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Podcast, Provider Interviews

Building a Healthier Relationship with Food while Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis (with Dietitian Cristina Montoya)

March 12, 2026
54 min read
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Summary:

Cheryl talks with Cristina Montoya, a bilingual registered dietitian and founder of Arthritis Dietitian, about building a compassionate, sustainable relationship with food while living with rheumatoid arthritis. Cristina shares her 20-year journey with rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren’s disease and explains why managing autoimmune conditions works best when medication and lifestyle support go hand in hand. 

Cristina and Cheryl also discuss Cristina’s new GLOW framework: Grow gut diversity, Lower inflammation, Optimize energy, and Work with your body compassionately. The conversation also covers gut health, the risks of overly restrictive diets, mindful eating, and how to aim for progress over perfection, even on flare days.

Episode at a glance:

  • 02:02 Diagnosis and Acceptance
  • 05:25 Medications Plus Lifestyle
  • 06:48 Why Cristina Became a Dietitian
  • 13:59 GLOW Framework Explained
  • 29:16 Defining Gut Health
  • 36:10 Healing Your Food Relationship
  • 38:20 Why Restriction Backfires
  • 40:05 Mindful Treats and Less Stress
  • 41:37 Sustainable Habits Over Time
  • 43:01 Progress Over Perfection
  • 43:49 Shifting Priorities with Illness
  • 49:12 Living a Good Life with RA
  • 51:43 Where to Find Cristina’s Spanish Podcast

Medical disclaimer: 

All content found on Arthritis Life public channels was created for generalized informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Episode Sponsors

Rheum to THRIVE, an online course and support program Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected. See all the details and join the program or waitlist now! 

Speaker Bios:

Cristina Montoya, RD

Cristina Montoya, Registered Dietitian and founder of Arthritis Dietitian, an international speaker specializing in evidence-based nutrition and gut health for autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. She co-hosts of the Spanish-language podcast Inmunidad Consciente to support this community.

Cheryl Crow

Cheryl is an occupational therapist who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis for over twenty years. Her life passion is helping others with rheumatoid arthritis figure out how to live a full life despite arthritis, by developing tools to navigate physical, emotional and social challenges. She formed the educational company Arthritis Life in 2019 after seeing a huge need for more engaging, accessible, and (dare I say) FUN patient education and self-management resources.

Episode links:

Full Episode Transcript:

[00:00:05] Cheryl Crow: Yeah, I’m so excited today to have back for the fourth time actually, Cristina Montoya, a registered dietician who also has lived experience with arthritis, and we’re going to be talking today about building a healthy relationship with food while living with rheumatoid arthritis or a similar conditions.

[00:00:27] Cheryl Crow: So welcome, Cristina. So good to see you again. 

[00:00:30] Cristina Montoya: Well, thank you so much for having me back and for your trust. I really appreciate that. I, yeah. I’m a registered dietician. I’m based in Canada, but I was trained in Columbia, so I am, I’m bilingual, a bilingual dietician, and I’m the founder of arthritis Dietician.

[00:00:50] Cheryl Crow: Yes. Yeah, and I think first of all, it’s just, you know, the people who’ve listened for a long time know that like of all the lifestyle interventions for rheumatoid [00:01:00] arthritis and just autoimmune diseases in general, on a personal and an intellectual level, I find diet and nutrition to be the most confusing and overwhelming at times. So I really like it’s really, there’s so much misinformation out there. So when I met you, quote unquote met online, I was like a, it was like a breath of fresh air. ’cause I’m like, this is somebody who gets it from a live experience standpoint and has the research and training to back it up and you’re not making a lot of what other

[00:01:29] Cheryl Crow: kind of, some people in the, in this space will make these claims. Like all you have to do is just heal your gut and you won’t have arthritis anymore. You know, there’s just so much to untangle there. But but I just wanted to put a little plug for previous episodes ’cause we’re not gonna go through.

[00:01:44] Cheryl Crow: If you wanna hear more about your long story of we always talk about the diagnosis saga and stuff like that. They can go to episodes 68 or 1 63. But just for today, can you give the listeners a brief summary of like how and when you got diagnosed and maybe a little [00:02:00] bit on your treatment journey?

[00:02:02] Cristina Montoya: Yeah, basically I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome back then in 20 years ago. Luckily now it’s changed to Sjogren’s disease and it’s so well deserved. But when I first started, just someone who was young in, in early twenties, it was very difficult diagnosis full of I know uncertainty, fear.

[00:02:25] Cristina Montoya: A lot of pain. And I think, like I said, not to repeat everything that like all the story that I already shared with you and your audience. It’s what I can say. It’s been a journey and at first I felt I not be able to cope with this disease. I felt like my life just ended when I was in my early twenties.

[00:02:46] Cristina Montoya: It was, I think that was the hardest thing to go through. And as I accepted the treatments or the new therapies that came along for rheumatoid arthritis, I started to see the light that they said, [00:03:00] okay, I accepted that it was a chronic illness that had no cure, but I also have to take control of, okay, what is it that I can work with my rheumatologist to improve my quality of life?

[00:03:13] Cristina Montoya: And I can say that 20 years later, right? So at first, I know it’s so scary when you first get diagnosed and your life completely changes. So I feel that was kind of my biggest fear when I was diagnosed so young and in fact, 20 years ago in Columbia, we didn’t have all the treatments. It was, they were just starting.

[00:03:33] Cristina Montoya: And, but I still opened my mind to see, okay, I want the treatment, I want to feel better. I still couldn’t prevent the deformation. I have the damage in my joint but what I always want to bring to my clients is you don’t have to go through this damage because we have so much treatments so different treatments that at least we can try.

[00:03:55] Cristina Montoya: So that’s why maybe my conversations are starting to feel a little different because I already [00:04:00] kind of went through that painful part of the initial journey. Now it’s more about, okay, how I’m gonna live the rest of another 20 years with these diseases. 

[00:04:11] Cheryl Crow: Yeah I really resonate with that. And the reason you kind of, if those who are watching the YouTube video, you kind of smiled a little bit when you said the word acceptance, because before we started recording I was telling Cristina about how I’m gonna write,

[00:04:23] Cheryl Crow: i’m in the middle of writing a book about acceptance. And I, it’s ironic because it’s like my, almost like my reluctant journey towards acceptance or like my reluctant love affair with acceptance. Because at first I’m like I think it’s very normal, like you’re saying to just think, oh my gosh, my life’s over.

[00:04:38] Cheryl Crow: Or I can’t handle this, or I just need to fix it or make it go away. And then there’s this paradoxical power of acceptance when you actually kind of start envisioning a life in harmony with yeah, I can, these are things that are gonna affect my life in my health in a negative way at times, but I still can, I still could develop a toolbox of tools to [00:05:00] proactively and evidence-based tools to actually manage the condition. So that’s yeah, that’s really exciting. And I, we often talk about how we’re RA twins ’cause we’re the same age diagnosed at the same time. We both had have one child. Our kids are a little different age. Mine’s just turned 12.

[00:05:16] Cheryl Crow: But they’re both, we both have, we’re moms to a boy, so we’re boy moms. That sounds funny but yeah, it’s a little bit of a, I mean, it’s apples and oranges. It’s not a perfect case comparison, but I was put on early aggressive treatment. I was really privileged to have not only be in the United States where these drugs were available, but with a really good health insurance that covered them.

[00:05:37] Cheryl Crow: Right. ’cause that can be a barrier even if you live in the United States. And I don’t, I have very mild deformities. And again, apples and orange, we don’t really know what, in your case, like if you had gone on the treatment, maybe you had treatment resistant RA or something. But both of us are there’s a lot of people in the wellness space who are very anti-medication.

[00:05:54] Cheryl Crow: And I think as people have heard me say ad nauseam, you know, the evidence is just so strong [00:06:00] in favor of medications. It’s really like a both and like medications and lifestyle changes, not, or, but. Sorry. 

[00:06:07] Cristina Montoya: Exactly. No, but I think that’s so important because we tend to compare ourselves to other patients.

[00:06:13] Cristina Montoya: So then let’s say someone who maybe you, yourself, like you present with like minimal deformities or joint damage, that will say like, how come I’m not like her? We basically the same age, the same height even. And it’s still, our journeys are completely different. So I always reinforce that idea that you have to think about that it’s your unique, your journey.

[00:06:39] Cristina Montoya: You can’t compare yourself to others. Even if you are using the same medication, your response might be different. 

[00:06:46] Cheryl Crow: A hundred percent. Yeah. And if you could just give people quick insight, you know, this, I’m really curious, what made you want to become a registered dietician and you know, what do you, and we’re [00:07:00] gonna delve more into, again, building a healthy relationship with food.

[00:07:03] Cheryl Crow: But what made you want to become a registered dietician? 

[00:07:07] Cristina Montoya: I wanted to become a registered dietician back home because I was more interested about food security. I was interested about what are the ways or the programs that I could be involved in developing to ensure that everyone had access to healthy food in affordable food, and that was back in Columbia.

[00:07:26] Cristina Montoya: So that was really my first call. When it came to starting nutrition, it, I admit it had nothing to do with my diagnosis of arthritis because back then we were not so open to talk about our illnesses. We actually wanted to hide those illnesses because we didn’t wanna look different or we didn’t wanna maybe miss opportunities because they will see you.

[00:07:48] Cristina Montoya: Oh no, you have arthritis. No. I don’t think you’re gonna work with us. So at that time, and I also grew up in, in a small town, we didn’t have a lot of resources, so that really spoke to me. [00:08:00] I love going up to like rural areas where we brought like bags of food and we created these programs. So that’s why when kind of moving forward back in 2020, that’s when you started your support groups as well. And I started thinking about what is my role as a dietician in the arthritis world? And and here’s when there was a lot of contrast because around this time is when all the explosion of these autoimmune, the autoimmune protocols and these restricted diets came along, but I still had in my heart.

[00:08:30] Cristina Montoya: And I said, why are we eliminating food, like the body needs nutrition, why are we restricting it? And so that’s why my message always was contrary to what was surfacing. And at that time I felt that I couldn’t fight that because people wanted to restrict and to go and starve themselves, basically trying to fight the disease. And so that’s where I started doing like a switch to see, okay, what if I can maybe use those [00:09:00] principles so that everyone should have access to affordable, safe foods to nourish themselves and apply to the management of arthritis that can also be aligned, supportive of the arthritis treatment.

[00:09:15] Cristina Montoya: And mind you that even maybe five in, up to 10 years ago, rheumatologists wouldn’t accept nutrition as part of a complimentary therapy. They wouldn’t. Now we have holistic rheumatologists and it’s, and that it’s accepted that lifestyle choices are also part of the treatment. And so I will say that’s my transition.

[00:09:36] Cristina Montoya: I never said, oh my God, I wanna be a dietician for the arthritis dietician. This is how I was born. No, it was also a journey of self, again, self-acceptance. And I said, well, you know, it’s arthritis right now doesn’t have a cure, but from my lived experience and my clinical expertise, why can I contribute to the [00:10:00] management of these diseases?

[00:10:03] Cheryl Crow: A hundred percent. I mean, that’s another way I didn’t even think about this till right now, how similar our stories are, because I had the same thing where I was really concerned with the misinformation I was seeing, and also just the lack, even if people had the health literacy, not to kind of fall prey to misinformation, they also just.

[00:10:20] Cheryl Crow: It was just, they aren’t given hardly any support, right? You get diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and you’re told just come back in three months, take this medication and come back in three months. And again, the medications are very helpful, but most people have a lot of questions and a lot of interest in delving into what else can I do other than taking my medication? Should I exercise? Should I meditate, manage my stress? Should I eat something different? And I actually I’ve you know, surveyed unofficially a lot of rheumatologists, and I’m like, what what’s the number one lifestyle medicine question you get in your clinic?

[00:10:53] Cheryl Crow: And not surprisingly, they all say diet. Everyone wants to know what diet should I do? And like you said, there’s a real danger in a [00:11:00] super restrictive mindset around food. So your job isn’t just like the job I’ve a registered dietician in my head is not just being like, oh, here’s like a set of facts around the evidence for this food matching your unique health condition

[00:11:18] Cheryl Crow: or conditions, plural, but it’s helping people psychologically navigate their relationship with food. So, yeah. Yeah. How do you do that? Like, how do you help in your words, before we started talking, you said you wanted to talk about how you help women with inflammatory arthritis build a sustainable and healthy relationship with food.

[00:11:40] Cheryl Crow: How do you, 

[00:11:40] Cristina Montoya: yeah, 

[00:11:41] Cheryl Crow: that sounds like a tall order, but really important. 

[00:11:44] Cristina Montoya: Well, it’s, so how it really started is because every time I have a client, I always felt that they needed permission to eat something. It was just something as simple. I really enjoy a glass [00:12:00] of milk, but everything online, TikTok, every, everyone is telling me naturopaths that I need to eliminate dairy products.

[00:12:08] Cristina Montoya: And, but I said, but I always loved my glass of milk in the morning and it didn’t bother me, didn’t do anything. And the moment, and I eliminated for three months and they’ll literally feel like miserable that they were missing something that they truly enjoyed. And I said to them, what if for this week I’ll give you permission to have that glass of milk?

[00:12:31] Cristina Montoya: And a week later I talked to them and I said I felt great. I had nothing. I didn’t have diarrhea, I didn’t have abdominal pain. I was fine because it never really bothered me. And so all these conversations that happened with my clients, because I always more than giving them a list of foods to avoid of foods, or best foods or worse foods. I wanted to understand what is, was their relationship with food like, what type of diet they have gone through? [00:13:00] What what are really their beliefs when it comes to nutrition? What do they have access? Do they have access to even all day list all the anti-inflammatory foods?

[00:13:09] Cristina Montoya: So again, a quote unquote, that they recommend do you really, do you even like it? Do you like having like coconut oil all day? That’s not really go through the, and so we forget that we are social beings, that food is part of that social culture and that foods and any recommendations that you give should align to your food preferences, to your culture.

[00:13:30] Cristina Montoya: What do you enjoy? How is that gonna fit within your family? That what you’re eating can also be feeding your kids? And so lately, like of the, over the past maybe two or three years, I started to having these conversations. And so yeah, let’s, and so I said, oh yeah, we have the Mediterranean diet and everyone recommends the Mediterranean diet because you have all these anti-inflammatory compounds.

[00:13:52] Cristina Montoya: But at the end it’s like, how do I implement that Mediterranean diet at the end of the day? So how do I do that? And so [00:14:00] now long ago, I have to take a medical leave like last year, because I was waiting I was going through a transition to change my treatment. My sixth time to, to a different biologic.

[00:14:13] Cristina Montoya: But this time I decided not to get depressed. ’cause every time I go through a transitional time for my medications, I feel really sad. I feel like again, oh my God, did I fail? Did I do something wrong? What is it? But this time I said, no, I’m not gonna take that attitude this time. No. So I started reflecting on all these conversations and I said, no, we need a sustainable but also compassionate approach to eating when we are living with inflammatory arthritis.

[00:14:47] Cristina Montoya: So that’s when I created, or I said, based on the evidence that we have, what about if I go, I call it glow with arthritis. I said, oh, what does glow mean? And I said, okay. Now we have sufficient [00:15:00] evidence to say that we support and we nourish our gut because that’s where like most of our immune cells are held.

[00:15:07] Cristina Montoya: So we nourish our gut. Most likely we’re supporting our immune system. So g goes for grow your gut diversity. So we’re going to nourish our gut. Then the L goes for, okay, lower inflammation, but I’m not promising by changing your diet specifically is going to replace your treatment. No, it’s by nourish your body with immune supported nutrients. So we’re talking about all the vitamin Ds, all omega threes. We are going to talk about zinc, magnesium, so all these specific nutrients that we know are gonna support our immune system. Then we’re gonna talk, oh, what about the O? So the O is about optimizing your energy, so obviously we’re drained. That’s one of the most significant symptoms we’re living with inflammatory arthritis. It is fatigue. So how we can we optimize our energy while living with [00:16:00] inflammatory arthritis? But I also touch on what about your weight and metabolism? Because we’re all have these shifts of metabolism when we’re living with inflammatory arthritis.

[00:16:13] Cristina Montoya: And then initially the W, I said, oh, work on sustainable habits. But then I started reflecting it like, no, you’re gonna work with your body or say, what is your body telling you? So that’s what is Glow. So glow is grow your gut diversity, lower inflammation, optimize your energy and work with your body with compassion.

[00:16:36] Cheryl Crow: Well, and I love that. I’m a sucker for a framework and especially if it’s a, what’s the word for, I have it for Thrive. It’s an acronym. It’s an acronym, yeah.

[00:16:46] Cheryl Crow: Like the Thrive acronym is like tools for pain of fatigue. Helpful habits, relationships, inner world, and then values and valued activities, and then executive functions.

[00:16:57] Cheryl Crow: And I think it’s when you’re [00:17:00] overwhelmed, like I am even now, 23 years into living with rheumatoid arthritis. And having, you know, done a lot of research on into the diet and nutrition space, worked with numerous registered dieticians and a naturopath and a gastroenterologist ’cause of my own additional diagnoses, it still really can be overwhelming. So I think having a framework helps you wrap your mind around it. And I think I just think it’s so great that you’re giving people like a you said nourishment over restriction mindset, which is, I think it’s really what’s missing.

[00:17:35] Cheryl Crow: Like I’ve been, you know, facilitating my rheum to thrive support groups over the last six years. It was called like two different things earlier, but the Rheumatoid Arthritis Roadmap, or it was called Beginner’s Guide to Rheumatoid Arthritis. But anyway it was the same program just iterated and I can’t tell you how many times people come in and they’re so, they’re miserable ’cause they restricted a bunch of foods.

[00:17:54] Cheryl Crow: And they still don’t feel any better or, I mean, we should acknowledge that sometimes it, [00:18:00] for some people a restrictive diet is very helpful because it is what works in their body. 

[00:18:07] Cheryl Crow: I think an example would be, this is not really like what you mean by restrictive diet a hundred percent, but if you discover that you are, have celiac disease.

[00:18:16] Cheryl Crow: It’s like you have to restrict gluten. You just, you can’t have a happy medium there. Right. And you will feel so much better when you do. But most of the kinds of my understanding, tell me if I’m wrong, the average person with rheumatoid arthritis does, it’s not as black and white as like celiac disease.

[00:18:36] Cheryl Crow: You’re in the middle somewhere, you’re like, oh, these foods are kind of my body sensitive. They’re kind of inflammatory to my body and so a registered dietician can help you sift through the mess. 

[00:18:50] Cristina Montoya: It is true, like the restricted diet, obviously, because this, for Celiac Disease, a gluten-free diet is the only treatment.

[00:18:56] Cristina Montoya: That’s absolutely it. Like it’s the only treatment. It’s if you [00:19:00] have diabetes and you need insulin, you can’t stop like taking your insulin. Right? Right. So with celiac disease, that’s the case. And I know over the years because they say, oh, but like celiac disease is an autoimmune disease and if this, they all autoimmune diseases are connected.

[00:19:14] Cristina Montoya: So that makes sense for the rest of the autoimmune diseases to restrict gluten because it’s inflammatory, and the signs of the evidence is not truly strong. And I’ve always said from what I read over the years that, okay, so let’s kind of break it out Per inflammatory arthritis. In rheumatoid arthritis, the evidence is honestly mostly no.

[00:19:38] Cristina Montoya: Typically patients with rheumatoid arthritis, they don’t present with a lot of digestive issues unless they’re diagnosed with an additional like in your case, you have like gastroparesis, right? So that’s like an additional diagnosis. But I do see a of patients with Sjogren’s disease who present with more gluten sensitivity, [00:20:00] and at this point we don’t even know exactly if it’s with the gluten or is there other proteins that contain are containing wheat, so that’s what we call it, non celiac gluten slash wheat sensitivity. 

[00:20:12] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:20:13] Cristina Montoya: So some people, they actually intolerant to the gluten. So if it’s something had gluten but not necessarily wheat. So that means that they could probably tolerate barley and rye, but not wheat. 

[00:20:25] Cheryl Crow: Yeah.

[00:20:26] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. 

[00:20:26] Cristina Montoya: And and so, so it’s true local, maybe they have intolerance to like the high, the fod maps of foods were high in fod maps. So then you do a temporary restriction, and hopefully that will be with guidance. So then you can reintroduce the foods because with you starve your gut with all the high fod map foods, which typically has, are high in prebiotics.

[00:20:48] Cristina Montoya: So they’re like typically foods that are high in fiber and they’re prebiotics. So you starve your gut out of prebiotics for a longer period of time. You are going to disturb the gut. You’re gonna cause these bio, [00:21:00] and you actually may increase the inflammatory metabolize that come from the gut. And so that’s why the gut is your dietician.

[00:21:09] Cristina Montoya: Even if it’s someone who understands autoimmune diseases well, no one understands autoimmune diseases, but at least, 

[00:21:15] Cheryl Crow: well, it’s a continuum of understanding. 

[00:21:18] Cheryl Crow: It’s a continuously evolving 

[00:21:20] Cristina Montoya: Yeah, exactly. Can relate to what it means to like, like nourish. So I always go back to that nourish piece, not so much, oh, follow this diet or follow this protocol.

[00:21:31] Cristina Montoya: Like you said, it’s I’m kind of going more like for that framework when you also have choice. So it’s more like a collaborative approach where, okay, this is what I have at home. Okay, what are the things that I can maybe substitute based on what you are recommending? And so when I run, let’s like a small program over the holidays, which is really crazy because who’s gonna participate in like a nutrition program over the holidays?

[00:21:58] Cristina Montoya: And and they did, like I have [00:22:00] a group of 10 people and most of them participated at their own pace and and they found it helpful, the fact that, oh, you’re not telling me I need to follow a meal plan. I said, this is the structure, right? So we are gonna prioritize all the foods that are contain anti-inflammatory compounds.

[00:22:19] Cristina Montoya: Look, because that’s different saying to me, I’m suggesting an anti-inflammatory diet. I’m saying we’re going to prioritize foods that are high anti-inflammatory properties. Right? So, and then we’re going to really highlight of foods that are high in fiber because typically we the typical American or Canadian, they only consume like up to 12 grams of fiber and we need up to 25 to 30 grams of fiber.

[00:22:46] Cristina Montoya: Oh yeah. And so even just working up on that, just fiber component, adding more plant foods into your diet, you are making a huge difference. You don’t have to change every change everything overnight. And [00:23:00] so that’s what I aim to do overnight next year. Something like my cousin goes Cristina, like you are defying what dieticians do.

[00:23:08] Cheryl Crow: Oh, defying like 

[00:23:10] Cristina Montoya: but you said yeah, you said like you are changing. Yeah. The how dietician works because you go to a dietician and they just give you a list of things, list of foods, lists of supplements, but they’re not taking the time to understand your environment and why you are able to change or what you want to change.

[00:23:30] Cheryl Crow: Oh my gosh, a hundred percent. I think it’s so much more sustainable the way that you’re doing it. And I think a lot of people, you know, it’s like I say with occupational therapy or physical therapy too and registered dieticians, unfortunately there is like a quality control issue at times.

[00:23:44] Cheryl Crow: There are people who said, well, you said I should go, or You said that there’s a lot of great things that you can learn from physical therapy or occupational therapy or registered dieticians. And I went to one and all they did was just hand me this you know, generic, you know, handout that’s been the same since 1982 of you should eat [00:24:00] this and you shouldn’t eat this, or you should do these exercises at home.

[00:24:03] Cheryl Crow: And it’s like a good practitioner actually works in, within, you said, environment, context within your own psychological history and relationship to food, you know, if a lot of people I always say this when we talk about nutrition, there is, and I don’t wanna get us off track, but there, you know, there is an eating disorder that is actually, people don’t recognize often in the autoimmune community.

[00:24:27] Cheryl Crow: ’cause it sounds like a good thing at first, but it’s orthorexia, which is where people are, have an unhealthy psychologically obsession over only eating healthy or clean foods. And that actually becomes a true like mental illness and they can become, you know, effectively like anorexic. But it’s called orthorexic ’cause it’s a little different psychologically and that requires treatment and, you know, we just, it’s really important to not just look at this in like a vacuum of you just, you know, these are just the foods you should or shouldn’t eat.

[00:24:57] Cheryl Crow: It’s teaching people to fit it [00:25:00] into their own lives anyway, I’m not reaching to the choir here. 

[00:25:03] Cristina Montoya: No, but I think it makes total sense. And in fact, like recently the US they launched their the dietary guidelines for Americans, and I know there has been a lot of conversations around that and I was like okay.

[00:25:16] Cristina Montoya: But let’s see, like first of all, I don’t like pyramids. Even when I talk about the Mediterranean diet, I don’t basically like pyramids because it’s just giving like hierarchy to certain foods. And I understand that certain foods have like more components but also we need to acknowledge that certain foods are contain lots of nutrients. So I’ll give you an example. Legumes like, think of beans, chickpeas, lentils, those are packed with fiber, low glycemic carbohydrates, protein. You have micronutrients, vitamin B six. So. They’re all gonna work in synergy. So to put them really in just one place. So when I started kind of developing this framework, [00:26:00] I developed like a circular type of plate and away where you can see synergy from all these different foods, like you said, oh, you want like gut friendly foods, and so you’re going for fermented foods.

[00:26:13] Cristina Montoya: And some of the fermented foods are contain like a yogurt, right? That’s like probably one of the most common fermented foods that we have, but yogurt is also rich in protein, calcium, right and other nutrients. So if we start understanding food that they work in synergy, they work together and right in the middle of it.

[00:26:32] Cristina Montoya: And I said, we are allowed, like a little bit of indulgence, you know, a little bit of cupcake here and there. It’s okay too. Did we need to live. But then around all this, I said, okay, to also be compassionate, maybe you need to adapt your nutritional the way you are doing things on the on flare up days and not to feel guilty about it.

[00:26:54] Cristina Montoya: So maybe that day is the day that you do go for like a smoothie or you’re going to use [00:27:00] your more canned beans or more of these foods that are convenience foods. But that, that you can prepare something that is just easy. I promote a lot like my bento boxes when I’m in the summertime, so there’s really no cooking involved or just very minimum.

[00:27:16] Cristina Montoya: So let’s say one that I really is I take edamame Just ate edamame like a frozen edamame and you heat it up in a microwave, it’s like about two minutes. Then you salt it, you can maybe drizzle a little bit of sesame seed oil, do sprinkle sesame seeds. Then you cut up some maybe cucumbers or any veggies that you have on hand.

[00:27:38] Cristina Montoya: And if you also have hummus, like why not? If you have, you can also now have, can purchase like hummus that are, have low preservatives and. And some fruit and nuts. Was there a lot of cooking involved? No. But you still nourish it yourself. Right? So that’s what I’m trying to really show people that you still can be nourish [00:28:00] without any, like a lot of elaborate meals that we’re used to.

[00:28:04] Cheryl Crow: Yes. I mean, I remember you and I think it was also Jennifer Thoran was where, you know, you helped me feel less guilty using you know, frozen vegetables. ’cause you were like, you know, this is, that’s not a highly processed food. Just ’cause it’s frozen. That’s, you’re not losing something in it.

[00:28:21] Cheryl Crow: I’ve been, the simplest thing for me has been making like green smoothies in the morning. I don’t even have to make ’em every day. ’cause I have these super cube containers where you like make a big smoothie and you put it in the containers and you only have to mix it. You know, in the blender in the morning.

[00:28:35] Cheryl Crow: And I I put chia seeds in there because, so I can’t tolerate legumes, but for some reason chia seeds, which you would think would be harder to digest ’cause they have that insoluble fiber, you know, in the middle. They are fine. Like I can, I’m totally fine with chia seeds. It’s like a certain point, does it, you know, doesn’t even make sense in your head.

[00:28:51] Cheryl Crow: You just have to know what you can and can’t eat, you know, or what your body is tolerating that day. But, you know, and I can tolerate some a small amount [00:29:00] of spinach and almond yogurt and some protein powder. And like I put some other stuff in there, like a little bit of turmeric and ginger and it’s it just feels so good to start my day like that.

[00:29:09] Cheryl Crow: And it’s not, again, like I have to be some elaborate chef, you know? Yeah. And that’s really good and yeah. I wanted to really quickly, before we talk more, define a couple terms just in case people are kind of new to this area. What does a gut health actually mean? Like, where does the gut start and stop and what is the microbiome also?

[00:29:34] Cheryl Crow: It’s little questions. Just, yeah, 

[00:29:35] Cristina Montoya: it’s a little question and you know, gut health is really very personal, right? It’s what defines gut health? If you have, let’s say, irritable bowel syndrome, that means to you that gut health is that you wanna be symptom free. 

[00:29:49] Cristina Montoya: Right? So it’s, it really that gut health, it’s depending on what you’re experiencing, what I finally got. Supporting your gut health while [00:30:00] living with inflammatory arthritis is that we want to increase diversity of the gut microbiome, which is the trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses. It’s not just bacteria that are in your gut. Or usually the large intestines and and that they are so independently able to ferment fibers and produce metabolites like short chain fatty acids, specifically butyrate that it has been shown to actually knowledge the the gut barrier or the gut lining.

[00:30:33] Cristina Montoya: So to make it kind of stronger and also tighter. So there’s less toxins maybe traveling through the the bloodstream and maybe triggering inflammation, but also these bacteria are responsible for for producing vitamin K. And so also other vitamins that are in important. So the idea of nourishing these, the bacteria or giving them the food that they need is what [00:31:00] is important when it comes.

[00:31:01] Cristina Montoya: When I frame it into the gut health for inflammatory arthritis, because I will say like probably all of them or all of us who have inflammatory arthritis or autoimmune disease, we have, we present with dysbiosis, or that means that the alteration of that gut microbiota, which we probably have more harmful bacteria.

[00:31:19] Cristina Montoya: And less beneficial bacteria. But it’s part of the disease process and it has been discovered before even presenting the disease. You already have these biases. But then we are put into medications like methotrexate, for instance. Sulfas, and they actually have interaction with bacteria.

[00:31:38] Cristina Montoya: That’s one of the ways they modulate inflammation. And so that’s why when you’re put into these medications, guess what happens? The inflammation starts to go down. So that’s why we’re starting to see, oh, maybe that’s where we have that connection of gut health and inflammation. In fact, it was a very fascinating trial, sorry, a trial that I saw at the [00:32:00] ACR of an abstract from the A CR in 2025.

[00:32:03] Cristina Montoya: And so they did a trial with inulin. So if you ever heard of like benna fiber, the type of fiber that is in benna fiber. So they tried like 12 grams of inulin for 12 weeks, if I’m not mistaken. And they specifically saw patients who had rheumatoid arthritis and were taking methotrexate, so methotrexate.

[00:32:23] Cristina Montoya: And they looked like the methotrexate work better for the group that was taking inulin. 

[00:32:29] Cheryl Crow: That’s amazing. 

[00:32:30] Cristina Montoya: So, so that’s when they’re starting to see, okay, so maybe that’s a piece of information that we are now need to pay more attention when it comes to modulating inflammation from the nutrition purview.

[00:32:44] Cristina Montoya: We, I cannot say, oh, go take a stool sample and we’re gonna look at all your microbiome and see how is it looking? It’s right now we don’t really have that technology to say, you might see patterns, but things change. Like everything [00:33:00] that you eat within a week is gonna change. So then what you saw this week and you take a stool sample next week might completely, might be different.

[00:33:07] Cristina Montoya: Right. 

[00:33:07] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:33:08] Cheryl Crow: That’s fascinating. Yeah. And I just wanna just to, to add, I wanna make sure people understand like methotrexate. It doesn’t just affect the gut microbiome, right. It like directly attaches to like T cells and B cells and reduces cytokines in, in your system. So it’s, but those things are also, yeah.

[00:33:27] Cheryl Crow: Everyone’s kind of talking about the gut microbiome now and in rheumatology are interested in it because it’s clear that these medications, like you said, are having an effect. I just want people, I don’t want anyone to think that and think, hear that and think that’s the only thing that’s going on. 

[00:33:40] Cristina Montoya: Yeah.

[00:33:40] Cheryl Crow: And gut microbiome. This is something I just wanna, I always try to say this because I didn’t realize this gut microbiome, at least from what other people have told me. Maybe you agree. It’s literally from your mouth to your anus. Like in terms of that’s where these things are living. So I like, I had that aha moment of that’s one of the reasons dental health is so [00:34:00] important when you have rheumatoid arthritis.

[00:34:01] Cheryl Crow: ’cause you’re more likely to get like gum disease and stuff like that. And there’s a little relationship between gum disease and heart disease, but also it’s part of your microbiome. Let me know. Is that right? 

[00:34:12] Cristina Montoya: We do have it, yeah. 

[00:34:13] Cheryl Crow: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I was gonna 

[00:34:15] Cristina Montoya: say no, it’s, and you also, but you also have Yeah, that is true.

[00:34:18] Cristina Montoya: It’s just the function of that microbiome that is different. Whatever is placed. So it’s, the oral microbiome has maybe a different function. Then you have the skin bio microbiome too. So, so we do have, basically, we’re more bacteria than cells. 

[00:34:34] Cheryl Crow: I forgot we have a skin. No, my son was telling me about that because he got really, they’re doing a whole unit in his school on immunology, and he’s this is, yeah, your skin is like a barrier to, and I knew that, but he was talking about the details with the yeah with what’s living on your skin. I was like, whoa. Yeah. So sorry,

[00:34:51] Cristina Montoya: no, and the reason why, Dr. Lobo, that she would open my mind.

[00:34:56] Cristina Montoya: And I said, well, if you wanna nourish your skin I do [00:35:00] mask with Greek yogurt and honey and so to nourish my skin and my face. And I said, well, that makes sense, right? Like I, I will be nourish if it’s a part of your skin, a barrier, why not nourish with actual food? With real food? Right.

[00:35:15] Cheryl Crow: Right. 

[00:35:16] Cristina Montoya: So, yeah, it’s a conversation that I can go on. It’s fascinating though, because we starting to understand, but also to make clear that there’s no such thing as like a, oh, we have the microbiome diet. Right? Right. So don’t fall for that. I don’t usually recommend like the food, expensive food sensitivity test because they technically, they are not really validated even by the the allergy associations or medical associations.

[00:35:42] Cristina Montoya: Because they technically are not gonna test every single life sensitivity there are typically show the foods that you’re more commonly consume and those where they, they restrict. Also this stool test that they send the GI maps we still don’t understand a lot. And for you to spend like 500, [00:36:00] $600 is not worth it.

[00:36:01] Cristina Montoya: Like, why not spend that money and actually nourishing yourself with the food that you have access to and be consistent. 

[00:36:09] Cheryl Crow: But I, and I think okay that zooms. I, we wanted to zoom back to the big picture of not just nourishing your body, but nourishing yourself psychologically with and healing your relationship to food.

[00:36:20] Cheryl Crow: ’cause pretty much everyone has some baggage who, everyone I know in the autoimmune world has some sort of baggage or maybe just anxiety at times around, around eating and around, you know, feeling guilty for this isn’t a good, you know, oh, I’m having chocolate. But now I’m stressed out about it.

[00:36:39] Cheryl Crow: ’cause I know that chocolate’s not quote unquote, you know, good for me ’cause it has sugar or whatever. I think, you know, that I’ve had this like weird, I’m not like a rebel in most cases, but with nutrition, I’ve definitely had times where I’m like, I don’t care. I’m just going to eat a candy bar and nobody can stop me.

[00:36:53] Cheryl Crow: You know, like how I’m trying to think of a coherent question to ask you about this, but I feel like. [00:37:00] Okay, here’s how I see it. When you have an autoimmune condition or chronic illness in general, food is so tantalizing because it’s something that it feels like you can control and you do it multiple times a day.

[00:37:12] Cheryl Crow: And so, you know, people get sucked into this idea that, oh, all I have to do is just eat the perfect diet. And I think that’s kinda the most predominant thing, at least I’ve seen in my groups, people feeling really burned out by that. They’ve lost money, they’ve lost time, and it doesn’t often in when they’ve gone into some sort of really restrictive diet, it often doesn’t give you the bang for the buck that you’re looking for.

[00:37:40] Cheryl Crow: But like, how are you helping people restore their relationship to food? Whether it’s from the feeling shame or guilt or fear food phobias and stuff like that. I mean, obviously your method helps, but, and yeah. 

[00:37:56] Cristina Montoya: No, but I think this is the, I usually use a slide when [00:38:00] I do presentations when it comes about restricted diets and why sustainable eating matters.

[00:38:06] Cristina Montoya: And it’s because, just think about like the sustainability. Your chronic illness didn’t show up overnight. That’s what’s also chronic and systemic. So when it comes to nutrition, it also should be systemic. It should be sustainable. 

[00:38:20] Cristina Montoya: Right. And so when you hear approaches like a, oh no, but I take the carnivore diet, but then the following month, oh, the severe carbohydrate restriction, or just do like a blanket elimination of nights shades, or unsupervised elimination diets.

[00:38:34] Cristina Montoya: And you just feel tempted because like you said, we wanna have some sort of control. If I can control this, I will be doing something for myself when I’m helping. And for some people it works because, yeah, maybe they were following the, like a western diet, like full of ultra processed foods and refined sugars and all these kind of foods that we know are gonna cause inflammation.

[00:38:58] Cristina Montoya: So when you change and you [00:39:00] restrict those diets and you change that, your body always gonna feel better. And that’s what people don’t think about it. It’s not just elimination, but also the shift of the, those lifestyle changes. But then. Some people, that’s what they feel like a short term improvements.

[00:39:16] Cristina Montoya: But then over time it may worsen your fatigue. It may make you tired. I eating the same things over and over. Like how, what, where is the joy of it? It may reduce your muscle mass so you’re causing like sarcopenia. So again, you’re going reducing tolerance to exercise. So now you’re not really affecting your nourishment, that you’re also affecting your physical function.

[00:39:37] Cristina Montoya: Like I said, you lower your gut microbial diversity and also the risk of nutritional deficiencies, like more specifically iron vitamin B12, right? Calcium that are essential for you and we also now know, and it happens a lot during the pandemic, that these highly restricted diets can impact your mental health, right?

[00:39:58] Cristina Montoya: It’s that constant [00:40:00] pressure that, oh, I have to change it. And then that increased food related stress that you see. That chocolate, especially during the holidays, I always that conversations like, why am I gonna do the candy? Or there’s always some specialty. Now it’s gonna come, maybe it’s Mother’s Day, and now we’re gonna be filled with chocolates.

[00:40:17] Cristina Montoya: And so am I going to reject my son’s box of chocolates because of, excuse me, I’m doing a remission diet. I think what we need to look into, okay, so how am I going to enjoy those chocolates? Am I going to just kind of juggling down, or it’s am I gonna take my time to just. Truly savor that chocolate.

[00:40:35] Cristina Montoya: Taking my times, feeling the texture, not being distracted really enjoying it. And maybe by the end of you, like eating that piece of chocolate, you might not even want the next one because you already kind of, you know. I got my fix. I’m good. And I, that’s what I always encourage my patients before, like trying to, I’m just cutting everything out and I say let’s just reduce the amount.

[00:40:59] Cristina Montoya: But when you [00:41:00] eat it consciously, like mind mindfully. 

[00:41:02] Cheryl Crow: I love that. Yeah. A hundred percent. And it, and this, as we know from many studies over many years, stress is also inflammatory too. So sometimes people are so stressed about their diet, they’re eating the right quote unquote right foods for their body, like objectively, but then they’re so stressed about it that they’re still getting the inflammation.

[00:41:20] Cheryl Crow: At the end of the day, they may be eating anti-inflammatory, but then they’re inflaming themselves through the additional stress. So it’s finding a balance. I know that word is overused, but I think that’s so important, and I love the idea of making it sustainable. It’s not a fad, right. 

[00:41:37] Cristina Montoya: No, it’s okay if you do it consistently.

[00:41:39] Cristina Montoya: Even if you find like this month you are going to consistently have that balanced breakfast. You are gonna work and you know you’re gonna have your breakfast like with the whole grains and fruit and nuts and maybe some spices like cinnamon, even if it’s that one old meal. Like you wanna make it like super kind of rich of [00:42:00] antioxidants and you do it consistently.

[00:42:03] Cristina Montoya: For over two weeks, then you’re gonna feel, okay, I do the breakfast. Maybe I can add a snack that is gonna be equally balanced. 

[00:42:09] Cristina Montoya: And so just kind of work it up that it becomes just part of you I don’t know what happened to my son. He comes and says mommy. Can you make me that healthy zucchini chocolate bread?

[00:42:21] Cristina Montoya: And I was like, okay. And so for some reason, like he really enjoys it. It’s just he has zucchini banana, but I do add the chocolate because he loves his chocolate. But then he had the treat and he’s satisfied. And I think we need to learn from children. They really listen to their hunger cues and it’s I’m done.

[00:42:39] Cristina Montoya: That’s it. 

[00:42:40] Cheryl Crow: Oh my gosh. As a former pediatric occupational therapist, I cannot agree with that more. That’s really fascinating how kids, they naturally, you know, they naturally stop when their body is full and listen to their bodies. Is there anything else you wanted to share before we get to the, a couple of the concluding questions?[00:43:00] 

[00:43:01] Cristina Montoya: Well, I just want to always. I, one of the things that drives me and I learn and I go with it every day, is just that, just go over like focus on progress over perfection. There’s no such thing as a perfect diet or the perfect supplement. Which by the way, they’re unregulated. So when you with supplements is something that you also need to assess because when you live with chronic illnesses, like consistency matters, right?

[00:43:32] Cristina Montoya: Even on the low days, the flare up days, if you do something that you know is gonna nourish your body, that also important and those small supported habits over time is what’s gonna make a difference. It’s not gonna be the huge elimination diets and a focus. One thing I really wanna say, and I learned over the past 20 years is to focus on what is affecting your quality of life at the most.

[00:43:58] Cristina Montoya: So I’ll give an example. [00:44:00] 20 years ago, my priority was to not feel pain. I was in excruciating pain. I don’t remember the fatigue or anything. I remember the pain that will not allow me to even take a shower or feed myself. Well now the pain is not a priority. Like it’s there, it kind of lingers, but it’s not a priority.

[00:44:19] Cristina Montoya: Now my priority is fatigue. That just that sudden fatigue that I feel out of nowhere and that really impacts my daily life, right, or going to work and the brain fog. Those are my priorities right now. I’m not gonna focus on the rest of all side effects of medications or the side effects of the, because they’re not really affecting my life right now.

[00:44:39] Cheryl Crow: Right. 

[00:44:39] Cristina Montoya: So I think that even over time, your priorities in your own health journey change. 

[00:44:45] Cheryl Crow: And something that my niche registered dietician told me is that, you know, your own, your gut sensitivities also can change over time. Which kind of sounds so obvious when you say it, but I’m saying it in case anyone else was like me.

[00:44:59] Cheryl Crow: Kind of, you [00:45:00] know, my gut and my GI system has gone through a lot of changes and different things over the years. You know, like getting small intestine bacteria overgrowth, and then doing the low FODMAP diet for that specifically. And I’ve learned there were certain things I used to be really sensitive to, gluten, and now I’m, I can tolerate small amounts of it.

[00:45:17] Cheryl Crow: So learn, realizing that. I think there’s a desire, at least for me if you’re kind of like a perfectionist or you seek control, you’re like, I just need to find a list of foods and I’m gonna stick with this the rest of my life. And it’s just like the medications, your body can change, right? Sometimes you need to, ugh.

[00:45:32] Cheryl Crow: We both know that. It’s so funny you say you’re on your sixth one ’cause I’m on my fifth come biologic, so I am right, just right behind you. I’ll be on the sixth even next time we talk and it’s just a lot. But but just a couple concluding questions. I’m not gonna go through the whole list of the rapid fire questions, but I’d love to hear what like, book you’ve been reading or loving lately.

[00:45:52] Cristina Montoya: Well, I’ve been listening to, ’cause I don’t feel too, I don’t think I can concentrate on reading books for a long time these days. So I listen to them. So [00:46:00] I’ve been listening to the Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunther. 

[00:46:05] Cheryl Crow: I am in the middle of that right now. 

[00:46:07] Cristina Montoya: Yeah. 

[00:46:08] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. 

[00:46:08] Cristina Montoya: Oh my God, 

[00:46:08] Cheryl Crow: sorry. Go. Yeah. 

[00:46:09] Cristina Montoya: Okay. So maybe because you’re going through the changes and I think what I’m understanding it still kind of, maybe like a quarter of it, but I’m loving that how it reframes like menopause and the perimenopause as a normal life transition rather than something women should be ashamed of or be hiding from.

[00:46:29] Cristina Montoya: And what many women actually need is something much simpler than more powerful timely comprehensive medical assessment that there is a practitioner actually believes in you the changes, and it gets a little trickier with people with women autoimmune diseases because they either may blame the autoimmune disease or the changes are my, maybe your autoimmune disease is actually getting worse, but they’re blaming it to the perimenopause or the menopause.

[00:46:55] Cristina Montoya: And so it’s to just provide women with the evidence-based information [00:47:00] to support them without shame. And that’s what I said, that I think that the message also applies to autoimmune diseases because we deserve to feel heard, supported, and empowered with evidence and with compassion. I think we need compassion.

[00:47:15] Cristina Montoya: That was kind of also my, the end of my whole thing is so I hear someone who actually talks to you with love and care. 

[00:47:22] Cheryl Crow: It’s, that is across the board in medicine. We need it. Like I just, this is tip of my tongue because I just went to get my, I get my teeth cleaned every four months because of my risk factors with having RA and my GI issues that make me have to eat constantly, small amounts, which like leave the food on my teeth, blah, blah, blah.

[00:47:40] Cheryl Crow: And the dental hygienist, it was a new person there and she was so compassionate and she was like so validating. You know, like your hygiene is amazing. Like you’re doing everything you can and you have these risk factors that it’s just, you kind of drew the short stick, like it’s not fair, but I’m not like judging you or [00:48:00] blaming you, you know, that it’s like, it goes so far, you know, as the patient.

[00:48:04] Cheryl Crow: I feel like that’s just dental hygiene, I mean, and nutrition. I’m sure it’s even more, I think a lot of patients are scared to even go see like a registered dietician. ’cause they’re like, oh, they’re just gonna judge me or say that I’m eating the wrong thing or you know, be like, sometimes I think certain health professions get a reputation, like dermatologists get the reputation for being like the beautiful people that are like, my skin is glowing.

[00:48:28] Cheryl Crow: And like your dieticians are like, oh, they’re like people who only eat organic and are, it’s no, but your dieticians are human beings That you know what I mean? Yeah.

[00:48:38] Cristina Montoya: Yeah. No. But it’s true. Like we also go through transitions. We may gain weight and then we can’t even control it because even obesity is not just not so simple of eating calories or just burning them.

[00:48:47] Cristina Montoya: And that could be another topic, which I’m really interested in right now. But 

[00:48:50] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. But 

[00:48:51] Cristina Montoya: it’s true. 

[00:48:52] Cheryl Crow: And I wanna make sure I’m gonna ask you the last question, which is hilarious that it’s on the rapid fire questions. And then I wanna make sure to let you talk [00:49:00] about your Spanish language podcast.

[00:49:01] Cheryl Crow: ’cause that’s about, I mean, stuff ’cause that’s so important. But first I know I’ve asked you this before, but it’s really good to hear how people’s answers might change given over time and the day. What does it mean to you to live a good life and thrive with rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s disease?

[00:49:23] Cheryl Crow: Hard question. 

[00:49:23] Cristina Montoya: It’s hard. 

[00:49:26] Cheryl Crow: I know. 

[00:49:26] Cristina Montoya: I somehow before as to be aware of your your changes and what it’s what? No. Be aware of your, like current priorities. I think living in the present time as to what is happening to you right now. I cannot think of, oh. I live with pain. I’m currently living with a little bit of pain, but it’s not really interfering with my life.

[00:49:52] Cristina Montoya: So it’s really recognizing what are the things that maybe you need to work on, but also recognizing the things [00:50:00] that are bringing you joy. Like recently, I’m really enjoying developing all these programs that I’m saying, Hey, this is my framework. And because I learned it from my lived experience of clinical expertise and it’s bringing me joy.

[00:50:16] Cristina Montoya: I didn’t have that maybe five years ago, but now it all starting to make sense. So I think it’s just bringing to at the present time and see what is meaningful to you. It is meaningful to, for me. I don’t make plans for five years. Oh, what are you gonna do in five years? I said, no, I do plans for two years now because, I don’t know, maybe that’s how long my medication right now is gonna is gonna take effect or it’s gonna work. So I try to be a little bit more realistic and really kind to myself and what I can do and also what I cannot do and say no. And I said, no, I can’t do that. I feel more confident in saying those things now. 

[00:50:55] Cheryl Crow: Me too. Me think about being in your mid forties. It’s gets a lot easier and to [00:51:00] say no.

[00:51:00] Cheryl Crow: And I think what I, you know in it’s funny, in occupational therapy. You know, one of the things that I heard over and over again in, in school, which was now like 14 years ago, but was, you know, helping people engage in meaningful activities. You know, and it’s like defining what’s meaningful to you and being able to engage with what’s meaningful in the present moment, like you said, without being overly like, or, and that improves your quality of life and it helps you yeah not get down these rabbit holes of a, oh, like I’m broken in some way, or something like that. So anyway, I love that. I think that’s great.

[00:51:39] Cheryl Crow: And I’m gonna put a whole bunch of links in the show notes that are always on the Arthritis Life website. But where can people find you online if they wanna follow you right this second? 

[00:51:49] Cristina Montoya: Well, they can find me my website arthritis dietician.com. You find me on Instagram at Arthritis Dietician, and I’m on TikTok.

[00:51:57] Cristina Montoya: And I’m on TikTok. I’m speaking [00:52:00] mostly in Spanish. 

[00:52:01] Cristina Montoya: Okay. And so where I share more of my life, live my life with Sjogren’s and rheumatoid arthritis, and it’s, that’s been fascinating actually, to connect with all the Spanish speaking community. Ah. And and also just kind of be aware of the, some programs that you might be interested in.

[00:52:17] Cristina Montoya: So I I’ll be, I’m excited to speak at the upcoming global SPONDYLOARTHRITIS Summit. Yay. That is organized by the Spondylitis Association of America, and it’s happening on May 2nd, so you can look it up and that they’re doing like a great summit. And here’s what I’m gonna even talk more about going beyond the anti-inflammatory diet and more about these practical strategies.

[00:52:42] Cristina Montoya: And soon, and I’ll share that with Cheryl. I’m like re releasing my glow with Arthritis Kitchen refresh. So it’s like a five day strategies that you can use to start changing your environment because I think that’s where it starts. Starts in your kitchen. 

[00:52:57] Cheryl Crow: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:52:59] Cristina Montoya: Yeah. 

[00:52:59] Cheryl Crow: That’s amazing.[00:53:00] 

[00:53:00] Cheryl Crow: And what’s the your Spanish language podcast Immunidad Consciente? Is that how you pronounce 

[00:53:04] Cristina Montoya: it in? Yeah, Immunidad Consciente and my, yeah I co-hosted with another dietician. He’s from Spain. And we are focusing on so yeah, so we are raising awareness about living while without any diseases and we want to, we have been bringing, guests, also patients. And since like nutrition is also such a, like a hot topic, we have been doing like, like series of different topics. What is that? Inflammatory diet? Inflammation, inflammatory foods. And we’re gonna start doing those sections. But yeah, we’re excited. It’s slowly growing. We have over like 250 subscribers on YouTube and it’s so exciting.

[00:53:43] Cristina Montoya: Yeah. 

[00:53:44] Cheryl Crow: That’s so great. It’s so needed. That’s one of my dreams. It would be to like translate my program into Spanish as well. And I think just the more, like you said, like the goal of access, right? Improving access to this information, access to these programs. That’s so beautiful. So I’ll put [00:54:00] links to all that in the show notes.

[00:54:01] Cheryl Crow: And just thank you so much for coming on and yet again, and helping demystify, you know, the area of nutrition for rheumatic disease, but also help really go beyond just demystifying like the science and help, you know, reflect on how can people actually have a sustainable, healthy relationship with food psychologically.

[00:54:20] Cheryl Crow: I think that’s so, so important. So thank you. 

[00:54:24] Cristina Montoya: Thank you so much for having me. Cheryl, 

[00:54:27] 

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