In March, if you would have told me I would be more than 30 pounds lighter in August, I would have laughed at you. Every time I tried a new diet, I would lose about 15 pounds and plateau. I had an unhealthy relationship with food I couldn’t kick. I had grown an addiction to food.
Junk food, fast food, and carbohydrate-rich foods became rewards I gave myself. I knew they made me feel good for a short time and tired for hours.
I had read about people living gluten-free and have friends doing it. They reported feeling better and having more energy. But, I needed a serious reason to do it for myself. Trying to stop eating bread, pasta, and pizza for a week seemed daunting. I was afraid of what I would have to eat instead, knowing it wouldn’t give me the food highs I craved.
Little did I know I had a toxic building up in my body, creating inflammation and pain. So when I tore my ACL in my right knee, the inflammation soon disabled me. I saw a chiropractor, had physical therapy and began getting cortisone shots. Unfortunately, they would wear off and, I had to seek a change.
A little back story, we made a double move to a new home, and I couldn’t even stand to unpack my kitchen, office, or bedroom in January 2020. So that was a turning point for me.
My family got settled in a new home, just in time to be isolated for over a year! I hoped to connect with neighbors, make new friends, explore places to shop, and hang out. I was excited to find a local congregation to worship and serve my community, but I couldn’t even walk around the block without horrible pain.
Then, like the rest of the world, the pandemic put normal life was put on hold. Thankfully I had a pleasant place to hide out from the storm but little did I know my extremely social spirit would be stretched and starved.
After resting for most of the year, I remember having to take breaks every 10 minutes while decorating our 2020 Christmas tree. I knew I couldn't live with this inflammation pain.
Let me say, if it weren’t for my small group of praying friends, who met with me on zoom once a week, I would be a basket case to this day! They saw me and knew it was hard for this extreme extrovert not to interact daily with people outside my family of three. Their prayers saved me emotionally!
We, like so many people in this area, are transplants. We have little or no family who lives nearby. So we need to build a community of people to walk alongside in life. Thankfully, I was able to talk to my therapist at the beginning of the year. I know that spiritual and mental health affect our well-being.
I used my many months of alone time to introspect my life and situation, and I had decided to do something drastic about my chronic pain and increasing fatigue. Finally, I was ready to invest in myself. So, I made the appointment, waited several months to get on the schedule, and had my consultation with a sought-after functional doctor in February.
Fast forward to my Celiac diagnosis and drastic food habit changes. Then, I was investing in my health. Thankfully I had been practicing taking better care of myself by replacing chemical cleaners with non-toxic, plant-based ones. I am sensitive to smells and many chemicals, and avoid products with "fragrance."
Now I’m regularly eating gluten and dairy-free. To make matters worse, I also avoid blueberries & eggs, which are two of my favorite paleo foods! Instead, I drink paleo protein and paleo protein detox shakes. Have you seen my Instagram reels? When I can’t think of what to eat, I blend my breakfasts, lunches, and sometimes snacks. And I do more than shakes.
I’ve been cooking more than ever since beginning this new lifestyle. Thankfully, I’m a creative cook and am not intimidated in the kitchen. However, it’s been an adjustment to learn to cook with restricted ingredients.
Getting Danielle Walker’s cookbooks has been a bright spot in my new culinary challenges. I enjoy my smoothies but need to have something crunchy and to chew with a meal or snack. Do you feel me?
I’ve been faithful at taking my supplements, drinking my NingXia Red shots, and practicing gratitude and calm. One thing I have been able to do in my months of immobility is embrace rest. That is not an easy feat for some people.
With my focus on healing myself, I invested in a smart scale and love that it gives me a breakdown of my weights by bone, muscle, water, and fat. As a result, my clothes fit looser, and I can tell my body measurements are more diminutive.
Another critical component I’m learning to see myself as I am, the space my body occupies. When you are overweight, you don’t necessarily see yourself as you are. Part of what feeds that self-deception is not looking in mirrors. There is shame involved with being overweight. I’m learning to shed that too!
Back on the topic of gut health, I heard from my gastroenterologist, and he did not see any signs of Celiac in my duodenum from the endoscopy. And my antibody markers he ran were within normal range.
I loved hearing that report, but it made me a little confused as to why my functional doctor said I have Celiac. I’ll follow up after my appointment with her this week. First, it’s ok to be confused by what doctors tell us. It's up to us to seek the truth.
I got peace through prayer about my diagnosis confusion, I will continue eating a paleo diet, taking supplements, and being kind to my body. I’ve seen minor improvements and significant improvements. My pain is gone, and in a future article, I want to share the supplements I take with you! (You can subscribe to my blog).
I almost forgot, I got a stationary bike with a 35# flywheel and am riding it longer and longer each time. I take a day off between rides to avoid burnout. I tend to be an over-enthusiastic person who quits after a strong start. Plus, I must build up my butt muscles to sit on the tiny seat.
After two weeks of riding thru a few songs, my scale showed I had gained over 1 pound of muscle! I am thankful for my smart scale! That reward helps keep me going on this healthy lifestyle journey.
Are you following me on Instagram to see what I’m up to between articles? I’d love to have you follow along to get encouragement. I know how it feels to be isolated and alone in physical struggles, so I make it a point to post encouraging things. Many of us are battling fatigue, autoimmune disorders, menopause, leaky gut, inflammation, and daily pain.
After meeting with my functional doctor, she helped me clear up my Celiac diagnosis confusion. So, the test she ran to verify my Celiac is an Anti-nuclear antibodies test. My report showed “positive.” So, it shows something is attacking the nuclei of my cells. While my report had no numbers, hers did and my numbers had doubled twice. So, that information with my genetic results gave her sufficient information to diagnose and treat me for Celiac Disease.
Leading functional medicine expert & practitioner, Dr. Will Cole said,
"At this point, it is recognized that there are over 100 different autoimmune diseases and more diseases that have an autoimmune component. And the unfortunate truth is that autoimmune condition diagnoses are on the rise. One important factor that we need to consider is the autoimmune-inflammation spectrum though. You see, years before a diagnosis can be made, inflammation is thrown off balance.
| From my experience as a functional medicine practitioner, I see the imbalance happen in 3 distinct stages: Silent Autoimmunity: There are positive antibody labs but no noticeable symptoms. Your doctor will likely tell you that you are probably fine, or to come back next year and re-test. Autoimmune Reactivity: There are positive antibody labs and symptoms, but still not enough to warrant a formal diagnosis. Autoimmune Disease: There’s enough body destruction to be diagnosed." |
Similarly, my functional doctor explicitly told me she wasn't surprised my gastroenterologist said I may be gluten-intolerant but didn't see any signs of Celiac Disease. That's because he would only be able to diagnose my small intestine if it were almost dead visually. I don't want to wait to be that sick to be diagnosed, would you? After five months of following my functional doctor's plan of eating a paleo diet and taking key supplements per my bloodwork (I'll share what tests I did later,) I am healthier and living pain-free. That’s my choice, and I have peace with it.
Who would you believe in this situation?
Next up, the dreaded Anti-Candida Protocol...
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