I told you that I wanted to learn to be healthier this year. I have also said over and over that I believe that most of my health issues are food related but that I need someone to just make me a menu, give me the recipes and perhaps even a shopping list and I would be able to do it. I just don't have the time, or energy to do all the studying and learning and changing of favorite foods that I need to do to make my eating habits healthy habits. I have outlawed anything with high fructose corn syrup, aspartame or its evil equivalents (if I know what they are called). Sugar consumption is down and is in the process of being outlawed. I know that I need to make more changes, but I am stumped.
Matthew has been having some symptoms that have me worried enough that he was at the doctor 3 times in two months. He hasn't been to the doctor 3 times in the last 6 years! He even had an MRI. Nothing. All blood work and the CAT and the MRI came back normal. I was talking with the doctor about the possibility of putting him on an anti-depressant. I also asked him about food related issues. When he said that some people think that cutting out all sugar could help in the issues that he was having. It was like a light bulb switched on in my head. Sugar. Refined sugar.
Donovan used to have a real problem with candy and sugar. When he was 13 I told him that if he did not eat any candy from then until he was 17 I would pay him $1,000. I didn't think he would be able to do it. He did. I paid him. Jess and Trevor choose not to do it, but my overachiever Matt decided to start when he was 11. He went until he was 17 last April. In June I started noticing that he was having 1-2 headaches a week. Headaches bad enough that he was asking to take Tylenol. By Nov/Dec his headaches never went away and some other more troubling symptoms began to show up and we visited the doctor. The light bulb that went off was the association between Matt eating candy again and the beginning of his symptoms. I asked him to stop the candy again. Symptoms are almost gone and he is more like the Matt I have always known.
One of my co-workers is a very healthy person. I spoke with her about my struggles and desire to become more healthy and even to see if I can stop taking all the meds I take on a daily/weekly basis. The other day she brought in a cookbook that she had discovered at her chiropractor's office.
(click here to go to her website:)I looked through the book and I was impressed. Impressed enough that I went home and placed an order for two of the books. (one of them is for you, Mom)
First the blurb from her website
There is a strong connection between food and feeling good, between diet and disease. Read on and be amazed at how directly the foods we eat can affect the way we feel - in energy level, in mental clarity and mood, even in the degree of pain, inflammation and stress our bodies experience.
When I learned of the link between food and feeling good, I began looking for ways to feed my family healthier fuel -- free of refined sugars, flours and allergenic dairy products. Also, wheat and gluten sensitivity for some family members invited me to explore the strange new world of gluten free dining. Discovering the goodness of whole foods has rendered some wonderful new meals that my family actually prefers to the canned soup casseroles of the past.
Whether you want to eat more whole foods, build your immunity, or heal a specific health problem... this book is for you!
The books came in the mail today. I sat down to skim through it. I quit reading two hours later! The first thing Jonell tells us is her story of learning to be healthy and healing from fibromyalgia and a myriad of other things. Then she helps us understand the connection between our western diet and our declining health. Some of it I knew, and some I had heard before but not in a usable form.
The next section is full of recipes. Things like Café Rio Salad or Burrito, Guacamole, Café Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing, Creamy Potato Broccoli Chowder, Raspberry Sauce, Lime cilantro Vinaigrette, Buttermilk scones, Magelby's Muffins, Huevos Rancheros, Lemon chicken, Tangy Coconut Lime, Raspberry Chicken Crepes, Olive Garden Salad, Raspberry Lemonade, PF Chang's Curry, Ginger Sesame chicken, Mrs. Field's Raw Oatmeal Cookie Dough, Orange Date Bars, Applesauce cake, Berry shortcakes, Blueberry apple crisp, Lemon bars, snickerdoodles, Key Lime Pie, Raspberry Banana Ice cream, Creamsicle Ice cream, Italian Gelato, English toffee, Creamy caramels (these last 2 are just a few of her sugar free candy recipes), snacks and party food, drinks, and some goodies and home remedies.
Too bad I went to the grocery store before the mail came. I am going to see how many of these I can make this week using stuff that I have in the pantry and freezer.
As I was reading, I knew the Lord was answering my recurrent prayers that I can learn to be healthy and happy. That I am sick and tired of being both sick and tired all the time. Sick and tired of never feeling quit myself. Sick of never being free of pain, even on my good days. Tired of never having enough energy to do all the things I need to do, let alone any of the things I want to do. And I just didn't know how to change it. And I asked for someone to show me the way with a guide, menu and shopping list. Ask and you shall receive. I am ready, and the teacher has appeared.
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