Mimi MacLean:
Welcome to The Lyme 360 Podcast, for all things related to Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses. I'm Mimi MacLean, mom of five, founder of Lyme 360, and a fellow Lyme warrior. Tune in each week to hear from doctors, health practitioners and experts to learn about their treatments, struggles and triumphs, to help you on your healing journey. I'm here to heal with you.

Mimi MacLean:
Hi, welcome back to Lyme 360. This is your host, Mimi MacLean. And today, we have on Lindsay Christensen and we are going to be talking about nutrition and Lyme, which is probably one of the most important parts of healing journey, using medicine for your healing.

Mimi MacLean:
Lindsay is a functional nutritionist and has a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science, a Master's of Science in Human Nutrition. She specializes in providing functional, nutritional care for individuals with Lyme disease and other vector-borne infections. After going through her own journey with Lyme disease as a young adult, Lindsay learned just how powerful an effective nutrition can have on the healing process. And she is passionate about using nutrition to support recovery in her clients. Lindsay is the author of The Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan and works with clients one on one in her private practice, Ascent to Health.

Mimi MacLean:
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Mimi MacLean:
Lindsay, thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate it, and I'm excited to talk to you about nutrition and Lyme because I think those go hand in hand. And it takes, I think, a while for many of us to get that correlation. Even me, I went to Institute of Integrative Nutrition before I had Lyme, and it still took me a while to really have it sink in. And I think the hardest part, you having had Lyme, you understand, you can relate, where when you don't feel well, the last thing you want to do is juice.

Mimi MacLean:
All you want is something to make you feel better, like a warm cookie, or something, a piece of pizza, or everything that you're not supposed to have. And there's nothing worse than eating everything you're supposed to have and still not feeling better. And you're like, "Oh, when is this going to end?" So, I'm excited to dive in and talk about that. Maybe we'll just first start about your journey, and I assume your journey led to what you're doing now.

Lindsay Christensen:
It sure did, yeah. Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here. And yes, I was led into the work I do now through my own experience with Lyme. So, I can give the brief background, I suppose, if that's kind of what-

Mimi MacLean:
Yeah. Give us a brief background, so we can focus more on what you're offering and how you're helping people.

Lindsay Christensen:
Sure, yeah. I first became sick with Lyme back in my late teens, so pretty early on. It took a long time for me to get diagnosed; took about four, almost five years. So, I really struggled throughout college. Had to withdraw from college many, many times just due to all the symptoms being so overwhelming. I went to college already interested in health care. So, I was initially on a track to become a physical therapist, actually. So, I was already really interested and pretty passionate about health, but my journey made me take a detour, a couple of detours down a different road. As far as, briefly, some of the symptoms I really struggled with were actually a lot of the mental health types of issues, so really severe depression, really severe fatigue, some anxiety.

Mimi MacLean:
I feel like that affects the teenagers almost more than the adults.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. It was scary, yeah. It just felt like there was no control over what was going on in my brain, very scary, very hard too when you're trying to deal with these other stressors of college. So, it was a really challenging time. And I work with some clients now, who are in that stage of life and dealing with Lyme, and I just feel so much empathy for what they're going through, because I have been in the thick of it too.

Lindsay Christensen:
So, the mental health stuff is really significant. Like I said, the fatigue was huge. And then I actually had really severe gastrointestinal problems as well, which actually was what initially led me into nutrition and trying to figure out what the heck could I do with my food, just to try to get my gut functioning even slightly better. So, that's what initially led me into more the functional medicine space and nutrition.

Mimi MacLean:
What do you think ultimately helped you get better? Was it just the nutrition or what other treatments did you do?

Lindsay Christensen:
Oh, man. It was a lot of things and always, I'm totally clear about always. Nutrition wasn't the only thing. It's been foundational. Well, like I said, it took me a long time to get diagnosed. So, when I finally was, I did go the antibiotic route. Initially, naturally, really struggled with that just because my gut was already kind of a disaster. So, after that, I really went total other end of the spectrum with a lot of alternative things. I did all the herbal things, IV therapies, energy healing, all the gut protocols. Really tried everything. Something ultimately... It's something I won't get into but mold ended up being something that I needed to-

Mimi MacLean:
Yeah, mold and parasites. I tell people, if you're not getting better after doing all this treatment, you've got to make sure you don't have any mold or parasites.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. So, I actually ended up taking a break from Lyme treatment for a bit to do the mold treatment, and that had a huge, positive impact. And then really, once I got back into Lyme treatment, for me, for my body, herbal therapies. I don't know if we can name anything. I guess, I won't name the protocol, but one of the herbal protocols for Lyme has been really transformative for me once I was able to get the nutrition figured out, get my gut a bit better, and address some of the mold.

Mimi MacLean:
Yeah. And I do feel like a common link between no matter who you talk to and what treatment they did, is the gut health and food. I don't know many people that got better on their own without dealing with the gut health and changing their diet.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. And it makes so much sense once you think about it. It's like the foods we eat have such a profound impact on our gut health, amongst other things but it's pretty, pretty crucial.

Mimi MacLean:
You're the author of the book The Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan, where you focused on Lyme disease and nutrition and what you should be eating. Do you mind talking about that? I know some people are vegetarian. Some people are this or that, like eat for your blood type. But I do think there is a common anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, viral kind of eating that we all need to do. So, if you could shed some light into that.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. So, the foundational premise of the book is that an anti-inflammatory diet is really essential and helpful for healing from Lyme. So, some of the key principles that I wove into the book, it's the free and dairy free just because I find with most of my clients, those two food groups are common inflammatory triggers for many, many people, especially if there's already some gut issues going on.

Lindsay Christensen:
So, those are the two big eliminations, but really, my goal of the book was also just focused heavily on, "Here's all the things you can eat." So, we're not just focusing on avoidance, I'm trying to emphasize in the book anti-inflammatory foods, nutrient density, eating balanced meals, so that we're supporting our blood sugar control and our energy throughout the day. So, I really tried to place a lot of emphasis on that in the book and with the recipes, as well as simplicity too, as you alluded to at the beginning.

Lindsay Christensen:
We're already tired, overwhelmed, not feeling great. We're in the thick of our Lyme treatment. And oftentimes, we don't really feel motivated to make something super complicated. So, I really tried to emphasize simplicity there as well and make it feel doable for people.

Mimi MacLean:
Well, this is what I struggle with. I mean, I have a son who's in college, who has Lyme. And when you're in college like you were, and I actually did an Instagram live with somebody who found out he had Lyme in college, it's really hard to change your diet and give up everything that every other college student is eating. And then on top of it, stop drinking beer or drinking in general, right? So, it's like it is so hard. So, I would love... Because you said you're working with somebody who are college students. What do you tell them?

Lindsay Christensen:
We do a lot of planning ahead and a lot of creative brainstorming around how can they navigate food in this complex, social situation that is college. So, oftentimes, with my clients who are college students, we're strategizing like what can you keep in your dorm room that you can grab and go between classes, what options that, I don't know if they refer to it as the cafeteria or the food court, what can you pick there that would be slightly more optimal. And when you're going out to eat, when you're going to parties, when you are with friends, how can you plan ahead for those situations, so that you can enjoy yourself without having to recover for the next week...

Mimi MacLean:
I know, right?

Lindsay Christensen:
... after those indulgences. And everybody has slightly different thresholds as far as what they're able to tolerate. But we do a lot of outside-the-box thinking, how can they troubleshoot their unique situation. But it's tricky and it requires getting our priorities in line too, which it can be a tough pill to swallow, so to speak, but it's something worth considering. So, yeah, it's tricky.

Mimi MacLean:
And what is your take on intermittent fasting?

Lindsay Christensen:
I think it can be really, really helpful. It actually was really helpful for me in my own journey of trying to get mast cell issues under control, actually. In particular, we know that intermittent fasting turns on different anti-inflammatory pathways in our bodies and chronic Lyme, being essentially a chronic inflammatory condition, I find it can really benefit or people can really benefit from intermittent fasting. But it's also possible to overdo it, I found as well. So, it really seems to depend on the individual, their body type, what they're able to tolerate as far as length of fasting goes but-

Mimi MacLean:
What do you usually recommend as far as length? Is it like 18 hours, 16 hours? Or is it only like for 24 hours, once a week or different versions?

Lindsay Christensen:
I usually recommend aiming for the same length of time overnight, almost every night. So, 13 or 14 hours, which may be shorter than what you heard before. But that's actually what I tend to recommend as a baseline, especially for my clients who are on the leaner side and we're trying to get enough food into their bodies during the day. So, 13 to 14 hours can be really good.

Lindsay Christensen:
The reason we recommend consistency there, there's actually some more recent research on fasting that shows consistency may really be key, because intermittent fasting influences our circadian rhythms. And when we're consistent with fasting rather than doing 12 hours one day, 16 hours the next, that consistency can help tune our bodies, so to speak, for better energy, better digestion, better blood sugar control. So, that's what I tend to recommend at the moment. Though we do have some people who are fasting a bit longer than that.

Mimi MacLean:
Okay, good. Now, in addition to your book, you offer one-on-one services or do you have group sessions or courses or anything like that? Or is there a private one on one at this point?

Lindsay Christensen:
So, right now, I'm one on one. I have a meal plan subscription service as well for people who maybe aren't able to work with me one on one, where they get a different meal plan every month for a year. And I also, shortly, will have a self-paced course available for the general public as well called Lyme Nutrition Foundations. So, it's going to get into, "Here's the foundational, nutritional things that you should be working on or have in mind to really support your recovery process." So, that is pending. Probably in the next month, that'll be available. But the subscription meal plan service and then one on one are my main offerings at this moment in time.

Mimi MacLean:
That's great. So, what else would you... Like if you had somebody who comes to you and said, "I just been diagnosed," where do they start? In addition to you, do you also send them to a Lyme literate doctor? Are you all-encompassing, or what's the things they can do from home, just options that are available to them?

Lindsay Christensen:
I would say I usually prefer to have my clients work with a Lyme literate doctor at the same time that we are working together, just because, in many cases, the severity of what they're experiencing, I think, requires a team approach. A lot of people who become clients of mine are already working with a Lyme literate provider. But usually, the nutrition piece is not a part of what they're doing, which is why they're working with me as well. So, there is that. I do a lot of support around lifestyle, detox support, optimizing sleep. There's a lot of things that I'm discussing with clients beyond just-

Mimi MacLean:
Nutrition.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. It's hard to disentangle nutrition and lifestyle. It's so closely connected, so-

Mimi MacLean:
It is. And one of the major things, I feel like I always tell people, "Go back to the basics. Like are you sleeping? Are you pooping? Are you drinking enough water? Are you eating enough?" The basics. If those aren't working, you're not going to get better.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. And I would even argue this is not kosher for nutritionists to say but sometimes, their sleep is really off. That can even...

Mimi MacLean:
Oh, totally agree.

Lindsay Christensen:
... be a limiting factor for getting nutrition in line, because when you don't have quality sleep, our cognitive control over the choices we're making with food significantly declines. We probably know that from personal experience, but we know that too from research. So, I do a lot of work with sleep actually, just-

Mimi MacLean:
It's amazing though because it's like I could feel really good and then all of a sudden, I have one bad night of sleep. And the next day, all my symptoms flare-up and you're like, "Oh, my God, are my symptoms just because of lack of sleep? Or is it the lack of sleep causing my symptoms to flare?" But it's amazing how bad you feel after. I mean, you just feel so hungover, at least I do. I feel like I've been hit by a truck and I'm hungover because I only got four hours of sleep.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. I think sleep is really medicine. For Lyme patients, I think it's so crucial. I do a lot of talking about the basics, like sleep hygiene but also troubleshooting. Sometimes, there are different nutritional things we can toggle to improve sleep beyond the sleep hygiene piece. I do use supplementation strategies in my practice and things as well.

Mimi MacLean:
Yeah, I have some good supplements that I use, which has been good. And is there anything that we haven't covered that you think would be important to talk about as far as Lyme in your practice?

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah. I think, briefly, just explaining maybe a little bit about the why behind nutrition and why does it matter in your Lyme recovery. I think we all think about, "Oh, yeah, nutrition matters for health." But sometimes, clients come to me. They're interested but they don't exactly know what they're going to get out of it. So, I guess, what I would say, why is nutrition important for Lyme recovery, for one, frankly, we just need certain nutrients to support our immune function, plain and simple.

Lindsay Christensen:
Like those nutrients are coming from the ether. So, a lot of people I see, frankly, are malnourished for various reasons, whether they're coming from more of a standard American diet that's highly processed and nutrient-depleted. We know, through research, your immune system doesn't function great on that type of diet. Other people may be coming more from a restricted food background, where they're very limited as far as their food options go. They're underweight, or have got issues, or have been so nauseous from Lyme that they're undernourished. So, getting food into the system that's going to support immune function is really crucial.

Lindsay Christensen:
And then I would also say nutrition has a really profound impact on inflammation. I think I touched on this a few minutes ago, briefly. But chronic Lyme, in many ways, is a chronic inflammatory condition and the foods we choose to eat and the foods we don't eat will really modulate that situation. So, that's why anti-inflammatory diet can be so useful. And then I would also say, with all the different body systems that can be impacted by Lyme disease, most of those body systems are also going to be influenced by the foods we eat, so our cognitive function, mental health.

Lindsay Christensen:
For me, once I improved my nutrition, it really helped me with some those mental health symptoms that I was experiencing from Lyme. The hormonal imbalances, the fatigue, all of those manifestations of Lyme coming from dysfunction in the different body systems, even if they can't be totally reversed by nutrition, in many ways, the symptoms can be reduced by really focusing on nutrition. So, it's a bit long-winded but a little bit of the why, behind why even care about food these days.

Mimi MacLean:
While you were talking, it made me think of minerals. I don't feel people talk about minerals enough, like supplementing with minerals in your water. I think I was four years into it when someone finally told me that. And I was like, "What? Why didn't..." And I started taking minerals, just putting drops in my water in the morning, and that was a game-changer. I didn't realize that our body is depleted of so many minerals from the Lyme. And a lot of the symptoms are because your body is depleted from the minerals. And once you replace them, all of a sudden, your brain fog goes, you have a little bit more energy, some of your symptoms go away. And you're like, "Wait, why didn't anybody ever tell me this? Like why did it take four years for someone to be like, 'Hey, are you taking minerals?'"

Mimi MacLean:
 Do you recommend them to your clients?

Lindsay Christensen:
Definitely, yes. Usually, we're starting with whole foods sources and then something even like concentrates, minerals, like in the drops that can be added into water can be really helpful. Our food supply, even good, organic produce these days, it's just frankly lower in minerals and lower in other nutrients now compared to even a few decades ago. And on top of that, a chronic stress response like we're dealing with the Lyme, will really chew up your minerals especially magnesium, zinc, copper, things like that.

Lindsay Christensen:
So, really, trying to focus on mineral rich foods, which also tend to be a lot of the anti-inflammatory ones, so your leafy greens, your vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds. I talk a lot about bone broth as well, that be a good mineral rich food. Pastured, organic dairy products for people, who can tolerate them, can actually be a good source of many minerals. So, it just depends on the individual. But you're right, yeah, I think minerals are often lost in the discussion and can really make a huge, positive impact on [inaudible 00:20:59].

Mimi MacLean:
That's great. So, it sounds like your meal plan subscription, which is on your website, would be helpful to a lot of people, because it takes the thinking out of planning your healthy meal for Lyme. And then, just to reiterate, the Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan book would also be helpful. But this has been great. And I do feel like I struggle with this part, just finding things to eat because we always grab whatever is right there, so being prepared and organized about it. It seems like that's what you help people with and giving them the direction of what they should be doing.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah.

Mimi MacLean:
Okay. So, your website is ascent2health.com.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah, ascent2health with the number 2. Please drop the word "two." Yeah, you got it.

Mimi MacLean:
The link will also be below in the notes but thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Lindsay Christensen:
Yeah, thanks so much for having me on. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Mimi MacLean:
Thank you, Lindsay.

Mimi MacLean:
Each week I will bring you different voices from the wellness community, so that they can share how they help their clients heal. You will come away with tips and strategies to help you get your life back. Thank you so much for coming on, and I'm so happy you were here.

Mimi MacLean:
Subscribe now and tune in next week. If you want to learn how I detox, and if you want to check out my detox for Lyme checklist, go to lyme360.com/detoxchecklist. You can also join our community at Lyme 360 Warriors on Facebook, and let's heal together. Thank you.