Jaime Hartman (00:06):
Welcome to the AIP Summit Podcast, your go-to resource for taking control of your autoimmune health, presented by AIP Certified Coaches. Hi, I'm Jaime Hartman.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:17):
And I'm Marie-Noelle Marquis. And we are here to equip you with the tools, knowledge and support you need to effectively use the autoimmune protocol.
Jaime Hartman (00:24):
And today we are speaking with AIP Certified Coach and gut health expert Mariu Cabral about the connection between your digestive system and autoimmunity.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:40):
All right, Mariu, thank you so, so much for joining us today. So you are an NTP as well as an AIP Certified Coach, and your practice is all about gut health. So since we know gut health is such an intrinsic part in our immune health and regulating inflammation, we really wanted to get some of your insight on the gut autoimmune connection from your expertise. And we also wanted to give our listeners the chance to meet you, learn about what you do, and again, just hear about what services you offer. So really excited to have you join us today.
Mariu Cabral (01:14):
Thank you very much for having me, ladies. This is amazing and I love everything AIP ever since I discovered it. You'll hear about it later. I've been using AIP in my practice four years even before becoming an AIP Certified Coach. It's just an incredible tool and this is great work.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:34):
Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your practice and what kind of service you offer.
Mariu Cabral (01:40):
Absolutely. So I was born and raised in Venezuela, so I believe I bring a very unique perspective to this world of nutrition and health and wellness, given that a lot of the times people think that they need to put aside the foods that they love to eat or they grew up eating their healthy cultural foods because they typically don't fit a box that the standard diet practices and nutrition advice really just puts it into. So I love to have my clients eat their seasonings, their vegetables. Something about AIP that I love is that a lot of the foods that I used to eat growing up are part of AP that a lot of people don't know, like cassava or plantains. So that is actually a huge plus for the Latino community. But yeah, this is what I do. I mix cultural knowledge and sensitivity to AIP and nutrition. So a lot of my clients are women of color Latinas or women of other ethnicities that may see in the content and the message I share.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (03:02):
I see a lot of your content about gut health. How did you decide to, or what brought you to really make gut your core focus?
Mariu Cabral (03:12):
Yes, so I had the worst gut issues. Well, I believe there were the worst gut issues. They feel like the worst to anybody that is experiencing them. I was chronically constipated. I had gas. I just felt very yucky and uncomfortable all the time. So I did all of the research and I read all of the blog posts and I did everything you're supposed to do. I ate healthy and I still had bloating and I still had constipation and gas that sometimes at times was really embarrassing because I had a retail job where I didn't know where I would just fart, and that was just mortifying. So I became a nutritional therapy practitioner, an NTP. And through that learning and practicing, I found the kind of the system that really helps people heal beyond the generic advice of eating more fiber, drinking more water, eating your greens, and maybe being plant-based as it is in some circles. So that is a little bit of my story and I am very happy to say that I have great digestion that is just smooth and easy and that's what I help clients do, mostly women, but sometimes I get a husband here and there and I love to help them too.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (04:46):
So you do mainly one-on-one or do you do group practices too?
Mariu Cabral (04:50):
Yes, so this is a great timing because I've only done one-on-one for the five years I've been practicing. But by the time the podcast goes live, I will be launching my first group program. It is called the Gut Freedom Foundation Program, and it is going to be all about the foundational work that you need to do in order to heal. Because in the five years I've been coaching, I've really seen the greater impact or the greatest impact really comes down to the first month, the first four weeks where you tackle your lifestyle. When you do those small tweaks that you carry on through your protocol, whether that is three months or six months, that is the biggest impact. So that's what the Gut Freedom Foundation program is going to be like. So it's going to be a group program four weeks live every week, and we're going to go through all the system of gut healing and the very foundations to build upon that later on.
Jaime Hartman (05:55):
We know that AIP Certified Coaches often come to this work because they have some kind of a personal connection to the work to autoimmune disease or more broadly to wellness. And you mentioned a little bit about your personal journey in the opening, but we'd like to invite you to share a little bit more about how your personal journey started, evolved and led you to becoming an AIP Certified Coach.
Mariu Cabral (06:21):
Like I mentioned, I had chronic gut issues that I was actually able to heal without AIP, but right off the gate when I became a nutritional therapy practitioner, two of my first five clients had autoimmune diseases, one had rheumatoid arthritis and the other one had ulcerative colitis. And having not experienced autoimmunity myself, it was a true challenge and obviously in nutrition school with that into the different diets including AIP. And I read and studied the Walls protocol, which is a paleo style diet with mostly AIP principles by Dr. Terry Walls, who is a prominent researcher for autoimmunity. So I learned the rules to then break the rules. The more I studied AIP, the more I saw its benefits and how incredible it is, but I also saw some of their limitations, so I modify it as I went along. So for example, it can be difficult to implement on a busy schedule, even though there's many tools to make life easier. It's just a little bit difficult than your normal diet. And also for somebody with IBD with regular flares, all those beautiful cruciferous vegetables and leafy greens can be a little irritating, I think one thing or two about that. Right, Jaime?
(07:53):
I do.
(07:56):
So early on in my career I started using AIP principles, but I would always modify the diet based on the client's needs. And with these modifications came great success and the best part of it is that my clients were able to comply. So it took me about three more years to actually become an A FP Certified Coach. So I graduated in 2023 and this was an incredible experience because I was able to go even deeper and experience the benefits of the autoimmune protocol firsthand. I did core AIP fully compliant for a few times during the program and in the process I learned so much about myself. I became a more empathetic practitioner for having gone through what my clients have gone through and I saw amazing results even as somebody without an autoimmune condition, my sleep was the best it's ever been. I had no phlegm in the back of my throat, which like, okay, my digestion is perfect, but I still had a little bit of a phlegm or just random symptoms that are not annoying at all, but when you don't have them, you noticed them. And I also was able to have better energy and no glucose spikes. This was incredible and not something that I had experienced before. I always felt a little bit of that slump in the afternoon and I didn't with AIP. So this was incredible. And now whenever I feel myself getting derailed because life happens, I always return to the principles of the autoimmune protocol and it's a great way to just come back into my body.
Jaime Hartman (09:55):
I really appreciate what you said about learning the rules to breakthrough. I think you saw me nodding there vigorously, especially talking about IBD since everybody listening that by now knows that's what I deal with, but it's, you raise a great point here that regardless of diagnosis or non diagnosis, that there are principles within this protocol that can be beneficial for everybody in some way or another. Did you find that when you implemented it yourself and you saw those improvements that you mentioned, that you were able to maintain those as you reintroduced and transitioned back to the way you had been eating before or to however you were going to, were you able to carry that forward for yourself?
Mariu Cabral (10:40):
Absolutely. There were a few things that I just continued to do. I wasn't a fan of sweet potatoes or root vegetables really, and I find myself that when I eat a purple sweet potato in the morning, my energy's perfect. I don't know what's about that. I became so much more creative in the kitchen. I love to cook and obviously when you have a limited amount of foods that you can cook with, you've developed this creativity and just a different skill. So that is something that I still carry with me. A lot of the times I cook AIP meals without labeling them. I just notice, oh, this has no grains and no nightshades and maybe has a little pepper. That would be the only thing. But yes, so I believe that it wasn't hard to transition back into eating your regular foods, but I do believe that for some people it can when they go through AIP from a pattern of scarcity.
(11:44):
So when they feel like they are just removing all these foods and they miss all the other foods and they're just going through it just because they have to, not because they choose to. So something I like to tell my clients is that this is just a blank canvas and you can make it whatever you want, but definitely do not make it like this is the place where you're going to be forever. So when you feel like things are available to you, you don't really miss them as much, and that brings a lot of more freedom and then it's a lot more joy in this healing journey.
Jaime Hartman (12:26):
And for our listeners who maybe don't understand what the connection is between the gut and autoimmune issues, could you talk a little bit about that from your perspective as an expert in that area about why the two are so connected?
Mariu Cabral (12:42):
Absolutely. So I dare to say, and I don't have the numbers in front of me, but if not all, most gut issues stem from a leaky gut. A leaky gut is when the cells of the gut, the walls of the gut are compromised or weakened, they're little holes I like to say, they're little holes in which food can travel into the bloodstream and create inflammation. And there is a direct correlation between autoimmunity and a leaky gut. So most of the autoimmune diseasers, if not all of them, and I don't say all of them right now because I don't have the numbers in front of me, but sure it's all of our immune diseases have a leaky gut component to it. So the moment that you start healing the gut, it's the moment that you start seeing relief. It could be remission, it could be just a little relief, but you can see relief because a lot of that inflammation that happens when it's not happening anymore, then it just lets the body heal,
Marie-Noelle Marquis (13:54):
Which also makes sense as you both mentioned, right? It's like you don't necessarily need an autoimmune diagnosis too. Just that systemic inflammation and that gut inflammation will impact so many different people. And then how do you see the connection with AIP specifically with that gut health?
Mariu Cabral (14:17):
So what I love about AIP is that it allows, in a way, this is just a very colloquial way to say it, to give your body a break. So you're removing all of these foods that could potentially be a stressor. And not only you're doing that, but you're also adding foods that are nutritious. There's a good way to do AIP, and there's a not so great way to do AIP, right? It's not the same to have plain chicken and broccoli than to have maybe an organ meat or different types of protein like salmon and oysters and mackerel, and also different types of vegetables. So when you one, remove the stressors and remove the foods that could potentially create inflammation in your body and then you flood your body with nutrients that are needed for repair, you repair your hormones with certain vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, you can repair your gut with L-glutamine from meats and bone broth and all of those together. It's not so much about what you're eliminating, but what you're adding into your body and what your body can absorb now that it is not fighting to just fight inflammation.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (15:37):
One thing that we ask all of our fellow AIP Certified Coaches on the podcast is to share their signature coaching advice.
Mariu Cabral (15:46):
This is a hard one, but if I were to narrow it down to one thing, the signature coaching advice, it isn't about food or isn't about lifestyle, it isn't about something that you do, but rather it is to move with intention and consistency. So I've seen time and time again that the intention behind what we do often determines the outcome more so than the action itself. And what do I mean about this? It's that conscious choices have these power of holding ourselves accountable. So to give you an example, if we're eating something outside of the AIP diet and because maybe there was a strong craving for it or because you're at grandma's and she made this special meal for you that you just couldn't reject, this is assuming that the meal is not going to give you an immediate flare and it's just not terrible.
(16:50):
So when this happens and you make a choice out of alignment that I'm going to have this meal because of the moment I'm creating with my family member or the moment that I'm creating with myself, this intention of enjoying the meal and having reverence for what that moment means in one way or another is fuel for you to keep going on your healing journey. So that is what I mean about it being or holding you accountable. The opposite of that would be just cheating on your diet or on your protocol without a real reason why you're doing it. And when we do that, then we quickly lose sight of or North Star and we become uncommitted and without commitment, there's no results.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (17:44):
I love that.
Jaime Hartman (17:45):
All right. We would love for you to share some actionable tips, maybe just one or two or three things that our listeners could do that would help as we say at the end of every podcast, elevate their wellness journey to new heights.
Mariu Cabral (18:05):
So I think based on what I said about commitment and intention, this would make sense. I'm very much a person who or a coach who likes to make clients have their own choice rather than just to give them a plan or just to give them a set of things to do. And this goes in line with that. So this is going to be a one actionable step in two parts. I like to say it that way, and it is understanding your personality type and with that, when you understand your personality type, and we're not going to get too deep into this, we're going to understand how we do things, and after that, then self parenting yourself. So what I mean about this is that when we know how we react and go about in the world, then as our loving self parent, we will know what to give ourselves in the moment.
(19:12):
So this would look like, and again, we're not going to deep into personalities. We're just going to do type A or type B personality type A personality is typically somebody that is more rigid, more of a rule follower tends to be a little bit of more of a people pleaser and likes to check boxes, right? It's a good girl, a good guy, good boy, and then a type B person is more fluid, more go with the flow and can be a little bit uncommitted at times. And then there is self parenting, which is the practice of becoming the parent that you need in the moment. This is very helpful when you maybe picture yourself as a child or a child that you love, and what this entails is that you're going to give yourself the appropriate advice as your own loving parent. For example, that this would look like is that if you are a type A person, person that is more rigid rule follower who loves to check boxes and you may be feeling frustrated because you're not seeing results or you're putting too much pressure on yourself to do AIP and to heal and to finally get into remission, then the way you self parent is what would you say to that child?
(20:46):
I'm going to ask you, Jaime, what would you say to that child that is frustrated that are not seeing results and it's putting so much pressure on themselves?
Jaime Hartman (20:57):
Well, you pegged me, right? That is definitely me. So what would I say to the child who's doing that? So I think what I would say to a child who's feeling that way is to remind that child that you are capable and you are lovable and that you are worthy of feeling good and that isn't dependent. Your feeling good is not dependent on you checking all the boxes or creating everything the perfect way or getting the gold stars, but your love is something that you get unconditionally from the people around you, from yourself, from your self parenting and reminding that child of that innate worthiness that they have, whether or not the boxes get checked or not, the boxes that get checked are irrelevant and you still deserve all the good things that are going to come your way.
Mariu Cabral (22:01):
Wow, that is so beautiful. I didn't know I was going to put you on the spot this way, and this is incredible how it turned out. And yes, it's essentially right that exactly that is that you would say to that child that everything is okay, right? There's no need to put yourself into that much pressure sometimes and everything's going to be okay. And on the other hand, if you were to be somebody to be a type B person, maybe that child is more acting out or it's just not really working to their full potential, it's being lazy, and that could be a response to anything. It really doesn't matter. So Marie-Noelle, what would you say to a child that is just not for performing the way they could? They're just feeling a little paralyzed.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (23:03):
One of the thing that comes to mind I think would be whatever I say, I think the concept is we often feel, we often don't start doing something because there's a fear of not doing it right or doing it well enough. So I feel like part of finding that motivation is tapping into something that genuinely brings you joy and then pursuing that joy without judging it, not saying, well, it's not going to be good enough, so I'm not even going to start it and it's okay. The only way through really connecting, the only way to really stay connected with that joy is to not judge it. So I would find a really creative way to let's do an activity that brings joy and then focus on that. What would you say, Mariu?
Mariu Cabral (24:04):
I love that. I mean, sometimes you just need to say, get up your ass and go. So it's what you would need in the moment. So it takes a lot of self-reflection to know what your patterns are and what you need to do in order to achieve your goal. So if you're putting too much pressure on yourself, you're a type, then sometimes it's helpful to just be more gentle with yourself. And if you are somebody that maybe is paralyzed because of fear and like you mentioned, it's really important to see what is the underlying thing about that not actually doing the things that you are supposed to, but sometimes it's just about let's just keep moving. Imperfect action is still action. And yes, so that is my a little not so practical tip, but it just gets easier, I promise. Just know who you are, your personality type, and then parent yourself accordingly, and that is just going to bring your wellness to a much higher level because then you, again, you will be doing things with intention and you would not be so concerned about checking boxes or not because sometimes maybe we send up, we have a plan from our nutritionist or NTP or AIP Certified Coach, and we feel bad because we didn't do it perfectly.
(25:39):
So that is just removing the shame and understanding that you can make everything that you can make everything your own. You just need to know the intention behind it.
(25:56):
This is something I learned on the AIP program, the AIP coaching program, and I think it's something that I still bring to all of my clients, and that is that to make sure that we're not identifying with or diagnosis because that is something that could really rub you from your power and agency. If you keep on checking boxes of like, well, I have Hashimoto's and I have Crohn's and I have this and they have this and of that. And it's just very much a limiting thing just to think of all the diagnosis, not the diagnosis themselves, but just to always think in terms of how to navigate them. I like to tell clients to say that or to not say that they are a Hashimotos girly or a chronic disease girly or whatever that is, which is a lot of the talk online, but to say that you experience or you have a condition or immune condition or autoimmune disease, just to put that distance between you and your diagnosis can help you see a bigger picture and can help you become more proactive in finding ways to heal and in finding ways to enjoy your life and not let your conditions and diagnosis take over.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (27:27):
I love that There's also a connection with these advices, like your coaching advice you're giving and gut digesting your choices, right? There's a metaphor level. One question I get asked a lot as a practitioner is seeing people with autoimmune disease. Hashimoto is a good example that are also dealing with sibo. And so in the vein of these actionable tips, if I'm somebody that is I am on AIP or I'm starting AIP, I'm already dealing with an autoimmune disease, but then I have all these digestive issues that maybe do I need to do a low FOD map on top of it, or I'm having all of these sort of conflicting advice from you and your practice, how would you approach somebody that's dealing with these multiple gut symptoms?
Mariu Cabral (28:21):
Absolutely. I think we're going to need another hour for this because I have my own thoughts about the low map diet. I don't use it on my clients with sibo, but for that, the reason why I don't use it is because we typically test the client's gut using a tool such as the GI map, which is a really comprehensive DNA stool test. And with those results, like the type of bacteria that is in their guts, maybe there is a low immune function or an overactive immune system. When you have a autoimmune disease, it could be either way or high inflammation. Sometimes we go and tackle those things first and as well as eradicating the bad bacteria because clearly if you have sibo, you have bad bacteria in the small intestine. When we do those things, oftentimes we don't need to eliminate as much as when we have SIBO and we're kind of just doing things blindly. So I love to bring testing for these and to understand where the client is in their gut health, and oftentimes the SIBO can resolve with just some eradication agents and the right diet, and obviously there's going to be some elimination, but just like I've modified AIP my entire life, and I also make AIP core whenever it's needed. I also see that there's a place in the gut health space where you don't need to be so rigid with a diet such as the SIBO diet or the low food mat diet.
Jaime Hartman (30:06):
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I am sure there's somebody listening to this who's feeling relieved that they don't need to eliminate another set of foods from their diet in order to improve their gut function. In fact, I think you would say the opposite. It's not a wise thing to eliminate a whole nother set of foods. Is that correct?
Mariu Cabral (30:28):
Correct, yes. I mean, we've already eliminated so much on AIP and there is a reason for it obviously, but then eliminating another subset of foods can just make the client feel frustrated and can just affect compliancy, and we want the clients to be compliant so they can see a result. So it's an integrate, it's an intricate dance, and it really is taken case by case that a lot of people will be very much sensitive to certain fruits. Other people will be sensitive to other set of foods, and that is just going to be by person. But that is the beauty of working with a coach that can walk you through these lifestyle changes and diet changes, because otherwise it's too hard. It's very hard to just do it on your own and having somebody there with you to also reassure you that you're in the right place and to help you pivot if something is not working. A lot of the times I see with clients before working with me or working with any practitioner that they try something and maybe they didn't try it long enough or they try something way too long, and because on paper it says that it works. So it's just having that professional lens to know when to pivot and to know when to stay, I think is really valuable and important in order for you to see healing.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (32:06):
All right. Well, Mariu, thank you again. I would love you to share with our listeners again how they can connect with you and learn more about what you offer.
Mariu Cabral (32:19):
Absolutely. So I am in all social media platforms now on YouTube. Wait, again. Absolutely. I am an old social media platform. I'm on Instagram. My name is Mario Cab. You can find like that Mario Bra on TikTok, Mario Bra, NTP, and also on YouTube as Mario Yuca Bra n tp. So this is a new venture, a new YouTube channel I'll be creating soon. I think by the time this episode goes live, you're going to see one or two videos. So I'm excited to share that new part of gut healing with you. So I think I've done a lot of Instagram and TikTok, and now I'm ready for more long form content with a little bit more nuance because as we saw on this episode, there's just so much, so much to healing, and I would love to talk more about that.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (33:25):
Fantastic. Do you have a website if I want to work with you directly?
Mariu Cabral (33:29):
Yes, mariucabral.com.
Jaime Hartman (33:32):
Thank you, Mariu, for illustrating so clearly for the listeners, that AIP is not just a diet, but is a complete protocol with multiple branches and that there are multiple ways to approach it. Listeners through this podcast, AIP Certified Coaches bring you resources so that you can feel confident about doing AIP on your own, but with the knowledge that you aren't doing AIP alone,
Marie-Noelle Marquis (33:56):
We'll be back with another episode in two weeks. So make sure you subscribed to the AIP Summit podcast and your favorite podcast player if you have not already.
Jaime Hartman (34:04):
And if you would like to leave this a rating and a review, it will help others find this podcast where we are committed to helping you use the power of the Autoimmune protocol to elevate your wellness journey to new heights. The AIP Summit podcast is a Gutsy By Nature production. Content presented is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
