DEL TACO PLEASE

I could never wish to " un-know" all that I have become aware of about food, nutrition and disease. But what I now struggle with is envying people who don't know the harm standard food can do and even worse I envy that they can eat it without it affecting them like it does me. Pray for me about this- its an issue and makes it hard to go anywhere.

Yes, bad food still taste good to me. I wish for a del taco burrito, a donut, ice cream. All of it! But for me those things equal disability, pain, fatigue and rashes. Horrible itchy, flakey, uncontrollable rashes. ( which I currently have from medication+ camping food+sun) So I am on detox.

You would think since I have been eating better now for years it would get easier, but it doesn't. Actually, I shouldn't say that- it is easier and I do crave good food. But every once in a while I want bad food and I wish I could get to a place to never want the bad food EVER!

This post comes at a time of: DAY 1 all over again of NO SUGAR!! No fruit, NOTHING.  Today I had eggs with cilantro and chicken for breakfast. For lunch I had a arugula salad with chicken and for dinner I had free range ground beef with bell peppers. Today wasn't that hard but we will see how tomorrow goes.

I do this because I know sugar feeds disease. I also know I have candida. I want to be fully healthy. Plexus is helping me get there but I also need to do my part and I think the candida needs to be COMPLETELY starved if I am ever going to completely heal.
I have come so far from spending most days in bed- but I want to go farther. I want to reach the point that one day I can have that del taco burrito and it has no affect on me. I want to get to a place where I experience NO PAIN and I want to have strong muscles on my body. It's going to take time. I would love your prayers and encouragement along the way!! :) Thanks for reading!

The time...the money...the energy...

So I had yet another doctors appointment.  Today it was with my rheumatologist. It went almost 2 hours. She came in we went over my current  medication and my most recent bloodwork. 

My appointment was at 10:20am. I told you guys before that mornings are hard. I was limping into her office with a high level of pain. We discussed my current condition. And I guess you can say methotrexate is working. My inflamation  is down. But.... It's not working quite enough as walking is still a very difficult thing most days. So she wants to increase my dosage.

I've been getting iron infusions twice a week for my low blood and I have good news it's up to a 10. That is still not in the normal range. The lowest of normal is a 12. But I'm heading in the right direction without having to resort to blood transfusions thank the Lord! 

I decided to let her do Cortizone shot as well. I know steroids are not good to inject and my body. However I have lost 75% of use of my right arm and she thought this may help me get some of it back. 

She said I will be able to tell in a few days. She ordered MORE LABS 😣

I go to physical therapy once a week to try and regain motion of my right arm.

 

I want people to see just how much time, money, prayer and energy is devoted to trying to get to a place where many people are without any work. I took my helath for granted before. I pray one day I can be healthy again! ❤️ 

In Gods timing...

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

People living with autoimmune disease have to fight every day just to get out of bed. I know I've said this before but do try to imagine having the most intense workout of your life then waking up the next day. On top of your soreness and pain you have the flu so your weak, groggy; you have a headache and nausea. Then imagine you still have to do you all your regular day activities: get dressed, go to work,  get the kids to school, make breakfast etc. now imagine your flu and soreness and pain last for months or years.  You never get one day of relief. You have very little energy -wanting to use than a you do have to give to your loved ones.  However running yourself around to multiple doctors appointments takes a lot of energy away. So now your left with  guilt over not being able to go play with your daughter because you're extremely fatigued after a doctors appointment. Or you have to ask your husband to do the mom duties on top of doing the husband duties and then you have to guilt  for that. But ur body has given out- it's just not capable. It's runned down, it's sick, it tired, it's attacking itself, it's disabled. 

It's a full time job trying to stay operating. By operating I mean - having my body have the ability to move. RA causes joints to lock and stiffen to the point where they're not usable anymore. This is what's taken place in my right arm elbow. When a joint or tendion has had Inflamation for a prolonged period of time; The body does it's best attempt to repair itself. In doing so it grows a bone where there is normally tissue. As a result you get bone fusion and you're unable to move that as you were before. There is a blend of essential oils that says this can be reversed and it can dissolve the bone. I am going to give that a try and keep you guys posted.

I want to be around in the future and I don't just want to be there in a wheel chair I want to partake in life.  I want to be able to take my daughter prom dress shopping, want to plan her wedding with her,  I want to be a grandma who can help with my grand kids one day. I don't want to be taken care or assisted. 

Lupus and food

I've talked a lot about my RA on these blogs but I'm also diagnosed with systemic lupus. But unlike RA which attacks my connective tissue, muscles, bones, joints and tendons, Lupus attacks my organs. This means it attacks things in my body that are there to keep me healthy such as my kidney, my liver, brain, heart and more. 

It's super scary living with these illness and watching your health decline more and more. It's scary because I cannot live without meds but taking them makes my organs work harder and they're already in a state of weakness. They become overloaded with more toxins as I put them in my body. 

I try to compensate with my diet and supplements but this throws some  obstacles in my path. 

Obstacle #1

Having the energy to meal plan

Obstacle #2

Having energy/strength to run errands and grocery shop ( I haven't gone to the grocery store in over a year without using the driveable carts, unfortunately they don't have them at all stores or farmers markets so I run out of fuel fast)

Obstacle #3 

Prepping food ( impossible to do on my own as I have very lil function with my right side I cannot cut or chop much besides a banana or avocado) and everything needs to be fresh so it needs washing, peeling, cutting etc. this is before it's even ready to be prepared into a meal.

Obstacle #4

Finances - I need food to serve as medicine and not  poison to my body. Therefore the foods I eat can't have any preservatives, added growth hormones, antibotics, chemicals, etc. ( basically I can't get much at the local grocery store)

I need to eat primarily organic and free range/ grass fed meats and eggs. This requires getting food from several different places ( more errands 😣) and organic is costly💸. My grocery bills has almost quadrupled since changing my diet. This is just paying for food- this isn't mentioning the endless amount of other cost that have developed/ increased as a result of my condition. 

Most of these obstacles were overcome this week (minus the last) by ordering my food from fit foods. If you decide to use them PLEASE tell them I referred you and let me know because I believe it qualifies me for a discount. ( they are out of redlands) Anyway, it was $160 for lunch and dinner for 5 days prepped and ready to eat! This was a huge weight off my shoulders knowing I could eat healthy without trying to stragegize on how to get it prepped and made. But $640 a month that doesn't include bfast/ weekends or food for my hubby and daughter is a lil much for me to be able to do consistently. 

 

I hoping there's a way to continue because it honestly is my biggest challenge and has the biggest affect on my health and well being. If anyone is interested in it, it will lower my cost and If u refer someone it will lower your cost as well! :) Also there are some meal plans less than $160 per week. Fit foods redlands. Let me know! 😊

Holliejean5@msn.com

Thanks for reading