My new path

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Hi my name is Christine and I am about to embark on a journey that will change my life forever. This story is not about following trends or fads, but rather it’s based off of real health issues and a need to want to feel better, eat better, have more energy, be able to get a good night’s sleep, and be healthy once again. For those of you who know me, you might know of the medical issues I have had over the last 10+ years. I think I have always had health issues starting as a teen and it’s proven that issues runs with the women in my family. Both my Mom and Grandmother had similar issues and the scary part; I am starting to see my daughter show signs. I had issues with my periods, issues with my iron levels because of it, lost my gall bladder, had fibroid tumors on my uterus the size of large grapefruits and had a partial hysterectomy when I was 30. I had a breast cancer scare, issues with cysts on my ovaries. I had my right ovary removed only to have the doctor nick my bowels and three days later had to be rushed in for a second, emergency, surgery. The anesthetist was fighting with my surgeon while I was on the OR table about how much stuff was being pumped out of my stomach and when my surgeon turned his back to talk to one of the nurses setting up , the anesthetist took the canister my tubes were being pumped into and put it on the floor. The moment she did that, it created a super suction that collapsed my stomach and sucked up all my intestines. All I remember is the surgeon screaming repeatedly at the anesthetist to “put her out”. When I woke up in recovery, a nurse was holding my hand and she called another nurse over. They were so happy to see me awake! It was then the nurse explained that I was one lucky lady. I almost died on the OR table that night.

A long year and a half recovery took place after that moment. It took me forever to get my strength back or even be able to work out. Baby steps were all I could do, one day at a time. I made a full recovery to amazement of my doctors. I have always tried to eat well, but I noticed that the weight just kept piling on. I was seriously into boxing and worked out for 2-hour hard-core sessions three times a week for almost a year. I was toning up a bit, but the weight was still there. Or shall I say pudge. I felt, and still continue to feel, like I am carrying around a pillow on body. I feel like someone I don’t even know anymore. Working out still wasn’t helping. Then I turned 39 and I panicked. I wanted to be in the best shape of my life by the time I was 40. I want to live long and enjoy the time I have on this planet, but I can’t do that in my current state. I wanted to box and officially step into the ring with someone, but my body just kept hitting walls. I would gas out, get frustrated that I couldn’t push myself harder, and I felt old and fat.

Frustrated and tired of trying everything with no success, I started my quest to find a way to be in the best shape of my life by the time I was 40. I started listening to my body, look at what I was eating, and I realized that I was under extreme amounts of stress both at home and at work. I was getting a double whammy! I was feeling like I wasn’t coping and on the edge of darkness. I was working out to try to release some of the issues I was going through… trying to find a way to cope, but end up feeling depressed and unhappy. Then everything changed. Our family moved to a new city, I got a new job, and I was working on the issues going on at home and really feeling like I was going to loose my mind.

My doctor told me once when I was a teen that the tension headaches I was getting (since was about 11 or 12 years of age) were caused by my environment. Everyone handles his or her environment differently, and I guess this is how I was handling my stress. Later as an adult, when I had a very stressful episode,  my doctor made a comment about this is how my body was dealing with the stress and BINGO!, the light bulb went off in my head. I realized there was a very strong correlation between the what I was going through externally with stress, and what my body was going through. My doctor was sympathetic and told me that I was very lucky to learn this. He explained that most people never know what kind of damage stress does and I was getting it first hand! That has always stuck with me and I have always tried to be aware. This spurred me to start living my life in a very positive manner.

Before everything changed, I started on my quest to make some positive changes in my life. I have dealt with a lot of alternative medicine, specifically herbs, and have seen a natural health practitioner. I had to! I had to take charge of my healthy when traditional medicine failed. I was in a Nature’s Fare store looking for some acidophilus and passed by their book section. I stopped and took some time to look at the amazing books they had. I was looking at the cookbooks thinking that maybe I just need to change the way I eat. Maybe there was something I was doing wrong, or didn’t have an understanding of what food was doing to my body. I came across this one book that caught my eye; “The Thrive Diet” by Brendan Brazier. Brendan Brazier is a former Ironman Triathlete who developed this diet as a means to provide peak performance. Now I am not into fads or all these diet gimmicks or shakes that make you loose a 100 pounds and cost you a small fortune. What caught my eye was the tag line. “the whole foods way to losing weight, reducing stress, and staying healthy for life”. WOW! Everything I was looking for!! This book even had recipes and fully explained the impact of the foods that you eat. I bought it and began to read it as soon as I got home. So many things hit home for me. Mostly regarding stress. No wonder I have not been able to lose any weight and became the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man! Stress = weight for me and I am sure I am not the only one who is suffering!

Even knowing this and despite my best efforts, I ended up in a high stress environment again and this time for over almost two years. I tried and fought hard to change it with little success. I tried to make the best of my situation, but I was succumbed. Something had to change, and the universe made it happen. I am firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I started paying attention.

I now live in the amazing Fraser Valley where there are farms everywhere! Little corner markets are easily accessible or you can do your shopping right on the farms themselves. The universe picked me up and plunked me in produce heaven. I was finally in a place in my life where I had the control over the amount if stress I was under. Yes I just moved, yes I just started a new job, but that was minimal compared to what I was undergoing previously. I moved and the first thing I did was a cleanse. My first start to clean living! I want to rid my body of toxins and start fresh!

The more I read the book, the more I realized that this is what my body has been screaming so long for! Understanding what everyday and environmental stress does, but also nutritional stress as well. I could go on and on about all the horrible things I have been doing to my body, but the fact of the matter is that you are what you eat. If you are feeling crappy, chances are your nutrition is huge a factor. So now I am starting the steps to change my life, and maybe my family’s too!

The Thrive Diet is a vegan diet. I never thought this little German/French girl would ever say she was a vegan! Over the last few weeks I have been saying goodbye to some of my favorite foods like schnitzel and black jack cherry ice cream. I feel like I did when I quit smoking. I knew when I was going to quit, so I said goodbye to the moments in my smoking life that I cherished, like the first cigarette of the day in the morning and having a coffee and a smoke, etc.. I know I have the willpower to do this… I have to. I so want to be truly healthy again. One of the side effects stemming from my surgeries is that I now have IBS. So many things flare it up and I have been taking a natural product that is starting to heal it, but I need to eat better for it to properly work.

I stopped drinking coffee three days ago and started drinking copious amounts of green tea and yerba mate. I am suffering from withdrawals… the constant headache is present, but I know that this too shall pass. The green tea helps tremendously as there is just enough caffeine to not make you NOT feel the full effect of the withdrawals. Both my husband and I have been doing some research on the items in the shopping list for this diet. Unfortunately there isn’t a good health food store /market close to us. Nature’s Fare is in Langley, which will provide many items, and I still have to check out one other smaller store here in Abbotsford. There are a lot of smaller vitamin places, but not really anyone that carries all the stuff I need. I decided to start my journey on a trek into Vancouver to visit the Whole Foods Market on Cambie. I loaded up on all the unique items I knew I couldn’t get in Abbotsford. The drive down was the start of something new and exciting for me! I do love the smells in a natural foods market, and it turned out to be a whole experience for me. I am going to explore and check out different places locally to see if I can actually find the items I need. Today I will go out to one of the farms and get all the produce I need and go from there. Step 1 is almost done! Step 2 is about to start! Wish me luck! I really hope this is going to work and change my life into the positive direction I want it to go!