Whether you are firmly grounded in a lifestyle of healthy living or just beginning to build that essential foundation, my hope is that this website will help you continue on – successfully.

 

I am sharing what I have learned and continue to learn on my journey of Healthy Living.  I hope to give a better understanding of how to effectively improve the body’s health, while understanding better myself. And I am hoping the end result will be curing my rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, osteoarthritis, dementia, and degenerative disk disorder.

 

I am in no way a healthy person right now, but I have made key changes in my life so that hopefully I can be.

 

These four key components are:

 

Diet/Nutrition... Reduced Stress... Exercise... Spirituality

 

Diet/Nutrition 

March of 2016, I watched a Youtube video that changed my life.  It explained how I had gotten all my disorders and really opened my eyes to how important what I put in my mouth is.  The video’s title is Healing By Design – Arthritis, by SpiritofHealthKC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIaKOlJdttU).

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My entire life I ate for pleasure.  I ate what tasted good and what was easy; eating fast foods, and junk foods, (and I fed this to my children).  I ate processed, starchy, acidic, and sugary foods for over 50 years.  

 

In the video he explains how what I had been eating all those years caused those disorders.  Then he suggests a diet of nothing but fruits and vegetables, no grains, no sugars, no starches (no potatoes, corn, etc.) no processed foods and especially - no dairy, also cutting out all things acidic (tomatoes, peppers, etc.).  He also suggests cleanses and fasting as well.

 

So - I changed my diet completely, doing exactly as he suggested... it was so hard.  I felt sick and very, very tired the first two weeks.  I felt like I was starving all the time... even though I was eating fruits and vegetables constantly. Talking with people about what I was doing and how I was feeling someone said I was not getting enough protein - so I added legumes to my diet and immediately, I mean, the next day I felt 100 times better!  In his video - I thought he had said that they were not needed, but I guess my body needed them?

 

This was where I started to really do my homework on which vegetables to eat, their protein content, etc., and learned (still learning) how to eat smarter.  In addition to adding legumes I also added nuts and seeds to my diet.

 

I started in March of 2016 and after the first month, I cheated, eating fish or chicken for three or four days.  I would do good the next week, just fruits and vegetables, but the following week I would cheat again.  Sitting here thinking about it - it is weird that I do really good sticking to my diet for a week - but then give in to the meat cravings, but I'm working on that. 

 

Anyway - let me tell you how I'm feeling physically!  That's the most exciting part! 

 

The gout is gone! I can sleep through the entire night!  I can sit upright, in a chair for about 2 hours now!  I can stand for more than 3 or 4 minutes now, I can walk a good 100 yards or more (I still use my walker - but I am walking so much further) – sometimes I will walk with just my cane, forgetting my walker!

 

Oh I could go on and on - but you get the idea... I must be honest - I still have pain, mostly in my knees, back and feet, but not so intensely and not throughout my entire body any more... even when I was lying down I would be in pain all over - not now!  :)

 

My hands are still deformed, but I can close my left hand better, and my pinky bends now!  It has only been six months with cheating - but my health has improved so drastically – had I not experienced it myself – I would not believe it.

 

About my deformed fingers, if you think about it, I consumed processed foods, sugars, dairy, acidic and starchy foods my entire life... so I'm sure it will take a long time to reverse the damage I did...  

 

Here’s a video I did on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBN-QE9rbmU) on March 7, 2015, (a year before changing my diet) it is about where I was physically and pain – wise, etc., it gives a pretty good idea of how severe my pain was then.  I had gout pretty bad too....  Any way - I'm a different person today!  Just after changing my diet for six months!  And even cheating every so often too!

 

A couple months after changing my diet, I found another video about a man's personal journey of curing his arthritis - he did blood tests before and after - it was very interesting.  I think it took him like two years, but his RA is gone... here's the link to that video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en3YF2atfi0.  His other videos are advertisements for selling his "treatment" books, CDs, etc.  But I'm cheap - so I have not paid for the full therapy/remedy he did... but the video gives some suggestions - and mainly, for me - HOPE - that yes it's curable!

 

As far as what supplements I’m taking, well, when I did the video last year about where I was physically, I was taking a whole truck load of supplements and herbs and stuff - I was spending almost $400 a month on all of it.  Right now, I, pretty much, just take what these two videos suggest.  Which is:  Vit B-6, Vit C, Vit D-3, potassium gluconate, a probiotic, a food enzyme, noni fruit powder, Artheffect, and apple cider vinegar capsules (the noni and Artheffect were what I used before and seemed to help so I continued with them, and ACV capsules because I tried drinking it like the first video suggested and EWWW!  capsules are so much nicer – lol.

 

Reduced Stress

In my life experiences I have witnessed how stress really exacerbated my pain.  The first time I really became aware of it was when I was driving truck in North Dakota.  The people I worked with were just awful and the boss was even worse.  I stewed and stewed about it all until I was in so much pain I couldn’t drive and had to quit.

 

I am a control freak – have to have things just so – so… well when I was bedridden and could do very little for myself, my soon to be ex-husband did everything for me, and well, those things he did were not the way I did them.  I couldn’t complain because he worked all night then came home and took care of me all day.  I had to learn to stop stressing over such minor insignificant things. 

 

The following are ways that helped me reduce my stress:

I had an app on my phone that would read the scriptures to me – and I started listening to them 24/7.  Being in bed all the time and being in so much pain all the time, this really soothed me. 

 

When things upset me, I would stop my brain from thinking about what was upsetting me and start taking deep breaths. Clearing my mind.  That really helped me quite a bit.

 

Another thing that I noticed was stressful was watching certain television shows.  I was really surprised that TV drama shows stressed me out – so I was very selective of what I watched.  Finally, not watching television at all now, I haven’t watched television for over a year now.

 

Exercise

There are so many medical studies on the benefits of exercise – and with my arthritis’s – exercise is critical.

 

Here’s several videos that I like to do before goin on my walk in the morning:

 

In-Bed Exercises for Everyday Strength by Jill Gilbert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3UIyqRGrQ4

Whether your bedridden or wheelchair bound- do these 2 arm easy exercises for slimmer arms by Training With Jerremy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbcMm4-IX6s

 

Easy Stretches for Back Pain Relief, Beginners Yoga Exercises for Relaxation & Stress by PsycheTruth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78FjhPTisEc

 

Spirituality

For me, my spirituality or relationship with God, is fundamental in my progression to healing.  First it offers me strength, strength I do not possess.  Strength so I can stick to my diet, strength to complete my daily exercises, strength to endure the pain.

 

Second, my relationship with God helps me combat my fear. Maybe fear could be lumped together with stress, but turning my fears and worries over to God helped me to shed my insecurities and grow.  This reduces my stress, which helps me have less pain.

 

And third, happiness.  Having a strong loving relationship with God makes me happy.  I was surprised by how many medical journals report how much your attitude affects how you feel physically.

 

How I build my relationship with God is first, prayer, then reading or listening to His word, going to church, and finally surrounding myself with people trying to do the same thing.

 

Diet/Nutrition, reducing stress, exercise and my spirituality is what I will be posting about on this website.  I will be posting videos and recipes of healthy tasty foods that follow along with my nutrition program.  I will be posting videos and blogs about growing my own organic herbs, fruits and vegetables.  My blog will cover nutrition, exercise, stress and spiritual topics - the four key components – and maybe more.

 

Here is a link to my Youtube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWlLV7yPRwlevs5yXDDKCA

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Thanks so much for stopping by.