Eat, Explore & Enjoy: Quick Iowa Visit & Natural Healing

If you keep up with me on Instagram (or the side bar of the blog), you know I'm still here! Just busy. Isn't this photo peaceful? I put it as my new background on my computer I like it so much. I snapped it out the window on our drive through Kansas last week.

We took off at the end of last week to Iowa City to see my Aunt Melissa. She had been at the hospital for a few weeks and had more and more complications come up. We wanted to be there after a tough week with a not so great outlook. It was so good to be with family again, get hugs, pray together, and reassure each other. Praise the Lord, I get to share Aunt Melissa is home now! She'll continue going to the hospital in DSM for Chemo, but after a few weeks in the hospital, is finally home.

These were the beautiful springy flowers in Aunt Melissa's room. Aren't they so pretty? I love this arrangement.

Hi, Kansas!

A sweet co-worker gave me this book after we talked about trying more natural alternatives to treat fibromyalgia. As I shared in my last post, I'm seeking other methods of healing other than prescriptions (I've tried so many that fail to help). This book is insightful! This author I believe has many other books with the same theme of natural healing.

I've met with the naturopath twice now and continue to learn more of her ideas to help me get better, and hopefully get off my prescriptions at some point. We set a few goals we're working toward and I'm hopeful to get there.

Naturopath notes:

She did research on the prescriptions & supplements I currently take and gave me recommendations. I'll try some new supplements she thinks can help.

She was surprised after seeing all of the prescriptions I take that I still have chronic pain and chronic headaches.

The muscle relaxer I take each night she said is typically used for a few weeks (probably after an accident or injury)- I've been taking it for 20 months. There's no doubt that I'm dealing with side effects from some of my meds that aren't making things easier. That's one of my goals though - I really want to live life without all of these prescriptions that I'm not sure even help at all anymore.

Here are other things I noted:

Drink lemon in water every day (helps detoxify) - 1 full glass in the morning before eating/drinking anything else.
Drink 1-2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar mixed with some before meals (helps detoxify & prep organs for digesting)
Less microwaving, less frozen meals
More protein! I did a 5-day diet diary, noting everything I ate, drank, how I slept, how my symptoms were throughout the day. She highlighted on my log the foods I was going to as a pick-me-up and believes my blood sugar gets low, so I reach for my snacks which don't help. Adding more protein is making a difference on my energy and feeling full already. I ate healthy snacks throughout the day (grapes, banana, granola bar), but they didn't have protein, so would leave my energy tank empty. Adding hummus and peanut butter so far (peanut butter & banana for a morning snack - sliced peppers/celery & hummus in the afternoon) have already made a noticeable difference on my brain fog too.
Be aware of foods impacts on my good sugar - my diet was spiking and dropping my blood sugar all day which didn't help any of my symptoms. She gave me a list of high glycemic fruits & veggies to limit. Check out symptoms of hypoglycemia/low blood sugar - I have had so many of them for so long! It'd be great if this can really help me.
Look into my adrenal glands and see if I have adrenal fatigue going on (I take a saliva test this weekend to be shipped off to the lab to see what they find). Stress levels are hard on so many of our adrenal glands, I keep hearing about adrenal fatigue.
Antibiotic & hormone free meat
Do 5 minutes of yoga 2x per day
Practice deep breathing 2x per day
Add more protein to my smoothies - I already had peanut butter, but I've added a small handful of walnuts now too. They blend easily in my Ninja with my almond milk, cinnamon, fruits & veggies. It really does help me last longer and keep my brain sharper all morning.

There's much more, but that's a good update for now! I thought I was eating well, but I understand different perspectives now that can hopefully help my body process better.

This was my first bottle of Kombucha a few weeks ago- I have a few other flavors in the fridge to try. What do you think about it? I've heard of the great benefits and figure it's worth a try!

My boys on our afternoon of running errands a few weeks ago. Ranger is just shy of 8 months old - isn't that wild?! Wasn't it just a few months ago we met this puppy?

Ranger and I after work yesterday. He's SO excited when we get home from work, though he looks not-so-happy in this photo - ha! I love how the color on our walls look in this photo too!

I baked these beauties last night - minty triple chocolate cupcakes! Dairy and gluten free of course - use the triple chocolate cupcake recipe and I added peppermint instead of vanilla and added it in the frosting too. I love minty chocolate!