I am pretty sure that the #1-way Satan keeps us small is by making us believe that we are the only ones facing the challenges we face – big or small. I know this to be true throughout my entire life and this most recent wilderness journey has been no exception. Lately, I have been having a resurgence of my chronic inflammation symptoms. This most recent journey has been going on for just shy of four years and it has been one that feels relentless. It all started on July 5th, 2020. I remember this day because we waited for the day after Independence Day to take our (new to us) boat on the lake. And it just so happened that on that lake is where I met up with a tick that would ultimately change my life with the disease he shared with me. Sometime mid-August I decided to go to the doctors because I couldn’t lift my leg to get into the car. There was a huge red circle and it was hot to touch. The pain was so significant that it kept me up at night and one look at the ultra sensitive area right where my bathing suit covered at the top of my leg and my doctor could not believe just how ‘angry’ it looked. Antibiotics helped the disease, but my residual symptoms are still with me. Since right around this time, and if it is not chronic Lymes it is uncanny timing, I have had a searing, itchy, painful rash that every specialist I saw from dermatology – allergy couldn’t understand. It feels like fire ants on my skin and for some reason the rash targets my forearms, low legs, chest and back. At its worst it spread to my torso, but that didn’t stay too long. I went for 3 years unable to wear any type of white shirt or light pants because I would inevitably scratch a scab off and bleed on them. It’s not that dark clothes made me scratch less, it was just less obvious. I joked with my kids that they should call me polka-dot Mom.
After sitting in my allergists office and hearing that allergy testing no longer applies to me because my body was so inflammed and angry with me (for some yet to be learned reason) I realized I needed to figure this out. Don’t get me wring, the team of physicians I had workig with me were incredibly intelligent, wise people who ultimnately became friends that practiced medicine… however no one could figure out what was making me so itchy all the time. In addition to the incessant itch, I also experienced heart palpatations (that would wake me up at night), random dizziness especially when I was standing up or fresh out of the shower (later to be known as Positional Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (a.k.a. POTS), and the pressure/ intense itch that happened just below the surface when I would take showers, especially warm/ hot ones. But nothing about this made me feel like it was time to wave my white flag. And so, I continued to elliminate things from my diet…. At this point I was already avoiding tree nuts (they can kill me due to anaphylactic shock which is life threatening, extreme allergic response), all forms of gluten (due to Celiac Disease), pine sap (which is in a lot more than you think), and carrots (this one is so random and just felt like the cherry on the Sunday to figure it all out because this was a new to me allergy and it was a lot to realize that something so good for me could change literally overnight to something that hurt me).
Right around July 2023, after quite a haul from one of the local Amish markets, I grilled up some corn on the cob and had the most intense reaction I had ever had. There was no doubt in my mind that the intense rash, consistent fatigue and all over discomfort was due to a corn. Real quick: have you ever stopped to think about just how many foods corn is in? How many names it has (and how it is not even required to be listed as an allergen despite how inflammatory it is to most everyone). Well if so, or if it is the first time you are thinking about this… I have you covered. Just about 90% of processed foods contain some form of corn or a corn derivative and 200+ names for corn are currently permissible in the US for nutrition labels – and that does not include the foods that come from corn like xantham gum, erythritol and many many more. It’s bonkers. Seriously, bonkers.
So, I did what any science nerd would do and I started reading. I read and researched and learned as much as I could – and I am still on this mission. My reaction to corn is now so sensitive that when I touch it in any form, my skin instantly bubbles and becomes red and blistered and incredibly itchy. As a final hoorah, I was cleaning out all the flour blends and blended spices we had in our pantry and corn starch ‘poofed’ up on my hand and it felt like a form of acid splashed on my skin… and it kind of looked like it too.
So, if you are still with me – awesome! Thank you for enduring the equivalent to a fold out wallet of pictures for the past 4 years. What I would like to share with you now is how I can help you!
The Standard American Diet (SAD) is very adequetly named SAD because it is. Our nation has tumbled down to some dangerous territory as far as what the majority of us choose to eat to nourish our bodies. Due to our fast paced lifestyle, constant availability, overscheduling habits as well as increasingly less practices that force us to wait… we- as a nation- are stuck in this quick and dirty dining rut.
Luckily for you, I am set on fire (and not in an itchy, bad way) learning about what makes us feel better, what we are doing now and the gap in between. I have taken and will continue to take deep dives into the why’s? how’s? when’s? and what’s? that helped us – a nation full of incredibly smart, capable, wealthy individuals – get to a point where we are the most overweight and under nourished in history.
I believe you are here for a reason and that it is no accident you found me. I could not be more excited to share all I have learned from this wilderness journey, and all I continue to learn from it as we grow and live our everyday lives.
As a wife to a husband who works crazy hours, a homeschooling Mom of 4 atypically wired kiddos, a fur Mom to 6 Great Danes, a Great Pyranees and a German Shorthair Pointer along with several goats, sheep and chickens who help define our homestead… my fuel is to have this experience that nearly broke me, be just what you need to propel you into a healthier, happier you version 2.0!
Just recently I encountered a bit of personal rebellion. I acted out on my frustrations because I was looking at everything I couldn’t eat… which for now is Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Dairy, Corn, Carrots & Gluten and I chose to rebel and eat some things I knew would make me sick. I was under the mindset if I was going to be miserable, I might as well eat what made me happy until I realized all too soon that the joke was on me. When we know better, we are to do better and I was wallowing in my sadness and frustration of what my new normal is/ was. But then my heart reminded me of the one girl, that one woman, Momma, friend, sister, that one person who needed to hear my story so she could find her second wind. Maybe someone that doesn’t like learning all the things and just wants direction… more than likely you are needing some hope and looking for validation in your struggle. I see you. And if this resonates with you, please take my permission to take up the space you require to be who you are and spread your wings.
I do not believe you need to have an intolerance/ allergy to food to cut it from your diet consistently. Most of the foods I cannot eat can cause inflammation in our bodies. There are so many other ways to gather the nutrients we need to live a healthy and happy life. So, come with me on this journey. Hold my hand because I am just a few steps ahead of you. You will see your limitations fade, your nutrition: energy balance improve and your life feel more do-able and less chaotic. Distraction is our enemies best tool. Time goes by and despite our best efforts and hopes we fall back into old ways and allow our self talk and sabotage to say “see I told you so”. But not any more. You’re here. I see you. You matter. Let’s do this!