About

About 3-4 years ago, while still in my late 20’s, I began to think that my body just hated me.  After all, I was able to run half marathons all through my 3 years in PT school, and then complete a 160 mile bike ride across Indiana in one day, all in the 4 year time period prior.  All at once, I began having issues with fatigue, pain, mood, sleep, amongst other things, which began to interfere with my desire and ability to train as well as just function from day-to-day.  Of course, I did what most people do at first: just try to deal with it, maybe it will get better on its own.  Wonderful idea, right?  Ha.  Things only got worse.  I finally had to swallow my pride and make an appointment to get help.  I had tried a few traditional medicine options, but I am not a fan of taking medication and feeling like I am living in a “haze”, let alone dealing with side effects.  So, I made the decision to work with a physician that specializes in functional and regenerative medicine.  After working with him for over a year, I felt much better, but I am a perfectionist, and I wanted more.  I didn’t know where to go.

A couple of months ago, my husband talked to me about someone who had been suggested by a family member for me to see.  I didn’t want to do it.  I didn’t know anything about it, but at that point I felt like I had no other option.  So I went for nutrition response testing.  I had been used to taking supplements from my prior treatments, so the addition of more supplements didn’t bother me too much.  What bothered me was that I was told to avoid wheat (no problem, we weren’t eating grains anyways), corn (again, we don’t eat that much of this), white and cane sugar (we all know we should eat less of this!), and finally, DAIRY, mainly MILK.  I almost burst into tears right there in the lady’s office.  I was drinking at least a gallon of milk per week, and I LOVE my cheese.  I have been drinking milk for as long as I can remember, and I couldn’t imagine giving it up.  But, when you’re desperate to feel better you’ll do anything if you’re determined.

Since beginning to make these dietary changes, my eyes seem to have been opened more than ever before about what JUNK is put into our food these days.  It actually made me very mad to think about what I had been eating since being out on my own.  I also began to look at others’ grocery cart contents while waiting in line at the store, and it makes me sad to see the amount of junk versus anything nutritious that people are feeding their bodies.  Sometimes it appears that the produce section didn’t exist at the store for anyone else that day, only for me.  I think every day, maybe if people would eat better, then they wouldn’t have the chronic pain and inflammation, along with other health issues, that I work with on a daily basis as a PT.  Yes, it is harder at first to eat better, because it takes time to read labels and ingredients and plan recipes that do not include pre-made, processed food.  But it can be done.  With this site I want to make it easier for people to find recipes that don’t include grain, dairy, or refined sugar.  I want to help people quickly be able to find recipes (which most of the time I have found after hours of researching other sites) and learn to eat well to live well.  It takes time and patience, but I feel it will be worth it in the long run.  I want to be able to share with others the feeling of peace with your body that I hope to obtain with the changes I have made, while still enjoying what you eat.  The longer you stay  healthy, the longer you can see views of Mother Nature like this of Oregon…  I’ll take this view over a glass of milk any day…