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Dr. Maura’s Family’s Immune Protocol

Dr. Maura shares what she’d doing in her house this fall and winter for immune protection.

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⁠ SIBO, mold, dysbiosis, mast cell disorders, es

⁠
SIBO, mold, dysbiosis, mast cell disorders, estrogen dominance...what do they all have in common? They can drive histamine intolerance, something I'm seeing more and more these days.⁠
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What is histamine intolerance? It's really an inability to break down histamine when you have too much. Histamine is a chemical with many functions in the body and is found naturally in certain foods. The main enzyme in the body to break down histamine is called diamine oxidase (DAO). ⁠
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This is where the gut-histamine connection comes into play. Your intestines are where most of the DAO enzymes are produced, but when the gut is inflamed or damaged, it may produce less DAO which leads to a build-up of histamine. Eliminating foods that are high in histamine may help, along with natural treatment of the root cause. This list is a good start:⁠
- Alcohol⁠
- Fermented foods⁠
- Aged Cheeses⁠
- Avocados⁠
- Dried fruit⁠
- Spinach⁠
- Eggplant⁠
- Smoked meats⁠
- Tomatoes⁠
- Shellfish⁠
- Leftover food over a day old⁠
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In my practice, we look at the whole picture to get a handle on this: histamine levels, hormones, gut evaluation, even adrenals. Getting the full root-cause picture is key!

There's so much I love about this book, which my b

There's so much I love about this book, which my brother gave me last year. Reading it has literally blown my mind, especially as I've looked at my own relationship with busy-ness and how I can do less and be more present in my life in real-time. (The work of @katenorthrup has been inspiring me -- check her out!)⁠
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But this book. There is so much here, so please pick it up if you're feeling like you want some inspiration around how to scale back and...do nothing. I often recommend doing less to my patients—less work, less scrolling, even less exercise—as a form of self-care. And then find something that totally engages your senses in a different way: watching a sunset, dancing, walking without a destination, and not looking at your phone the whole time. It's not easy but it's necessary both for our bodies and our minds.⁠
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As the author @jennitaur writes: "In such times as these, having recourse to periods of and spaces for “doing nothing” is of utmost importance, because without them we have no way to think, reflect, heal, and sustain ourselves—individually or collectively."💮

Pregnancy fatigue: it's real. ⁠⁠ During the fi

Pregnancy fatigue: it's real. ⁠⁠
During the first trimester, I'm totally exhausted. Second trimester arrives and, to the day, my energy zips back. But once the third trimester arrives, I'm zonked again. ⁠⁠
This is a common pattern and there are a lot of reasons for it. Obviously, and foremost, you're building a human and this takes huge resources from the body. ⁠⁠
⁠⁠
Right now, heading into the third tri, I'm using adaptogens, which help regulate the effect of stress and exhaustion on the body. I rotate between eleuthero solid extract and a Rhodiola tincture (pictured). I also love:⁠⁠
-Holy Basil⁠⁠
-Reishi and cordyceps⁠⁠
-Passionflower⁠⁠
-Lemon Balm⁠⁠
-Skullcap⁠⁠
⁠⁠
When a pregnant patient of mine is talking about fatigue beyond the ordinary, I'll also check for:⁠⁠
-Anemia⁠⁠
-Low thyroid function⁠⁠
-Nutrient depletion, especially B12 and ferritin⁠⁠
-Imbalanced diet: too many simple carbs, too little protein, and plant food⁠⁠
-Dehydration⁠⁠
⁠⁠
As always, this doesn't constitute medical advice! Check with your naturopath before taking anything, especially during pregnancy. ⁠⁠

When we lived next to Central Park, I loved to tak

When we lived next to Central Park, I loved to take Maya there to show her different plants she could touch and smell. Now that we live outside the city, I take her outside to play in the dirt (usually not in a pretty white dress😆), pick plants and flowers, smell whatever she wants to smell, and pet dogs we meet. ⁠
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Giving my kid an appreciation for the natural world is an antidote to all the screen time and pandemic over-sanitizing. But it also is incredibly important for her health.⁠
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I love this quote from "Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Our Children from an Oversanitized World" by B. Brett Finlay, Ph.D.:⁠
⁠
“The word antimicrobial is a sales feature in soaps, skin lotions, cleaning supplies, food perspectives, plastics, and even fabrics. However, only about one hundred species of microbes are known to actually cause diseases in humans; the vast majority of the thousands of species that inhabit us do not cause any problems, and, in fact, seem to come with serious benefits.” ⁠
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Love your bugs! Most of them help us, in the vast network of our microbiome. Get outside, play with your animals, let your kids get dirty. Our health depends on it. ❤️

Yes, it is possible to heal from hormonal acne. Li

Yes, it is possible to heal from hormonal acne. Like most of my acne patients, this smart and dedicated woman came to me disillusioned with the options presented by conventional dermatology, which primarily consisted of birth control—she didn't like how it made her feel and felt it was worsening her skin.⁠
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So we did a deep dive to look at her hormone function and clearance ( @dutchtest ) and found that she was in estrogen dominance, had high androgens, high-stress hormones, and had poor methylation (hormone detoxification). ⁠
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I love my patients and this one definitely inspired me: she did the WORK. She overhauled her diet, dedicated herself to mindfulness practices and appropriate exercise, stayed on course with naturopathic treatment...and she got results.🙌 ⁠
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While true healing isn't linear, she is well on her way to balancing her whole body. Her skin reflects that.

Gut health can tell us many things about our bodie

Gut health can tell us many things about our bodies, but now it may be able to predict how well we age.⁠
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A recent study shows that, by analyzing the complex community of microbes found in our gut, we may be able to better understand our life expectancy. This research found that the gut microbiome changes as we get older and, the more it changes, the healthier we stay. Another way to see it is that if our gut makeup does not change, our health does not evolve and we actually are less healthy. Change is a good thing.⁠
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People who had the most changes in their microbial environment also had higher vitamin D levels, healthier cholesterol levels, needed fewer medications, and were more mobile. These types had more "indoles" in their microbiome, which are metabolites of healthy gut bacteria that lower inflammation and protect the gut lining. ⁠
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Healthy people also had fewer Bacteroides, which chew through through the mucus layer of the gut, causing immune disruption, more inflammation, and age-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. ⁠
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What can we do as we age to promote diversity and change in the gut? For starters, says the head researcher of this study, eat more fiber. Sound advice. ⁠
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Reference article👇⁠
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/well/eat/microbiome-aging.html

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