October 15, Saturday (14:00 -16:00) - Free entry

Joyful Life with a "Special" Diet

On the occasion of our 1st anniversary, we will host a series of small get-togethers for those of you who follow or think to follow special diets such as strict gluten-free, elimination, paleo or AIP, to exchange your experiences in the presence of guest moderators. We are hosting our first meeting on October 15 between 14:00 and 16:00 to bring together all of us who are on a special diet such as strict gluten-free, elimination, paleo or AIP… to share experiences, information and friendship on our journey of being on a somehow "restricted " diet. Whether you think you have food intolerance or allergies, or choose to follow a special diet for your own reasons, you are welcome to join us at our meeting. This is a free event but please confirm your attendance by e-mail or WhatsApp since we have a limited space for the participants.

Meet our guest speakers for the first meeting:
 
Başak UYSAL
Başak is a last-year Ph.D. student at the University of Montpellier, working on the vaginal microbiome’s role in young women’s health. On side of her Ph.D. in biology, she is working as a health coach and uses science-backed knowledge and methods to improve the life quality of her clients who are struggling with autoimmune-like symptoms.
As a natural nerd, she grew an interest in learning about autoimmunity and the impact of nutrition and lifestyle changes since she got diagnosed with RA (Rheumatoid arthritis) 2 years ago. After being in excruciating pain despite a year of high-dose methotrexate treatment, and her doctor's pressure on putting her into also biological drugs, she finally decided to give the elimination diet a chance. Even to her surprise, she was in remission after less than 2 weeks on this diet. She started experimenting with other lifestyle changes, everything from different ways of exercise to mindset, life, and stress management tools, to better sleep and rest routines. Being an academic herself, she got into the reasons behind how these methods work and improved her life quality remarkably to the level that she has no pain most of the days and she is able to train for a triathlon which she enjoys deeply.
Not being able to get out of bed, able to walk properly, and feeling like she was 80 years old when she was only 28, Başak knows very well how frustrating and life-impacting autoimmunity and autoimmune-like symptoms can be. She is passionate about helping others experiencing similar symptoms as she did: fatigue, lack of concentration, brain fog, joint and skin pain and rashes, and gastrointestinal issues. She is now working as a health coach while continuing her Ph.D. in biology and uses methods and knowledge from research that is easily applicable to our daily lives to get back our energy and vitality before all the nasty symptoms showed up. She takes big pride in giving back to her clients a life not impacted by pain and fatigue, but instead joyful memories with their loved ones.
 
Emily Ann ROBINSON
forestofoneyoga | YouTube, Facebook | Linktree
I am originally from Vancouver in Canada and now live in the South of France. I am the Founder of Forest of One.
I teach Hatha & Yin Yoga, often I will incorporate Pranayama, EFT Tapping, Meditation, Chi Movement, and Meridian Tracing.  I have found that by broadening the modalities of wellness practices into the offering there is a chance to deepen the overall connection to oneself. 
The main goal of Forest of One is to help people feel supported in their personal wellness journey.
It is my goal to deepen my wellness knowledge and modalities so I am currently working to become a certified wellness coach.
But if I am honest it is not just for my community.
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's about 3 years ago.
At first, I felt neutral about the diagnosis since I didn't know what I was in for... 
Now I’ve come to discover there was no way of knowing what to expect as I have now spoken with countless people about this auto-immune condition and never have 2 stories been the same.
It’s pretty clear to me that most doctors don’t have a clue about how to support their Hashimoto patients. In my experience, you are diagnosed and prescribed your drugs for life and they will leave the rest up to you to figure out. 
This was my first time being diagnosed with a chronic condition so I had a false pretense as to what a doctor's job is and now I have a far better scope of reality.
6 months into taking my Hashimoto's meds I began to experience terrible symptoms. The shortlist was chronic diarrhea, insomnia, and chronic pain.
Finally, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis… and explained that it was likely my Hashimoto’s medication causing this daily destruction. For me, the obvious resolution was to take a step back from my meds… After a year of being off meds and working to heal naturally, I am now back on a new Hashimoto treatment called TCAPS.
Flash forward a year later, and most of the chronic pain still lives in my body. So the journey with Western Doctors continues… recently I saw a new gastroenterologist and was informed I actually have ‘’Irritable Bowel Syndrome’’ or sometimes referred to as ‘’Functional Colopathy’’. I was told this is not as serious since there are no lesions on my colon. 
Good right? … well yes, but unfortunately not on the day to day…
The symptoms, while internally different; externally tend to be very similar and if not properly dealt with can often lead to a future diagnosis of any number of diseases. So with this in mind, my chronic pain is even less validated by the doctors and therefore I am left feeling even less supported than before. As a side note, not long after that, I was diagnosed with Raynauds. 
So here we are working to support one another to be in the best state of health that we can be under by the circumstances. 
I hope this meeting will give you fresh insight and motivation to continue on your journey.

and meet the host:

Gülfiliz AHUNBAY
Founder of plus q'une bisq'Vie and originally from Turkey, I am a biologist by training. After teaching science for over 10 years and suffering from chronic pain for over 20 years, I discovered that I was gluten intolerant. The diagnosis prompted me to develop new recipes and adapt the traditional ones for myself with gluten and dairy free ingredients as I was frustrated with the unhealthy composition of most industrial GF&DF products. This experience eventually turned into starting my own bakery and café in Montpellier, where I found the opportunity to develop my own business as a woman entrepreneur, with a view to sharing my experience with people suffering from food intolerances or allergies or just looking for healthier eating.

My motto is “the simple is the best”