Jaime Hartman (00:07):
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 (00:18):
And I'm Marie-Noelle Marquee. And we are here to equip you with the tools, knowledge and the support you need to effectively use the autoimmune protocol.
Jaime Hartman (00:25):
And today we are speaking with AIP Certified Coach Becca Benning about her healing story with multiple sclerosis and how she helps clients understand and harness the benefits of the lifestyle aspects of AIP to get the most out of dietary changes. Welcome, Becca. We're so glad to have you here. Thanks for joining us.
Becca Benning (00:50):
Thanks so much for having me.
Jaime Hartman (00:52):
So I want to start by asking you to share with our listeners just a little bit about you from a professional perspective, specifically what you offer, and I'd particularly like you to talk about the Autoimmune Health Club, if you don't mind.
Becca Benning (01:07):
Yeah, absolutely. It's a relatively recent addition naturally because I've historically done more one-to-one and small group work, but I was really wanting to add something in that was a more affordable way for people to access coaching and that really lent into the community aspect of it as well. So I'm calling it a pick and mix membership because the idea is that people can't get behind. There's no sort of expectation that, so you are there for group coaching and accountability and carving out the space. It's built in a way that is going to help you to actually get the stuff done. It's got bite-sized bits of informational stuff in there, but the focus is really on kind of me as the coach guiding members through working out what it is they want to do. But really the heavy emphasis is on the how are we going to get it done and where do you find the time to get it done and stuff like that. So it's really fun. I'm enjoying it massively. So I opened it I think in November 25. So yeah, I'm really, really having a great deal of fun with it. My community's really cool.
Jaime Hartman (02:15):
And are you opening that up for new members coming up soon? I believe
Becca Benning (02:19):
I am. Yeah. So I'm planning on opening doors in general about three times a year. So the next one's coming up in the beginning of March 26, and then it'll be, again, I think it'll be sort of around June and November time in 2026 as well if anybody's listening kind of later on. But it will be like whenever you're listening, it's not going to be too far away.
Jaime Hartman (02:39):
Also, I know that you are one of the hosts for the AIP retreats in the south of France. Is there anything you can tell our listeners about that?
Becca Benning (02:48):
Yeah, we've got something special actually for your listeners, particularly because I was talking to Jan about this and we thought that it might be nice for us to be able to offer a little bit of a special deal. So the retreats that I run are called Small Steps to Self-Care, and we've got one running in May this year, 2026, and another one in August. And it's really, it's incredible. I mean, if you've ever looked at pictures of Lagos, where Jan is in the south of France is the most extraordinary location. So that's all I really need to say about that. But if anybody is really interested in maybe exploring that this year in May, particularly the early bird discount, which is 300 Euros off the overall prices due to be finishing at the beginning of March. But if you email Jan with the code Small Steps 26, which is just for you lovely people, then you'll be able to extend that for another month until the end of March because
Jaime Hartman (03:48):
Oh, great.
Becca Benning (03:49):
Yeah, so we're just really wanting to make it as accessible as possible for people because obviously even though it's incredible value for what it is, it's a chunk of money to put into something like that. So people need a little bit of flexibility wherever we can offer it.
Jaime Hartman (04:05):
Great. And also I know that Jamie Nicole hosts two of the other retreats, and for our listeners, we interviewed her back in episode 11. So if you want to meet the host of these retreats, you can go back and listen to Jamie's interview as well. All right. I'm going to turn things over now to Marie-Noelle for a few minutes to talk to you more about your personal story.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (04:28):
Yeah, Becca, thank you again for joining us and this is all really exciting. I love the Autoimmune Health Club. I'm going to check that out as well. Cool. I would love for you to share with our listeners a little bit more about your healing story, your journey.
Becca Benning (04:44):
Yeah, so I am one of those people that's had health weirdness my whole life. So my health was never entirely straightforward. I started having joint pain and things like that when I was really quite young. I was about eight I think. And that was when I started having conversations where people were like, oh, we can't find anything wrong. Everything's fine. And I was like, well, but it hurts though. So what do I do now? So it was kind of a long old road, but then I got diagnosed with my first actual autoimmune diagnosis, which was multiple sclerosis in 2012, which that was about a year after I'd had sort of the loud symptoms starting to make themselves known. So it was actually quite quick really. But at the same time, having said that, it had probably been around for a lot longer than that, really.
(05:35):
So it started off with I lost the use of my right hand for four months, which was obviously quite scared being a right-handed person. It was quite inconvenient. I had to practice doing a lot of stuff. I can still sort of write with my left hand because of that, but I never got good at that and I poked myself with a toothbrush on a daily basis and all of that kind of stuff. You don't realize how impactful it's going to be, something like that until you're actually right looking at a task and going, I don't really know how I'm going to do this without my dominant hand. So that was where that began. And like I said, I got to the diagnosis bit actually pretty quickly. It was within a year or so of that happening, and I was a teacher at the time, so I was a primary school teacher and it was an incredibly stressful job, and I just pushed on for a little bit initially because it was like, well, that's what we do, isn't it?
(06:38):
Things happen and we go, oh, well, let's just carry on. But then I remember the day when I was sitting on one of the tables in my classroom and I was just sat there crying, and it's not anybody who knows anybody who works in education, you will know that it's not uncommon to find people crying in schools, which is a sad state of affairs, but that's where we are. And it hasn't gotten any better since I left on that score. But I was just, I'd hit the wall and kind of thought, actually, I dunno how to look after myself and do this job at the same time. I don't think I can. And so I thought, I'm going to have to go, I've got no idea what I'm going to do, but I'm going to have to do something else. And so initially that's what I can do. I can leave my job because my job's really stressful, that will fix everything. And it did not.
(07:30):
And I've been diagnosed with various other things since then. And again, looking back, I think a lot of them had been around for quite a long time. So I've collected celiac disease, hypothyroidism, adenemyosis, Raynaud syndrome, psoriasis and all my sort of general hypermobility and all of that that had been around forever. But MS was kind of the headline thing for me, and it was the beginning of actually getting a bit of a wake up call and having to adjust the way that I was approaching my life, even though I didn't fully understand the extent of the pivot that I was going to need to make to really look after myself properly. That was the thing that started me on the road towards that realization, which did take a little while.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (08:20):
At which point in your journey did you find AIP?
Becca Benning (08:27):
I remember very specifically what happened with all of that because it was as a result of a particular conversation I had with my neurologist who I used to see once a year. I still do see them roughly once a year just for an annual review. And I was about to turn 40, so it was 2016. And he said to me, he was trying to get his point across that he thought I really needed to seriously consider some of the big heavy disease modifying drugs. And he said that I was on a trajectory of increasing disability, he called it, which is a story I've told loads of times because it kind of sticks in your head as a phrase. I was like, that's not what I want on a t-shirt, thanks. But my response to that was, let me go away and just do a little bit of work on my own and see how far I can get.
(09:21):
And then can we have this conversation again because I'm not at all, but I had in the intervening touch, so this was about four years after my diagnosis, and in the intervening years I had come across things like Terry Wall's, original TED talk about the wall's protocol. And the idea had been introduced into my brain, but I wasn't ready to hear it yet until I had this conversation with my neurologist. And then I came out of that and I was like, right, I need to look now at what I can do for myself to try and impact my baseline in a positive way and see how good I can get by myself and then make a decision about what I want to do in terms of medication and stuff. And then I came into it in a bit of a roundabout way because my husband bought me the paleo approach because I'd been talking about, I had revisited the Terry Walter's talk and I was exploring these various ideas and he was looking into it as well.
(10:24):
So he got me the paleo approach and I read it and I was like, right, I think this is the way for me, because I really liked the idea of branching out again, that there was this kind of period of experimentation to find out where my personal issues might be hiding. But then there was a branching out after that to kind of the broadest version of life that was going to be possible once I understood myself better. And I was like, that's the way that I want to go about this. So I did it. I had no idea that health coaching was a thing or anything at that point, so I just did it all by myself. I was muddling through all my own and getting everything wrong, making all kinds of mistakes, how it goes.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (11:08):
Yeah, I love how you put this, that broadening. It's a very, well, it's not just about the restriction part. We all say that it is that regaining as you get to know your body, that regaining that broader potential. What was your experience where you were at with your symptoms and when you started, did you start implementing dietary changes, lifestyle changes, both at the same time or how did you approach it?
Becca Benning (11:34):
I, I did sort of the opposite of what I would do now really, because I was very heavily tunnel vision about the dietary aspect because I'd started to play around with that after the listening to Dr. Walls talking. I was like, right, I can take some steps in that direction. I can up my vegetable intake and I can focus on eating more colorful stuff. I can do some of those things and then I can think about what I might do next once I've done some of that. And so I was using that as a sort of bridge towards AIP, but it got to the point where I think I boxed myself in and made my world really quite small for a while because I was so kind narrowly, this is the way it has to be. And I had my daughter was about to at the time, so I was dealing with parenting a young child at the same time. And so I was like, right, this is all I can think about is what she needs and what I need to eat. And that's it. I've got no room for anything else.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (12:44):
Did you see a relief in symptoms? How was your experience with that? I'd love for you to share more.
Becca Benning (12:53):
Yeah, it was interesting because things changed that I didn't even, it's that classic thing that so many of us as AIP Certified Coaches have seen where things start to shift and people go, I didn't even know that was normal. That's just been my normal for so long, and then it just disappears. So my digestion was different almost immediately. And I was like, oh. And obviously understanding now my level of gluten sensitivity is ridiculous. And I was eating gluten all day every day pre this whole situation. And I had kind of had some clues that there was a problem with that before, but I'd done an elimination thing and got over the immediate problem. And so I was like, it's come back in again and it's fine. And just obviously the level of noise that was coming from things like from constantly eating things that were bothering my system had kind of amped up and up and up.
(13:47):
And so there were just things where I was like, oh, I feel like I'm a bit more awake somehow and my joints feel a bit different. And that some things actually got worse initially, but I hadn't gone straight into AIP because I was eating more of things that I wouldn't have done previously. So I was eating a lot of eggs initially because I was trying to eat more protein and I was eating a lot more nightshades because of the colorful stuff. And so there were some things where I was like, oh, I'm not sure what's going on here. So I was so grateful to have a roadmap of some sort because otherwise I just would've been scrambling around in the dark because I had literally made up an elimination diet for myself when I started to have an idea that I had gluten problems in my twenties. I just made one up because my mum had done one and I was like, I don't want to do what she's done, so I'll just make up my own.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (14:43):
Did you end up seeing a neurologist and then how did that conversation go after you had done your you are on journey, on path?
Becca Benning (14:53):
It's been so interesting actually because I've seen lots, obviously this year is 10 years since I started AIP, and so I've seen a neurologist at least once a year. And so I have had basically my MS relapses. I haven't really had, I dunno if they would even define what I have had as a relapse at all. But to me there have been two episodes over that decade that have significantly impacted me, and I know I'm quite confident that I understand what was going on with them because there were specific situations around triggers that I know that there was an infection that then led to an episode of Vertigo, and it's like I can clearly see what was going on there. And so every time I go back to see my neurologist for a review, they go, oh, you are doing very well. And I go, yeah.
(15:44):
And they go, what are you doing? Some of them, but some of them are like, okay, you can go now. But some of them, and it's interesting, I tend to find that the younger doctors are more open to conversation about what it is that I've been doing because I do say I've been working hard on actually building health, not just managing disease, but I'm trying to build those foundations from the ground up. And so I'm doing all of the things. I'm looking at sleep and stress management and I'm thinking about being out in nature and all of this stuff. And I just think it's worth mentioning every time I speak to any doctor who's asking me, how come I'm not in the state that they might've expected me to be in by this point.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (16:30):
I'm curious if you can share your journey with the AIP lifestyle pillar section. So when you started implementing the sleep, the movement, the connection, reducing stress, was there a particular order that you did? Was there one that stood out that was more challenging or one that was more pivotal in bringing change?
Becca Benning (16:52):
Yeah, I mean I think there were so many of those things that I worked on sort of tangled up together, so they were happening at the same time. So things like going for a walk in the morning every day, so being outside, getting a little bit of movement and spending a bit of time in nature while I'm out, because I'm very fortunate that I have a park behind my house. I was able, even when I was in super busy period of my life and I'm sort of doing the school run and doing all of the juggling of everything else, I was still able, it takes 10 minutes to do a lap of the park. So if I've only got 10 minutes, I can still do one. So that I think is really, that's one of those things where still now if I don't do it, I feel the difference.
(17:34):
Whereas if I start my day with some time outside and a bit of fresh air, and now because I've been doing it for so long, there's loads of people I say hello to as well. I've got a friend that walks around the park with me at least once a week who's 95, and he tells me all kinds of amazing stories and it's like there are so many I counted the other day and in the course of being there for, I think I was there for 25 minutes, I said hello to 30 people, and these are some of them people that I've chatted to a bit greater length and some not, but they're just people that I see all the time because I'm going to the same place over and over and over. And I think that kind of feeds in as well for me to sleeping better because we know how this all goes, what you do first thing in the morning and the kind of natural light exposure early in the day makes a massive difference to sleep.
(18:24):
And so it's all of those sort of little things. Sleep is a really, it's a keystone pillar for me because it is one of those things where if my sleep ever gets really badly impacted, I see symptoms almost instantly. I feel different, but also I've, I had a really horrendous night's sleep because of stuff that was going on that was nothing to do with my health. And I woke up the next morning and I felt like I'd been scolded all down one side of my back, which is a sensory thing that happens sometimes with my ms, but usually a much smaller patches. And so it was this gigantic patch of pain all down my back, and as soon as I had a decent night's sleep, it just went away. So it really very, my body gives me immediate feedback on how important some of that stuff is.
Jaime Hartman (19:11):
Obviously we know that we work with our clients individually and everybody needs something that's personalized to them, but I think all of us can also say there are things that come up with the clients we work with over and over points. We keep coming back to things we keep advocating. What for you is one of the main things that you find yourself advocating for your clients repeatedly?
Becca Benning (19:34):
Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? Because we do definitely at the beginning we're like, no, it's all just completely individual. But then once you've been doing this a few years, it's like, no, there's definitely themes coming out here. And a couple of the things that I always try to get across to everybody, just because I think it's useful to know and the way that it looks for each individual person is going to be different, but to look at everything from a really broad perspective. So step back and don't hyperfocus on the diet and just look at your whole picture of all of the things that are important to your wellbeing personally. And then, so you're going beyond just diet, you are thinking about stress and sleep and all of these other things, but then once you've taken that kind of big picture, look at everything, you are definitely encouraged to zoom right back in again and think about really small steps that you can experiment with to see what's going to be your next best action and not stress about the whole arc of the entire story from the beginning. You can just worry about what you're going to do next, and it's okay to focus in small.
Jaime Hartman (20:45):
I love that idea, the whole arc of the story. And then focusing back in, when you look at the big arc, is there something that has an umbrella over that that you see a lot with your clients? Is there some kind of common thread of the big issues for people?
Becca Benning (21:03):
I think one of the things that really stands out for me is how the whole process is about self-knowledge. So it's always about paying attention to yourself. And it's often, so the people I work with, because I work with people with autoimmune issues and people who work in education, those people have in common distinct tendency to push through stuff and to actively ignore the signals that our bodies are sending for various reasons. But we've spent so many years tuning it all out that coming back into paying attention and going, actually, what do I need? What does my body respond well to? When do I actually feel good and what makes me feel better? What makes me feel worse? Just really because those things are, that's where the personal bit comes in, is the way that people respond, but the self-knowledge is universal that has of benefit to everyone who doesn't want more kind of consciously intentional decisions that are based on understanding what works for us.
Jaime Hartman (22:05):
And you said that taking an experimental approach is really at the heart of what you do. What are some experimental approaches that our listeners might be able to consider when they think about those lifestyle pieces?
Becca Benning (22:22):
Part of it is about just the language even that we use when we're talking about what we're doing. So just calling something an experiment instead of going, I've got 30 days of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and kind of building this super rigid structure, just kind of going, I'm going to play with going to bed a little bit earlier, so next week I'm going to see how many times I can do that. And if I manage to do it once half an hour earlier than normal, then I can consider that progress. But if I manage to do it three times, I'm going to feel really good about myself. And then if I get up to six days out of seven, I'm going to be properly full on celebrating. I get a gold star for that level of success. It's allowing it to be small, but also allowing for wiggle room and for life to be life within that and budgeting ourselves a little bit of space to still feel good if it doesn't go perfectly, because it usually won't.
Jaime Hartman (23:17):
That's great. I was thinking about the idea of an experimental approach and my brain was immediately going to, I'm going to experiment and see what the results are, but you're taking that even further, even more granular to I'm just going to experiment with how might I implement this? Which really takes a lot of that often, but we don't think of it that way. But self-imposed pressure on, I must do this. I have to do this for my health. It's like, well, let me experiment with seeing how this goes. It's
Becca Benning (23:46):
Really powerful. It's sort of like the anti using the word, it's like the opposite of that because we tell ourselves off internally, don't we all the time about the things that we should be doing? Because if it was easy to just do it because we know we should, then everybody would be doing all the things already, wouldn't they? But that's not where we are because it's hard,
Jaime Hartman (24:06):
Should, would, could. So changing it instead from should to, I could see what happens if I try
Becca Benning (24:13):
And I can play with whatever it is that it feels like you want to do and talking about it like that internally to yourself, but also outwardly to other people and kind of going, oh, I'm just experimenting with whatever I'm experimenting with, tweaking my diet, or I'm experimenting with trying to work on my sleep. And so far it's really helping. So I'm excited about the potential,
Jaime Hartman (24:34):
And that's a great way to explain it to other people as well as to yourself because you can then open the conversation up to why you're doing this right now and helping sort of open the door for them to maybe volunteer some support for you as well.
Becca Benning (24:50):
And it helps you to get clear about what kind of support would actually be useful If you're thinking about an experiment, it's like, well, what do I actually need? If you've had a go once and it hasn't quite gone according to plan, you can go, well, what would help me to have another go at that and give myself a better chance of it going, well, maybe I could ask somebody for something or maybe I can make some kind of tweak to my environment to set myself up better. It just sort of allows a bit more space and like you said, a bit less pressure. We're holding onto it all a little bit less tightly.
Jaime Hartman (25:24):
And I know you've also said the talked about the importance of community really mattering, so sort of touching upon that there as well.
Becca Benning (25:32):
Yeah, absolutely. And that that's our immediate community in terms of the people in our family or the circle of friends, whoever are the closest people to you. But it's also about finding connections with people who understand who might not be. Those people who are around you in your life, you might need to go beyond them to be around other people who get it. And that's why things like Autoimmune Health Club and the AIP retreats and stuff like that where you get to be in either a virtual community or a real live space. It's one of the only times in my life where I've been in person with other people who understand all of this stuff. Is that an AIP retreat? It doesn't happen that often, does it? Where are these rooms? There's not that many of them.
Jaime Hartman (26:15):
Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing all of that. I'm going to turn it back over to Marie-Noelle to ask you about some ways that our listeners can put this into action.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (26:25):
Yeah, thanks and thanks, Jaime. I love the beauty, I think of the AIP coaches community too, is that we've all gone through or we're going through our own autoimmune journey, and I always say it's all individualized and there is a common thread, but I love how from your journey, how you really hone in on what you offer to your clients is so really stemmed from what you've learned in your journey, and it's just such a beautiful way to give back and help the community with what you've learned. So thank you for sharing that and creating that space for clients.
Becca Benning (27:03):
Thank you.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (27:05):
Yeah, thank you. So I wanted to ask you, so we always talk in the podcast about elevating our wellness journey to new heights. So I would love for you to share one or two actionable tips, something that our listeners could do right now as they're listening, or just after they're done listening, what could they do to help how they're feeling right now?
Becca Benning (27:32):
I think the two easiest shifts to implement are break it down super small, really, really, really small. And so if you're thinking about implementing something, what is the teeny, teeny weeny step that you could take so that you felt like you were at least facing in that direction? If you haven't even taken a proper step yet, you're just kind of reorientating yourself, so you're going to be looking that way so that you might then be ready to take a step, think that level of tiny weenie, and then let yourself play with it as this experimental approach. It's like you are allowed to pick something just because it feels easy. You don't have to do the thing that's going to be the biggest impact immediately. You can start with something that feels like it's achievable and you can break it down as small as you can because you're trying to teach yourself and your brain that you are capable of implementing positive change and sticking with it. So make it something easy. I actively encourage you to go like, well, that one feels like one I could do easily now or tomorrow. Pick that one.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (28:37):
That's great. That's a great point. I feel like I'm definitely guilty of going for the hardest thing first, the biggest challenge, and then you're looking at Mount Everest and you're like, I don't even know where to start. That's great. Thank you so much, Jaime, do you have any other questions?
Jaime Hartman (28:55):
Yeah, I just want to end by asking Becca to, well, again, thanking Becca for being here. Thank you very much. And I want to invite you to remind listeners how they can connect with you and also, again, win you the next launch of the Autumn Health Club will be.
Becca Benning (29:09):
Yeah, so I'm very grateful to my past self for just naming my business my name, because it means that I'm super easy to find. So all you need to do is just Google my name, so it's Becca Benning, and then you'll be able to find my website. You can find me on Instagram, on Facebook, and on LinkedIn are the main platforms. I've got a little bit of stuff going on YouTube as well. My mailing list is a great place to stay in touch, so you can always sign up there and then you'll be the first to know about all the things. And doors to the Autoimmune Health Club are going to be opening again in early March, so it's right at the beginning of March. And if you're on my mailing list, you will see that. But if you connected me anywhere else, obviously I will be talking about it on social media and stuff as well.
Jaime Hartman (29:54):
Great. Again, thank you, Becca, for your time today and helping us drive home the point 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're not doing it alone,
Marie-Noelle Marquis (30:18):
We'll be back with another episode in two weeks. You can find the AIP Summit Podcast and your favorite podcast player, so be sure to follow or subscribe so that you don't miss an episode.
Jaime Hartman (30:27):
And if you'd like to leave us a rating and a review, it will really help us as it'll 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.
