From Hopelessness to Understanding to Healing

Have you ever looked back on your life and recognized that some of the most challenging events, though perhaps experienced as painful at the time, gave you your own unique perspective and skill set? This has definitely been the case for me, starting in my teens, when I tripped on train tracks and fell across the rails as a train approached.  The engineer could not brake soon enough to avoid hitting me. Yes, I dragged myself off just in time, but I ruptured my spleen when I hit the rail and went into shock from the internal bleeding. From that point on my nervous system, when stressed, was primed for a pattern of heightened panic, sometimes progressing to a state of shock or collapse, although I never fully understood it for another forty years.

Many years later, I gave birth to identical twins. They had some developmental delays but were otherwise happy and affectionate. At about 18 months of age, first one, and then the other, began to lose skills and regress until they no longer seemed to recognize me. They started having violent tantrums and banging their heads repetitively. They were diagnosed with autism for which no solutions were offered. It was a horrendously bleak and painful time. I felt that I was witnessing the death of my children and the hopes and dreams I had for them, even while their physical lives went on. More and more, I met other families facing the similar struggles- trying to do their best with little medical guidance.

In 2011, I became profoundly ill after a Botox shot which caused a toxic reaction to my nervous system. I gradually lost the ability to walk, became wheelchair bound and finally bedridden, unable to even sit up, and requiring total care. I was in a state of total nervous system disarray, the fear of which led to severe panic attacks. The doctors I saw were clueless as to how to help me. Once again I hit a wall of helplessness and despair. One neurologist told me she was unsure if I would ever recover. Her best advice for me was to “believe” I would get well. She told me she had seen miraculous recoveries in patients who had a strong faith in a positive outcome. I took this to heart, but, at the same time, I realized that traditional medicine had nothing effective to offer me and if I was going to get better I was going to have to do it on my own. This began a period of intense research and self- experimentation as I began to learn how the body functions, what causes disease and how to restore health.  In particular, I had an insatiable interest in all aspects of the nervous system, particularly stress response, inflammation and the gut brain-axis. I had to understand these if I hoped to heal myself.

Amazingly, I was eventually able to return to health. I completed my training in Nutritional Therapy and my twins became my first two clients. I saw another miracle unfold. My boys gradually “woke up”, they became aware of their surroundings, their violent behaviors subsided and they are now loving and affectionate with me and their caregivers.

I have learned that traditional medicine has no pharmaceutical ‘cures” for conditions such as depression, MS, Alzheimer’s and autism, and little understanding of their root causes. It doesn’t yet recognize that the nervous system has a profound ability to heal itself and that the true “medicines” are proper lifestyle choices- the decisions we make on a daily basis.

Where does this all lead? I have developed, in collaboration with Kari Eyer MA, a program called Mind Body Renewal. It’s a culmination of everything I have learned and use with my clients to heal and reset the nervous system and restore overall health and vitality, combined with the insight and experience Kari has gained working as a trauma therapist.

Natural Solutions to Acid Reflux

Published April 5, 2020 in the Reading Eagle.

In discussing natural solutions for gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD, or simply acid reflux, it’s a good idea to start by briefly reviewing the digestive process.

Digestion is the means by which the body breaks down the foods we eat into the smallest particles which our bodies can then use. How important is this? Every single structure and every single function in our bodies runs off of these nutrients, and that is why if we want to be healthy it is critical to both eat nutrient-dense foods and also to be able to properly digest them to access the nutrients.

Digestion is a cascade with each step, relying on the proper functioning of the prior step. If digestion is not working optimally, you will not be able to break down food into the smallest particles (amino acids, fatty acids, sugars), which your body is able to use and health will suffer. If one step of the digestive process is disrupted, the remainder of the process is impaired.

GERD is a condition in which the stomach contents backflow into the esophagus, causing heartburn, pain and potentially cancer. Doctors often prescribe acid blockers to reduce acidity in the stomach so that the reflux is not as painful and potentially damaging to the esophagus. These medications are designed to be used short term to allow the esophagus to heal.

However, what happens all too often is that patients stay on these medications long-term. It is important to recognize that this completely disrupts the remainder of the digestive cascade, which is dependent on the stomach contents being highly acidic. The stomach is designed to be the most acidic area in the body because the acid is necessary to break down proteins, keep the foods moving along and to signal the body to produce further digestive enzymes in the small intestine.

Long-term reduced acidity in the stomach results in numerous potential consequences to health, including bowel inflammation and disease, nutrient and neurotransmitter deficiencies and autoimmune disease. A comprehensive natural approach to GERD can often eliminate the need for medications which disrupt the digestive process and our access to essential nutrients.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Eat in a relaxed, mindful state, chewing thoroughly before swallowing. Take a few minutes beforehand to breath, pray or just be grateful. It’s not a good idea to eat when you are stressed (the sympathetic ‘fight-or-flight” state), because then your body is preparing for an emergency and it cannot produce the digestive enzymes needed to adequately break down your foods. These are produced by the parasympathetic, “rest-and-digest” branch of your nervous system.

  • Consume a whole-food, nutrient-dense, low-sugar diet. We ate for two million years before the more recent advent of processed, toxic-convenience foods. Excess sugars and carbs and poor food combining cause fermentation in the stomach, leading to reflux. Over and over in my practice, I see improvement or complete resolution of reflux when clients implement a whole food, anti-inflammatory diet.

  • Through observation, find which foods are problematic for you and avoid them. Common offenders are alcohol, tomato sauces, chocolate, coffee and eggs.

  • Don’t overeat, and finish eating at least 2-3 hours before bed.

  • Intermittent fasting or a reduced feeding window can be a powerful strategy that gives your body a break from digestion and time to heal.

  • Excess weight carried around the waist increases intra-abdominal pressure and contributes to GERD. Weight loss will be beneficial.

  • Cut out or reduce alcohol consumption, at least for a period while you are healing. Have you ever poured alcohol on an open wound? It hurts! This is what is happening to your inflamed esophagus when you drink.

  • If you choose to take the natural route, work with a nutritionist or other practitioner trained in acid-blocker-weaning protocols. These involve healing the area with natural herbs and supplements and then actually increasing the acid in the stomach so that foods can be properly digested, moving them forward so they do not back up, as with GERD.

Man-Made Toxins and Women's Health

Very excited to share another article I wrote recently for the Reading Eagle Health and Wellness feature magazine. It outlines ways that we can modify your diet to minimize the accumulation of man-made toxins in our bodies - very relevant today as over 75,000 new synthetic chemicals have been created and unleashed into our environment since World War II... and they can often be found in products you might be using every day! 

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Valuable Lessons from my Health Journey

In 2012, after a brief period of physical decline, I found myself bedridden and unable to move for 8 months. I was entirely helpless and relied on others for all of my needs. My previous life had been all about fitness, yet here I was without the strength to lift my head or hold a cell phone, let alone stand. My nervous system was in a terrifying state of disarray, either over or under responsive, that I would best describe as a neurological firestorm. Any function I’d had as a human being was gone. The initial doctors I’d seen early on had no clue what was wrong and nothing effective to offer.

The good news is I recovered and emerged from this experience a changed person. I look back on it as the greatest gift of my life, albeit one in strange wrapping paper.

Here are a few takeaways from my health journey…

1. Our bodies have an innate intelligence and a miraculous potential to recover from all manner of symptoms and disease. I’m referring to true restoration of health, not management of disease through pharmaceuticals. This includes cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, autoimmune disease, diabetes, as well as digestive issues and allergies. More often than not, illness comes as a result of our not living in alignment with how life functions.
 
2. Diet and Lifestyle choices have a profound impact on our health picture… they make health or break it. This is the basis for the exciting new world of functional health care. It’s up to us to educate ourselves, make the best decisions, and take ownership of our health.

3. Our body is an ecosystem; a complex universe of various life forms (microbes and others) working together to support our health. (Check out Curezone.com to see what might be living inside you). Poor lifestyle choices upset the balance and an imbalance results in impairment of health.

4. Avoidance of exposure to toxins and daily detox support should be lifestyle practices, like brushing our teeth.  We live in a sea of toxicity, as never before in history (drinking water, processed foods, plastic water and food containers, toiletries, dental amalgams, etc. are full of toxic chemicals) and our bodies can no longer handle the burden. When toxicity builds up, disease results. 

5. A positive attitude and faith are two of the most powerful healing remedies. I have seen it time and time again in my work as a Nutritional Therapist and it was the case for me. Those with optimism and a strong belief in a positive outcome are propelled to health, while those who identify with their disease are held back and carry a tremendous burden of stress that interferes with the healing process. For the first three months I was bedridden, I felt anxiety, despair and hopelessness- my life as I knew it had been snatched away. Over time, I struggled to shift my attitude, to feel faith in my recovery. It was a turning point for me. Oddly, it took losing my life for me to find a deep sense of gratitude and joy that I’d never experienced before. I learned every species of bird I could see and their birdsong, and gained a new found appreciation for the beauty of plants and tree bark (these were what I could see from my bed). The beauty of nature pulled me back to life.

6. Life is the most wonderful gift. Each day is one to be grateful for and lived with joy. We spend                 way too much time caught up in the noise and distractions.  Put down your cellphone, take a few deep breaths, look out your window or go outside and connect to the beauty of life. Few things are more nourishing to health.
 

Nutritional Basics for the New Year

"You are what you eat." How many times have you heard this well-worn phrase without giving it deeper thought?

Let's take a moment to remind ourselves that EVERY SINGLE STRUCTURE in our body and EVERY SINGLE FUNCTION which takes place to keep us alive run on NUTRIENTS from the food we eat. Our bodies are designed to run on very specific nutrients.  In addition to literally building our bodies from the cellular level up, food is the "gas" for our "cars". We would never think to put inferior gas, or some other random liquid, into our fuel tank because we know what the consequences would be. Yet, day in, day out many of us consume poor quality "food" or "frankenfoods" that our bodies don't even recognize. 

Question: Why is it acceptable to eat inferior quality foods and substances which are not food (I'm referring to much of what you see in the center isles of the grocery store or in a convenience store) on a regular basis?

Answer: It isn't! The structure and function of our bodies begins to degrade.

Result: For the first time in U.S. History, the life expectancy is decreasing. There is an epidemic of chronic diseases such as Diabetes, Cancer, Heart disease, Alzheimer's, Depression, and Autoimmune disease. It is estimated that at this rate by mid century roughly 1/2 of infants will be born with Autism and 1/2 of the elderly will be afflicted with Alzheimer's. These are shocking statistics. All of these are epigenetic pathologies, having a large diet and lifestyle (toxicity, inflammation, stress, infectious, microbiome health) component. 

Everything you put in your mouth has the ability to either nourish and heal you, or cause damage and disease. (i.e. is not recognized a food, and thus toxic and inflammatory). It's really up to us to take ownership of our health and make the choices that lead to vibrant health. Why would we want anything less for ourselves?

The Good news: The body has a amazing capacity to heal itself when we remove the offending substances (junk foods) and replace them with nutrient dense whole foods. It's truly the miracle of life. Health and well-being are restored, energy levels soar, weight loss occurs. These changes can be felt in a very short period of time.

Basic Nutritional Guidelines:

1) Eat real food. Organic, non GMO, nutrient dense whole foods, as nature has always provided them. You will feel so satisfied with the wonderful, clean flavors in these foods. 

2) Cut out sugar and refined/excess carbohydrates. Sugar is an anti-nutrient. It's an addictive, inflammatory toxin which depletes us of beneficial nutrients.

3) Cut down on or remove gluten from your diet. Take a gluten break and see how you feel. Gluten is highly inflammatory, damaging to gut health and implicated in the formation of every autoimmune disease.

4) Remove toxic, heat damaged fats from your diet (i.e. soy, corn, canola, vegetable oil, margarine). These are typically found in processed foods such as salad dressings, baked goods, chips and crackers.  They are highly inflammatory and contribute to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimers, and diabetes, as well as being particularly damaging to our cell structure and communication within our body.

5) Consider adding in a few therapeutic whole food supplements or herbs (i.e. nutrients) for their powerful health benefits.

In addition to food,  exercise, stress relief, and sleep are essential to optimal health. 

If you want to know more about how food effects health and learn simple strategies to optimize your health, please join me for the RESTART or BioLogic Nutrition programs offered at BLDG.7. You'll feel great, experience increased energy levels and mental clarity, and lose weight. Check out their website for details.

Here's to a health filled New Year!