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!

Mixed Opinions

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Where did January go? Maybe it was the unseasonably nice weather which made us think it was spring!

Not long ago, I went back to my allergy/asthma doctor (here in Minneapolis) for my annual check in. My doctor was not the one who completed my food testing when I went in last summer, so we had some good topics to discuss this time. She mentioned my breathing tests were a bit of a concern from last summer and believes I have chronic inflammation in my lungs. Guess what? She gave me a list of medicines I should take, but after my push back, she only asked me to fill one of them. I will keep the others on hold for if/when I need them!

We also walked through my food allergy testing (from last summer) – showing immediate allergy to almonds, blueberries, eggs and peanuts. Her response….eat everything but be careful when eating peanuts. If wish to remove peanuts, then must remove completely, otherwise, no need to remove any of the foods! Well, I don’t know about you, but that was shocking! I’ve been told to remove 40+ foods from my diet from 10+ doctors and here my allergy doctor says not to remove ANY foods! Who’s opinion matters? Who do I believe? All? None? Maybe its best I figure out what works best for me especially since I’ve received mixed opinions from so many doctors! The journey continues….

Sending my thanks and appreciation for all who follow, read and keep in touch!

Raynaud’s phenomenon

Health Journey,

Happy New Year! I hope you are as excited for what 2015 will bring as I am!

Another opportunity to grow, create, laugh, inspire, love, succeed….and the list goes on!

I recently received the test results back from my OB/GYN and they confirmed I have heightened estrogen levels. Interesting enough, I had more proof of it as well. I attended my daughter’s hockey practice and then went to my oldest daughter’s basketball game. When I arrived at the basketball game, a couple of my fingers were going numb. I didn’t pay much attention as I’ve been having issues with my toes and fingers going numb when I get too cold. Nonetheless, for some unknown reason, I looked down to see three of my fingers on my right hand white as snow. The friend I was sitting by (who happens to also be a nurse), said immediately, I had raynaud’s phenomenon. Of course, I did my research and found raynaud’s is discoloration (lack of blood) of your digits after exposure to changes in temperature. Basically its loss of blood supply to your fingers/toes. The cause is unknown, but most commonly caused by nerve sensitivity which could be caused by autoimmune disease (which I have several). One with raynaud’s needs to be extra careful in cold temperatures and keep yourself warm. Personally, I’m thinking this shows my heightened estrogen is causing more havoc in my body!

With this new development, I am confident I need to be 100% disciplined and focused on healing my body versus always reacting. 2015 will be the year of healing, happiness and health!

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!

Finally….rheumatalogy appointment

Health Journey, ,

Good day friends! With school starting and the weather turning towards fall, I am excited for what the new season brings.

Basically an uneventful appointment with the rheumatologist last Thursday. After a lengthy discussion on my health history (I could write it backwards I’ve told it so often), he decided to order blood (to check for lupus, lymes, and other autoimmune diseases) and urine tests as well as an xray of my SI joints (checking for inflammation.) I won’t hear back for a couple of weeks with the results, but the doctor was pretty sure the blood tests would be negative since my symptoms appear more related to endocrinology then rheumatology.

Continuing to pray for answers and guidance with my health!

Until next time…