Dietary Options in Chronic Illness

Alison Marras

Thank you for having me, I’m so excited to be here with you.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Such a pleasure. So, start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your practice.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. So as you mentioned in the intro, I have Hashimoto’s, I’ve had sort of a lifetime of hormonal imbalances like PCOS and various gut infections. And so that’s what really brought me to figuring things out more on my own. I was working a very stressed out corporate job in New York City for almost a decade by the time everything just felt like I was hitting a wall. My energy was crashing, my hair was falling out, everything was just all over the place. And once I got diagnosed and really started figuring out what was going on with me, which was a journey in itself. Just to get that, I knew there was so much power in food as medicine, and I could see it. 

When I ate well and cut out things that weren’t doing anything for me, I just felt so much better. So I just loved that and I really embraced it personally and then professionally and I was able to share it with women that I support in my practice. I do one-on-one sessions remotely, as well as I have an awesome community where we do group coaching and events and I provide meal plans so that it just kind of takes away all the stress of having to figure all this out on your own all the time. And it just is a lot more supportive and fun, ’cause that’s what I’m all about. That’s how I think things stick.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah, I’m so happy that you offer this service because my patients, I know my patients need it and many of my colleagues patients need the service.

Alison Marras

Amazing.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

That diet is such an important factor in their recovery to health. In fact, I think of it as a foundation to their health. That all the therapies that I give to treat infections or to detoxify, they’re not gonna work very well unless the diet is set and unless the diet is personalized. So, I know we have a lot of patient viewers today and I’m happy that they can have access to you and to your services because it’s really, really important. So, thank you.

Alison Marras

Absolutely, I agree.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah. So tell me what types of diets you use for chronic illness.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. So I think, first and foremost in general diets are tools, they’re templates and we need to use them while healing. So you said it perfectly, while you’re giving these therapies to work on detoxification or working through infections and things like that, we wanna be able to use the diet in tandem with all the other pieces of the puzzle. And so looking at it as such, and keeping that in perspective and not sort of using only diet, to just kind of keep going. Where we’re not sleeping that well or we’re not addressing these infections and we just keep dieting. That’s sometimes a pattern that I see can happen. So I just wanna lay the groundwork that I really see diet as a piece of the puzzle, definitely a very important one, but it does have to fit with everything else. 

And it’s a tool. And we put it down if it’s not working or we try another one if it’s not working so that you can get more in tune with your own body. And so the diets that I really enjoy using, and if you guys come visit me you’ll see all my recipes on my blog that are very heavy on these diets is paleo, like a paleo-ish template, I like to say, because the thing that’s great about that diet is it’s really promoting whole foods, nutrient dense foods, while really limiting or kicking out the more processed hyper palatable foods that are really destructive and toxic in themselves. So, as we start to eliminate those more and really focus on the nutrient dense whole foods, that’s what’s really beautiful about it. And on top of it, if you’re not familiar familiar with paleo, it’s a gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free and also lagoon free. 

So, those tend to be a little bit harder to digest. It’s common for people to have food sensitivities and you can start by sort of removing those to see how it feels and how it might alleviate any gut issues or anything like that, inflammation that might be going on and seeing what really works for you. So that’s kind of my base template. And then for people I know we’re talking about chronic illness, so with specific to auto-immune disease and even other chronic illness like IBS, for example, something that can be also really helpful on top of paleo is called auto-immune protocol or AIP. And that’s basically using paleo as a template, but removing more things, for a short term, as a short-term elimination, things like night shades, eggs, nuts, seeds that can cause further issues. And so again, you eliminate while you heal. 

So you should be already on your healing journey, getting your support from your doctors or practitioners, and then being able to reintroduce. But those are the diets that I overall really like. And something interesting about the autoimmune protocol, there have been clinical trials. 2017 and 2019 there were a couple for both Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and IBS for symptom reduction. And even for Hashimoto’s, there’s been some like antibodies that will reduce too. So it’s pretty powerful when you give the body a break and let it heal and do what it needs to do.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

I love that those are your two favorite diets, they’re my two favorite diets in general.

Alison Marras

Awesome.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

And then though when I give that diet to my patients, I hand it to them on a piece of paper, I give them the link, we go over it one time in office, but then they need repeated help with it. And I don’t have the time to, otherwise I’d be sailing with them for a two hour visit.

Alison Marras

Of course.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

So, I’m happy that you’re there, because I’m gonna be referring my patients to you.

Alison Marras

I can’t wait, yes, I can’t wait. I would love that, I would love to tag team because like you said, and I always say this too, when people come to me, they’re like, oh, my doctor gave me a handout, but it’s really hard. And I’m like, yeah, they’re scientists, they have their other stuff to do. They have a lot more to work on. And this stuff is really, it’s like the day-to-day nitty gritty in making different decisions than you’ve made your whole life. Like guys, I grew up on pop tarts and cereal and it might be a different way now that I eat, but it wasn’t overnight. It wasn’t just like, oh, just do it or willpower or that kind of thing. It takes time, it takes practice. So that’s exactly what I love to do, is really support people on that journey and really make it fun. If it’s not fun, if it’s not doable, you’re not gonna stick to it. So, yeah.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

People don’t wanna do it if it’s not doable and they have lots and lots of questions, ’cause like you said, it’s a day-to-day thing, it’s what do I do with my diet today and the next day? And even though everything’s out there on a website or in a book, there’s still so many questions about how to integrate that into their lives, and then also about watching what happens as they do take out certain foods or re-introduce them back in. And people do need a coach for that. It’s definitely more complex than just following a website. So, thank you for what you’re doing.

Alison Marras

Oh, my pleasure.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

So I do a lot of detoxification therapies for my patients, and I know that you support detox through diets. So tell me, tell us about that.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. So I think some of the main ways that we can support detox through diet. So, a, we talked about it a bit, just kind of cutting out the toxins in our food by way of cutting the more processed, refined, hyper palatable foods that we know just have things in them that our body either has no use for, or it’s causing inflammation, or it’s tricking us into thinking we’re hungry when we’re not, there’s just so many issues with that. So, once you’re feeling like you’ve struck a nice balance where those are not what you’re leaning on anymore, and you’re eating nutrient dense whole foods, that’s already a big helper right there. But beyond that, some things that I like to do with ways that we eat, definitely just a healthy fast overnight. 

So, at least 12 hours, there’s so much science out there to show how beneficial it is for our gut health, for reducing inflammation, for really… And for supporting our detoxification pathways, give the body a break, let it do what it needs to do because digestion, especially if we’re eating constantly, it takes up a lot of energy. The body needs to be diverting so much energy to the digestion. So that’s another thing, it’s just like a nice healthy fast for you. It doesn’t have to be a 20 hour fast or skipping breakfast all the time, I certainly don’t do that, more like 12 to 14 hours would be great. Another thing that I love to do is warm lemon water or lime in the water, first thing in the morning, drink a lot, hydrate, flush any toxins or things in the body that need to come out, get that daily bowel movement going with that first hydration that you do, and certainly staying hydrated all day. 

And then probably another thing that I really like to do is include a lot of cooked cruciferous vegetables ’cause they can be really helpful for detoxification, especially with like estrogen, that can be a tricky one that needs to needs to get pulled out in excess. So cruciferous vegetables can help with that. And I like to cook them so it’s easier on digestion. And I do tend to eat those pretty regularly. So those are my main things, other than that it would just be again like not eating the things that I know are gonna maybe tax my liver. So like too much caffeine or alcohol or things like that. That would be another thing to consider as well with diet.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Great. I love that you do intermittent fasting or have the patients do it at 12 to 14 hour intervals because a lot of our patients with complex chronic illness, they wanna do more, they wanna do one or two day fasts or maybe even a three-day fast, but I just don’t think they’re ready for that. And it can really burn them out their mitochondria–

Alison Marras

Absolutely.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Or aren’t ready for that. So we’re definitely on the same page on the type of intermittent fasting for people with complex chronic illness and mycotoxin illness, so–

Alison Marras

Absolutely. It’s so funny because there’s so many studies about fasting and it can be so amazing and like you said with the mitochondria and the turnover and really promoting a lot of amazing healing. But at the same time, if we’re not ready for that, it can backfire. And so I think we live in an all or nothing kind of society, we live in this magic pill society we’ve all kind of just grown up on that. And so we’re like, oh, fasting, that’s it. I’ll just do that.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah. The biohackers are all talking about now but each person is different and it’s so important for it to be a personalized. I have a question for you about a low histamine diet and FODMAP diet. Do you have a way to integrate those two nicely ’cause a lot of our patients have mast cell activation syndrome and histamine issues and at the same time they have SIBOs and they need to be on a low FODMAP diet. Tell us about integrating those two together. That’s one of the biggest issues for my patients.

Alison Marras

Yeah. I think personally the kind of state that I’ve taken with this, because I’ve been there too, where I’ve had to be on low FODMAP, I’ve done low FODMAP and AIP together and I was just eating like radish cucumber and chicken all day. It was very boring. Yeah, exactly, it was very boring and I think there can sometimes… I was just talking to a client about this yesterday. I think there can sometimes be a tricky balance with more and more eliminations, right? More and more and more, starts to mess with us mentally a bit and then I find that if it does get to a point where we’re finding disordered eating or just a very stressful relationship with our meal times, now we’re in a sympathetic state when we’re eating. 

So now we’re not digesting anything that we’re eating, we’re not eating mindfully, we’re not enjoying even the most healthy beautiful salad in the world and that starts to become a concern for me. When I see this in the day to day that it’s like, yes, okay. On paper, removing all these things should work. But when we’re so stressed out over it, and then we’re sort of swinging from maybe restriction to bingeing to like on and off again and up and down and diet after diet, I just see that that kind of winds us up right back to where we started or worse.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Oh, yeah.

Alison Marras

So, that’s where it gets tricky in the day to day and why it is so helpful to have more support for this. What I like to do is because these things are real, right? Like the FODMAPs and the histamines, like it is real. And I really like to help educate my clients to understand like what does a histamine reaction look like? Maybe it’s like hives, maybe it’s some sinus stuff going on. And so what does that look like and what did you eat? Let’s keep a journal. I’m very big about just keeping an everything journal with you. Just like, I don’t have mine next to me for some reason, but I usually have it with me everywhere, I bring it to every room. Because if I just wanna jot anything down, but including the food. So I’ll make note that if, oh, I have randomly popped up on skin, what did I eat? What do I think caused that? And I just jot it down. And then maybe by the end of the week I can take stock of what’s going on and see which histamine foods or which high FODMAP foods might have been causing it.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

really personalizing it.

Alison Marras

Exactly.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

And then I find that they enjoy having that log. Patients enjoy that because they can actually see the data that they themselves have created–

Alison Marras

Exactly. Exactly, ’cause our body is always giving us this data in the form of symptoms. And if we’re just tak… If we could just take note, if we could just pay attention for two seconds, I know we’re also busy, we already have the answers. And food sensitivity tests are great and all these tests are amazing and give us such good data that we can’t get to. But then there’s also the data that your body is just giving you all the time and you can make it easier on yourself if you just listen. So yeah, that’s a very good way to sum it up. It’s really just knowing about these diets, knowing about the types of foods that can cause certain reactions and just paying attention. And I like to remove those as I go, versus saying, you’re going on paleo, AIP, low-FODMAP and anti-histamine ’cause I dunno what you’re left eating. You’re like going carnivore maybe at that point.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

There’s nothing to eat anymore, and it’s hard, so–

Alison Marras

Yeah.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

So, on that note, how can someone embark on the journey of changing their diets and more important being consistently with it? Tell us how you help patients with that on a day to day basis.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. So, I think firstly, by addressing mindset, I kind of see that as like an overall umbrella where you have to make sure you’re in a place to do this positively and you’re having an open mind to try something new. I’m sure you see it as well. The work that you’re doing with your patients is so involved, they really need to be committed. And it’s the same when you’re making lifestyle and dietary changes in your life, it takes a commitment. Other people are gonna have comments about it, your partner, your kids, your parents, whoever, they’re gonna comment on it. There’s gonna be vacations and social activity and maybe getting out to restaurants eventually, or maybe now already. But do you know what I mean, there’s going to be these challenges, and so commitment and a positive mindset to this overall journey is going to be really important. 

So that’s first, I kind of just say that first because no matter what else you do, it might just end you up right back to kind of old behaviors if you’re not sort of in that open mind. Another thing that I think is really key is just staying organized and especially in the kitchen, especially with knowing what you can eat and focusing a lot more on what you can eat versus what you can’t. 

So, one of the first things I did when I had to do AIP and low-FODMAP together, that was a beast, is I just, I was like, okay, I don’t wanna look at another red do-not-eat list, I’m gonna make a list of what I can eat. And that’s what I carry with me and that’s what I cook with and that’s what I focus on. And that definitely shifted the conversation, that internal conversation and everything else, because now it’s like, if you ever watched Food Network “Chopped”, that show, now it’s more like, oh, this is what’s in my crazy basket and this is what I get to eat and choose from. And it’s more of a fun game or challenge versus can’t eat, don’t eat, or I can eat that, but I can’t eat that. It’s overwhelming. And even when you go out to a restaurant, you can say like, hey, can I have grilled chicken salad over lettuce with this, this and this. Great, thank you. 

Instead of worrying yourself about, oh my God, the menu, I don’t know, I think I can have this, maybe if I take… Now suddenly your trip to the restaurant is miserable and you’re not enjoying yourself. And now it’s complicating things. So that tweak, it’s the mindset, it’s the focusing on what you can have and really crowding your plates and your day with really good whole food, nutrient dense food. And then yeah, and then just making it easy in the kitchen. Because if it’s difficult, if it’s stressful, if it’s very expensive, you’re not gonna keep up with it. You’re gonna just be like, oh whatever, I don’t know, let’s just order DoorDash, something quick. And that’s what we don’t want. So I definitely have a lot of tips to share with you guys on that, just how we can make it doable in the kitchen.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

That’s where patients need a lot of help for sure. How do I do this every day? And my family doesn’t wanna eat this way, but I know what I see, I see among many things I see two… I do see two interesting things, the first thing I see is that when people do make that mental commitment to do it, they do inevitably see the changes in their body, they see their medications and their herbs, they see the treatments that I’m giving them work more effectively.

Alison Marras

It all clicks.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yes, and then they stick to the diet because it becomes a way of life and they can actually see how it’s helping to shift things for them to make them feel and look healthier. And then the other thing I see is that once that shift happens, once they say, oh, yes, I’m doing this, now it’s my lifestyle. They actually end up in… It’s very often the families get involved and someone’s cooking. It might be them or now maybe not them, the energy to cook or a loved one is cooking for them and everybody starts to eat the same way, they all find ways to make this tasty. And the whole family starts to heal, actually.

Alison Marras

And that’s the best part, right? ‘Cause if one of us needs to heal, I’m sure there’s somebody else in the family that can benefit. I know, and you said something really powerful is that, people start to change their behavior, so your friends, your family, whoever you’re with, not because you’re telling them, well, this is what I’m eating, so you have to eat it. It’s more so because they’re seeing that you feel so much better. You’re glowing, you have so much energy. Like everything has changed and they want in on that. And I always tell people on the flip side, I always get to a place and I’m sure you get to this place too like you were saying with your patients where they’re doing really great, oh my God, they’re seeing results. They’re enjoying the recipes, things are moving. I have to go on vacation. 

Oh, I have an anniversary to celebrate. Suddenly it’s like, oh-oh. Right? And they start to get nervous. Or someone in their family is like are you even eating? What’s going on? That’s a stupid diet. Like they’re just making comments and making you second guess yourself. And so it’s always a conversation that we have to have about kind of feeling good about just letting that wash over you and be like, it’s fine, it is, it is what it is. But I always tell them, it’s always about them, it’s not really about you. It’s other people sort of projecting maybe they’re wondering, should I go gluten free? Should I cut sugar out? They’re thinking that, and they’re seeing you do it and be successful with it and so they’re kind of poking fun or asking you a million questions or whatever ’cause they’re really just thinking about that. So I find when I tell people that they’re like, oh, you’re right there, they’re not really picking on me–

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah, and then our patients can let go of that, that doesn’t matter anymore. But someone else is thinking I’m doing what is right for me and they want in on it.

Alison Marras

Exactly. They want the special sauce.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah, exactly. So many people are just so busy. What tips do you have for people who might be too busy to spend lots of time cooking in their kitchen?

Alison Marras

Yeah, absolutely. So something that I love to do is really just keep a stocked pantry and freezer. So, if you guys are in the US you can access Thrive Market is really great for that because also you can kind of filter by diet. So paleo, AIP, keto or whatever. And you can see the products that are available that even though, yes, they’re shelf stable, they’re more processed or very minimal ingredients, good ingredients that are fine to kind of lean on. So salad dressings, marinara sauces, whatever it is. So that way you know you have these things on hand to make a really great meal with whatever you have. So I love to do that. Also Amazon, of course, there’s other great places to shop online too. I also tend to shop for my meat online. 

Lately I’m absolutely loving Grass Roots, they have like all regenerative farms that they source their pasturies, organic meat from. And so that’s really easy because, again, like you get a box, it’s frozen, stick it in the freezer. It saves you, time saves you money, you don’t have to necessarily worry about always food shopping. So that right there is going to shave time off of your shopping experience and the kind of worry and stress over what you’re getting. This gives you really good options and you know where your sources are to go. Another thing I would say is keeping quick proteins on hand. I think sometimes we get overwhelmed, we’re like, oh, I gotta like Tso chicken and cook the chicken and it’s just like, all these extra steps. So that’s all well and good and do that but have some quick proteins on hand. So frozen shrimp, thin cuts of like chicken breasts or chicken cutlets that you can Tso easily. 

Even like, I love like proscuitto or wild smoked salmon that I’ll keep in the fridge and that’s just ready to go you can throw that on a salad. So, things like that you can just keep on hand so that it’s easy and you can throw together a meal having greens on hand that you can throw together a good salad. That’s definitely a lifesaver for me. And then of course, you’ve got to meal prep. I’m sorry, but you have to.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

It’s true.

Alison Marras

You have something prepped, unless you want to be cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. I doubt that, even me as like a food blogger I don’t really wanna be doing that, I need to do other stuff. So, what I like to do is get some ground meat, maybe two different kinds. I’ll do like a bison and a turkey or something. And I stick them in two different skillets and I’ll put different seasonings on each. If I want more of an Asian inspired, I’ll put garlic and ginger. If I want more Italian, I’ll put oregano and basil or something, right? And so you can kind of get creative, make them taste different and then add some veggies. Like, I love those coleslaw packages, it’s like, yesterday was Earth Day and I should not be promoting plastic promoting plastic, but it is a time saver unfortunately. 

But if you’re into that you can do that or just get some lettuce or maybe not to saute, sorry, a rugala or something like that, greens that you can saute with it. So now you have a batch of these two different proteins with some veggies that you have ready to go. And what I love to do is use that as a base meal. So that way I can put it over cauliflower rice one day if I want. I can take some plantain chips and make it into nachos if I want. I can pour marinara sauce and put it over some zucchini noodles and now it has totally changed into more of a pasta dish. So you don’t have to get bored or feel like your meal prep is, is super one note, it can really be transformed all throughout the week. So I actually–

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Yeah, having a base that you can make different flavors from and different meals from, that’s a great idea.

Alison Marras

Yeah, that’s what saves me. And I spend no more than 30 minutes meal prepping when I do that. ‘Cause you’re just throwing stuff in pans, it’ll take like 30 minutes to cook, stick it in the fridge, you’re done. So that’s my system for like how everything works together. And if you’re new to this, if you’re newer to cooking or eating in a certain way and cooking in a certain way, get a meal plan, I have plenty. Get some recipes, I also have plenty. Get the support that you need so you can just get practicing, that’s really what it’s all about. Just get in the kitchen and practice. And the one thing of course I have to end with on that question is, if you really need more help besides that, just do it. 

If you can get some like paleo frozen meals, have that on hand for weeks that meal prep can’t happen, you just have something in the freezer. Or you can prep in batch and then freeze that as well and so you have things on hand. Like I’ll always have soups in the freezer or something. Or if you can hire help or something like that. But do whatever you need, know your lifestyle, know what you need and know the tricks that are available to you, it doesn’t have to be a four hour meal prep and two hours of cooking every day, that’s not what I do.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

So important for them to know that, for the audience to know that ’cause I know that’s a big question for them. So, Alison, talk to us about people being able to get their favorite foods back. Do they have to be on these elimination diets or autoimmune paleo diets forever? Is it wise to keep elements of this bite in? I think of it as an actual lifestyle change, but also to be able to have some recreational eating at some point, tell us a bit about that.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. I think when people see elimination diets, it feels permanent like, oh, I can never have rice again or I can never have these certain things. and that’s just not true. The idea is, and something that I love and probably is something that you like about these diets too with paleo and AIP is they’re really effective. But I find that through healing your digestion, through balancing your blood sugar, now we are in the mind space where we can get more in tune with our body and figure out like, oh, rice a couple of weeks feels good now, before it didn’t, it was really bothering me ’cause I was eating it for lunch and dinner every day. And especially culturally, like I grew up eating rice and beans, my mom would always make rice and beans for us. 

And so not having that, after a while I missed it, I really wanted to have it or when I… When we would have holidays and I really to have my special holiday meals, I really missed it. So, turns out, when you’re healing, you can get foods back. It might not be in the same capacity, it might not be every single day, it might be a lot less than that or maybe you need to seek out a better quality or prepare it differently. Like with brown rice maybe you’re gonna wanna soak it or with the beans maybe you’re gonna wanna prepare it in a pressure cooker. You might find ways to prepare the food better and you might just lessen the dose. ‘Cause I find that often the poison is in the dose with these foods. 

And that’s what I’m talking about foods like that. If we’re talking about more like indulgences, sweets, things like that, I feel like that’s really, you gotta find your own balance with that. That’s not necessarily a food sensitivity that you would re-introduce. Whenever I’m working with clients and we’ve done like a food sensitivity test and they’re re-introducing, I’ll always have someone to be like, okay, when can I reintroduce sugar? And I’m like, it doesn’t really work like that.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

But most people I find, it does become a lifestyle change, they don’t wanna eat sugar. Often again, they don’t wanna eat gluten often again ’cause when there’s a re-introduction, they can actually feel how that might have caused a symptom in their body, anything from gut disturbance to even joint pain or brain fog or a headache. And so because they become so in tune with it when they reintroduce, or so in tune with their bodies, when they reintroduce, it’s not very fun. So then they realize, oh, actually, this is not good for my body. Or they’ve lost weight now and they wanna stay in their new body and then they realize, okay, this is just an occasional thing as opposed to daily.

Alison Marras

And it’s not worth it, exactly. And so many times also clients will come to me and they’re like, you know what I realized I was using whatever, as a crutch, I was using that food as a crutch. I can see it now because it’s out and I’m feeling better like you said, and that’s when you’re now suddenly in the mind space and in the head space to realize these things. Whereas when that’s all you know, you can’t see above it. So yeah, that’s something… It’s like a little sneaky when you go on these elimination diets that you start to actually realize and learn a lot about yourself and your relationship with food, as long as you’ve got that positive open mindset. 

So yeah. And in working with a doctor like you, when you’re helping them heal and restore the gut and do all these things and get rid of these toxins, the idea is that you are healing and moving forward. So maybe you can tolerate a little dairy, a little rice, a little bit, right? Now these things come back. Even I’ve seen it in my own body time and time again, where I couldn’t eat eggs, oh now I can’t eat eggs. I couldn’t eat nuts, now I can eat nuts. So these things start to come back. Even dairy, I have always had a dairy issue like since I was born. But after going through a lot of healing and years of being off of it, just some good quality, like goat or sheep cheese once or twice a week, and it’s a great way for me to get in some calcium too, does the trick. No skin issues, no gut issues, but before, it got so bad that just like a little bite and I was like, I’d have a zit immediately on my face. So it just goes to show you can see these amazing changes in your body and find your bio-individuality with certain foods through using these diets properly.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Absolutely. Well, thank you, Alison. Tell us how our audience can be in touch with you.

Alison Marras

Yeah, I’d love to. So if you want to keep in touch and cook with me and you learn more, I’m at foodbymars.com and I’m the same name everywhere, Food by Mars on Instagram as well if you’re on Instagram. And yeah, and I have this amazing coaching community with meal plans that I provide and I’m always like releasing new recipes, so I would love to have you over.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Great. Well, thank you so much, I really–

Alison Marras

Thank you. Thank you, it was wonderful chatting with you. I love what you’re doing, this is amazing.

Nafysa Parpia, N.D. 

Thank you.