Day 5

I grew up in a meat and potatoes sort of crowd and haven’t been one to frequent the organic aisle because I’m leery of schemes.

I started becoming more interested in health when I lived with a family my first few years of Bible College.  That year I gained some weight and the mother helped me understand that my body probably didn’t do well on refined carbs.  Then I started reading books like Eat Right for Your Blood Type.  It help tremendously.  I think mostly to keep me focused on my diet (not lose weight diet but what you eat diet).

Once I hit my late twenties, I found it more difficult to shed the ten pounds from months of a bad eating binge (eating foods I pretty much knew my body couldn’t tolerate).  My minor digestive problems I pretty much noticed my whole life were becoming increasing noticeable to me. 

I resisted going to the doctor.  I didn’t want to be put on some prescription and I didn’t even know if that is what the doctor would do. 

I read Dr. Mark Hyman’s Ultimate Mind book and the information blew me away.  It convinced me of the importance of functional medicine.  It didn’t convince me to take the queues from my own body.  It was knowledge that was wasted or stored for a later date.  Check out his website.  He is able to link metabolism, dementia, mental illness, autism, and many other issues with heavy metal poisoning, poor digestion, and ingesting foods YOUR body cannot tolerate.  He gives case studies of medical doctors who haven’t been able to lose weight no matter what and he cures them!   There are many case studies in this book that will blow you away.

Now, before you get all weird on me, I am not against American Medicine.  If you haven’t noticed I am a strong believer in free enterprise, the God given gifts of doctors, and certainly would want a trained medical doctor to work on me if I crushed a limb in an automobile accident.  I do believe the Greatest Physician is He Who created all of us and gave all of us breath.  He can heal in an instant.  He has.  He does.  He will.

I am not a believer in giving cocktails of prescriptions to numb the symptoms your body is showing for a reason and creating equal or greater issues.  But, yes, prescriptions are very necessary at times.

It’s taken me until almost the dawn of my thirty-fourth birthday to make some life style changes.  I have often changed things temporarily to get the benefit, but, hey, the older you get, the longer it takes to bounce back.  And, more importantly I might add, I have the most precious gift I am taking care of too.  It’s very important to me to be his health advocate and to know what signals his body is giving. 

So now I am day five into a no sugar, no carbonated drinks, no gluten, no dairy, no beef, no hormone riddle meat, no caffeine life style change.  It’s not even difficult.  My husband always says pain is a great motivator.  Now, I didn’t let my health slip by many's standards, but there were signs of things to come.  My digestive system was in a lot of pain (I have leaky gut).  My thyroid was/is hyper and hypo.  Any extra winter pounds were not coming off as easily as before.  I tested positive for a casein allergy which is the protein in dairy and gluten which is the protein in many grains.  It’s estimated that over 50% of the population is allergic to gluten and maybe more to dairy if not all.

Many people believe if you are not going into anaphylactic shock or getting hives or instantly throwing up, you are not allergic to something, that is false.  The substance can be eating away at your digestive system, causing you mental instability, malnourishment and a host of other issues.  I tested as one who is malnourished because my intestines and other organs are under such stress. 

So is it helping?  Well, I am pretty sure I am still in the phase where my body is ridding itself of toxins.  Something it does anyway but is less capable of if you are putting in at a faster rate than it can keep up with  suppressing your lymphatic and adrenal systems.  Not to mention dumping too much on your liver and then recirculating dirty blood.

To answer the question, I have already lost weight.  Some things have already become regular if you know what I mean and I wake up in the morning with more energy.  I had already taken myself off caffeine before I ever went to the doctor because of migraines I was getting, so that was a big help not to have to go through that.  I wasn’t eating too much gluten or dairy because I suspected an issue but now am completely off them.  My biggest problem other than convincing myself I could eat the aforementioned things on a weekly basis is refined sugar.  But I really don’t miss it.  Well sometimes.  And I might eat again on occasion after we get through the next couple of months. 

But there’s nothing like putting your focus on someone else to take your attention off your own problems.  It’s sort of one of God’s best prescriptions.  So I am very thankful to have my little boy.

I share in hopes in helping others.

P.s.  There are many false negatives to gluten allergies and intolerance.  Google about gluten and if you are getting the symptoms, take yourself off it.

P.s. I buy organic