Cooking and Conscience Connection: Annie Toro Lopez's Recipe for Healing - S2 E 21

Stacy Griffin:  Welcome back to Autoimmune Adventures. I'm Stacy, and I'm here with my sisters, Becky and Alysia. Today we are so excited to introduce you to our guest whose story embodies resilience, creativity, and hope. Annie Toro Lopez is a cookbook author, a chronic illness advocate, and an inspiring voice in the celiac and autoimmune communities. Diagnosed with lupus in her 20s, Annie has walked a challenging road, but one that is also filled with triumph, healing, and giving back. She's here to share her journey with us and is taking a little bit of time out from her book tour to meet with us here. So, we're really excited that she's here with us today and she's going to share with us about her brand new cookbook, Simply Gluten-Free: Real Ingredients for Everyday Life. Annie, welcome. We are really happy to have you here.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Thank you so much. And I'm so thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me. This is very I, I love what you're doing, and um, I really support your, your uh, your quest here.

Becky Miller:  Annie, can you share a little bit about your early health journey and what it was like being diagnosed with lupus in your 20s?

Annie Toro Lopez: So, I was diagnosed in my 20s.  Um, but I I'm pretty sure that I had lupus when I was probably around 18. Um, the first thing I really remember being, was I was going to school at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. It was very cold and I remember getting to class and my hands were so frozen and white that I couldn't even hold a pencil, like and, and you know when you're young some of those things you just think are normal, right? you don't really realize that some people when they get to class actually are able to take notes right away. So, you know, it doesn't take them a half hour to for their hands to warm up enough to hold a pencil. When I was in around um I was in my ear very early 20s, 21, 22, I had a doctor who I had long enough to recognize what was going on. Like she started questioning when I would come in. I remember I went in with um I, I tested for hyperthyroidism, right? And then she tested again later and it went away.  

And she's like, "So that doesn't happen." Like when she when you that doesn't doesn't just go away. And then she when I, when I, when I finally when she finally was like, "I want to test you for lupus." I was presenting with ulcers on my legs and my skin. And so I was having skin involvement and my toes were turn, were like purple and um I was working I was a vet tech, and I was working for a vet at the time. I've worn a lot of hats done a lot of things. I was a vet tech. and um and I remember you know we were there late whatever, emergency whatever, and taking off my shoes and his wife was like there's something you know like what's wrong with your feet like they're purple and I was like well is it you know I'm on my feet a lot. She's like, "No, no." So the doctor, so my doctor, Dr. Heeble, she was amazing. Teresa Heeble was amazing.  

Um, she said, "I want to test you for lupus." And of course, I'm just like, "Okay." Cuz I didn't know what it was. I was like, "All right, whatever." And when she got and of course, you know, you know, you all know that that lupus, there's no definitive test for lupus. There's no single test. you you meet a list of criteria and but that the a high 90%, 97% I'm going to say somewhere in that neighborhood have a people with lupus have a positive ANA. So she tested my ANA and it came back. and it was off the charts. She's like you know we it's crazy high.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Well, so then you start, you know, so so then they you get I should say I, I got passed around, you know. So then it's like we'll send you to a rheumatologist and we're going to send you to a nephrologist, and we're going to send you to a cardiologist, and so you're seeing all the doctors and they're taking all the blood, and you have 12 vials of blood drawn every time. You know, you know how it is. So, she um, that was so, you know and of course, it's completely life-changing. You're you're you're in an entirely different place.

And I went on all the drugs they put me on Plaquinel and prednisone and all of the things. And I started wondering, I started questioning why I was sick. What am I feeling? Am I sick because of all these really difficult drugs? Like, and I know Plaquinel and prednisone, they change you. They change your chemistry in you. And I was sick all the time. And then I'm like, I want to know, am I sick because my body is sick? Like am I sick because of my body, or am I sick because of the drugs? And I'm not a doctor here and I, I was a vet tech but I have no other medical training, right, so I'm not advocating... I don't want to you know lead your listeners... talk, always talk to your doctor. I weaned myself off all of the medication. I talked to my doctor about what I wanted to do and she gave me probably the best advice I've ever received.  

Because I told her, I said, "I don't want to live sick. I don't want to live ill. I don't want to define myself by my illness. I want to define myself by wellness. I want to deny that I have this disease. I don't want to live with this mindset." So, she said, "Deny all you want. Deny away. Live your life the way you want to live it. and you come back every six months, and we test your blood and we make sure that you're stable and doing okay. Keep in touch." And it was like giving me permission to live a certain way. It was like giving me permission to like not just show up at the doctor's office and be a patient, but to really live my life and just say this is just a part of who I am. And, and that was a, it was a big it was it helped my mind set. 

Alysia Thomas:  And after all those years of managing your lupus, you eventually got a negative ANA test after 20 years. I understand. So that is huge. Um, and you kind of already touched on what that did, like how that shifted your perspective um, back in your 20s when you made that choice that I'm going to live my life. So, how did getting a negative ANA test, how did that shift your perspective on your health 20 years later?

Annie Toro Lopez:  So, I think to answer that, I'm going to back up just a little bit. So, when I was when I had um to I, I think I think um to kind of what I what I chose to do to achieve that negative ANA When I had my son when I was 25, and of course with lupus, pregnancy is high risk. They told me, you know, pregnancy is high risk. I did not comprehend at all at the time that what that meant was that with an ANA, which is um I, I, I assume since you you talk about this that your listeners probably, you know, know what a what an anti-nuclear antibody is. Since an ANA, since your antibody attacks the nucleus of a cell which is the energy of a cell and that with lupus it's indiscriminate, right? It'll attack anything. That means it can attack fetal cells just as easily as kidney cells or my eyes or my skin which I was dealing with. I didn't comprehend that at the time. I just, you know, I, I, I did have difficult pregnancies. My babies were small. They both went straight into ICU or NICU.

Um, after I had my son, I, I couldn't stop crying. Like I for months like I just cried and cried. I was really fortunate because I had an OB, a nurse practitioner who said, "Sometimes when ch, people have children, have babies, they... it brings up their own issues, right, from your own past." Here's the name of a really good therapist.

Therapy was really - and I, and I, I, I am direct, I am answering this question - therapy led to my ability to have a negative ANA. Facing my own demons, facing my own past, cuz you know as women we all know that most of us have trauma in our childhoods, right, in our past and that they found, I don't know um, The Body Keeps the Score. I'm sure you've talked about that, right?

Alysia Thomas:  Yep. I'm reading it right now.

Annie Toro Lopez:  It's so good. Yeah. Right. It's so good. And it was so for me that book is so validating because it's exactly what I went through to h, to have a negative ANA. And but I just did it. Like I just did, it. Like it but now it's like Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.  That's what I did. Yep. That's exactly it. And having therapy and facing those things and being able to tell my story and feel safe again was a lot of, you know, help, helped me move the bar, helped me feel worth moving the bar for.

So after I was diagnosed, I'm a researcher. My degree is in English literature. So like I'm a researcher. I taught uh middle school literacy for a year for a decade. When I found out I had, when I found out what a positive ANA means, when they would say there's no cure, you can't cure lupus, because when you have an antibody in your body, that's the antibody's job is to live in your body and to to attack the things that it's programmed to attack. It won't ever go away. That's what an antibody is. That's what I, that's what they told me.  

So what I ... so I, I, I started asking the question, why would this happen? Like why is my body doing this to myself? Why would I be releasing something that's hurting me? How does that even make sense? It's it doesn't make sense as a um I mean the word that comes to mind is like "evolutionarily," right? It doesn't make sense. we don't to hurt ourselves. And of course, I'm young. I was in my 20s still. And I, and so I, I, I learned like what is my immune system and what is my immune system actually doing and what are T-cells and what's happening here? What is what does it look like when a when a when it's attacking a nucleus of a cell? Why is it indiscriminate, you know? What messages am I sending myself that are making this happen, and I did a lot of, I made a lot of changes in my life.  

Annie Toro Lopez: I changed my diet. I changed my mindset. I did a lot, I had a lot of changes to ... I used visualization. And the science of visualization is really starting, just like, just like The Body Keeps the Score, right? Like we're starting to understand the mind body connection so much better than we ever have. And, and that visualization actually changes the chemistry in our body.

So, I had this whole almost cartoon that I would play out in my head, and I had, you know, I was, I was, and I would had conversations with my immune system. Like literally, I would have conversations and I would say, "Look, here's the deal." Like, like the nucleus of my kidneys, that's off limits. Like literally, I would have these, I would meditate, and I would go into my mind, and I would, I would, I would talk to my cells and I would talk to my immune system and I would say, you know, and I had these like, you know, I was a, I was a horsewoman. So, I had my little my little steed, and I had my little shield, and I had my sword, and I had all the things. And that was how I, and I did this regularly. And I would tell my immune system, "Okay, if there's cancer cells, go crazy. Like you're all you're all over it, but not healthy nucleus of any part of my body."

Annie Toro Lopez: So again, this was a process. And your question is, you know, "how did I feel about it," or "how did it change my perspective of my health?" But I think that that change came so much earlier. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't the d, it wasn't the day when I was 41 years old, and I was sitting in my doctor's office and she's like, "It's a negative." And it was amazing. I felt like I'd won, like I was triumphant, like I was, like all this time, like all these things and all the cartoons that we had, and all of the, you know, it I had won.  

I felt like I won. And I still have doctors who will say if I tell them that I don't have lupus anymore, that I had lupus. Well, I'll say I had lupus. And they're like, "What? That does... there's, you don't hear that. Nobody says 'I had lupus.'" And I said, "No, I don't have it anymore. I had it." And they say, "Well, you can't do that. That's not possible."

But recently, I had a cardiologist and she said, "Good for you. Congratulations." And that's, that's what doctors need to say, right? Not you can't do that because that's what they tell me. "Well, it's in remission or whatever." And I'm like, "Well, I haven't had a, I haven't had a positive ANA in 20 years. So, and I'm healthy. I feel better than I felt. I'm 61 years old. I feel better than I felt in a long time."  

Stacy Griffin: I love that so much. Um, we have talked about how the body keeps score. We talk about that a lot. And we've talked also about trauma, and how trauma affects us, and it can trigger autoimmunity. And so with that in mind, I'm going to ask a serious question. You mentioned this a little bit at the beginning, when, before we started the episode today, but um if you're willing, I would really love for you to explain what happened in 2023, because we know it was an incredibly difficult season for you. You lost your sister and your best friend within a short period of time. How did those losses affect you physically and emotionally?

Annie Toro Lopez:  I'll answer this more directly than the last one without backing up. Um, in the spring of 2023, my dearest lifelong friend, who I grew up with here in Ogalala, um, died of pancreatic cancer. And six days later, my sister died from a the complications from a fall. She had, was experiencing congestive heart failure and it, it really she broke bones and it, it exacerbated, and so she died very shortly after. Three weeks later, and I, I had been so sick. In fact, I had not been able to come to spend time with my sister when she, when she was dying because I was so sick and I didn't know why. I just and it wasn't lupus. I, I had my ANA tested. And I was like, maybe it's lupus. Maybe it maybe it is back, right? But it wasn't. So three weeks later, I was actually in first place in a national cooking competition to benefit the James Beard Foundation when I was diagnosed with celiac. And I'm a food writer. So it was identity-loosening. I was flattened. Literally couldn't pick my head up off a pillow for a while. It was very hard.

When I finally was able ... so, so a couple things really helped me. One was finding groups, Facebook groups, right, for celiac. Um, it that helped me a lot. and to be able to put it out there and just say, you know, I really, you know, I felt so alone. I'd lost my people like like my my friend Marsha was an RN, so like she's the one I'd call and say like, "I have celiac. What the hell? Like what is this? Tell me what I'm what tell me what's happening."

And of course, my sister was my sister. So I would call and say, right? So I'd lost my people. And and my marriage was rough at that point, too. So I really was alone. And I joined the Celiac group and then someone in the Celiac group actually sent me, turned me on to a woman, a, a group of ... um it's led by AARP for women over 50. And, and that was great but it was still online, it was still Facebook, you know, so, I um I decided to start a local group in Denver. And at the time I called it the Metro Denver Ethels, because Ethel was the founder of AARP and that's what the that was the that was the um that was like the source group, so that group grew to 150 members practically overnight of women over 50 in Denver, and be, and it was an, it's an in-person group. And because I have celiac, then I set up I set everything up. So I would set up, I started doing different times and different days, but we ended up, we've ended up on Thursdays. We meet every Thursday, not once a month, because the idea is connection, right?

Annie Toro Lopez:  Well, I've made wonderful friends to this. In fact, my friend who wrote the intro into my book, she happens to be a registered dietician and a therapist. So, she wrote um, she wrote the intro to the cookbook. She's been she was amazing through the whole thing. So, that helped me incredibly. I was able to make connection, and I meet with these women, you know, now we have regularly 15 people every Thursday for coffee or for lunch. We are agenda-less on purpose. We're there for connection.

Once I was able to look up, I realized that I was grateful. I grew up in an agricultural community. I grew up cooking. I grew up literally picking from the garden and bringing it in and cutting it up and making dinner for the harvesters or whatever. And I realized I was fortunate and really grateful that I know how to handle food. I came from a family of people, of food people, and a lot of food professionals. I'd already written a cookbook, and I not only felt fortunate that I could feed myself and take care of myself, but that I could I could help other people.

One of the things that I would hear in the in, the in, the ce, the group, in the celiac groups is not only you know I lived I I've got one right here. I lived on bars for like a month right because I didn't know what to feed myself for the first time in my life. I didn't know what to eat. It it was so life-altering. The celiac diagnosis in some ways was more life-altering than the lupus diagnosis. because you have to eat three times, you know, you got to eat all the time. Plus, I'm a food writer, so it was really life-altering. But I, I um, and so that's what I'm hearing, was hearing in the groups, right? So, people are like, "I don't know how to feed myself." And I'm like, "I relate. I get it. I'm eating bars. I'm a cookbook author and I'm living on bars." But what really hurt, really got me, was to hear parents say, "You know, my 14-year-old or my 16-year-old was just diagnosed with celiac. I don't know how to feed my family. I don't want to make two meals a day."

And I felt like I could help that. I thought, you know, I can do this. Like this is something I can do. And, and I was I was really grateful to be able to, you know, to go down that path. So, it was, it was a really hard spring. I think my, I know that my sister and my friend are are proud of me and what I've done, and I honor them with that.

Alysia Thomas: They are cheering you on. I know they are.

Annie Toro Lopez: I appreciate that.

Alysia Thomas:  I love that. And I love it. Sounds like you took your experience with celiac disease and your diagnosis, and your experience in your support group and you maybe used that to fuel your next, your second cookbook, right? Like you you kind of, we, our next question was, you know, can you tell us what inspired it and what you had in mind when you were creating it? And you answered it before we could ask. Like you saw a need. You saw where people were struggling and you filled that need. You are helping people learn how to live with this disease. It's hard. It's a really hard thing to deal with.

Annie Toro Lopez:  It's so hard.

Alysia Thomas:  Food is love in our family. It always has been. So, very much like what you were saying, very similar in, you know, and our mom was just a fantastic cook.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yeah.

Alysia Thomas: Our dad was diagnosed back when nobody even knew what celiac was. Um, there were no gluten free products on the market. So, he had to go to the basics, rice, potatoes, you know, he had to go to the real food, real food. And I feel like we've kind of it's a blessing and a curse that we have so many gluten-free options now. But what nobody told me when I was diagnosed was all those gluten-free options, yes, they're gluten-free, so they won't hurt you with gluten, but they're still processed food.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yes, absolutely.

Alysia Thomas:  They're still just food-like products, you know? And I really wish I'd had somebody who had said, "Okay, this is not as complicated as it's being made out to be." You know, it's fruits, it's vegetables, it's other grains, it's meats, it's eggs, it's nuts and seeds, and you know, all these whole foods.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Mhm. Yes. Exactly.

Alysia Thomas:  It's it's so simple, but we have grown into a culture where we eat so much processed food that now it's a foreign concept to eat whole food.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Right.

Alysia Thomas:  So, I feel like you're taking you're you're kind of giving us that power back in in your in your cookbook. So, thank you for that.

Annie Toro Lopez:  I, I, I appreciate that.

Alysia Thomas:  I appreciate that because we were lucky to see that, you know, how our mom did that, how our dad did it, how, you know, we were lucky to see that.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yeah.

Alysia Thomas:  Um, but not everybody has that. Not everybody has that. They get this diagnosis out of nowhere and they have no idea where to start.

Annie Toro Lopez:  We're already battling, you know, food deserts, right? We're already like, I'd been I'd been doing work in food insecurity for years because I worked, I was a middle school teacher in Aurora, Colorado, right? So, my a lot of my kids lived in a food desert. They, you know, they ate at a 7-Eleven.

Teaching kids than teaching people to grow their own food, right? And for celiac like that's, you know, you can go grow you can grow cucumbers in a 5 gallon bucket no problem just about anywhere.

Alysia Thomas:  Mhm.

Annie Toro Lopez:  So, you know, that it, it, it's, it's that eating from the source, like you're saying, like eating from, you know, and it's when I when I wrote the cookbook, I included things like mashed potatoes, like, and I, it's really a beginner to eating or intermediate cookbook. You could even be an advanced cook and get plenty out of it. But...

Becky Miller: And I think that's so good because I mean honestly it sounds ridiculous but it's true. There are a lot of people out there that if they've never made anything other than instant mashed potatoes, you know, and, and so and honestly, a lot of instant mash mashed potatoes actually have gluten in them. And um, and so, it's uh, that's I think it's great that you're starting simple. Kind of with that in mind, do you feel like there were any recipes or strategies in your book that were that you're especially proud of? Maybe ones that you've had readers tell you, "Hey, this was great that this was in here." Or just ones that make you proud personally?

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yeah. Um, so I actually had a group I had a, a Facebook group of a hundred recipe testers to test the recipes as I was writing the book. Um, they were wonderful, and we're going to be in Kansas City. I'm so excited to go to Kansas City and um, one of my testers is like, "Oh, I'm going to come see you." And I'm so excited to meet her. Julie, can't wait to meet you! Um so um yes definitely. So the testers, you know, and we had some that didn't make it.

The falafel, it's not in there. It just it didn't work ever. We just couldn't get it to work and we adjusted it. Frying food is hard. And then we decided, you know, for kind of a beginner, you know, maybe maybe falafel doesn't belong. So it's not in there. But the um, everybody loved the uh, coconut shrimp was like one of the best. Yeah. Love the coconut shrimp.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yes. Um there's a lot of my mom in there. There's a lot of growing up in there. Like a lot of the things that she made us. Um, her blue cheese dressing recipe is the best you will ever have ever. It's amazing. My daughter My daughter's a formage. She's a cheese monger. and um, for Murray's in Kroger here in Colorado. Well, not here in Colorado. I'm in Nebraska, but um...

Alysia Thomas:  That's a dream job.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Oh, it's her...she's, she's a, she's very happy.

Alysia Thomas:  And yeah, and the fact that she can tolerate all the dairy.  

Annie Toro Lopez: Very happy.

Alysia Thomas: Oh, that that would make me so happy.

Annie Toro Lopez: Right. Yay. Right. So, and so far she doesn't has not been diagnosed with celiac, but um and she's terrified of it. I'm not going to lie. Um but she, I gave her the blue cheese dressing, and she was like, her eyes just lit up and I'm like, "Right, right. That's your grandma's recipe. It's the best ever!" And it's so funny, cuz this recipe was like from my mom right in her handwriting. It was wonderful to be able to pull it out and like transcribe that recipe into the cookbook. I loved that. Um, it was for like 60 people. My mom was a ... my mom ran a deli. She was like, you know, she managed a deli. I'm like, this is not gonna work. I gotta cut this down. And you know, you can't just cut a recipe. You have to...

Alysia Thomas:  And especially, I mean, dressing is one thing, but when it comes to gluten-free cooking, it's just so much trickier than that.

Annie Toro Lopez:  It so is, and one of the things that I, when I was researching my cookbook um is that the um probably 90% of cookbooks that are gluten-free are for baking.

Alysia Thomas: Yeah.

Annie Toro Lopez:  It's really nice to be able to make a cake, don't get me wrong, but you know, what I'm hearing from parents is, "I don't know what what to feed my family. I don't know what to take to the football game party that we're having on Sunday. I don't know, you know, that, that's I, I just need basic things, right? Basic food." Um, and so that's really where that came from, you know, making sure that it was accessible like we were saying, right, for everyone.

Stacy Griffin:  Well, we want to thank you because you're a really strong advocate and connector for the celiac and autoimmune communities by doing this and that's huge. I think it's something that's so important, and so we appreciate that you are doing that for the community.

Annie Toro Lopez:  So, well, I appreciate I appreciate that. We, I was asked to speak for the um Colorado Springs chapter of the National Celiac Association, and we were at the um, we were at Three Farm Girls Artisan just a little shout out they're wonderful artisan eatery they're on in Palmer Lake, um for the Celiac support group that they have once a month. The Celiac community in Colorado Springs is wonderful. so supportive. So many great 100% gluten-free restaurants in Colorado Springs. So many. And it's not that big of a city.

Alysia Thomas: No.  

Annie Toro Lopez:  And other and others that aren't 100% gluten-free, but like they really they will take care of you. They will take care of you. So we're at Three Farm Girls, and this woman comes up and she says, "Um, you know, I think I want to buy your book, but I want to look at it first. Is that okay?"

"Of course. Of course. Go ahead." So, she comes back as I'm I was getting ready to leave later, and she was there for a tasting for her 16-year-old daughter who'd been diagnosed a year earlier and was having a birthday party. And so she was, you know, trying to find something safe for her party. So, she says, "You know, so I was, I was," and she said, "Oh, I want to get this. Would you sign it?" And she was so happy. And she said, "We're...these are real meal ideas. This is real food. I'm going to feed my family so much healthier.  

And that was it for me. Like, right, like that's it. That was that's the goal right there. Her 16-year-old, she can she doesn't have to cook two meals a day. You know, she feels like she can eat healthier. And her daughter was excited about the food, too. So, that was the goal. So that was that was that was very gratifying.

Alysia Thomas:  Goal accomplished. Goal accomplished. I think that is amazing.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yes.

Alysia Thomas:  Um, and I feel like you are empowering people to cook for themselves, to get back to whole foods and real foods and and just simplify their life because it is it's exhausting when you're raising a family.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Oh yeah. I appreciate that. It is.

Alysia Thomas:  Even if you're on your own and just or married to somebody and you're trying to do gluten-free and not gluten-free and you know, in our house, luckily, we don't have to do that anymore. There's more of us that are gluten-free than are not. So, I don't have to go through that hassle.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Mhm.

Alysia Thomas:  But we still have gluten-free pot or regular pasta, you know, we still have regular bread, things that cuz it's expensive. Dang it. It's dang expensive. So, um but if you're focusing on those whole foods, it just it really does simplify things. And I feel like um your message...

Annie Toro Lopez:  And it's more budget friendly.

Alysia Thomas:  Yes. totally. because you're not buying all the processed stuff that is $8 a package for, you know, three ounces of ....

Annie Toro Lopez:  Exactly. Exactly. I'm going to buy peppers and I'm going to buy onions and I'm going to buy Yeah. I, It's like I'm going to buy whole meat and I'm going to buy vegetables and I'm going to buy rice and I'm going to buy beans and those aren't expensive things.

Alysia Thomas:  No, No. So, if you as we're wrapping up, if you had an empower, one empowering message that you would give to our audience, something that they can carry with them from your journey, what would you tell them?  

Annie Toro Lopez: I thought a lot about this because there's a lot of different messages, of course, that we learn on our journey, right? And many of them are so valuable and, and you know one, one of, one of my recent really val, that has taken me nearly a lifetime to learn is to be here in the moment, right? To be here in the moment, but that's not it either as important as that is. I think to take adversity and still win. Take those things that are challenging and, and still you you know, meet them and use those challenges to grow and to learn and even more to help, to bring others along. Right? So that that adversity we all have, we all face challenges. There's no such thing as a life without challenges. But we can still win. we can still, you know, be, be the best that we can be.

And and there's so many there's so many messages that I want to say that go with that. Like to love yourself through it, right? Don't beat yourself up. That's so just, it's so self-defeating, and we do it especially as women. Those messages that we send to ourselves. When Brene Brown, Brene Brown said something that really always stuck with me, which was I, when I realized that I talked to myself in a way that I would never talk to someone I didn't like. I knew I had to change that voice. And I'm paraphrasing, that's not exactly a quote from Brene Brown, but boy did that stick with me, you know, to change that voice in your head. and you know, help yourself, be, love yourself, be good to yourself through it and and those are all ways to win. Those are all ways to face adversity, right? Because those challenges are for every, we all face. And if we can uplift ourselves and uplift others, that's that's the whole game right there, right?

Alysia Thomas:  Yeah, that aligns exactly with our mission. 

Becky Miller:  Great. Yeah, I was going to say great advice.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Yeah, absolutely.

Becky Miller:  Thank you for sharing that with us. And I love that as you're telling us about your journey, it's it's not just wellness for the body, but wellness for the emotions and the mind and all the things, like the whole person, which is wonderful.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Absolutely. Absolutely. It's, It's so important, isn't it?

Becky Miller:  And yeah, so thank you. Your story reminds us that even in the middle of loss and challenges, there is still room for growth. There's room for healing and community, and we are really excited about your new cookbook and the impact that it is already making. We'll make sure to link it in our show notes so that our listeners can learn more.

Annie Toro Lopez:  Wonderful. Thank you so much.

Stacy Griffin:  Thank you for so much for being here with us today. We really appreciate you coming on the podcast and filling us in on all the wonderful things you've told us today.  And to our audience, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Autoimmune Adventures. We'll be back next week with more conversations to inspire and encourage you on your journey.

Remember, you are worthy of joy. Your disease does not define your life. You do.

HELPFUL LINKS:

How to contact Annie:

https://www.facebook.com › annie.toro.lopez

Annie Toro Lopez on LinkedIn

@the_dinos_explore on Instagram

Annie Toro Lopez on LinkedIn

Annie's new cookbook, Simply Gluten-Free: Real Ingredients for Everyday Life

https://amzn.to/4nPZjrW

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, MD.

https://amzn.to/46SMXJC

*The Amazon links above are affiliate links. Using these links will not cost you anything extra, but as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.