Continuing the story… 😊 If you haven’t read “It’s all in your Head. Part One” go back and read that first!
In my year of health, I was in and out of doctor’s offices with no settled answers – only further appointments and questions.
Prefacing this with I am not a doctor nor do I have any health industry knowledge. This is my firsthand and private account.
For the sake of TMI, I’ll keep the nitty-gritty details to a minimum.
I am in my late 30s, a mother of 2; I was probably a little “overweight”, immobile, on birth control for years, and ate (+ drank) whatever I wanted to.
I didn’t see anything wrong with this way of life and was actually proud of the fact that I didn’t need to workout or do anything new when I reached a certain age… well, that was wrong to think.
Every now and then, after I enjoyed food that I didn’t normally consume (or did- no rhyme or reason to it), I would get violently sick *all night* and into the next day.
No connecting thread, no explanation.
The doctors were stumped.
My primary doc did a normal check up and ordered a gallbladder scan (that came back clean), so she sent me to a GI specialist. The GI specialist said nothing of importance but ordered a colonoscopy for 5 months down the road. (Story sound familiar to you?)
What good does that do me at that moment in time? NO GOOD!
Why go to all these appointments and specialists if no one wants to truly help?
(Maybe they do want to truly help, but maybe they want to push off your experiences and run all these tests that you don’t need — taking your time and depleting your energy…)
Time doesn’t heal all wounds.
So, as I left the GI specialist for the last time, I decided to go on a journey to heal thyself.
The first thing I did was to order the comprehensive Everlywell blood test for food sensitivities because the allergist wouldn’t run a full panel on me (not surprising, but annoying).
Lone behold, my test results came back with sensitivities to: MILK, WHEAT, barley, eggs, casein, turkey, chicken, etc.
*Before you come at me, I know these tests aren’t fully accurate BUT it’s a good starting point for people that want answers without a doctor’s help.
From there, I did an elimination diet starting with wheat. Bye bread. Bye beer. Bye pasta.
For 4 weeks, I did it and I’ll tell you what – it was an amazing first step.
My body had changed (I lost 10 pounds right away with little effort likely because I wasn’t eating what was making my body hate me). My bowels changed. I had more energy. I was eating better and fresher foods.
After the initial wheat, I took it further and got rid of milk/dairy. Bye coffee creamer. Bye cream cheese. Bye pizza.
Eliminating milk/dairy was a wonderful thing for my body. I noticed my skin clearing up. My eczema was not flaring as much. My bowels again changed.
With the other items, I enjoyed sparingly seeing how I felt after I ate them. I still eat them -albeit not every day.
I slowly started adding in wheat and quickly realized that my body can handle very little at a time. One beer. No bread, except sourdough (more on that in the future). And I did the same with milk/dairy. To this day, I can enjoy grass-fed butter and some lactose-free items, but that’s it.
Was it hard? Damn straight is was … and it still is. But for me, it was a 1,000% worth it!
To this day, I’ve lost 25 pounds, 2 pant sizes, my body and spirit have changed, and I haven’t been violently sick since March 2022. That’s a win in my book!
Are you wondering about what happened with the doctors from the story above?
Well, after 4 months with the food trial, I felt a million times better and decided to opt out of the “elective” colonoscopy. (YAY!)
And … my primary doctor and I had a very frank conversation recently at my yearly check-up. Yes, I basically called her out.
Do you want to know what she said after I told her that changing my nutrition changed my issues and NOT one doctor asked about what I was eating?
… That the majority of the patients she sees don’t want to change their diets -or- discover what’s making them sick, they just want a fix.
Is that what our world has come to? A quick fix instead of looking at what we’re eating, drinking, or surrounding ourselves with?
HOW SAD!
But it made me wonder, what else are we living with that’s making us sick?
**If you don’t know me personally, I’ll just let you know now that I am a researcher at heart. I take the time to research (products, foods, etc.), I read a ton of books and listen to a variety of podcasts.** (Ask anyone who knows me personally- they’ll tell you that I am a planner + research everyyyyything… quite literally.)
The answer to that question is A LOT. A lot of the items we have in our house, on our bodies, that we ingest are making us “sick”.
Sick, of course, being a relative term. For some, it may be a constant cough or sniffle; for others, it could be adding to an autoimmune disease. There’s a personal level of icky-ness that only you know of for your body.
I’m not trying to fearmonger; but want to show you a realistic picture of our world and what’s been created for us that maybe we should consider overcoming or changing completely.
We do have the power. We do have the ability to change, to better.
We have knowledge and the know-how at our fingertips.
My goal on sharing my story with you is empowerment.
Empower yourself to ask the questions. To change your life. To live with the knowledge that you’re you for a reason.
Going forward, the new motto for Simply Tamed is
“Life, simply tamed.”
From here on out, the blog is going to be full of suggestions, recommendations, itineraries, reviews, and tips and tricks on how to do all of the above fully and completely without taking any more energy than you have to give.
Of course, there will still be talk about minimalism & simplifying and showcasing my journey as that has had a huge impact on my life and think that it can be applied to yours to make it easier for you too.
I’m glad you’re here and I think you’ll discover something new!
Simply Tamed 