My name is Angela and while most people consider me very healthy, I wasn’t always this way. I was never athletic and I was a very picky eater (I lived on pepperoni pizza, McDonalds and cereal/milk most my life). I want to share with you why I changed my eating habits and why I want to help others do the same.
At age 30, I was a mess. It seemed as each year passed, an odd new symptom would begin. Looking back, my health problems started just before junior high. I remember being tired all of the time; the kids in school and even my own mom would accuse me of being stoned. I was always cold and my energy levels were very low. I struggled to stay awake in every class. My legs itched like crazy – I ruined a few pairs of pants scratching my leg with my pen, forgetting the cap was not on. Gym class was miserable, I had low energy and my lungs burned every time I had to run – that discomfort caused me to hate anything athletic or any form of exercise.
My itchy skin was blamed on dry skin, the doctor suggested changing detergents…but I still itched, some soaps made it worse. My fatigue was blamed on “just part of being a teenager” so I continued being a teenager and of course, ate horribly. Breakfast was cereal or poptarts and milk. School lunch: ranch dressing drenched iceberg lettuce with cubed processed ham, turkey and topped with cheese, crouton and sunflower seeds. Sometimes I didn’t want what they were serving so I sold my ticket and used the money to buy a thick slice of white bread covered with melted cheese and a honey butter scone. Beverages of choice: Pepsi, chocolate milk or skim milk. Sometimes I would buy chili cheese nachos and a 32 oz soda at Circle K. It was cheaper than school lunch so I had money left over to refill my 32 oz soda and get a snack on they way home. I started working at McDonalds at age 15, and that was my dinner almost every night for the next 3 years.
I’m disgusted in myself for eating that way. I wish I knew what that food was doing to me - I wasn't fat so I didn't see any reason for changing. I wasn’t the only one who ate like that, just about every kid in my school ate their salad that way or had cheese bread and scones for lunch. I wasn’t the only one selling my lunch tickets for convenience store crap.
At age 20 I gained 30 pounds over the course of about 9 months. This was in 1995-96 when GMO foods invaded the American diet. When I grocery shopped, I had to bring my shopping list, coupons and calculator. I was cooking for two but I only had so much to spend with our tight budgets. We lived on hamburger helper, tater tots, frozen pot pies, Spaghetti’Os, tuna, canned veggies and I tried to learn how to cook on the weekends and serving up lasagna or chicken enchiladas with a cake or cookies. Of course I didn’t exercise because it was too painful to breath.
These photos were taken 9 months apart - you can see the 30 pound weight gain in the photo on the right.
My partner had asthma and he gave me his inhaler to try and - wow…I can breathe! I went to the doctor and sure enough, I had asthma. I decided to give my improved lungs a try and bought a gym membership. It was 1996, with the help of a popular drug called Phen-fen prescribed by my doctor, I dropped all 30 pounds in 5 months with a diet primarily of Life cereal and skim milk. During that 5 months, I was required to attend a nutrition class at the hospital. This is what I remember: drink skim milk, diet soda, make sandwiches with wheat bread, use lowfat dairy products and I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter.
At age 22 I found myself struggling to stay awake – especially if I had to drive or sit through a class or meeting at work. I couldn’t do it. My commute was 30 minutes and my partner had to drive me to and from work every day. Every day I fell asleep in the car to and from work. I was exhausted all day but then I found myself struggling to fall asleep at night.
I do not have a photo of my 30 pound weight loss, but here's one about 5 months later at age 21 - I'm sure I gained 10 back after stopping phen-fen. The photo was taken 1 1/2 years after the photo on the right at age 22...I gained it all back.
Over the next few years my immune system seemed to not work at all. I caught several colds, flu, ear infection and strep. Each time I caught a cold it would turn into bronchitis and they would put me on antibiotics and prednisone. I was put on these drugs several times each year. Once again I ballooned up 30 pounds and I was not very happy.
I researched prednisone and found it causes gain weight and weakens your immune system for up to one year. Great, I already have a weak immune system and now these drugs I to take to help me overcome my illness, will weaken my immune system even more?!…sounds like a vicious cycle I’m never going to get out of!
By age 25 my diet was mainly cereal, milk and frozen pizza, lunch was turkey or chicken sandwich and sometimes a not so healthy salad with ranch dressing on the side (that was my effort to be healthy).
New symptoms started – pain. It seemed to stem from my neck and back but it radiated up and down my whole body. Eventually the pain radiated on just the right side of my body where it would come and go. The pain was pretty debilitating at times – all I wanted to do was sleep or numb it with alcohol and drugs. I was seeing a chiropractor and going to physical therapy 3 times a week. They would do trigger point shots and send me home with somas for flare ups.
Over the next 4 years my weight went up and down. I tried to exercising 5 days a week but my energy was low. I gave up the frozen pizzas and tried to eat healthier. I followed the South Beach diet and other “low carb” diets. The weight would go down, then my energy would decrease and my weight would go up. I would catch every cold that walked past me and some would last for several weeks. I decided not to take prednisone when it was prescribed and I seemed to survive without it.
The photo on the left is me at age 27 - at a lower weight and the photo on the right is 2006, age 30 at a higher weight.
By age 30 I’d had enough and desperately wanted to feel good. The itching was getting worse, more intense…my legs were raw. My ears were itching and sometimes my arms. According to the doctors there was nothing wrong with me – at least from what they could find. My physician said I was too young to have all of these health problems but there wasn’t much they could do about it since all my test showed I was healthy. Here is the list of symptoms I was experiencing:
Itchy ears
Drainage from ears
Ringing in ears
Anxiety
Fatigue
Watery itchy eyes
Red sticky eyes
Headaches – sometimes migraines
Balance and dizziness issues
Asthma
Poor memory and concentration
Stuttering or stammering
Hoarseness
Thinning and breaking hair
Constipation for a few days, then diarrhea
Bloating and gas
Heartburn
Stomach/Intestinal Pain
Foot pain
Back pain
Pain on entire right side of body that comes and goes
Restless leg
Trouble falling asleep – at least 2-3 hours I’d lay in bed each night.
Waking up in the middle of the night – at least 1 hour.
Sleep walking (2 occurrences)
Anal itching
Reoccurring yeast infections
Irregular periods – sometimes never ending
Swollen legs / ankles
Plantar warts
YIKES! Embarrassing – but true. Please keep reading because I'm going to tell you what I did to cure all of the health issues.
I’d stopped going to the chiropractor for a year. The pain was tolerable for a while but after a year, I couldn’t take it anymore. My old chiropractor office was closed so I tried just doing physical therapy for a few months…. but it got worse. I found a new chiropractor and he performed a test called a meridian scan or bioenergetic scan. He recommended vitamins and some diet changes along with adjustments 2-3 days per week. He didn’t really explain much - other than the vitamins I was taking (spending $30 per month on, were not working for me). He then sold me $100+ in vitamins but didn't really explain what they were and why I needed them or why they were better than what I was already taking.
A few months went by and I started feeling a little better…I think. He suggested removing dairy and gluten or eating sprouted wheat. I kind of listened to what he recommended, but I didn’t really know why and didn’t really stick with it. Every few months I had a new meridian scan, I could see my results improving and I felt like I was improving….a little…but I still didn’t feel right.
I was on a mission to solve my health issues. I researched endlessly on the internet. Each week I would stop at Whole Foods in the supplement section, looking for remedies and answers. I decided to purchase one of those boxed 30 day detox kits for $30. I followed the instructions and ate most the foods it recommend and the supplements it included. At the end of the 30 days, I felt a little better, but maybe that was because of the vitamins my new chiropractor had me on?
My physician sent me to a GI doctor. She was unsure about my digestive problems. I suspected gluten may be an issue because several family members had just been diagnosed with celiac disease. She didn’t believe me because I didn’t have all the symptoms of celiacs and my blood tests were normal. She mentioned I may have IBS and scheduled me for a colonoscopy in four months. She also told me that my bowel movements every 3 days were “normal”. HOW CAN THAT BE NORMAL? I eat 3 meals a day. Why would waste sitting in my bowels for several days be normal?
I decided to try another detox but this time I purchased Dr. Hyman’s “Detox Box”. It cost $30 but it was different than the other kit I bought. It didn’t include supplements; it contained an audio CD with Dr. Hyman explaining why we need to detox, a yoga CD, yoga flash cards, a booklet, and flash cards referencing the foods and supplements the doctor recommends. It took me about a month to gather all of the supplies needed for the detox and prepare for it. I’d spent over $300 purchasing all of the supplements and supplies. Plus another chunk of money buying all of the healthy foods and spices. If I’d know the price tag up front, would I have done it? Probably not, unless I knew of others who’d been successful doing the detox. Then maybe I could’ve justified the final price tag.
After the new year, I followed it exactly for 7 days and I had a 7 pound weight loss. I felt better than I’d felt in years. I had to learn more! Why do I need to take all of these vitamins and supplements? Why does the so called food I’ve been eating all of my life affect me this way? Is it possible I may have food intolerances or allergies? Why was I taught growing up to have 11 servings of cereals and grain, and why was I told to drink all that milk? Why does my body feel so much better when I don’t eat what I’ve been taught to eat my whole life? I had so many questions which prompted me to look for more books by Dr. Hyman.
I detoxed again but this time I did the full 3 weeks as suggested in The Detox Box. Wow! I had more energy than I’ve had in my entire adult life. I followed the detox diet exactly as it was laid out and it was very difficult for me. Before I started I had no idea how to prepare vegetables and I didn’t really like fish. I struggled eating the rice protein shakes, steamed veggies, brown rice and salmon – but I did it and I made myself like it. I continued to eat healthy for a few more months and I followed an allergen elimination diet recommend by Dr. Hyman and used recipes from his Ultrametabolism book.
By my 31st birthday, I’d lost 25 pounds and most of my health problems went away. Even the symptoms I thought were normal part of life were gone. After 4 months without dairy, I added it back in and discovered that is what had been causing me to itch…and it made me tired. I also realized I had a lactose intolerance. I cancelled my very expensive but now unnecessary colonoscopy. My pain was gone too!
Over the course of the next 4 years I still applied some of what I had learned but I got lazy with the vitamins – just taking a multi. My eating habits were better than most people – I ate my fair share of vegetables and salmon, I ate really well at home but I ate food from work – which was pretty much fast foods. Most my symptoms were now back including the pain and I found myself once again, 25 pounds overweight. Ugh! I know better, how did I let myself get here….life…stress…and bad eating habits had a domino effect.
Feeling horrible I went back to the doctor, this time my tests were positive for Hypothyroidism. That would explain why after 12 weeks of bootcamp, working out harder than I have my entire life, I did not lose any weight. I was asked to come back in a month and re-test. I made some changes to my diet and the following month my test was negative – but I still had all of the symptoms. I read Dr. Hyman’s book on Hypothyroidism and found that just because your blood tests are negative, doesn’t mean you don’t have a thyroid problem. He referred to it as an elusive thyroid problem. Hypothyroidism is when your body takes the food you eat and converts it to fat instead of energy. So you feel tired and hungry all of the time – sabotaging whatever diet you try to stick to making it impossible to lose weight. Each month my tests proved negative results despite all of the symptoms I was experiencing.
That summer my allergies and asthma were really bad. I itched constantly despite avoiding dairy products. My doctor referred me to an allergy specialist for further testing. The day before my allergy test, I returned home from a weekend trip at Bear Lake. I had the worst sunburn I ever experienced in my life. I went to my appointment and said to the nurse, "We should only do the asthma test. My back is very sunburt and I don’t think we can do the scratch test on my back." The doctor disagreed and said he can still perform the test.
UGH!! That was painful! After the test the doctor said I had no allergies, even dairy did not show an allergic reaction. He said “Some people just itch” and he implied that it was all in my head. WTF?! Seriously?! He told me to go by Zyrtec....so I did and it made me feel like I'd been hit by a bus. Okay, so that visit was a waste of money. Thanks doctor for your wise advice.
The pain that radiated on the right side of my body was worse than ever. I’ve tried acupuncture, chiropractors, and massage – sometimes it would help for an hour, a day or a week but the pain always came back. Detoxing was the only thing that took the pain away for an extended period of time. Now I’ve added a new pain – joint pain in my hips and feet. My stomach hurts randomly, sometimes I'm doubled over for 4 hours. Eating is painful, even something as simple as sushi was painful.
A few months before my 35th birthday, I knew what I had to do. I had the knowledge and the resources to fix the problem. I listened to Dr. Hymans, Detox Box CD again and re-read his books. I had to get my mind in the right place so set these goals and follow this restrictive detox diet again.
I gave up my birth control, asthma and allergy medications. I detoxed for 3 weeks – I felt better, I only lost 7 pounds and I knew I wasn’t finished. My energy wasn’t like it was 4 years ago.
I decided to detox again but I wanted to wait a month. I ate healthy that month and continued my yoga. I tried to start running until the pain came back after 2 weeks. Hmmmm the pain goes away when I detox. It feels better after chiropractic, yoga and massage - they all release toxins. Could my pain be from a toxin, maybe a toxin I’m continually exposed to? Hmm???
It had been a few years since I had a meridian scan and I visited a friend who just purchased a scanner. We performed the test and the results showed few toxins in my body, but one was very high – palladium. I went home and Googled palladium. It’s used in jewelry, mostly from china and it’s an alloys mixed with gold and used in dental crowns. It’s just as poisonous as mercury. Hmmm…..my pain started 10 year ago. That year I had 2 crowns – one on the right and one on the left. The same year I had radiating pain throughout my entire body. Both crowns really irritated my gums but the crown on the left was more irritated and that’s the one they removed…leaving the other one on the right….all my radiating pain is on the right.
For 10 years I’ve had this crown on the right side. I asked for a porcelain crown but what I got was a porcelain crown with gold on the inside. It most likely has the palladium alloy that showed up on my test. The next day I called my new dentist and asked him to remove this old crown. This time I want all porcelain – no gold, no metal. It costs more, but I’m willing to pay more if the pain goes away. After I had the crown removed, I started another detox. By the end of the 3 weeks, the pain is gone, I only dropped 3 pounds but I felt a lot better.
I felt so good – I completed two 5k races that spring (I’ve never been able to run like that before). For the first time in my life, I felt athletic. I was controlling my asthma through diet and vitamins. I’m not the best runner and I don’t really like it but I’ll kept working at it. I do however, love cycling and started commuting 16 miles every day. At lunch I go for a brisk walk for 45-60 minutes and I started swimming once a week. I continued eating the detox diet for my breakfast and lunch. Despite all of these efforts, my weight stayed the same – all summer.
That fall, I decided to do another detox. It seems to be the only way my weight will budge. The inflammation foods: dairy, gluten, corn, soy, nightshades, eggs and nuts all keep me from losing weight. This time I dropped 9 pounds in the 1st week. One pound the 2nd week. The funny thing, I did it without exercising.
My energy was really low before I started my detox and continued to be low after the detox, then I came down with a tonsil infection that felt a lot like strep. My doctor referred me to an ear nose and throat doctor because it was my 2nd infection in just a few months. The ear nose and throat doctor ask why I still had my tonsils? He said I had the biggest crater in my tonsils that he’s ever seen. He’s surprised I’m not sick all of the time (Well I used to be). With a crater that size my immune system is constantly fighting low grade infections and that’s what could be causing fatigue. I never had my tonsils removed because none of my doctors had ever talked to me about it until now. Looking back to my early 20’s – they should’ve been removed then. I was constantly battling chronic fatigue, sore throats and illness. Duh!
After I had my tonsils removed I expected to drop weight. Despite the low calorie, liquid diet – I didn’t lose any weight…just 2 pounds but I know it wasn’t fat.
I learned that thyroid issues cause problems with liver detoxification. Anything that’s toxic on the liver is going to cause problems with my thyroid preventing me from losing weight. I’m sure the painkillers I took after the surgery kept my liver pretty toxic.
My life has completely changed. I went from being a picky eater who's only veggie was iceberg drenched in ranch. Now I love eating healthy, I crave veggies and nutrient filled salads but I love healthy treats too. The problem is every time I start allowing, gluten, dairy or sugar in my life – it’s like a domino effect and it takes over. Next thing I know I’m eating it every day – and then I start packing on the pounds, anxiety comes back and I just don’t feel very good. In order to stop, I have to refocus and reboot my system.
Some people can lose weight by following a 90/10 rule….eating healthy 90% of the time and allowing 10% cheats. Not me. One drop of gluten, sugar, alcohol or pretty much any food not included in my detox can keep me from losing weight. I have to be strict, no cheats, not even 1 glass of wine. The longer I go without those poisons, the better I feel….and it’s not easy. But sometimes you don’t know how bad you feel until you feel good.
Now at age 36, I’ve reversed my dairy allergy. I don’t itch anymore. I still chose not to eat it, but it’s nice to know that if I do allow a splurge I’m not going to spend the rest of my night paying for it. Even the lactose intolerance is hardly noticeable.
I did not have seasonal allergies for the 1st time in 10 years. I use to take Allegra every summer....this year I'm loving the summer without it.
Pretty much all of the symptoms I listed up above are gone. Gluten causes my stomach to swells up (for years I just thought I was fat). Overall I just feel better if I keep it out of my diet. If my diet is bad for several weeks, some of the symptoms come back and go away when I eat healthy again.
I’ve learned so much these last 6 years; I just wish I knew all of this years ago. …maybe my 20’s would’ve been more enjoyable. I believe the detox, good quality vitamins in high doses and a very healthy diet with a lot of vegetables cured all of those symptoms. It's not just one change I made, I changed everything.
My doctors weren't much help, just ready to write a presciption for each symptom. Never addressing toxins, vitamin deficiencies or diet. The only one who mentioned anything about that was a chiropractor. I had to figure most of this out on my own. I read book, after book, after book. Google was pretty handy too. It's unfortunate that the doctors we trust with our health, don't know anything about vitamins, toxins or diet. So unless your luckly enough to find a doctor who knows about preventative medicine, you'll have to figure it out on your own to. You can choose to grow old on your meds while some of us are getting healthier with age.
Changing your diet takes full commitment and dedication but all that work added years to my life and it can add years to your life too. I hope to have a family some day and I want to live to see them grow. I want to be a grandma – a fun grandma, one that has energy to have fun with her family. I want to teach them how to eat between the lines and be smart about their health.
I’m a different person than I was 6 years ago. My health is in my hands. I’m responsible for what I put in my body. I don’t listen to commercial advertising telling me what’s healthy. I know how to read the labels and I understand the ingredients. I don’t count carbs or fat grams – instead I eat the right carbs, the right fats and eat clean foods. I know eating healthy costs more but I can pay for my health, feel good now and I’m investing in my future health. Or I eat cheap processed, GMO foods and pay for the doctor, hospital and medication bills down the road.
I believe I'm on the border of having serious health issues, possibly an auto immune disease. MS and Celiacs run in the family. If I don't continue to eat healthy, I will only cause myself more problems in the future. If I end up the cancer down the road, I know it was not caused by what I'm doing now, but what I did while I was young. They say adult cancer starts in your body 20 years before you are diagnosed. Turn your life around before you get sick or it may be too late.
If I can make these changes in my life, anyone can. My goal in life is to help others find what I’ve found – good health. Let me be your coach and guide you, to feeling the best you’ve ever felt. I can get you on a vitamin plan that works and I'll explain why. Try my detox – I’ve made the detox preparation easier, I've even improved it and added to it. I have a kit with everything you need and even created an easy to follow workbook. Plus you have me as your coach.
Like I said, you don’t know how bad you feel, until you feel good J
We need to ask ourselves, are diet beverages, gum, dressings, yogurts and other processed foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners worth the risk of weight gain, cancers, headaches and other health problems? Maybe, the question should ultimately be, should products with sugar be consumed instead of products with sugar substitutes? Well, good question! One great example of this question in our everyday lives is the following: Is Coke better than Diet Coke? Did you know that Coke is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (a sugar), as opposed to Diet Coke which is sweetened with Aspartame (a sugar substitute)? Which is better? At this point one might think sugar is better, but recent studies have shown sugar is just as bad. Who knows? It’s kind of like asking if you want me to break your right leg or your left leg? But this is a question for another day. In fact, we’ll cover that in my next article.
