Category Archives: Uncategorized

Time for a Break

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Good evening! I sit in my home office looking at the sun shining on the leaves outside! What a view!

After much consideration, I decided to take a break. Not a break from my health, but a break from my career. Yes, I am leaving my job. My last day will be June 26, 2015. I have been with Wells Fargo for almost 10 years and have been extremely blessed with flexibility, growth and income. I have worked nearly my entire life (starting at the age of 8 helping my mom when she owned a convenience store up to working full time through college and part-time through law school) so time for a break. With my continued health journey, I made a decision to leave my job and focus on my health and my family. I’m grateful for a loving husband who 100% supports this decision and says he will work harder to ensure I have the time and flexibility to start this new chapter in my life! Thank you Christian!

I’m looking forward to this new adventure…more time to write, more time to blog, more time to relax and more time to find my health!

Until next time…when my next chapter begins…

Recipe Book Suggestions

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Happy Day to you!

I was chatting with a friend this weekend and she mentioned she is very selective when going out to restaurants because of her food limitations. Oh, do I feel her pain since I’ve been trying to remove so many foods from my daily food consumption and the restaurant selection becomes very limited. Since going out to eat can be such a challenge, I’ve fallen in love with a few staple recipe books and find when I have the time, I really enjoy making and trying the foods.

I generally try to remove all gluten, dairy and eggs from my diet (I’ll be honest its not 100% of the time but I do my best.) A few recipe books I’ve had great success with are listed below! On a side note, remember you can always take an existing recipe and substitute the items you wish to remove!

Against the Grain by Danielle Walker
It’s All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow
The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook by Mickey Trescott
The Ultimate Candida Guide and Cookbook by Dr. Cobi Slater

Give one of these a try or let me know if you have a different favorite! I would love to increase my recipe book selection!

Happy Cooking!

Be Happy – Be Grateful

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Good day beautiful people!

While I’ve been on this long journey with my health, I’ve found I need to focus on the things I have made improvements on, on the people who have been supportive and on the other wonderful things I have in my life. For example, I have two beautiful, healthy children. I have a roof over my head, a job that allows me flexibility and an new inspiration to help others (more to come on that).

I’m trying to leave out the bad and focus on the good!

So today…Be grateful you have the time and the technology to read the internet!

Wishing you peace, joy and happiness today!

The latest….Candida

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Every winter I ask why I live in Minnesota. Well, spring has sprung! This is why! It’s absolutely beautiful this time of year.

Recently, I had a scan completed using strands of my hair and saliva. The results were severe candida, parasites, infection in my bladder, kidneys, large intestine and pancreas. It also showed severe instability of my thyroid and blood sugar. And yes, I said parasites! I guess we all have them, I just have ALOT of them. I asked the practitioner to explain it to me in layman’s terms….Yeast and fungi have overgrown and are attacking my insides hence the constant diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. She believes this is the base root of all of my problems (Hmmm…haven’t they all said that??).

Actually, in hindsight (always 20/20), several other doctors have tested me for yeast overgrowth and have indicated its high, but none of them have said its candida nor have they indicated how to treat it. After much research (that’s all I do nowadays), I find its commonly missed and is more common than people are aware!

The good news is I’ve started new meds and supplements to help treat my kidneys and bladder. For the candida…change of diet (again) is number 1 on the treatment list! That’s a whole other topic, one in which I am slowly making changes!

Now, while I knew diet was a big factor, I am confident stress has a large part of the overgrowth as well! Evidence: after taking two last minute vacations in March/April, relaxation and limited stress spoke volumes for how I felt and how my body reacted! Truly amazing discovery!

Finally, I am blessed to have such amazing new people and opportunities come into my life and the continued and unconditional support of a few loving friends. I succeed and grow in my journey because of you!

Second Opinion

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First let me say the personal chef is a great asset to any working mom! We have had wonderfully prepared meals and a great variety to choose from!

Second, I recently went back to my OB/GYN and talked to him about hormone evaluation and treatment as recommended from another doctor recently. Well to my surprise, he wasn’t a fan! He said they tend to be a waste of money and generally not find what I may be hoping for. He said we could run a few tests within his office which would be covered by insurance (so no need to spend $1000s out of pocket). I wasn’t looking forward to spending $10,000+ to have my hormones tested! Yikes! It’s good to get second opinions…actually I may seek a third opinion depending on how the current tests turn out!

I also asked how I could manage elevated hormones and he suggested I think about trying a low dose birth control pill to reset my hormones. After his explanation, I’m quite intrigued. Still thinking about it…but always hopefully for a solution and feeling better!

May you have a wonderful, happy and healthy holiday season! May Santa bring you all you can wish for and may love and happiness fill your home!

Personal Chef

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It’s officially fall here in Minnesota! The leaves are turning colors and coats are definitely a “must have” in the mornings!

I am continuing my journey of removing various foods from my diet! I will admit – it is not easy! With so many activities, busy schedules, work, life, etc, it is hard to eat healthy all the time! My motto is “Make the best decision with what you have!” This has helped me not feel so guilty in several situations.

Also, I am trying something new….I have researched and am about to pull the trigger on a personal chef! I am so excited (and a little scared) to see what the food will look and taste like! I will let everyone know how it goes!!

Lastly…Make your day amazing!

Too Many Hormones

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Happy Fun Friday!

I would never have thought going to an allergy doctor would lead me to hormone analysis!

After being a skeptic, I was pleasantly surprised! After talking with Dr. Tano from Allergy Associates of LaCrosse about my childhood allergy, asthma and illness history and then providing a detailed timeline of my current health issues, he wanted to complete a couple tests. I was told by others they would do scratch tests, blood test and oral challenge tests. In my case, they did a scratch test for environment/seasonal allergies and then they drew blood to test for food allergies and food sensitivities. The nurse said the doctor was ready to see me. Really? That’s all the testing you are doing? This can’t be a good sign? I immediately thought “this was a waste of time!”

The doctor started by explaining to me a medical diagram about how childhood asthma and allergies affect your internal system. He showed me how your cells work or don’t work and how over time some are destroyed or bad cells are created due to allergens, virus and bacterias. After 30 minutes of explanation and walking me through several diagrams, he had me shocked. He literally painted my timeline from childhood, to infertility, to endometriosis, to thyroid, to bladder, to autoimmune, to kidney, to liver….my mouth was on the floor at this point. How could all of that lead to all of this?

His answer….to much estrogen and not enough progesterone or other hormones! He explained how childhood illnesses, asthma, allergies, environment, diet, etc all can lead to too much estrogen and to much estrogen can lead to infertility, endometriosis, thyroid problems, autoimmune diseases, bladder, kidney and liver problems (along with a host of other things too). It was simple unbelievable!

At this point, he instructed me to remove all estrogen based foods, chemicals and products from my life. He also gave me a few supplements to start taking, allergy drops for environmental/seasonal allergies and strongly encouraged me to have hormone evaluation and treatment.

Wow…positive things brings positive results….and I’m staying positive!

More Puzzle Pieces

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Another amazing summer day in Minnesota!

I went to an Endocrinologist at the U of M a couple weeks ago and had a terrific appointment. She sat with me for an hour, with my test results charted out and walked me through what the test results indicated, how it affected my health and what I can expect going forward. We also came up with a game plan for the future!

During this visit, we discussed past and current surgeries, medicines and supplements. She had such amazing insight into current liver, kidney and thyroid supplements I’m taking and advised I remove them from my diet. She also indicated the Lupron shot (which I received for 6 months in 2013 for endometriosis treatment) was a chemotherapy drug (yes its used to treat prostrate cancer) and destroys good and bad cells within the body. She said every woman who has taken the drug and has come into her office indicated it was the worst experience and has since ruined their lives (aka piece to my puzzle).

Having a couple weeks to reflect on this information, I am convinced the Lupron shot may be the villain. Its been since the shot that my health has continued to deteriorate. With more blood tests and more doctor appointments in August, I feel I am getting closer to the problem and a resolution!

Until next time…Be happy, be safe and be healthy!

Who drinks coffee?

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Happy almost 4th of July! I hope you and your families have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

First, I forgot to update everyone from my U of M appt in June. It was painless as the doctor referred me to another Endocrinologist for abnormal thyroid test (central hypothyroidism) and to a Rheumatologist for the antinuclear factor positive. I will see both in July and August, respectively.

Now, who drinks coffee? I received my food allergy test (IGG-delayed onset allergy) results back and coffee came up with the highest allergy!! Coffee? Well, its a good thing I don’t drink coffee because I’m pretty sure it would be difficult to give up! All you coffee drinkers can likely relate! Numerous other foods came up like asparagus, green beans, dairy, wheat, cod, oats, eggs, etc, etc…. the list goes on so I won’t bore you with the details.

Another interesting factor from the test shows my IGE (immediately allergy) was off the charts. The range is 0-87 and of course mine came back as 300! Wow! Doc says it means when adding all the foods they tested for into my blood at one time, that was my reaction. In his 20+ years of practice, he has only seen one other test this high. I really am unique!

What’s next? I am instructed to remove all 26 (yes, I said 26) foods that came up on the test results for 4 months. After 4 months, I can start adding them back in one-by-one to see what type of reaction, if at all, I will have. The journey continues!

Lastly, I’m so grateful to have some many wonderful friends and family on this journey with me. I remember every day just how blessed I am. I also want to thank the people who have fought for our country so we can celebrate our freedom on this beautiful 4th of July weekend!

MRI results – Great news!

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Thank you for all the phone calls, messages, and most of all prayers!  I am blessed to have such wonderful people surrounding me!

Good news…..they verified the tumor is benign. Its called a focal nodular hyperplasia.  It’s the second most common type of liver tumor and in most cases, no treatment is required!! 

What a relief!  And most of all, thank you for the prayers, good thoughts and positive energy!