Archive for category: Family

If you are trying to get pregnant, fighting infertility, or to keep hope in regaining your health, you can win the battle.  The good news is that today I sit here 4 months pregnant and happily in love with my sweet baby girl already!  And I want to share with you how.

Here’s a great website that helped in my journey to holistic health. And the link to the testimonial that made me cry when I read it.  It’s called: Success Story: After 12 Years of Trying, Jade Conceives!  Ok let me stop here come the tears again!

To regain your health there is no one stop shop, magic pill or one size fits all charming solution that works for everyone.  But there are principles that can work for us all.  Then we begin to pray and hope for specific instructions that work for our particular situation.

I really believe in a holistic approach to health if you want to get better.  And not just because of what well documented scholarly books say either.  (although that’s completely necessary).  

I believe it because it’s the only thing that finally worked for me.  So today I’m going to share how I found a real, practical game plan to getting back my life and wellness.

It’s not always easy, happy and may not always seem attainable.  Some days will be good, others full of hopeful expectation and others flat out borderline despairing.  But if you keep going, stay determined, and take control of your health you will accomplish your goal.

Here we are at our gender reveal party! Corey has been an amazing support this entire time💞💗❤️

(And here’s the Final Reveal: IMG_3049)

The good news is you don’t have to be perfect to do this!

This is what I did: Changed My Diet by Monitoring my Vitamin Levels, Found an Excellent Doctor that I felt 100% Confidence in, Developed a Relaxation and Mental Strength Plan, Removed all Toxins (physical, emotional and even negative, doubtful people from my life), Monitored my Exercise Program and Included a Prayer/Fasting Journey to Keep My Faith High!

Many of these same principles can work if you are trying to lose weight, have a healthy full term pregnancy, avoid a health crisis, develop consistent spiritual health or overcome bad habits.  

No matter what you are facing there is hope by 1.  Gaining Control of Your Diet, 2. Developing Spiritual Wellness,  and 3. Finding a Healthy Relaxation/Mental Strength Balance.

1. Lets talk first about what we eat.  We’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat!”  Well, guess what, it’s really true.  We will get out what we put in.  But let’s be real.  This is not going to happen over night.

 It is a consistent, practical focused effort that makes this work.  And you don’t have to be perfect either, just do your best to stay on target.  If you go astray, dust yourself off and go at it again.  

Sometimes it can be tempting to just say, “This isn’t working.  I don’t even see a difference.  Why keep trying?”  But changing your diet will restart your body and you can train your palette to like foods you didn’t like before.  

You can find creative ways to cook what you do like and get better at it; this is hard work but you are definitely worth it!

One great way to get in needed vitamins- a dark leafy diet, was to drink my veggies. Juicing became a great way to consume a whole bag of lettuce in once cup. There are great tasting juices you can try at home!

Keep your eyes on the finish line so you motivate yourself to keep going.  Eating includes what you drink.  Drinking water is good for us all.  

The daily recommended intake is eight, 8 ounces glasses of water a day.  If you are like me and trying to balance your hormones it’s really important to avoid plastic bottles water (due to estrogen like properties that can filter into water from plastic) and tap water that can include pesticide chemicals.  

It’s debatable what’s the best water (I’m even guilty of drinking from bottles) but distilled and reverse osmosis water has been highly recommended by major fertility natural health leaders.  I drank water like crazy and still do now that I’m pregnant.  

At first it felt like a lot but eventually my body actually craved it when I didn’t get enough.   One time after surgery to adjust vital reproductive organs, I gained a really bad sinus infection trying everything you could think of, including the Neti Pot Nasal Rinse (which works great and is all natural!).

It may sound extreme but there were times the Neti Pot kept my sanity lol. Try it out if you’re experiencing congestion or want to clean out your passages. You can even use it while pregnant avoiding decongestant medications!

But months went by and my breathing wasn’t getting better!😩  You know what finally worked?  Plain old WATER!  Who what have thought Water could be so powerful?  

So no matter your condition, keep in mind with me the natural healing properties of water.  Harvard University even did a study on the importance of water finding that it effects the vitality of every organ in the human body:

“Water keeps every system in the body functioning properly. The Harvard Medical School Special Health Report 6-Week Plan for Health Eating notes that water has many important jobs, such as:carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells
flushing bacteria from your bladder
aiding digestion
preventing constipation
normalizing blood pressure
stabilizing the heartbeat
cushioning joints
protecting organs and tissues
regulating body temperature
maintaining electrolyte (sodium) balance.”

The moral of the story is we all need water to function properly, have energy and keep this amazing system working.  Once I got that down I also avoided harmful levels of sugar, processed or artificial sugars.  

I replaced them with stevia (in my warm Maca drinks, a powerful fertility herb), honey and maple syrup.  (Caution when you get pregnant, stevia has not been proven as safe for pregnant women by the FDA).  

If you every look on the back of a fruit juice container you’ll notice it has A LOT of sugar so I even cut those to boost my immune system.  I also avoided soy, which has estrogen like propeties that throw off our bodies balance as women.

And one of the most important diet changes that I made was only eating grass fed or organic meats.  Be careful because the food industry has learned how to creatively say there are no antibiotics fed to their animals but these animals have not been raised in a way that avoids chemicals completely or live in really tight environments that are stress producing.  

Hormones fed to animals can also create too much estrogen in a woman trying to conceive also hindering needed balance.  

Going on dates and doing fun things with your husband is so important even when there are a lot of emotions. Remembering we are always on the same team was so helpful for us when in such a trying time.

Remember, the goal is to find balance in your hormonal system.   I have been told by my massage therapist to be careful of too much cheese or milk products which can cause congestion stimulating conditions like PCOS or Endometriosis more so if you have one of these conditions please be careful.

Milk can be replaced with almond milk (check to see if it’s organic) or hemp milk.  It’s also important to keep in mind that fat is not bad, it’s getting good healthy fat through (fish like wild, not farm raised Alaskan salmon, cod, and Alaskan halibut).  

Also you can get good essential fatty acids from coconut oil (replace cooking oil with it), nuts and seeds. The last tip is that you can remove processed white grains (white rice, pasta and white bread) in exchange for healthier whole grains (whole wheat pasta, quinoa and brown rice).  

All of these tips can be used even before you plan to get pregnant to ensure your body is balanced and ready!  Even now that I’m pregnant I eat this way with a few modifications to the teas that I consume.  

Recommended water filters:

Berkey (as low as $258)

Berkey Water Filter $258

Glass water bottles ($10) 

Extra Perk: It’s really important not to skip meals during childbearing years to remain a healthy balance.  What helped me most was bringing snacks with me as I went on errands and about my day like: organic granola bars (low in sugar), fruit I could quickly grab (antioxidant fruits are really good for you like strawberries and blueberries), water bottles (always have them with you, you can keep a cooler in the car), your own trail mix (you can make at home), a smoothie or homemade juice, or homemade chips (sweet potato, tortilla, potatoes with skin on).  You can use these snack ideas when pregnant as well!

2. Now let’s think about our Spiritual Wellness.  I knew the importance of prayer and fasting (it even has medical benefits) but this journey has brought my faith to another level!  Faith is the key to getting a breakthrough in any area, including our health.  

If I didn’t have a relationship with Christ I don’t know where I would be because it’s so mentally demanding trying to balance all the factors we’re talking about plus real life- work, marriage, volunteering, and family life.  It gets real!  

I say that to say I can relate to that need for balance. Every woman is different.  Some don’t want to pray because it’s hard to talk to God when you know He can change your health but He doesn’t seem to be moving in that way.  It can be upsetting.   It can be hard to talk to God because of guilt.  

Is He punishing me?  Is He angry at me?  Why is He blessing others but I still haven’t seen my breakthrough?  

There were moments I never thought I’d see this day. Fighting to believe was sometimes daily. But that’s a normal part of our faith journey. You’re going to get there💞 And it pains me to know you’re in pain. Keep going sister!

I get it!  I’ve had these gut wrenching, honest conversations with God too.  And anyone going rough this that says they’ve never been discouraged may be embellishing their story a bit.  

But I’ve also learned that reading my Bible, especially the psalms where David discussed how he felt, even if I wasn’t feeling it in the moment increased my hope level.  And I learned many lessons including the importance of giving over this need to have children in order to feel complete to God (easier said than done).  

I learned to serve others in many ways while I was waiting on my own dreams to come to fruition.  I learned to trust Him when He kept giving me promises I just wasn’t seeing and when I had No Idea if it would be another 6 months, year or 3 years (try to avoid thinking about how long it could be, really try).  

Praying is all about sharing your real feelings, verbalizing the truth of God’s Promises in the Bible and believing that His Words won’t come back empty.  He will do what He said He would do.  

My faith was elevated by going on multiple Daniels Fasts where I did not only remove certain foods from my diet which was by the way the first time I saw my hormones really begin to balance and my menstrual cycle come back to normality) but by refocusing on The Truth.  It was a fast from doubt, comparison and thinking from the place of lack.  I had to believe and only have faith surrounding me.  

So I found Scriptures like these to help me:  

Isaiah 53:5 – But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  

Psalm 103:2 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.  

Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.When I was started to slip back into that place of “what if” this never changes, I’m one of the ones that God doesn’t heal, I’m going to be stuck forever.  

What if I become like so and so that never had kids.  

The reality is that my truth was not based on someone else’s story. So much could be different in their life than mine and just because it happened to them didn’t mean it was going to happen to me.

Every year we start it out with a Daniels Fast. Sometimes the best way to get your breakthrough is to help others get theirs at the same time!

I declared the truth over and over out loud so I could hear it.  And I could feel the atmosphere changing around me, I was changing inside.  

I could see myself pregnant, whole and happy.  It was amazing!  We have to remember that we are in a spiritual war but can beat the odds through the power of Gods presence, worship, His Scriptures.

3. And that brings us to having a Life Full of Relaxation/Mental Joy!  Being a type A, really driven, motivated personality this was not my top gift.  But I had to do this for myself.

Priorities.  

God first.  Personal Health.  Then everything else.  

This requires a Huge Lifestyle Change for Me.  And as change goes, a lot of Letting Go.  You’ll notice that in order to change, sometimes you even have to let go of good stuff, good people to accomplish your goals.  

I had a lot of good, well meaning people in my life but some of them just weren’t meant to go on this part of the journey with me.  It became clear.  I had to give my Best Yes.  Here’s a great book that helped me to do that: 

At the time I’m writing this it’s about $10 on Amazon and worth the investment!  Every penny.  

You will learn how to say no to people to say yes to Gods best for you, even if you can’t please them or disappoint them.  Then you’ll be freed up emotionally to focus on the most important goal in your life right now: Your Health.  

Girl, get an Amazon Prime membership (free trial) and go get it now you won’t regret it!  I prayed a prayer and finally started listening to my gut.  Some of the most important people in my life at the time were just not healthy.  

And so I allowed God to create the space needed for me to get into my little faith bubble.  Gossip, Jealousy, Distractions and People that pull on you constantly without Gratitude or the Ability to Visualize the future you God has shown you can Drag you Down and keep you in a pit of doubt.  

People that blame you for your condition and don’t have grace can cause you to be thrown into condemnation.  Fight girl!  This is your life, your health, your destiny, your future and You Are Worth saying yes to what’s best even if it means not being able to please everyone around you.  

Follow the signs He gives you without shame or apology.  This is not bitterness or unforgiveness it is a wise guarding of your precious soul!  

(Disclaimer: If you are married go get counseling and professional help, you’re in a covenant meant to last and divorce is not God’s first best.  He can change the situation).  

Once these toxic relationships were removed I had to Do Some Things Different.  My plan included all natural Epsom Salt baths, listening to faith filled worship music like Hillsong or Bethel, writing out my feelings in a journal, getting weekly massages for a season (I did fertility massages and it helped realign my uterus), resting when my body told me to (I would literally take naps whenever, trying my best to avoid the faulty mindset that I was being lazy) and finding out what I enjoyed to do (spending time with my hubby, having long girl talks with positive trusted friends that wouldn’t judge me, walking around a shopping mall).  

I fully believe that all of this made me healthy.  Mind, Body and Soul.  I could feel the tensions around me being removed as I made decisions that led me one step closer to freedom.  

It was worth all the challenging situations, hurtful separations and learning to cook everything from scratch!  And I know you can do it too!  I believe in you!  Now go get out there and chase your dream; its God that gets your pregnant and gives you health💞  Every step you take is one step closer to the other side😊😭🎀

I want to say thank you if you were one of those people who secretly pushed prayers through for me or cried for me or encouraged me…even if you had a moment of good wishes for me. You’re the people I’m forever grateful for; it’s been a journey, The journey of a lifetime.