Transcript: EP 270 – How to Eat for Your Inflammation Type with Maggie Berghoff

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Dr. Taz: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Super Woman Wellness. I’m Dr. Taz. I’ve made it my mission throughout my career in integrative medicine to support women in restoring their health, using a blend of Eastern medical wisdom with modern science. In this show, I will guide you through different practices to find your power type and fully embody the healthiest and most passionate version of you. I’m here for you and I can’t wait to get started. This is a Soulfire production.

Dr. Taz: Welcome back, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Super Woman Wellness, where you know we’re determined to bring you back to your superpower self. And this is a little treat for me. I’m getting to revisit with somebody I met years ago, and it’s been such a joy to watch her journey in this functional medicine space. I want to introduce you guys to Maggie Berghoff. She is actually an entrepreneur, nurse practitioner, and health consultant.

Dr. Taz: She’s the Founder and CEO of Celproceo … I hope I’m saying that right, Maggie. A cutting edge health and wellness agency rooted in functional and integrated medicine, trusted by celebrities, professional athletes, CEOs and executives. She’s been featured by USA Today, Business Insider, Glamour, and so much more. She’s currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, although you might be moving soon, correct? Welcome to the show, Maggie.

Maggie Berghoff: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It’s such a joy to be back as well.

Dr. Taz: Definitely. So Maggie and I met probably five years ago, right before … I can’t believe it’s been five years. But right before my book, The Super Woman RX, came out. And you were new, I remember, in this functional medicine space. And it’s been a real thrill to watch your career growth. Tell me how some of that transpired. It’s such a good story for people to know how they come along the way and really find their passion and their purpose.

Maggie Berghoff: Oh my gosh. It’s so cool to think about, because, yeah, I met you just at the beginning. And the whole thing about even building my own business and why I was starting to talk on your podcast and see clients all around the world is stemming from my own health complications. So it’s funny how that happens. I had probably the worst time of my entire life, and then flipped that around and started helping people in this way. And then from there, really what it was is I was seeing one-on-one clients around the world, helping them, getting the most amazing results.

Maggie Berghoff: And eventually I started, probably like you, realizing that I could, if I just sat down, I could put this in a book. I could put this in a book and help so many more people around the world without having to even see me, because there’s a lot of things that I tell people that really you can do in your own life without even working one-on-one with me. So that’s where this stemmed from, and just the development of the business, just trying to help more people outside of just me and seeing one-on-one clientele.

Dr. Taz: Yeah. I love that. So tell us about the book. So the book, again, is Eat Right for Your Inflammation Type. So inflammation, a big concept for us on the show. We talk about it a lot. It shows up in so many different ways and there’s so many different causes, it can be almost overwhelming. What inspired you to write this particular book? Why’d you choose the topic around inflammation, and what is an inflammation type?

Maggie Berghoff: So when I was going through my health complications, and even now I’ll be writing an article for a blog or being featured on something and they always ask me, what was the one thing it was? What were you diagnosed with? What was the one thing that you did? And it’s tricky, because there’s not one thing. There really is not one secret thing. There’s not one secret diagnosis. And even if I list you all the diagnoses that they gave me, it doesn’t tell you much into how I even healed. And it really, when I sit down and think about it, it stems from inflammation in general.

Maggie Berghoff: And it could be from inflammation from the food I was eating, from the thoughts I was thinking, from the lotion I was putting on my body. And so it was really a combination of all the inflammatory responses that I had going on in my life that led to the health crash. And with every single one of my clientele, and I’m sure you would agree, something is inflaming in their life. And if we can target that and get the inflammation down, we can allow the body more energy reserves to do what it’s supposed to do, like rebalance and heal the things that are going on.

Dr. Taz: I love that. And I love that you even mentioned thoughts as a potential cause of inflammation. I don’t think people realize that connection and how strong that is, and how the body really does tell a story and try to make us aware of what’s going on. So are there key inflammation types? Tell us, how would we know which type we are? Give us a little peek into some of that stuff.

Maggie Berghoff: So I do break it into six different inflammatory types because the truth is, although inflammation is at the root, inflammation shows up for different people in different ways. For me, that was thyroid and hormones. For some of my clientele, that might be rheumatoid arthritis or IBS. So I really lay it out into the type of inflammation going on in your body so that you can do those core first things to address your type.

Maggie Berghoff: For example, information that I would give, recommendations that I would give somebody struggling with joint and muscle inflammation would be very different from inflammation that is affecting the gastrointestinal system. So it really breaks it into, what are the things that you need to do first, second, third for your body, that you can at least get there at a good starting point. And then, of course, there’s general information in the book for everybody as well, that all inflammatory types should follow.

Dr. Taz: I love that. So what’s a starting point … what are some of the starting points for everyone? What would you say? Where could anyone start no matter who they are?

Maggie Berghoff: I think it is simplifying. So if you just simplify things, anybody can start there. A lot of times inflammation comes from doing so many different things, or even eating. Having so many different types of things going on in your food, and just simplifying your decisions around that. So eating real food and not complicating things too much. Or simplifying the things that you’re putting on your body. Instead of putting 10,000 different chemicals on your body every morning, simplifying that down. Getting some clean routines going on in your lifestyle is a great place to start.

Maggie Berghoff: So swapping out those more toxic products to cleaner products. Swapping out the more inflammatory foods for more anti-inflammatory food is a really great place to start for every single person.

Dr. Taz: So it sounds like cleanup and simplification is a good starting point. Where does somebody go after that? Is there a next level … When you’re trying to beat inflammation, what’s the next level? I always say the same things, really your gut, your liver. That’s all about diet and nutrition and toxicity and trying to clean that stuff out. Where would you go from there?

Maggie Berghoff: Yeah. Well, we touched a little bit about thoughts. I think mindset is huge and overlooked. We think that we can eat a perfect diet, but if we don’t address the thoughts that are going on, even around that food, it’s going to be inflammatory. So looking at the thoughts that you’re having. It could be indecisiveness, that is literally worrying yourself sick. That is a true thing or in fear or having a negative feeling, even toward wellness.

Maggie Berghoff: So the first step is really knowing that you can and will rebalance your body and heal and feel better. And then looking at your choices that you’re making. Instead of a status decrease of, oh, I’m following this diet, or I’m doing this thing … a lot of times people put negativity toward that. But instead, flipping that to, oh my gosh, this is so amazing that I get to nourish my body with this food that’s literally activating myself and detoxing my organs and helping me to thrive. So just the general mindset around everything that you’re doing each day is going to help.

Dr. Taz: And that’s sometimes the hardest one. And that’s the one where I’ve sat with patients and I’m like, look, I can do the chemistry thing all day long with you, but the emotional component, the mindset component is the hardest because you can’t just snap your fingers and it suddenly changes. I can’t hand you a pill and say, take this and everything’s going to be better.

Dr. Taz: What are your hacks maybe for someone … First of all, how can they identify what might be driving some of the inflammation in their body? And what are a couple things they can do to start to reframe that mindset and start to shift it in the right direction?

Maggie Berghoff: Yeah, you’re right. It has to come from the client, from the patient because we can’t do it for them. We can’t sit at home and help them to fix their mindset. I think the first thing is just acknowledging that you have something going on that’s causing you pain and worry and distress. And most people know, but they’re just ignoring. And some people may even be wanting people to ask, is everything okay? And you know it’s not, but you’re just not getting the help that you need.

Maggie Berghoff: So I think first is just acknowledging that you have a negative relationship to food. Or you’re overly stressed and cannot put one thing more on your plate, or you feel like you’re going to break down. Realizing maybe you don’t love your body, and you’re being mean to your body, saying meanful, harmful things to yourself. It’s going to be pretty hard to heal when you’re in that state. So recognizing is really the first thing. And then wanting to change. It has to come from you. It has to come from you truly wanting to feel better because like you said, a pill can’t do it. It’s not going to help, and definitely not long term.

Dr. Taz: Gotcha. So let’s go back to your book for a second, Eat Right for Your Inflammation Type. What can readers expect in there? Are there recipes, is there a way to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle? Give us a little glimpse into that.

Maggie Berghoff: Yes. I’m so excited. So the first section will show you your inflammatory type, and we have quizzes and guides. It also explains your total toxic burden. So you can go through this huge list and identify areas that you can reduce toxic burden to inflammation. And then in part two … it was so important to me to have this part in it. It’s actually not related to food at all. Even though the book is called Eat, Right, it’s also … part two is related to creating an environment to thrive. So it’s everything around sleep and mindset and detoxing your environment, even organizing your home, truly. So it’s all about really organizing and structuring your environment to heal.

Maggie Berghoff: And then of course, part three is eating. So it’s going into all of the nutrition tips. There are recipes, there are recommended plans. I did not want this to be a strict three week diet type of thing. So I give a list of recommendations that you could follow. And then I encourage you in the book to write it out and find something that works best for you in your lifestyle that is sustainable and manageable for the busy life that you’re living.

Dr. Taz: I like that. So when it comes to … that’s interesting that you bring up the home and structure of our space. There’s so much, especially with the pandemic, right? It’s taught us so much that our space and our mindset and our chemistry all coincide. Again, for the viewers and the listeners right now, if you had to tell them three things to do with your space, what would you tell them?

Maggie Berghoff: Oh my gosh. I would say to clean it up. I honestly … even just something so simple as your kitchen. Go to bed with a clean kitchen. You might think that that seems silly or you’re so busy or it’s already late, but I promise you that if you go to bed with a clean kitchen, and you wake up and when you go downstairs and the kitchen is clean and the dishes are done and it’s nice and organized, I promise you’re going to have a better day.

Maggie Berghoff: Because instantaneously, you’re not in that fight or flight sympathetic nervous system of having to hurry and clean things, or just feeling messy and unorganized. So if you want to start there, just cleaning your kitchen every night so that you can wake up to a tidy space, is a great first step.

Dr. Taz: I love that. I always share this story about my daughter. So when she was inflamed, because she was eating food she was not supposed to be eating and not sleeping well and her hormones were all over the place and all that other stuff, literally, her room was awful. It stunk and you couldn’t find things, and you opened her backpack and there were crumpled papers in there. And the learning specialist was like, yeah, she needs help with organization. And then when she finally was like, okay, I’m going to do what you say and follow the right diet and start to do the right regimen and all this other stuff, everything is immaculate. Everything is lined up, it’s in the right place. Her room is one of the prettiest rooms in the house because she’s redecorated it.

Dr. Taz: So all of that is to say, you’re external environment … because then I even look at myself. And I, for years, have been just a total scatter bomb. And my desk looks scattered and there’s stuff over here and there’s stuff over there, just little piles of stuff everywhere. And so in watching her journey, it’s been really interesting to be like, your external environment says something about you internally, right? And your internal environment is so influenced by what’s happening externally, and there’s such a relationship. So I love that. Just declutter, clean up, organize. Literally, your brain feels like you can breathe.

Maggie Berghoff: It takes a weight off your shoulders. It really does impact you. And it is in unison. So you bring up a good point in that it’s related in both ways. For example, when you feel like crap, it’s going to be hard to be motivated to clean up the messes . But as you start to feel better, just eating well, you want to eat better choices because you can see that tie. And same with cleaning up your space. It’s really connected.

Dr. Taz: So true. Okay. You talked about detoxing and body care products and what we’re putting on ourselves. Tie into inflammation, and three things you would tell us to do right now.

Maggie Berghoff: Oh my gosh. Okay. First thing is to clean up your makeup. That was one of the first thoughts I used is, I like to wear makeup and I do interviews and stuff. So getting rid of all of the toxic makeup and switching it to more clean products is key. And again, there’s … luckily now, it’s so available. And the quality is very similar, if not better than the other kind of stuff that we used to rely on.

Maggie Berghoff: So cleaning up makeup, that’s an easy one. Then thinking about the things you’re putting on your skin. So the soap you’re using in the shower, the lotion you use, even things like sunscreen. So what are you putting on your skin that you could up level and swap out to a healthier version? And then the third area would be household products. Again, these are simple things that you could swap and they’re so available now. So even things like Windex cleaner or glass cleaner or cabinet cleaner, swapping that out to a less toxic version will immediately reduce inflammation.

Maggie Berghoff: And if you learn nothing else on this call, I want you to learn when you reduce inflammation, it lets your body have more energy to rebalance the things going on. It doesn’t matter what type of inflammatory response you have. It doesn’t matter what one of these six inflammatory types you are, because if you reduce overall inflammation, you’re going to start to heal those things.

Dr. Taz: Absolutely. And I think one of the big things, especially to drive home is that … and you mentioned this too, I think. Is that inflammation really determines what your immune system’s going to do, right? If you have a very high inflammatory burden, then your immune system will either crash, where you are very immunodeficient, or it’ll go into overdrive where you start to have an autoimmune type phenomenon. But inflammation and the immune system are highly linked together.

Dr. Taz: And what we’ve seen with the pandemic, I think, is how diseases of inflammation or chronic inflammation played out very differently for people with COVID versus people with a lower inflammatory load. And I think that’s been fascinating to observe, and really understand how the immune system responds to some of these different conditions, for sure.

Maggie Berghoff: And I mean, that’s a really good example, because even the healthy people in the world could get that, right?

Dr. Taz: Yeah.

Maggie Berghoff: It’s a great example of nobody’s immune or totally safe, even as healthy as you can be, from getting sick. But what you do have control over, is your fear around that. And also, your starting point, your baseline. So if your immune system is boosted and your inflammatory response is down, your inflammation level is down, you’re going to be able to handle those hits. Whether or not that be, like you said, COVID. Or a traumatic car accident or something traumatic in your life or a move or just anything, you’re going to be better off because your immune system will be boosted.

Dr. Taz: Absolutely. I love how it’s all connected. It’s my favorite part. I’m still practicing, 13 years in or so, in this style. And I still love bringing the connections together. Laying them out and making sure people understand how the little things we do really add up and make a difference, especially when it comes to words like inflammation.

Dr. Taz: Are you able to share the different inflammation types with us? You said there’s six. Can you share with us what ?

Maggie Berghoff: Yeah. So if you flip open in the book, you’re going to see your inflammation types right here. So there’s first of all, how to identify it. And then we go through, first, muscle and joint. Hormonal and thyroid. Inflammation from sugar. Psychological stress. So I literally separated that out because that in and of itself, I think is a totally separate category. Digestive. And then we focus on allergies and skin. So people who are having hives and rashes and allergic types of reactions.

Dr. Taz: Gotcha. That’s such a great resource. Well, anything else you want to share from the book, or any pearls of wisdom you want to make sure everybody hears that gets missed all the time?

Maggie Berghoff: I think the biggest thing to share is that in the book, and everything that I do, I really try to modernize for everybody. So I mean, there’s even a cocktail list, what to order if you’re getting cocktails at the bar. So I just want everybody to know that there are little things you can do in your everyday life that simply upgrades it to reduce inflammation. And you go on living your life while simultaneously helping your body so it can do what it’s supposed to do. And it’s really a lot more simplistic and a lot less restrictive than maybe you were made to feel that this health journey would be.

Dr. Taz: I love that. I think that’s such a great message. The book is, Eat Right for Your Inflammation Type. Maggie, if folks want to order the book, what’s the best way for them to do that?

Maggie Berghoff: You can find it anywhere that you would buy a book. But also, maggieberghoff.com/book is an easy resource to find as well.

Dr. Taz: Awesome. And if they want to connect with you, what’s a great way to do that?

Maggie Berghoff: Social media. We were just talking about it before.

Dr. Taz: She’s all over TikTok.

Maggie Berghoff: Yes. TikTok and Instagram is maggie_berghoff, both those platforms. And they’re so much fun for me because I can actually communicate directly to you. I can actually send you messages and connect and see your style and things. And it’s just my favorite place to hang out.

Dr. Taz: I love it. I think those are both great platforms, and you’re doing great work there too. Well, so good to see you again. Thank you for hanging out and sharing this great new book. I can’t wait for people to get their hands on it and dive in and learn more about this concept, guys, of inflammation. It really is the root of a lot of what I get to see in practice.

Dr. Taz: So thank you so much. And for everybody else, thanks for watching this episode of Super Woman Wellness. Don’t forget to rate and review it, and share it with your friends. And I will see you guys next time.