"It ain't easy but it ain't hard" weight loss program: episode 1

Hi my name is Jaye Anne.

I lost 35 pounds of prepregnancy weight.  I don't know where it went.  It took me about 3 weeks for the first 10, another 4 or 5 for the second 10, and the last few have come off in the subsequent 3 or 4 months.  I just keep losing weight, seemingly by accident.  I have gone from a size 10 or 12 to a size 4 or 2 in jeans.  My skin is the best it has ever been, and so has my digestion and sleep (even with two littluns).  Then I got the best job ever with the greatest benefits the world has ever seen and get a massage once per week on my insurance company.

By now, you are either intrigued or disgusted.  Thanks for keeping on, intriguees.

So here is episode 1.
I had 2 back-to-back pregnancies.  Both of them were uneventful (gold stars in blood pressure and gestational diabetes testing) and ended in wonderful births at the hospital with only minor hospital-induced complaints.  After the birth of my son, I was left feeling pretty drained and quite exhausted.  As if the pregnancies were not draining enough, I was breastfeeding both kids.  With the resurgence of milk supply that comes with birth, my daughter nursed as much as the newly-born... well, newborn.  I desperately needed more energy and searched constantly to increase my internal resources.  I was seriously depleted.  I had always had a certain sense about the general nutritional information of the day being odd (I think mostly because of my being taught to go against the crowd, generally speaking), but had spent a enough time there during the last pregnancy to know I was ready for a change.  I decided on an elimination diet since I knew it was safe for breastfeeding moms. 

The one I tried was vegan and extremely based on grains other than wheat.  It was so minimalist that I couldn't handle it.  I got pretty depressed from the restrictions and was worried about my protein intake.  I mentioned these things to my chiropractor and she handed me the book I have come to find second only to the Bible.  Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.  As the pages unfolded, there were exciting stories about saturated fat and cholesterol being good for me!  I had always wondered if this might be the case, but here was someone coming out and saying these things and not getting arrested!  My days of just craving fat were over and now I was on to eating it.  I stopped my 28-day diet 21 days into it and started cooking everything in bacon fat and butter.  I was glad to trade sugar for fat.

I am winning against yeast!

Well.. The past few weeks have been the "Half Asleep" portion of myself, blogging wise.  I have been digging into new personal growth and health, and "Wide Awake" when it comes to my body.  My candida infestation seems to be largely on its way out (hooray!),  mostly due to a focused plan.  It included:

1. Kill as much of the fungus as possible with natural antifungals including garlic, pau d'arco, and olive leaf juice.  I also cut out all sugar, including fruit and refined grains.
2.  Remove the toxins that the fungi release upon their demise using spirulina, daily green juices, especially including cilantro and ginger, dandelion root tea, regular HOT baths, and lots of sleep.  The mineral Molybdenum was key in this process, since one of the most prominent toxins is rendered harmless by this mineral.  I also stopped wearing deodorant with aluminum in it and natural deodorants sparingly.
3.  Repopulate and feed the good bacteria that balances out the natural yeast in my body through probiotic pills and eventually lacto-fermented foods (My favorite is carrots).  Feeding the bacteria was mostly through chicory root tea.
4.  Reduce inflammation by eating anti-inflammatory foods, including cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger.  I also stopped eating things that inflamed my body, such as dairy, eggs, and unfermented soy. (I found out these things inflamed MY body through muscle testing.  ie, I still ate things with gluten because it tested fine for me.)  You can be sure no fast food was an option.
5.  Replenish my body's depleted vitamins and minerals through supplementation and juicing.  These supplements were muscle-tested every week to make sure my body still needed them.
6.  Build my body's immune system further with echinacea, goldenseal, vitamin C and garlic. (Again, muscle-tested)
7.  Don't scratch my hand.  This is really hard and I had to be conscious of the desire and push it away.  I did notice that it would itch the most when I was angry, irritated, or stressed.  I have heard that rashes are a manifestation of pent up anger, which I find to be really interesting given the increased incidence of psoriasis and eczema in the world.  But, I digress.

I did these things deliberately and gently.  It had to be something I could do for months because I did not know how long it would take to get rid of this.  I enjoyed the teas and the green juices, and every supplement I took, I envisioned it in my body doing its great job, whether it was removing toxins or building my gut.  I celebrated every tiny win.

Guess what?  I am not perfect.  Last Friday was my birthday and I went out for the first time in forever.  Yep, I drank wine (and liquor).  Yep, I ate pizza and had cake.  I enjoyed every bite.  I enjoyed the company I was with.  I expected to wake up this morning with the rash so much worse.  But guess what?  It looked better!  I can tell you though, I was not feeling great all day yesterday and had to take a bath last night to push some toxins out of my system.  The truth is, I didn't have to be perfect, just intentional.  I intended to eat the wrong foods and I intended to enjoy them.  Then I did enjoy them.  Now, I don't want those foods anymore and my body will respond beautifully because that is what it was built to do.  That is what healthy means to me.

These are the resources I used to compile my own plan:
http://www.anniesremedy.com/
http://www.thecandidadiet.com/


Jaye Anne