So what's going on with me now?? I've dropped the blogging ball for a while!

Ok well today a friend of mine shared her blog on PTSD, so I figure hey why not share my health blog. It is good to share it for a variety of reasons:
A.) It may help other people. If I don't share it, what the heck is the use of it? :p
B.) It will help keep me on task with keeping a written track of this story.
C.) Life is meant to be shared. Even the tough stuff. I mean goodness it is not good to soley focus on the bad stuff, but heck it helps to confide in others.
D.) Dudes, unfortunately pretty much everyone experiences an illness. Or someone else they love suffering from an illness. A lot of times chronic illnesses or an acute illness that becomes chronic- sometimes this chronic part does not need to happen.
E.) I truly believe with every illness or with lack of a current illness diet and exercise can better one's life. I know we all know this already! But practicing it is tough and we know that too.Wooo hooo preventative medicine. I wish I would have been practicing preventative medicine before! Gyosh- I might not have ended up experiencing such a traumatic last year and a half. Glad I can joke about it now. But it was a very serious, terrifying situation.

Ok so I am not completely better yet, but the only signs and symptoms I am currently having are some mild joint pain, nothing crazy. Actually some mild joint pain was my first symptom and it's the last thing left! Now my ANA has not changed, but my symptoms have gone away. So naturally I want to get the ANA down.

What is my current treatment as of now?
Well I am unfortunately still eating just the grassfed beef and the gluten free rice for every meal and taking supplements. And also drinking tap water and this excludes water from a water fountain. People with peanut allergies can have an anaphalytic reaction from a water fountain. Quite frankly drinking from a water fountain was making me sick. Also I was taking algae oil to balance out my Omega 6's and 3's, but I did not read the bottle well enough and discovered there was sunflower seed oil in it, in which the supplement was actually giving me tons of Omega 6's. Still causing me to be quite off balanced. I need to post a blog on balancing one's Omega 3's and 6's. To make a long story short the algae oil was actually being counterproductive. Thanks for the tricky advertising. When one labels a product "Algae Oil, rich in Omega 3's," wouldn't you expect just that? Apparently not. Well that's a market economy for ya, it's hard to know who to trust when everyone seems to be trying to make an extra buck. But that's a whole other rant ;) Let's just say, "Throw it on the ground." Referencing The Lonley Island video. har, har.

So, since I cut out the counterproductive algae oil my stomach is no longer bloated at all. Now if one can take a fish oil supplement without having a problem, according to my doctor that is really a great way to go in balancing the 6's and 3's. I was also reading about pairing food and that aiding in digestion. That different types of food digest at different rates. Who would have known that meat and potatoes are actually not good to pair together. Pairing them together can cause fermentation. I've read this in several sources: You Are What You Eat and Never Be Sick Again. Since eating them separately my digestion has been phenomenol! I mean seriously wow. I digest like I used to! And sometimes my stomach gurgles because it is hungry, wants more food, and is rapidly digesting. I pretty much eat a little throughout the entire day...trying to keep my portions small. Also it may seem simple, but I actually chew my food. This is actually a pretty hard thing for me to do because I have a history of scarfing food down. Just ask my close friends, they know.

Now timing when one drinks water is also pretty interesting. I was reading that drinking and eating simultaneously can actually slow digestion. This is pretty extreme, but in my case I best follow it. They were saying that drinking about a half hour before eating gets the digestive saliva moving. Also that it is better to drink one's drink when it is at room temperature. Ok I don't always do this, sometimes my water is cold. But I really try to. It seems to make a difference. So I am pretty happy with all of this so far.

Ok allergies. Now I currently cannot eat fruits and vegetables. Why?? There are a few theories here. Well I suspect that now that I have cut out the algae oil that my stomach will actually heal. My doctor suspects that I was allergic to something in the supplement. Perhaps iodine. Also I am not joking. When the juice from fresh, organic, brocolli from the Mustard Seed dripped onto my arm, I immediately broke out in a few hives. Glad I did not ingest that! I'm sure that would have made me feel pretty crappy, all of that reaction happening on the inside. So why?? Why would brocolli cause me to be allergic and all fruits and vegetables as a matter of fact? It really is not normal to eat some carrots and to have one's mouth swell. The problem is, is that allergies to fruits and vegetables is becoming all too common. There are a few theories here. Well for one thing there is the latex and fruit and veggie theory. It may sounds pretty crazy, but I don't think that it is really all that crazy when one thinks about it. I'll have to post more about it in its own entry. To make a long story short to avoid allergies from fruits and vegetables buy local, in season produce that is picked when it is ripe. Even if you don't buy the latex theory (in which before making a judgement really you should really wait for me to explain it and to show you my sources), there are more nutrients in fruits and vegetables anyways when they are picked ripe.

Also! In case you didn't know if you are not in an area where fruit and veggies can be grown locally you are eating your plant foods with a ripening chemical on them. There is a book called Tomatoland, By: Barry Estabrook that talks about the tomato's that come out of Florida. My friend April introduced me to the book. The tomato's are picked when they are so ripe that they actually would not even ripen on their own if one sat them for instance on a window seal. There are chemicals placed on these fruits to ripen them. Especially on fruits like banana's and mangoe's, which are only ripened when they are picked. So if one goes on a a fruit or vegetable fast or a juice fast I really think they need to be careful if the fruits and veggies are not homegrown and bought from a trusted source. I honestly was not aware of this until recently, but my hypersenstive body is. For one thing my diet is so clean now that it just reacts like crazy to anything bad for me and for another thing my ANA is still high. 

So I really need to eat some fruits and vegetables to make sure I am getting nutrients. It is better to buy canned or frozen fruit because that is most likely picked when it is ripe and then immediately frozen.
I am not sure about the chemicals in canned or frozen fruits and veggies. I need to do more research on it. Any insights are welcome. :) 

So needless to say, I cannot wait for winter to be over and to be able to buy produce locally. That is the bad part about living in Ohio. Don't get my wrong, I love my seasons. I am thinking that I can start to can or freeze my own fruits and veggies once they are in season. I have a lot of learing to do in that department. Lots to blog about for anyone interested. I would like to go on a juice fast for a while once the veggies and fruit are in season. I know a diet on beef and rice forever is not sufficient by any means. I just need to get through this school semester, graduate as a nurse, and then keep learning more. I am going to be getting pretty busy coming up here.

So far I am very satisfied and happy with my current progress.