EP067 | Greek Sunsets, Austrian Strudel: Two Travel Epiphanies That Make Healing Effortless

Have you ever wondered why a simple vacation can make your body feel better than any strict protocol?

If you’re hustling through elimination diets and endless tests yet still flaring, you might be missing the two game-changing shifts I uncovered on my family trip to Greece and Austria.

When we ignore the bigger picture—connection, environment, true rest—our immune system stays on high alert, reacting to every crumb of gluten or whiff of pollution. 

In today’s episode, you’ll hear how one breathtaking sunset and a humble slice of apple strudel rewired my thinking … and how the same mindset can calm your body, too.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

• Why recognizing our shared humanity is the first step to dissolving stress-based flare-ups
• How a relaxed nervous system lets your immune system tolerate more (yes, even the occasional treat)
• Three quick ways to recreate “vacation calm” at home—no plane ticket required

Give this episode a listen and start turning everyday moments into effortless healing wins.

 🎁 Start here: Grab your FREE Decode Your Symptoms Workbook HERE.
 

 Ready for a personalized plan? Inside your download email you’ll find an invite to book a 90-min Body-Wise Healing Roadmap Session. Snag your workbook now and follow the quick link when you’re ready for next-level clarity. 

OTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Episode 1- How I healed my daughter’s severe health issues when conventional medicine failed
• Join our free Facebook group: Embrace Your Healing Journey
• Book: I Have Eczema, So What?

Write to me at anindita@aninditarungta.com—I’d love to hear your biggest takeaway!

Chapters

• 2:06 Cultural Reflections from Travel
• 5:51 Health Insights from Personal Experience
• 6:10 Managing Autoimmune Conditions
• 11:23 Understanding Immune System Tolerance
• 12:37 Motivation and Hope in Healing

Transcript

We all enjoy the same sunsets, don't we? It doesn't matter which part of the world you are in, whether you're in Greece or Austria. In fact, those were the very two countries that I had visited during my summer break with my family. And there were two, you know, things that I realized, and one was an eye opener. So stay tuned because I'm going to share those two insights, and I think you will also find them quite valuable as they were for me. 

Welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate their illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty, and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you are ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then this show is for you. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine Certified Health Coach, deliver tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more. 

So after I came back and I've just come back from the break, you know, I put up a post on Facebook and I've got, you know, a lot of responses, including personal WhatsApp and this is what I had shared, that we all enjoy the same sunsets, don't we? In fact, uh, you know, we had gone to this temple of Poseidon. If you've, uh, had Greek history in school, then you would have definitely heard about, uh, the different gods, because, you know, we read about all of them. Ethan. Athena. Uh, Poseidon. Uh, Hephaestus. Quite a few. I mean, there's so many gods. So, um. Zeus. So, anyway, so, cutting a long story short, there was this, uh, there's this temple of Poseidon that they have, and it is believed that he, uh, the agency gets the name from King Aegean who jumped off into the sea from that point. Uh, long story, uh, but for, uh, what I wanted to share here is, you know, the thing was that I realized that while these two countries Greece. And then my trip to Austria was so different, culturally so different. Oh, you know, it's the same thing. Like I enjoyed the same beautiful sunset in Athens that I did in Vienna later on, and I do I, as I do in Mumbai, my home when I've come back. And yet we seem to believe that we are also different. 

We are different. Yes, there are a lot of cultural differences, as we know, religious differences. Uh, we are different people in that sense, but we are so much more alike than we are different. We are the same way. We laugh the same way. We love the same way. We want to protect our family. The same way that you and I want to protect our families. The same way that the Greeks want to protect their families and love them and take care of them the same way as the Austrians do. And it's true for everyone in this world. And it was, you know, it's something that you know, of course, but every time you travel, you tend to pick up some of these things. And if you are really open to these experiences, you might get some insights, uh, things that you already know, of course, but you start seeing the world with fresh. It's not so much that the world has changed. It's that you have changed as a person because you're taking in new ideas.

 You're exploring you are open. You're also more receptive, I believe when you're traveling. I think a lot of ah, um, you know, um, the walls that defenses, as we call them, like a lot of walls that we build because, you know, it's kind of an armor that we have to put out in for some reason or the other way. You know, when we interacting with other people. But there's a lot less stress when we are traveling, when we're not thinking about, uh, the next thing that we need to do, the chores and the responsibilities and all the stressors, and you can let all that go, at least for a while. And that's, you know, that's a reason I find that when I travel, at least speaking for myself, I can take in a lot more than I do at home.  And at home. I have to be much more intentional about it. So, as I was mentioning that, uh, you know, the the thing that I really I mean, I've traveled a lot across different continents, but again, once again and, and that's that's the reason I wrote about it. It was quite clear to me that, you know, the these people, you know, there's, you know, these countries and these people that I at least have visited, they are so proud of where they come from. 

 They really take such good care of their, um, you know, their houses, their places, their historical monuments and in such a, uh, and I find that it's, you know, it can actually also be unhealthy in sometimes that we, you know, start taking pride and it becomes this us versus them contest because there is no really them. It's only us, right? It's one big wide world. And whatever is happening in our part of the world affects somebody else in the another part of the world. And it's not that we can remain unaffected. 

So I think it's high time that we get off our high horses and start taking care of our country, our people, our monuments, you know, our language, our culture as we're already doing. We are doing that already, but without having to, break it up into us and then them you know and it's that's it's unfortunate that that's a lot that is happening today. It's happened over the ages. It's nothing new. Of course they there have been wars that have been fought actually we've we've lived through some peaceful times and, I guess the world wars are on my, uh, you know, mind because I just saw so much of history, especially in Austria, about the World War one and the World War two. And, you know, they have really, uh, kept it at the forefront so that they probably don't want to make the same mistakes that the ancestors have made. And I really hope that that's something that we will remember. But anyway, I digress, and that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. So the number one thing that I learned is that we all enjoy the same sunsets. That means that we are much more alike than we are different. 

Of course we are different. And I saw these between the two countries that I visited recently. One was Greece, the other one was Austria. But it's the same for us and any other country in. Any other place in the world. So that's number one. Number two is more health related because after all, this is a podcast about health. And this was actually an eye opener for me. And this is something, again, I have known theoretically, but it never ceases to amaze when I think it's good to have that sense of wonder and awe. So when my daughter has and I've shared my story, if you haven't heard my story about how I got into health coaching, functional medicine, how my daughter was so severely ill all those years ago, uh, you can listen to episode one. I have written blog posts about it. I'll link the episode one in the show notes below. But, she has been off gluten since 2014, and since I took her off gluten in an attempt to actually get her very, very severe eczema under control. She had been on multiple immunosuppressive medications by that point. She had been hospitalized with a life threatening infection. So many things that happened up to that point. And to cut a long story short, uh, she recovered. She got off all her medication. She's had some ups and downs, but Nothing that has been close to what it used to be earlier. And she lives a life, you know, which is free of eczema 90% of the time. 

And it's the rest of it. The rest of the 10% is a little bit here and there because, for example, when we just before we left for our holiday, she had a very, very bad cold. And because we were traveling and for such a long time, I didn't really have a choice. I usually avoid, uh, you know, antibiotics, etc. when I know that it's going to just take a bit of time. A lot of times it's just patience and sleep. And I'm very, very big on sleep. And that actually takes care of a lot of these things, which, uh, you know, you, uh, you know that your body needs some rest, actually rest and good food. But in our case, we didn't have much time. So she was put on anti, uh, antibiotics. And because she had some throat infection. So it was not it was a unavoidable and uh, you know, and we know that antibiotics affect the gut. And in her case, if the gut is not in good shape because of the antibiotics, it also affects the skin. So unfortunately. To help get her infection under control, her skin got a bit worse. Like not much, but yes, but a bit worse that she was not very comfortable getting into the water. And uh, so that was how it was. And she has been of gluten for the longest time, so she's quite comfortable without it. And she knows it does affect her skin. I mean, if she has, she's had, uh, wheat in the past or gluten products in the past and, you know, 1 or 2 days her skin does seem to break out or it's not just comfortable. So she knows that she should not be continuing to have it. She's because she's faced this issue when there has been cross-contamination or she's had it without realizing it. But on this trip, uh, you know, we, uh, she knows now how to manage her symptoms, how to manage her skin really well. She is at a long time practicing it. And, uh, she took a she, uh, decided that she would taste a dessert that we were having. And it was apple strudel, which is very, very well known now, the most popular and amazing desserts. That you can get in Vienna. All results are amazing. And she said, you know, I'm going to have a bit of it. I have the enzyme. It's called. There's an enzyme called glutinous that she travels with. It's a digestive enzymes that helps us digest gluten if she ever gets exposed to it. And she said, I'm just going to take one eye. She doesn't do it, you know, as a regular thing, regular practice. But she said, I want to taste it with you, with you. So she said, I'll try it. And she did. And then she well, she said, you know, I'm just for a while. I'm here for seven days. I'm just going to have a little bit of gluten here and there because she misses it, you know, like and we, we don't have a lot of gluten at home. But when we are traveling, the rest of us do have. So I know how hard it is for her to actually not have. And she doesn't otherwise. She's in college and she stays off because she knows that helps. But what happened is that even when she had and she had a few spoons here and there with us, and every day we were having different desserts, it was amazing, uh, temporarily. 

And we realized and she realized that her scheme was holding up. and we know that pollution is a big trigger for her. Like we've done DNA testing for her. So we know that. And we know pollution affects air pollution specifically and even other toxins. It affects everyone, right? We know that. But in her case, and we've done DNA testing for her. So we know that it affects her a lot. Like smoking is a complete no no for her. But when there is a scenario where she is in a place in an environment where the air is crisp and clear, like we were in both Greece and Austria, her immune system, and she's on holiday. So she is, you know, relaxed. We are all relaxed. We're having a fantastic time. Then we then the immune system is calm enough so that even when it's exposed to a particular trigger or like she was having gluten off and on, on like every day for the last seven days of her trip, then it can still tolerate it, right? And that was amazing for me to see. I know about it. 

This is what I teach in my coaching programs. I have a 1 to 1 coaching program for women called Body Wise Transformation. I have a 12 week program currently going on. It's called Body Wise Reset, all for women with chronic conditions, chronic health issues, and autoimmune conditions to help them, you know, follow personalized practices. Simplify this path of healing. You know, start reducing their symptoms in a very sustainable and holistic manner. And, um, gluten is a big no no for, you know, anyone with autoimmune conditions and my and, uh, immune dysregulation like in the case of eczema, uh, allergies etc.. And my daughter has been off this so and I know and I teach this I mean, your immune system is calm. It can actually tolerate more if it needs to, like food. And that is exactly what happened in my daughter's case because the immune system had calmed down. Uh, you know, with antibiotics, it's a healthy immune system had flared up and her skin was a bit off. In her case, we can make out because it's visible on the skin. 

And by the time we hit the last part of our trip, her immune system had calmed down with. The good food that we were having. The fun, the de-stressing, the clean air that we she her body could actually tolerate more. And I know this in theory, but it was still an eye opener for me. So this was the second insight or the second realization thing that I realized, uh, one that was really amazing to see how your immune system, you know, if you can calm your immune system down with the right kind of food with, you know, whatever else needs to be done, you it can actually tolerate much more than it's doing right now. And you can see much more health improvements, reduced symptoms. It's amazing. And it's a big, big motivator for you to know and understand how you need to keep going. And it will. You know, what happens is that when you when you get this kind of it's like a pep talk that you have been waiting for right from your immune system saying that, hey, you know, this is what you've been doing is working. Keep going forward. 

Take the next step. Don't lose. Don't lose hope, No matter what anyone tells you. Don't lose hope. You know your. Your body knows what needs to be done. You have to just supportive the right way. And that's exactly what happened in my daughter's case because she was doing everything else right. And because the immune system had, you know, sort of was even in a good place. Not a hypervigilant, not a which is not overreactive, not under reactive. It was just in the right place. It was able to tolerate more. In fact. In other words, we say that the when you know, when the immune systems become hypervigilant, that is in the case of eczema, allergies, asthma, immunity, etc. it's like think of it as an angry person. Like when you're talking to an angry person, you don't know what will trigger of their anger.

 What will they, you know, sort of bite at you with, uh, suddenly they will, uh, you know, say something may be mean or nasty. And it was not something that you were trying to say or what did what you were saying. It is because they're already riled up the same thing with your system. So I think that's what I want to leave you with. It's a short and sweet episode this time. Just, uh, uh, something that I realized. Two things that I realized during my recent holiday. I'll be back next week with the regular episodes. And, uh, if you have any questions, if you would like to hear about a particular topic, uh, you know, as far as health is concerned, as far as simplifying your health is concerned, uh, figuring out what you need to do, what is the next step, then you can, uh, uh, connect with me on Instagram at the rate and in the room. And I will see you again soon.