***A personal post***
I am a stereotypical, ignorant American.

Well, I’m slowly trying not to be.  This post is lengthy and a bunch of random facts.

Let me begin by giving you background:
I grew up with a sick mom.  Ever since I was born she was in and out of the hospital and we had to watch her close at home.  She was a brittle diabetic and throughout my lifetime witnessed almost every complication from what diabetes can do.  It was my normal.  (There are enough blog posts I’ve written about all of the mental issues associated with that, so I’m going to try to keep to a steady point to this one.)  The doctors told her it was better that she never get pregnant because I guess it would be too much on her body.  She had so much trouble that my mom and dad prayed/waited 9 years for me after they were married and between those she had a miscarriage.  I never thought of this until several of my close friends are in similar situations and am witnessing the despair, but beautiful faith from it.  I cannot imagine waiting on something that seems to be physically impossible (my friends know that with God all things are possible and it’s HIS time) and YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONTROL OVER.

My dad said she prayed for me and he never saw her happier than when she finally had me.  She not only prayed for a baby, but a healthy child.

I am healthy.  I do not have major health problems, but the point of this post is what little annoyances I do have how my mom’s prayers were answered and it is God Who is making me healthy.  This post is what God is using to flip my outlook on food that goes against everything Americans are taught.  (Yes, there are documentaries exposing what is going on about controlling the food and also on pharmaceutical companies, but this post isn’t to slam any of it.)

Since I grew up with a sick mom I grew up seeing “the medical system”.  She was on every medicine known to man and this medicine supposedly helped this side effect and that medicine helped that side effect and she had EVERY side effect.  The doctors helped her in the capacity they had and what they were taught.

I realize now that she probably would have done a lot better had she taken better care of herself and poured nutrition into her.  She was not healed, at least on this earth, like she fervently prayed to be.  Instead she was on a steady pace of deteriorating health.

With all of that said this post is how God is making me healthy.  I grew up with the American diet and no real knowledge of good health or nutrition just the “marketed” diet foods (which are trash).  I already wrote about my struggles with food so therefore knew about health.  A couple months ago I told my dad it wasn’t fair… some people can eat however they want, not workout, and not care about their health and they have no problems at all.  I at least try and have issues.  He said, “Maybe that’s how God knew to keep you healthy.”

That’s true.

It wasn’t until I hit maybe age 23 that I started getting adult acne.  It must have been my hormones changing and it was at this time I started working out more and shifting my nutrition.  I figured if it was hormones there had to be a way to change them.  I just didn’t know how at the time.  I tried changing my diet to help my face but the better I thought i was doing the worse it got.  I ate more salads… less oil…boiled to cook greens… was eating strict healthy foods for fitness goals, but also to try and help get rid of acne.  It turned into cystic acne and I finally caved in and went to the dermatologist as a last resort.  He put me on antibiotics and a cream and I gave him the biggest hug.  I only went that one time.

Flash forward to today where I am 31 years old.  Some time last year I almost caved in and went to the dermatologist.  I do not go to doctors and think I must have been subconsciously traumatized by the medical system and I just do not go.  (If you know me personally stop rolling your eyes and do not text me 😛 ).  I’m healthy, but go to the ER once a year due to something random like box jump accident stitches, red ant allergies, or …I did go this year for an ingrown toenail… so I get testing done then.  (Also… let us not forget when I had to take antibiotics for my ingrown toenail and legit had a meltdown over it…)

Anyway, I almost caved into going to the Dr, but why because I’d be on medicine the rest of my life.  I also became insecure and always wear makeup.  I would LOVE to be one of those people who doesn’t have to wear any at all because their skin is flawless, so I had to figure out the cause of what was going on.  It wasn’t just for vanity sake, but because my skin was just an outward sign of something being amiss in my body.  It couldn’t just be topical, so I started researching gut health.  I immediately started drinking lemon water, taking probiotics, and doing all these gut health things.  Then, I have a fear of putting anything on my face because everything effects it.  I had read somewhere about tea tree oil so I bought some without reading about it.  How I finally used that was I had a sinus infection or something and one night realized I would probably die of allergies so googled essential oils and sinuses.  Well, well, well…

I didn’t even care that I did not have the oil the article recommended, but used the only essential oil I had: Tea Tree Oil.  I put it all over my face, chest, in my nose..  and added a few drops to a hot shower to be used like a humidifier.

IT WAS A MIRACLE and in that instant became one of those crazy people who “has a thing”.  My ‘thing’ was tea tree oil.  At work if someone was sick I would make them use it or I told everyone about it…and I carried it with me everywhere.  My dad got sick one time and I forced him to use it. haha

So, with that said you can imagine that I was a believer and thought, “My face can’t get much worse??”.  After using the tea tree oil as a toner every day over time my face has improved dramatically.

Because of all the outcomes of my other blogs I am 31 years old with a head full of gray hair.  Don’t fight God, kids.  He wins.  Every time.

I remember a few years ago my dad mentioning gray hair could be a result of a copper deficiency so a few weeks ago after realizing just how much gray hair I am rapidly gaining what did I have to lose?  (Not to mention I work in customer service where people like to point it out… so now it’s all I see when I look in the mirror.)   I started researching copper deficiency (and texting people my findings because it effects other areas as well). That led me to read about so many other things so for two weeks now i have eaten salads  with copper friendly foods which obviously would help my overall health with other nutrition as well.  I’ve learned so much with just the little bit I read I told my coworker last week I didn’t know how I lived this long.

(You could dye your hair.  I’ve never dyed my hair and I refuse to.)

Last year, when I was taking care of my grandma I discovered B vitamins.  I remembered towards the end with my mom we went to see a natural medicine guy.  He suggested a complex B pack because B vitamins help the nervous system and would hopefully help with her neuropathy.  It did.  She had burning skin and you couldn’t touch her and over time she stopped screaming.

So, I remembered that and thought ‘if it helps the nervous system it must help with anxiety.’  I started taking b-12.  I found it helped me dramatically.

About a month ago the store didn’t have the vitamins I bought so I ended up with a B complex and IT CHANGED MY LIFE.  It has iron and vitamin C in it (although I also take vitamin C).  Around the same time I started taking it someone gave me a papaya.  I thought I was allergic to it (so now have SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE about papayas) because I had symptoms associated with it.  But, as I texted my friend and told her it could be one of two things I also mentioned I may not have eaten enough with my vitamins.  She told me about niacin (B3).  So, I read about what niacin does and they actually give that to patients with depression and it helps their symptoms.  (I am aware that there are different types of depression and chemical imbalances may require treatment.)

Last week I must’ve taken it with just enough food where my stomach didn’t bother me, but I COULD NOT STOP TALKING.  Oh my gosh I have so much more energy, less anxiety, and am amazed.  I’m kind of upset I didn’t know about it before, but you can’t go backwards and would go through it again to have the relationship with God I have.

I also get these spasms sometimes that come out of nowhere that could be a potassium thing, but I’m not sure.  I always have to keep bananas around and when I travel the first thing I do is go to a grocery store and buy some.  Once the spasms start if not dealt with they last for hours.

ANYWAY, there’s so much I’ve learned and am currently on a health quest to find out.  God made everything good.  HE is the answer to everything.  He made food to be delicious, but also for our benefit.  It is MEANT to be healing.

I’ve only been two weeks on this copper quest.  I also have been drinking a turmeric and almond milk drink (that I don’t drink often enough).  I’ve been drinking greens and a probiotic drink as well every morning for a few months.  This morning I sent a picture to my friend to show her my face because I was so excited it looked better.  I still get breakouts that i hope eventually stop, but overall my face looks better.  It is not as red.  I also told her how insane it would be if one day my gray roots started growing out brown.  I mean, I check every day for changes. ha

This will sound so childish, but this is how motivated I am: I ate beets for the very first time a few weeks ago.  I bought packaged ones at Whole Foods just to see if I liked them, and the next week cooked my own and then the next week cooked the greens as well.  I cut up the greens and sautéed them with garlic and red wine vinegar … yummy!!!

I never thought I would be this person, but you can either eat what God created and be well or you can live on poison the world promotes.  You’ll only ever hear about one if you watch the news.  I also started adding vegetarian meals regularly.  I only started eating canned beans to save money (adding them to salads… wraps… etc…) and realized how much better I felt.  It was accidental knowledge that I would have never set out to do on my own.  Little habits overtime become a lifestyle change.

My mom’s prayers were answered.  She not only had a healthy child, but is learning how to stay that way by using what God gave her.