EPISODE SUMMARY:

Dr. Heather Moday, a certified allergist, immunologist, and specialist in both traditional and integrative medicine, is a medical worker who strives to improve the narrative on how we heal our immune systems. Through her work at the Moday Center, she helps guide her clients on the journey to healing their environment, nutrition, and stress levels in order live a happy, healthy, and productive lifestyle. In today’s episode, we sat down with Dr. Moday to discuss the immune system, the four different immunotypes, boosting our immune system as we age, dietary tips for fighting inflammation in the body.

First, we asked Dr. Moday to explain how the immune system works. She told us that our immune system is involved with every cell and organ in our body. As a result, any imbalance in the immune system can affect the entire body, causing a plethora of symptoms or health issues to arise. One of the immune systems main functions is protecting us from harmful outside invaders such as viruses, bacteria, parasites and more. It also surveys cells to ensure no cancerous cells are forming, cleans up the brain, is involved in bone growth and breakdown, and much more. As an expert on the immune system, Dr. Moday has learned first-hand just how multidimensional the immune system can be. She created a model called the immunotype, which breaks down immune systems into four different categories: smoldering, misguided, hyperactive, and weak. A smoldering immune system occurs in people who tend to suffer from too much inflammation in the body. It’s commonly associated with diabetes, arthritis, and other inflammatory conditions. The immune system works to attack foreign and outside invaders, but with a misguided immune system, the body ends up attacking itself. Our antibodies go after our own tissue and can cause health issues as a result. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a hyperactive immune system attacks outside bacteria, but it goes after the wrong things. Rather than keep harmful chemicals from entering the body, it attacks things that are not harmful. This can cause an overabundance of antibodies, which leads to strong allergies. A weak immunotype is when the immune system works, but it functions slower than normal. Antibodies have a slowed response to fighting viruses and bacteria that enter the body, and any illnesses that do occur take longer to run their course.

When asked about the efficacy of immunity boosting supplements, Dr. Moday said that while there is nothing wrong with taking supplements, it’s important to do research on the brand and the dosage you’re taking. While some are helpful, others can actually increase inflammation. Solely relying on supplements may not be enough to improve the immune system, so it’s vital to also look at behaviors and inputs in our daily lives that may also be contributing to issues with our immune systems. Many people take supplements as a way to get rid of inflammation, but according to Dr. Moday, not all inflammation is bad. In fact, our bodies experience some form of inflammation every single day. As humans, we breathe in toxins or bacteria every day, and inflammation is just the process of how the immune system alerts our bodies that something may be wrong. However, while inflammation is normal, an inflammatory response should be rapid. If it does not go away quickly, other issues can develop as a result. One of the best ways you can help improve your immune system is by sleeping. Dr. Moday explained to us that getting an adequate amount of sleep is what helps balance the hormones cortisol and melatonin in our bodies. Cortisol levels should be high during the day and low at night, while melatonin levels should be low during the day and high at night. When we don’t get enough sleep, the melatonin in our bodies can shut off, which can hinder proper immune activity throughout the night.

While sleep is vital in keeping our immune systems healthy, for menopausal women, getting enough rest isn’t easy. Hot flashes, sweating, and stress can keep us from getting a good night’s sleep. For improving sleep, Dr. Moday suggested keeping your bedroom as cold as possible, especially while you’re resting. While expensive, investing in cooling products or cooling pads for the bed can be helpful, as well as keeping the room dark. If you must do work on a laptop or phone, use glasses that block blue light. Dr. Moday also recommended having a small nighttime routine to help destress your body before bed. The routine can involve a myriad of different calming techniques, including breathing techniques, stretches, meditation, herbal teas, CBD, or even cognitive behavioral therapy. Stress can create adrenaline, which causes us to stay awake at night, so having different ways of calming your body, especially before bed, is vital.

Before investing time and money into supplements, it’s important that a person look at their dietary habits. While supplements such as Vitamin D can help improve production of immune cells and health, Dr. Moday highly recommended also working with a dietician or nutritionist to find out how your unique diet may be lacking in certain vitamins, fibers, or healthy fats. Adding Omega-3 fats into your diet are great for helping with inflammation and can be found in foods such as walnuts, flaxseed, sardines, mackerel, and salmon. Using olive oil, organic animal fats, coconut oil, and avocado oil when cooking is also a good way to fight inflammation.

There is a lot of debate and controversy surrounding vaccines, and when asked to discuss the issue, Dr. Moday spoke on how people often approach the topic incorrectly. Many people simply lump all vaccines into one category, but it’s important to look at each individual and their risk factors. Those with high risk factors or immune issues should speak to their doctors and get vaccinated, for it will help protect them. We also spoke to Dr. Moday about ways midlife women can strengthen and maintain their immune systems. Along with sleep, she recommended self-care, eating well, going outside, using vitamin d, zinc, or turmeric supplements, and exercise. Daily moderate exercise improves the immune system and makes it more robust, so incorporating some form of exercise into your daily routine is a great way to maintain your immune system. Finally, we asked Dr. Moday where we can find her book, The Immunotype Breakthrough, and where to get in touch with her. She told us her book is now available everywhere and she can be reached either through her website, modaycenter.com, or her Instagram, theimmunitymd.

Dr. Heather Moday

As a doctor trained in traditional and functional/integrative medicine, Dr. Heather Moday helps individuals heal and transform their relationship with their health. Dr. Moday has dedicated herself to guiding clients on how to improve their environment, nutrition, and stress levels in order to live a healthy and productive lifestyle.

After growing frustrated by how limiting conventional medicine can often be, Dr. Moday strove to find a better way. Through starting the Moday Center, she created a medical environment that combined cutting edge science with a holistic mind-body-spirit approach to offer clients proper tools, support, and nourishment to help heal their minds and bodies.

Before starting the Moday Center, Dr. Moday spent 25 years studying science and medicine. She also spent three years doing research on stress and how it affects our immune system. She graduated with a medical degree from Tulane University and completed her Internal Medicine residency and fellowship in Allergy and Immunology in New York City. However, even with all of her extensive training and education, Dr. Moday still felt like there was more to learn. This led her to the University of Arizona, where she studied Integrative Medicine and became board certified in Integrative and Holistic Medicine. Dr. Moday is also a certified Functional Medicine practitioner and a certified practitioner of the Bredensen Protocol TM.

In this episode, we discuss…

[0:01] Bossa Bars
[0:50] Guest Introduction
[4:00] Start of Interview
[4:59] The Immune System
[7:35] The Four Different Immunotypes
[12:58] Balancing Your Immune System
[14:24] Inflammation and Ways to Improve it
[22:03] Ways to Help Improve Sleep During Menopause
[25:21] How Stress Affects the Body
[29:25] Boosting Our Immune System as We Age
[33:10] Dietary Tips for Fighting Inflammation
[37:05] Vaccines
[41:45] Strengthening Our Immune System in Midlife
[44:30] Where to Find The Immunotype Breakthrough
[45:31] Closing Thoughts
[47:09] Outro

Useful Resources:

Moday Center I [https://modaycenter.com/]

Moday Center’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/company/moday-center-for-integrative-and-functional-medicine/]

Moday Center’s Yelp I [https://www.yelp.com/biz/moday-center-for-functional-and-integrative-medicine-philadelphia]

Moday Center’s Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/modaycenter215/]

Dr. Moday’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermodaymd]

Dr. Moday’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/theimmunitymd/]

Dr. Moday’s Book

The Immunotype Breakthrough I [https://www.amazon.com/Immunotype-Breakthrough-Personalized-Optimize-Resilience/dp/031626217X]

TRY BOSSA BARS FOR MENOPAUSE AND USE CODE “HOTCOOL10” FOR 10% OFF AT https://bossabars.com/ !

Can’t Get Enough? Find Us Here!

Website I [http://hotflashescooltopics.com/]

Mail I [[email protected]]

Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/hotflashesandcooltopics/]

Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/hotflashescooltopics]

Twitter I [https://twitter.com/CoolFlashes]

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Balance Your Immune System with Dr. Heather Moday