Good News and New Endeavors

It’s been a while since I updated. I do have some good news to share. I recently began the process of getting a certification in Wellness Coaching. I’m LOVING it! It’s so exciting; I’ve hardly slept at night since I began. My mind is spinning with business ideas and with all the things I’ve been learning. I set a goal to have my certificate by September, at which point I will begin working one on one with people to assist them in improving all aspects of wellness. Once I complete this certification, I plan to get a certification in Food Psychology. There are several others I also plan to get, but those are the first two. I will be using Craniosacral Therapy and Quantum Touch in my practice to help facilitate healing in my clients. Another method of healing I’m planning to employ is Meridian Tapping At some point I also plan to get a certificate in Raw Food Nutrition and Hypnotherapy. This is all very exciting! I will keep you updated on my progress and let you know when I begin seeing clients and when my website is up and running. I have big plans for how I will be able to reach people worldwide, giving one on one focus… wait for it!
In other news, last April I began seeing an internal medicine specialist who uses enzyme therapy. I had many positives throughout my body on the initial tests. Each time I’ve seen her I have fewer and fewer. I’m finally to a point where I don’t bloat and look pregnant every time I eat! I no longer get nausea and migraines while menstruating. I have less painful gas. I do not have nausea daily anymore, typically once every two weeks or so. The supplement I’m currently on is supposed to be helping to calm my nervous system and help me to sleep at night, but I haven’t seen an improvement yet.
The third, and last bit of news, related to the digestive news, is that after having a large lump in my lower right abdominal quadrant for a good 6+ months, I’ve decided to do a parasite cleanse. I had my specialist palpate the lump. She thought at first it might be appendicitis, but after doing a few tests she said it wasn’t likely. Her next guess was diverticulitis, but after coming home and studying that I really don’t think it is. There were no conclusive answers. I remembered reading in Norman Walker’s book Colon Health that upon x-ray of the colon if there is a certain shape of “pocket” at the beginning of the colon (the cecum) it is a parasite nest. This is not uncommon. Most of us have parasites and don’t realize it, even in developed countries. So I spent a week or two researching. The symptoms of Candida are the same as those for parasites, and the herbs that kill parasites also kill Candida. I found a great product called paraGONE by ReNew Life. It’s a 35 day cleanse. It’s pretty simple, you just take a few capsules and a liquid tincture several times a day along with a digestive enzyme, probiotics, and a fiber supplement which also contains probiotics. It’s all herbal. The reviews are awesome and it is a well-known, reputable product. The kids will also be doing the kid version of it. I plan to begin in the next few weeks; I just ordered my kit today. I will keep you all updated. Wish me luck! Also, I would urge you to do some research on parasites. You may also be infected. If you’ve got 3 or more of the following symptoms, it would be a good idea to do a cleanse (even if you don’t have symptoms, sometimes there aren’t any, it’s just a smart thing to do once a year). Here are some of the symptoms:
• Allergies
• Anemia
• B-12 Deficiency
• Bed-wetting
• Blindness/Worsening Vision
• Brain fog
• Central Nervous System Impairment
• Chest Pain
• Chills
• Colitis
• Cognitive Impairment
• Coughing
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Digestive complaints (gas, bloating, cramps, nausea, vomiting)
• Disturbed sleep
• Dizziness
• Enlargement of various organs
• Fever
• Gray hair
• Headaches
• Immunodeficiency (get sick easily)
• Insomnia
• Iron Deficiency
• Irritability/nervousness
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Jaundice
• Joint pain
• Lung Congestion
• Memory Problems
• Muscle cramps
• Night Sweats
• Overall fatigue
• Pain in the navel
• Persistent skin problems
• Post-nasal drip
• Ravenous appetite (or loss of appetite)
• Rectal itching
• Skin ulcers
• Sugar craving
• Swelling facial features
• Teeth grinding
• Unusual Sweating
• Unusual weight loss or weight gain
• Vaginitis
• Weakness
CHILDREN ARE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO PARASITES!

Healings to Date

I mentioned at the beginning of my winter cleanse that I’d found my initial list of symptoms and that I’d like to post concerning the symptoms I no longer have, or that have improved. Here it is:

I no longer:

• Ache all over
• Have night sweats
• Overheat
• Have jumpiness/startle very easily
• Have numbness or tingling in extremities
• Am unusually clumsy
• Insomnia
• Tooth/gum pain
• Dark specks floating in vision
• Sore spot on top of head
• Pain in hand when writing
• Shortness of breath
• Weak grasp
• Rapid, fluttery heartbeat
• Low back pain
• Sciatica pain
• Shin splints
• Weak ankles
• Buckling knees
• Pain and swelling on knees
• Swollen feet
• Difficulty climbing stairs
• Restless legs
• Painful 1^st steps in the morning
• Pelvic pain
• Feeling detached from reality/body
• Blacking out
• Cracking calluses on soles of feet
• Foot pain, inside of heel
• Pain down inner thigh
• Cheek bones tender to the touch
• Pain near left hip bone in abdomen

Improvements:

• Fatigue, I am no longer tired all day, or even every day, for that matter
• Sweet cravings, I no longer have them constantly and they do not control me
• Yeast, making small strides in this areas since I began taking Adya
• Don’t itch as much as I used to, less dry skin
• Less angry and irritable
• Hypoglycemia has improved considerably
• Don’t bruise as much
• Less dermographia
• Dizziness is much less frequent
• Post nasal drip is nearly nonexistent, no more coughing from it
• Anxiety episodes and few and far between and not nearly as intense, no full blown attacks
• Depression is rare
• Tearing, dryness of eyes, and blurred vision is nearly gone
• Heartburn is infrequent and can be remedied with ginger tea
• Hypersensitive nipples/breast pain almost nonexistent
• Bloating/gas/intestinal pain has improved
• Nausea, less frequent and can be remedied with ginger tea
• Immune System has strengthened quite a bit
• Eczema is improved quite a bit
• Short term memory has improved, less scattered thinking, better concentration

WOW. I thought it was only gone to be a few things! Well, that’s exciting. Its been fun revisiting my old life, NEVER going to relive it though!

Winter Cleanse Results & Future Plans

Thirteen days ago I started my winter cleanse. As of this morning I’ve lost 5 pounds and some inches off my waist (see the photos). The black is slowly fading from my fingers (see previous post on Adya Clarity). All in all, I feel pretty darn good, other than the hemorrhoids that are still being stubborn and painful.

The plans moving forward from here are to continue a cleansing diet and lifestyle. Its going to be much like my cleanse schedule was, but with a few less supplements. See the plan at the end of this post.

The plan moving forward:

Fruit, preferably low sugar

Low sugar green smoothies

Raw Food Meals and snacks (small, chewed well, all solid food as little as possible to keep blood sugar balanced)

Minimal cooked food, if any at all

Limit raw desserts to 2 servings per week, and eventually to 1 serving

• 1 green protein shake (Sun Warrior Protein)
• 1-2 qts green juice, fresh
• Greens First (optional)

Supplements:

• Ginger tea (1+ per day)
• Other tea (opt)
• Adya Supershot (2 per day)
• Adya Supershot
• 34 oz Adya water
• 34 oz Adya water
• Chromium (2 caps per day)
• B12
• Iodine (2 per day)
• Acidophilus (3 caps)
• Acidophilus (3 caps)
• Digestive Enzymes
• Digestive Enzymes
• Ginger caps
• Ginger caps
• Ginger caps
• Isaflush (1 at bedtime, for a few more weeks)

Lifestyle:

• Enema (once a week)
• Body scrubbing (before showers)
• Feet soak and pumice (once per week)
• Yoga (at least 2 days per week)
• Aerobic exercise (at least 20 mins, at least 5 days per week)
• Abdominal exercise and stretching (at least 4 days per week)
• Sleep (try to be in bed by 10:30 pm, up around 7:00 am)
• Deep breathing/cleansing breaths (daily)
• Fresh air and sun (go outside or open windows at least 15 mins per day)

Winter Cleanse, Day 9… Adya is Working, Check Out the Photos!!!!!

About 2 weeks ago, I was making smoothies for my kids using frozen blueberries. I noticed afterward the fingers of the hand I’d used to grab a handful of the berries looked sort of stained, like the berry juice got into all the crevices of my skin. I figured that’s what it was, since its winter and my skin is really dry and my hands do tend to crack in winter. So I decided I would use a measuring cup and not my bare hand from then on, and I did, but the “dirty” look never faded. I tried pumicing my fingers, figuring that if I could remove the dry, dead skin, the stain would go with it. To no avail. After about a week it actually seemed to be worse. I was beginning to wonder if I was doomed to have tainted looking hands forever. I mean, I was kind of starting to look like a hygienically challenged auto mechanic. Pretty embarrassing. Then one day, I noticed the stains were starting to show up on my other hand as well. I was perplexed… and then the “ah ha” moment came! I remembered when I first heard about Adya Clarity. It was from a video done by The Raw Food World (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tDnqFZPi4I). I remembered them mentioning that one woman who was taking the supershots experienced her finger tips turning black from the expulsion of lead and heavy metals. BINGO! I’ve got lead coming out of my finger tips! That’s amazing! I was so excited… I took pictures! You’ve got to see this… THEN, you’ve got to order some Adya Clarity for yourself!!!!

Winter Cleanse, Day 7

Day 7 today. Some gross things to happily report… I’ve been through about 4 days of massive bloating and expelling all kinds of nastiness from my bowels. I find it fascinating that so much can come out of me when I’m eating a mostly liquid diet. I’ve been coughing up chunkies as well. Last Fri night and Sat morning it was as if my colon released bricks and it all plied up in my rectum and got stuck. I had to do an enema. It was so bad it was causing pain in my back from the pressure. As a result I ended up with marble sized hemorrhoids. Ouch. I forgot to list hemorrhoids as one of my major issues coming into this cleanse. I’ve been battling them since last February, when I got the flu and sat on the toilet for hours on end all night. It’s as though the blood vessel walls got so weak now they pool up every time I stand for too long, which I frequently do in the kitchen. They also flare up when I’m stressed. The tricky thing is that enemas irritate them, but I kind of have to do the enemas… so it’s an uncomfortable situation any way you play it. Anyway, my body is releasing stuff. I’ve had some cloudy, smelly urine, indicative of yeast. During the first few days of the cleanse I lose 4 pounds, then gained 3 back with all the bloat. I may extend the cleanse if it doesn’t all work itself out by the end of day 10. Part of the bloating, I’m sure, has to do with PMS and should soon be gone. I was excited when I realized my period would fall during my cleanse, since menses are cleansing as well. It gives my body one more avenue to expel toxins, and that’s always a good thing. I’ve gone through some rough patches over the past few days, but all for a good cause. It’s all just proof that it’s working, and I’m very thankful for that.

Winter Cleanse, End of Day 2

I’m quickly realizing this cleanse is so much more than just a 10-day break from over stuffing myself. As I’ve been making the time to take care of myself (exercise, meditation, leisurely baths, colon cleansing, etc.) I’ve felt something change in me. Another switch is flipping. I feel like I could go on with this cleanse forever. Usually, the first few days of a cleanse I’m just starving and cranky and want to give up. This is because my body is adjusting and switching gears to be able to start releasing toxins. This phase is followed by 3-4 days of detox symptoms, as the toxins are being released and my elimination organs are doing all they can do excrete them. During this time whatever bothersome symptoms I had prior to the cleanse get much worse. During the next phase, I feel amazing. I feel right with the world, comfortable in my own body, light; I feel like I could go on cleansing forever. At some point, like toward the end of my 30-day cleanse, I feel ready to stop simple because I want to eat! But I find it interesting that I woke up this morning feeling already in the “can do this indefinitely” phase. Who knows what’s to come, what I know is that I need to take most of the aspects of this cleanse and make them a part of my daily life. I need to live a cleansing lifestyle. I need to do enemas on at least a weekly basis. I need to make sure I get at least 34 oz of fresh vegetable juice AND a green smoothie or green protein shake every day. I need to keep up, at least for a while, with taking digestive enzymes and acidophilus. I need to make sure I’m getting aerobic exercise, sunlight, and fresh air everyday. I need to work on getting more sleep, and I need to be doing yoga at least twice a week. I also need to really focus on eating only when I’m physically hungry, and letting myself feel hungry for a bit before I eat. I’m having VERY little difficulty with hypoglycemia on this cleanse, which I’m surprised and so grateful for. It’s a miracle to me, a great blessing. I can now stop eating constantly, always trying to balance my blood sugar, but because I’ve had to do that for the past 18 months, and because I do eat emotionally, I need to break the habit of compulsive eating. I’m realizing how little my body actually needs, and that there are things greater than having something in my mouth that tastes good and gives me warm fuzzies for a little while. There are deeper things, spiritual things, that I’m in need of and the voice that is calling out for those things is silenced when I over eat. This is all a miracle to me, an answer to many prayers, and the materialization of my “Jesus Gift” (see my family blog) this year. It’s a wonderful thing.

Winter Cleanse, Day 1

The day is off to an interesting start. I can’t bear weight on my left foot without pain, it started yesterday evening. I think I may have stressed it running last Saturday… but the pain didn’t start until two days later, so I’m not sure. When I step on it it kind of feels like the bone is trying to break all down the left side of my foot. Unpleasant.

But on the subject of cleansing, I’m excited and nervous. I want to eat! It’s going to be tough. I’ve been working through some food addiction/compulsive eating issues over the past few weeks, so not eating much is scary. My blood sugar was a little low this morning so I ate a banana, waited until I felt hungry again and did my Adya shot. Now I’m working on a cup of Spring tea (The Herbalist). It going to be a day of much urination… and it hurts to wobble to the bathroom, oh my! I hadn’t though of that! Life is always an adventure!

I have a goal to lose 5 lbs over the next 10 days. My primary issues starting out are: emotional/compulsive eating, acne on face and back, eczema around eyes, on ear, on elbow and knees, pain and tension in muscles, abdominal bloating, gas, headaches, itchy/dry skin, fingernail breakage, and rash around the mouth of my nursing toddler who also has foul smelling urine. I’m VERY excited that swollen feet and hypoglycemia are off the major issues list!!!!

Upcoming Winter Cleanse

I like to cleanse for 7-10 days, 4 times per year. I’m really feeling the need to flush out all this winter muck from my cells. So, starting January 18^th, and lasting for 10-days, I’ll be doing a self-prescribed digestive cleanse which will also facilitate the cleansing of my liver and gall bladder. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend someone who isn’t familiar with cleansing to jump in and self-prescribe. If you’re new to cleansing I would use a cleansing package (let me know if you need recommendations and/or coaching). I’ve got to modify my cleanse for breastfeeding and hypoglycemia, so there will be some solid foods as needed, by I’m planning to keep to low-sugar fruits and vegetables and eat as little as I can while still keeping my blood sugar balanced.

The other day I came across my initial list of unpleasant symptoms, from before I began to go vegan or raw. I thought I’d lost it… but here it is! I can now see how far I’ve come. Following this cleanse I will post an update on my healing progress. I am now 1 and ½ years into my raw vegan journey.

Here is my daily cleanse plan:

Food:

Low sugar fruit, as needed

Low sugar green smoothie, as needed

100% Raw Food Meals and snacks (small, chewed well, all solid food as little as possible to keep blood sugar balanced)

• 1 green protein shake (Sun Warrior Protein)
• 34 oz green juice, fresh
• 34 oz green juice, fresh
• Greens First (optional)

Supplements:

• Ginger tea (1+ per day)
• Ginger tea
• Ginger tea
• Namaste or spring tea (1+ per day)
• Namaste or spring tea
• Namaste or spring tea
• Adya Supershot (2 per day)
• Adya Supershot
• 34 oz Adya water
• 34 oz Adya water
• Chromium (2 caps per day)
• B12
• Iodine (2 per day)
• L.B.T. caps (1-2 caps per day)
• Acidophilus (3 caps)
• Acidophilus (3 caps)
• Acidophilus (3 caps)
• Digestive Enzymes
• Digestive Enzymes
• Digestive Enzymes
• Ginger caps
• Ginger caps
• Ginger caps
• Gall Bladder Flush (every other day, at bedtime, followed by tea)
• Isaflush (at bedtime)

Lifestyle:

• Enema (everyday to at least every 2 days)
• Body scrubbing (before showers)
• Feet soak in Adya and pumice (at least every 3 days)
• Yoga (at least every other day)
• Aerobic exercise (at least 15 mins per day)
• Sleep (try to be in bed by 10:30 pm, up around 7:00 am)
• Fresh air and sun (go outside or open windows at least 15 mins per day)

I’ll keep you updated, wish me will power!

Follow Up from This Mornings Post

First of all, the enema was MUCH needed! My colon pretty much sounded like a haunted house the entire time. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. It was fabulous… and gross… but better out than in.

What I really wanted to talk about though was after the enema. See, normally I don’t get to do things to take care of myself, as I’m looking after the demands of a house full of children all day without a break. Today I was home sick from church. So, after the enema I treated myself to a yoga session. I used Maya Fiennes’s DVD Kundalini Yoga to Detox and Destress. I purchased it just recently and hadn’t used it yet. I used to have some of her sessions recorded on our DVR and I loved them, but we switched providers and I’ve been without them for quite sometime, so I was very excited to have found her DVDs. Yoga is always a journey for me. I emerge from each session a better person. This session was, by far, the greatest yet. I cried multiple times throughout the session and I could feel negative emotions rising up and releasing. I could feel myself tuning into my core, my spirit, my true self, and my connection with God, the source of all knowledge. This is Kundalini. I feel incredibly relaxed and filled with soothing, pure, life energy. I can effortlessly take in a deep breath now, whereas usually there is too much tension in my chest to breathe deeply. Afterward I went to the kitchen to drink some water and I could feel my weight in my calves and could feel myself connected to the floor, in a grounded way. I normally live in my head. I never experience existing in my body. But I did today. I was so aware of the floor under my feet and could feel my weight balanced so perfectly between them. I felt like I physically existed in the world, not like I was alone and overwhelmed, like I typically do. I need to find some way to get help with my children so that I can do yoga more often. I may have to do it in the bedroom at night when Kolby watches TV and the kids are asleep, I’ve been avoiding that because its my only time with Kolby, but this is something I really need and I believe will make me a much better, and much healthier, person. I’m off to drink more water… got to flush out all the toxins I just released!

Lesson #1: Mind Your Colon

I’ve been using Adya Clarity now for about 2 ½ months. I did the super shots once daily up until about 3 weeks ago, and have just been drinking the water. The past few days I’ve been back on the super shots, putting them in my green juice or just taking them alone. I admit I haven’t been great at getting in enough water after the shots, or in general. I’ve always struggled to drink enough water. I had been frustrated because at first it seemed to be helping with my digestive problems, then it sort of tapered off and after that my issues worsened. Since around Christmas I’ve had horrible gas, bloating, and some nausea. I felt hopeless and afraid. If this doesn’t help me, what will? On top of all that, the eczema patches started showing up again on my elbow and knees (I’d had nasty patches there last year that took many months and cleansing to clear up), and the eczema around my eyes began to flare up again to the point where it was very uncomfortable to wear makeup and the skin around my eyes was puffy, bright read, and scaly. My back broke out in painful pimples, which hasn’t happened since I was a teenager. Also, my muscle tension/pain/headaches have been much worse than usual. What’s worse, my breastfed toddler has developed a rash around his mouth which is scabbing over, and his urine has been rather foul smelling. I’ve been in a panic trying to figure this all out. When my daughter used to get a rash around her mouth it was a dairy allergy, but we don’t eat dairy or any common allergen causing foods. He had been eating small amounts of peanut butter, so I took him off of that, but he’s never reacted to it before. I feared he might be allergic to grapefruit, or citrus in general, because during the winter we eat a lot of that and I’ve been craving grapefruit and eating several per day (which after researching I found that it cleanses the liver and is anti-inflammatory so it helps with pain syndromes, go figure!).

One night, Coen was having trouble getting to sleep so we snuggled up on the couch, him watching Caillou and me reading articles on the laptop. I was reading some things written by Matt Monarch (from rawfoodworld.com) whose work always impresses me. I kept coming across his mentioning of the importance of colon cleansing (enemas and colon hydrotherapy sessions). This is nothing new to me. I know full-well the importance of washing out the colon when cleansing. When your body is releasing toxins and waste it gets dumped into your sewage system (colon) for elimination. You can ease the stress on your body, as well as the symptoms of detox, by flushing those toxins out with water. This method has been used for thousands of years. In fact, up until the past 50-60 years (before pharmaceuticals took over the healthcare system) even hospital rooms had equipment for colon flushing, as it was the first thing doctors did to facilitate healing. It was common knowledge that weather you had a headache, or a cold, or cancer, or whatever, the most important thing you could do was to clean out your colon. Somehow that knowledge has been lost to some extent in recent years, even to the point that people think of it as taboo and embarrassing. It’s quite unfortunate considering we need to be cleaning our colons now more than ever, with the ever increasing amount of flesh foods we eat and all the environmental toxins we take in. Now wonder we are losing so many people to colon cancer.

I wasn’t applying any of this to me at the time I was reading it. It wasn’t until the next day I began thinking, “hmm, skin breaking out… toxins trying to be released? Foul gas, bloating and nausea… yeast die off? Muscle pain and headaches… toxin release and yeast die off? Rashes… yeast and toxins? Adya… kills yeast and releases toxins!” I hadn’t thought of my Adya use as a cleanse and so I hadn’t treated it like one. The most perplexing thing was that I felt my digestion improving in that I know I’m absorbing nutrients better than I ever have because I haven’t required as much food lately. Normally I’m starving all the time and I eat about every hour, or more. But lately I noticed I can’t finish a whole grapefruit without being stuffed, in fact I can’t eat a large amount of anything, even vegetable juice. That’s not a bad thing, I’ve been waiting for this! I learned early on in my raw food journey that when you eat this pure, nutritionally dense food your require less of it. But for us the opposite seemed to be true, we eat nonstop and are always hungry. You can’t absorb nutrients through a yeast and mucus coated digestive tract, and if you aren’t absorbing enough nutrients your body will tell you it’s hungry so it can get in as much food as possible and absorb as many nutrients as it can. I was so confused realizing this, and yet having all this gas pain… it didn’t add up.

Time will tell if my theory is correct, if all these issues are symptoms of yeast die-off and toxin release, and if the Adya is doing positive work in my body. I’m off to do my first enema in many months. I wish I could do colon hydrotherapy, but the money just isn’t there, so hopefully the enemas will suffice. I will update in a week or so and let you know if I’ve seen any improvements in myself or my son. And also, I’m planning a digestive rest cleanse coming up in the next week or two, once I sort through my current issues. If you’re interested in learning about Adya, here’s a great place to see how its been working for other people: http://www.therawfoodworld.com/adyaclaritytestimonials.html