Today begins a several-part series on nutritional therapy and healing through diet, based on some notes and reflections on my own and my daughter’s health journey for the last five years.  Her story is a living testimony at how damaging antibiotics and processed food can be, and how healing nourishing foods are!  And my story highlights just how amazing and far-reaching the effects of optimal nutrition for energy, weight loss, positive mood, and healthy skin.

Due to the length of this story, I’m sharing the “cliff notes” verson, as I could literally write an entire book about my daughter’s five short years. 

My first pregnancy was “normal” by all outward signs.  I was planning a homebirth with low-key midwives who were pretty laid back and non-alarmist about much of anything.  Although it’s totally normal to worry throughout your first pregnancy, I had serious concerns about the health of my unborn child. I didn’t feel as many kicks as other pregnant mothers seemed to describe.  I was told not to worry.  At 20 weeks, I had passed out in a restaurant and had to be rushed to the E.R. I had a kidney infection and a routine ultrasound (they do that in the ER when you’re pregnant) revealed that my daughter also had a kidney abnormality.  This added to my worry, and when the due date came and went and she went overdue, I really began to panic.  Long story short, she was born 2+ weeks late via emergency c-section at the hospital. 

And I know, I know, sometimes due dates are off….but this child couldn’t have stayed another minute in the womb.  She was born at 5 lbs, 6 oz and my placenta had completely expired.  Obviously I had some significant nutritional issues during prenancy that were “below the surface” and my body failed to properly nourish my dear daughter. 

After the traumatic birth, my body did what so many do post-partum: the post-traumatic stress response.  I didn’t know this at the time, but my adrenals were working overtime. In the 15 months following my daughter’s birth,  my body remained 60 + lbs overweight due to (what I believe) was a metabolic imbalance resulting from the birth of my child. 

I was completely addicted to sugar and subsisted on cake, ice cream, oatmeal, and crackers.  A very high glycemic diet, to say the least.  My hormones were completely wacky and I could not, try as I might, produce enough breast milk to feed my baby exclusively.

Because of the antibiotics administered during the cesarean, I suffered from thrush and candida, and my sugar and starch-filled diet didn’t help that any. Worst of all, I was depressed, lethargic, and stressed about even the smallest things.  No one ever diagnosed me with Post Partum Depression, but I think I had a pretty significant case of the “baby blues”.  Thankfully, I had the support of my amazing family, including my mother who waited on me hand and foot for 2 weeks and has been so helpful all these years. 

Through my Post-Partum Weight Loss Journey I learned many important lessons about how horrible refined carbs were for me, and as I slowly got back to my pre-pregancy weight, I began to feel better and more energetic.  Just good enough to get pregnant again.  In the middle of my second pregnancy, I discovered the Weston A Price Foundation and Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions which turned my world around.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s an invaluable, eye-opening resource that opened the door to the whole notion of Nutritional Therapy to begin with. The idea that what we eat is healing should have been obvious to me, and perhaps it always was. But what Nourishing Traditions points out is so contrary to the “politically correct” nutritional soundbites and really challenges nutritional misconceptions that are preached as dogma.

At any rate, though Nourishing Traditions I discovered the whole world of Real Food. And what better time than during my second pregancy? I consumed grass-fed, raw milk from local farms, cultured my own probiotic-rich kefir, brewed my own enzyme-rich kombucha, soaked my grains and drank my beet kvass.

My second pregnancy was so much smoother than the first, and although it ended in a cesarean, my recovery was much, much quicker and I seemed to be producing more breast milk this go-around.  Unfortunately, I still did not make enough to sustain my son. Jonathan’s story outlines my search for alternatives to commercial, soybean-laden formula and is a testimony in and of itself to the amazing therapeutic properties of Real Food.

As for me, however, I still felt that lack of energy and internally combustable stress; the notion that at any moment it was all going to explode within me.  I can’t explain it any better than that.  I understand it now as an stress response malfunction due to mineral imbalance and it affected the adrenal and thyroid glands rather significantly.

After lots of trips to a naturopath and lots of guessing based on the symptoms I was describing, and after spending lots of money on herbs that didn’t seem  to be helping, I turned to the internet to do some of my own research.

Seek and you shall find.  I came into contact with wonderful people like Cheeseslave who was on her own journey of adrenal recovery, low milk supply, and nutritonal healing for gut and digestive issues.  I started to look into the whole notion of Adrenal Fatigue and the benefits of theraputic diets such as the GAPS diet for digestive healing.  In short, I uncovered something that would change my life: Nutritional Therapy.

How does Nutritional Therapy Differ from Naturopathic Care?

Nutritional Therapy is somewhat unique in that it really addresses the Foundations of Optimal Health, and doesn’t focus so much on symptoms. Masking symptoms with herbs can be helpful, but if that doesn’t work, or stops working, it’s critical to go to the Foundations and restore balance.

The 5 Foundations of Optimal Health:

*Proper Digestion: The first thing to address is digestion and to make sure that the body is properly breaking down the food and properly assimilating it. Without proper digestion, nutrients can’t get to the cells!

*Proper Blood Sugar Handling: This is huge.  Due to very poor USDA food pyramid guidelines, and the prevalance of refined carbohydrates as well as a fast-paced lifestyle that is stress-inducing, a majority of Americans have poor blood sugar handling. This leads to a myriad of problems, including obesity, malnutrition, diabetes, endocrine problems and fertility problems.

*Fatty Acid Balance: Did you get the memo that fats were good for you? Certain ones aren’t, but most natural ones are!  When I started eating more fat and less carbs, my energy levels changed in a very short time.  My weight started to normalize, and *gasp* I wasn’t hungry all the time! Proper fats are needed to make healthy cells, healthy hormones, and for energy.  They can even prevent sunburns!

*Mineral Balance: Essential minerals are needed for all bodily functions, particularly hormone functions. For mothers, healthy hormones are essential for our energy levels, moods, and health.  Our bodies cannot make minerals, we must obtain (and assimilate!) them from food.  Refined foods are depleted of minerals, and futhermore they deplete our bodies of minerals when we eat them.  The importance of minerals cannot be overstated when it comes to restoring balance and rebuilding the body!

*Hydration: Adequate hydration is the missing link in so many of our diets. I’ll admit, I don’t even remember to always drink as much as I should.  You should aim for half your body weight in ounces of water per day. Water is crucial for a healthy blood pressure, toxin removal, cell communication, joint health, body temperature regulation, gastric juice production, and proper nerve function.  Drinking enough water is the cheapest way you can reverse your health in a short period of time.

Once these five foundations are in place, and assuming that the diet is nutrient-dense, full of properly prepared whole foods, you can then work from that point to continue to address specific symptoms that might still be troubling to your health.

I didn’t have my personal “turnaround” until I begin to really address these foundations. Diet is critical, but even the best diet won’t heal you on its own if the foundations are not in place.

My Personal Plan:Here’s what has worked for me, and of course I will expound and elaborate on these in upcoming posts:

*Giving up the grains and focusing on a paleo/primal diet and following the GAPS guidelines.
*Ridding my diet of fast foods and processed foods
*Adrenal Support (A blend of adaptogenic herbs)
*Vitamin D supplementation
*Fermented Cod Liver Oil (See my Resources page for Sources)
*Coconut Oil, Grass-Fed Butter, and cold-pressed extra virgin olive and flax oils
*Mineral Supplementation, including Molybdenum (who knew?)
*Drinking “alive” beverages such as beet kvass, kombucha, coconut water kefir, etc.
*Drinking alkalized, ionized, microclustered water
*Aiming for a a 1:1 ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 Fatty Acids.

A personalized nutritional plan is key to healthy motherhood, and healthy is thrifty.  Healthy equals “no copays”. Yes, there are some supplements to buy in the short-term, but eventually once you restore balance you should do pretty well with a nutrient-dense diet.

This post is not intended to be taken as medical advice, rather you should see a qualified heathcare professional who practices Nutrition-Based Therapy. There are several Chiropractors, Naturpaths, and Nutritional Therapists who utilize this foundational approach. You can find one in your area by going here. 

If you have difficulty finding a Nutrition-Oriented practitioner in your area, I am pleased to say that I am now offering remote nutritional consultations via phone and internet. If you would like to know if my skill set matches your needs, please read about my Nutrition Consultations!

This post has been a part of Real Food Wednesday!

The last several years have been, quite honestly really difficult for me.  As a (relatively) new mom (I consider a 5 year old pretty new in the whole scheme of things) I have been undergoing a major identity change the last several years. Not only that, but my body changed, my relationship with my husband changed, my job changed, I had major surgery (twice) and, well, I think that all adds up to lots of stress, both physically and emotionally.

Recently some pretty difficult spiritual circumstances were visited upon my family. While really difficult, they ended up being some of the best things that have ever happened because they drove me deeper into understanding who I am as a mom, a wife, a professional, a friend, and most of all, a child loved by God.  Through this journey of self-discovery I realized that my blog was becoming a real stumbling block.

Here’s why.  One thing I’ve learned about myself this past year is that I have a major weakness for pleasing people; everyone, that is, except for the people who matter most and are closest to me.  Because of this, I end up with a lot of “false guilt” and shame that I layer upon myself and I really obsess and tend to be tempted to find great importance in what others think of me.

Well it turns out that blogging is the perfect tool for that passion to be let loose and to grow into quite a bitter enemy to my soul.  But, as with all things, I can take this reality and either run away from it or let it teach me. 

So, even though I’m in the midst of figuring out what Organic and Thrifty is really going to be about, I haven’t arrived there.  This isn’t a home buisiness. If it were, I’d be making like a dollar an hour.  I didn’t start this blog hoping to make money or make it big.  And it’s a good thing I didn’t because I know it wouldn’t have been good for my soul at the time.

I write this blog to share the lessons and insights and tips I’ve learned along the way. I don’t consider myself a really great writer, but I must admit that I think of myself as pretty important some of the time and I figure that others need to know what I know.  Yeah, that’s something I’m sort of working on with God. The whole “self-importance” thing.  Instead of thinking that everyone needs to know what I know, I instead offer all that I’ve been taught to go on record for anyone else to glean.

Take what helps you, leave the rest.

I wish I could promise that I’ll be posting the perfect organic deals every day. Or posting elaborate recipes, or cheap dinners, or menu plans.  I’ve been there, done that, and will do it again. But I will not put a strict, stressful timeline on myself and get all obsessed with my blog like I have in the past.

But I won’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Organic and Thrifty is here to stay. If for nothing else, then to be a resource of meal plans, recipes, nutrition articles, resources, and stories of healing.

I plan to continue to post regularly but the focus will probably begin shifting more towards nutrition and how to practically and affordably apply the lifestyle and diet principles of Nutritional Therapy to your everyday life.

Right now I’m in the midst of discerning the next steps for me in terms of my Nutritional Therapy Practice that I’m in the process of beginning right now.  I am trying to maintain balance in my life as a homeschooling mom who still cooks nearly everything from scratch.  We now own a dairy goat, which provides a lot more structure to the day (and early, early mornings!) as well as lots and lots of milk to make yogurt, kefir, and cheese out of.  And there’s the garden which is growing very well this year, yet needs an occasional sprinkle of water or two!  Oh yes, and there’s my marriage and relationships with friends. And God.  And learning. Always learning.

So now I feel that I’m starting a New Chapter at O & T.  I feel different inside. I’m re-oriented and more at peace with what I’m doing here.  Not because I think I have something particularly unique, insightful, or important to say.  But because I need to practice saying it.

By they way, if you’d like to know more about my Nutrition Consultation services (and I promise this blog won’t become a shameless plug platform for my practice!) please check out my consultations page and drop me a line for more info!

If you missed parts 1 and 2 of Celeste’s Journey of Adrenal Recovery, you can find them here and here.

So now I was suffering the repercussions of the unfortunate combination of events that led me to this place.  My choice to not go the conventional route in treating this condition was met by incredulous reactions from family and friends.  No one knew what to think because, besides my mom and Ellen, no one had ever experienced this before.  Most had the mindset of my husband, which was that when you are not well you go to a doctor and they fix you. 

I don’t blame them for disagreeing with me because I was obviously very incapacitated and there should be an answer out there.  They just wanted me to get better.  But God had plans for me. The process I would be going through would absolutely rock my world so much that I had no choice but to trust Him to guide me through.  I had never in my life been in a position where I had absolute dependence on others and God to get me through something. 

As you will see, God strategically placed others in my path at the perfect time to help pull me through in such a way that I had no choice but to see God’s hand in the process.  The other gift He gave me in the healing process was not to take the pain away, but to give me the big picture to see what He was doing as He was doing it.  Often with God we won’t see that He was intervening until after the fact and we look back at a situation in awe.  But this divine perspective I was given gave me hope.  And “hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:3-5).  It showed me that I was not alone (and this is the loneliest experience I have ever had) and that I would get through it and be a richer and more understanding person when I was through.  Sometimes that glimmer of hope was very small and I didn’t know how I would pull through, but I hung on  and somehow I made it to where I am right now, writing my story.

                As I said before, I have always been health conscious and besides my absolute craving for sweets (something I later learned could be fixed by diet changes) I was pretty disciplined in that area.  I majored in Health Promotion and Education in college, thinking that even if I never found an ideal job in corporate wellness, I could always use my education for my future family.  This general direction I had for my life was refined and fueled by my need to figure out what was going on inside my broken body.

                Physically, I was pretty limited because my eyes couldn’t focus well and my hands couldn’t grip a pen well enough to journal for long, but in short spurts I would read and take notes about things that would be helpful to me.  I also depended on the ongoing advice from Ellen.  She was learning right along side me, but her nursing background gave her a leg up in her understanding (later I found out she was actually going through another bout with the same thing because of some stress in her own life). 

                Eventually I switched to a local doctor who, in a general way understood adrenal fatigue.  She recommended the same book I had been reading (“Adrenal Fatigue, The 21^st Century Stress Syndrome”), which helped to confirm my decision to see her.  Just to have someone with some expertise directing my recovery was a huge support to me, even though the process I was in required patience for my body to heal itself. 

My doctor helped set me up with some supplements that would be supportive and strongly encouraged regular protein snacks and meals to help with the hypoglycemia that goes along with adrenal fatigue.  I learned all about cortisol and how it is produced by the adrenal glands along with adrenaline, to get us through short bouts of stress (i.e. an emergency situation that eventually has an end).  The way our society operates is to ignore fatigue and use stimulants such as caffeine to keep going, all the while this continual revving of our engine is breaking our bodies down. 

I also learned that my only chance at a real recovery would be to listen to the fatigue and rest.  Rest and diet were the answer.  My body had depleted itself so drastically of many of its nutrients, that supplements were also essential to boost it back up more quickly than diet alone.  There are many distressing symptoms in addition to the fatigue that go along with this depletion of the body’s hormones and nutrients.  Because of the intricacies involved with taking the supplements and the need to have ongoing tests to check levels, a knowledgeable doctor is essential, though hard to find.  Most traditionally trained doctors have one semester on nutrition and nothing on hormone balancing.

  MORE TO LEARN

The fatigue continued until July, about 6 months, when I decided I wasn’t getting any better and my doctor couldn’t give me the detailed answers I needed.  One of the books Ellen had given me was called “Chronic Fatigue Unmasked”, by Gerald Poesnecker.  He was a naturopath doctor from Quakertown, PA at a place called Clymer Healing Center, who had done research on chronic fatigue patients for 30 years.  In his book, he basically said that chronic fatigue was an issue of the adrenal system.  Although his perspective was slightly different from the Adrenal Fatigue book, his findings were basically the same and he had a clinic in which he successfully treated those with chronic fatigue.  The phone number for his clinic was in the book…so I called. 

It sounds simple, but it wasn’t.  I was so far out of my comfort zone by that point that one more step out just made sense.  A phone call sounds pretty harmless until you start taking medical advice from someone whom you’ve never met, never seen or heard of the clinic and have no idea how legitimate this doctor is, who has never seen his own patient.  If there ever was a time for faith, now was it.  In my logical, rational world it didn’t make sense.  It was something I would have never done before.  But as far out of my comfort zone as this was, I felt very peaceful about it. 

The minute I heard Dr. Neville’s voice (Dr. Poesnecker’s predecessor) telling me he could help me, I had this sense that this is who God has provided to walk me through this mess.  I still asked lots of questions and tried to find reasons why this wouldn’t work.  I couldn’t find any.  It didn’t make sense to do it this way and I would sound crazy when I told my conservative families and friends, but I didn’t care because I knew this was what I needed.  There was a ray of hope.  I prayed my way through my conversations with Dr. Neville, always aware that if his advice ever became questionable I would lose my peace about him.  I never lost it.

So for the next 2+ years, Dr. Neville played a large part in getting me through the darkest days of my life.  His knowledge of the adrenal system and my wacky, disturbing symptoms continued to give me hope.  Just knowing that what I was going through was a “normal” process and someone had been through it before me, meant everything to me.  And it wasn’t just his knowledge that gave me support.  Dr. Neville had literally felt what I was feeling when he experienced his own time of adrenal fatigue.  He had been there and gotten out of it. 

In our very first conversation, he said some words that were very hard to hear, but following them was the beginning of feeling real improvement:  no sugar/low carbs, lots of protein and lots and lots of rest.  As hard as I had been trying to eat well with my current diet, it wasn’t good enough.  The sugar and carbs were doing me in.  I had cut back on sugar but hadn’t cut it out.  My body’s sugar metabolism was so sensitive that when I cut out sugar and reduced the carbs, I felt dramatic improvement. 

It was early on in this process that Dr. Neville introduced me to the Weston A. Price way of eating.  It was very overwhelming at first because starting a whole new outlook on eating was a huge undertaking for anyone, let alone someone who could barely get up to cook a meal.  And it wasn’t exactly a quick way to cook either.  I tried things as the energy came, my poor family suffering dramatic diet changes that were so foreign at the time.  At first I wasn’t so sure about the full fat thing and fermenting and eating organ meats.  Then the more I read, it starting making lots of sense.  It was food the way it was supposed to be eaten.  I’m still working on the organ meat thing, but not because I disagree.  It’s because for so many years I was so repulsed by any meat not perfectly sanitized and fat free and pretty, it’s hard to get out of that mindset.  (I figure I get my organ meat through the glandulars Dr. Neville has me taking!)

The better I ate, the better I felt.  I discovered a sensitivity to preservatives which made life eating meat much more difficult, but much healthier.  Also during that time we discovered some food sensitivities in my other family members.  Because of that, we had to become basically gluten-free in our household and many meals are dairy and egg free as well.  I have been thankful for Carrie’s yummy recipes on her blog as I have had to create a new way of eating for my family.  Many of my meals have been downright boring, but when I get the energy and focus enough to attempt a new recipe it is always an exciting time. 

NOT THE END

 My story of recovering from adrenal fatigue is not over, but not because I haven’t tried everything I can do for myself.  Unfortunately, life doesn’t let up even when you’re down.  What’s the deal with that?!  I keep asking God for a season of rest, free from difficulties but I am still waiting.  There have been times where I felt like I was getting my head above water and then life sends something new to knock me down again.  And in those times I just keep moving forward, knowing that I don’t always understand why things happen as they do and God is giving me extra fortitude to continue on.  But even with all of that, I have been ever-so-slowly improving.  I can go about my daily tasks now and even play with my kids. 

My energy is pretty consistent under normal conditions.  It’s those knock-down times I need to have a little extra reserve on hand and don’t always have it.  And since life hasn’t let up on me yet, I’m ready for the next stepping stone in my recovery.  Recently, I began taking a bio-identical cortisol replacement.  It should give me some of that reserve that life hasn’t allowed for and finally let my adrenal glands rest fully for awhile.  If all goes well when my adrenals have had their rest, I will gradually wean off the cortisol replacement and learn to live within the limitations of my own body. 

One of the most difficult aspects of my condition has been the isolation and its  effect on my relationships.  The effort that it took to maintain relationships was so great that my conversations with people were few and far between.  As much as I wanted to give to those relationships, I had to limit each interaction pretty strictly if I wanted to keep my energy from taking a nosedive.  Unfortunately, just talking itself was a drain. 

There were many misunderstandings as I had to cancel plans and in the beginning couldn’t even explain why I would suddenly become unavailable if my energy crashed.  Over time others learned to understand why I was limited as I learned brief ways to prepare them for my unreliability.  Even my husband was in the dark at first, until we sorted out what was really going on. 

Because of the personal nature of this condition, no one will ever fully understand it if they have not been through it personally.  That is something that I have had to become okay with, since limiting my energy output and getting better has been my primary goal. 

I know I have been supported by family and friends, even with very little to go on, and I have appreciated all the remote support I can get.  It’s not so remote anymore and I’m finding several of my relationships that were basically put on hold are becoming even richer than they were before.  It is in a huge part because of my own new perspectives. 

Relationships really are some of the most important things in life, but the drain happens when I allow others’ needs to become more important than my own.  I am a doer and a helper and I am much closer to finding the balance of taking care of myself first before helping others.  It’s like the oxygen mask on an airplane.  You need to put yours on first or you won’t be able to help the one next to you.  There will always be people in need of my help, especially my family, but I have learned first hand that I am no good to anyone when I don’t listen to my gut instincts and give myself what I need first. 

I feel like the process I have been through has successfully altered my lifestyle.  Life is much simpler than I was making it before.  I hope as I make a full recovery I will continue to follow the principles of a truly healthy lifestyle, however unconventional it might be. 

I am seriously considering completing the same certification that Carrie is currently undertaking to become a Nutritional Therapist.  The timing will depend on many factors – my body’s readiness as well as my family’s readiness.  I feel that my “calling” is definitely in the health field and look forward to being able to help others who have had to go through their own personal trials.  I don’t feel like a person has to be in the same position I have been in to be empathetic because going through this has given me a very strong understanding for others who are hurting in many ways. 

My story is as much of a spiritual journey as a physical one.  However horrible the physical and emotional side has been, the process has all been worth it for the spiritual strength and character building that I am still receiving through this process.  Even my relationships with my husband and children are richer because of what I (we) have been through.

We want to thank Celeste heartily for sharing her story. Unfortunately, she does not [yet] have a blog, but perhaps this act of writing about her journey will inspire her to keep writing!  Please keep Celeste, and all others who suffer this silent disorder known as Adrenal Fatigue, in your thoughts and prayers!

I’m grateful to report that Celeste recently returned home from a two week vacation in Hawaii! Now that sounds like an appropriate Rx for adrenal fatigue!

If you missed Part 1 of Celeste’s Story, you can find it here.

VISIT TO THE DOCTOR

                 After the first month of my disturbing symptoms and in response to my husband’s pleas to see a professional, I went to a women’s wellness clinic 2 1/2 hours away that specialized in hormone balancing.  A blood test revealed that my progesterone was at rock bottom and I had a quick education on the myriad of symptoms that go with low progesterone.  I also found out that the birth control pills I was on the prior 4 months had actually replaced my natural progesterone with a synthetic form called progestin.  Progestin’s only purpose is to regulate a woman’s cycle.  It took the place of my natural progesterone and all of the protective and helpful things that progesterone did for my body were gone. 

Later, a saliva test revealed that my cortisol levels were extremely high.  The doctor had me continue the tryptophan and GABA and progesterone she had prescribed.  She also gave me a prescription for Xanax in case the panic attacks got overwhelming.  My first inclination was that I didn’t need it, but I had been swallowing my pride a lot lately and decided to do it one more time just to have something in my back pocket in an emergency.  Another opportunity for me to rethink my judgment of those in distress.  Then, I was sent on my way.  I went back 1 or 2 more times before finding a local practitioner to continue my treatment. 

My adrenaline-induced panic attacks continued through my daughter’s 2^nd birthday in October and the holidays.  Then, shortly after the holidays, the racing feeling that I was continually fighting just stopped.  It was replaced with a deep fatigue that, at first, was a restful peace.  I started sleeping through the night…and the day.  Before, I had to rest because of a weird combination of “wired but tired” (it’s a feeling that only those with adrenal fatigue can fully comprehend), and I was up and down depending on which one was more  dominant at the time.  Now I was always tired.  The ceasing of the constant revving that sat in my chest was a huge relief, but what it meant was that, except for a spurt here and there, my body was almost depleted of cortisol.  And the deep fatigue that it brings can barely be described in words. 

The only thing I can use to compare the fatigue to is the flu my family recently experienced (probably the swine flu).  As I laid on the couch with a fever and the kind of fatigue where you can’t move a muscle and don’t even want to get up to get a drink of water, I had a flashback of how I used to feel.  Minus the fever, but including some of the aches, slight nausea, “brain dead” thinking and dizziness, the comparison is pretty close.  Except for me it never went away. 

Month after month, my body was “resting”, regenerating, trying to build itself back up again.  The problem was that in an ideal world I would sleep all day and eat perfectly.  My world involved two very active young children and a life that couldn’t just stop because of me.  I did my best to rest as much as possible, but the rest of the time I was using the little bit of energy that the rest gave me.  I was back to forcing myself to function, without the coffee.  But I did discover that green tea was “good for me” and the small amount of caffeine it had I used as much as possible to get me through my days.  My husband still helped as much as possible, but he had to make money to pay for all my supplements and other expenses. 

 LIFE BEFORE…

                About 6 months prior to all of this, my husband had quit his job of 13 years as an engineer/project manager at a mill to start a new career in land development.  He had set up an office in our home to build his new business.  Now if there is one thing I never had to worry about during this time it was my husband’s ability to keep us financially stable.  His is gifted in that area and has never let us down. 

Unfortunately, even though the timing was good for me to have him close, it was not good for building a brand new business.  Somehow, however, he kept us afloat.  And, aside from hiring a nanny to watch the kids, the only option was for him to do it.  With me in bed and on the verge of panic much of the time, he had to be on stand-by 24/7.  For that I can never thank him enough.  It wasn’t the way he had planned starting his new career, but he did what he had to do.

                I continued to cook our meals to the best of my ability and he watched kids when I needed help, working in his down time.  As I read more books and talked with Ellen, I finally decided that adrenal fatigue was what I was dealing with.  The book “Adrenal Fatigue, the 21^st Century Stress Syndrome” was my 2^nd Bible. 

I went through that book with a fine-toothed comb, trying to do everything right to get myself well.  The nutritional info was very helpful to me even though I have fine-tuned quite a bit since then.  One major thing I realized through the book was how much my diet affects the process of adrenal fatigue.  Essentially, the condition is brought on by an overload of stress to your body-internal and/or external.  One of the many stressors I had been experiencing was my diet.  Prior to having kids, I had always been careful about what I ate (at least what I thought was a healthy, low fat diet).  I tried at first and finally gave in to the pre-packaged easy way out.  It really was easier and everyone else looked okay doing it.

                Unfortunately, that was only one straw on the camel’s back.  The more I thought back to my lifestyle and thought patterns and the stresses that had been out of my control, including my own weak adrenal system (a hereditary thing), it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.  The human body is resilient to a point, but every body had its limits.  And I had found mine.

                As far back as I can remember, I got stressed easily but kept it internalized – the worst combination.  I think my otherwise healthy lifestyle kept me out of the woods most of my life.  I loved the outdoors and grew up as a tomboy riding horses, helping my dad cut firewood, avoiding the indoor domestic duties as much as possible.  I also always had exercise to fall back on as a way to wind down.  Another thing I loved was playing the piano – my parents used to laugh at me growing up as I pounded the piano for hours to get rid of the stress from life.  Time to myself was always another major need I had to regenerate and relax. 

I have always been independent, and very self-sufficient.  My husband, being of the same mindset, took it in stride as we went through our new marriage.  All of my coping mechanisms worked for me until I had a baby.  My world got turned upside down.  Not only was I recovering from a C-section and the emotional regrets and physical healing that went along with that (I always planned on a natural delivery), but the sudden responsibility of a newborn added quite a bit of emotional stress, as it does to many. 

The bigger problem was that all of my stress-relievers were taken away in one fell swoop.  Exercise became more trouble than it was worth, alone time was non-existent and the piano playing only happened briefly in between nursing, diaper changes, sleeping and cooking or cleaning.  Eventually I found a routine that sort of worked for me until the second child was born. 

The elation that came with my successful VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) delivery was quickly thwarted with real life.  The same issues came up again, but compounded this time.  My second child slept very little, had the loudest scream I’ve ever heard and between the two I never found that balance again.  At 6 months old she also had RSV, which was the beginning of a viral asthma that occurs with every cold.  The first year of her life I was in a total daze. 

                When the baby was born my oldest daughter started experiencing some extreme behaviors in reaction to the baby.  She became more and more difficult to control and would have extreme tantrums with no warning, which confused and disturbed us as parents.  We had a feeling these tantrums were more than just power struggles but couldn’t put our finger on what was wrong.  Even as we gained more insight, this would continue to be an ongoing source of stress in my life. 

To complicate things more, when my youngest was about 1 ½, I was in a car accident in which I hit black ice on the freeway and totaled the little pickup I was driving.  Literally, because of the grace of God and guardian angels, no other cars were involved and I came out of it with little more than a huge knot on my forehead and some achy muscles.  This traumatized me more than I knew.  I thought I was going to die but had nothing physical to show for it. 

                About 3 months after the accident was when my husband quit his job, which for many would be a negative stress.  However, this was actually a positive change for me because it meant a husband who was not on call and leaving in the middle of the night.  He set his own hours and his whole demeanor was more relaxed because of this change.  Still, there was the unknown of how we would make it financially, but we had money saved and the future looked good in that respect. 

                A couple of months later, against my better judgment, I went on birth control pills.  I had been on them before having children without any problems, but never liked the idea of messing with my hormones like that.  The next 4 months were a hormonal nightmare.  As I tried to act normal while my insides were freaking out, I could definitely feel the internal stress rising.  The doctor didn’t want me to make any changes to the birth control until I had tried it for 4 months.  If I had listened to my gut, it would have said “to heck with the doctor, something is not right”.  But, I didn’t listen because I had trained myself to push through no matter how I felt if I thought it was what I was supposed to do. 

                That same summer, everything was coming to a head with my oldest daughter’s emotional issues (by then she was 4 years old).  We were at the end of our ropes with her and ready to figure out what was really going on.  When we finally made the appointment with a professional at the end of the summer, we had a month’s wait – way too long for parents who had already waited too long…

                A month before my body gave out on Labor Day Weekend, we had planned a family vacation to visit relatives who live on Lake Michigan (we live in Oregon).  I tried hard to make the vacation a positive experience, but unfortunately everything that could go wrong, went wrong.  It started with a major meltdown from my 4-year-old in the airport before we even got on the airplane.  When we arrived in Michigan is was the hottest and most humid weather they had experienced all summer and we just happened to be staying in a rental cabin with no A/C.  Our relatives’ house didn’t have it either.  And the water in the bay was like warm bath water.  The local café and iced coffee became my only respite on that trip.  Because of the heat, I don’t think any of us ever slept more than 2 hours a night the whole week we were there.  On the plane ride back I felt like the walking dead.  I remember thinking, “How long can the human body function in this state?”

                Apparently not long.  About 1-2 weeks later we went camping with family and didn’t sleep for those 2 nights because of our screaming children in the middle of the night.  The next weekend was Labor Day Weekend. 

                There was the answer to my question.  My body could hold out no longer.

Holistic Medical Doctors Many people, due to insurance restrictions, are unable to take advantage of the services of an “alternative” practitioner such as a naturopath or chiropractor.  To find an MD who is more holistic and “integrative”, you might search www.acamnet.org for the American College for the Advancement of Medicine.  I have been impressed with several docs who have written about natural therapies who are members of this organization. You can search for a doctor or naturopath through their website.

Nutritional Therapy Practitioners practice in many parts of the US. You can look at www.nutritionaltherapy.com and click “Referral List” on the sidebar and search. While many do not bill insurance, Nutritional Therapists often offer their services at very affordable prices compared to doctors.

Also, health advocate and blogger Jimmy Moore has a great website called “http://lowcarbdoctors.blogspot.com/” which shows, state-by-state, doctors who practice a low-carb/grain free nutritional approach to disease management.  This is an especially helpful list for those who are suffering from digestive disorders and diabetes who may still be seeking answers for their conditions.

The Price-Pottenger Foundation  has a list of practitioners who practice medicine with a holistic, nutritional foundations approach.

Applied Kinesiolgy Is a form of energetic muscle testing utilized by many chiropractors, osteopaths, and naturopaths.  Practitioners who utilize applied kinesiology incorporate nutrition, alignment, herbs, and homeopathy into their healing protocols. For a list of doctors who utilize applied kinesiology, go here:

Metabolic Typing is a program by which a Metabolic Typing practitioner gathers information about you to determine your metabolic type.  Metabolic Typing practitioners then guide clients through their protocol based on their metabolic type.  If you’ d like an excellent explanation of metabolic typing, take a few minutes to read this. To find a Metabolic Typing Practitioner by state, go here. 

Orthomolecular Physicians are practitioners who utilize nutritional therapy and biochemical individuality to create a personalized nutrition plan to balance the body and promote healing.  Orthomolecular medicine and psychiatry are used all over the world. To find a practitioner, go here.

The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians has an amazing search feature by which you can search by specialty and state for a qualified Naturopathic Physician.

The American Holistic Medical Associationhas a beautiful mission statement, including the belief in the healing power of love. How beautiful! To find an MD or other pracitioner who practices holistic medicine, check out this search function.

If there are other search engines or listings that you know of, I would love to add them to this list. I will eventually make this post a page on my blog so that people can easily reference this resource in one place.

I sincerely hope that this information will help you in locating a practitioner who is right for you!

This post is a part of Works for Me Wednesday hosted by “We are THAT family”.

Moderation or Cold Turkey?

There are two schools of thought on this one.  I say that it depends upon the health of your child.  Refined carbs (white flour, white sugar, even white rice) are stripped of all of their nutrients and thus actually deplete the body of mineralsduring digestion.  Not to mention the triggering of insulin, which over time, can become resistant and can lead to type II diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and obesity.  So the main quesiton is: How much is okay in moderation?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself with regard to sugar and moderation:

1. How many minerals do I want my child’s growing body to waste in order to process this “toaster pastry”?

2.How many empty calories do I want to give my child today?

3. How much insulin would I like my child’s pancreas to produce in order to deal with the effects of these foods?

Reasonably speaking, I think moderation with white flour/white sugar would look like one serving, one time per week, if at all.  The truth is, white sugar is addictive (and sugar addiction is linked closely to alcoholism) and if your child is the type who “can’t live without sugar” (as mine was!) then you really have to starve their little bodies of the sugar before they can break the addiction. So again, I say: It depends, but somewhere between none and a little bit.

Tips for the Transition

Everyone loves their treats, and I joke that I give my kids just as many treats as the next parent; only my rule is that a “treat’ is something that is nutrient-dense, full of good fats, protein, and unrefined, whole-food sweeteners (primarily using real fruit, raw honey, and stevia).

Here are some random tips, in no particular order, just some ideas that work for us. 

Note: If you suspect your child has candida, you really do need to get rid of all sweeteners (even natural ones) except for perhaps stevia. Grains and starches should also be eliminated for a time.  If you suspect that your child is suffering from a sugar addiction or candida, I strongly suggest taking him/her to a wholistic nutritionist or naturopath who can specifically guide you on a path to healing.  The GAPS dietis also an incredibly helpful therapeutic diet that healed my daughter of candida.

1. Know that above all else, your child’s body will eventually not miss the refined stuff.  I never thought that could possibly be true with our daughter who was so carb addicted, (and don’t get me wrong, she still loves an occasional, wholesome treat) but it’s so true! Their bodies really do want real, nutrient-dense food.  Once you break the sugar addiction cycle (which can be anywhere from 10-40 days), the body will start to crave less and desire nutrient-dense food.

2. Get the junk out of the house (if at all possible).If you have a disagreeable spouse or older child who is entrenched in their habits, you might need to settle for a lock box.  Point being, if every “choice” in your refrigerator/freezer/pantry is one you can live with your child eating, then you are much more likely to have success. Therefore, get rid of juice (try a fruity iced herbal tea flavored with stevia), boxed crackers, cookies, granola bars, pasta, etc.

3. Find good quality substitutions, but use them sparingly.  Brown rice pasta is a reasonable substitute for wheat noodles (although it’s still very starchy, and those in the candida category need to find other innovative pasta bases, like my zucchini noodles or kelp noodles).  Almond flour is an incredible substitute for wheat flour. With its balanced, nutrient-dense profile of fats, minerals, and protein it is an ideal choice for crackers, cakes, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, and breading.  I highly recommend amazing food blogger Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Let me caution, however, that it’s easy (and expensive) to go overboard with gluten-free substitutions. It’s better to ultimately learn to live with less baked goods are more whole, real foods. We need to get to the point where an apple or orange is an amazingly indulgent dessert.  I also highly recommend Bruce Fife’s Cooking with Coconut Flour.  Both of these books have inspired birthday cakes and desserts that have gotten rave reviews by “regular folks”.  These books (and countless others) provide recipes for pizza crust, pancakes, pie crusts, cobblers, and cookies that are gluten free and refined sugar free!

4. Avoid poor quality substitutions.  One of my biggest problems with the whole “gluten free” movement is that I think it misses the boat in that it often substitutes one high-carb paradigm for another.  Nearly all of the gluten-free baking mixes on the market use cane sugar (often refined), white rice flour, and countless starches, such as potato starch. All of these components render these goodies pretty high on the glycemic index, thus not really being good at all.  Always read the labels; better yet, buy food without a label (or make it yourself!). It will be a great day when there are gluten-free baking mixes that include almond flour and coconut flour as their main components!

5. Make sure your child is getting enough good quality fats. Fats are critical for the absorption of many key nutrients for immunity, such as fat-soluble A and D.  Fats also give us a feeling of satiation and they balance our blood sugar as well.  Virgin, unrefined coconut oil is ideal for its antimicrobial and antiviral properties. It’s also a medium-chain fatty acid, which means that it is absorbed in the small intestine and doesn’t require bile salts to be released to break them down. Thus, MCFAs provide quick energy and facilitate the body’s transition to using fats for energy.  Organic butter, nuts, avocados, raw whole milk, seeds, animal fats, and coconut oil are all good quality fats.

6. Be firm.  You are the parent, you don’t have to give in.  And if they refuse to eat the gluten free food you are providing, let them go ahead and starve for a day (I promise they will eat eventually and will be fine).  When hunger comes from the stomach rather than the taste buds, it’s amazing how appetizing a plate of broccoli drizzled with butter is.  Be sure to provide “incentives” for eating their dinner, such as a delicious whole food treat. Nut balls are an easy and quick treat most kids love.  If they refuse to eat your dinner, you may want to find a “reasonable compromise” that requires no work for you to prepare that they can eat instead. (In our family, you are welcome to eat the dinner I make or a can of sardines or hard-boiled egg).  The alternatives are acceptable to me, easy to prepare, and not particularly appealing!

7. Start young. I plead with you!!! If you have a nursing baby who is just about to start solids, let me gently plead with you to make good choices from the start, and you will never have to backpedal and take away the bad.  Our second child was on real, whole foods from the start and we never compromised with candy, sugar, wheat, etc.  Instead, we fed him liver pate as a baby, introduced sardines shortly after 12 months, gave him lots of broths, seaweed, and all sorts of nutrient-dense foods.  He still loves them now, and has a taste for them rather than the empty foods. It’s so much easier to raise them without bad foods from the start if you can!

8. Accept your limitations and be okay with it.  If you are in a situaiton where you can’t control all the meals your child is eating, don’t worry.  If your child is getting a steady dose of wholesome meals at home, chances are the effects of the junk will be mitigated and it may not even be all that appealing. 

9. If you are able to, pack food for your child to take to school/church/scouts/soccer/camp/etc.  I’m in the habit of always taking something with us wherever we go in case my children are hungry and there is nothing they can eat.  I often grab basic, portable things like crispy nuts, dried fruit, smoked salmon or jerky, and raw cheese.  Play the “allergy card” because most places that work with children understand this and comply.

10. You teach, you teach, you teach.  Teaching our children how to make good choices when they are not with us is a crucial life skill, and is something worth talking about often.  I’ve taught my children how to discriminate between “real food” and “fake food” and we always read labels.  We look at the weekly grocery store circulars and I point to various items and we talk about healthy and non-healthy choices.  I know, I’m a total nerdy nutcase!!!  But it’s worth it because I can really trust my 4 year old not to sneak the cookie off the kid’s table at church, or take the lollipop from the Trader Joe’s cashier (or even put up a “but whhhhhy Mommy??!??!?”). 

Another great thing is to help the children learn to cook. It’s amazing to me how much more likely my kids are to eat what I make when they help me prepare it!  Even children as young as 9 months old can “help” while being carried in a sling or front pack to see what’s going on.

I hope these have been somewhat helpful, and offer this last thought: I think that fundamentally our bodies know how it feels to be healthy, and sugar is a major health inhibitor.  Once we get it out of the body, we begin to function better, have more focus, more energy, and more peace.

Sure there are lots of things to say…but so often there’s no time to say it…rather there’s almond bread to bake (from the fabulous new book by Elana), or apples to core and dehydrate, or veggies to chop and prep so that dinner and lunch can come off with out much of a hitch.  There are lessons to to teach and puzzles to do and books to read and blocks to build, pictures to draw, math to discover, science to observe, prayers to pray, lots more heirloom tomatoes to havest then I ever thought possible— I guess what I’m saying is that I’m finding that the life of mothering is a more than full time job that doesn’t always leave a lot of extra time for musing.

That said, I’ve felt a call to add even another big exciting hunk of goodness to the plate of my life.  I’m taking my immense passion for nutrition, health (especially children’s), and real food and have enrolled in the Nutritional Therapist Practitioner Training program!  It’s an intensive, 1-year practical, hands-on paraprofessional program giving me clinical experience and training necessary to be able to perform functional evaluations and to create personalized nutrition plans to improve the health of my “clients”. 

Now, I’m not really gonna get carried away with the whole business/client thing just yet. For now I am just satisfied with basking in the immense truth of learning about the amazing human body machine rather than figuring out how to monetize it.  If I end up with some skills that can help others on the other end of this, then that would be awesome. If anyone pays me to do this, that would just be a bonus. 

The truth is that nutrition is the foundation of health, and in so many ways needs to be addressed before dealing with other, more complicated physical and psychological issues a person may be dealing with.  I’m not saying nutrition can fix everything, but certainly it’s high time the very science of how we as living organisms interact with our food was given some solid consideration by the health care field.

The truth is that no pill, herb, homeopathic remedy, theraputic massage/manipulation, or energetic technique will be effective if the body does not have the essential building blocks it needs to property function.  Nutrition is about restoring the balance within the body’s system for optmum function, thereby allowing the body to heal itself.  Not that drugs, herbs, homeopathics, and the like don’t have their theraputic place on the spectrum; they certainly do. But I suggest nutrition be the first thing on the “flowchart of health” to be addressed. When we can say “yes” to “Does patient have optimum nutrition?”, then we can move down the line of interventions to see how drastic we need to go in terms of remedies.

Needless to say, I’m so excited. I’ve been wanting to be in the health care field for a long time; but I opted for the education field because my love for mathematics and teaching is as strong as my love for nutriton and health care. The two fields aren’t as different as they seem, because as a teacher and private tutor I have become very intrigued by learning disabilities– perhaps the greatest challenge the teacher must overcome.  As a parent of a neurologically compromised and “food-damaged” child (as in my child’s digestive system was compromised very early in her life due to processed baby formula, antibiotics, and grains), the nutrition-brain connection has been highlighted even more.

As I followed the white rabbit down the trail of neurological research, I came increasingly upon the connection between optimal nutrition, gut health, and the brain.  It’s so incredible how the human body is made, and how it really is able to heal when given the proper nutrients and other stimuli (I say “other stimuli because neurological healing requires a good deal more than proper nutrition, yet could not be possible without it).

All this is to say that if you don’t see as many posts up as often, it’s probably because I’m feverishly squeezing my last bit of free “computer time” in order to be doing homework and reading.  I might try to multi-task, wherever it makes sense, and post some insights that I’m learning from the classes and craft my essays in the form of blog posts. I will also probably do lots of “thinking out loud”.

And oh my gosh, it’s 1:21 AM.  I’ve finished The Omnivore’s Dilemma (isn’t it about time I’ve read that one?) so I’ll probably be sharing my review of that book later this week.  I’ve got three more hours of DVD lectures to view before Wednesday (and I vow not to do that kind of thingwhile the kids are awake) and several, several pages of Anatomy and Physiology and Nutrition textbooks to read.  Life is good.

I was listening to a caller on Dr. Laura today who was trying to figure out how to get her husband to lose weight. Dr. Laura said in no uncertain terms do not tell him he needs to lose weight. You have all the power. Cook nutritious meals, get the junk out of the house, and make time to allow him to exercise in ways that he wants to that are enjoyable for him.

I thought to myself “Yep. That’s it”. Dr. Laura gave some sort of conventional wisdom advice about lots of veggies and low calories, which isn’t exactly what I believe is most effective, but whatever.  The spirit of the advice was right on.  It’s a start anyway. 

Well, here it is, in my beloved’s own words, an update on how his health and weight loss journey has gone. I wanted to share it with my readers to inspire them that change is possible, and while it may take a lot of time, it can happen with patience and perseverence:

This summer has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that getting back into the Primal Lifestyle was long overdue. Here is my three month progress report, with a few observations at this landmark juncture:

June 1st: 208 lbs
July 1st: 199 lbs
August 1st: 193 lbs
September 1st: 183 lbs

Observations:

Bottom line: 25 pounds of almost pure BF loss in three months. No radical swings either; just a steady 2lbs/wk transition from glucose to ketones as the body’s primary energy source. I’ve lost about 6 inches off my waist and can wear clothes I haven’t been able to wear for years. (I still have about 10-15 lbs of excess BF to go).

The benefits of eating Real Food are numerous and greatly empowering. For example, it is liberating to reject the stupidity of conventional wisdom and just eat what makes sense. Most of what is peddled about food/nutrition these days is recycled PR from AgriBiz & Big Pharma and just simply not true. In many cases this advice is criminally & intentionally false (e.g. “whole grains & vegetable oils are healthy, saturated fat causes heart disease, you need 10+ servings of carbs per day, etc, etc”). Why do we assume that what Big Business & Big Government say is in our best interest? You wouldn’t get into a space craft designed by chefs and built in a kitchen, so why do you eat food designed by scientists and created in labs?

I only exercise 4 hours per week, total. Goodbye, 2 hour-long jogs on the treadmill. Seriously, if you use your body the way God made it, you don’t need to torture it to get results. My basic routine is 5x45min sessions/wk — HIIT 2-3/wk @ 5-8x of 15-45-sec intervals + power walking and some very minimal light jogging). Oh, and I haven’t even started weight lifting yet which means I haven’t even gotten started in seeing really stunning results. Once I add a primal weight training regiment to the repertoire, I should see further gains in muscle mass & definition, endurance, and further fat loss. And only with 20-30mins per session, max.

I usually only eat 2-3 times per day and am never hungry. Seriously, no cravings. And no calorie counting or deprivation. I eat primal when I’m hungry and move on. If I miss a meal/want to fast, no problem as I have no drop in energy or mental acuity. Ridiculously simple. And it makes total sense from an evolutionary and spiritual perspective.

My energy levels are significantly improved. I can wrestle and run with the kids and not get winded after 5 minutes like I used to earlier this year. I can come home from sprint intervals and still clean up the house. I can stay up late and not be fatigued the next morning. Best of all, I’m coming back from the brink of what was almost a major adrenal collapse.

Some habits die hard: I’m still trying to kick the coffee addiction. Still not sleeping as much or as well as I need to. Lunches are still a little less than ideal at times. I still need to add weight lifting. My flexibility isn’t where I need it to be. All good goals to work on!

Conclusion: I promised myself that, this time around, I wasn’t looking back. So far, so good!

After the birth of my first child more than four years ago, I really struggled to lose the weight. I gained an enormous amount of weight (nearly 70 pounds, and my daughter was only 5 pounds, 6 oz!). Since these days the midwives don’t worry about how much weight you gain (and rightly so, in most cases!), no one waved a red flag.

As it turned out, I had a defective placenta and an umbilical chord abnormality known as “single umbilical artery”. Due to the nature of my pregnancy (a hands-off, home birth midwifery that ended with a crash, 2-weeks-overdue C-section in the hospital) I had no idea of this abnormality beforehand. The theory is that there was a lack of nutrients going to my baby throughout the pregnancy resulting in my weight gain and Kirsten’s lack thereof. So while my body kept telling me to eat for my baby’s sake, my baby got only a portion of what was meant for her. This has lead to lots of *interesting* “complications” with my daughter’s health. I know I haven’t blogged a whole lot about my daughter’s health issues (other than the food sensitivities) and it’s simply because it’s a novel. I can’t even intro a postpartum weight loss topic without having to devote several paragraphs to set the stage…..there’s a lot there. I promise to write more about my daughter’s healing journey soon.

So my normally 126 lb frame had an extra 40 pounds for months and months after the birth of my daughter, and since I had never been that size, I literally didn’t know what to do. I was an emotional wreck given the traumatic, near-death nature of my daughter’s birth. I was struggling to supply her breastmilk and working very hard to build my supply. I couldn’t fit into any of my “normal clothes” and had to buy a whole new set of everything for my new frame. My marriage was suffering because of all the transition and trauma.

On top of all of this, my body was malnourished from a poor pregnancy and pre-pregnancy diet. Oftentimes, when trauma to the body occurs (as in an unexpected, emergency C-section) the body undergoes so much stress that many other chronic issues begin to unfold. Food intolerance, hair loss, fatigue, depression, etc. were all affects I experienced.

I also had a horrible case of candida and the carb cravings were out of this world. I would beg my husband to run to the store to pick up an apple pie and eat half of it in one sitting. I remember craving and eating store-bought cake several times a week, and looking forward to any event that might have cake (and unfortunately, there were lots).

After several months, a very blunt acquaintance of mine asked if I was struggling to lose weight. Uh, yeah. Sort of. Had I ever heard of coconut oil for weight loss? No, coconut oil? How could eating fat make you lose weight?

Well, the journey was on, and I began to research everything I could about coconut, which lead me to nourishing traditions, seasonal/local eating, whole food nutrition, juicing, and raw milk. The rest is history, but suffice to say I got back into a size 4 and back to my 126 pounds….just in time for pregancy #2!!! Isn’t that how it works?

But thankfully, after encorporating the following principes, the weight fell off much quicker the second time around!

DISCLAIMER: This weight loss regimen started well after my daughter was eating solid foods (after 12+ months). While I was still lactating, her primary nourishment came from whole foods. Thus this weight loss regimen did not affect the nutrition of my breastmilk. If you are nursing and trying to lose weight, please make sure that you are not short-changing the nutrition of your breastmilk. Most of these tips are totally compatable with nursing, but if you have any concerns see a certified lactation specialist!

*Take Coconut oil (1-2 TBS 20 min. before each meal. Antiviral, antifungal, and very healing. Also helps boost a sluggish metabolism, which is the key to loosing weight).

*Watch the Carbs. Eat no more than 1 serving of grains per day, and make sure they are whole grains, preferably gluten-free. If you are sedentary, you might consider foregoing the grains as they are high in carbs. Instead, get your carbs from fresh fruit and veggies. Eat about 1/2 a plate worth of veggies at each meal and 1/4 plate of grassfed or pasture-raised meat . The other 1/4 could be a grain or a starch (like potato). Go easy on starches for weight loss. I personally eat no grains and find that I have much more energy and the clothes fit much looser!

*NOTE: If you are nursing, you can increase your grain consumption if you find that eating grains helps your milk supply. Quinoa and oatmeal, when properly prepared (i.e. soaked in 1 TBS of lemon juice or whey for 12 hours before cooking), are known to stimulate milk supply. Just keep portion control in mind, as it’s easy to fill up on grains, and with their high carbohydate count, anything that is not burned off within about 24 hours gets stored as fat.

*Exercise regularly. I loved to “run/walk” and felt that I really slimmed down when I started this. Walk for 5 mins., sprint for 1 min, repeat (vary the times as needed). Short, intense bursts of energy burn calories without wiping you out. I did this while pushing a stroller, so no need for a gym or day-care! I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the T-Tapp program, which I discovered after the birth of my #2. It’s intense, and a little tricky to learn at first, but SOOO worth it. I slimmed down really quick doing these simple exercises post-partum, in time to fit into a bridesmaid’s dress 3 months later!

*Chill: Try to de-stress whenever possible. Pregancy is really tough on the adrenals and many other parts of the body, and stress does NOT help, in fact your body goes into fat-storing mode when your cortisol levels are elevated. I found that adrenal support really helped me (I suggest finding a practitioner who does muscle-testing, which pinpoints exactly which supplement will help support your adrenals; the same things don’t work for everyone).

*Portion Control: Eat a nourishing diet but control your portions! Don’t short change your milk supply, of course, but don’t eat empty foods (like the cakes and pies I was eating!!!) because they just stick to your hips. Lactation is not the time to restrict calories, but focus on maximizing the nutrition for each calorie you consume!

*Drink kombucha. It’s mineral-rich, full of B-vitamins, and is very satiating as a snack. If I’m getting hungry in the afternoon, I always go for kombucha to see if that satisfies me first. If not, then I know my body needs a snack.

*Stock Up: Keep your house stocked with nutrient-dense snacks such as crispy nuts, coconut bark, my homemade “Lara” bars, green popcorn, raw cheese, and plenty of fresh veggies (I love to eat celery and almond butter or celery with a delicious herb-cheese dip). Hard-boiled eggs, nitrate-free lunchmeats, and smoothies are all great for meals on the go, as well. Forget the box of wheat thins!

*Menu Plan: I suggest figuring out a weekly menu plan and doing some big “once a week” cooking, perhaps on Saturday and/or Sunday if time is a premium (as it always is with a new baby!). Enlist well-meaning friends who want to bring meals to instead help you out one Saturday and help you prepare a week’s worth of snacks and simple meals. We’ve found that writing and sticking to a meal plan has helped us resist the urge to go out to eat (which is always less healthy and more calorie-dense!)

*Take notes: I also suggest keeping a food journal. Write down EVERYTHING that crosses your lips and how much. Jot down any notes each day about how you feel. Studies show that folks who keep food journals tend to control their portions better and lose weight!

The picture to the right was taken when my daughter was 19 months old; the time when I finally lost my weight and got my health back under control. Even though I became pregnant within weeks of the picture being taken, I gained a lot less and lost most of the weight within 3 months, and nearly all of it by 6 months. Of course the “C-section belly flab” is probably something to deal with forever, I am continuing to shape and tone my “problem areas” with regular T-Tapp exercises!

What are your postpartum weight loss tips/success stories?

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday and Works for me Wednesday!

For the most part, Jonathan’s pregnancy was textbook. After a traumatic birth with many complications of his older sister, it was nice for everything to go smoothly. I followed a Weston Price diet of raw milk, coconut oil, beef, and cultured beverages daily. I exercised, I wasn’t too stressed. Everything went perfectly, and he was born a good size of 7#, 6 oz just a few days after his due date.

Not everything was perfect, however. My attempt to birth him VBAC had failed due to cephalo-pelvic disproportion (I have very narrow hips and tend to birth big-headed babies who never engage). That wasn’t so bad in itself, but the administration of lots and lots of antibiotics during labor (for Strep B) probably posed a problem for little Jonathan’s gut. I also have a low milk supply due to breast hypoplastia, which is a lack of glandular tissue. I nurse, but must always supplement. Thankfully, I was able to continue nursing my daughter until she was four years old thanks to a device called a Lact-Aid. I thought that perhaps my supply would improve with my second child, but all of the pumping, herbs, and nourishing food I ate did not significantly improve the situation.

Jonathan needed supplementation (as per the lactation specialists and the pediatrician’s advice) so I quickly sought out the ingredients for the Weston A Price Raw Milk formula. I was so proud that I could at least make his food with my own hands, if my body could not. I knew this was far better than anything in a can, and I wasn’t worried in the least about “raw milk germs” because of the immense trust and faith I have in my farmer, Chrissie, who uses immaculate cleanliness practices in her small, certified dairy.

In spite of the near-perfection of the raw milk formula (it was scientifically formulated by Dr. Mary Enig, PhD and world-renown fats expert, to mimic the properties of breast milk as closely as possible) it just didn’t agree with Jonathan. He was gassy, burpy, and spitting up constantly. In an effort to improve the digestibility of the formula, I began using kefir made from raw milk since it is already predigested and full of probiotics. To my utter surprise, this made things worse!

There was lots of spitting up. Feedings spanned 45 minutes to an hour. There was bad gas that was keeping him from being able to sleep. And worst of all, he wasn’t growing.

At every well baby check up in those first three months, he fell a percentile each time. He went from 50th percentile at birth to less than the 5th percentile in 3 months. My pediatrician, being the non-alarmist that she is, patiently allowed nature to take its course a few months before she suggested an acid reflux medication and Nutramagen formula (it’s that expensive formula that smells awful).

At that point, commercial formula was totally out of the question for me. I saw the damage it did to my daughter, and I knew this ultra-high heat processed product was not food. It may have had chemically-formulated vitamins and minerals added, but it was chock full of soybean oil (an industrial waste product) and corn syrup solids. Not real food that my baby needed.

We had explored the breastmilk donor option, but none were available that I trusted, save for my dear sister, XK, who was just getting pregnant with her second at the time! Hope was beginning to dry up. I tried the Liver Formula (using bone broth and chicken livers) from Nourishing Traditions and the results were a less gassy baby for sure, but there was still no growth. In fact, his stools turned an awful dark black which is totally not natural for a baby!

The Nourishing Traditions book has a brief mention of goat milk formula, but doesn’t seem to extol its virtues as much as cow milk, and gives very little information about it. I decided to give it a try since a relative of my husband’s had been raised on raw goat’s milk. He turned out beautifully, so I figured it was worth a try.

I began making phone calls to the limited goat dairies in Oregon. There aren’t many anyway, and all but one had dried their does up for the winter, which is common.

Enter Kim Walters, an amazing Christian mother of 6, including two autistic sons, who homeschools and runs her goat dairy with her husband, Gary (who works a full-time job away from the farm). Kim’s heart’s desire is to help babies just like Jonathan; babies for whom neither breastmilk nor formula are options. Kim has helped many, many babies thrive on the goatie milk, and takes a personal interest in supporting and loving all of us weary moms.

When I first spoke to Kim on the phone, I had lost hope. I knew goat milk would help him, but I couldn’t find a source. When Kim said “I can have 3 gallons for you this afternoon, when can you get here?” I about fainted! Kim said “Of course I’ll help you! You have a baby!!” The Walters family generously sacrifices their own supply, along with other faithful customers, so that a baby in need can come to the top of her list. Since winter is a low producing time for goats, she gets what she can and gives it first to the young ones who need it most.

As soon as we returned home from the goat farm, I immediately fed Jonathan the goat milk. He guzzled the entire 5 ounces down in 5 minutes (remember, it had taken 45 minutes previously!) and I was amazed at the changes I noticed almost immediately. This picture was taken just a few weeks after Jonathan started drinking the goat’s milk. I started noticing that his stools turned yellowish/green. He immediately became more alert and quickly filled out in his face. Within a couple of weeks, we returned for a weight check and found that in two weeks, he had gained two pounds (and he had only been drinking the goat milk for about one week at that point!).

His growth continued to take off. People noticed and commented on how big he looked all of the sudden. His clothes became tighter and there was fat around his wrists. The gas and reflux became a thing of the past overnight.

I believe that goat milk is liquid gold (next to breast milk, of course!). There are too many virtues of goat’s milk to list here, including smaller fat molecules that more closely mimic mother’s milk. The protein structure differs dramatically from cow’s milk, as does the lactose. Essentially, it’s a different chemical altogether. I will devote a separate post in the near future to most specifically talking about the benefits of goat’s milk and share what formula I personally used for Jonathan. Until then, check out this resource for a comparison of raw milk to infant formula/pasteurized formula published in Scientific American.

At this point in time, I made a choice to work more closely with my naturopath in healing Jonathan’s gut, which had been damaged by the prolonged use of cow milk. We gave him L-glutamine to heal the gut lining and additional L-Bifidus probiotics. Although Jonathan grew and developed tremendously on the goat’s milk, he did go through what I believe was an intense detox period as his body let go of accumulated toxins (from undigested cow milk proteins). This manifested itself as a runny nose that was persistent for about 8 weeks total.

In due time, Jonathan’s gut healed and he began to enjoy a variety of nourishing foods. I started him on chicken liver pate and broth, along with avocado, sweet potatoes and egg yolk. Initially his gut was not ready for egg yolk, so we held off until after a year. I introduced sauerkraut and lacto-fermented beets, which he loves. Sardines and salmon were also a favorite, along with butternut squash.

Armed with more information this time around, I was determined not to go down the empty carb path that so many children find themselves on, my first daughter included. I introduced Jonathan to real food from the start, and he got no crackers, pretzels, bread or grains of any kind (babies lack amylase, the enzyme that digests grains, until they get their 2 year molars). Nor did I introduce refined sugar, and I limited fruits so that he could develop a taste for vegetables (covered with plenty of healthy fat like coconut oil and butter). Of course there was also the Cod Liver Oil, which he excitedly takes every day and asks for more! Train them young!

I am so thankful for Kim and for the sacrifices she makes every day for babies like Jonathan. I am incredibly thankful as well for the support I received along the way from my Naturopath and the few close friends who knew the truth (that I was feeding my child raw, homemade formula!) and didn’t give me grief about it! I think the proof was in the pudding, in this case!

I thank God every day for Kim and for his leading me to this much-needed medicine.

I hope someday to keep a goat so that we can free up Kim’s supply for others, but goat milk is a mainstay in my kids’ lives. They both still love their goatie milk and it’s worked wonders to help my daughter as well!

Jonathan is twenty months now and is growing bigger every day. He’s wearing a size 2T, talks in sentences, and has a huge vocabulary. Other than the occasional cough and runny nose, Jonny is healthy, active boy who prefers to walk on his own rather than ride in the carseat. Everyone who knows him can attest to his almost other-worldly sweetness and peacefulness. Always smiling, Jonny brings the joy of life to all he encounters.

My prayer and hope is that more mothers who feel like commercial formula is their only option will be able to try this real food baby formula if they face irreparable milk supply issues as I did. Of course, if you have a low supply, please see a lactation specialist before supplementing! There is LOTS you can do to improve your supply!

For more stories of real food healing, check out Real Food Wednesday hosted by Cheeseslave!