How a Doctor-Patient Overcame Sjogren’s & an Autoimmune Nutritionist Found Her Calling
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Kara Wada, MD: Welcome back everyone to this very special episode of the Becoming Immune Confident podcast. It's Kara here.
Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: I'm Jenifer.
Kara Wada, MD: I am so excited to welcome you to the Becoming Immune Confident podcast, the show where we dive deep into the science of living a vibrant energy filled life free from the fog of inflammation.
I'm Dr. Kara Wada, and I'm joined today by my dear friend, the autoimmune dietician, Jenifer Tharani. And today we are here to empower you with the knowledge, insights, and our personal stories that you need to reclaim your health and vitality. And in today's episode, we're exploring how I went from doctor and autoimmune patient. It was really uncertain into being immune confident and how Jen became the autoimmune dietician - nutritionist.
Jenifer explains her passion for helping those with chronic pain and autoimmune illness
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Kara Wada, MD: We are going to hop right into our conversation and Jenifer, I would love for you just to share a little bit about, you know, who you are and how you ended up specializing in autoimmune nutrition.
Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: Thank you for asking that question. I have reflected on that question myself quite a few times. And also, I don't know if you guys have heard, you know, this, this, word where a lot of people say, this is my calling. And I I'd like to believe that this is my calling because I don't know it during COVID I was already working full time.
However, I kept getting these words and I was trying to like, change my Instagram a little bit and figure out like what actually I am passionate about. And in that moment, like those few moments, I heard, you know, a gut feeling saying, "Call yourself chronic pain nutritionist." And I called myself chronic pain nutritionist for, you know, quite a few months on Instagram until I figured out that actually I am specializing in autoimmune nutrition.
And where these words came from is from my childhood where I'd seen my mom struggle with chronic pain for her entire life and I was thinking to myself is like, "Okay" you know like you start to reflect back you start to connect the dots and you're like, "How did I land up here as a dietician and now why am I being asked to do this work?"
Right, so I reflected back and I thought to myself like, "Okay what is it that qualifies me, you know, to specialize in this specific type of nutrition?" And again, it was only pain, inflammation, right? So I had connected those dots and had told myself like, okay, my mom had a really poor quality of life. She kept saying no to a lot of social events and back then as a kid, you don't really understand, right? You just hear the words from your relatives like, "Oh, your mom is not social. She doesn't like to go out." And you believe in that.
And a lot of kids, you know, probably, also struggle with that if you are a daughter or a son of a chronic pain warrior, and you now struggle with an autoimmune illness, we did have one client like that. You know that it is very difficult to understand what is going on with this invisible pain. And so I started to believe that.
And then I was like, when I got more and more information and started to dive deep into research about chronic pain, inflammation, brain fog, all of this depression and anxiety, I realized that, "Oh my God. Oh my god". That's why I went to grad school and did my master's in gut health probiotic because now we all know the connection between poor gut health and autoimmune illnesses and then again I went on to doing another master's and that was anti inflammatory nutrition. And eventually I became a dietitian. The universe worked its way for me to be here. And eventually I realized, "Oh, actually I'm helping women, especially women with autoimmune illnesses, not just with chronic pain. And pain is one of their symptoms. So that's, that's how..
Kara Wada, MD: I I like to think of it as sometimes the universe dropping little breadcrumbs along the way. And just waiting for us to catch up and put all the pieces together. Yeah.
Dr. Wada shares her story of diagnosis and burnout, from perfectionism to Immune Confidence
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Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: So I would like to know how did you become immune confident physician?
Kara Wada, MD: I think back to, you know, around the time we would have met. So that was when I was putting the pieces together of my own health. If people want to go back to hear my full story, uh, we can link to that podcast. I shared you know, kind of my story of having these symptoms that occurred even back to when I was in college. And not really listening to my body, not knowing that I needed to listen to my body's calls for help. And that came to a breaking point in particular within a two week span when I was diagnosed with Sjogren's, which kind of put a name to what I had been experiencing. I didn't realize how much that explained.
And I'm still continuing to learn how it can just reveal itself in different ways. As I continue to learn from my patients and others within the community. My daughter also was diagnosed with an anaphylactic egg allergy. So she had some scrambled eggs one morning and developed hives and threw up. And as an allergist, I kind of said, "Oh, four-letter-word", I kind of knew what that meant. And that was really this moment of like, "Okay, our family prior to my generation didn't really have any immune system issues aside from allergies and a little asthma." We didn't have anyone prior to my generation with autoimmune disease. We didn't have anyone prior to my daughter who had food allergy.
And it was like, "Okay, wait a second. Time out. We need to take a pause and really come together as a family and think about how we're living." At the time, we were always in survival mode. Always rushed. Always pressed for time. Trying to do all the things. Trying to be the best parents. I was only in my second year as a full fledged attending allergy immunology physician. I was totally burnt out. I thought I was going to need to step away from clinical practice.
A practice that I had worked, goodness, 30 years of education towards, you know, towards becoming.
And I was two years in and ready to like, call it quits. Then I get this diagnosis and it's like this, like, smack in the face of feeling like, one, like, I should have known better. I should have, like, recognized I should have, you know, did this set my daughter up for her food allergy? Like, did I cause that? Just a lot of, um, a lot of negative, dark, dark energy. And then I kind of went down this path of, after I kind of emerged after a week or so of that, like really dark place, I've tried to pull myself up by my bootstraps, right? And like, do if I did everything right, maybe that would make this all go away.
Really doubling down on that perfectionism that in hindsight is probably didn't help to get me where I was in the first place and went down this rabbit hole of, "Okay, there aren't any FDA approved treatments for Sjogren's. We have some treatments that we use off label and they work okay, but there's nothing like super targeted like there was for rheumatoid arthritis." I knew that there was some science behind diet from some work I had done through my training. I knew that there were some complementary and alternative approaches that could help. And so I was like, okay, let's double down, let's do this.
As a result, that next probably nine months we're pretty rough. Um, initially it was, it felt good because I felt like I had some control that I was doing something. But I also was very quickly overwhelmed because there's so much information out there. Everyone's trying to sell us something. And I was ready and willing to buy in many cases because I felt pretty desperate.
I discovered certain approaches to diet that are out there, that are very popular, that are very restrictive. And for me that reignited, some food fear and some restriction and stress around food that just was not helpful. I lost way too much weight. I ended up, uh, with an acute liver injury or an acute hepatitis because of some supplements I had tried. And I was really about the farthest thing from being immune confident.
Kara Wada, MD: And at a certain point, you know, we were in the midst of the pandemic and I stumbled upon things that you were posting on Instagram. I think it was that acknowledgement of realizing I needed help, that I wasn't expert in everything. That was this turning point that helped me on that path to becoming confident.
Jenifer's Unique Approach to Autoimmune Nutrition
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Kara Wada, MD: And I think you're going to do a better job sharing than me, but what makes your approach different when it comes to autoimmune nutrition?
Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: Yeah, I always like to tell a little story. So when the documentary came about recently, um, by Dan Buettner, you know, living longer lives and about blue zones, then I'm thinking to myself, like, has anything happened in my life, um, that I can kind of tell a story about?
Because you know, there's always a story where there's always something that has led us here. And going back to the story of doing grad school in gut health and probiotics, At the time, I was doing grad school in San Luis Obispo, which isn't considered one of the Blue Zones, however, the way the whole city is and I tell this jokingly, maybe the universe will hear me and I'll have a house there for retirement, but I love San Luis Obispo.
It's, it's just such a gorgeous city. There's like, um, there's like a lot of like biking trails. There's mountains, beach, there's a little farmer's market. So the way it's set up is very blue zone like and even if you google search and if you say San Luis Obispo blue zone, actually, it is considered as a blue zone, but it's not so much talked about and i'm like, "Oh my god I have actually have had a lived experience in a blue zone area".
My second degree was all about anti inflammatory nutrition, but the focal point of my research, my literature review was Mediterranean eating pattern. So I'm like, okay, here we go. Universe is giving me more science. And I'm like, okay, this is such an amazing story.
So that's, that's my approach, right? Like I am not opposed to obviously, you know, looking at what other diets have evidence, right? So vegan diet or vegetarian diet, or for some patients, it could be a mix of keto and Mediterranean diet, right? Like every individual is so different. And so my first thing that I lead with is, what we add to your diet?
Because we all, I have seen so many clients come to me with food fear, food anxiety. They already have depression, anxiety, lingering related to autoimmune illness. Poor connections with their family, you know, a lot of them struggling with even maintaining relationships with their husband or fiance or boyfriend, right? Like even those pieces are very, very important to consider. And the focal point of a lot of celebrations is food, right?
You either become a rebel and you're like, "Okay, I'm gonna I'm going to go on a diet and then I'm going to go off a diet because I'm in this event. I'm going to eat whatever I want. I'll deal with the flare."
Right, whatever comes next or "I'm so strict that I am not enjoying at all. Like I'm not enjoying at all, right?" And so how I felt like I could fill in this gap was by taking evidence based tool which again as a dietitian, I will always look back to research and see what is out there, right?
So the evidence based tool that I use is Food and Symptom Journal, because that gives me your individual data, right? That's how I was able to tell you, Kara, that you're okay with oatmeal.
Kara Wada, MD: I had some this morning!
Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: Yay! Because I know on Autoimmune Protocol, you had eliminated a lot of these grains, and I love that now you're all about oatmeal. So I think, you know, using the Food and Symptom Journal and I will tell our audience today too, like, if you're not there yet, and if you're like, not sure where to go next, just keep a Food and Symptom Journal just by yourself, right?
And it's hard to, like, decipher what are your triggers, what are not, because it can be very intertwined and complicated. However, if you're at a point to ask for help, like Kara said, we do have a program, Becoming Immune Confident Jumpstart Program. You can surely consider that.
However, Food and Symptom Journal is step number one, right? And then focusing on pillars of anti inflammatory eating pattern to make sure you're adding, adding, adding, boosting your diet, right? And then really focusing on other pillars of anti inflammatory lifestyle.
Again going back to the blue zones at the time when I designed the program I wasn't so much aware of the blue zones I was more aware of like the Mediterranean eating pattern and anti inflammatory lifestyle but again self care now, it's so much about self love like which again in the new modules that are coming up, I plan to talk more about self-love because it's so like important as women.
And then sleep, uh, flare management, right? Like all of those things are really important. So my approach is very additive. Like let's add, let's start to add things instead of focus on elimination. Let's look at data driven food and symptom journal so I can help you. And then lastly, my goal always is to have, to help you with improving your quality of life and have a ripple effect of that in your family, in your relationships, with your colleagues at work, right?
Because we spend 8 hours, 9 hours a day at work. So that is very huge part of our life, right? So we got to have good energy to be able to, you know, not just survive at work, but excel at our, you know, job.
Looking Ahead: Empowering Your Immune Confidence
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Kara Wada, MD: I think that is an awesome place for us to pause and say, you are going to want to subscribe if you aren't already subscribing because over the next three weeks, we are going to be talking more about how to keep a food and symptom journal. Digging in more to what are those pillars of anti inflammatory living.
This is really a primer for all of you to one, understand how Jenifer and I work together, our philosophy. but also just to be offering those initial steps for you right here to start the work.
I want to thank each and every one of you who's been listening for tuning in to this episode or hoping that you are finding it enlightening and empowering and really helping you on your journey to becoming immune confident.
We hope that you found today's topic and, you know, learning a little bit more about our backstory, um, how I went from doctor-patient to starting my journey to becoming immune confident and how Jenifer has become the autoimmune dietitian. We're hoping you found it both a little inspiring and informative.
And remember, if you are ready to take the next step towards becoming immune confident yourself, our jumpstart program is here to guide you. We've designed this program with you in mind, focusing on simple, sustainable, and science supported systems, really to combat inflammation at its root and to enhance your well being.
Jenifer Tharani, MS RD: And don't forget to secure your spot on the early bird waitlist for the Becoming Immune Confident Jumpstart Program. Our enrollment opens soon with exclusive access and a special discount for our early birds. This is your opportunity to join a community of women just like you, looking to reclaim their vibrant selves.
Kara Wada, MD: You can hop over to www. immuneconfident.com and get your name on the wait list. And thank you again for sharing your time with us today. We are here to support you at every step along the way.
So until next time, keep striving for that vibrant health and clarity that's just around the corner and to get on the wait list now so that we can have and embark on this transformative journey together.
Make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode where Jen and I discuss the importance of food and symptom tracking and until then, goodbye for now.
If you are loving this mix of self discovery and science found here on the Becoming Immune Confident Podcast, I'd love to invite you to sign up for my email list. Hop over to drkarawada.com and hit subscribe to ensure you don't miss out on any insights into new immune system science or how we can harness healing through our daily habits.
Are you ready to feel confident, energized, and more like that BA that you used to be? Here's how we can work together. Jenifer, an Auto immune Dietician and I, Board Certified Immunologist I've put together the one and only
Becoming Immune Confident Comprehensive Course Coaching and Community Membership.
What we do is we help women with misbehaving immune systems, reclaim control over their health while minimizing fatigue, fog, and pain, all caused from too much inflammation. So, if you are ready to have confidence and clarity around your immune system health, and a sense of certainty, knowing that you are doing the best for your health and the health of your family, hop over to immuneconfident.com for details on how we can work together. We can't wait to connect.
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