30 Days of Gratitude – My Health Journey

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Welcome to Day 13 of my 30 Days of Gratitude.

Today I am grateful for my health journey. Not just the good parts but all the parts, because if it weren’t for the unpleasant parts I could not appreciate the healthy parts.

The way I treat and nourish myself hasn’t always been as good as it is now. But I have learned a lot about my body along the way. I am grateful for the signs my body gave me that something wasn’t quite right and I needed to seek out medical attention.

In 2007 I discovered that I have a disastrous reaction to gluten and went completely gluten free. A year later I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. So now with a new diet and medication that I will have to take for the rest of my life. I start the long journey to health recovery. I was so grateful that I finally got some answers as I had suffered for a long time.

I don’t know if it was fortunate or not, but I am in the 20% of people with Celiac who only absorb fat and sugar when my autoimmune disease is reactive. Due to this and the constant inflammation and dare I say bloating I had ballooned up to my highest weight of 250 lbs. Now on my 5’3″ frame, that’s a lot to carry. I used to jokingly say the only symptom of Celiac I didn’t have was weight loss. Laughing at my situation did help with getting past mourning all the gluten foods I use to enjoy.

On January 30, 2012 I quit smoking after doing it since I was thirteen years old. I celebrate this date of renewed life every year. I am so grateful to have finally been able to kick smoking for good.

When I am asked how I did it, I tell people I read Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking while I continued to smoke. When I finished the book smoking felt gross. I tossed the rest of my cigarettes and when I needed that smoky throat feeling a grabbed a cough drop. After 3-4 days I didn’t need the cough drops anymore. I have been smoke free ever since.

I am so grateful for this book, if I hadn’t found it, I would probably still be smoking. I had at one point two copies of this book and have given them to others who also quit smoking. I’m glad to have been able to pay it forward to my friends and family.

In 2013 one of my dear friends introduced me to an eating plan that really is life giving and healing. It is Trim Healthy Mama. I was a diabetic risk while pregnant with my fourth baby and my doctor approved for me to start this plan, with the condition that I monitor my blood sugar 5 times a day.

I am happy to report that Trim Healthy Mama not only kept my sugar levels normal but I had only gained 23 lbs instead of my average 40 lbs. I was only following the plan about 75 percent during my pregnancy.

A little while later I did go on plan fully and accomplished losing 70 lbs to bring me to a total of 100 lbs lost from my highest weight.

More than anything I felt better at almost forty than I did at twenty. I could go on 3 mile walks with my teenager while before, I would be winded after 25 feet. I could chase and wrangle my toddler. I could play with him at the park and still have energy after I put him down for the night. I would do that all in the same day even, there is no way I could do that before. This plan is life changing and life giving.

Today I am not where I want to be health wise or even diet wise as I have fallen clear off the wagon and found nearly of the weight I had shed when I was riding along. I have been trying to get back on plan and stay on plan for a while now. I can tell you I sure have been beating myself up about it, but in the end I don’t think the first few falls were avoidable.

I feel that I have let a lot of my life circumstances derail me as soon as I get back on track. I have also noticed that if I don’t prep, I don’t stay on plan. I can’t say that I won’t fall again, because I’m human and life is crazy, but I will get back up and try again and again until I don’t fall anymore.

I am so grateful to have made it this far in my journey. I have learned so much about myself and what my body needs to thrive. I have found the healing power of food. I have broken addictions and learned how to care for myself better. I am grateful for the wisdom I have acquired over these many years of learning how to care for my health.

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