Thursday, July 4, 2013

The Disturbing Truth (and a plan)

Did you ever REALLY want to get on a crazy health kick but not know where to start?

Get on Netflix. Watch some documentaries. Scare yourself. Give yourself  some hope.  It works.
Actually, I was sold before I got on Netflix and started watching Food Matters; Hungry for Change; Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; and Genetic Roulette (okay, that one was on Amazon Prime). I was sold before. I watched the documentaries to stay in the zone. I am going to try to watch one every day for a month or two. They help keep me in the right frame of mind. They remind me that this is not (entirely) about my weight. This is a health thing. This is necessary.

This? Oh, yeah. Did I mention that I am transitioning us onto the GAPS diet with an extra focus on whole food, specifically veggies? Yeah. I am.

Let me give you an overview of where we are right now, and understand that I am going public right now, being more honest about this stuff than I really like to be. So be gentle with me.

Right now, this moment, I weigh 261 pounds.
I am 5'3" and some change. That's not going to change.
I am 32 years old.
I have been diagnosed with the following:
Chronic Migraines (basilar, common/classic, acelphagic (silent), hemiplegic, static, and transformed types)
Osteoarthritis (and possible rheumatoid arthritis, but we haven't completed the testing yet)
Fibromyalgia
SLE (Lupus)
Eczema
Psoriasis
Chronic Urticaria
Kidney Dysfunction
Hypokalemia (low potassium, which is wasted by my kidneys)
Hypomagnesemia (low magnesium)
Anemia (iron deficiency and B12 deficiency)
Occasional Hypertension (usually related to potassium levels)
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
Adenomyosis
Endometriosis
ADHD
OCD
Chronic Fungal Infections
Allergies (seasonal, cats, dermal - and excitingly, I am VERY allergic to antihistamines. Yeah. BENADRYL COULD KILL ME. How awesome is that??)
Chronic Insomnia


But hey, I have good hair, right? RIGHT?!

And my son has some serious behavioral/emotional challenges.

Listen, if you're reading this, and you have faith in God, whether or not you are Orthodox, I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop right now and pray for me.

It is a miracle that I don't have diabetes. It is a wonder that my blood pressure is not ALWAYS high. I can't even tell you.

But if I keep going like this, honestly, very, painfully, brutally honestly, it will be a miracle if I live to see my granchildren born.

And yet, the pressing issue to me RIGHT NOW, is that I am constantly in pain, uncomfortable, and demoralized. It's a challenge to bend over and pick up the keys that I dropped on the floor. It's painful to get out of bed. It's difficult to get up out of a chair. Walking to the store? Up the road? Less than a mile away? It's taxing. I cannot live like this anymore.

And I know that my Wild Child is not happy being unable to control his hyperactive anger (to quote his pediatrician, "anyone who doesn't believe he has ADHD has not spent more than ten minutes with him.") He is CERTAINLY not happy when his outbursts follow their natural consequences. I've been injured in the middle of them before. It's not a good thing.

I think I mentioned before that I have been seriously researching the GAPS diet, and I want to transition us both onto it. That's happening. We need it.

But I think I am going further for myself.

Right now, since Sunday, I have been eating only raw fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and flax seeds in salads and smoothies. On Monday, I started a big pot of perpetual bone broth with the giant soup bones my butcher cut for me ($12 for ten pounds of marrow bone? From grass-fed local cows? YES PLEASE!). Yesterday, I got my juicer (thanks to a dear friend, a gift certificate, and free two-day shipping from Amazon Prime), and I've been drinking juice. I'm still drinking coffee, but I am limiting it to two cups a day and sweetening it with local, raw honey (which helps the allergies!).

I am planning on keeping this up. On fasting days, I am planning to just drink raw juice.

I need prayer! I don't know how this is going to work when my son gets home from his trip. I know the first step for him is getting rid of the junk foods and gluten. I will see how that goes and work with our doctor to figure out the next step from there.

I just wanted to get this out there, because I want to be public about this. It keeps me accountable. It lets me see my progress. It lets YOU see my progress. It gives you the opportunity to pray for me, talk to me, or even join me in this journey. I am scared and excited at the same time. I am praying that this will really help us. I want to be around for my grandchildren. I want to be able to keep up with my son. Heck, I want to be able to get off the couch every day!

Again, please pray for me. Or wish me luck. Or both!

Thanks for reading.

......................................................................

Linking up with:

Thank Your Body
Jill's Home Remedies
Hearts for Home


13 comments:

  1. Praying for you for strength and healing. Remember this is more about a journey for healing and health. Please talk to your priest too about fasting and this journey. Special ways of eating can be a huge challenge but makes such a wonderful difference! We have done much to clean up our diets. Found out that 4 of us are either gluten intolerant or celiac. We also found that when we eat clean meat raised the way God intended we feel so much better and eat less of it! Unfortunately we cannot always afford that. We have found that bone broth makes a huge difference for us too. Just wanted to let you know there are others out there who struggle with some of this too but it is worth it!

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    1. Thank you for reaching out! It's good to know that I am not doing this alone. That's why I decided to go ahead and post this publicly.

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  2. Prayed for you and your beautiful son. My first documentary was Food Inc, and from there all the ones you have mentioned. I'm concerned about all that you have diagnosed with and wonder if you have silver/mercury fillings or have been bitten by a tick. Wish I could talk to you in person I have learned so much about the toxicities our society deals with it and it is not pretty.

    I have been watching what I eat and exercising for over 20 years. Within the last year I noticed that a meal I would normally eat no longer satisfied me. I also started gaining weight due to the intake of more food I mean GMO junk.
    The documentaries taught me that I wasn't craving more food, but vitamins and minerals our food no longer contains. We went organic, and the weight came off, and I'm back to eating as I did before.

    May I suggest a couple of sites to search for? Dr Mercola and Natural News are good sources for health and more.

    New follower I want to be able to keep up with how you are doing.

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    1. Hi Joyce!

      It's really interesting that you suggest those things (fillings and ticks), because they are both applicable. I got the fillings when my six-year molars came in without enamel, and I was bitten by a tick as a teenager! It's not the first time Lyme Disease has been suggested. I am not sure if my doctors didn't pursue it, or if they didn't "buy into it" so to speak.

      I am shopping from the non-GMO shopping guide. The butcher I use for my soup bones uses local farms, which is wonderful. I am still trying to find a way to go ORGANIC with my fruits and veggies on a budget, but I am being as cautious as possible.

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  3. I'm so happy to have found your blog (through Thank Your Body blog, I think). I'm Orthodox and single, but I'm old. I'm also interested in really cleaning up my diet and look forward to seeing what works for you. I pray that you have strength for the journey ahead and comfort when the road gets tiring.

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    1. Hi Ludmilla! You made me chuckle (but I'm old!). I so appreciate your prayers and the companionship on this journey.

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  4. A friend of mine's daughter has Lyme disease and went undiagnosed for eight years. Later she found out that the insurance companies do not want doctors to diagnose Lyme due to the fact there is no cure. Yeah, and dentists are under a gag order not to let their patients know the harmful effects of mercury fillings.

    It was at this point that we decided to see what else we were not being told, and that opened Pandora's box. I watched a video yesterday that made me think of you. Here's the link in case you have not seen it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI7_8FDzuJE&list=PLLEcJkMk5ieKK9Dmai_dwVXmQ05Q-LJoE

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    1. I'd like to connect with via email I would like to be able to share videos, articles and what not when I come across them. You can find my email address by clicking on my photo, hope to hear from you soon.

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    2. Sorry found the link is wrong here is the right one.
      http://www.youtube.com/movie/sweet-misery-a-poisoned-world

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  5. I will be praying for you as well. I am on the same journey as you. I started last October with watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. From October - December, I lost 22 lbs. But, then in January I slid back into the easy route. I am now disgusted with myself and am making the change as of today back to the healthy person I was in December. We can be prayer partners. Keep us informed on how you are doing!

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  6. I am so sorry to hear about your suffering! I will be praying for you. If you need advice or help, I have a blog here: http://politicallyincorrecthealth.com/. My first several posts refer to the GAPS diet and my experiences. I had similar health conditions: PCOS, food allergies, seasonal allergies, asthma, IBS, anemia, to name a few. I have since overcome most of these health conditions with real food. The GAPS diet helped me a lot, but it came time for me to transition off when I started losing my energy. Maca powder also helped to balance my hormones. You are in my prayers. I hope and pray you are able to find healing! ~Sarah

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