My Journey

The Beginning 
My journey began when I was newly married and working for an advertising company and going to school full time. Needless to say, I felt tired and worn out every single day. I was worn out before lunch most days and could hardly function and concentrate on any task at hand. I was also very moody and uneasy most of the time. My sister calls me and said that she just found out that she has a thyroid problem and so does most people in our family and that I should get my self checked out. Sure enough, the thyroid was off and I also found out birth control was messing with my body chemistry too. So off one pill (birth control) and on to another. I began to feel better. However, that was a short fix. While I was able to be less moody and able to focus on my work, I still was tired.

Fast forward a few months later and I find out that I'm pregnant. I quit the ad job and focus on school and soon-to-be baby. During my pregnancy I couldn't eat anything with preservatives in it at all. We had to be very careful about what I ate or I would be very sick. Good thing for baby I ate very well, which is what a baby needs to grow anyway.


Trial and Error
Fast forward again, I am now a new mommy to a little girl. My sister at this point was already starting to discover her bodies issues with certain foods, some of them being gluten and dairy, you can follow her journey here. That winter I had a bad ear infection that just wouldn't go away. I went back to the doctor every two weeks to get new antibiotics and none of them worked. At the time I was doing a cereal diet to lose some baby weight. I realized that I was taking in more milk than I normally do. A quick search on WebMD made me believe that I had eczema in my ears cause by dairy. I stopped the dairy and the ear infection was gone. I was feeling great again.

Just a few more months forward, I was still tired. What gives? I had a gut feeling (no pun intended) that gluten must be the next thing I need to eliminate from my diet. I had a friend that was going off gluten at the time so I knew that if I did too that I wouldn't feel alone. I was on and off gluten for a few months. Finally I read the book The G-Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and I was ready to make it a permanent change. It was very hard at first. Every other day was either up or down emotionally. I thought that there was no way I can do this, and I was right. It wasn't till I gave into the strength of God that I knew for sure I could do this.

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:13

I was doing much better. So much of my body was responding in a good way to this change. I was less tired, less bloated, less inflammation, and less hungry (in a good way).

The Test
Fast forward about a year, I was sick again and nothing would make it go away. I had sinus issues, I couldn't talk, ears were bad again and I just couldn't catch my breath. I went to the ENT for help. I got so many drugs that you would think I robed a pharmacy. I learned to love the neti pot and I still do, but nothing was making this junk go away. I even had a CT scan that showed nothing. Finally I told the doc I want a food allergy test. I had eliminated all that I could think off from my own diet, there had to be something else.

The results were in and I now had the answers I needed to clear up my head from this bad sinus cold and to live again. I got all the answers I needed to live on and I felt empowered. I found out I had 25, yes count them, 25 food allergies.

Lima beans
All dairy including yogurt
Coconut
Peas
Gluten
Yeast
Cashews
Pinto beans
Dill
Honey
Lamb
Nutrasweet
Black and white pepper
Sesame (in all forms)
Sword fish
Tomato
Asparagus
Banana
Basil
Cola
Crab
Mustard
Oregano
Peanut
Safflower
Black tea
Non organic eggs

 The Results
The results to my new diet was shocking to everyone, but me. Most people told me how sorry there were for my new diet and limitations. Some joked that they should have given me a list of what I could have, it would have been shorter. Some told me to find a new doctor or to seek a cure, but I was happy and I really did feel empowered by this new information. I looked at that list and thought I can do that, no problem. I praise God for finally let me have the answers. I saw this as a way to help others who are just like me. That is how I see it and still do.

I had a friend say she was going to pray for me and ask others to pray for healing in my body so I wouldn't have to live this way. I had to tell that person no. Now that may seem strange for a Christian to tell another Christian, "no thanks" for prayer, but I really didn't want healing. I know that if God wants to heal me he can, all I have to do is ask, but why pray away a life style that has helped me live healthier and why pray away a means to reach out to those who struggle with the same list as me? And yes I have meet people with my list, so I know that I am not alone and that is why this blog.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

 As hard as it may seem to others to understand why I am ok with my life style of eating, one thing that keeps me going is God. He knows me better than I do. He created me. He created me with all these food allergies, it just took me awhile for me to discover what He already knows. He knew that some day I would take that test, He knew that some day I would have to eat the way that I do and now my daughter too. So why ask God to change what He created? Who am I to ask the Almighty to change His creation? If He created me this way, then He too knows that I can live well eating the way that I do because He knows I will rely on Him. And I do, daily.