Vojdani is the founder of Regenera Medical, a boutique Functional Medicine practice in Los Angeles, California. Upon graduating medical school from the University of Southern California and completing his residency at USC Keck School of Medicine, Dr. Vojdani began his career as an interventional radiologist, diagnosing and treating complex, late-stage cancers and other extremely debilitating diseases. While this experience gave him unique insights into hospital-based medicine, his goal to stop disease before it reached the point of becoming a chronic illness remained at the core of his desire to practice medicine. Today, he continues in his father’s footsteps, pioneering to find answers to medical conditions that go undiagnosed and untreated. Dr. Vojdani has coauthored over 20 articles in the scientific literature and continues to play an integral role in research related to autoimmune, neurodegenerative, and autoinflammatory conditions. He is also the author of When Food Bites Back: Taking Control of Autoimmune Disease.
In this episode we dive into:
- Why there is an explosion of autoimmune disease
- The connection between food and autoimmune diseases
- Foods that damage the gut lining
- Modern wheat vs. native wheat
- The three stages of autoimmunity
- How to prevent and treat autoimmune conditions
Listen to the full episode here.
For more on Dr. Elroy Vojdani you can follow him on Instagram @regeneramedical, Facebook @regeneramedical, Twitter @regeneramedical, and through his website, regeneramedical.com. Get his book, When Food Bites Back, here.
For more on Dhru Purohit, follow him on Instagram @dhrupurohit, Facebook @dhruxpurohit, Twitter @dhrupurohit, YouTube @dhrupurohit, and TikTok @dhru.purohit. Text Dhru at 302-200-5643 or click here.
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