If a little is good...

Here I go again! I got to do a couple of projects that didn't kill me...I felt like I got to put my toes back in the water and it felt so good to be productive! So great to not have to hire someone to do silly things that I used to do quickly and easily. So what did I do? Not a little more but a lot more. STUPID. Now my hands that made it through the last two trials with pain but no swelling are indeed swollen and hurt-y. My entire body feels like it is made of cement that had electrodes embedded in it. How was I raised by my mother who talked so much about the need to find balance in life and consistently reject that notion?

After so many positive excited posts lately I thought it was important to check in and be real about this, because no matter what our issues are we all hit walls of some sort that seem so monumental that finding a way around them is a daunting task. We have all been there. For may of us we look for some sort of comfort and for some of us that is when we turn the wrong direction.

Here is where this takes a positive turn. Not one cell in my body wants cake, or pie, or fudge or anything like that at all. I just want to stay in my yoga clothes with a mug of hot water (again thank you mom). I want to do some gentle movement, do some infarred therapy and put on a face mask. I want to do everything in my power to relax the spasms and keep myself calm.

Life doesn't go away. The only thing that changes is our reaction to it.

Is this at all discouraging as far as my anti-inflammatory eating goes? Does it mean it is a waste of effort? NO WAY!

My reaction to todays wall says everything. My reaction is healthy and solid and that my friends means that the tide is shifting.

I am NEVER that person that is grateful in any way for adversity because it makes us stronger. I am strong enough. But I am also smart enough to see that the face of a major body setback, it clear that this path that I am on is an incredibly positive and healthy one!

The project begins

This new science project has me already stocking the pantry for the months ahead and trying new recipes so that when the end of April gets here and I start the clearing phase I already have a handle on some "go to" ideas that make me happy, and a pantry and fridge that have the required ingredients!
Another thing it has me doing is getting rid of things that I won't be eating freely so that I am not tempted to mess up the clearing process or make it longer than is necessary.

I must admit that since I know that the nightshade family is going to be eliminated at least for a while (god forbid forever) I am eating more than my fair share of peppers! Its funny, I would have thought that I might want to make a batch of my moms fudge or something decadent but apparently (at least right now) I am most worried about loosing my peppers, I eat peppers every single day! In stir fry, in humus, in scrambles, pretty much in everything, they are my favorite...well next to my coffee,  I do sooo love my cappuccinos!

A New Journey

A new journey, but not in a completely different direction, just the beginning of walking a MUCH tighter line down the path of whole food goodness and pursuing a much more focused goal than ever before.
This time around units of energy are not in the forefront, neither is having as many veggies that I eat as possible being grown in my yard or nearby (although my gardening continues)  Units of energy are not the enemy of inflammation, neither is how close to our doorstep our food is grown. Inflammation is the primary enemy that I am choosing to fight right now with hormone imbalance and unhealthy gut bacteria following closely behind in what ever order shapes up to be the best to treat them.  I went gluten free for a year or so and before that I went sugar free for about a year and a half. Neither were a holy grail for me. Neither time that I made these changes was my life quite like it is now. Now I feel the inflammation every day. Every minute of every day. The knowledge that I can clear out some of the things causing and aggravating this inflammation has me motivated to fight with more drastic measures.
This time around I am doing this in a much different way and with a much different mind set. I have a whole team to guide me. A team who right out of the gate was straight up honest about while there is not a cure for Multiple Sclerosis there is a way to get and to keep our gut bacteria healthy and to reduce the inflammation and in turn reduce some of this pain. This is huge. There is something really annoying and demoralizing about people who want to tell you that they have a cure all for a disease that absolutely has no cure or that they know a person who cured their MS with their diet, or their spirituality or whatever other thing that ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT CURE MS so to have a medical team that promotes health and wellness and brining your body into balance in this manner while being real that there is no cure was exciting to say the least.
Appointment #1 was two hours long and fascinating to say the least. I was sent home with test kits for pretty much everything that comes out of a body (ewe)
Super excited for this science experiment to begin!