The summer of 2014 was a scary one.  I spent most days in bed with inflamed joints, muscles, and connective tissue. The inflammation was especially bad in my ribs and sternum and  cramped every time I coughed or took a deep breath.  I had lost 40lbs in two months and almost everything I ate resulted in heartburn, gas pains, and several trips to the bathroom per day.  After countless doctor appointments and tests, I was no closer to a diagnosis.  Every doctor had prescribed me a different drug for my symptoms, and the side effects were only making me feel worse.  I hit a wall when one of my doctors prescribed a drug with a side effect that I just couldn't live with.   Even though it could potentially control my unexplained inflammation, it would also deplete my folic acid.  Faced with the possibility of having to put any plans of having children on an indefinite hold, I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

I started researching alternative treatments for chronic inflammation, and I came across elimination diets and the connection between gut health and inflammatory diseases.  Then I remembered something.  The morning of my colonoscopy, I felt like I could run a marathon.  Literally.  I didn't understand it at the time but after all the research I'd done, it finally made sense.  I had done a complete gut cleanse the night before, so there was nothing left in it to irritate it.  The inflammation had been cut off at the source.  As great as I felt that morning, my digestive issues returned as soon as I resumed eating my regular diet that afternoon.  It was the food.  It had to be the food.  Instead of more drugs and side effects, I decided to try an elimination-ish diet of mostly meat, cooked fruits & veggies, and healthy fats.  What happened next forever changed my perspective on food and health and medicine.  

I ate this elimination-ish diet for about 4 months pretty consistently and the results were incredible.  My joint and muscle inflammation was gone in the first two weeks and the rest of my symptoms were gone within a month. I felt relieved and empowered.  I had figured out what a half dozen doctors could not.  I had healed myself by essentially getting out of my own way and giving my body the tools it needed to heal itself.  Thus began my clean-ish living journey as I began to evaluate what other products I was using were preventing my body from being as healthy and functional is it could be.  

It's still a work in progress, hence the -ish.  Old habits are hard to break(especially bad ones), but this ordeal changed the way I think about real health and wellness and it isn't lifelong dependence on medications with numerous side effects.  Don't get me wrong, I still go to the doctor for certain things that are beyond what I can take care of with natural remedies, like high quality doTERRA essential oils.  I am grateful for doctors and the life saving antibiotics and other drugs that are available to us.  I am also grateful for the many doctors, including my own, that share my passion for using food as medicine.  I believe the tides are turning in both the health and personal care industry. 

More a more people are learning how the products they're using and the foods they're eating are affecting their bodies.  My goal with this blog, as a Beautycounter Consultant, and a doTERRA Wellness Advocate will always be to help educate and empower anyone wanting to make cleaner, safer choices for themselves and for their family.