Let me introduce myself. . .
Welcome! This is my first post per se to introduce myself. I’m diving in quickly so you know what my story is and why I’m doing this. What you’re about to read is MY WHY.
I had a life-changing event—being diagnosed with MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS at the age of 45. This was a total shock and life-transformation in the making. I remember how I felt. After being handed brochures on different drug options with MS, I will never forget that moment of total heart-sinking and the numbing news of total devastation. Tears welded up in my eyes as the neurologist was telling me about my MRI and my blood tests. This news, which I’m sure this physician was used to giving on a regular basis, threw me for a loop and took me down a dark road for a short time.
Helping others is my life goal
My goal is to reach as many people as possible, who have been hit with MS, another autoimmune disease, or really any other type of chronic disease and share that natural healing is possible! So many don’t realize this! I didn’t know it until I educated myself about the fact that I could manage MS with diet. That lead me to a ton of research! A change in diet AND lifestyle did it! The goal is to catch a condition as soon as possible. Even better, I’d like to help educate others on how important your self care is at an early age and to stick with it. So many of us are walking time bombs that will get hit with a condition and don’t know it. Pre-diabetes is a big one—approximately 96 million American adults have it. WHOA—that’s more than 1 in 3 people! Don’t wait until that visit to the doctor one day.
Think about the stats of the CDC (The Denter for Disease and Prevention). When you see the top ten leading causes of death, nine of of ten are preventable with lifestyle and diet! Number four is the only one that is not preventable (Accidents—unintentional injuries). The rest of the list consists of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and so on. Our nation, among others, is in a pandemic of illnesses, crippling conditions, obesity, and pre-conditions that are yet to be diagnosed. Issues will usually manifest in the body years before they are noticed.
Be your own doctor
Here is the other issue: Most people—I was one of them—will go to the doctor to “manage” the disease or treat the symptom without getting down to the cause or root of the problem. Again, that was me! I was a slave, just doing with the doctor suggested at first. Right away I received a 3–4 day drip of steroids because the doctor said “This may reduce the swelling behind your left eye so the blind spots might heal”. This was the symptom that came about one morning when I awoke—this is what started my journey. After seeing a handful of doctors, I was finally lead to that neurologist.
That steroid drip caused other problems, and I ended up in bed with a head-crushing migraine headache for about a month thereafter. It was awful— wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. A few days following that treatment, I had also experienced numbness in my body and the fact I just wanted to sleep all day. By the way, the blind spots in my left eye didn’t heal after the infusion. I figured out that the steroid drug was the culprit for igniting these other MS symptoms. Arg! When I think about it now, it just gets my blood boiling! I wish I knew back then what I know now—I never would have received that infusion. Drugs cause side-effects and everyone reacts differently. At the time, I was concerned that my insurance couldn’t pay for any MS drug. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was so distraught. Again, I wish my older and wiser self could have told my naive self back then that I didn’t need drugs. I could have saved myself a lot of worry and stress!
I witnessed a miracle!
You may be thinking. . . how did I heal myself and without drugs? I’m going to tell you! It started with diet. After watching a TED talk from Dr. Terry Wahls, I learned that I could change my diet with nutrient-rich, whole foods and ditch the toxins like gluten, dairy and sugar. After watching that video, no joke, I got rid of all the processed foods, dumped the milk down the sink, and threw out the sugar and flour. Yep—believe it! As soon as I learned how a 45-year-old doctor healed herself out of a wheelchair with 4th stage MS, I took action!!! I jumped in my car and sped to the nearest grocery story—it happened to be our local health food store—and stocked up on spinach, a ton of veggies, and quality meats. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t mess around when I can avoid a wheelchair and heal the rest of my body asap. I wanted to get on that healing train as fast as I could!
After switching to this diet, within about 10 days, the numbness in my legs and hands disappeared, my brain fog cleared up and my severe fatigue went away! I had energy again!!! This was complete MAGIC. Even the blind spot in my left eye disappeared. This took longer—closer to 4 to 5 months—but it healed! I remember testing it one day and seeing my fingers wiggling to the left side of my face. This truly amazed me. I cured myself without drugs or any kind of special therapy. After I experienced this, I just wanted to shout it out to the world about what is possible!
Lifestyle is also important
You might ask, what about lifestyle? Many factors are involved. I believe I was already doing pretty well in other areas but let me tell you what’s important.
- Getting enough and quality sleep
- Minimal alcohol
- Nicotine-free (non-smoking, including vaping)
- Exercise (move your body every day somehow)
- Healthy relationships (boundaries with toxic ones)
- Living as stress-free as possible
- Enjoyable career or a lifestyle that brings you joy & purpose
- Spirituality/meditation/gratefulness
I had a lot to learn . . .
After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2015, I learned that diet really is crutial. Not only did I heal all my symptoms from MS, on a paleo-based and nutrient-dense diet, I also lost weight (not really intending to). I lost about 15 pounds. Boy, does that make a difference! I had to buy new clothes—wasn’t upset with that in the least. And, I don’t feel self conscience wearing that bikini anymore. YAY!
Now that I’m on this diet, I’ve figured out what foods and what combos I really like while not feeling deprived in the least. I also realized that diet will make up about 80-90% of our physique. Going to the gym is important for sure, but I learned that exercising doesn’t melt away too many pounds when you’re on the SAD (Standard American Diet).
What is the SAD diet? It consists of many processed foods, sugar, dairy, trans fats, conventional meats and bread/carbs which is what I was practicing for years. Basically, it’s more junk food and less nutrient-dense, healthy foods. Eating a lot of nutrient-rich foods wasn’t on my radar and I didn’t realize I was eating way too many toxins—I didn’t know any better. I really thought a bowl of Raisin Bran was pretty healthy in the morning, but was making me sick with a combination of dairy, gluten, and sugar.
What learned in my early years, I had to UNLEARN later. I was taught that eggs and bacon had a lot of fat with cholesterol, so I avoided them as much as possible. Now, I look forward to my morning smoothie and sometimes eggs and bacon. Yes, I eat eggs and bacon and enjoy it while feeling good about it! The eggs I like to eat are from pasture-raised chickens and uncured bacon is best (healthy!) Again, I had to learn that having good fats and quality, natural protein is GOOD for us.
I eat mostly veggies and I’ve learned how to dress up some food with healthy sauces, delicious salad dressings, and herbs. When I’m eating, I feel good knowing I’m nourishing my body the best way possible. There are really so many healthy options.
It wasn’t always this way, believe me. I had to figure out how to make food taste good again and that was a chore, let me tell you!
After about 2 months, I lost my extreme sweet tooth. Now, when I taste a cookie or something that has convention sugar in it, it’s WAY too sweet and I just want to spit it out! Good thing I’ve figured out how to make cookies, pudding, and treats with maple syrup, honey, and coconut sugar. These are natural sweeteners and make wonderful substitutes when I have a teensy bit of a sweet tooth.
Healthier sweets are possible
Below you’ll see my brownie recipe. It’s delicious! However, when I learned that staying away from most sweeteners would put me on a fast tract to healing, I did avoid all sweeteners for a couple of months. I’m not gonna lie and tell you it was easy, because it wasn’t! But, now I enjoy these healthier substitutes like maple syrup, honey, and coconut sugar and I’m so glad I forced myself to take that permanent hiatus from conventional sugar.
When you decide to eat mostly whole foods, amazing things will happen. As a family, if one person needs to make a change, it makes sense for the entire family to support that family member and take on the same diet. Then, you’ll all create better health together!
I created a cookbook to help you! You’ll find amazing recipes to help with your new diet. Enjoy! Here’s to your health.
Adrienne
xo
