Listening to Our Voice

Ancient people were intuitively aware of the inherent order, the natural perfection of the universe. Nature was not an enemy to be conquered, but a friend that supplied food and water for physical needs and beauty to satisfy spiritual and emotional needs. When people got sick, they knew how to use natural remedies to heal themselves, and they trusted the inherent perfection of nature to assist in healing.

We must once again start accepting nature's ways, trusting and nourishing our intuitive selves. We will then be in a better balance with our rational, intellectual selves, resulting in exciting opportunities to create the world as we really want it. ~ Donna Gates, Body Ecology Diet

In November of 2004 when I had been on Methotrexate, plaquenil and predisone for many months and saw my body and spirit quickly declining, I searched for additional help. That help came from a naturopath in the city who from the first visit gave me hope that my body was capable of healing and a feeling of empowerment that I was in charge of that healing. With her help I learned that in order to feel better I would have to put in some hard work. I was ready. I accepted each of her challenges and within two months my inflammation rates were finally within a normal range again and slowly I started seeing my body heal and experience remission.

Several years later I started experiencing extreme pain in my feet again and having flare-ups in my shoulders. My rheumatologist recommended moving to new medications and handed me several handouts. I refused to read them. I knew that wasn't the path I was meant to take. In the years I had worked with my naturopath and was required to learn about my own personal body with all its aches, pains, fears, etc, I had learned to listen to myself. I had been given the wonderful gift that Donna Gates speaks about in her book "start accepting nature's ways, trusting and nourishing our intuitive selves."

In February 2008 I took myself off all medications. (I had been off predisone for some time and slowly reduced the others) In hindsight I wish I had first looked at my current diet and made sure it was still as clean as it had once been. If I had looked at my diet before going off medications I would have realized that I had slowly incorporated many toxins back into my diet: wine, a little dairy and gluten here and there, and lots of sugar. Sure, I was still eating lots of good things, but unfortunately my body is not able to handle the toxins. So, with a weakened body I took myself off meds and experienced a full body flare-up which made it that much easier to continue adding back the toxic foods.

When I started seeing my current chiropractor and acupuncturist, they both recommended some diet changes and I explained to them that I wasn't ready for diet changes again. I knew I needed them but I was exhausted from fighting the pain and inflammation that comes with RA and emotionally drained. I just wanted someone else to "fix" my problem. As you can see, that didn't work.

Luckily that gift of trusting my own intuition and listening to myself was still inside me and ready to make a comeback. You see, once you really start listening to yourself, it is hard to stop. The Body Ecology Diet kept coming back to me in different ways as if it wasn't going to leave me alone until I gave it a try. I had read the book several years ago and found it intimidating, but with the new read, it made perfect sense. I knew I had to try it.

In the last two months of the diet I have experienced pain that I haven't experienced in a long time, if ever. My body has been working hard to clear out the toxins and I thank it each day for the work it does. Each day I learn something new about my physical and emotional body. I feel my spirit strengthening and my confidence growing. I visualize all the repair work that my body is doing on the inside so that when it has the strength, it will be able to work on my joints. I am learning patience beyond anything I ever imagined and that makes me happy. I almost hesitate to say this but in the last few days the pain in my knee has reduced and the swelling is shrinking. I find this interesting that it is happening at the same time I am seeing changes occuring for the better with my digestion.

For me choosing a medication free route is not just about the fact that I fear what medications may do to my body as they try to relieve the pain and swelling, but it is about finding the core cause for that pain and inflammation. It is about learning about myself and learning to trust in myself and nature. It is about nourishing my body and that of my families so that one day they do not have to experience what I am experiencing today. Being medication free is empowering to me. I like having some control over how I feel and with medications I just never felt that way. We each have a path to follow and when we listen to our own voices, we know which path fits for who we are. I am happy with my choices and happy that I have learned to listen to my voice.

A New Rheumatoid Arthritis Store

Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy, a great friend and fellow rheumatoid arthritis hero has been sharing his superhero powers with the world for six months now. In my opinion, his most powerful abilities lie in his ability to write about his personal experiences with rheumatoid arthritis and that he has no problem sharing the voices of other RA bloggers on his blog.

Recently RA Guy took his superpowers one step further and added a store that is powered by Amazon and has a nice selection of books, cds, videos, and health and personal care items that may help in soothing your RA or other chronic pain. I like that Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy always does a complete research on topics related to RA and keeps an open mind about both traditional and conventional medicine which you will see in his store. So check it out. You might find some ideas to add to your Christmas wish list or gifts you want to give to others.

My personal favorites from his store:
Real Food: What to Eat and Why By Nina Planck - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book. Several years ago I was encouraging all my friends and family to read this book.
Nelson Bach USA - Rescue Remedy Pastille - I always carry Rescue remedy with me and pop one in whenever I am worried or having negative thoughts. (Some days I go through a lot).
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist - I haven't actually read this one but have seen several interviews about the book online. Michael J. Fox is a true inspiration.
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay - I have read several of Louise Hay's books and blogged often about her daily affirmations. We can all learn from her writings.

People In My Life : Jesus

Thursday morning I introduced the topic of "Work" to my low level English as a Second Language students by discussing their jobs. Each person shared what they could about their jobs which was very interesting. When we got to Jesus he shared that he no longer works. He is retired. He moved to the United States from Mexico 42 years ago. For 36 years Jesus worked for the same company as a fork lift driver and then in the shipping department. Jesus shared that when he first started working the job he told his manager he was going to quit because he didn't know enough English to do the job. Luckily for Jesus, his manager had faith in him and sent him to classes that focused on the language necessary for his job. As Jesus spoke, I could see my younger students really focusing in on his story. They knew he had something important to share. He said his dream was to put his children through college. He showed pictures of all four of his children who not only graduated from college, but graduated from private colleges. Two of his children are now investigators, one is a lawyer and one an engineer. Jesus shared that he put in a lot of hours to make his dream come true - a lot of 12 hour/7 days a week to get there. When asked if his family suffered because of his long work weeks, he said they made the time together. Now that Jesus is retired and his dream of his children attending college is behind him, he is now focusing on himself. He said he now has the time to devote to learning English for himself. When he was finished speaking, the class applauded him.

Cooking to Heal

The Body Ecology Diet foods build the immune system and nourish the body and spirit. They should be cooked with the intention to heal. A cook's vibrations are always in the food he or she cooks. Many spiritual leaders choose a spiritually elevated follower to cook for them. They know that only a well-balanced, centered person has the power to create meals with a harmonious and positive energy. Creating a meal can be an expression of love for those who will eat it. Whether you cook for yourself or for those you love, it's important to cook with the intention to heal, with calmness and appreciation for the benefits the food can bring. -Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates

Since the Body Ecology Diet requires that I make 100% of the foods I eat right now, it does take time. I don't mind. Over the years I have learned to appreciate being in the kitchen. I have learned that the food I make, even in its simplest form, is a gift I give my family. This way of thinking has brought great benefits to me. Since my children were very young, they have worked side by side with me in the kitchen chopping veggies, baking muffins, and cleaning the dishes. When you work together in the kitchen, wonderful things happen - you sing together, you laugh, you confide, and you talk. Yesterday was a day that Alexander, Sophia and I spent in the kitchen. First Alexander poked holes in six coconuts to drain the water for my coconut water kefir and then he cut each coconut so I could scrap the meat out and ferment it as well. Afterwards I cut cabbage, carrots, daikon, and kale so that it could start fermenting. Sophia came in to help by pounding the veggies to release their juices and then put the veggies in jars for me. Neither one had to be coaxed or bribed to help. I love that both of my children are not only supportive of me dealing with my rheumatoid arthritis through natural means, but that they lovingly help me prepare foods that are intended to heal my body. With so much love going into the foods I eat, I don't know how they can't be healing.

Body Ecology Diet Update

Our bodies are often compared to an onion that has many layers. In order to experience complete recovery of health problems we must peel away at each of the layers that have contributed to our unhealthy body. For me, that means that before I can experience freedom from joint pain and swelling, I must first work on other areas of my body ~ my colon, my digestion and my liver. The idea of working on other areas of my body instead of my joints has actually been liberating. I am not even focusing on whether or not my joints feel good because I know that they are the weakest part of me and in order for them to feel good, I have to strengthen other areas of my body first.

In the last few weeks I have experienced a lot of detox symptoms ~ body odor, bad breathe, fatigue, joint pain, and anger. Last week the anger was strong. In fact I even woke up feeling angry. I felt relief last night when I read that as the liver is cleansing a person may feel a lot of anger and should warn their family. Oops....too late for that. Also, as the liver is cleansing, expect knee pain. Yikes, that is happening too.

I am visualizing my body doing a lot of healing that can't be seen or felt right now except through detox symptoms. I am staying true to the diet and so far haven't slipped once. What keeps me from resisting foods off my list? Whenever I imagine really eating the food, I visualize it attacking my body and then it doesn't sound as good.

In the last few weeks I have continued to lose weight (12 pounds! Hopefully that levels off soon) and have had numerous complements on my skin. It seems to have a glow it hasn't had in some time! I am glad others are noticing! Our bodies do a lot of work for us and are able to handle so much that we throw at them. I am happy to be giving back to my body.

Kids Benefiting From My Diet

Last night I was preparing my Body Ecology Diet dinner of soaked and cooked red quinoa mixed with veggies - broccoli, onion, kale, yellow pepper, carrots, garlic and Herbamare seasoning. Sophia said, "Mmmm....I liked when you made that the other night and gave us some." Yay! I love when what I am doing to improve my health also affects the health of my children. Both kids have been eating more salads and Alexander has tried everything I have eaten. Some things he has liked and others he didn't care for. They have always been good eaters but reducing sugar and adding more veggies can never hurt.

Haunted House

For several years now Sophia has wanted to visit a haunted house. Last year, when she was ten years old we decided to attend our park district's haunted house as a family. It was fun but the "hauntings" were a little lame. This year she was ready for the real thing. We spent some time online reading reviews and deciding on which house to attend. Last night was our big night.

Sophia was so excited and happy that I was going to be the one going with her. With my flare-up last week, I had warned her that Steve might be taking her instead of me, which she was fine with, but preferred to do this with me. When I woke up Sunday morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had slept almost through the entire night and and the pain and stiffness in my knee, shoulders, and fingers was reduced. As Steve, Alexander, and Sophia woke up they each commented on how much better I looked. I was even able to take a short walk with Izzy and Sophia. Yippeee for me!!!!

Experiencing new things with Sophia is one of the highlights of my life. "Living in the moment" comes naturally for her and I didn't want to miss this opportunity with her. I know that in the next few years many of these first time experiences will be happening with her peers and it was important for me to have this fun evening with her. Oh, and it was fun.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the haunted house opened and still waited in line for a while. However, the wait was fun. Actors dressed as different characters were "haunting" those of us waiting in line and they had lots of fun with Sophia. At one point in line she said, "Maybe we shouldn't do this." I told her that was fine even though I knew she would do it.

Finally our time came to enter the "HAUNTED BASEMENT". We SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED some more. Together we held onto each other throughout the whole experience. It was wonderful! As we exited, it was raining. What a perfect way to complete the evening. The entire way home we talked about how scared we were and how much fun we had. Sophia said, "This would be really fun to do with a group of friends." She is right. It would be fun to do with a group of friends and I hope that next year she gets that experience too, but for this year, I am glad it was me. Before heading off to bed she gave me the biggest hug ever and told me how happy she was that we went together. I am happy too.

Thank You Rheumatoid Arthritis

I teach a three hour class on Tuesday/Thursday mornings, head home, and go back again in the evening for another three hour class. Mornings are new to me this semester so I was lucky last week when my body began flaring up that we were on a week long break to do placement testing and I could just rest. But, I started back yesterday morning with a body that is still in a flare-up. Since mornings tend to be the worse, I had a difficult time hiding my flare-up as I walked into the community college and to my classroom. I was stopped by many teachers and my boss who all genuinely wanted to know what was wrong. I have never had to explain my RA to so many people in one day. Usually I can hide it or just say I am having some knee problems and move on. Yesterday people wanted an education. I briefly explained to several people my journey from medications to no medications. Surprisingly, they all nodded in agreement to my explanation of why I am off drugs and following an alternative path. But also surprisingly were the questions they had about the disease. Why does this happen to young people? (He-he, I am still considered young!) What can you do to cure it? What set it off initially? You can go into remission? They honestly wanted to know the answers and I could see the sympathy they felt for me. (I am still not comfortable with sympathy but I know it comes from caring hearts that will be sending me healing thoughts and I am not too proud to accept those.)

I left work yesterday morning feeling vulnerable that my body had forced me to verbally share my story with so many people in one day. I also felt proud of myself because I didn't cry and I let each person know that although I am experiencing a rough patch right now, that I also have good days. As I was sharing this positive piece of information, I believed it and visualizations of me bike riding even came to my mind as I was talking. How amazing is that?

By evening I was actually feeling worse than I did that morning. My long morning had worn me out and my body was feeling it. I had 16 students arrive last night. We did our normal introductions and I learned each person's name (I will remain known as "teacher" for the next eight weeks even though I ask them to call me Cathy) as well as some personal stories about each person. With each new class I always know from the first night whether there will be a strong connection or not. I felt it with this class and decided for the first time ever to publicly share with a group that I have a disease known as rheumatoid arthritis. I shared with them that there may be nights I arrive to class with a limp, there may be nights I struggle to write on the board, there might be nights I ask for help and there might be nights I feel absolutely wonderful. As I was talking, I had to turn once to the board to choke back the tears, but I did it. I didn't plan to share this information, but decided it needed to be shared. I am proud of myself. I accomplished a lot yesterday. I shared a part of me that I like to keep hidden, a part of me that is very vulnerable. That is hard. But, rheumatoid arthritis is not all bad. It has been given to me as a gift to learn about myself and to grow as a person. Yesterday was a growing experience for me. Thank you rheumatoid arthritis!

Fermentation. Yummy, Yummy for Your Body!

One of The Body Ecology Diet's Superfoods is fermented veggies. According to the book, The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates, raw cultured veggies have been around for thousands of years and provide many good things for our bodies:
~They are rich in lactobacilli and enzymes, alkaline forming and loaded with vitamins.
~They reestablish a healthy inner ecosystem.
~They improve digestion.
~Increase longevity.
~Control cravings.
~They are cleansing.

When I first took on fermenting veggies, I felt it was going to be a huge chore. Not so! It does require some time cutting veggies, but overall doesn't take much time, especially when you consider that you have several jars of veggies ready to eat anytime. Just remember not to heat the fermented veggies because the heat will kill the valuable bacteria and enzymes brought out in the fermentation process.

My last batch of veggies that are fermenting now look so pretty with all their colors. I added green and purple cabbage, kale, ginger, daikon radish, green onions and carrots. That is what is fun about this, you can be as creative as you like. There are specific recipes that can be used or you can create your own.

I like the fermented veggies best in a salad. I just add 1/2 cup or so to a regular salad and it tastes delicious. I also wrap them in nori for a snack. I do have to admit that it did take my taste palate an entire jar full of the veggies before it was ready to accept this new taste. I have never been exposed to fermented veggies in the past, but they do grow on you so don't give up. The benefits to your body are worth it!

Here is a video by the author of Wild Fermentation showing how simple it really is to create your own fermented veggies.

Hard Days

My body is going through a huge cleansing and healing process and in the mean time, my body feels like crap. Donna Gates, the author of The Body Ecology Diet, compares our body to cleaning our house. Once we start a big cleaning project in our house, everything looks worse than when we started as we pull things out of closets and drawers and move around dust. Once the chaos is over and everything finds its rightful place again, the house looks and feels so much better. I have been so good on this diet and all I can do it remind myself over and over that right now it is experiencing the worst part of the clean-up and once my digestive tract and liver are working to the best of their ability again that I will experience a body that not only looks good but also feels good.

I am not sure how others handle a flare-up but for me I become withdrawn. I enjoy my family around me but other than that, I need to be alone. Sometimes, like today, it is because I fear that I will break down in tears if I talk to others, sometimes it is because the energy used to get up and move around takes everything I have to give and then of course there is just my own personality which is somewhat quiet anyhow. My friend who is studying to be a naturopath is taking a homeopathy class right now. I have used a lot of homeopathy in my RA adventures, some that have worked miracles and others that didn't do so much. She keeps asking me questions trying to find a remedy that might work for my current circumstances. One of the recent questions was whether or not I like people around when I am experiencing a flare-up. From this one question more followed that were more detailed. These questions seemed to justify how I often feel because when I am in a flare-up, I know I seem distance and maybe a little disinterested in friends and acquintances, but it isn't so. I just need to save my energy for my family and me. When we have a busy day, like today, I know that if I overuse my energy there will not be any left to make dinner, read with my son, talk with my husband or even listen attentively to my daughter. I can't risk that anymore than I have to.

Today is hard. I feel emotional. I feel lots of pain. I feel frustration and I feel overwhelmed. However, another part of me, the deep down inside part believes so strongly in my body and its ability to heal that it can't give up. I know I have to continue trusting that the foods I eat are doing wonderful things within my body. I have to continue reminding my brain that it is healing. I have to continue doing what I believe in and that is healing. Today that healing is just coming with lots of tears. But tears are a way of releasing toxins so maybe that is a good thing, right?