Are you a Person of Fear or a Person of Action?

 

My father died 5 years ago (Sept. 2008) after suffering with Alzheimer’s  for over 10 years, and then my mother died of a rare cancer a year and a half later (April 2010). So right after losing both of them, I became a bit fearful for my own health. Every time I would lose a thought or forget something I was AFRAID that I was getting Alzheimer’s, just like my Dad. Or when I experienced a new pain: in my back, in my elbow, in my knee – I was sure it was cancer. My mother was told by her doctor that she had the flu, was given pills, went on vacation expecting to get better, still didn’t feel that great, got it checked out at a nearby hospital, found she had cancer, and died a month later. There was fear in my soul. How did I know whether every ailment I had wasn’t a warning sign for cancer and wasn’t silently killing me; or that Alzheimer’s wasn’t slowly eating away at my brain?

Watching friends and loved ones suffer with disease or die of cancer causes us, to some degree, to live in fear. We look around and see sickness, disease and cancer at every corner and wonder when it’s going to knock at our door, or the door of OUR loved ones. I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to live in that fear anymore. Why should you wait for a doctor’s scalpel or diagnosis for cancer? Why should you wait for the doctor to tell you “you have a chronic condition, and here are your pills for the REST of your life”? Your health is a gift. What are you doing to preserve that gift? Do you want your future years to be filled with pain and pills? Doctors can keep us alive for years, but what is the quality of life? Just because we’re 70 years young, doesn’t mean that we should settle for an inferior quality of life. How many times has your doctor told you, “This ailment is a result of age”; “You’re getting older, you need to expect this”? I say, "No". We don’t have to put up with ailments and frailments. We can put a stop to ills and pills. Say, “No” to surgeries and statins. “How do we do this”, you say?

We live in an amazing age of information. A year and a half after my mother died, my husband and I went to Italy for a vacation and while we were there I started noticing some major ailments. Every time I had gelato I became extremely fatigued. An hour later I would be fast asleep. And every night I suffered from something new called Restless Leg Syndrome, (although I didn’t know the name of it then). These were new ailments that hadn’t plagued me before. What was I doing differently in Italy that would cause these new ailments? (You also have to realize that my mother found out she had cancer while we were on vacation together in Florida – so again, this brought a nagging fear that the same could happen to me). But we live in the age of “google”, do we not? We can “google” virtually anything. So I started on a quest, right there in Italy, to google and learn. I continued to research when I got home. I started getting real answers when I heard a YouTube talk by Dr. Terry Wahls who cured herself of MS with nutrition! This intrigued me and I wanted to learn more so I bought her book and became hopeful.

 

Then a friend found a book and offered to do a Detox together. I was ready. That book changed my life. I became a sponge for healthy knowledge at that point. After the 21 day detox, my knee, elbow and swollen ankle ailments were completely gone. I had eliminated allergenic foods from my diet for those 3 weeks and knew that my ailments were food related. So as I brought back one food after another I was able to determine that gluten and dairy were the culprits. Once I took these two foods completely out of my diet I began to lose weight, quickly, at the rate of 3 pounds a week. After 4 months I had lost over 40 pounds and continued to lose weight in the months to come.  

The best thing about my new found health was that I didn’t feel afraid anymore. First of all, my ailments were gone, including forgetting things. In fact, my brain felt alive and I had a memory like never before. I was reading and retaining and I was also recalling information from the past that I usually relied on my husband for. Now when we try to remember a name or place, I can recall it before he does. After two years of researching, learning and eating nutritionally, I can finally say that the FEAR of disease and cancer is gone. I look and feel more than 10 years younger. The more I learn, the healthier I become and my outlook on life has changed dramatically. Now when I see me in my future years, I don’t see surgeries and pain and pills and weakness. I’ve come to realize that I can take back my health and can live a vibrant productive life. And who knows, maybe even live past 100, which means I’m only half done with my life. When I think of the possibilities of what I can accomplish with another 50 years, it’s staggering. I feel like I’ve been given a new lease on life.

Instead of the mentality of retirement because of tiredness and “coming to the end”, I have the mentality of “a second career” and enjoyment; a sense of purpose because there’s a lot to be done! Part of my purpose is to help others realize they don’t have to “settle” for an inferior quality of life. Doctors have some answers, but they don’t have ALL the answers. There are alternatives. And the alternatives are things that you can implement through knowledge, determination and discipline. Take an active part in your quality of life. “What can I do”, you say? You can start by knowing there IS a better way, there are alternatives. As you educate yourself, hope will be revived and fear will be pushed in the corner. And then you must take action. 

Each change you make away from the Standard American Diet (processed food) and the lifestyle of the couch potato (sitting in front of the TV or computer), the better quality of life you will experience. Make one change, one step at a time. But make these changes for life. Put aside the temporary mentality. Start by adding good things to your diet - foods with important nutrients: greens, vegetables, and fruits. Then eliminate that one thing from your diet you know is robbing you of health; a habit you’re holding on to that you KNOW isn’t good: I bet you already know what it is.

 

Then add one activity that you could easily do that will bring movement into your life, even walking. The important thing is to take one step at a time and commit to continuing those steps for life. Remember, this isn’t a temporary fix, this is a lifestyle change to keep you off the slippery slope of disease and fear. And then, be a life learner. Keep educating yourself. There is much to learn. Make it a part of your weekly routine. There are books and blogs and magazines and documentaries galore. You could listen to lectures or take a healthy cooking class. There are classes in Yoga or Zumba or dance. Or you could hire a health coach to steer you in the right direction.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Each year we do nothing we slip into “disease” mode and we take more and more trips to the doctor and add more and more pills to our coffer. Our bodies do an amazing job at keeping us disease and cancer free, but not if we sabotage it with toxic foods, stress, bad relationships, and no activity. YOU can make a difference in your health. You may have ailments knocking at your door but you don’t have to answer. You can keep them at bay with healthy choices. So what’s your game plan? Why not carve out some time this week to think about the changes you need to make. What is it that you can do this week to take back your health? Why not start today. You’re worth it.