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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia

I could tell you exactly where I was when I felt the first inkling that something was very wrong. I was 20 years old and I was standing at the corner bus stop waiting for my bus to take me into Manhattan where I was employed. A feeling I didn’t recognize, nor did I have a name for, came over me. FATIGUE. Only people who have or have had chronic fatigue can understand this next part. It’s an odd feeling of such deep exhaustion that you barely have enough energy for even the most menial tasks (like standing and waiting for a bus). I can remember a time when even speaking required more energy than what I felt I had.

Prior to this foreign feeling of absolute loss of all energy, I had been fighting a sinus infection ever since moving into my new apartment in Brooklyn one year earlier. By this time I had been on round after round of antibiotics trying to fight the infection, and to the bewilderment of even Manhattans best ear, nose and throat doctors, it wasn’t clearing up. What should have been such an exciting time in a young woman’s life, after-all I did have the most exciting city at my fingertips! Instead, my health was about to take an unexpected nosedive, and if I thought the chronic fatigue and sinus infections were suffering enough, fibromyalgia was about to enter the picture to prove me wrong. Dragging me further and further into this hole where there was seemingly no escape. This marked the beginning of a new journey for me, not a journey to set out and explore an exciting city filled with new experiences, but a journey of running from doctor to doctor trying desperately to find out what was single handedly trying to steal my life out from under me. Little did I know I had a long road ahead of me as it would take almost 18 years to find out the cause and finally start to regain my health.

If you are diagnosed today with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, you may consider yourself better off than those suffering 20 years ago. Today the internet provides us with a wealth of information on the subject, when years ago there was no where to turn. Also, twenty years ago this disease was not something doctor’s necessarily even believed existed. These days, although they say they still don’t know the cause or the cure, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are taken seriously and there is even medication commonly prescribed that is helping some people. But read on as there are many other routes you can take that may just lead you to the root cause!

Now let’s talk about potential causes. Did you know there are very strong links between fungus and chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia? Did you also know that one of the symptoms of fibromyalgia besides pain is sinus infections and heart palpitations? I had grown up in a house that had mold issues which caused me first to develop asthma and allergies. Then, at 19, I moved into an apartment that had visible mold. Back in the 90’s not too many people were talking about the health effects of mold. It was unsightly and a bit gross but you cleaned it with some bleach and you forgot about it. This mold exposure unknowingly caused me to develop a FUNGAL sinus infection. And as we know, bacteria are opportunistic, so to doctors treating me, it looked as if bacteria were the only culprit, which is where the endless rounds of antibiotics come in. Antibiotics are mycotoxins so they only fuel fungal infections making them worse. (For information on Mayo Clinic findings from 1999 stating fungus is responsible for over 90% of all sinus infections click here). For someone with a fungal infection I was doing everything wrong. I was exposing myself daily to mold in my environment, I was taking endless courses of antibiotics, and I was eating a horrendous diet of sugar and carbs, the very foods which help fungus thrive! I was the perfect host. Never underestimate the power of fungus and the havoc it can wreak in your body.

Not sure if your chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia could be fungal related? There are a few ways to tell.

Test your environment for mold– you can buy mold plates for a little over $5 each and test your house, car, furniture, etc.

Have you taken more than a few courses of antibiotics in your lifetime? Antibiotics are mycotoxins. They leave you susceptible to fungal infections.

How is your diet? Do you crave sugar and carbs? It was not until I changed my diet, and started anti-fungals did those health issues dissolve. For more information on the fungal link to fibromyalgia check out this clip from Doug Kaufmann at Know the Cause. Adhere to his suggestions and phase 1 diet and you may just be shocked at how much better you feel.

I’ll end by saying don’t believe any doctor who tells you once you have this disease you will have it for life. I am proof this is not true. Never lose hope. Proverbs 13:12 — Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life!

Originally published at eatpraygetwell.com on May 23, 2016.

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Eatpraygetwell| Cheese and Broccoli Chicken Soup Recipe

Best Banana Pudding Recipe with Cashew Butter : Here’s How.

There is one disease I forgot to mention I had in the past (or so I thought it was in the past). It’s called please like me disease. It’s painful and debilitating and the side effects are just horrible. If you find yourself suffering from this dreaded disease, don’t despair! Read on, there is help!

Wouldn’t you know it, just when you think an old habit is behind you, something happens in life and it rears it’s ugly head. For many (too many) years of my life I worried and fretted over what everyone thought of me and somebody not liking me was the end of the world. Sound familiar to you? The game changer for me was something I heard over a decade ago and that was all it would take to set me free. And that is… 10% of people will not like me! Or you! It doesn’t matter how nice you are to them, how giving, how funny, how smart, how helpful, they will not like you! If you read my blog you have read about this important revelation before, and you will read it again and again because for me it was a life changer! If you suffer from please like me disease, I hope it also becomes your life changer. Now, what do we do with this information? Do we spend our energy proving to the 10% why they should like us? Or does it sound less self destructive to spend our energy on the 90% that adore and cherish us? So how did this old habit slip back in you ask?

Recently someone I knew demonstrated in a not so subtle way that they did not like me. Did I brush it off and mentally put them in that 10% category and move on? I did not. Do you know what I found myself doing instead? For about one week I set out to show this person they should like me. See how nice I am? See how cool, and funny, and flexible I am? You don’t? Then I need to try harder! Then I gave myself a long hard look in the mirror and thought “what the heck are you doing Erin, you do not even LIKE this person you are trying so hard to convince to like you”! At that point I remembered what I learned so many years ago and then I was able to neatly pack them away into my 10% file and walk away. I had sweet freedom once again.

Here’s another thing I learned. We tend to view these set backs in our life as negative (and of course we do, they hurt)! But I learned to wait it out because something good almost always comes if you watch for it. What good came out of this? It made me more appreciative of my 90% that are for me. I set out to strengthen those relationships as a result, and so in the end it was a blessing! I heard a preacher talk about a particular palm tree that will completely bend over from the strength of hurricane winds and just when you think that tree is dead it springs right back up. The miraculous thing is once it has been bent in this fashion, it was proven that the tree was even stronger and sturdier as a result! Much like we are from our adversities.

Here’s something else to keep in mind. Those 10% are just the noisy clucking chickens. Surround yourself with eagles and you will not care what the chickens think of you. If you missed my story “Are you an Eagle or a Chicken” click here.

Cashew Butter Banana Pudding….And Do you Suffer from “Like Me” Disease?

½ banana

½ cup cocoa powder (I use equal exchange)

½ cup almond butter or cashew butter

½ cup xylitol

½ cup milk (I used regular dairy milk) organic

Place all ingredients in food processor and mix until blended. Place in 4 separate serving glasses and refrigerate at least an hour before eating. Pudding will last up to 48 hours but tastes best fresh. Top with homemade whipped cream. See recipe for whipped cream here

Makes 4 servings

Note: This recipe is neither Phase 1 or 2 because of the banana in this recipe Almost all recipes on Eat, Pray, Get Well are either Phase 1 or Phase 2 however additional foods were added to my diet once I regained my health. If you have a current fungal disease it’s smart to stick to phase 1 and 2 recipes until you are well.

Originally published at eatpraygetwell.com on August 26, 2016.

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Eatpraygetwell| Blueberry Muffins The Good and Bad

Sugar Free Blueberry Muffins Recipe : Here is how.

Want to make the father in your life smile, let him wake up to these ultra moist blueberry muffins. But before we talk muffins, let’s talk fathers. What was your father like? Was he loving, nurturing, and kind? Or was he tough, fault finding, and negative? Maybe he was non-existent or maybe your father was physically present, but emotionally checked out. No matter which father best describes yours, you better believe he helped shape who you are today, good or bad! I called in the help of my sister Christine to help write this piece. We came from such an unusual father that I knew I needed help describing his, shall I say uniqueness…

Because we have a lifetime of “material” my sister and I didn’t know where to start so we thought the best description would be a “day in the life’ for his two daughters. A typical Saturday for his two girls ages 8 and 11 went a little something like this..…

According to our father sleep was for the lazy, so as soon as the sun rose we would be awoken by our window shades being pulled up and his command for us to “rise and shine”. Sounds nice enough doesn’t it? But “rise and shine” meant get outside and start working on the yard and NO phone calls, NO bathroom breaks, and NO breakfast until the job is done! Our land consisted of ½ acre but it felt like a ranch to us after moving to upstate New York from the Bronx. Understandably this yard meant a lot to our father who was a city person his whole life, living in apartments and working in high rises, but deep down he was born to be outside. Our father’s “passion” for his land translated into hours of US girls raking, pulling, mowing, trimming, moving dirt and rocks from one place to another and then there was the dreaded “barrel pull”. Hours worth of raked leaves would have to go SOMEWHERE so he would have us place them in a plastic barrel (almost as tall as we were) and dispose of them in the woods (AKA our neighbor’s property).

Being new to the neighborhood, and coming from the Bronx with our funny accents, and not to mention we were children of a father that seemed a little crazy, did not make us popular. The barrel pull only added to our reputation. While all the other “normal” kids rode their bikes and roller skates up and down the street, we walked the barrell uphill 200 yards as the kids chanted “look at them, all they do is work work work”. Our father would add to the dialogue by standing at the bottom of the street yelling for us to “pick up the pace”! For unknown reasons, our father called us “Charlie” and not in an endearing way. He would say, “you’re really asking for it Charlie” or “put some elbow grease into it Charlie” and my sister and I would both say to each other “he’s talking to you Charlie”. Did this experience grow discord amongst my sister and I? Of course it did! My sister Christine’s recollection, “after a couple hours into our day my sister would experience the beginnings of an asthma attack. I hate to admit this and now feel guilty about it, but I hated her for it. The asthma attack meant that she could possibly convince my parents that she needed to stop working and I’d be out there on my own for twice as long. I thought she faked it. Now looking back she went from the allergy ridden outdoors into the mold infested indoors that started her journey of chronic illness”.

Once done working, you started to plan your opportunity to bathe. Our father felt bathing was a luxury not a necessity. We would check the windows to see where he was in the yard, turn on the bath and walk from window to window to keep an eye on him. If you lost site of him, you needed to turn off the water immediately until you could safely locate him outside. Our baths could only be a few inches deep. If caught and you were found to have more than a few inches of water, this would bring on a tirade and a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?”

Now that we are adults with our own children our former childhood rules seemed harsh, nonsensical and often strange. Other rules included no daytime television, no aimless sitting or reclining in any way unless it’s bedtime, no laughing, no talking loudly, no making noise as you walked up the stairs. Also, bedroom doors had to be open at all times, no opening or closing windows. Period! There were also rules for knocking and ringing the door bell which we never seemed to get right, but each one of our rules has a wonderfully rich and funny story. Every time we siblings get together, we reminisce and find ourselves in bouts of laughter.

On rare occasions our father would get a stroke of conscience. He was unable to show us affection so his awkward attempt was to throw sour ball candy at our heads as some sort of apology or possibly it was his way of extending some sort of olive-sour ball branch. I know our childhood sounded tough, and at times it was, but for all the pain there were positives that shaped us, and for that we are grateful to our father. Our father had such a strong sense of responsibility and we learned from him or perhaps mimicked him in several areas. We all have a tremendous work ethic. I don’t remember one day my father called in sick to work and my sister and I follow suit. We have learned the value of money. Nothing came for free in our house. Everything had to be earned, worked, and saved for. Our bizarre childhood also gave us a wonderful opportunity to create and sharpen our sense of humor.

I’m sure most of us have something to be grateful to our fathers for. Now its time to celebrate your father no matter what type of father you had or have. Lets celebrate and make some muffins.

I want to thank my sister Christine for helping me write this. I couldn’t have done it without her and her wicked sense of humor! I also want to thank her for all the extra hard work she had to do in my place when we were kids.

Ultra Moist Blueberry Muffins…And How Our Father’s Shape Our Lives

Fresh organic blueberries

¾ cup of butter

1 cup xylitol

4 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut flour

½ cup almond flour

½ cup tapioca flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

¼ baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place cupcake holders inside cupcake tray

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl

Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl

Combine wet and dry ingredients

Add i3/4 of the blueberries to the mix and stir gently

Using a spoon fill the cup cake holders ¾ way full

Add some blueberries to the top of your muffins

Bake for approximately 25–30 minutes (or when toothpick comes out clean)

Let muffins cool for 30 minutes before eating

Originally published at eatpraygetwell.com on June 19, 2016.

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Homemade Granola

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Homemade Granola

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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How to make Homemade Granola

Homemade Granola Recipe : Believe me, nobody was as crushed as I was when I first learned that my favorite cereals like Cap’n crunch and Count Chocula were off the menu. It was 2008 and I was as sick as a dog, but I wasn’t going to miss hearing Jordan Rubin speak at my local health food store. I learned a lot from him about nutrition that day, including just how detrimental the standard american breakfast of cold cereal is to our health. Since most American children will sit down to a bowl of cereal in the morning, let’s take a closer look at the nutrition in today’s breakfast cereals.

Well it turns out there really isn’t much to talk about nutrition wise! But there IS plenty else to talk about. Cereal goes through a process called extrusion. This is the heating of grains that are mixed with water and sugar, they endure high temperatures so they can be formed into their shapes. The final product is a highly processed food loaded with sugar and stripped of it’s nutrients, which is why they then fortify the cereal with synthetic vitamins and minerals. Not to mention our grain supply (especially wheat and corn) is universally moldy. The mycotoxins (mold toxins) the the mold spew have been proven to be the cause of many diseases including cancer.

Another fact — the cereal marketed to children has 85% more sugar than those targeted toward adults. In fact, many of the cereals we all know, and unfortunately love, are 35–40% sugar by weight. So what’s the big deal you ask? We have all heard sugar is bad for us but do you know why? Studies are finding sugar to be the culprit in many of today’s preventable diseases and is even linked to cancer. According to Dr. Mercola, even a cancer center (Cancer Centers of America) recognize this link and put their cancer patients on a strict low sugar diet. Sugar is just one ingredient, lets talk about what else is in that box. Most breakfast cereals (and almost all of kids cereals) have artificial colors and flavors, which, like sugar, may also turn out to be carcinogens (cause cancer). For a full list of artificial colors used in this country and the known side effects click here. Recently the Kellog’s company has promised to remove artificial colors and flavors from a few of their cereals including froot loops and applejacks by 2018. Good for them (I guess?) but unfortunately you still wouldn’t be left with a meal you’d want your child to ingest. Most cereals also include the preservatives BHA and BHT which the Department of Health and Human Services has classified as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” (there’s that word again). Sounds awful doesn’t it?

Lets move on to the good news. There are still some breakfast options that are just as quick and easy as a boxed cereal in the morning. We recently made our own granola and I was surprised at how easy and fast it was! It took only 5 minutes to prepare before putting in the oven and it tastes fantastic. It’s been our new favorite breakfast for weeks now. Once you make the granola you can store it in a zip lock bag, then just sprinkle the granola over yogurt and add fruit. Now there’s a power breakfast to get your kids day started!

Homemade Granola…and Is cereal really that bad for you?

2 cups oats

1 cup nuts (I mixed ½ cup of almonds with ½ cup cashews)

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

½ tsp salt (or a tad less if using salted nuts)

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbs melted organic lightly salted butter

2 tbs simple syrup (this is simply boiling 2 tbs xylitol with 2 tbs water) and adding it to your mix

Heat oven to 300 degrees

Boil xylitol and water and set aside

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients including your simple syrup (boiled xylitol and water mixture).

Spread mixture on greased cookie sheet. You can also grease parchment paper then place that on the cookie sheet for easy clean up.

Bake for approximately 15–19 minutes. Until golden brown. Let cool before moving. Mixture will get crispier as it cools. Store in air tight container or zip lock bag.

For more details :- Homemade Granola,homemade granola recipe,how to make homemade granola

Originally published at eatpraygetwell.com on July 16, 2016.

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Homemade Granola Recipe

Homemade Granola Recipe : Believe me, nobody was as crushed as I was when I first learned that my favorite cereals like Cap’n crunch and Count Chocula were off the menu. It was 2008 and I was as sick as a dog, but I wasn’t going to miss hearing Jordan Rubin speak at my local health food store. I learned a lot from him about nutrition that day, including just how detrimental the standard american breakfast of cold cereal is to our health. Since most American children will sit down to a bowl of cereal in the morning, let’s take a closer look at the nutrition in today’s breakfast cereals.

Well it turns out there really isn’t much to talk about nutrition wise! But there IS plenty else to talk about. Cereal goes through a process called extrusion. This is the heating of grains that are mixed with water and sugar, they endure high temperatures so they can be formed into their shapes. The final product is a highly processed food loaded with sugar and stripped of it’s nutrients, which is why they then fortify the cereal with synthetic vitamins and minerals. Not to mention our grain supply (especially wheat and corn) is universally moldy. The mycotoxins (mold toxins) the the mold spew have been proven to be the cause of many diseases including cancer.

Another fact — the cereal marketed to children has 85% more sugar than those targeted toward adults. In fact, many of the cereals we all know, and unfortunately love, are 35–40% sugar by weight. So what’s the big deal you ask? We have all heard sugar is bad for us but do you know why? Studies are finding sugar to be the culprit in many of today’s preventable diseases and is even linked to cancer. According to Dr. Mercola, even a cancer center (Cancer Centers of America) recognize this link and put their cancer patients on a strict low sugar diet. Sugar is just one ingredient, lets talk about what else is in that box. Most breakfast cereals (and almost all of kids cereals) have artificial colors and flavors, which, like sugar, may also turn out to be carcinogens (cause cancer). For a full list of artificial colors used in this country and the known side effects click here. Recently the Kellog’s company has promised to remove artificial colors and flavors from a few of their cereals including froot loops and applejacks by 2018. Good for them (I guess?) but unfortunately you still wouldn’t be left with a meal you’d want your child to ingest. Most cereals also include the preservatives BHA and BHT which the Department of Health and Human Services has classified as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” (there’s that word again). Sounds awful doesn’t it?

Lets move on to the good news. There are still some breakfast options that are just as quick and easy as a boxed cereal in the morning. We recently made our own granola and I was surprised at how easy and fast it was! It took only 5 minutes to prepare before putting in the oven and it tastes fantastic. It’s been our new favorite breakfast for weeks now. Once you make the granola you can store it in a zip lock bag, then just sprinkle the granola over yogurt and add fruit. Now there’s a power breakfast to get your kids day started!

Homemade Granola…and Is cereal really that bad for you?

2 cups oats

1 cup nuts (I mixed ½ cup of almonds with ½ cup cashews)

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

½ tsp salt (or a tad less if using salted nuts)

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbs melted organic lightly salted butter

2 tbs simple syrup (this is simply boiling 2 tbs xylitol with 2 tbs water) and adding it to your mix

Heat oven to 300 degrees

Boil xylitol and water and set aside

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients including your simple syrup (boiled xylitol and water mixture).

Spread mixture on greased cookie sheet. You can also grease parchment paper then place that on the cookie sheet for easy clean up.

Bake for approximately 15–19 minutes. Until golden brown. Let cool before moving. Mixture will get crispier as it cools. Store in air tight container or zip lock bag.

Originally published at eatpraygetwell.com on July 16, 2016.

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eatwellpray-blog · 8 years ago

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Homemade Granola Recipe,