RIGHT?

TW: Disordered Eating, Food Intolerances, Chronic Illness

Wrong. Boy, was I wrong. I felt misled when my doctor diagnosed me with compassion in his eyes, provided me a prescription and said, "Go gluten-free. Lose weight. I hear coconut oil coffee works."

That was what I was left with when I was diagnosed with an illness that quite literally has changed my life.

Anyone who has an autoimmune disease or otherwise knows exactly what this feels like. It felt minimized, but somehow at that moment, I was convinced that it was enough to continue my life. I had already given up gluten, so now I have to take these pills and I'm okay right?

Wrong. Wrong again. Chronic illness is exactly that; chronic. The best you're going to get, in many cases, is that you'll be managing your disease for the rest of your life. And that's okay!

Life is still worth living.

This is an outline simply serving to outline HOW I did it, and is not meant as a substitute for medical advice. I am a non-medical professional, and this is what worked for me. My hope is to give you an idea of how much work regaining health actually takes so you won't feel lost in the midst of your diet, and ultimately give up.

Life doesn't have to be that way.

What I've Accomplished Since Diagnosis

When my body was at peak attack, I was 80+lbs heavier, with an array of vitamin deficiencies, forgetful, skin full of acne and eczema, hair was frizzy and impossible to work with. Over the course of a decade, I faced many ups and downs to achieve 80+lbs lost, improved cognitive function, improved energy levels, I eliminated my eczema, hair is back to full & shiny, my skin is healed, my muscles are toning, and I am now able to eat things my body previously couldn't handle.

I hesitate to do Before/After shots of my body (one of my most irrational fears is to end up on a site trying to sell diet pills) so I'll just leave it as, "you had to be there".

These kind of results often lead someone to ask, "how did you do it?!" I get it all the time from people who haven't seen me in awhile, or maybe they met me at my worst.

Recovery Takes Work

I share a very basic "I watched my diet and exercised," which is just a fraction of why I got better. Still, it is always met with dismay. As if I had pulled off something miraculous. I also put in time to make my doctor appointments, scrutinize every single thing I ate, and avoided ALL foods that triggered my symptoms.

Yes, food can trigger symptoms.

Look, this isn't a typical weight loss story. Even if it is, the words "diet change" are going to be the largest part of it, I am sorry (not sorry, actually) to say.

The greatest lessons I took from recovery are

1) to never, ever give up

2) it's going to take a lot longer than you think, and

3) you much reconcile what it takes to keep your body from working against you in the process of recovery.

For me, it took an egregiously strict and aggressive diet and a whole lot of time. I was desperate, so I was willing to try anything. And that included trying to "have patience and trust the process".

If you're not willing to put in the time to heal, you can tune out right now.

Your autoimmune disease will not improve within a week.

I'm going to repeat that.

Your autoimmune disease will not improve within a week. Not even a month. Possibly not even a year.

If remission/improvement is possible for your specific condition, you must be realistic. You may see measurable improvements within a week, maybe even a month, and definitely within a year. Even then, it still must be maintained.

I won't even say I am "healed" but I have managed to improve my health and general functionality. I still have Hashimoto's disease, so I still see my doctor regularly, take my prescribed medication. Also, I still manage my health with a very clean diet and a healthy exercise routine.

Falling Flat & Finding the Root Cause

One of my takeaways was that, our conventional healthcare system is not interested in curing autoimmune disease, or even autoimmune recovery. They don't do much to help with management or allowing the body a chance to heal itself. I didn't see any progress until I began to see a naturopathic medical doctor.

She taught me a lot, but I don't think I was quite grasping that not ONLY did I need to change, but I needed to change for... ever.

And some of that change was inspired by swallowing those hard-to-swallow pills.

Unfortunately, healing for me came from extremely strict dieting, and reverse engineering my digestive system with various PubMed studies.

Well... All that and a never-ending supply of hope. Through trial and error, I addressed multiple issues with my digestive system and vitamin deficiencies, which I am still working on optimizing today.

Sure enough, the more I listened to my practitioners, the better I felt. As we addressed each of my symptoms one-by-one, my naturopathic medical doctor (NMD) told me this: disease is like an onion. Each layer we pull back may reveal another layer that the previous symptom was simply masking.

That statement alone helped give me much more faith in the process of healing, as I battled ailment after ailment.

Healing Came from Rock Bottom

Everyone has their breaking point, and I most certainly hit mine. In late 2017, my body fully broke down. Even if I ate only paleo foods, my migraines would flare, my digestive system malfunctioned, and I could not stop gaining weight. Lab tests indicated my Hashimoto's was completely out of control. I couldn't do anything, even if I wanted to do something. ANYthing. Nor was I able to perform as a mother, an employee– nothing.

I could barely even go to the grocery store without needing a nap afterwards.

At this point, I had heard of the autoimmune paleo (AIP) diet. I just couldn't pull the trigger. Being so stubborn, I refused to believe I had to be that strict to finally find some peace from the symptoms. I didn't believe in autoimmune recovery, nor did I even think it was possible to feel better.

After realizing that even my strict paleo diet wasn't enough to begin the process of feeling better, I went on the autoimmune paleo protocol. Nothing I was doing at this stage was getting me upright at this stage. I followed the protocol as closely as my energy was able to allow.

How I Transitioned to the AIP Protocol

There was no weaning process. The only gradual decrease I made was spices. For the first few weeks, my body was so exhausted and broken. All I could muster were the foundational elements of the autoimmune paleo diet. I ate a lot of plantain chips, sweet potatoes, pre-cooked meats I got at the grocery store (the only not AIP ingredient was maybe black pepper), and quick salads drizzled with vinegar and oil.

I noticed my migraines were tapering off. After about a week, I stopped popping NSAIDs like candy.

By the end of the month, I had more energy. Eventually I was able to adopt to full blown protocol, to boot! I spent 6 months on a strict AIP protocol. I was a little bit terrified but hopeful that I'd be able to re-introduce some foods into my diet, but came up short.

A critical component of autoimmune recovery is figuring out which foods trigger your symptoms.

I ended up finding that I was reacting to 15+ foods. In some instances, even just a *tiny* amount of the offending ingredient was enough to set off a flare to last a week. Removing the foods improved my quality of life in ways I cannot describe! However, in many ways, it simply made my life journey more difficult, as this is not a diet that is meant to be a lifestyle. It's meant to be temporary.

However, I found that my body was SO reactive to foods, I had to stay on a similar protocol for entirely too long before I figured out the disarray my gut health was truly experiencing.

The autoimmune paleo diet became a cornerstone in my healing process. It was a tool I used to aid additional therapies to bring my body to a state of equilibrium, eventually healing my gut. The routine has changed over the years, but I am happy to provide a list of my supplement routine.

My Gut Healing Supplement Routine:

• Minimize eating in the evenings/try to allow food to digest for at least 2 hours before bed.
• Take a quality probiotic nightly before bed, with a wide variety of strains.
• Take a digestive enzyme (with HCL as an ingredient) with every meal (I only needed to do this for about a month or two).
• Daily Vitamin B-complex + Vitamin C
• Colostrum DAILY. This is an actual superfood, I highly recommend it even if you cannot consume dairy. I could NOT tolerate dairy, and I take it daily. Now I can. I refuse to go without it, I make everyone I love take it. If you love yourself, you should take it, too. My referral link is below

Get 15% off ARMRA Colostrum

Healing My Relationship With Food

Since food can be an autoimmune trigger, I unfortunately *had* to take an all or nothing approach. Even small amounts would put me out of commission. I did not expect that disordered eating would be both the Cost AND the Key of regaining health. Please note, I am NOT implying one needs to eat in a disordered way to thrive. I am attempting to illustrate that being fearful of the reactions food created a deep aversion to them in my mind.

Ostensibly, that is not a healthy or sustainable way to live life.

Stringent Rules Become Ingrained

After 5 years of restricted eating, I was left with a crippling fear of eating those foods. This damaged my entire relationship with food.

Now, I cringe every single time I hear about the symptoms of orthorexia.

Without having the disorder, this is what I experienced: I meticulously read labels. I don't allow even a drop of offending food into my diet; I was inflexible. I had 15+ foods I couldn't enjoy without measurable reactions, and cutting out grains kept me feeling my best.

Now, I do not consider myself orthorexic. I want that to be clear. However, my behaviors had become obsessive and I was concerned with the developing behaviors. While I was focused on autoimmune recovery, I became so fearful of foods, and my subsequent reaction to them. Even trying to introduce them again was enough to bind me with anxiety.

Now, I have managed to take an approach that actually improved the state of my gut health. I was able to begin re-introducing foods after a few years of work, though I've seen the most progress over the last year or so. It probably would have been sooner, if I knew more about gut health earlier.

I have been able to add a lot back into my diet, as of today. There is still a long list of items that haunt me. It's a work-in-progress, but it's something I am working on bit by bit.

Finding Balance in Autoimmune Recovery

Autoimmune disease often feels like an attempt to navigate laser tripwires. As someone progressing in their healing journey, I find that there are struggles that are fairly unique. It's been a struggle to take a more pragmatic approach to my health simply due to the rigid life I felt forced to live. It was either I changed my diet, or face a lower quality of life.

I believe I am nearing the end of my autoimmune recovery journey. Be that as it may, I'd be remiss to forget the trials experienced along the way to stability.

My long health journey had me digging through PubMed research to find answers. I continued learning about nutrition, food intolerances, and my health condition. My journey included hours of work and misery, but feeling better made all the work worth it.

The road to autoimmune recovery is not impossible, but it is met with tollbooths and trolls along the way. Now, I have a second chance to maintain my health. I can optimize it, and grow my life in the ways I see fit. That's blessing enough.

So How Did I Do It?

Long years of work and diligence, finding the cause of my symptoms, and completely and utterly refusing to accept non-answers from my medical team.

And that's it. That is the answer to how I did "it".

As a non-medical professional... I simply cannot account for what may be impacting your body. It's a process one can be guided through. However, I fear the answer is not as simple as sending me a DM and me giving you a workable answer. Becoming your own advocate is critical in times like these.

You will experience hiccups, in healing. Autoimmune recovery is daunting.

Healing is not linear, and takes time. I stay afloat with several philosophies in my 7 Wellness Tips blog.

There is no one-size fits all approach.

There is bio-individuality. And that's it.

I'm happy to answer questions along the way, but the above is why I am unable to give you advice specific to your condition. And I hope that you understand.

The post A Lesson in Autoimmune Recovery – How I Did It appeared first on Chaos & Wellness.

When you have a special diet or medical condition, your life changes. Taking care of your body–even if you’re in excellent health– takes a lot of time and dedication. While I may be speaking for myself, I am also fairly confident that you have hit a few roadblocks in chasing your health goals.

Guess what! It’s okay to fall behind a little bit. Healing is never linear, partly because reality does impact routines. As much as we don’t want to admit it, work, commutes, and other social obligations cut into our wellness time, which makes it difficult to maintain progress. Learning about how your energy flows is crucial for understanding your limits. Check out the below Wellness Tips, and see how they fit into your lifestyle!

Progress Over Perfection

Have you felt like a failure? I’m here to tell you that you’re not. It is okay to fail sometimes, as long as you maintain focus. Healing is never linear, even when all factors are aligned.

When I Don’t Have Time To Cook

To be frank, I do not have a lot of time on my hands. In these times, I do my very best to maintain my diet, by cobbling together meals.

As a foodie, one thing I had to accept about a special diet was that sometimes I would have to eat something bland or eat nothing at all. Quelle horreur! There are ways to make even easy, bland meals palatable. In these instances, I keep several things on my shopping list, so I never have to go without:

• Pre-cut or Cooked Vegetables – I love roasting off a tray of vegetables or sweet potatoes to use as side dishes or in salads!
• Two Cooked Proteins – Roast a chicken. Buy a rotisserie roast. Your local Health Food Store may have pre-cooked meats and vegetables on-hand.
• Salad Greens – Greens are conducive to a healthy diet, and round out a meal of protein + starch easily!
• A sauce or two (I like to have dairy-free tzatziki, gf teriyaki, and my favorite salad dressing at the ready!)

These are ingredients that you can season any way you like, to ensure you aren’t completely miserable. For example, I can always grab a quick meal of roasted sweet potatoes and turmeric-rosemary roasted chicken with a dollop of tzatziki sauce, and an easy green salad comprised of greens, the aforementioned dressing, and a few other additions if I have time!

In addition to that, if it’s in the budget, I will swing for some meal prep from Paleo On The Go. Even if I simply end up eating paleo donuts every day! At least I know my body is nourished properly, keeping energy levels stable and keeping me committed to my goals.

Then, make yourself something really delicious at the end of the week. You deserve it!

When I Don’t Have Head Space

Typically, I am big on meditation and self-care. I'd say it's realistic to maintain a meditation practice every day, but I'd also say you can achieve similar benefits via a variety of means! Many people find centering satisfaction from exercise, reading, hobbies, and more. Don't limit yourself! Do something nice for yourself, even if it means you're slipping away for 10 minutes for some solitude.

Sometimes, for me, I just need a nice hot shower and a nap. Listen to your body and your mind, and it will soon tell you what it needs the most.

When My Body is Off-Balance

On the note of listening to your body, it will always cry out for what it needs. You will have to learn its signals.

How are you feeling? What was your diet like the last 24-48 hours? The chronically ill body is constantly requesting favors. Sometimes mine is just low on nutrition, so I supplement with Liquid IV, which contains nutrients that are easy to assimilate.

When I Don’t Feel Like Exercising

Either give yourself a break, or find things that are easy to start. I knew I'd have more trouble motivating myself to go to the gym, so I bought myself a cheap exercise bike. Now, I can simply walk over and exercise. My advice? Find a hack that works for your brain and stick with it!

Know When to Take a Break

You're human. You will show signs of stress. Know when you’re at your limit, and when to ask for help. You can do this by paying attention to your mental cues during times of mental distress. That way you will learn to recognize your own patterns that way you can get ahead of your stress.

At the end of the day, I can give you all the tips in the world to help you strengthen your resolve for change. However, you can take these Wellness Tips and apply them easily to your lifestyle of choice, no matter what it ends up being!

The post 7 Wellness Tips – Staying Well During Chaos appeared first on Chaos & Wellness.