Food, Herbs, Vitamins Supplements, and Essential Oils. How do I choose?

Today's walk: How do I choose?

So many choices.. Food, Herbs, Vitamin Supplements, Essential Oils, etc. 

So many choices.. Let’s start with Food... and POO!

We all gotta eat right? After spending the last few years researching and applying changes in diet and learning about nutrition. Which I will never master.

My Journal Journey to Awareness

I basically focused on what I can and cannot eat by listening to my body. Now, I have some difficulty explaining my thoughts but I will do my best. When I listened to my body I noticed I had so many reactions to the food I was eating. Some were good some were bad and some were both good and bad. Confusing right? The point is I did not want to eat. I was hungry but  sometimes. eating made me feel awful, sick to my stomach or I became extremely tired. 

Start a Useless Journal of My Body Knowledge.

.Keep a food journal..

• When you eat.. Time
• Write down what you eat and drink.
• The brand and Ingredients
• *HINT* Take a picture of the label
• How much did I have?
• Write down what happens after you eat.
• How do you feel? (droopy, drained, energized) etc.
• What is happening? (gas, stomach upset)
• Break it down to
  • 30 mins
  •  1 hour
• Create your own what do you want to keep track of?
• *HINT* If its difficult to write then find an app you can talk too. There are a few. I simply started to use google docs, then googles "Keep" app. I just spoke into my phone. Hope this helps!

 I will have to expand upon my "good/bad awareness" in another post. Remind me... will Ya? lol

 I call it my .. Useless Journal of Body Knowledge. I call it useless because at this point it is useless but after a month or so you will find the patterns leading to healing.

I DID! Here is one.... I LOVE milk!  And..in my opinion. There is no other milk than direct from the cow. But, it is difficult to find that today. So, I choose to drink whole milk. I know all the blah blah, all the reasons some say not too drink it. I will not, can not, confirm nor deny any research. It's my awareness. Folks, I can't stand the taste of 2% or skim so I drink whole milk. I used to drink A LOT of it. A gallon a day. Really, It used to be my "GO TO" #1 beverage. After the Lyme and co-infection bacteria's took up residence in my body.  I noticed that milk made me feel awful. I mean really awful. So, I noted it in my Useless journal and I discovered a pattern. This milk from this producer made me feel worse than from another. Amount.. I noticed how much I could drink before I hurt. Sad but true. I gave up milk. I have since adapted and drink more water and various flavored teas.

The "Bonus" was I lost weight when I stopped drinking milk. Plus, I know I reduced the inflammation in my body which made my joints not ache. Inflammation and Lyme Bacteria go hand in hand... BELIEVE ME!

 Recently, I re-introduced milk back into my diet.. but in limited quantities. Nothing goes better with a home-made choc chip cookie than a glass of cold milk..I can't help it.. limited quantities of both or my body will tell me. Chocolate was another thing I learned my body couldn't tolerate. My Useless Journal became very helpful for my improvement and continued maintenance of my new life. I don't expect these tenants I have in my body will just up and leave. SO, I changed my mindset and began "Maintaining life with Lyme." that was a huge turning point. I will write more about that soon.

Without milk, I thought I needed supplements. I started adding vitamin supplements in pill and liquid form but then I realized most of those vitamins and minerals I could get from the food I ate. Eating became new and boring so I added various herbs to the mix, some in the form of spices while cooking. They not only improved taste but some herbs have medicinal qualities.  

AGAIN.. I stray to other topics...I apologize.

My Useless Journal made me aware of various foods that affected me. Various processed and packaged foods I deleted from my diet. But fresh fruits and vegetables Well, I noticed that some would affect me while others didn't?

Raised Awareness of what I was eating. Breaking it down. 

When I went to the grocery store and noticed that all the produce looked the same, same size, color and no blemishes. I thought “Well that looks pretty, How did they do that?” Hmmm..Is this what Genetically Modified looks like? I really don't know much about the topic. I learned enough to satisfy my curiosity and you can too.. What I saw at the grocery store was something that still scares me. I never had a perfect shape, size, color, vegetable come out of my garden every time. I must say I prefer a blemish or two. I’ll wash the dirt off. I do not mind.

When I choose to go to the local farmers market and stock up on the fruits and veggies I do not grow in my own garden. Making soups is something I need to get back to doing. (Sorry,random thought) But, going to the local farmers market led me to a host of other questions. I would try to get to know the farmer and his/her standards. This can be an overwhelming task but little by little I learned what to look for. What questions to ask. What fertilizers, insecticides do you use? Do you create your own compost? What do you feed your animals? I know, funny questions but what goes in must come out and if the farmer is using manure in their garden. Well, just think about it. Everything transfers. They could answer me.. most groceries store employees could not. 

Why do I ask.."What do You feed your animals?" It's not about the meat.. this time.

Animal Feed is grown in most cases in a field so what was applied to those fields? Plants like hay, corn, soy are grown in the same field that manure is spread on..a natural cycle is created on the farm. So, what is in the soil and manure? Where did the seeds come from? Sorry another random thought.. Let’s get back to POO.. created by feed or food.

I worked in a feed mill, so think about this. I know that some farmers can add molasses, various vitamins to their grain and hay mixtures for their animals. This is well regulated and the process is quite interesting. But, anyway back to feed that creates manure that is spread in a garden then the growth process begins. Now, this is simplified but  1-soils 2-plant seed 3 growing plant 4-creating fruit on the plant 5-harvest 6-preserving 7-becoming ingredients for our meal 8-feeding our body and any waste goes to compost, humans to the septic system but really it can be fertilizer. That may sound gross to some but it is true. It is a cycle, a natural cycle. But when humans start altering the cycle at any stage by adding to it or subtracting from it to create the perfect fruit with perfect color, shape or longer shelf life, etc. What is this doing to the natural cycle?

Here is my final question: Does this interruption of "natural cycle" contribute to illness, disease and a host of other complications? Just food for thought. Pun intended! I don't know the answer and there are many opinions.

As a believer, I believe God created nature, like he created people. Nature nurtures people and people nurture nature. Say that 5 times fast.. But really, Nature nurtures nature! It seems to me we keep altering it, adapting it, polluting it, whatever term you wish to apply. Then...calling it progress. Which is fine. I guess? it may be?  But, I personally don’t like being the test dummy. I attempt to keep things simple. I want to know where my food comes from and how it is grown.. so I research and I apply what works for me.

Let’s look at my results. I simply feel better. My body feels better. My mind feels better. Period! That is enough for me..

 Till next time, EnJoY the DaY!

Love

Sharon