How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time (shoutout to my dad for the classic dad jokes)!
Hey friends! Welcome back. In all seriousness, my dad’s joke is one of the best ways to calm me down when i’m really stressed with too much on my plate. It’s helped me reframe my whole wellness journey because lets be honest - getting well is exhausting! It can be overwhelming to think about totally changing our lifestyles after getting a diagnosis, even if we know we need to.
For me, after my second diagnosis with Steroid Induced Psychosis (which is taking me an additional 2-3 months away from work to recover from), I knew I had to make substantial lifestyle changes, even more than I did after my first Vasculitis GPA and SIP diagnosis. Over the past year and a half, by tackling different targeted areas of my life, it’s worked better than I expected. I truly have seen results and felt better!
These lifestyle changes looked like changing the foods I consume, eliminating alcohol, sleeping more, exercising more, reducing stress in my life, being aware of triggers, setting healthy boundaries, seeing a chiropractor and I could list a lot more. I’m still in the process of these changes and I’m not going to lie, sometimes it is totally overwhelming and I am far from perfect at execution. It also feels unfair at times. Why can’t I go out to ice cream with friends or eat that delicious croissant (insert other unfair feelings applicable to you etc etc)? That’s just not in the cards for me anymore. I realize that people at different ages and life stages may have to cut out or add in different things and by no means are our journeys the same. But either way - life after diagnosis can be difficult, scary and overwhelming. While all of this is true, it’s not the end of the story, and as always I’m here to inspire hope as someone who has been through a difficult diagnosis.
I remember leaving the hospital the first time and googling things like “what to do after autoimmune diagnosis” “what foods can I eat with vasculitis gpa” “what supplements should I take to avoid relapse” “what causes antibodies” and other uninformed searches (please don’t check history, ha). I was desperate for answers outside of just being on medication for the rest of my life, especially when I wasn’t getting any hands on care after leaving the hospital. I am by no means opposed to medicine and I’ve relied on it throughout this whole journey, but I wanted more. I still do. Needless to say this “research” was not very conclusive. If you’re anything like me you can relate to all the noise on the internet today. I didn’t have the mental energy to read hundreds of articles with differing opinions and sources and, honestly, I just wanted to talk to someone who had gone through what I went through… someone to give me some practical tips that actually seemed realistic.
That’s why I started this blog. I know it’s not for everyone but I hope someone feels like they are not alone in this journey and don’t have to do all the research themselves. It can be isolating and demoralizing to feel like there are a million different things you have to change to be healthy.
What if we could reframe our wellness journey to something more like “we get to live a healthy lifestyle and inspire those around us to make healthy lifestyle changes that genuinely make us feel better?” It sounds a whole lot more appealing and motivating. I’m still a work in progress on this one but let me share a few resources that have really blessed me. Don’t worry, I don’t get anything by giving you these recs and I won’t be offended if they aren’t for you. I’ve been blessed with a lot of people in my life who have inspired different areas of clean living for me and i’ve tried to compile a short list below with links. Thanks to all my friends who gave me these recs! A lot of them have been recommended many times which makes them a bit more credible I hope :) talk to ya next time!
Xoxo,
Hannah Rebekah
Recommendations:
(from personal experience ONLY, and certainly not an exhaustive list)
Clean living brands:
Branch Basics (fav and easiest for newbies!!!)
Seventh generation, Meyer’s, Method, Grove, you can get at Target, Walmart etc
Thrive market (great for food, snacks and cleaning supplies and most affordable option!)
Easy swap outs (because trust me I was reluctant too): start with laundry detergent, dish soap, and cleaning sprays
Starting point: https://branchbasics.com/products/starter-kit-oxygen-boost
Functional medicine Dr (my current choice, plenty of others available locally!):
Dr Will Cole
Start with Podcast “The Art of Being Well” to see if you want to invest in the deep dive program AHR “Autoimmune Health Reset”. This is my current treatment plan!
Natural Wellness remedies (paid; no links, look up local options):
Chiropractic care - helped me with sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system connection and communication by aligning spine and other skeletal issues
Acupuncture- helped me release tension and trauma my body holds
Lymphatic massage (or any massage) - helped me release added water weight and fluids my body carries and release harmful toxins, lactic acids etc
Dr Will Cole Gut Reset Program- total gut reset and healing process through bone broth cleanse and supplements
Natural Wellness remedies (free; no links, look up local options):
Breathing exercises- great for nervous system regulation
Swimming or aquatic exercise- really good for stress relief or posture if you’re like me and have terrible posture
Walking (or running (sorry not my thing)) - i try to do 20-30 min per day either outdoors or on a treadmill. Helps my braIn heal and good for stress relief.
Being in nature at least 30 min per day - walking, hiking or sunshine & ocean for added bonus
Gardening - great way to exercise your pain and release built up stress, trauma. more on this later after interview with my garden guru friends!
Yoga (free or paid depends on program) - great for nervous system regulation and strength building in a safe way for our bodies
Food diets (food blog coming later once I can interview my food guru friends):
Whole 30 elimination diet - recommend doing with friends or accountability partner! Pick a month when you’re home because traveling is tough. Really helps you get to know your body for free by slowly adding back foods and noticing triggers.
Dr Will Cole Gut Reset - as mentioned above this one is really intensive and much more expensive but if a total reset is needed I recommend checking it out! I’m currently in the program now and so far good results.
Overall healthy eating goal - more whole, natural foods, less processed and packaged foods, more cooking and less eating out! Start with mindfulness and go from there.