Genny Mack is battling chronic illness. Her weapons of choice? Plant-based nutrition and holistic healing

I'm so thrilled you're here today . Let's get started . Welcome to the show Plant-Centered Listener . My name is Ashley and I am your host today . And today I have a very special story for you . Imagine being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and your doctor tells you to just take your medication and eat whatever you want .

Well , this is where Jenny Max Mission and her story comes into play . She is on a mission to guide lupus warriors on a transformative journey to reclaim vitality through whole food holistic healing . Jenny transformed her overall well-being after being diagnosed with lupus , sle and kidney nephritis and suffering debilitating lupus flares .

By transitioning to eating whole , nourishing foods from mother nature and by practicing mindfulness , jenny now has more mental clarity , energy and purpose than ever before . This led her to becoming a certified holistic nutritionist , autoimmune nutrition specialist , fitness coach and has changed many lives through clean eating , movement and mindfulness .

Jenny's hope is to empower 10,000-plus BIPOC women and communities in 2024 to live healthier lives and reclaim vitality . Please join me in welcoming Jenny to the show . Jenny , welcome to the show I am so excited to have you here today , looking forward to this conversation , me too . So we actually connected on social media , which was incredible .

So the onset of my lupus came about years before my official diagnosis . So , on average , the statistics say that it takes about six years to get officially diagnosed with lupus , and it was about 10 years in my case because in my early 20s I was getting the signs of lupus , which is more around joint inflammation and swelling in my hands and my knees .

But I was in my 20s , so I wanted to live this carefree life , you know , going out till the wee hours of morning , living in New York City . So I kind of , you know , put the what ifs on the back burner until 2017 .

I was really hit hard with the disease and that meant that I had pneumonia-like symptoms , I had a fever , I had the flu , even more joint swelling , chronic pain throughout my entire body . So that led me to go to a rheumatologist who generally officially diagnosis individuals with lupus , and they said , okay , you had the markers before .

Now you're having the symptoms , you have lupus , and that was my journey to self-discovery with learning about this disease . It wasn't completely new for me , which we could talk more about , because my mother also had lupus , so I learned about lupus through her diagnosis .

But generationally , individuals that have lupus , you know , for 30 , 40 years , they handle it differently to someone that just becomes diagnosed with lupus . So yeah , that's my diagnosis story .

You were in and out of the hospital for many , you know , a long time . It's just it's wild to see , sort of looking at you now and looking at you then , how much has changed in just in your journey and these like changes that you have made for yourself which we're going to talk about .

So 2018 was my first exposure to what lupus can do to the body , and that's really what started my holistic healing journey , as I described , really tapping into . Okay , well , I know Western medication is life saving , it has its needs , but what else can I do to take control of my health ?

And that's when I started to explore the power of eating plants , using plants as medicine , and that actually got me into remission with this . So I was disease free for almost three years and then COVID hit . Covid hit and I caught COVID in June of 2022 . Finally hit me in June of 2022 .

And that's when my health just started declining yet again , which led me to being hospitalized again in January of 2023 . I was in and out of the hospital for about four and a half months and it hit me even harder .

I lost one third of my body weight again , just malnourished , and had chronic pain from head to toe and there were moments where I did feel like I wasn't going to make it , but something in me said you can do this . You've been here before . Use the experience that you've learned throughout this journey , studying holistic nutrition and really tapping into self .

So that is what led me here today . Thankfully , I'm here to share this story , but it was a lot of learning . It was a lot of unlearning , but ultimately it was about really tapping into my intuition to figure out how to transform my health .

That was a moment where that actually changed my entire perception of the medical industry , because , although I didn't have the answers then , I knew deep down inside that that wasn't the only answer . I couldn't just eat what I wanted to and I shouldn't just only take the medication .

So that led me into doing research and I came across the journey and understanding about plant-based nutrition and I started studying Dr Brook Goldner , for example , and I heard that she transformed her health by eating more plants , and that really led me down a rabbit hole .

And then I also discovered that there are only 3% of nutritionists who are people of color right Nutritionists and dietitians . So for me , that led me into this path to really not only figure out what I can eat to feel better with them myself , but how I can help guide and educate others on what they should be eating to transform their health .

So that's when I became a certified holistic nutritionist , and then I went one step further and became certified in autoimmune nutrition to figure out how to eat foods that were anti-inflammatory in nature . And , like I said , I'm human , things happen .

I got sick again , and that's when I had to figure out okay , how do I actually get to the root cause of my sickness , which is leading me to the path today to really focus more on gut health , because most of our immune system lies within our gut and I know that lupus and a lot of other chronic diseases sort of stem from emotional trauma .

So I'm tapping into that space there .

I mean , we know nutrition is important , but gosh , there are so many other things involved too , even like you're talking about working through or healing past trauma , as emotional traumas like those are , it sounds like a really important part of this journey .

So , yeah , it's really important for me to show people yes , we should watch what we put in our body , what we put on our body , but how we're living our lives on a daily basis , how are we prioritizing ourselves ? How are we bringing back the joys of our life that we used to appreciate when we were younger ?

Maybe we forgot about those moments that made us smile and laugh . So , really trying to show people that you can live this wholesome life and it can be joyous , it can be fun . It doesn't have to be restrictive either , because there's a lot of misinformation out there about what we shouldn't eat . But what about what we should eat ?

What about those things that we should enjoy ? What about the foods that our ancestors ate ? That's something that I'm starting to go back into , because in this autoimmune space , there can be areas where they're telling you oh , you shouldn't eat grains or you shouldn't eat carbohydrates , Complex carbohydrates . You know , again , we're complexity , we're complex beings .

We need those complex carbohydrates for energy and other vitamins and minerals . So , yeah , it's all about bringing that whole experience into this and having fun with it .

I think that is so important . So I'm curious , jenny , for you , was this sort of like an overnight thing , or was it something that you sort of like gradually introduced as you were going ?

So the soulful cuisine was abundant in our household , and we also did come from times where we didn't know when our next meal would be . You know , we had to eat the food that was in our refrigerator , whether that was ramen noodles or mayonnaise sandwiches . So there was also this scarcity mindset on top of you better finish the food on your plate .

So I had to do a lot of unlearning , as I mentioned before , unlearning about OK , these are some of those traditional foods that I grew up eating , but are they actually hindering us ? Are they making us sicker ? Right , that was one part of it . But also learning again as I go through this new phase .

Those cultural foods some of them I should really celebrate , you know , like the Black Eyed Peas , for example , because they bring the protein , they bring the complex carbohydrates , they bring the vitamins and minerals that my body needs to sustain .

So it's really understanding the cultural foods that I should celebrate , but also those foods that can be causing us harm , making our family sicker , and finding that balance there .

That was different than maybe how you grew up or how you were eating and living in your 20s .

Has never been done before . She's never enjoyed only plants before , so for her she was hesitant . But she also always has been very supportive in everything that I've done . But she enjoyed it . She went for a second . She ate the collard greens . She really enjoyed the sweet potato pie , so for her she was supportive .

She was excited to see what I was doing in this space . So it hasn't been an area that I would say my family has jumped on immediately . But they also see how it's transformed and changed my life . And I'll give another example .

I just celebrated my niece's teen , tiniata , which is a 16-year-old birthday party in El Paso , texas , because my brother's family is married to a Mexican family and we stayed in the Airbnb together and I decided that I wanted to cook breakfast every morning . So I made oatmeal and you dressed it with nuts and seeds and fruits .

Again , you get that initial resistance because some of the family is used to baking an egg in the morning , but they also wanted to have those family gatherings and moments eating together and they were very appreciative of the oatmeal . My sister came home from the trip and she asked for the recipe .

So I also see that not everybody has been on board with me from day one , but they are very supportive of me along the journey and I do see the small changes that people are making In their own personal lives , which has been exciting .

So it's been a good six , seven years Since I've been diagnosed , with the best and just experiencing the disease together . So , you know , there's been times where I've been hospitalized , there's been times where she's been hospitalized and we're there to support one another . So she's always been supportive Along the way .

She's made a lot of changes in her own life as well , being very mindful about what she's eating . You know she wants to do more . We all want to do more , but you know , I know she's trying her her best to show up for herself and the way that she Shares her love is through her support . What's my journey as well ?

So , for example , I learned along the way that I wasn't able to Tolerate raw foods , for example , for a long time because I didn't have the gut microbiome to break down and digest the food Right . So I do find that working with individuals in the chronic illness space , it has to be individualized . The care has to be individualized .

So what I do to work with individuals is first understand what are their most pressing symptoms , right , what are their most pressing challenges that way .

But we also work together in an integrative way to Come up with questions for their doctors right , to really understand what's happening to their body , to really understand how to Interpret their blood work and their results , to advocate for themselves , to get specific testing Based on sometimes .

So I do find that , you know , having that holistic mindset is very important because , again , it's not just about the nutrition but it also isn't just about this one-size-fits-all approach . It really has to be individualized .

I will say in that same regard that movement can be challenging for many , especially if you're dealing with chronic pain . You know I've been there before , where I Was a fitness instructor and one of my former lives , and you know movement was always the forefront of my mind . It still is .

But there was one point in my healing journey last year where I felt like I couldn't move . I felt like my body was restricted and the more movement that I did , the more pain that I would be in . So I know that there is that challenge as well .

When someone is dealing with this pervasive pain , this chronic pain throughout their body , it feels like that their body is incapable . But I will also say that if you Get up and stretch , go for a walk , dan , do something very gentle on the body , the body will appreciate that and with the more practice and repetition and Consistency you'll become stronger .

You know things don't happen overnight , so it's really about Turning those moments into momentum .

But I'm curious how your Experience with the healthcare system , how that sort of shaped , how you approach working with your clients , maybe what you saw or didn't see , and how you handle that with working with people .

But this next time around , in 2023 , the flare was so much more aggressive . The medical care was much more unpredictable . I experienced those microaggressions where my symptoms were disregarded . I was told that I wasn't supposed to feel this much pain .

So it was a very tough part during my journey , as you can hear , to experience that in the medical industry , because I experienced gaslighting and a lot of microaggressions throughout the process . So it did make me more . It has made me more resilient .

But I also say that things happen for a reason and I know that I was supposed to go through this experience so that I can be more compassionate to the people that I work with , so I can be more understanding when someone tells me that they are experiencing chronic pain and their doctor is disregarding their pain , I understand and I get it .

So through those experiences , I have been able to be more compassionate but also work with people so that they can really start to dig deeper and figure out what's actually happening in their body , gain a better understanding of their body , a better relationship with their body .

But , most importantly , because we have to work with the Western medical healthcare system , it's inevitable , especially in the society that we live in today , how can we work with these doctors in a more integrated way ? So I feel like I had to go through all of that , that experience for me to really understand how do I navigate this ?

But how do I help people advocate for themselves ?

Why am I experiencing these symptoms ? Get second opinions . It's okay to get second opinions and third opinions . That would be the first piece of advice that we give , and the second piece is if you are very serious about the holistic healing journey , because it is work you have to commit you have to commit and you also have to trust the process Right .

You have to really tap into your intuition , listening to what your body is telling you , and find a community , find a space . Listen to podcasts like this . There are many support groups out there . There are many lupus support groups . You could go to lupusorg . You could go to the Lupus Foundation of America . You can go to the Lupus Research of Alliance .

There are many resources out there to find individuals like yourself that understand what lupus is , and there are many resources out there to you know . Again , get support with the doctors , but also get into the holistic healing space and you know that's why we have resources like myself .