Reminders

In this big adventure of getting healthy...truly healthy, I feel like I need to remind my listeners/readers/friends of several things.

1- I am not perfect!  You can ask anyone around me, I cheat.  I know I shouldn't, I usually suffer for it, but eating healthy is NOT my first inclination.  It would not be a stretch to call me an addict...a sugar addict.  I love sugar!  I know, in my head,  what to do for good health, but I am not perfect.  I am hopefully normal, working hard every day to be better and stronger and ultimately treating my body like the temple that it should be.  I might get discouraged when I eat something wrong and feel bad, but I don't waller and blow it.  I just pick myself up by my bootstraps and get back on the wagon.  Even if I compare how I was eating 2 years ago to now, I am eating at least HALF the sugar, the gluten and the preservatives.  Thats 50% less!  I would say that is an accomplishment.  That said, I would encourage anyone trying to be healthier, not to view it as a DIET...it is a LIVE-it.  It is a process and you may not be perfect immediately.  I am a work in progress and I have made dramatic improvements in my life and I hope to make many more.

2-You need to treat the WHOLE body.  I had an "Ah-hah" moment last fall when I realized how hard I was working to eliminate bad foods and insert good foods.  But what was I doing to my skin?  I am a face product junkie and I used products full of hydroquinones, bleaching agents, and many other toxins.  Our skin is our largest organ.  Whatever we put on our skin (Hair, lotion, skincare products), they all go into our bodies and thru our liver.  We have to treat our skin with the healthy "foods" too!  Educate yourself as to the good and the bad ingredients.  I have found enormous benefits and comfort in my oils products.

3- It takes time.  I mentioned it above, but taking on a healthy lifestyle in a world of unhealthy habits and options every where we turn is hard!  I have discovered that I climb on one wagon at a time, learn it, grasp it, and master it.  Then, I start something else.  For instance, I learned a lot about Stevia initially.  It is a sugar substitute.  I learned to look for products without sugar and with Stevia.  I have found some great products that I really like that I use regularly that have Stevia, like my protein powder.  There are different types of Stevia:  spoonable, powder, liquid.  I really learned how to use it and when it use what.  Then, I started to learn about coconut oil and how I can substitute for other oils and use in which recipes.  I just found it to be overwhelming to start from ground zero and change everything in my life at once.  It is very easy to get overwhelmed, discouraged and throw it all out the window.  Getting healthy is a process and every step you take towards a better life is improvement.  You don't have to be perfect from the start.

4- Find Accountability.  I started this adventure out of desperation.  I was one sick girl and I had tried every avenue with my doctors and medications.  Changing my diet was my last ray of hope.  There is no possible way I could have accomplished what I did without the support of my husband, my parents and all my friends.  Most importantly, the power of prayer is especially intense when you are looking death in the eye.  The healing I have received is in no small part due to the power of prayer.  I  never take that for granted and know, thru object confirmation from my doctors, that my "looking like I do" does not match what my insides look like.  God is good.

5- Foods have changed!  The reason we have so many people with GI issues is because our "fresh foods" have turned into genetically modified chemicals.  Diabetics are taught to use fake sugars which are nothing more than a science experiment.  Our bodies don't know how to digest chemicals that were created by man.  Fake sugars are terrible for our bodies.  Wheat is no longer the same wheat that used to grow years ago.  It has been tampered with in a lab to resist bugs and pests and grow bigger and stronger.  In doing so, chemicals have been added to our "fresh" foods.  People aren't intolerant to wheat or gluten...they are intolerant to the chemicals IN their wheat.  Even if you are a very fortunate healthy person these chemicals, plus the known carcinogens that are considered "preservatives" in all our other processed foods are going to contribute to bad health.

6-You must advocate for yourself.  Good Health works both ways.  There is no way a doctor can ask you the perfect questions to get to the bottom of your health every single time.  There are far too many reasons you can have a stomach ache, for instance.  If you don't think your doctor is headed down the right path with you, tell them.  If you feel worse than you think they know, ask for blood work.  Every time I start something new (i.e. changing my diet), I ask for blood work.  That way I have an objective measurement for myself and for the doctor to tell him what I changed and see what the results are 3 months later.  I did the same when I started with my oils. I always want to be able to prove my feelings objectively.  I want every line of defense to prove my intervention works!