Demystifying Inflammation Summit 2023
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[00:00:00] Kara Wada, MD: Hey there. It's Dr. Kara. Welcome back to this episode of Becoming Immune Confident Podcast. This is a super exciting podcast. Because we've got something truly special to talk about today. Get ready to mark your calendars because an incredible event is coming your way you won't want to miss.
I'm your host. Again, this is Dr. Kara. I'm a board certified pediatric and adult allergy immunology, lifestyle medicine, physician. I'm also an autoimmune patient. And I am a busy mom of three. And I'm thrilled to share with you.
The Growing Concern of Inflammation
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[00:00:40] Kara Wada, MD: So I know we are all trying to navigate this ever-changing world and the excess of information that is out there, especially related to our health. And the one question I get asked time and time again, in visits with my patients in the clinic or with my coaching clients is, "What is the deal with inflammation and why are we seeing all of these conditions related to inflammation? Why are there so many of us that are dealing with these symptoms and what can we do about it?"
So if you've been following me for a while, or maybe you're new. A recap. So two of the values that I really lead my life with are education, learning all of those things. I love leaning into curiosity. I am a lifelong learner. I have a hard time saying no to opportunities to learn more things and new things. And I love sharing what I learn with others.
I also love building community and human to human connection. So what better way to do this than to host a summit? We've been hosting the Virtual Sjogren's Summit the last two years. It's been an incredible event for bringing together leaders within the medical space, the coaching space, the related health profession, space and art patient community.
But we weren't able to reach the other community that I feel so passionate about helping, which are moms like me that are trying to navigate the mess that we're in within our healthcare system within wellness. We're trying to do the best for our kids, for our partners. And we feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders and our own health keeps sliding to the back burner.
The Demystifying Inflammation Summit
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[00:02:39] Kara Wada, MD: And so that is really why I created the Demystifying Inflammation Summit, which will be launching on September 18th. It's a three-day event. So it'll be September 18th through the 20th and then marked on the 21st to put a little asterix there. I'll share at the end, what's going to be happening on that day. A little bonus day.
But yeah, you heard it right? So we are hosting another summit. This'll be our second type of summit we're planning on hosting. Hopefully year after year. So imagine being able to learn, to meet new friends, to network and gain insight from some of the brightest minds across. Health and wellness and mindfulness all from the comfort of your couch or your office whether you are a mom or play a caretaking role in another person's life.
And especially if you are suffering from symptoms of too much inflammation, and we're going to talk all about what that is during this episode today. We'll give you a little preview of what the summit is all about and what we're going to cover, what's who are some of the speakers that we have already lined up.
I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm just so excited to share all of this with you all because it's really it's been something we've been working on for goodness, about the last six months. Ton of time, energy into this and it's finally coming to fruition. And it's having another child, like you're like creating something. Super fun.
A Summit for Moms and Caretakers:
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[00:04:20] Kara Wada, MD: So if you've attended an online summit for your health before, you know that they are packed with valuable information. The problem that comes up sometimes is they may tend to be a little more general or may have aspects that make it more difficult to implement and take action on what you learned. This summit is really not going to be like those. It's specifically for moms, for caretakers of families who are dealing with too much inflammation. It's going to help you finally understand what's causing your inflammation. So the science and what you can do about it, whether you have a diagnosis or not. So the strategy as well. So what you're not going to find in this particular event, you are not going to find general advice for every autoimmune or allergy patient out there. It's tailored specifically for busy moms and caretakers to help you build confidence and clarity around what is inflammation, what is going on with my immune system health and being able to walk away knowing that you were doing the best for your health. And by doing that, you're also doing the best for the health of your family as well.
Event Highlights and Expert Speakers
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[00:05:31] Kara Wada, MD: As I said, the summit is going to kick off Monday, September 18th. We'll have a kickoff call and then presentations are going to run through Wednesday, September 20th. You can attend those presentations live in order to connect with the other folks who are watching. You can get your question answered over in the Facebook group that we're launching specifically for the event. And you'll be able to watch replays of these presentations for about 24 hours. If you can't make it live, you'll also, as I mentioned, have access to this pop-up Facebook group to connect with other busy moms and caretakers who are going through the same things you're going through. So you can make friends, some accountability buddies and really form. That community that is so important in our health and healing.
The summit is completely free. But once you register, you will have the opportunity to check out an All Access Pass. Option. I'll share a little bit more about that at the end. But that's going to give you access lifetime and immediate access to all the presentations, to worksheets, to a private podcast, priority in our live question and answer sessions, and it's going to get you a ticket to our Bonus Day that my good friend and collaborator, the Anti-inflammatory Nutrition expert, Jenifer Tharani and I are putting together an awesome jam-packed bonus day.
It is the Building Kitchen Confidence Masterclass Series. It's a four-part event. We're going to have included in there. Some information on how to Eat Mindfully, How to Grocery Shop, how to meal plan in a way, even if you're not big on cooking, like how can you still harness the power of meal planning, and we're going to do a hot seat coaching session to really help people break through some of those limiting beliefs or stumbling points that they've had when they are working on harnessing the power of nutrition in their health and healing. So I'm really excited about that.
Super excited for all of this, but let me walk you through a little bit more about, what is too much inflammation look like? What are the conditions we're going to cover? Who are some of the speakers? And I'm also going to throw in a few clips to preview some of the conversations and talks that we already have recorded so excited.
All right, so the reality is that modern life really drives modern diseases. That's a big reason why we've seen this huge increase in the number of allergies, asthma, autoimmunity, cancer diagnoses just made the headlines again. This huge increase in cancer diagnosis in my generation. So people 30 to 39, I'm still on the cusp of that. That really are seeing this huge increase in cancer and we don't have all of the reasons worked out, but we have some of it figured out and we're going to talk about that during the sessions, we also see diabetes, obesity, heart disease, all of these conditions, all of these modern diseases have one thing in common, they are all driven by TMI. Too much inflammation. And the reality is that yes, popping an ibuprofen or puffing on our inhalers, lathering on our steroid creams, eating less, moving more. All of those things help but when we have conditions that are related to really this huge increase in inflammation, it takes a more holistic approach to really help longterm and to turn down that dial.
I know and I want to reach out to, especially the busy mamas out there listening, caretakers, you're doing your best. You are working on trying to eat a balanced diet. You're trying to get your kids to eat a veggie every once in a while. You're working on trying to get more steps in or occasionally, even taking the stairs or trying to prioritize sleep and not scrolling through TikTok or Instagram we'd rather be doing some nights, and despite making some of these changes, may still feel pretty cruddy. And how does that show up? So too much inflammation, it shows up as feeling exhausted from the time you wake up every morning, your sleep does not feel restorative, you are aching in places and parts that you didn't realize you had. Everything either hurts or maybe even feel swollen. Something that I hear a lot, given my line of work is folks will feel like they are perpetually swallowing snot or they're getting random itchy rashes. And another reason folks will come see me is allergies used to be a sometimes problem and now they're an all the time problem. Maybe your breathing is a little more labored going up the stairs. You're feeling a little more tight, you're coughing, you suspect that that asthma you had as a kiddo might be becoming a problem again. Or even more commonly, you know where every public bathroom is because your digestion is not normal. Or you're on the other side of things that you're like, "Okay, when was the last time I went to the bathroom?" Because your digestion is not in a regular place. Lots of bloating, gas, painful tummy aches. Maybe you're holding on to the baby weight. Even though your baby's weaned years ago or your attention span is you know, "Squirrel!". You keep forgetting why you went into the next room or find yourself with words on the tip of your tongue. And one of the things that really stuck out for me was seeing that my kids were starting to experience similar symptoms to like patches of eczema, food allergies and this is what we're aiming to focus on and to help out with during the summit. Because the reality is I know what happens when you call to make an appointment with your doctor. A lot of times, unless you're incredibly fortunate, is you call your doctor, you know, does some labs, you're told your labs are normal and nothing, nothing appears to be wrong. And then you're kinda left, "Okay, where do I go now?" And so then you go to the internet and you're told to eliminate all the foods or just to meditate for a few hours every day or that essential oils cure everything. And you should join your girlfriends team to sell them too. Not only do you have too much inflammation, but there's also too much information and overwhelm and confusion and frustration.
And the real goal of the summit is to have a better understanding of what is going on with your immune system. How to start taking steps to improve your health, your family's health in a doable way with your go-go-go schedule and strategies that actually work.
So we're going to do science and strategy, so you can feel clear and confident knowing that you can recognize what too much inflammation actually is. How to advocate for yourself when it's causing a problem. Feeling clear and understanding the theories behind the root causes of too much inflammation. Learning sustainable strategies to turn down the dial on inflammation and understand better how lifestyle does play a critical role in our health and healing. But also how to harness the power of our beautiful brains, how to change our behaviors. How do you get rid of the guilt from all the shoulds and coulds that you know, we're peppered with all the time. And really being able to spend this three days developing conviction in realizing that our actions that we are taking however big or small, they may be to improve our health, also are directly benefiting the health of our children and our partners too.
I also really hope, and aim to have our participants have confidence and clarity while navigating health and wellness marketing so that we can see through the sales pitches and make more informed decisions as well. So, we have over 25 experts in inflammation and immune system health. Covering the gamut from allergies, autoimmunity, asthma, gut health nutrition, mindfulness, behavior change, the lived experience of living with these conditions all gathered together.
I'm your host, obviously. I'm really excited to be hosting to, be participating as a speaker as well.
Day 1 - Decoding Inflammation: Discovering the Science Within
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[00:14:28] Kara Wada, MD: We are on Day 1 going to be Decoding Inflammation: Discovering the science within our bodies. We're going to be Demystifying Environmental Exposures and Immune Disruption, Auto-immune labs, Understanding Eczema and The Role that Nickel in our Diet for some people may Play. How about oral inflammation? We have Dr. Clayton who is a hoot on social media, he's going to be talking all about The Effects of our Mouth Health on our Whole Body's System. We're going to be Demystifying the Different Classes of Medication that are used in Autoimmune Conditions. The lab testing that can be used to evaluate for toxins. How connective tissue disorders and things like Ehlers-Danlos may contribute to Chronic Inflammation. And our reigning Dr. World is going to be talking about the Immune System. She's a clinical immunologist and infectious disease professor. She's going to talk to us about the immune system, breaking it down to kind of 101 level.
Day 2 - Empowering Wellness: Harnessing Healing from Our Habits
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[00:15:39] Kara Wada, MD: On Day 2, we're going to be Harnessing Healing from our Habits: Empowering Through Wellness. We're going to talk about Anti-inflammatory Nutrition, how exercise is really important if you have asthma. How we might use Integrative Approaches in Auto-immune disease. Being your own Best Advocate, Demystifying the Role of Essential Oils and Food Allergies.
Day 3 - Mind Over Inflammation: Cultivating a Resilient Mindset
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[00:16:05] Kara Wada, MD: And then on Day 3, we are really going to cultivate a resilient mindset. We're going to talk about The Role of Self-compassion. Finding the Calm and Gratitude Amidst the Chaos, Navigating accommodations for School if you have a kiddo that has chronic health problems and really Demystifying the Role of Mind, Body Connection in Autoimmune Disease as well.
So as you can tell, we have amazing value-packed presentations. This really is an event you are not gonna want to miss. If you want to grab your free ticket and join us in the summit, you can head over to drkarawada.com. There'll be a link right up at the top. You can get registered for a free ticket.
Now if you're a little bit curious, I know I mentioned that All Access Pass. How do I upgrade for that VIP experience? Ha we'll have all the details on that there. Essentially we have a private podcast, we have Continuing Medical Education if you're a healthcare provider, all sorts of really great value as well and kept the price point really affordable. So the maximum ticket price is $97. If you purchase your ticket, the Early Bird Ticket, $77. And if you get a little free preview, there's actually a fast acting bonus. So when you initially sign up for your free ticket for that first little while after you register, it's only $47 to get access to all of this.
Prizes and giveaways
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[00:17:43] Kara Wada, MD: We're going to have some prizes and giveaways. And the other thing that Jennifer and I are so excited about, we are dedicated to helping this community make sustainable science supported habits for healing and health and making that process as easy as possible. And that's really the focus of our Becoming Immune Confident Course and Coaching Program and we're going to be talking a little bit about that at the end of our bonus day that I talked about.
On the final day, one lucky and engaged attendee will be selected to win a full, like full access to the only program co-created by a board certified immunology physician a.k.a me and a registered auto-immune dietician to make anti-inflammatory living easy. And so when you register for your free ticket, when you are engaged in participating in this event, whether you're an all access pass holder or not, we are going to really celebrate one of our participants by inviting them to join us in Becoming Immune Confident and providing a scholarship for our program. We're really excited to be able to offer that and make that available to one of our participants. So I'm really excited.
I think that's all I have to share for now. I'm sure I'll think of more, but I would love, love, love if you are as excited or maybe even just a little bit as excited as I am about this event. If you would consider sharing this with your friends, your family, your girlfriends, let's get the word out. This is our first year, we do not have necessarily a paid ad budget for this event.
Engaging the Community
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[00:19:35] Kara Wada, MD: We really want to build this community and share this information which is broad and as big of a community as we can. If you could just take five minutes to share the link with your friends, someone who you think may benefit from learning about what's causing their inflammation and harnessing the power of our beautiful brains to make some of those sustainable habit changes for the longterm. Whether they have a diagnosis or not, this is the event for them. I am so thankful, so grateful for this community, for the Becoming Immune Confident Podcast Community. I'm so excited to celebrate in the science and the strategy with you in the next few weeks. So hop on over to drkarawada.com, d r k a r a w a d a.com. Get your free ticket, click on that banner up at the top. And then hop over and join us in the Facebook group. We can't wait to kick things off and to celebrate all of us. To celebrate how far we maybe have come in our individual journeys and celebrate renewing our spirit and refocusing and understanding how important it is for us as moms and as caretakers to fill our own cups before they are on E. Our health is important and it really makes a huge difference in how we can best care for those that we love so much. Take care, stay tuned for our next regularly scheduled episode. And I can't wait to see you at the summit.
Preview of Expert Insights
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[00:21:29] Kara Wada, MD: Hey, it's Dr. Kara here. I almost forgot. Stay tuned for a little bit of a preview from one of our conversations with one of our amazing speakers. This is a little bit of a conversation I had with Dr. Kate Mangona on how we can navigate the chaos that sometimes happens when we are living with family members who are dealing with too much inflammation. In our case, kiddos who have life threatening food allergies. So take a listen, tune in and then go get registered at www.drkarawada.com and can't wait to see you there!
What tools have you found through coaching that has helped you as a mama to a kiddo with food allergies?
[00:22:18] Kate Mangona, MD: I think definitely being present like in the moment and knowing that worrying is not helpful. Like we all worry and it's okay if you do. It's like natural and it's normal. But worrying so that, so much that it affects your life and it affects your child's life because you can't do anything else but worry.
Like we think we're being productive when we worry. You can worry at the same time as being confident we're gonna get through this. Many people have been here before. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. You're just gonna collect all the data as we do, as physicians figure out what's the best next move for our family. I think taking bite-sized chunks, like bite-sized pieces, instead of being, we have to get rid of this food allergy.
It's not about just getting rid of it all at once. It's about, okay, what do we do next? What are we gonna do today?
Like it's just about what we're gonna do to today to move us forward and then enjoying the rest of life 'cause like food allergies doesn't have to take up your whole life. You have to find a way to balance.
You can have a little bit of worry, put it in your purse, carry it around with you, but don't let it drive you. It's not the driver. You are the driver and maybe mindfulness, joy, calm is going to be your driver.
[00:23:43] Kara Wada, MD: Hey there, amazing listeners. Before we wrap up today's episode, I want to take a quick moment to ask for your support. If you're enjoying the content of the Becoming Immune Confident Podcast, we're bringing you week after week, there's a simple, but incredibly impactful way you can show your appreciation.
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