Quarantine

Start my blog 

I decided to take this time to do something for me, something I have always wanted to do.  I wanted to write a lifestyle blog that encompasses the many aspects of living a clean life.  It might be strange to start a lifestyle blog during such uncertain times. Or maybe, just maybe, it is the perfect time to start this blog.  This is a time for change.  I am writing this with the hope that writing about something I am so passionate about will be cathartic to me, while also inspiring change in others.

Through the last couple of years, here are the general areas I have made changes and will be discussing in my blog posts. 

​Declutter: Create a calm atmosphere

​For my first post, I would like to start with a few recommendations I got from a Goop podcast I listed to this week about reducing anxiety for kids with Kim John Payne .  The first thing I did was declutter our home to create a calm atmosphere.  This was a good opportunity to have the kids help since they were home with me.  

They enjoyed cleaning the house and getting everything organized.  Next we had to create a new rhythm to our days.  Things are different now, so we needed to make a road map of our week.  We had to create little rituals that would be our new “normal”.    

As he says in the podcast, “These rituals will become our pillars for our day to orbit”.  In our family, our morning routine is to come downstairs and make our celery juice, a smoothie and pancakes together.  We all sit around the kitchen island and eat breakfast together.  After that we move to our table and the boys start doing their school work. 

“Our children can truly beat in unison with us and we can come out of this more deeply connected than when we went it”.  ~Kim John Payne

Stock up on frozen fruits and vegetables

​This seems like the best time to make the healthiest choices you can make for yourself and your family.  Food may be a difficult one right now as people are trying to avoid the grocery store.  Fresh fruits and vegetables might be hard to keep in stock, especially if you are limiting the number of trips you are making to the grocery store.  

This is a great time to stock up on frozen fruits and vegetables (organic if possible).  Frozen fruit and vegetables are better than you think, as the food is picked at its optimal ripeness and often processed within hours.  Frozen fruits and vegetables could be better than an item that has been trucked from far away and it leaves less or a carbon footprint- win/win.  

I have always believed in keeping my meals simple and cook time under 30 minutes.  I do my best to stick to 3-5 whole plant-based ingredients per meal.  We do our best to eat all organic foods to avoid pesticides, antibiotics, hormones. or other synthetic additives.  

Anthony William:  Medical Medium

​Hypoglycemia

About 6 years ago, soon after our second child was born, and having 2 C-sections 19 months apart, I started having issues with my blood sugar.  I had a major blood sugar crash while my husband and I were on vacation.  We were on our way out to dinner and suddenly, I felt a headache coming on, I was shaking a little, and felt nauseous.  

I knew it had been a long time since we had lunch and I was hungry. I told my husband I needed to eat something immediately.  When we arrived at dinner my husband got me a sugary drink and asked for some bread before we got to the table.  I just couldn’t shake the headache, nausea and overall very bad feeling.  

I could barely eat because I felt so horrible.  We swung by the store to get some Tylenol for the headache.  I crawled in bed to sleep, but (without being too descriptive) I got sick a couple times before finally falling asleep, and then literally couldn’t get out of bed until 1:00 pm the next day. 

This was the start of what I consider a very stressful, confusing couple of years.  I always considered myself to be a very healthy, active, and athletic person.  Why was I suddenly so sick?  My Dr. told me, based on a lower than normal fasting blood sugar level that I was just a person that could never skip breakfast and would have to eat every 2 hours to avoid blood sugar crashes.

 Apparently, my body was burning though my glucose very quickly.  I was so paranoid about blood sugar crashes that I was eating all the time out of fear, and if left the house without a protein bar or snack in my purse I would start to panic.

Food Sensitivity Test

 A few months later I had a visit with my dermatologist.  We were chatting and I brought up that the eczema on my chest was getting worse and my scalp was frequently itchy.  She recommended a food sensitivity test.  The results were astounding!  I was severely sensitive to eggs, casein, dairy, gluten, and wheat, to name a few. 

I was concerned about having such a restrictive diet and how that would affect my blood sugar levels.  When I eliminated the items I was sensitive to, things started to change.  My eczema got better, my scalp was not as itchy, I had fewer breakouts on my face, and I noticed a decrease in my environmental allergy symptoms.  

It was not easy having such a restrictive diet, especially when eating at restaurants or parties.  The blood crashes returned, and they were worse than ever.  It was happening almost ever other week, and when it hit, I would be sick in bed for 6 hours every time.

I still had eczema, and if I went out to eat or ate anything with dairy, gluten, or eggs, my stomach would get distended, and my eczema would flare up.  I was at a point where I was wondering why I seemed to suddenly be so sensitive to so many foods, and why was my blood sugar so out of control?

In my next blog post I will discuss some of the food changes I made that has helped alleviate those symptoms and regain control of my health.