Reducing Chronic Inflammation for a Healthier Mind With Yalda Alaoui of Eat Burn Sleep
Through her own healing journey, Yalda Alaoui of Eat Burn Sleep explains how chronic inflammation impacts our mental health, and how we can manage it.
Live, laugh, love? More like: Eat, burn, sleep.
When Yalda Alaoui developed Ulcerative Colitis in 2017, she began cycling through countless doctors and specialists across the globe. As prescriptions, medications, and unanswered questions steadily piled up, Yalda took her health into her own hands. When she discovered that inflammation was the primary source for her autoimmune disorders, she followed her gut intuition. In other words, the key to her health was her stomach.
Along her own journey to recovery, she developed a 6-week program for lowering inflammation. Eat Burn Sleep has helped hundreds of people and medical professionals through a magical combination of anti-inflammatory nutrition, movement, and mental wellness. In her third and final year of nutrition studies at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, Yalda is well on her way to becoming naturopathic nutritionist — as well as the healthy woman she has always strived to be.
We’ve seen her 2-ingredient dark chocolate mousse pots and banana & blueberry nice cream — now it’s time to meet the woman behind the delicious recipes.
How did your healing health journey start?
My healing journey started out with a personal struggle. I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2007 – an inflammatory bowel disease – and then with autoimmune hemolytic anaemia in 2012. My body didn’t respond positively to medication. I spent years in and out of hospitals. Eventually, I had to be kept alive with regular blood transfusions at the end of 2012 and early 2013. I decided to take the matter into my own hands and did extensive research on chronic inflammation and gut health. Over 10 years of intense research work in addition to lifestyle changes has led me to developing the low inflammation lifestyle I live now. This lifestyle helps thousands around the world now, including doctors.
Can you tell us more about your platform?
Eat Burn Sleep is an educational health platform. It’s designed to be the go-to platform for anyone looking to improve their gut health and inflammation levels. The platform serves as an educational resource on diet, movement and mental wellness advice. There, I share food lists, specialised tips for particular goals and conditions (IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, psoriasis, eczema, weight loss, acne, menopause, PMS, candida, diarrhea, constipation, anxiety, emotional eating, and much more!).
People use the platform for recipes, food lists, restaurant ordering guidance, help with supplements, and weekly workout and meditation videos. Similarly, they have access to a weekly live broadcast on a private Facebook group where my team and I support them at every step of the day on their health journey.
I care about people getting results, so I have implemented a system that encompasses all aspects of health. Many doctors use the platform for their own benefit and recommend it to their patients. I am still incredulous to the fact that I am now healing doctors after they couldn’t heal me!
What kind of diet would you suggest for maintaining a healthy gut?
Regaining and maintaining a healthy gut is more than just a diet – it’s a lifestyle. Food lists, exercise, and mental health all work in combination to improve gut health. Consequently, this will reduce chronic inflammation. Doing just the diet element of it isn’t enough. It wasn’t enough for me and my evidence-based research suggests it isn’t enough for others.
Which foods should be kept to a minimum or even banned for those of us struggling with depression?
Depression is directly linked to chronic inflammation. Blood tests of people with mental health issues often show high inflammation markers. Reducing chronic inflammation for anyone suffering from depression would require a change in their overall lifestyle. These changes range from the food they eat, the way they move their bodies, their sleep patterns and the way they think.
What are some of your own nutritional MVPs — foods that you can always count on to taste good and make you feel good?
I actually like variety and I care about including treats in my diet. Cutting anything out of one’s diet 100 percent for a long time carries the risk of losing the gut bacteria to digest it.
Where can we find you?
Eat Burn Sleep is on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook!
Teresa Deely is a graduate from Columbia University with majors in English and Creative Writing. She is a freelance writer and marketing assistant working for clients in the wellness, jewelry, creative, and sports industries. She believes that one’s skin is yet another canvas and vehicle for art, and has loved styling her hair and applying makeup from a young age. Spending much of her time in educating youth and leading enrichment programs for children, she is highly motivated in discovering new ways to care for herself and sharing them with others.
Regaining and maintaining a healthy gut is more than just a diet – it’s a lifestyle.
”
