Part of the reason I started this blog is because I'm going back to school to earn a piece of paper that says I'm a health coach. It just validates what I've been doing already. My oldest 2 kids were always sick with asthma, ear infections, you name it. I started changing things in their diet and saw some improvement. Then in the summer of 2007, at 184lbs, cholesterol of 212 and still nursing the 3rd child, something in me snapped. Yup, snapped! My mother was diagnosed with shingles and I couldn't fly to her home to help. I was completely useless and I HATED that feeling. That's when I started researching information that could help her and me at the same time.
During this time, there was a voice inside of me that said, "you don't need a diet again, you know what to do, just do it". So I did. I started walking, then running and walking, doing jumping jacks. Anything that would make me move. All this in the greenway behind our home for the whole world to see. I didn't care, it was all about helping myself so I could help others. That's what we forget. We truly have to take care of ourselves first before we can take care of anyone else.
The baby went in a jog stroller, the older 2 rode their bikes and I sweated my ass off, literally and figuratively. If you know summer in North Carolina, you know it's not the time to be exercising outside. But I felt I had no choice. It was now or never.
Then, I started eating salads everyday. They were huge, enough to feed at least 2 people if not more. Believe it or not, doing this got 20 lbs off of me in 6 months. I felt better than ever, but something was missing. I hit a plateau, so I joined a gym and hired a trainer for 6 months. This took off the remaining 20lbs. So in 1 year, I went from 184lbs, size 16 to 144lbs, size 6. I still felt fat. It wasn't good enough, something was wrong.
During the summer of 2008 I crashed and burned. The doctors said I had depression. I was a maniac. So I took the drugs they gave me and felt even worse. I made them run blood tests and some things came up - anemia, low folic acid, yeast infections, thyroid issues. Guess what, that was the straw - after all that work loosing the weight and now they wanted to put me on all this medication - bullshit. I'm doing something wrong and looking to the wrong people to fix me. Only I can fix me. So I did.
I was feeding my body the wrong foods by trying to match what the government says to eat, what the doctors say to eat. As good as I should have felt, I didn't. My spirit was not being fed either. My consciousness was imprisoned. Enter-the rosary. I am part of a group that prays the rosary weekly and nightly for the intentions of others. Yup, once again, I had no idea what to do or how to do it. But I just did it. Practice makes perfect. Now in 2009, I can say I understand the power of prayer, the power of thought, word and action. How little things add up, good or bad - they add up. Consistency is key.
While praying with this beautiful group of women, I learned that perfection is an illusion. We are capable of so much and should not be imprisoned by our ego or the ego of others. When I say ego, I mean fear because they are one in the same. Also, I became very friendly with the folks at the local Whole Foods. I tried every vitamin and supplement that might help me. Some times I pooped my brains out from it, but I figured better this that being a slave to medication. Eventually I found what worked for my body. And what didn't work.
Now, it's the summer of 2009 and this is what's going on. I'm happy, truly happy. My family is happy. My consciousness has broadened. I know what my body needs and can understand how it talks to me. I'm learning the power of my spirit, and how to use intuition. I'm meeting the most interesting people and understanding unconditional love in a way I never thought possible. I'm getting certified in Reiki and nutrition so that I can share with you what I've learned.
This is what I know - if you want to change, you need to be the change even if you don't know what to do. Talk to anyone and everyone who will listen, ask questions. Take what they know and make it your own. Use it. God speaks to us in many ways. We just have to be open to receiving his message.
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Eat Real, Be Real by Roberta Osborne, 2010 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.eat-real.com.
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This publication reflects my personal experience, opinions and research. For specific medical diagnosis and treatments, refer to a medical professional.