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 Marquis, and we are here to equip you with the tools, the knowledge, and the support you need to effectively use the autoimmune protocol.
Jaime Hartman (00:25):
And today we are sharing a conversation I had with a naturopath who was in survival mode as a new mother with Hashimoto's until AIP changed everything for her.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:39):
Our guest today is Monica Harris. She's a degree qualified naturopath based in Australia with more than 20 years of clinical experience. Monica was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis while she was pregnant at a point in her career when she was working in high pressure role for a health company and despite being a healthcare professional herself, she did not see it coming.
Jaime Hartman (00:59):
Monica ended up finding AIP and implementing it with the support of an AIP Certified Coach. And within three weeks, she had significant improvement across every symptom that she was tracking. The moment that she knew her life had truly changed, she found herself dancing around her living room out of pure joy.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:20):
I love that. That experience led Monica to return to clinical practice and pursue her AIP Certified Coach credential so she could help other mothers with Hashimoto's get themselves back too. She now offers a 12-week program that brings together the dietary and lifestyle foundations of AIP with individualized naturopathic support. She's currently taking expressions of interest for her first small group intake and we'll make sure to share how you can reach her in the show notes.
Jaime Hartman (01:49):
Now a note for our listeners due to scheduling conflicts, I recorded this conversation with Monica Solo earlier last week. Let's take a listen and then Marie Noel and I will be back on the other side to share some concluding thoughts. Monica, I am so happy to have you joining us today. Thank you for being here.
Monica Harris (02:11):
Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Jaime Hartman (02:14):
So we're going to jump right in and talk first about your background and your professional journey. I know that you were already working as a healthcare professional when you got diagnosed with Hashimoto's and I'm wondering if you would share with our audience what that was like for you to be suddenly on the patient side of that experience. Did your training as a naturopath, did that help or did that make things more confusing or was it a benefit to you in any way?
Monica Harris (02:40):
I think it was a little bit of both actually. A bit of a help and a bit of a hindrance in a way. I had treated people with Hashimoto's in clinic before, so I knew the signs and I knew the driving factors behind it, but I wasn't necessarily able to see that in myself. And I had I guess this idea in my head that just because I was a naturopath meant that I was healthy and perhaps exempt from any chronic health conditions. And I was at the time working for health companies in a very stressful job. I was not sleeping. I was cutting corners nutritionally and really dieting a lot and smashing myself in the gym. And I thought that I could supplement my way out of this terrible lifestyle working for a health company. Turns out that wasn't the case. And I think I didn't necessarily notice the signs that I was developing this chronic condition.
(03:41):
So it took a colleague of mine to actually notice it and order some testing for me and see those early signs. And I think the other way that it hindered me was I was pregnant when I was diagnosed and it really challenged my identity as a naturopath to suddenly have a health condition and to have to take a medication to support my pregnancy. So there was a bit of resistance there and it took a bit of persuading from my colleague and friend to actually take those steps that I needed to take and accept it as something that's going to be helpful and it doesn't mean that I'm failing as a naturopath.
Jaime Hartman (04:26):
Would you share with us what it was that were a synopsis of what it was that your colleague said?
Monica Harris (04:32):
Oh, look, I just had so much resistance around taking the medication and I knew that it was something that I needed to take to support the pregnancy, but she just had to be hard. She was really quite firm with me and it was a little bit of a suck it up kind of moment. And really I think I was just looking for sympathy and understanding, I suppose. So yeah, she did give me that sympathy and understanding, but at the same time it's like you ...
Jaime Hartman (05:07):
And what ultimately made you decide to leave that corporate position and return to clinical practice as a naturopath?
Monica Harris (05:15):
Well, I originally thought I would have the baby have a year of maternity leave and get straight back into my old life, but Hashimoto's completely changed that. And I knew that the lifestyle that contributed to my Hashimoto's was not the lifestyle that was going to help me to heal. So I knew I couldn't go back. And when I had such a big turnaround with AIP, suddenly I couldn't unsee it. And when I went to playgrounds and swimming lessons and I saw all these moms that just looked like they were so fatigued and dragging themselves through their lives, I was just so inspired to help other moms to get that energy back and get themselves back. So it was really just a natural next step for me to go back into clinical practice and help moms with Hashimoto's. Yeah.
Jaime Hartman (06:08):
And I know you've said to me that you described it as survival mode when you are a new mother, didn't even really know what normal was supposed to look like. Would you, for our listeners, just take us back to that time? What was that actually like on a day-to-day basis for you?
Monica Harris (06:25):
Oh, it was Groundhog Day. I was dragging myself through every day and this was not the kind of fatigue where I need a nap and I'll feel a bit better. This was the kind of full body fatigue, body and brain. And it's the kind of fatigue where you drop something on the ground and you have a good, long, hard think about how important that thing is before you go all the way down there and all the way back up to pick that thing up. And there was a moment when my son asked me to jump like a kangaroo with him and I just said, "Buddy, can I be a horse because there's absolutely no way I can get tooth feed off the ground at the same time." So it was that level of fatigue and I was miserable. I remember one day my husband went fishing on a weekend and I just cried because it was like the weekend is the same as all the weekdays.
(07:22):
And when he got home from fishing, I gave him a hug and he smelled like a combination of fish and sunscreen. And I said to him, "You smell like fun." And I just burst into tears. So it was not a fun time.
(07:42):
I think there was one time actually that he took me and my son four wheel driving on the beach and this is my absolute favorite place in the world and there was the white sand, the blue sky, the clear water and it should have felt like a really nice day off together, but my whole body was aching and I was fatigued and I was miserable and I kind of thought to myself, "If this is a good day, then what hope have I got?" And that's kind of when I guess the hope quietly left. I quietly lost all hope and that's when I knew I had to do something about it.
Jaime Hartman (08:23):
And I know that one of the things that you had to do was, or that you found yourself doing was starting AIP. How quickly did things shift for you once you began AIP? Were there other symptoms you were tracking in addition to the fatigue?
Monica Harris (08:37):
Yeah, actually, and that's a point too. I thought that just taking my medication was going to be enough
(08:46):
And my test results were back in range and everything looked fine on paper, but I wasn't feeling good. And so someone had told me about ARP in the past. And so when I went on AIP, I was actually pretty proud of myself. I Googled all the symptoms, wrote them all down and rated them out of 10 and I enlisted an AIP coach. And when I had my three week follow-up, I wrote them all down again and rated them out of 10 without looking back at my previous answers and every single symptom improved significantly. And there was my mood, there was mental capacity, my energy, I've got the diary here actually because I've still got it.
Jaime Hartman (09:35):
Oh, wow.
Monica Harris (09:37):
Yeah. My aches and pains, there was none. It went from a six to eight to pretty much noth. The cold intolerance, the puffy face, all of that improved within that first three weeks and then my weight. So Hashimoto's involves, it affects your metabolism and AIP is not a weight loss diet, but the weight just fell off me because suddenly my metabolism was working again. So with the three-week follow-up, 5.4 kilos I'd already lost and yeah, it just continued to come off me until all the excess was gone and I was a healthier weight than I was even at my wedding. So lots of symptoms all improved so significantly in such a quick time for me with AIP.
Jaime Hartman (10:20):
I know you've mentioned too that you had a reduction in your thyroid antibodies as part of your results for our listeners who maybe are newer to Hashimoto's, can you explain why antibody levels matter and what it meant to you to see them change?
Monica Harris (10:35):
Yeah. So with Hashimoto's, it's a thyroid problem, but that's not the cause of the problem. It's your immune system attacking your thyroid. And so the antibodies are what show up in the blood to give evidence that it is your immune system causing that attack. My antibodies were, and this is Australian units of measurement, but my antibodies were in the thousands and they don't actually measure the exact number when it's above 1000. So I don't know how high they were, but they were above 1000. And I actually looked back at the test yesterday and it was eight months later and two months into my AIP journey that it went from above 1000 down to 297. And that's a pretty quick change when we wouldn't normally retest two months after starting AIP. It does take some time for those antibodies to go down. So I was really quite amazed and it was just confirmation because I felt it.
(11:42):
The symptoms had improved so much and it was so good to see that confirmation that I was addressing the driving factors adequately.
Jaime Hartman (11:50):
And I know that you mentioned already that you came to AIP with the support of an AIP Certified Coach, which is exciting for me because we focused just in this podcast on talking to AIP Certified Coaches. So we
Marie-Noelle Marquis (12:03):
Don't
Jaime Hartman (12:03):
Often get to talk with someone about what the experience is actually like from the client side. So I'd love if you would share with us what that support was like for you and what kind of a difference it made for you.
Monica Harris (12:17):
Yeah. Okay. Well, as a naturopath, I know the value of having that support and accountability. So it was a no-brainer for me to go to an AIP Certified Coach. She gave me all the resources that I need. She's been through AIP herself and was able to help me to integrate that into my life and make it a practical for me. And I actually previously knew about AIP as a diet, but I didn't know that it was a full lifestyle treatment. And so she introduced me to all the aspects of AIP.
Jaime Hartman (12:57):
Yeah, I think that's such a good point to make. Clearly you had the knowledge about the diet part of it and you could certainly have done that on your own, but having the support of somebody who was there to help you with it made a difference. Was there a moment from that coaching relationship that sticks with you?
Monica Harris (13:15):
Yeah. Well, I mean, like I said, I knew about it being the dietary side of things and I stuck to that to the letter, but I wasn't so great, I suppose, when it came to the lifestyle side of things. I did have a young child and she was so kind and supportive. And I guess the moment that stuck out the most was when she had to put it to me straight and be a little bit hard on me because I was so set on breastfeeding for an extended period of time. I ended up breastfeeding for two and a half years. And for me personally, I guess the energy was the last thing that I still ... There was still a little bit of fatigue. I had such a good result and she just put it to me straight and told me, "Monica, you've got to keep some of those nutrients for yourself because I'm eating this nutritious diet and it's all going into that output." So I mean, I was blessed to be able to breastfeed and she just kept reminding me every time I saw her, it's time, Monica, it's time.
(14:27):
And once I did, I was so, so resistant to it, but once I did, it helped with my sleep and it really started to move the needle when it came to my energy.
Jaime Hartman (14:40):
Which I imagine trickled down to your child as well when you had more energy. Yeah.
Monica Harris (14:46):
Well, that's the thing. She was reminding me that it's all good and well that you have been giving your child this beautiful nutrition, but if you can't jump on the trampoline with him and mum's too tired to play with you, then I thought it was going to be so hard and kids are so adaptable and it was just so easy.
Jaime Hartman (15:07):
I hear that a lot, that kids are adaptable. I hear that from other people from other stages of life too, that as mothers are hesitant to make a big change that's going to impact the family and realizing that the kids can go with the flow and having their parent be more just whole and present and able to- The best version of the gigs. Is worth it. It's worth everything that they had to give up.
Monica Harris (15:37):
Yeah. It made such a difference.
Jaime Hartman (15:40):
So let's talk a litle bit about that, about making AIP work practically. A lot of people, I know when they hear about AIP, when they hear about the diet part of it particularly, they assume this is going to be socially isolating or just logistically overwhelming. And you have shared that your experience was actually the opposite. How did you do that? How did you make it work day to day? Especially now I'm remembering, remember listeners, she has a young child at the time at home.
Monica Harris (16:11):
Yeah. Well, I mean, I thought that too, and that's probably why it took me a year to come around to the idea of actually getting on AIP. But I mean, I grew up in Australia where the typical meal is meat and three veg. And at home we were quite healthy as I was growing up. So it'd be meat and multiple veg or meat and salad. And really I just really went out, bought all my vegetables, chose what meats I wanted to have for the week ideally grass fed and grass finished. But whatever I could at the time, I stocked up my pantry with a few of the staples. So things like your cassava flour and your coconut aminos to replace your soy sauce, that sort of thing. And yeah, it was always pretty easy, like just simple, easy meals, meat, vegetables, meat salad.
(17:06):
And if I wanted to get a bit fancy, there was so many resources out there, so many recipes. There is so much support with AIP and I'd look up a recipe and I'd just already have all of the ingredients. This was when I was doing the core AIP before modified AIP was an option. So yeah, it actually kept it pretty simple for me. And I was nervous the first time that I rang a chef ahead of time to go out to dinner and my coach helped me to know what to say when calling. And so I just explained my situation and mentioned that I'd really love to be able to come out to dinner with my friends and we just need to keep it simple and ask them if they were willing and able to do that for me and they were always helpful. And so it wasn't too hard.
(18:01):
I went to a wedding and it was fine. Going out to friends places for barbecues and parties where people are bringing food along, I just make sure that I brought my own contribution, which was something that I could eat and I didn't worry about anyone else having to cater for me. And so it was very well received. So yeah, it was surprisingly easy for me.
Jaime Hartman (18:24):
Yeah. And I noticed in you saying, you're saying it was surprisingly easy for you because you did just a little bit of work ahead of time. Yes. You made a point of looking ahead to where are we going to go to eat? Let me call the chef, let me let them know what I need, see if they can work. I'm going to go to a friend's house. I'm going to plan ahead to bring something that's my contribution that I can eat, which those weren't huge amounts of work, just a litle bit of foresight and preparation for it. So you had a specific moment when you realized AIP had genuinely changed your life. Can you tell us about that?
Monica Harris (18:59):
Yeah. So there was one day that I put music on to clean the house and a song that I loved came on and I just found myself suddenly dancing around the living room, spinning and jumping just out of pure joy. And the contrast hit me because not long before that I was rationing every tiny scrap of energy just to get through the day and I was miserable and the days were dragging on. So to suddenly have enough energy to spend it on something completely frivolous like dancing and to just be inherently happy, that was just enormous for me. So I sent a message to my coach to thank her and because I just said, "I'm back." I finally felt like I'd got myself back and yeah, that was just such a beautiful moment for me.
Jaime Hartman (19:54):
Oh, I'm just smiling ear to ear. I feel like I'm the coach who got that message and how exciting that wants to been to get that. Let's talk for a few minutes about now the naturopath's lens on Hashimoto's. I know that as a naturopath, you read pathology results, lab results a little bit differently than a GP would. What does that actually mean in practice and why would it matter for someone with Hashimoto's who's been told that, "Hey, your labs look fine, medication's at the right level, you're doing great." And I mean, they may not actually feel better.
Monica Harris (20:35):
Yeah. Yeah. So in conventional medicine, the main thing that's tested is thyroid stimulating hormones, so TSH. And the funny thing about that is that that's not a thyroid hormone at all that's produced by the pituitary gland in your brain and it's essentially cracking the whip on your thyroid to try and get it going when it's not performing. So that's really useful information, but what often happens is somebody will get put on thyroid hormone replacement and the TSH settles down and bobs your uncle, you're fine, but you're still feeling quite often for most people, they're still feeling exhausted. So as a naturopath, what I want to know is are you actually converting that thyroid hormone, the T4 into the active form that your body can use, which is T3, or are you converting it to the opposite reverse T3, which is basically like putting your foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time.
(21:37):
Did you ever have that high school boyfriend with a souped up car that used to do burnout around the local parking lot? I don't know if that was just growing up in a small town in Australia, but they put their foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time and the wheels would spin. So that's really what's happening, you're spinning your wheels because if you've got some things like inflammation and stress and other factors that are causing you to not so much convert it enough of it to the active form but the reverse T3, then we've got a problem. So we need to know we need to test for not just the TSH but the T4, the T3 and the reverse T3. And also we want to know if you're getting that thyroid hormone into your cells, because it's one thing to produce it, another thing to convert it into the active form and another thing again, to get it into your cells.
(22:34):
So there are other factors that can impede on that. There's also the antibody piece. So quite often people will have their antibodies tested to diagnose Hashimoto's in the first place, but it's not monitored ongoing because conventional medicine doesn't have a treatment for that immune attack on the thyroid. But naturally we do have options and AIP is a really fundamental part of bringing those antibodies down. So we look at the antibodies, we look at the whole thyroid picture, we look at where the bottlenecks are and this gives us an idea of what we need to do, which nutrients we need to use, which lifestyle and environmental factors might be impeding on any of those steps along the way. And that's how we can get people not just looking better on paper, but feeling better as well.
Jaime Hartman (23:36):
What are some of the symptoms that you most commonly see in those clients who are looking better on paper perhaps, but not feeling better?
Monica Harris (23:46):
There are so many symptoms with Hashimoto's. So thyroid hormone governs metabolism in every cell of your body and a lot of people think metabolism means fat burning, but it's energy production. It slows everything down if your thyroid hormone is low, so it'll slow digestion down a lot of the time and that might cause constipation. People can find ... So energy, mood can be low, you can get aches and pains, hair loss or brittle hair, cold hands and feet, your cholesterol can climb up, you might get dry skin and there are a few weird random symptoms like laying on your left side makes your left arm go numb, that sort of thing. Or the weirdest one is the outer third of your eyebrows can start to thin out. So there are a lot of different signs and symptoms with Hashimoto's and they're not all recognized or noticed as being a sign of Hashimoto's.
(24:57):
And when someone looks fine on paper, they can get dismissed and that is at two different stages really. So when someone is being treated and they're having that thyroid hormone replacement and the TSH is back in range, that's one point where they can be dismissed. But then also in the early stages of Hashimoto's, because the TSH is not the first thing to go wrong. The antibodies, the immune system attacking the thyroid is the first thing to go wrong or the first sign and that immune system can be attacking the thyroid for quite a few years and you can have quite a few symptoms and suffer for quite a while before it gets your TSH into that range where it's a diagnosable condition. So that's another stage where people can be dismissed. And quite often someone will come to me with all these symptoms and I say, "Well, that sounds like your thyroid." And they say, "Oh no, my thyroid's fine.
(26:00):
I've had it tested and it's fine." But then I have a look and I'm thinking, "No, it's not fine." Yeah, you can see it creeping up before it gets to that point where it's a diagnosable condition. So a lot of people do get dismissed.
Jaime Hartman (26:20):
Now we're going to talk finally about your decision to become an AIP Certified Coach yourself. What drove that decision to pursue that on top of your already existing, as we discussed, naturopathic training?
Monica Harris (26:37):
Well, after my own experience with Hashimoto's, I became really passionate about helping other women through Hashimoto's and I did do further training on the thyroid to become a level one and level two certified thyroid practitioner and that deepened my clinical understanding of the thyroid and the drivers. And since AIP was so fundamental to that turnaround in my own health, I wanted to do the best that I could to support other people through it. So becoming a certified AIP coach gave me that deeper understanding of how to actually coach someone through those changes. Yeah, it was a real no-brainer for me to take that extra step.
Jaime Hartman (27:19):
And we're so glad that you did and that you are part of our community. Now, you have a 12-week program that is specifically designed for mothers with Hashimoto's. Why mothers in particular and how does that program bring together AIP and your clinical experience?
Monica Harris (27:39):
Well, I designed it for mothers because I know how hard motherhood is with Hashimoto's. I feel as though Hashimoto's stole the joy out of a time that was meant to be really special for me and I'm on a mission to help other mothers overcome those symptoms and get themselves back as well. So the program itself is holistic. It's bringing together the dietary and lifestyle aspects of AIP with the additional support of addressing those drivers that can be specific to Hashimoto's. So with my program, I've got three main phases. So there's that nourish phase where we focus on the food and nutrition and reducing immune triggers. There's the lifestyle revamp phase is what I've called it, where we're looking at sleep, stress and the right amount of movement. And then we've got the detox and reset phase where we're looking at environmental triggers and gut health and anything else that might be keeping the immune system on high alert.
(28:40):
So it's not just dietary support and it's not just a generic thyroid plan. It's a structured way to help moms understand what's actually driving their symptoms and take those steps to start feeling like themselves again.
Jaime Hartman (28:57):
And what else can you tell us about who this program is for? I know you're currently taking expressions of interest for your first small group intake. Who is this for? And if some of our listeners hear themselves in that, how can they find out more?
Monica Harris (29:15):
So this program is for moms with Hashimoto's who may have been told that their bloods are fine, but they're still not feeling fine. They're fatigued, they might have brain fog, low mood, and all of those other Hashimoto symptoms that I spoke about. It's for someone who is ready to make some changes with their diet and lifestyle and wants the support through that. I want to run this as a small group and I am taking expressions of interest so that I can get together three to five women for my first group intake. I've been seeing people one-to-one already and I really Love, I see real value in having a group program because you've got that high touch support, so the weekly coaching calls in combination with my one-to-one consultations where we take a more individualized approach. But that sense of community, connection is one of the pillars of AIP and the AIP lifestyle side of things.
(30:24):
And so that sense of community and supporting each other as well as having that extra high touch support is I think really valuable. So that's why I'm looking to get a group together. And the first intake is just going to be a small intake. The spots are genuinely limited because I want to be able to give everyone real attention and take a real individualized approach for everyone. So if somebody wants to find me, I assume we'll be able to put a link
(31:02):
To ... Yeah. So the first step is going to be to book a Hashimoto's assessment call so we can have a talk about whether this is the right fit for you. You can also find me on Instagram. My handle is Monica Harris Naturopath, which is just all one word. Or you can have a look at my website, which is Monicaharrisnaturopath.com. So another thing to mention is that being in Australia, being a naturopath in Australia, my insurance doesn't cover people in the US. So I'm still very happy to support you through whatever other avenues I can. And we do also have the AIP Certified Coach directory. So if you do want to find someone in the US that is able to support you through for those US citizens, then that's a really great resource for you as well.
Jaime Hartman (31:59):
Great. Thanks for mentioning that. Well, Monica, thank you very much for spending this time today and sharing your story with our listeners. I know that it will reach somebody who really needs to hear it and I appreciate you being willing to share everything that you've gone through and your expertise and how you've navigated this experience.
Monica Harris (32:21):
Thank you so much, Jamie. AIP has just been a life changer for me. So I'm so happy to be able to help people with AIP myself and to be part of this beautiful community. Thank you so much.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (32:38):
That was such an interesting conversation, Jamie. And I'm sorry that I miss being part of it live. Now that I've listened to it, to me, what is really staying with me from Monica's story is the reminder that looking fine on paper and actually feeling well are two completely different things. And if you've been told that your labs are normal but you still don't feel like yourself, that it's worth paying attention and it's worth getting the support from someone who knows what to look for.
Jaime Hartman (33:09):
Yeah, I agree. And one thing that I loved hearing from Monica is that AIP can be simpler than it looks from the outside and a litle bit of planning ahead, a phone call to a restaurant, bringing your own dish to a friend's house. These small acts of preparation are what she told us made it sustainable for her. So for our listeners who have maybe been putting off starting AIP because it seems overwhelming, I hope that Monica's experience gives you that little push.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (33:40):
Yes. And if you need even more support, AIP Certified Coaches are here to help. Monica came to AIP through an AIP Certified Coach and then became one herself. And I think that says everything, right? Having that support and accountability did not just help her heal, but it changed her entire direction of her professional life and the lives of the mothers that now she works with. So that ripple effect, it's exactly why this community exists.
Jaime Hartman (34:05):
Indeed. So listeners, again, we remind you AIP more than a diet. AIP is a protocol with multiple branches and multiple ways to approach it. Through this podcast, AIP Certified Coaches aim to bring you resources so that you can fee confident about doing AIP on your own, but with the knowledge that you aren't doing AIP alone.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (34:28):
And we'll be back with another episode in two weeks. So you can find the AIP Summit Podcast in your favorite podcast player. So be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Jaime Hartman (34:38):
And if you would like to leave us 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.
