It has now been over a year since I started this blog post. Life. It has also been almost 2 years since this all started and I feel so much better! I'm writing this because I wish there had been more success stories available for me to read about in healing your own body. I came across a few blogs and articles, but it didn't have the detail I needed. I needed a game plan and no one seemed to have one. So I'm writing this in the hopes that someone will come across it and maybe get an idea of what to do if they find themselves in the same boat as me. It was torture and I seem to be coming out on top.
As I mentioned before, this whole change began because my body started retaliating when I was 28 years old. I had been sick for months and was continually losing weight and was constantly confined to my house. I couldn't make plans with people, not even the night before. I couldn't even plan on feeling well the next day even if I went to bed feeling fine. When I went to the doctor, I had dozens of blood tests done and x-rays taken. Everything came back clean. My doctor basically just told me he thinks I was right in suspecting that I had IBS. And then gave me my muscle relaxers and shoved me out the door. In the eyes of medicine, I've come to find out that IBS is still seen as mysterious, and, once you have it, you have it. There's really no changing that . There was the Low-FODMAP diet that I explained in my last post, but that is a ridiculously hard diet to follow. I followed it when I was pregnant because I needed to stop the flare-ups. And it did help, but the way I felt was absolutely awful. In my mind I kept thinking there's no way God put this vast variety of food on the earth just for so many people to be unable to digest it. My hair turned to straw, my nails changed, I was constantly exhausted (more than just pregnancy exhausted). I knew that my body was being restricted in the variety of nutrients that it needed, which is why I had so much trouble with the Low-FODMAP diet. I knew enough about nutrition to know that this was not healthy, especially for a pregnancy. But I didn't have a choice until I lost my baby. That same day I dropped the diet and grieved with my muscle relaxers and went back to eating whatever I wanted for a few weeks.
When I lost the baby my prayers changed (on a side-note, if you’ve never experienced a miscarriage, don’t ever use the phrases “Oh well.” or “At least it happened before you felt it kicking.” Or try to explain why YOU think it happened. Yes, I received all of those, and all from women who have never gone through it. It sucks and it was my baby no matter how far along I was. That was my 4th child. The only reason I add this is because no one really talks about miscarriage, so no one really knows what to say. But it's almost easier for us if you say nothing than say something ignorant.) Anyway, I was so desperate for answers and was so beyond tired. My prayers went from "Heal me, and fast." to "I will do whatever it takes, just show me what to do." and that was when I found my answer. I was prompted to read my Patriarchal blessing which has AN ENTIRE PARAGRAPH about my health, promising good health if I follow the Word of Wisdom strictly. So I went to work. I found books on the Word of Wisdom that tied in to the Whole Food, Plant-Based diet and it all made so much clear sense to me. I wasn't looking for the WFPB diet, but it kept popping up again and again. Jane Birch's book "Discovering the Word of Wisdom" was the first book I read and it changed me. It completely changed my outlook on food. At this point, my relationship with food had already changed so much that I was willing to change in whatever way God told me to. I had the feeling of confirmation OVER and OVER as I read her book. I was lead to other books as well. The China Study by T. Colin Campbell was an eye opener and made my drive more powerful. I was looking up website after website and was watching documentary after documentary (Forks Over Knives people, Forks Over Knives) and was finding so much more information than I could have hoped for. The only thing left to do was to put it into action. I had read enough to have a general idea, I just needed to get started.
My 29th birthday was the last day I ate whatever I wanted (with the help of medication). I had come across enough information about the Whole Food, Plant-Based diet to know that this was my answer. And it has not failed me. The week after my birthday I went through my kitchen and pantry and got rid of everything that was processed, anything that had preservatives in it, anything that had any animal products in it (again, this is what MY answer was in interpreting the word of wisdom), and anything that was not "real" food. I say real, because what are cheese puffs? Does anyone know exactly what is in them? I was left with a pretty barren kitchen. Most of my fridge and freezer were empty, with the exception of some fruit and some frozen vegetables. My cabinets were left with some cans of vegetables and some beans. I don't want to think about how much money I threw out haha. I gave it to the mom's in our preschool group and didn't look back.
The first time I went to the grocery store was a challenge. I had downloaded the Forks Over Knives recipe app and that's basically all I used for the first few weeks. But the grocery lists were foreign to me. What was tahini? and tamari? and where did I find coconut cream? It took a long time and lot of asking people but I did find things, you just have to know where to look and which stores to go to. A few days after starting this, I had the drive to make homemade bread. I was so excited and so were my kids. This was where I discovered how intense my gluten sensitivity was. I had stayed away from it on the Low-FODMAP diet, but could eat it with my muscle relaxers. After making whole wheat bread and eating one slice, I was sick. And was sent into a full flareup before 8:00 that night. My sweet husband who I don't know how to repay sat with me while I cried in our bathroom in the fetal position. I was completely a prisoner of my own body and made my drive even more instense to fix this. About 24 hours later, I was back to feeling ok. And I knew I could absolutely not have gluten. Or, at the beginning, onions, honey, avocados, apples, milk, cheese, yogurt, any raw vegetable including salad. The list goes on. I am happy to report I have been able to add everything back in. I am healed!
I began this diet taking my muscle relaxers. I would take one of each every night before dinner (I still couldn't afford to lose any more weight, I was hovering just above 100 pounds.) and be fine usually, unless it contained gluten or rawish onions. A few days after doing this, I noticed that I could breathe through my nose at night. Ever since I had kids I haven't been able to do that! I thought it was just a sign of aging. Now, the only time I'm congested at night is when I have too much dairy (rare occurrences now). I also stopped having knee pain that made me require a brace in cross-country in high school. I stopped having arthritic pains in my fingers as well. I stopped having chronic sinus infections that daily headaches. Maybe TMI, but my PMS is all but non-existent. All things I thought were just a normal part of life. NOPE! I noticed that I had more energy. Not just more, but I would wake up able to get out of bed a few hours before I used to be able to. I was no longer going to bed feeling nauseated and requiring peppermint oil, digestive oil and a heating pad to get me to sleep. I was no longer waking up feeling that way either. My system was cleansing itself from all the toxins I had been giving it for 29 years. About two weeks after I began, most of my symptoms were gone. Only 2 weeks! After months of sickness! And I was worried I'd have to deal with this for the rest of my life! A few weeks later, I stopped my muscle relaxer and started digestive enzymes. I did this every night with dinner for several weeks and then was able to stop taking them altogether. Now, when my body attempts to flare up, it can't. I'll wake up sometimes and feel like something bad is going to happen, but it ends up just as mild discomfort and goes away before the night is over. I am also happy to report I had a successful pregnancy, a much easier one than with my previous two babies.
I went from asking "Why is my body treating this way?" to "What did I treat my body THAT way for so long?" and more importantly, why isn't the Whole Food Plant-Based way of life more widespread? It's hard to break tradition and habits. That's why. At the beginning of the year I absolutely refused to accept the idea of a world without cheese. I LOVE cheese. I still do, but going without it and the other addicting, toxic foods that our bodies don't need, nor are they designed for our bodies to digest on a regular basis, has done my body good. My system has healed, because I gave it the chance it needed to do so. I have been able to add things back in that I couldn't breakdown months ago, like honey. I was so excited I ate honey without issues that I texted my sister and husband the good news haha. I'm such a dork, but it was a big deal to me!
I actually found a doctor in town who uses this diet as a means of treatment for most of her patients. There is a point in some cases where damage is irreversible, but she said she has a high rate of success and she's actually shocked that we are taught to eat the way we are.
I've come to a lot of conclusions for me and my family and some new understandings.
-My son had a dairy and egg sensitivity. I never would have known unless we went without it. Every time he had eggs or dairy, he had the worst and most frequent poopy diapers and was up all night crying in pain. 24 hours later, he would be fine. EVERY TIME. He's grown out of it by now, but it was awful.
-Our bodies are not designed for the Standard American Diet (SAD). It's hard on our systems. Our bodies have an INCREDIBLE ability to heal themselves if we stop fueling them with crap.
-For my house, animals are for our need, not our want. I believe God designed it that way, and having gone without it for months and having it again on the 4th of July last year, I didn't miss it. Meat is weird. Haha. I love bacon, I always will, but my outlook on consuming animals has changed. I have become that person I always made fun of. And now I'm made fun of haha. I'm not an animal rights' activist and crazy person, but I definitely don't see them the way I did. We do meat maybe 6 times a year in our house. I don't buy it unless Tyler requests it for a holiday meal. I am at a point now that I'm actually able to eat what is provided when we go to someone else's house instead of offering to bring something I know I can have. But we don't do it very often.
-Our relationship with God changes when we bend our will to align with His. His will is the only one that matters, and I don't feel it's coincidence that I've learned all of this. I feel the need to share it.
-As humans, we are only getting more sick, and I don't think that's coincidence either. Fuel your bodies with what they need, not what you want. You'll feel better and be happier. The entitlement to eat whatever we want whenever we want, "Life is too short", is only hurting us. You only have one body and one life. Treat it well.
-Change doesn't happen overnight. I've been doing this for 15 months now, and it's gotten a ton easier, but I still struggle. Especially now that I can have gluten again :) After I found that out, Tyler's chocolate chip cookies were made every week for a while haha.
-People will always have an opinion that differs from yours. In this case, everyone's opinion differs from mine haha. My sickness brought me to this. I applied it. My body healed. End of story. Yes, our whole family eats this way. I'm not making YOU eat this way haha.
-Prayers are answered. Usually not in the way you want. In my case, definitely not in the way I wanted at first. Usually after you've suffered a great ordeal. But they are answered.
-Jesus Christ can shoulder your burdens and your heartaches. You just have to allow yourself to leave it at his feet and walk away from it.
-You are in control of your stress levels. Your stress levels do not own you.
-You don't have to be a prisoner in your body. Pray, put in the work and you will find answers. I was looking for the quick fix at first, because that's what we're taught as a society. Whenever I prayed I had the feeling this was going to be temporary, but very hard. And it was. It's taken a lot of work, but my body and I are in sync now.
