Episode 55: 3 Food Groups That Affect Autoimmunity with Palmer Kippola

Listen to Episode 55 with Palmer Kippola →

When Your Body Becomes Your Enemy

You've been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and told it's genetic and incurable. Doctors prescribe medication to suppress your immune system but offer no explanation for why your body started attacking itself. You accept that this is your permanent reality.

What if genetics aren't destiny but get switched on and off by trauma and environmental factors you can actually control?

Autoimmunity isn't just about the genes you inherited. Trauma plays a major role in switching these conditions on or off, and that includes food toxins targeting your cells, not just emotional trauma affecting your nervous system.

Palmer Kippola joins me today to explore autoimmunity through the trauma lens. We discuss conditions like MS, Hashimoto's, and other supposedly incurable autoimmune diseases and how they respond to addressing trauma at multiple levels.

Understanding Trauma's Role in Autoimmunity

What role does trauma play in autoimmunity exactly? Does understanding this connection give us a clear path for prevention or recovery from these conditions? These questions matter for millions of people living with autoimmune diseases or facing genetic risk.

Emotional trauma is one piece of the autoimmunity puzzle but far from the complete picture. Food toxins are trauma to your cells at the biological level. Environmental toxins are trauma to your entire system through multiple pathways. Your body doesn't distinguish the source of trauma but responds to all of it through immune system dysregulation.

Autoimmune conditions aren't necessarily permanent or inevitable even with genetic predisposition. Trauma can switch genes on through epigenetic mechanisms. Addressing trauma comprehensively can help switch those genes off again through the same mechanisms. This gives you agency over conditions that medicine frames as unchangeable.

Understanding the Biology of Trauma® reveals why autoimmunity connects to stored trauma so consistently. When your nervous system stays dysregulated from unresolved trauma, your immune system stays dysregulated too. These systems communicate constantly and affect each other through well-established biological pathways.

The Three Food Groups and Six Environmental Factors

Palmer and I break down the three major root causes influencing autoimmunity development and progression. These aren't mysterious or unidentifiable factors but clear influences you can assess and address. Trauma sits at the center connecting nervous system dysregulation, immune dysfunction, and cellular breakdown.

Specific food groups trigger autoimmune responses in susceptible people through mechanisms that science understands well. We discuss which three food groups deserve your particular attention if you have autoimmune conditions. How they affect your immune system through inflammation, molecular mimicry, and gut barrier disruption.

The first food group includes grains and gluten that create intestinal permeability in many people. The second encompasses dairy products that trigger immune responses through proteins similar to your own tissues. The third involves processed foods and industrial seed oils that create systemic inflammation driving autoimmune activation.

Not everything about autoimmunity development is within your control through lifestyle changes. But six environmental factors are modifiable and significantly influence whether your genetic susceptibility expresses as disease. Palmer explains what these six factors are, how they contribute to autoimmunity, and concrete steps for addressing each one.

Real Examples: MS and Hashimoto's

We use multiple sclerosis and Hashimoto's thyroiditis as examples of how trauma contributed to condition onset. The emotional trauma of loss, the physical trauma of toxin exposure, and the cellular trauma of chronic inflammation all played roles. What addressing trauma at these multiple levels did for recovery demonstrates what's possible.

Palmer's own experience with MS recovery informs her work helping others understand autoimmunity differently. When she addressed the trauma underneath her condition through nervous system healing, environmental cleanup, and dietary changes, her body stopped attacking itself. Her story isn't unique but demonstrates principles that apply more broadly.

Understanding trauma's role in autoimmunity creates a clear roadmap for intervention. For prevention if you have genetic risk factors but haven't developed disease yet. For recovery if you're already diagnosed and want to address root causes rather than just managing symptoms through immune suppression.

The conventional approach treats autoimmunity as purely genetic and inevitable. The Biology of Trauma® approach recognizes that genes load the gun but trauma pulls the trigger. When you address trauma comprehensively across emotional, environmental, and nutritional domains, you can often deactivate genetic expression that creates disease.

The Path Forward

The clear path forward involves addressing trauma at every level where it affects your immune system. Healing nervous system dysregulation from emotional trauma. Removing food toxins that create cellular trauma. Reducing environmental exposures that traumatize your system. Supporting your body's capacity to regulate inflammation and immune function properly.

This multifaceted approach explains why single interventions often fail with autoimmunity. Changing your diet helps but isn't sufficient if emotional trauma keeps your nervous system dysregulated. Processing emotional trauma matters but doesn't complete healing if you're still consuming foods that trigger immune responses. Every layer needs attention for sustainable recovery.

Palmer's work bridges functional medicine and trauma healing by recognizing that autoimmunity requires both. You need to address the biological factors affecting immune function. You also need to address the stored trauma keeping your nervous system in chronic defense mode. When you work with both simultaneously, your body finally has conditions where healing becomes possible.

Understanding that you have more control over autoimmunity than conventional medicine suggests empowers you to take action. Your genes aren't your destiny when trauma is what activates them. Addressing trauma comprehensively gives your body the opportunity to regulate itself properly again rather than attacking its own tissues.

This Episode Is For:

✓ People with autoimmune conditions seeking root causes beyond genetics 

✓ Anyone with family history worried about prevention 

✓ Practitioners working with autoimmune clients who need the trauma-immune connection 

✓ Those whose autoimmune conditions aren't responding well to medication 

✓ Anyone recognizing connections between their trauma and physical illness 

✓ People ready to address autoimmunity from multiple angles simultaneously

What You'll Learn

Listen to understand trauma's role in autoimmunity and learn which three food groups and six environmental factors you can control for prevention or recovery. Discover how emotional trauma, food toxins, and environmental exposures all contribute to immune dysfunction. Learn why addressing trauma at multiple levels creates better outcomes than single interventions.

Your autoimmune condition might be more reversible than you've been told when you address the trauma underneath.

Listen to Episode 55 with Palmer Kippola →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

Join the Conversation

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. What resonated with you? What questions came up?

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