Summary: 

Dr. Sarah Ballantyne aka “The Paleo Mom”  is an award-winning public speaker, New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned health expert in the autoimmune community. Dr. Sarah shares what to say when your doctor’s not listening, how to overcome imposter syndrome and strategies to keep you thriving in your career. 

 

How to Listen: 

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What We Discuss: 

 

"To hear so many stories of people who thought they were infertile and had a baby because of my work. Or, thought they were going to die and changed their diet and lifestyle ... I just started crying." - Dr. Sarah Ballantyne 

 

00:01:28 :14 -  “For me, it took 10-12 years [to learn I had an autoimmune disease], but "if I look back it's kind of like my entire life was leading up to being broken.” - Shawna Bigby Davis

00:02:19 :18 - How do you know if you have an autoimmune disease? 

00:03:10 :09 -  Sexism in autoimmune diagnosis. 

00:05:10 :20 - The American Autoimmune Related Disease Association (AARDA) established approximately 50% of people who were later diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening auto-immune disease were labeled as hypochondriacs in the early phases of their disease. 

00:05:42 :23 - Symptoms of Autoimmune Disorders. 

00:06:35 :22 - Americans take roughly 50% of the world’s medications, but we're only 5% of the world's population. 

00:06:59 :15 - When did you discover diet and lifestyle could improve the way you feel so significantly? 

00:07:20 :09 - Dr. Sarah share's how her early symptoms started when she was between 7-10 years old. 

00:09:23 :24 - Dr. Sarah shares how her family had "homemade remedies" to help symptoms without realizing what was wrong. 

00:10:11 :00 - Responding to the "naysayers"

00:14:19 :18 - Imposter Syndrome. 

00:27:21 :01 - "There's so much of autoimmune disease and chronic illness in general that feels very lonely. And, it feels like we're all trying to figure it out on the first time." And, finding that community is so important.” — Dr. Sarah Ballantyne 

00:29:29 :05 - "We would get up really early and we would go and sit in the infinity pool and watch the sunrise. So this infinity pool is like this warm pool and because it's February, it's cool out. And, the steam is rising up and you're in the middle of this thousand-year-old Redwood Forest. And, it is like a spiritual experience. It's incredible. The stillness of everything, then suddenly "snap" nature turns on. Like a switch. All the frogs, all the CRICKETS, all the birds, they all come on at once”.  — Shawna Bigby Davis

00:30:41 :13 - Dr. Sarah’s reaction upon seeing The Mother Tree: 

“If she can survive forest fires, I can survive all of this. And, I went and walked by myself through the forest and I just started touching things & I just started crying.

"I licked a dirt cliff, it's fine. It's good soil-based organism probiotics.”

00:36:57 :17 - Why SLEEP is Sarah’s lynchpin: 

“Frankly, I burn myself out about 3 times a year. I did it again, Now, I feel terrible, now I have no energy, and if I start getting stressed enough that my sleep quality is eroding, or I start sacrificing sleep to tackle the to-do list, that's usually the beginning of the snowball.” - Dr. Sarah

00:39:13 :08 - Overcoming Burnout

00:40:10 :11 - What's in Shawna's Purse Segment 

00:46:15 :02 - Dr. Sarah's secret lip moisturizer

 

Links from this Episode: 

Dr. Sarah’s Website

The Foundations of Health 3-Day Workshop

Book Mention: How to Raise an Adult

 

What Did You Think? I’d love to hear from you! After you’ve listened to this episode, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite takeaway is and why.